The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 206: Dare to Reduce the Powers of the vassal states?

It seemed like Wanli had played a huge joke on all the civil and military officials in the court and on the princes from all over the country.

He had issued an edict requiring all the princes to hand over the land they had accepted as donations. Otherwise, their power would be reduced.

As a result, the princes in various places said that they would not accept the donated land.

He actually just let it go like that!

Isn't this a joke?
Why are you making such a fuss if you don't dare to reduce the power of the feudal lords?
Those civil servants with ulterior motives could not help but laugh and cry.

They are still thinking about which vassal king to replace as emperor.

As a result, more than a month had passed since the young emperor issued the decree, and all the ridiculous memorials from the princes in various places had been submitted, but this kid didn't react at all.

Aren’t they just being happy for nothing?

Does the young emperor dare to reduce the power of the feudal lords?

Wanli certainly dared to do so.

The reason he didn't do it was because he wasn't ready yet.

After Yongnianbo Wang Wei made the cart for harvesting rice and wheat, he was ready to start.

Early in the morning at about noon, he summoned Duke Peng Qi Jiguang and Hanlin Academy scholar Li Tingji to the study in the palace for a secret discussion.

Qi Jiguang and Li Tingji were puzzled when they saw him mysteriously asking Li Xuancheng to send all the eunuchs and guards more than ten feet away.

What do you want to do?
Qi Jiguang seemed to have a vague idea. He thought Wanli wanted to discuss the issue of recovering the former territory of the Beijing Xingdusi.

Li Tingji was completely confused.

When Wanli saw that the eunuchs and guards around him had gone away, he took out a stack of secret reports and handed it to Li Tingji, saying solemnly, "Er Zhang, take a look at this first."

When Li Tingji took the secret report and read it, he couldn't help but be shocked.

Dai Fan’s secret report!
His Majesty really wants to reduce the power of the feudal lords!
Reducing the power of the feudal lords is no joke. It will most likely lead to chaos in the world.

Those princes are not pushovers. If you dare to reduce their power, they will really resort to rebellion.

However, he was only secretly surprised and did not say a word.

He is not the kind of young man who makes a fuss about nothing. His mentor taught him to obey the Emperor in everything.

He does whatever the Emperor tells him to do.

When Qi Jiguang saw Li Tingji's expression, he wanted to see what was written in the secret report.

Wanli said solemnly, "Yuan Jing, are all the grain carts for the Shenjiying complete?"

The standard equipment of the Shenjiying now is the grain cart, which is used to transport people and food.

Originally, they wanted to cover the Shenjiying's food carts with iron armor and convert them into chariots.

Later they found that the chariot was too heavy after being covered with iron armor, and it could not carry much food after carrying five people.

Moreover, when fighting against the Northern Tartars, there was not much difference between chariots and food carts.

The Shenji Camp already has muskets and artillery. If the Northern Tartars dare to prepare rockets in front of them, they will probably be knocked down by them before the rockets are even lit.

Therefore, the Shenjiying was later equipped with grain carts as standard, and the task of transporting grain for the Jingying was generally given to the Shenjiying.

However, it seems useless now that all the grain carts are available.

Qi Jiguang said helplessly, "Your Majesty, the grain carts for the Shenji Camp have been fully equipped long ago, and we have also taken the newly made 8,000 grain carts to Nanyuan.

However, the Shenji Battalion does not have enough war horses to pull the grain carts. The Shenji Battalion currently has only about 20,000 war horses. Counting the horses ridden by officers and those pulling the artillery carts, there are simply no war horses to pull the 8,000 new grain carts."

This warhorse can only be borrowed for now.

Wanli pondered, "If we go to war, we will definitely have to leave tens of thousands of elite Jinyiwei here to protect the Queen and the others. The Jinyiwei won't need too many war horses just to guard here. You can borrow 8,000 war horses from the Jinyiwei to pull the grain carts."

Still borrowing war horses from the Embroidered Uniform Guard?
Qi Jiguang asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, I dare to ask, when will we set out for the battle?"

This time had to be estimated well. Their attack this time was not only to conquer the Northern Tartars, but they also had to prepare food and fodder first.

This food supply is unlucky.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "Yuan Jing, how much grain can 24,000 grain carts carry for about a thousand miles? How long will it take to go back and forth?"

We can't fully load the cargo for such a long distance. If we do, the war horses will be exhausted to death.

