Fu Shanhe

Chapter 544 The Tatars' Strategic Divergence
Nanjing City.

With Li Mu's departure, the cabinet ministers who filled his positions have long lost their former vigor and ambition.

The imperial court has held three meetings to discuss the "dispute over the return of the capital," but has yet to achieve the desired result.

What appears to be a difference in political views actually exposes their lack of control over the court.

Logically speaking, with the emperor being young and the cabinet assisting in governing, it should have been a strong cabinet.

The reality is quite the opposite. Because they lack sufficient foundation in the officialdom and their own prestige is not enough to convince the public, they have become the weakest cabinet in the Great Yu Dynasty in the last ten years or so.

In the past, no trouble arose because Li Mu, as the chief minister, kept things under control.

With military and political power firmly in hand, those below naturally wouldn't dare to cause trouble.

After all, if you anger Li Mu, he really might kill you.

The situation has changed since the current administration was led by civil servants.

The local governors and viceroys who dared to defy the central government did not achieve this overnight; they all tested the waters step by step.

If the cabinet had been more assertive and taken decisive action to suppress any emerging problems, none of the subsequent series of mishaps would have occurred.

The weakness of the cabinet emboldened them.

After repeated tests, things have finally escalated to this point.

This should have been a time for the court officials to unite and suppress local political forces, but instead, chaos erupted within the court itself.

Due to their respective interests, the officials in the court were unable to reach a consensus on the issue of returning the capital to its former location for a long time.

The pressure from below, coupled with instability within the court, placed immense pressure on the cabinet from public opinion.

"Your Excellency, they are going too far. We can't let this continue!"

An Jingzhi said indignantly.

The "dispute over the return of the capital" is escalating and has begun to shake their foundations.

If this isn't resolved quickly, the underlings we've just gathered will also run into trouble.

Internal unrest is more damaging than external shocks.

Driven by shared interests, the cabinet ministers, who were previously acting independently, are now finally showing signs of banding together.

However, it is difficult to reach an agreement on the allocation of core discourse power in the short term.

The alliance is intertwined with confrontation.

This casts a shadow over this temporary political alliance.

"Lord An is right. The chaos in the court has indeed reached its end."

However, while it's easy to deal with the officials in the central government, what about the governors and viceroys in the local areas?
Especially the border troops and the Beijing garrison, they also support returning the capital!

Wan Huaijin immediately stated his position and took the opportunity to raise a question.

Suppressing the officials in the court is easy; the Six Ministries are under their control. Only with the combined efforts of the cabinet can the lower-ranking officials not cause any trouble.

It's easy to get things done at the central level, but difficult at the local level.

In theory, the imperial court could adjust the appointment of local governors and viceroys.

In practice, there are many more issues to consider.

Replacing governors and provincial treasurers is easy; the difficulty lies in choosing the right person to send to take control of the situation in a short period of time.

The fact that local governors and viceroys dared to cause trouble was by no means simply a matter of acting on impulse.

Without the support of local gentry and the endorsement of local officials, these governors and viceroys dared not defy the imperial court.

It is hard to believe that local governors and viceroys could be replaced so drastically without any apparent fault on their part.

Some local governors and viceroys achieved results in their posts, and if the imperial court made personnel adjustments, they would be promoted.

Even if it's a promotion in name only, you still have to give someone a position that matches their status.

Besides, someone needs to fill the vacant spot.

In peacetime, as long as local governors and viceroys do not cause trouble, they can perform their duties in an orderly manner.

The current situation is special, with many provinces facing various pressures, placing very high demands on the abilities of governors and provincial treasurers.

In a short period of time, they couldn't find enough suitable candidates among their underlings.

In the Great Yu Dynasty, one could be corrupt and wicked, but one could never be stupid.

Compared to local governors, the military is a much more troublesome party.

The demands of the Beijing garrison and the border troops were essentially to protect their own interests, which is why they invoked the political pretext of "returning the capital to Beijing".

To get them to abandon this political slogan, we need to offer tangible benefits.

Because of the suppression of the Liaodong rebels, several commanders were appointed from the border army, who were then assigned to local areas as high-ranking officials in charge of the military affairs of a province.

