Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 328 The worst situation?
It is the time to collect autumn grain in Jiangnan this year.

Shen Yikuan's hands were shaking.

"General Staff, what's wrong?" Cheng Jing asked slowly.

In the garrison hall, Xu Hongji and Cui Sheng were also there.

This former lieutenant general of the canal-guarding navy has now become the admiral of the Yangtze River Navy, a truly key position in the Ming Dynasty - in the past, this position was held by meritorious officials, with almost no exceptions.

Of course, this is a confidential matter now.

Shen Yi Guan, the chief of staff of the Privy Council in Nanjing, was in a state of panic. He looked at Li Wen angrily and said, "I guess Governor Li must have known about this a long time ago?"

Li Wen did not deny it and nodded: "News will come soon. The General Staff needs to make a decision on how to deal with it."

"Why are you telling me now?" Shen Yi Guan slammed the official letter on the table.

Li Wen said calmly, "The war situation is ever-changing. If we can't go according to the plan, then there is no need to create complications. Now that the Tartars have come to this point, His Majesty and the Privy Council have asked us to prepare in advance to avoid instability in Jiangnan. It's a small matter to delay the supply of food and money, but if civil strife breaks out, we will be dead."

Shen Yikuan was so angry that he paced back and forth in the garrison hall.

Although he is in his seventies, he now seems to be walking as fast as the wind and looks healthy and vigorous.

Of course he was angry.

Privy Council is bold! Your Majesty... be bold!
Why do we need to use the border wall to force ourselves to do this? Can't we do it outside the border wall in Yanshan?

That would be fine, but there is also the danger of Jianzhou or even North Korea sending troops together.

If the government troops suffered a temporary defeat outside the border wall and the news spread to the south of the Yangtze River, it would only lead to some ridicule, mockery and impeachment, but what if the border wall was broken?

Shen Yikuan never expected that he would have to take on such a big responsibility.

He could hardly imagine how the people in Jiangnan would react when they heard that the coastal route had been cut off, Liaodong had become an isolated army, Shanhaiguan was in danger, and the northern border and even Korea had rebelled.

"One month." Li Wen said, "Hold on for one month, keep it stable for one month, and Liaodong will surely have another great victory."

"What guarantee can you give?" Shen Yikuan could not help but shout, "Just because Ningyuan Hou led 10,000 troops from Beijing to the south of Jinzhou, and another 10,000 troops from Beijing to the west of Kuandian Liubao? Who dares to guarantee victory? Who dares to say that Ningyuan Hou..."

He paused and said bitterly, "You gentlemen in the court, you know the situation but don't make any remonstrances. I will definitely impeach you!"

Shen Yikuan has already retired. He was not involved in the planning and he didn't know the secrets.

But he knew that although the other four ministers could not interfere in the internal affairs of the Privy Council, they certainly had the right to know, and the "Imperial Cabinet Meeting" could influence the emperor's decision.

I don’t know why they didn’t stop such a bold strategy.

He couldn't directly say here what would happen to Li Chengliang, the key figure.

At this time, Cheng Jing said leisurely: "Your Majesty said that the monarch and his subjects should trust each other. Chief Shen, now is not the time to complain. Your Majesty and the officials in the court trust us, and Jiangnan must not live up to their trust. The officials in the court did not dissuade us, so they naturally felt that the chances of winning were quite high. The soldiers on the battlefield will do it, and Jiangnan will not hold back at this time, then the chances of winning will probably be even greater."

Shen Yikuan looked at him, then slowly sat back after a while.

"Arranging troops is not my forte." He looked at Li Wen, "How to prepare for an emergency, let Governor Li decide. The only reason I came to Nanjing is to make the officials and gentry in Jiangnan more wary at this time."

He frowned and thought for a while, then said: "Marquis Ningyuan is in Liaodong, and this news will come soon. The court's intention to guard against Jiangnan is clear, so I might as well say it clearly. What I mean is that Nanjing should make an excuse to be prepared and first summon the navy, Xiaoling Guard, and the garrison guards to prepare. The discussion about Nanjing's national foundation is bound to be very noisy, so it is better to go with the flow and let them think that I am also worried about the loss of Beijing. I will first request that half of the grain be left in Jiangnan, so as not to delay this winter's food and wages, and also to be prepared..."

Shen Yi's strategy was to follow the trend. Since Jiangnan would be worried about losing half of its territory at this time, he might as well take the lead in doing this.

The fact that he was able to gather troops near Nanjing to prepare for war, coupled with his move to temporarily suspend the transportation of half of the grain, would even make people think that Shen Yi had "rebellious intentions."

