Fu Shanhe

Chapter 271 Asking for advice
Liaodong.

"The court has repeatedly ordered us to send troops to help the capital, and as a subject, I should not refuse.

Unfortunately, the northern barbarians are so powerful that we cannot fight them in the field. If we are not careful, we may destroy the entire Liaodong Town.

Colleagues, is there a way to have the best of both worlds? "

Zhong Jingming asked with a serious look.

The former Liaodong governor had a high reputation in the army, but he was suddenly convicted and executed by the court, which had already caused dissatisfaction among many generals and soldiers in the army.

As the successor, Zhong Jingming did not go through the normal transfer of power, but took office with an imperial edict.

In order to consolidate his power, he had to suppress the old and trusted subordinates supported by his predecessor and instead support the military families in Liaodong.

The original balance of power was suddenly broken. The Liaodong military families, which were already powerful, took over most of the important military positions in this round of power transfer.

The most direct consequence was that the embryonic form of a vassal state appeared in Liaodong. All middle and high-level generals who were not from Liaodong military families were excluded.

When the imperial court's decrees reached Liaodong, they had to gain their support before they could be implemented.

Human hearts will never be satisfied. The pleasant cooperation between the two parties in the past was because everyone’s interests were aligned.

After becoming powerful, the Liaodong military family wanted to gain more power. Realizing that the situation was out of control, Zhong Jingming was naturally unwilling to continue cooperating.

As the governor of Liaodong appointed by the imperial court, although his personal ability and moral integrity were not very good, he did not lack the most basic political sensitivity.

Supporting the emergence of a vassal state is something that neither the emperor nor the civil and military officials in the court can tolerate.

If they do not want to be purged by the imperial court, they must immediately take action to curb the Liaodong generals and cut off their path to becoming vassal states.

Just when he was about to make a change, he suddenly received news that the northern barbarians were besieging the capital. His original plan failed, so he could only choose to continue cooperating with these military families.

The emperor's edict to support the king arrived, but the military families in Liaodong had no interest in doing so.

Compared with a head-on confrontation with the main force of the Northern Tartars, they prefer to pick on the weak. They are rubbing their hands, ready to take advantage of the enemy's empty rear defense and make a fortune.

The interests of the small group were contrary to the emperor's edict, making Zhong Jingming's situation suddenly awkward.

He wanted to send troops to rescue the capital as the emperor wished, but his subordinates disagreed.

He had to choose between satisfying his younger brothers' wishes or being charged with disobeying their orders, so it was truly a dilemma for him.

Now the person he envied the most was Marquis Wuyang, who easily split up Guangxi Town without causing any ripples.

If it were Liaodong Town, anyone who dared to suggest a split would not be able to see the next day's sunrise.

"Commander-in-chief, as subjects, we must carry out His Majesty's decree.

However, the specific implementation method needs to be flexible.

Your Majesty has asked us to go to the capital to defend the king, so we should first withdraw the troops outside the Great Wall back inside, and then advance steadily towards the capital.

Considering the great strength of the Northern Barbarians, we should not engage in direct confrontation with them. This time, our support for the king should be based mainly on strategic deterrence.

After the troops arrive, we will unite with the reinforcements and attack the rebels together!"

General Shi Jingfeng said this very politely.

This method of dealing with the situation was the result of many internal discussions.

Liaodong Town was indeed similar to a vassal state, but their location was not good and they were heavily dependent on the support of the imperial court for money and grain.

If the two sides fell out and the imperial court cut off their supplies, the seemingly powerful Liaodong Town would fall apart in an instant.

Under this background, direct disobedience to the emperor's will is definitely not allowed to happen.

"General Shi, I'm afraid the imperial court won't be able to explain this efficiency.

Given our distance from the capital, we should arrive earlier than the reinforcements from Guangdong and Guangxi. If we delay like this, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain."

Governor Zhu Tianyu began to persuade.

Facing the enlarged Liaodong Town, no matter who is the official in Liaodong, they will be three points shorter.

There is no other provincial governor who can achieve this except this unlucky guy.

Deep down in his heart, he was full of resentment towards his boss Zhong Jingming.

According to previous political rules, the Liaodong governor always supported other factions to balance the power of the Liaodong military families.

The power of military generals is basically in a balanced state, so they, the civil officials, are able to issue orders and take the initiative in politics.

After being messed around by Zhong Jingming, the Liaodong military family became the only one in power, which was equivalent to giving the political initiative to the other party.

Now that the troops must be sent out, the words of the commander-in-chief and the governor have no effect, and we have to appease these military families.

"Governor, there is nothing wrong with explaining.

I think the imperial court is also aware of the difficulties we are facing.

The fact that we are willing to risk annihilation of our army is enough to prove our loyalty to the court.

Waiting for reinforcements from all directions to act together was a last resort.

If we could defeat the enemy alone, we would have destroyed the Northern Tartars long ago. Why would we have to wait until now? "

Shi Jingfeng responded unhappily.

It is not easy to accumulate wealth, especially when the court is financially short of money. Once you lose soldiers and generals, it will be a permanent loss.