Qi Jiguang pondered, "Your Majesty, the grain carts of the Shenji Camp could originally carry 15 dan of grain each, but the distance is too far, and we have to bring people to ensure the safety of the grain, so we definitely can't carry 15 dan.

"I believe that a grain cart can carry at most 10 dan of grain, and 24,000 grain carts can carry at most 240,000 dan of grain in one trip. The round trip would take about eight or nine days to carry the grain, and six or seven days to return after unloading it, which would take about half a month in total."

How long will this take?
The grain that Dai Fan stored for the three major families in Puzhou alone was more than 20 million dan, plus their own original storage of more than 30 million dan. Moreover, once the grain was harvested this year, it would be more than 20 million dan!
The key point is that most of the fields annexed by the three major families in Puzhou are still in Pingyang Prefecture, which is the southwest corner of Shanxi. It is more than a thousand miles to transport them to Datong Town, and another five or six hundred miles to transport them north to Xuandewei, Tucheng, Maoerzhuang and Liangmatai.

It seems that the grain carts of Shenjiying can only transport grain from Datong Town to Xuandewei, Tucheng, Maoerzhuang and Liangmatai. As for the grain of Pingyang Prefecture, they can only think of other ways.

This time he could only bring 240,000 soldiers from the Beijing Camp and 10,000 soldiers from the Imperial Guard. Together with the troops from Datong Town, there were about 300,000 people. The food rations for half a year were about 1.8 million dan. At the speed of the Shenji Camp's food carts, it would take about eight or nine days to travel five or six hundred miles round trip.

In other words, the grain carts of the Shenjiying could only make about three trips a month, and each trip could carry 240,000 shi. To carry 1.8 million shi, they would have to make eight trips, which would take more than two months.

They also have to take over the former site of the Beijing Xingdusi this year and build a city there to garrison.

Although wood, stone, and even red bricks had been prepared long ago, it still took time to build the Acropolis. Even if all the materials were available, it would take at least two or three months for 10,000 people to build an Acropolis that could accommodate 10,000 people.

Moreover, they can only repair it until November at the latest, by which time the outside of the Great Wall will be covered with ice and snow.

If we work backwards based on this timeline, they would have to attack the three guards of Doyan in September, and taking into account the time required to transport food and fodder, they would have to start transporting it in mid-June.

He also had to weaken the Dai vassal state first before he could get food, and this would take time.

Wanli pondered for a while, then said decisively: "We will attack on the first day of June."

what?
So early!
Once they leave, they won't be able to come back for several months or even half a year.

Qi Jiguang was stunned for a moment, then asked carefully: "Your Majesty, I'm afraid the grain planted by the Beijing camp will not be harvested."

I have already considered this.

Wanli sighed slightly and said, "This will only make things difficult for the families of the soldiers in the Beijing camp. I have prepared special carts for them to harvest rice and wheat. This way, during the harvest, a woman or child should be able to replace a young and strong man."

Are there also carts specifically for harvesting rice and wheat?

Okay, if His Majesty says it’s possible, then it’s possible.

Qi Jiguang pondered, "Your Majesty, I must quickly go and borrow a horse from the Imperial Guards."

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Well, I have already told the captain of the Jinyiwei who led the team. You just need to send the grain cart to bring the people over and ride the horses to Nanyuan."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang hurriedly bowed and took his leave.

At this time, Wanli said to Li Tingji, who was standing there in a daze, "Er Zhang, you should have seen that I want to reduce the power of the Dai clan.

There were many problems with Daifan, including the Jiajing Dynasty and General Chuan Fengguo's alliance with Altan Khan in rebellion, obstruction of land surveys, collusion with the three rebel families of Puzhou, and growing grain for the northern barbarians, etc.

You should write a special issue of the court gazette specifically accusing Dai Fan of his crimes and publish it in early June. Is that okay?"

His Majesty really wants to reduce the power of the feudal lords!

Upon hearing this, Li Tingji nodded solemnly and said, "No problem."

Wanli nodded slightly and then gave detailed instructions: "This matter cannot be leaked before publication. Be careful when writing the article so that no one can see it. Also, when printing, let all the craftsmen live in the Yangxin Palace. Let them go after publication."

This is similar to preparing for the provincial and palace examinations.

Li Tingji bowed repeatedly and said, "I understand."

Next, we have to consider how to transport the grain from Daifan and where to transport it.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "Uncle, pass on the imperial decree. Order Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, and Pianguan Town to mobilize all grain carts and wait for orders. Order the Navy Commander-in-Chief Deng Zilong to come to the audience."

(End of this chapter)