Anyway, recently, he has been very close to the King of Shu, the King of Su, and the King of Chu. What outsiders know is that the three kings are preparing to recruit staff to "follow the imperial order to guard the border", but the situation has changed, maybe...

Li Wen didn't care, he just looked at him deeply and said, "It's only been a month, the clouds will clear up when the good news comes. But Lord Longjiang, don't make things worse. If there are really people with wolfish ambitions, Lord Longjiang will have a hard time dealing with them, and his reputation in the literati will be very bad."

Shen Yi Guan replied calmly, "I have always acted in the open, and have always considered the interests of the country. I cannot control the way these cowards judge others by their own standards. Commander Li, are you worried that I am not sensible?"

"Of course I'm not worried." Li Wen laughed, "I will show Lord Longjiang my painstaking efforts."

Who did he present this to? Of course, the Privy Council and the Emperor.

Shen Yi Guan looked at them, shook his head, and bowed to Cheng Jing: "The kings, you have to be careful. If you say you are doing something wrong, I'm afraid some people will really think that fate has changed. Although Governor Li said it's only a month, I'm afraid some people don't even have the patience for a month. Once the Jinzhou border wall is broken, I think Shanhaiguan will also be broken, and the capital will be gone."

"I'll pay attention to it." Cheng Jing nodded.

Two days later, the news from the north finally reached Jiangnan, only slightly slower than the express delivery from the Privy Council.

This of course became the hottest topic.

The border troops were defeated, and even the border wall was breached. Now the Khanate army, led by the Tatar Khan, is wreaking havoc in Liaodong. Shanhaiguan is in danger, and the Liaodong border troops have become isolated...

With the previous rumors as a basis, this matter immediately caused a lot of discussion.

It's nothing but greed for merit, recklessness and vanity. In addition, the training of the Beijing camp has been fruitless for so many years, and the important officials of the Privy Council have been sitting in their positions without doing anything. Then they turned to the argument that there are big problems in the central government after the major reforms, and it would be better not to change it.

Zhao Shiqing, who was transferred to become the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing, still had to complete this year's tax collection task.

What worried him most was the rumors in the countryside.

Zhejiang and Jiangxi were okay, but the Nanzhili system was loose, and the six ministries in Nanjing did not directly manage the prefectures in Nanzhili.

What we fear most now is the "escape" of various prefectures in Jiangbei.

This was not the first time that the Ming Dynasty suffered a great loss at the hands of the Tatars. Such things had happened before, but this situation would not have occurred. After all, there was such a vast depth in the north, and it would not be easy for the Tatars to fight all the way to the Huai River or even the Yangtze River.

But now, various local conflicts since the Taichang Dynasty are trying to take advantage of the opportunity to do something.

The gentry who were subject to strict preferential treatment and supervision of student records often only needed to exaggerate their words through various means, and ordinary people who were unaware of the truth would easily believe them.

The atmosphere became tense for a moment.

King Zhu Huazeng of Chu was "ordered" to make friends with the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River, and he achieved fruitful results during this period.

Big families always have side branches, and Jiangnan is not short of unsuccessful scholars or even scholars who failed to pass the examination to become a scholar.

Although it was clearly stated that one would have to go to Liaodong to "suffer", it was also clearly stated that there would be benefits such as border trade privileges.

But today’s topic is no longer about the future establishment of vassal states or something like that, as we have new friends coming today.

"Your Highness, is it possible to go to Liaodong? The Tartars have invaded Liaodong."

Zhu Huazeng's level is not very high, and he is actually worried now.

But he still said: "Victory and defeat are common in the military. Your Majesty is wise and powerful. Since there is an order, of course you are sure..."

In this small courtyard-like tavern, several heads of large families came today and promised Zhu Huazeng to arrange for some of their branches and servants to go to Liaodong.

At this moment, they looked solemn and looked at Zhu Huazeng with interest.

"He Lizheng, isn't that right?" Zhu Huazeng looked at one of the old men.

"Your Majesty is majestic and ambitious, that's natural." He replied, then frowned and said worriedly, "But now the war is not going well. Now I think that we underestimated the Tartars by making preparations early on to let the princes and others recruit brave Han people to the border..." "Yes, even if we took down the Liaohe area before, how can we defend it in the future? I thought the government army was sure to win this time, but I didn't expect that..."