With the imperial power in decline, suppressing the rise of military generals was also a core task of the cabinet.

The imperial court would certainly not allow border generals to take up local posts.

Even when the Beijing garrison wanted to go to Nanjing to protect the emperor, they refused, let alone when border generals were assigned to local posts.

Besides, without these people holding the line, who would defend against the threat from the Northern barbarians?

If the military cannot satisfy the people's demands and continue to chant the political slogan of returning the capital to the capital, it will continue to do so.

Despite the serious hidden dangers of returning the capital to the city, scholars across the land were still convinced by this approach.

In particular, the gentry and officials in the north were jumping up and down, urging the court to return to the capital as soon as possible.

"Your Excellency, promote one or two local governors to the capital, and then reshuffle the other governors and provincial treasurers."

Being transferred from a remote mountainous province to a prosperous region can be considered a promotion.

There are no problems with the procedures, so even if they have their own ideas, they won't be too resistant.

After moving to a new location, it takes a lot of effort just to control the local situation.

Only when they are all busy will they not have time to bother us.

As for the demands of the Beijing garrison and the border troops, let's put them off for now.

They're clamoring to return the capital to Beijing, so let them go and garrison the capital, overseeing the reconstruction of Shuntian Prefecture.

"As long as they can utilize the terrain to build a new defensive line in the north, ensuring the capital is not threatened by the enemy, we will return the capital to Beijing!"

He Zhengze was the first to make the suggestion.

Solving problems by reassigning officials was a common tactic used by the Ministry of Personnel.

Whenever signs of local factions forming cliques appeared, the Ministry of Personnel would promptly intervene and transfer the relevant personnel to other areas.

Even the most powerful governors and viceroys will lose significant influence once they leave their long-established strongholds, thus losing their ability to challenge the imperial court.

These local officials are simply making a fuss because they felt resentful for not getting a share of the pie in the previous political reshuffle.

Essentially, they were still loyal to the Great Yu Dynasty; the conflict was an internal contradiction within the bureaucratic group and had not reached the point where it had to be a life-or-death struggle.

A light tap is enough; there's no need to kill someone with a single blow.

"Lord He's suggestion is good, and I fully agree with it."

However, in addition to these measures, the generals of the Beijing garrison and the border troops should also be reassigned.

No large-scale relocation is needed; minor personnel adjustments can be made within their own ranks.

According to the laws of the imperial court, generals should be rotated in their posts.

As long as we strictly follow the rules, they probably won't be able to say anything.

Shi Qingchen added accordingly.

Compared to He Zhengze's conservative approach to military matters, his suggestions were clearly more progressive.

The system of rotating generals was originally a preventative measure adopted by Emperor Taizu to limit the power of military generals.

In the early years of the founding of the nation, there were many arrogant and fierce soldiers everywhere, so there was naturally no problem in carrying out the plan.

As time went by, the Great Yu Empire gradually declined, and the situation gradually changed.

While the system of rotating generals limited the rise of military commanders, it also created the awkward situation where soldiers were unaware of their generals and generals were unaware of their soldiers.

Border troops, in particular, were frequently threatened by foreign enemies.

Newly appointed generals who are not aware of the situation are prone to problems.

After making several mistakes, the imperial court had to re-examine the system.

In order to ensure the army's combat effectiveness, the rotation of border generals was first suspended by special permission, and then the policy was extended to other regions.

In the last ten years or so, the system of rotating military officers has become virtually non-existent.

Rules are rules; they don't disappear just because they aren't enforced.

When needed, it can still be picked up and used again.

However, in practice, in order to reduce the impact on the combat effectiveness of the troops, the rotation is limited to minor internal adjustments.

Even so, once the main generals are reshuffled, the control over the troops will still decrease in the short term.

……

The Tatar royal court.

"Any news about Shi Jingfeng?"

Hugjil asked with concern.

The surrender of the remnants of the Liaodong army was a significant boost to the Tatar Kingdom.

To demonstrate their sincerity to the world, they did not dismantle the Liaodong Army this time. The reason they were able to bring the remnants of the Liaodong Army together was because they were leaderless, and none of the generals were willing to submit to anyone else.

