Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 107 On the sword's edge, within the gunfire!
Altan Khan.

There are ten sons in total.

The eldest son was named Sengge.

In the 36th year of the Jiajing reign, Sengge's concubine Taosongzhai had an affair with a general under Sengge's command.

But Taosong Village was truly unusual. According to the customs of the Tatars, they knew that adultery could not be hidden, so after the joy, they surrendered to the Ming Dynasty overnight.

The governor of Xuanda at that time, named Yang Shun, thought that this was a pie in the sky, and quickly reported his achievements to the court.

The then Minister of War Xu Lun, Yan Song and his son Yan Shifan all thought this was a great achievement, so they asked Yang Shun to escort Taosong Village to the capital.

As a result, the Ming court's act of accepting the Tatar rebellious woman angered the Tatar Prince Sengge.

Know thyself, ever-victorious.

After years of fighting, Sengge knew that Yang Shun was a weak man, so he lied that as long as the Ming court handed over the prostitute who had betrayed the clan, he would send Bansheng's traitorous leaders Qiu Fu, Zhao Quan and others back to the Ming Dynasty.

On the other hand, Sengge sent out his troops to plunder Datong Fort and massacre people without restraint for six months.

When Yang Shun saw how brutally Sengge killed people, he was unwilling to fight to the death against the Tatar cavalry, but was also afraid of being punished by the court, so he chose to give in.

On the surface, he sent people to escort Taosong Village out of the western border, but in fact, he secretly revealed the whereabouts of Taosong Village to Sengge.

Sengge found Tao Songzhai, his cuckolded concubine, as he wished, and killed her.

After the killing, Sengge never mentioned his promise to return the traitor, as if nothing had happened.

The entire Ming Dynasty, the imperial court, and the border towns were all manipulated by the Tatar prince.

Not to mention the shame alone, after the Tatar tribes heard about this incident, they also felt that the Ming court was stupid and incompetent, and they became more and more contemptuous of it, and the border violations became more and more serious.

After the whole incident, the Ming Dynasty lost all its face and dignity, and it took the court several years to turn the page.

Thinking of this again, Zhang Juzheng's cabinet felt disgusted from the bottom of their hearts. Although this was something done by Yan Song's cabinet, once bitten by a snake, one becomes afraid of the rope for ten years. At this moment, it has affected the judgment of several people.

Moreover, Zhang Juzheng remembered that Yang Shun, who had caused such a big mess for the Ming Dynasty, was only deposed as the Governor of Xuanda under the protection of the Yan father and son, and was allowed to calmly withdraw from the court. He felt a nameless anger rising in his heart.

Yan Song has fallen, how can this damn thing continue to live at large?

Zhang Juzheng put down the military report, looked at Gao Gong, Li Chunfang, and Chen Yiqin who were thinking, and said, "Before I reply to Datong, I want to bring up the old matter again. I think everyone still remembers the former governor of Xuanda, Yang Shun, who was cowardly and afraid of fighting, clung to the Yan Party, framed loyal officials, and brought disaster to the country and the people. Although Yang Shun is no longer in the court today, he has left endless harm. I think we should report his crimes to the emperor again. Su Qing (Gao Gong's courtesy name), Zi Shi (Li Chunfang's courtesy name), Yi Fu (Chen Yiqin's courtesy name), what do you think?"

"Good!" Gao Gong said without hesitation.

Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin nodded.

Officialdom.

It's not a place where you like to settle accounts.

After all, no one can be an official for a lifetime. If you settle accounts with others, your descendants will settle accounts with you.

This is the origin of the saying "Water dripping from the eaves passes down from generation to generation, and the new official does not check the accounts of the old official."

But people like Yang Shun who committed heinous crimes are not included in this category.

Moreover, to this day, the effect of the emperor's edict ordering his ministers to impeach Yan Song and Yan Shifan, father and son, has not yet expired.

