Uncle from a poor family

Chapter 836 The lion opens its mouth

Through Zhang Yanling's introduction, Zhu Yong was transferred to Yansui as the commander-in-chief, where he worked with Wang Yue to complete the subsequent troop advance plan.

At the same time, four thousand new soldiers trained by Wang Yue and Zhang Yanling in Beijing were also transferred to Yansui.

With the addition of the two thousand veterans who remained in the capital to train new recruits as a source of inspiration, and the one thousand guards under Zhang Yanling who stayed in Datong, the new army trained and equipped with modern weapons after Zhu Youcheng ascended the throne was basically all in use, and a major battle could begin at any time.

Everything is ready except for the east wind, which is the arrival of supplies.

After the autumn grain was stored, the imperial court did not allocate money and grain to the northwest, intending to let the soldiers in the northwest endure a difficult winter.

After all, the imperial court had just paid out the military pay owed for the past few years. Even the court officials did not expect that the emperor would be so generous as to distribute so much money to the soldiers in the northwest at once after obtaining huge tax revenue through salt tax reform.

They could have delayed distributing the silver for a few years, allowing officials at all levels to embezzle funds and grain through methods like withholding, ensuring that all officials who passed through received a share.

The emperor insisted on distributing the funds all at once, and instead of distributing them through the court's military and political system, he sent people directly to the Northwest to check the list of soldiers in service. The funds were then distributed in one go under the supervision of the imperial censors.

According to the officials in the court, our salaries were paid in arrears through methods such as cash payment, and the time it took to receive them was later than that of the soldiers in Xuanda and the three border regions. Why should the soldiers in the Northwest receive their military pay again after only a few months?
The Ming Dynasty's failure to pay military salaries is not a recent phenomenon. They could easily use the excuses of low grain reserves, financial pressure, frequent disasters in various regions, and the huge costs of the Yellow River diversion project to force the soldiers in the Northwest to tighten their belts and endure hardship.

The lack of cooperation from the civil officials meant that a war was about to break out in the Northwest, and Zhang Yanling had to find a way to raise military funds on his own.

It's not about raising the money for himself, but for Wang Yue.

In addition to complaining to the court and constantly demanding money and grain, Wang Yue also implemented a stricter tax collection system in Yansui. As if he had no way out, Wang Yue diverted the money and grain that should have been used to reinforce the city and strategic passes to fund the expedition to the grasslands.

The soldiers needed to prepare their own rations, urge the court to allocate more, and write to Zhang Yanling to complain... Wang Yue also knew that the only one who could solve his problem of money and food supplies after his expedition was Zhang Yanling, who was stranded in Datong.

It's not that Wang Yue believed Zhang Yanling could conjure silver or grain out of thin air, nor did he think Zhang Yanling could make the coal mines in Datong profitable in a short time... What he did know was that Zhang Yanling had brought many merchants to Datong.

Wang Yue believes that Zhang Yanling will definitely repeat the same trick in Shanxi as he did when he sold the contracting rights of Xishan Coal Mine.

Given the abundance of coal mines in Shanxi, Zhang Yanling's actions likely resulted in an income exceeding one million taels of silver.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Wang Yue kept persuading Zhang Yanling, indicating that he was prepared to send out 8,000 elite troops plus 10,000 laborers, directly tripling the initial planned number of 6,000.

Expenses have nearly doubled.

Although logistics personnel consume less resources, such as not being equipped with weapons and ammunition, more logistics personnel mean more people to feed, and feed must also be prepared for the livestock transporting money, food and supplies.

Wang Yue, like a lion making exorbitant demands, requested Zhang Yanling to allocate funds and grain worth approximately 900,000 taels of silver.

The imperial court could only allocate less than 200,000 taels of silver to Wang Yue, and even with the silver he raised in the three border regions, it wouldn't exceed 300,000 taels.

This means there is still a shortfall of 600,000 taels of silver waiting for Zhang Yanling to fill.

Zhang Yanling practically wanted to throw three words at Wang Yue: "Shameless!"

In order to win the battle, Wang Yue initially kept telling him that a mere one or two thousand men could win the battle. But after arriving in the Northwest, he immediately changed his mind, or thought that the court could not do without him and insisted that the court increase the allocation of money and grain.

While it's understandable that Wang Yue was trying to secure more supplies for his troops to increase their chances of winning the upcoming battles, this action clearly exceeded the court's capacity to bear the burden.

……

……

When the news reached the capital, Zhang Luan saw the memorial from Li Rong, in which Wang Yue was demanding money and grain. He didn't tolerate it and directly cursed, "Such a shameless person is rare in this world!"

Upon hearing this, Li Rong shook his head and said, "Could this be what people mean when they say, 'A general in the field may disobey the emperor's orders'?"

Zhang Luan asked, "What is His Majesty's attitude?"