Against this backdrop, Shi Jingfeng, who was on the run, became a significant hidden danger.

The generals who remained behind were all his loyal followers, and even after suffering defeats, they still wielded considerable influence within the Liaodong army.

If Shi Jingfeng were to suddenly come seeking refuge one day, it would put him in a very difficult position.

Keeping Shi Jingfeng around is to influence the Tatar royal court's control over the Liaodong army.

Killing Shi Jingfeng would further alienate the Liaodong army and the Tatar royal court.

The best option, of course, is to strike first and prevent Shi Jingfeng from returning to Liaodong alive.

"Great Chanyu, those guys from the Shi family mysteriously disappeared after crossing the Yellow River."

Not only are we looking for them, but the Great Yu court is also searching for them, and so far there has been no lead.

Perhaps they lived in anonymity, hidden in the mountains and forests, or perhaps they died in some inconspicuous corner.

"The northern provinces of the Yu Dynasty are in too much chaos, with peasant uprisings everywhere, making it difficult for our people to conduct in-depth investigations."

Erd explained with a troubled expression.

After the collapse of the Shanxi merchants, their intelligence network within the Great Wall suffered a severe blow.

For security reasons, many intelligence agents communicate through single-line communication; if one link fails, the entire line is broken.

Without those traitorous Shanxi merchants, it would have been far too difficult for them to establish an intelligence network on their own!

As a result, intelligence funding has increased several times over, but the achievements are not as good as before.

In order to cope with the pressure from within the royal court, much of the intelligence was based on hearsay, supplemented by reasonable speculation.

In any case, the royal court's higher-ups couldn't verify any information about the Yu Dynasty's internal affairs, so they could just bluff their way out of it and no one would know.

But this kind of job, where you specifically need to find someone, can't be done half-heartedly!
Whether Shi Jingfeng is dead or alive is unclear even to the Great Yu court, so they are even less certain.

"You want to see people alive, you want to see corpses when you're dead."

"Send people to keep a close watch. Once Shi Jingfeng is found, sell him to the Great Yu court. He must not be allowed to return to Liaodong alive!"

Hugjil reiterated this point.

The best Shi Jingfeng is the one who is dead.

In order to achieve the desired effect of "spending a fortune to buy bones," the Tatar royal court found it inconvenient to directly target Shi Jingfeng, so using someone else to do the dirty work became the only option.

As a "regicide," Shi Jingfeng's reputation within the Dayu territory was already notorious.

Every official in the court, both civil and military, wanted to use his head to pave their own path to power.

As soon as he dares to show his face, Yu's troops will rush in from all directions to snatch his head.

"Rest assured, Great Chanyu, if Shi Jingfeng dares to show his face, it will be his death!"

Erd immediately assured him.

Perhaps due to his advanced age, his own Great Chanyu has become increasingly difficult to serve.

In the past, such matters would be handled by giving instructions once, but now they keep nagging.

The repeated emphasis put immense pressure on him, the head of the intelligence department, who feared making any oversights.

Being overly anxious and fearful does nothing to benefit one's work.

Unless Shi Jingfeng has lost his mind, he wouldn't go to Liaodong at a time like this.

There are plenty of people who want to gain credit by taking someone else's life; hiding in the deep mountains and forests to avoid trouble is the best choice.

Even if they were to appear, they should do so in a different guise, not as regicides or traitors.

"Great Chanyu, I've heard there's quite a commotion within the Yu Dynasty. Shouldn't we take this opportunity to send them a generous gift?"

Nichileg said with great interest.

The Yu Dynasty cavalry rampaged through the area a few days ago, causing considerable trouble for the Tatar Kingdom.

To avoid the enemy's advance, they were forced to establish a maritime boundary and prohibit access to the sea.

After much trouble, they finally got rid of the threat of the Yu Dynasty cavalry, but the Tatars paid a heavy price.

Not only did they lose their fertile coastal fields, they were also forced to suspend trade with the Great Yu Dynasty.

There was no other way; the north of the Yu Dynasty was in chaos due to war, and the overland trade routes had long been cut off.