Just in time to add Yang Shun’s head!
The cabinet would only vote when it was undecided, and the minority would obey the majority. For a small matter like this that everyone agreed on, there was no need to vote again. After getting the consent of the cabinet members, Zhang Juzheng took a piece of paper and wrote a memorial impeaching Yang Shun.

Gao Gong, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqin signed their names on the memorial in turn, and the cabinet submitted the memorial collectively, and it was done.

Zhang Juzheng summoned Liu Tai, the secretary of the cabinet, to present the memorial to the palace.

Liu Tai took the order and left.

Several people in the cabinet looked at Liu Tai's back with different thoughts. The position of the Cabinet Secretary was often the disciple of the Cabinet Prime Minister. This had almost been a customary practice for more than a hundred years.

Liu Tai was the one chosen by Zhang Juzheng to be his disciple after Yan Song fell. He was very lucky.

The Cabinet Secretary was also known as the Nine Ministers in Preparation. It seemed that Zhang Juzheng was too protective of his newly recruited apprentice.

However, most of the time, the Cabinet's secretaries are there to run errands for the cabinet ministers. Although there are advantages to observing the cabinet ministers' politics from the sidelines, they are still not considered important by the cabinet ministers.

Gao Gong stopped looking at him and turned to Zhang Juzheng: "Taiyue, what is the situation with Altan Khan and his grandson Bahan Naji?"

The Ming court must figure out how much importance Altan Khan attaches to Bahanaji and what Bahanaji's status is among the Tatars in order to avoid misjudgment.

Sengge may not care about his concubine who defected, but does Altan Khan care about his grandson who defected?
Zhang Juzheng picked up the intelligence report sent by the Jinyiwei in the morning. When he saw it before, Zhang Juzheng was puzzled as to why the Jinyiwei suddenly sent him the intelligence report about Altan Khan and Bahanaji. Now he understood everything.

The Governor of Xuanda, Wang Chonggu, probably first contacted the Jinyiwei, and the intelligence collected by the Jinyiwei over the past few decades also came in handy at this time.

What the Embroidered Uniform Guards were sure of was that Altan Khan really liked this grandson of Bahanaji. It was not that the grandfather was a bad person, but that his grandson's wife (granddaughter) was too attractive and he could not resist.

Among the three generations of Tatar Khanate, Bahanaghi had a very high status.

The Jinyiwei also confirmed that Bahan Naji was raised personally by Altan Khan's daughter, Molun, and that Molun loved his grandson Bahan Naji as much as he could.

It was no secret among the Tatar tribes that Altan Khan feared Yanshi Molun. According to the report from the Jinyiwei's informant in the Tatar tribe, Yanshi Molun almost went crazy when he heard that his beloved grandson had surrendered to the Ming court. He ran into the Khan's tent with a wooden stick and knocked Altan Khan's head in front of countless tribal leaders, and made a bold statement: "Even if the Ming court wants your head, I will give it to you. I only want my beloved grandson."

Speaking of which.

Gao Gong, Li Chunfang and Chen Yiqun suddenly looked much more relaxed.

Since Han Naji was not a Tatar and not someone who could be sacrificed at will by Altan Khan, the Ming Dynasty had the upper hand in the subsequent game between the Ming Dynasty and the Tatar Altan Khan.

Wang Chonggu was the governor of Xuanda chosen by Zhang Juzheng. In the military report, Wang Chonggu wrote in detail the three strategies of superior, medium and inferior. Zhang Juzheng thought there was no need to change it, so he asked: "How about submitting the military report to the emperor?"

"agree!"

"agree!"

"agree!"

The cabinet passed the proposal unanimously and submitted it to Yuxi Palace, and Zhu Houcong's decree was soon issued, adding a supplement to Wang Chonggu's plan.

"Dignity lies only on the edge of the sword, and truth lies only within the range of artillery fire!"

That is, what you can't get on the battlefield, you can't get at the negotiating table either.

We must start from a position of strength.

The nine borders and nine towns must immediately fortify their walls and clear the fields, control the dangerous areas and guard the important points, and be on guard against Tatar invasion at all times. Everything must be prepared for the worst!

(End of this chapter)