Li Rong sighed, "What else can Your Majesty do? Even... the initial target of 600,000 taels, didn't you say... was already difficult to achieve? Now that it has suddenly increased to 900,000 taels... it will be even more difficult to achieve... We must find a way!"

"Fuck!"

Zhang Luan frowned. "What six hundred thousand taels? That's for the military pay prepared for all the border regions, not just for Yansui! Now Wang Weining wants nine hundred thousand taels to fight! If we add the military pay for soldiers in other places, the funds needed will probably be around one million three hundred thousand taels of silver!"

Li Rong looked embarrassed: "It is a bit too much, but what can we do?"

Zhang Luan said, "If he can't do it, someone else will!"

"You mean, recall Vice Minister Wang?"

Li Rong was puzzled.

You were the one who recommended Wang Yue in the first place, and you were also the one who took the initiative to raise military funds for Wang Yue. Now, just because Wang Yue is making exorbitant demands, you're planning to discard him like a pawn?

Zhang Luan's face was full of anger: "He clearly promised to supply only the provisions for six thousand men, that's already the limit, what exactly does he want to do?"

Li Rong said, "What His Majesty fears is that if the upcoming battles are not won, he will ultimately blame the court for not providing enough money, provisions, and troops, and refuse to admit that it was his fault!"

"If you don't have a big head, don't wear such a big hat!"

Zhang Luan said, "It's just making us a laughingstock for no reason!"

Li Rong asked, "Then... what exactly does the Grand Tutor mean? Is he raising funds, or is he rejecting Vice Minister Wang's request and letting him maintain his original plan? Or... is he simply transferring him back to the capital? There's a lot of talk in the court and among the people now, saying that since Vice Minister Wang arrived in Yansui, he's been acting a bit recklessly, and it seems no one can restrain him!"

Zhang Luan muttered, "Didn't you say before that my son could control him? How come he's out of control too?"

"Mr. Zhang, what did you say?"

Li Rong heard the gist of it, but pretended not to understand.

Zhang Luan said, "It's nothing. We need to tell His Majesty that the amount of money and grain he's asking for is too much, and the court can't possibly provide it! If we can't fight this year, we should make him withdraw his troops!"
"It's not like we have to decide the outcome with a single battle this year. Isn't the court waiting for a reply from the Tatars? If the Tatars come to pay homage and accept the terms of submission, perhaps we won't even have to fight this battle!"

Li Rong asked again, "But why have I heard that Grand Secretary Xu is currently gathering people to jointly petition His Majesty to send troops to teach the Tatars a lesson..."

"That's what happened."

Zhang Luan said, "The Tatars are wolfish and their ambitions are not to be trusted. I suggest we teach them a lesson first, so that even if they submit, they will be more sincere."

Li Rong's face lit up with joy: "That makes sense. Let Vice Minister Wang fight a battle in the Northwest, with expenses set at around 200,000 taels of silver. As long as he wins and teaches the Tatars a lesson, making them sincerely submit, then everything will be settled. There's no need for a large-scale military campaign!"

Zhang Luan said, "If that's really the case, would it really cost 200,000 taels of silver? Giving him 50,000 taels would be quite generous."

Li Rong looked embarrassed: "We have to consider the morale of the soldiers on the front lines... These things should have been distributed anyway." "Then how about this..."

Zhang Luan said, "Please return first, Eunuch Li. I will draft a memorial and submit it in the next couple of days."

"Will it be too late?"

Li Rong cautioned, "It would take at least one or two months to transfer money and provisions from the capital to Yansui. Even if we transferred them now... it would be close to the end of the year!"

Zhang Luan said, "Wang Weining is holding onto his military power and is deliberately negotiating with the court. What can I do? It's best not to fight! We can fight again next spring to avoid being blackmailed by him!"

"Yes."

Li Rong nodded.

……

……

The inner gardens of the imperial palace.

Li Rong reported Zhang Luan's opinion to the emperor.

In reality, Zhang Luan offered no concrete solutions beyond complaining. However, Qin Chang, who was standing to the side, sensed something amiss and said, "Your Majesty, does Zhang Guozhang mean that this year's war should be postponed?"

Zhu Youcheng said, "Yanling said that Wang Yue will not wait and will definitely start the war this year."

"Why?"

Qin Chang asked curiously.

“Because…” Zhu Youcheng said, “The soldiers in the Northwest all know that the court’s attitude toward military action against the grasslands is wavering. My previous statement that we could wait for the Tatars to come and submit was actually to show that I have no desire to fight. We can fight or not fight, or we can fight later.”

Qin Chang seemed to understand something and said, "His Majesty's attitude is ambiguous. Wang Yue is afraid that you will withdraw your plan to send troops, so he insists on sending troops this year?"

"Ah."