"Your Majesty, I'm thinking, why is it a bit strange? It's said that we are going to manage the barbarians to open up good farmland, but is it still possible to do this?" Someone shook his head, "Old He is right, Your Majesty underestimates the Tartars. It's not a big deal if we fail to expand the territory this time, but if Liaodong is lost, or even the capital..."

Zhu Huazeng forced a smile and said, "This is the first time we have tasted defeat. Wasn't there a great victory in the north of Jizhen?"

"That was the Tartars' secret attack on Chencang. Jizhen was tricked. I heard that the Khan of the Tartars was only in his teens. He was not simple, brave and resourceful. He first stood outside the border wall of Jizhen to alert the court, and then secretly attacked Jinzhou with a surprise attack. Leaving behind those old, weak and sick people to pretend to be the main army, how could this great victory be worth it? It was cruel enough to leave behind so many old, weak and sick people as bait..."

"Are the Tartars going to produce another powerful leader like Dayan Khan or Altan Khan?"

The people in front of me were very worried, and they started discussing the direction of the war.

The emperor was too arrogant this time. The battle line was too long, and the momentum was there, but the Tartars understood the art of war. They used the rapid movement of war horses to show weakness and lure the government troops deep into the grassland, just to wait for the winter to come.

The war horses were now well fed and strong, and many of the border troops had previously fled outside the border wall to avoid the enemy's attack. Now that they had used all their strength, the Jinzhou border wall was broken.

What’s next?

Zhu Huazeng gradually understood that there were two main points in their words.

One is that the emperor is too ambitious, and his approach this time is fundamentally wrong and may cause big chaos.

Another question is: With the emperor’s ambitious personality, how is he going to deal with his promises to the three princes when the war is going badly?

Seeing their concerned eyes, Zhu Huazeng forced a smile and said, "I believe the government troops can still turn defeat into victory."

"Your Highness, you should still consider defeat first. You have made many friends in Jiangnan now. If the government army wins, it will be fine. If it loses, His Majesty will be angry..."

Public opinion in Jiangnan fermented for several days, and on October 15, even worse news reached Jiangnan.

The chieftain of the Jianzhou Jurchens established a country and called himself Khan, and the name of his country was Jin.

They rebelled.

Not only them, but also Korea rebelled. The reason was that the emperor wanted to use the Jianzhou Jurchens as a vanguard and then swallow up Korea in the next step.

In addition, the Khorchin and Khalkha armies, who had previously retreated to the Liao River, also marched south.

"Korea has always been submissive, and Taizu considered it a country that should not be conquered!"

The Donglin Academy was in an uproar. Gao Panlong said loudly, "Last year, the Jurchens were subdued and the land was seized to set up a military and civilian government. It would have been fine if they had just focused on suppressing them. But now they are targeting the Tatars. How can the Jurchens not wait for an opportunity to act? They even want to swallow up Korea without stopping... There are treacherous ministers in the court, and the Privy Council is fawning on the emperor and greedy for merit. Tian Le should be killed!"

Gu Xiancheng's expression was extremely solemn. This time the panic among the people in Jiangnan was really true.

In a year or two, the northern border of the Ming Dynasty was filled with enemies. Even with everyone's concerted efforts, could Liaodong still be preserved?

Not to mention expanding territory, this time there is not only the danger of losing territory, but even the north of the Yangtze River is inevitable.

The Jurchens established a country called Jin... At this time, who would not mention the Jingkang Incident?
At this time, the news that Shen Yikuan wanted to prepare for the defense of Jiangnan and requested to reserve half of the grain for transportation was passed to Wuxi...

……

"...Nine Great Hates..."

After Zhu Changluo saw the "Edict of the Jin Khan to Swear to Attack Lulong and Reassure the People", he felt a little amused.

There were originally seven things to regret, and now there are two more.

But Zhu Changluo estimated that there should be four.

Because all four of these events were related to him and had not happened originally: his eighth son was taken to the capital as a "hostage", Dong Ge, with whom he had a marriage contract, was "robbed" by the emperor, his fourth daughter was presented to the palace, and he sent his fourth son with three thousand soldiers and horses to aid the Ming Dynasty.

Li Chengliang was naturally mentioned in the reason, saying that Li Chengliang sent people to urge him to bring troops back from Korea as soon as possible to help the Ming Dynasty resist Khorchin and Khalkha.

You want me to attack North Korea, and now you want me to give up halfway and go fight against Khorchin again. How can you tolerate this?
This certainly has a use. If the Ming Dynasty does not want to face this situation at this moment, should it punish Li Chengliang severely?