It was almost impossible to expect the imperial court to allocate funds after the war to make up for their losses.

With the limited military budget, it was good enough to support Liaodong Town. If he wanted to train a new batch of servants, not only would he have to spend money on it, but it would also take up a lot of time.

In Shi Jingfeng's opinion, the Dayu Dynasty, which was constantly in internal turmoil, had already shown signs of the end of the dynasty.

At this time, everything is empty, only the strength in your hands is real.

As long as they have strong soldiers and horses, they can deal with it calmly no matter how the situation changes.

Once the elite troops in their hands are killed, the tragic stories of generals in history will be repeated in Dayu.

……

By constantly killing chickens to scare monkeys and shocking people, it was not until after the Lantern Festival that the provinces finally completed the task of raising money and grain.

Due to the delay in money and food, the time for the army to send out troops to support the king was passively extended, and Li Mu got a great advantage.

The extra two months allowed the originally tight procurement task to be completed easily without having to take on any responsibility.

The problem is that there is not enough funding!

The local government didn't dare to complain after helping to take the blame. It was public information that the money and grain had not been collected on time, and there was no way to make excuses.

Of course, they didn't bother to make excuses.

In order to raise money and food, they had already offended many people. They were also accused of failing to raise funds, and everyone was in a bad mood.

If it weren't for the great merits of serving the king and saving the emperor, which supported them in moving forward, many officials would probably have simply given up.

After all preparations were completed, Marquis Wuyang immediately ordered the entire army to attack without any hesitation.

The huge fleet set out from Guangdong, headed north along the coastline, and headed straight for the capital.

On the flagship deck, Li Mu was looking into the distance with a telescope in boredom.

This is not the first time that people have sailed across the sea, but traveling such a long distance at one time is still a feat in human history.

Before this, no army dared to send tens of thousands of troops to march directly from Guangdong and Guangxi to Hebei by sea.

In fact, before the army set out, someone proposed a land march.

The reason is: the situation at sea is changeable, and once encountering force majeure, it is likely to cause heavy losses to the army.

After weighing the pros and cons, we finally chose to go by sea.

The land route is indeed safe, but it takes too long. The theoretical marching time alone is as long as three or four months.

If there is special weather, the actual marching time will be extended, and it is not uncommon to take half a year.

By then, let alone rescuing the emperor, even if you go to collect the emperor's body, only a skeleton will be left.

Based on Li Mu's understanding of the officials in the court, the major granaries in the capital were not completely empty, but at least half of them were empty.

There are millions of soldiers and civilians in the city. Without sufficient food reserves, no matter how strong the city is, it cannot be defended.

Soon after the imperial edict was received, northern barbarian spies burned grain in the capital, and countless government warehouses were reduced to ashes in the flames of war.

Even without considering language and customs, the fact that a large number of northern barbarian spies had infiltrated the granary was shocking news.

After the incident, Emperor Yongning ordered an investigation, but all the officials involved committed suicide out of fear of punishment, which directly interrupted the investigation clues.

After being reinstated, the factory guards were still doing the same work as before, but their enthusiasm for solving cases had greatly decreased.

Especially when it comes to cases involving interest groups, they should be avoided if possible. Those who can pretend to be ignorant are definitely not smart.

"Admiral Li, you are in such a good mood!"

Hearing this familiar voice, Li Mu put down the telescope and turned around to remind him.

"My Lord, it's very windy outside, you should go back to the cabin and rest!"

When he first went to Yangzhou, he knew that Wuyang Hou was seasick. Although his condition improved later, he still could not bear such a long journey.

If the commander-in-chief dies unexpectedly while the army is on the way, it will be a big trouble.

With Marquis Wuyang at the front, he, as the admiral, would not stand out. The swordplay in the court was all supported by Marquis Wuyang, the commander-in-chief.

All the impeachments by the censors were directed at the commander-in-chief. If there is no one to shelter you from the wind and rain, you have to be a big tree yourself.

Li Mu knew his own limitations. Although he had made many military achievements, his foundation in the political arena was still too shallow to withstand any turmoil.

Even the Marquis of Wuyang did not have a deep foundation in the court. He was able to hold on to his position mainly because of his status as a relative by marriage.

Even if the various factions in the court launched an uprising, they had to consider the Queen Mother's reaction.

The fact that the harem is not allowed to interfere in government affairs does not mean that the harem has no influence on state affairs.

Success may not be possible, but bad things are definitely possible. Once the Queen Mother is thinking about you, your life will definitely not be good for the rest of your life.

"Don't worry, I can still handle a little bit of sea breeze.

Counting the days, we will arrive at Tianjin Port in half a month. The northern barbarians are plundering the land of Hebei, and Tianjin is also under their attack.

After landing, there will be a fierce battle. Do you have any plan to deal with it?"

Marquis Wuyang asked with concern.

In recent days, he has been cramming his knowledge about the Northern Barbarians, and finally came to the conclusion: these guys are not easy to mess with!
The most elite frontier troops were helpless against the northern barbarians. It was too difficult for the royal army to defeat the enemy.

(End of this chapter)