Zhu Youcheng nodded, “Wang Yue is old, and we don’t know how many years he has left to live! Also, this year’s opportunity may not come again! And then there’s… his ambition and desire are there. Once his spirit is low, the soldiers will lose the courage to fight with all their might, and how can we talk about pacifying the grasslands?”

Qin Chang said, "It turns out that His Majesty has never changed his plan to pacify the grasslands! But the conditions proposed by Wang Yue now are... far too harsh!"

Zhu Youcheng said, "Isn't there a memorial submitted by Yanling here?"

Qin Chang saw that Zhang Yanling's secret memorial was indeed on the emperor's desk.

But even Qin Chang, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, didn't know what it contained.

This is more like a strategy for pacifying the barbarians secretly agreed upon by Zhu Youcheng and Zhang Yanling... This plan was so confidential that no one in the court knew about it, and even Wang Yue, the executor, only knew the surface of the plan. As for the deeper content, probably only the two people involved knew it.

"The Battle of Weininghai, how many years has it been?" Zhu Youcheng asked.

Li Rong said, "It's been eight years."

Zhu Youcheng nodded and said, "Yes, it was eight years ago. Yanling said he plans to go to Weininghai in person to take a look! I also have the same idea."

……

……

Zhu Yong led his own troops, along with 3,000 elite soldiers temporarily transferred from Datong, and more than 4,000 new troops sent from the capital, totaling nearly 10,000 men, to Yansui, the capital of the three border regions.

He then led only his own troops and a small number of new soldiers, and without careful preparation, went straight into the Hetao region.

The purpose was to join forces with Wang Yue as soon as possible.

Besides Wang Yue not wanting others to steal his credit, Zhu Yong was also afraid that Wang Yue would take all the credit for both civil and military officials, leaving him, as a military general, no chance to make a name for himself.

Therefore, Zhu Yong seemed very eager to carry out the military campaign, and his soldiers were thoroughly exhausted by him.

The march was already very rushed, but he arrived nearly ten days earlier than expected.

When Zhu Yong led his troops to meet with Wang Yue's forces in the heart of the Hetao region, it was near dusk. In the distance, the horizon was a desert, transitioning from the Gobi to the grassland as it drew closer. The grass grew denser as they approached, and in the center of the grassland was a shimmering lake surrounded by a ring of tents, with fences and barricades on the outer perimeter.

At this time, countless soldiers and laborers were building city walls at the junction of desert and grassland, clearly indicating that a city would be built around the lake in the future.

When Zhu Yong arrived at the camp gate, Wang Yue was very enthusiastic and came out to greet him personally, but did not allow him to bring his troops into the camp.

"Lord Baoguo, you must be tired from your journey."

Wang Yue smiled and cupped his hands in greeting to Zhu Yong.

After exchanging greetings, Wang Yue led Zhu Yong on a tour of the entire camp, showing him several newly dug ditches.

Zhu Yong thought Wang Yue was simply acting recklessly, because in such a water-scarce place, it was only forty or fifty miles north to the banks of the Yellow River. He didn't think this place was worth building a city or stationing troops... let alone building any ditches, it seemed pointless.

Wang Yue said, “This freshwater lake didn’t come out of thin air. I heard from the locals that during the summer flood season, a large amount of rainwater gathers here and forms a lake. This place is different from the deserts on the northern and western plateaus. If you dig down a few meters, you will find clear springs gushing out. Even if the city is besieged by the Tatars, there will be no shortage of freshwater.”

Zhu Yong asked curiously, "General Wang, do you really intend to stay here for a long time?"

"If you're going to manage the Hetao region, why not plan to stay there long-term?"

Wang Yue smiled and said, "Starting from here, it will take half a day to reach the Yellow River. After crossing the Yellow River, we will face the Tatar tribes and even the royal court... It will be much closer to the grasslands from here in the future."

Zhu Yongdao said, "But it would be easier for the Tatars to attack. It would be difficult to maintain agriculture here. I'm afraid that food and supplies would have to be transferred from places like Yulinwei, which would be time-consuming and laborious."

"If you say that, you lack foresight!"

Wang Yue laughed and said, "Once the grasslands are pacified, this place will be the heartland of the Ming Dynasty. Compared to stationing troops on the grasslands, it would be closer to set up the governor's office or garrison here than to transfer troops from Ningxia, Yansui and other places, right? Are we going to abandon the Hetao region after conquering the grasslands? If so, the grasslands will change hands sooner or later, and it won't be long before they become a hidden danger to the court again."

Hearing this, Zhu Yong understood something.

It seems that after Wang Yue arrived here, sending troops to the grasslands was a foregone conclusion. Now, his thoughts were no longer on how to conquer the Tatars, but on how to settle the soldiers and civilians after the conquest and how to effectively govern the grasslands in the long term...

(End of this chapter)