But if Li Chengliang was severely punished, what would happen to the situation in Liaodong?
Tian Le did not apologize, but said: "The victory report of Zhang Yonghou and Ning Lubo has arrived. I think that Zhang Yonghou led the Tumed tribe to capture Daning through the Laoha River with Governor Li, and then we can encircle it from the west. Ning Lubo should go east to help Liaohetao."

"What about Jianzhou? And Korea?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"Earlier, Governor Xiong warned us that the Beiyang Fleet had already reached the west of the Yalu River estuary. I thought that if they went to the Yalu River estuary, Korea would not dare to go north, as their internal strife had not yet been resolved. This time, they also sent a letter, probably in advance with Jianzhou, to declare their position first, at least the Ming Dynasty had to send troops to guard against it. As for Jianzhou..."

Tian Le paused and said, "Marquis Ningyuan has come to apologize and signed a military order. Within seven days, the Khanate army will be forced out of the border wall, and then Governor Yuan will take over the encirclement and suppression. He will go to Fushun in person to wipe out Jianzhou."

Nurhaci said that Li Chengliang was the instigator, and Li Chengliang had to respond to this.

But this reaction was indeed within the expectations of everyone in the Privy Council: Jianzhou rebelled, and Li Chengliang could still gain merit because of it.

Zhu Changluo pondered for a moment, then said: "At least once this manifesto is published, Ningyuan Marquis and Jianzhou will fight to the death. There is no need to doubt it. Since it was expected that Jianzhou would rebel sooner or later, it is normal for the situation to develop into this worst situation. The Tatars did not gain much from looting the Jinzhou area. Now they have encountered Ningyuan Marquis in the south and Governor Yuan in the east. They probably know that they have been lured into a trap by the Ming Dynasty. With the news of the great victory of the Aohan tribe, they will no longer hesitate and should make every effort to break out to the east, trying to disrupt the hinterland of Liaodong before breaking out."

He looked at the map and said slowly, "Marquis Ningyuan may not be able to force them out of the Jinzhou border wall, but Yuan Keli can hold them. Who knows, this decisive battle may take place east of Jinzhou and west of Daling River."

"Governor Yuan is a man of great talent. The Khan's army has been standing there for a long time and is exhausted. The Beijing camp and Governor Yuan's men are well rested and waiting for the opportunity to tire themselves out. Your Majesty, do not worry."

Zhu Changluo nodded and said, "I hope to hear more good news. I will go back to Beijing only after I get rid of the main force of the Khanate army. As for Jianzhou and Korea, I will not need to stay in Jizhen in the next step."

The situation was certainly difficult, as all external conflicts in the north were concentrated there.

But Liu Jing and Ma Gui had actually dealt a heavy blow to the foundation of Chahar, and the four tribes of Lingnan had been crippled.

Strategically, the Ming Dynasty has gained something in this battle.

It was not known whether Lindan Batur and Xiao Daiqing had learned of Nurhaci's decision in advance, and they missed the opportunity to advance directly to the heart of Liaodong from the east. Instead, they chose to block the Ming reinforcements from going to Liaodong from the Hexi Corridor.

The encirclement of them has been generally completed and is shrinking.

The emperor and his ministers were not worried about the deterioration of the situation in Liaodong. After dealing with only a part of the Khanate's army, were Khorchin, Khalkha and Nurhaci still so determined?

As for North Korea, Zhu Changluo didn't care about it at all.

But Nurhaci eventually came to this point. He was unwilling to be just a knife and dog of the Ming Dynasty.

Then the only option is to eradicate it.

"Your Majesty, Jianzhou's intention is to be punished. If the letter spreads to other foreign vassal states..."

When Zhu Changluo heard what Sun Chengzong said, he shook his head indifferently: "That is just Nurhaci's one-sided words. After the great victory, I conferred titles on Tumed and Yehe. Could it be that the foreign vassal states would not know right from wrong? If there are those who do not know right from wrong, they will be eliminated."

At this moment, his mind was also firm: "I have been forging swords for many years just to achieve success. Thanks to your planning, let the world see how great the results of this victory are. The northern border will be stable from now on, and see who will make noises inside and outside the Ming Dynasty!"

As for Jianzhou, he was no longer so concerned about the temporary victory or defeat.

Ever since he came here, he has always been concerned about the Jianzhou Jurchens. Isn’t that enough?
He was the emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He originally tried to use the Jianzhou Jurchens as a knife because he believed he had enough power to suppress them.

Now, why would he worry about this sword biting his master? Just break it.

(End of this chapter)