Now, the enemy has blocked the sea routes, directly cutting off trade between the Tatar Kingdom and the Dayu Kingdom.

Without supplies from Dayu, the Tatar Kingdom was also struggling.

The biggest victim, of course, was the neighboring Goguryeo Kingdom.

Among the Tatars' neighbors, the richest was the Da Yu Empire, the poorest were the Gui Fang tribes, and the Goguryeo Kingdom was somewhere in between.

The wealthiest of the Dayu states imposed an economic blockade on them.

The poor underlings couldn't be squeezed out of them, so the main approach was to win them over.

In order to feed their people, the people of Goguryeo had no choice but to suffer.

However, the Goguryeo Kingdom was ultimately a small kingdom, and the peninsula was not a wealthy land, so the resources that could be plundered were limited.

If you want to eat well, you should go to Dayu.

"inappropriate!"

“Nichileg Wanhu, now is not the time to cause trouble.”

After the Liaodong garrison rebellion, the actual capital of the Yu Dynasty became Nanjing. At this time, the Yu Dynasty was still debating whether to return the capital to Beijing.

For the Great Yu Dynasty, the devastated northern lands have now become a heavy burden.

If we send troops now, they might just hand over the devastated north to us and retreat to the southeastern half of the country.

We have no navy, so even if we conquer the northern lands, we will be powerless to advance south.

Without the mess in the north, they would have had more money and supplies to invest in military development.

We, who took over the northern evacuation for them, became the ones who were taken advantage of.

Not only could they not obtain money and food from the local area, they also had to send troops to help them suppress the northern rebels.

After ten years of recuperation, their young emperor had come of age, and it was the perfect time for them to launch a northern expedition against the Central Plains.

Interior Minister Sarina hurriedly objected.

The fact that the Great Yu court could not obtain money and grain from the north does not mean that they were incapable of doing so.

However, a rule established purely through violence is destined to be unstable.

Unless you wipe out nine out of ten houses, rebels will keep popping up.

However, even if they conquered the northern lands, they would not be able to strengthen their national power.

If we cannot seize the Dayu territory in one fell swoop by marching south, we will be slowly worn down by the enemy who have the money and supplies at our disposal.

"Minister, you overestimate those Yu people."

All they do is fight amongst themselves; they have no time to work hard and govern well!
Do you believe that if we seize the Central Plains, we can make them obediently pay tribute?

Nichileg said with a disdainful look.

If Li Mu were to become the chief minister of Da Yu, he would have to be more cautious.

But this only person who posed a threat to the Tatar Kingdom actually left the center of power and went to serve as the Protector-General of Annam.

The Yu Dynasty, which couldn't even retain its talented people, was not worth worrying about at all.

"Do not believe!"

Sarina answered calmly.

The Great Yu and the Great Song were fundamentally different, especially when it came to dealing with foreign affairs.

When they raised troops in Liaodong, their initial demand was limited to the Dayu Dynasty recognizing their independent status.

They would even accept submission and tribute.

To save face for the empire, the Great Yu court resolutely rejected their peace talks and launched a siege war.

After repeatedly defeating Yu's army, they proposed the condition of seizing control of Liaodong, but were rejected again.

Even after Emperor Yongning's failed campaign to defend the capital, the Yu Dynasty did not back down on the Liaodong issue.

It wasn't that the officials of Dayu were warlike; it was simply that the social atmosphere had undergone a fundamental change compared to that of the Song Dynasty.

The rise of the Tatar Kingdom was achieved by stepping on the Great Yu, and the hatred between the two sides had long been ingrained in their bones.

Anyone who dares to propose peace talks with them will be drowned in spittle from both the government and the public.

Even officials who advocated abandoning Jiaozhi and Mongolia back then are now being scrutinized by scholars and labeled as traitors.

Their descendants were so ashamed that they couldn't even go out and face people.

With past examples already laid out before them, which of those reputation-conscious scholars would dare to defy public opinion?

It's just war, let's just do it.

A review of the series of wars between the Dayu and the Tatars reveals that both sides had their victories and defeats, and there was no one-sided situation.

Holding onto half of the territory is a sure thing; there's absolutely no reason to back down.

"you……"

(End of this chapter)