My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 77 The Final Decision

The one who jumped out to oppose was Zhao Zhenji, one of the fourth ministers of the cabinet.

Zhao Zhenji did not look at Su Ze who was speaking, but said to Gao Gong:

"Southern troops marching north often suffer from acclimatization problems. The cabinet has just decided to retain Wang Chonggu as governor of Xuanda. So, why not hand over this campaign of pacifying the Rong people directly to the Xuanda army? Why waste time and money sending troops north?"

Then Zhao Zhenji said to Zhang Juzheng, who was in charge of the Ministry of Revenue:

"The Ministry of Revenue will pay Xuan Da the rewards he owes. General Xuan Da will certainly obey orders."

After Zhao Zhenji finished speaking, Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng fell silent.

Needless to say, Gao Gong proposed to retain Wang Chonggu, and it was natural for the Xuanda army led by Wang Chonggu to be retained as well.

Zhao Zhenji also bombarded the Ministry of Revenue, pointing out that the Ministry of Revenue's failure to pay border rewards was the reason for Xuanda's lack of combat effectiveness.

Seeing Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng remain silent, Zhao Zhenji was ready to pursue the victory, when Su Ze suddenly said:
"Lord Zhao, this is wrong."

Everyone looked at Su Ze again, and Su Ze said:
"Tan Zili (Tan Lun) moved from Fujian and Zhejiang to fight in Guangdong and Guangxi, and Qi Jiguang was transferred from Shandong to Fujian. Both were able to adapt their armies to local conditions. If they were to say they were not acclimatized to the local climate, how could Mr. Tan be able to take charge of Ji and Liao? This is not a flaw of the southern troops, but an excuse for laziness!"

Su Ze tied Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang together to refute Zhao Zhenji's suggestion that the southern soldiers would not be able to adapt to the climate and environment when moving north. This was equivalent to tying his own recommendation to Zhang Juzheng's recommendation of Tan Lun.

As expected, Zhang Juzheng also nodded in agreement at this time:

"Exactly that."

Su Ze looked at Zhao Zhenji and continued:

"If Xuan Da could truly stabilize the border, why would the barbarians repeatedly bypass the defense line and threaten the capital? To pacify the barbarians, we need an army that is both offensive and defensive, not just a defensive army!"

"Lord Zhao also went to Xuanda in the past. During the reign of the previous emperor, when Qiu Luan was serving as the governor of Xuanda, he falsely reported the number of troops and embezzled military funds, which led to the Tatars invading the capital and causing the Gengxu Incident!"

"Today, the Ministry of Revenue is about to pay out the backlog of rewards, but how can we be sure we won't repeat the same mistakes? Back then, our enemies withheld soldiers' wages and enriched themselves, leaving the border troops starving and cold, and their morale collapsing! If Lord Zhao only cares about distributing money without caring who gets it, isn't that condoning corruption?"

Gao Gong frowned. Although Su Ze's words were an attack on Qiu Luan, they were actually also an attack on Wang Chonggu, the current general of Xuanda.

At this time, Su Ze pulled Wang Chonggu again and said:
"After Governor-General Wang Chonggu arrived, he diligently addressed the previous administration's longstanding abuses. While this somewhat stabilized the border situation, the barbarians were still able to march freely into prefectures and counties. This wasn't due to the prince's incompetence, but rather to the persistent problems of Xuanda. His generals were negligent in strengthening defenses, seeking only to 'defend the border flawlessly' in order to maintain their positions. How different is this from Qiu Luan's past practice of 'nurturing the enemy for his own benefit'?"

"Lord Zhao claims 'distributing the backlog of rewards will boost morale,' but the problem of the Xuanda Border Army not having enough money to pay its soldiers remains! If we distribute 300,000 silver coins today, after the generals and lieutenant generals have ripped them off, the soldiers will only receive a fraction of the money."

"Using rewards to motivate is like adding fuel to a fire; it only enriches corrupt officials but does not benefit the soldiers!"

When Zhang Juzheng heard this, he naturally nodded repeatedly.

This is actually the reason why the Ministry of Revenue owed Xuan Da the reward money.

Xuanfu and Datong reported victories every year, but every year the Mongols invaded inland counties and prefectures, and the smuggling trade on the Xuanfu border was rampant despite repeated bans. The corruption of the Xuanfu and Datong armies can be imagined.

Once this reward is paid out, the next reward amount will be even greater, and there may even be cases of killing innocent people to claim credit, or border troops deliberately provoking border conflicts in exchange for rewards.

There is no way around it. The local garrisons are so complicated and have been integrated with local powerful people for so long that they are no longer useful.

Seeing that Zhao Zhenji had no words to refute, Su Ze said:

"Back when General Qi was fighting the Japanese invaders in the southeast, his military pay was directly allocated by the Governor-General's Office of Zhejiang Province. Under the supervision of Tan Zili, no one dared to deduct a single cent!"

"If we leave Governor Wang in charge of Xuanda, and then use Qi Jiguang to lead the southern troops to form an independent army, we can create a check and balance. Qi's army will not be constrained by the old system of Xuanda, and its tactics, military discipline, and finances will all be directly managed by the central government. Only then can we avoid a repeat of the disaster that led to Qiu Luan's corruption and harmed the country!"

The ministers present who were familiar with military affairs nodded repeatedly, agreeing with Su Ze's speech.

Zhao Zhenji was refuted by Su Ze, but he did not get angry. Instead, he asked Su Ze in an unusually gentle tone: "Can you explain in more detail what Su Zilin just said about the military system?"

Su Ze looked at the abnormal Zhao Zhenji, not knowing what he was planning, but he still expressed his thoughts:
"Actually, these are all established systems. They were used by Governor Hu in the Southeast during his fight against the Japanese invaders. I am just copying what he said."

When Su Ze mentioned Hu Zongxian in public, everyone's expressions changed slightly.

This was of course what Su Ze did on purpose. After the meeting, the minutes would be sent to the emperor for reading. Su Ze also wanted to lay the groundwork for Hu Zongxian to overturn the verdict.

However, at this time, we still have to persuade the important ministers of the cabinet to implement the new system.

Su Ze continued:

"The southern troops' salaries were transferred directly from the Ministry of Revenue to the Qi army, supervised by the Military Affairs Department's Jieshizhong and the Metropolitan Censorate. Monthly salaries were recorded and signed, and the money was inspected in person. Rewards for killing a general and capturing a flag were paid out the same day."

"During the Southeast War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Qi Jiguang discovered that soldiers' eagerness to win the title of beheading would lead to delays in battle, and even lead to defeats due to the competition. Therefore, instead of counting beheadings, battle results were assessed by flag unit. Merits had to be approved and reported by Governor Wang, and rewards had to be distributed to the soldiers."

"A special account for pacifying the enemy was set up in the Ministry of Revenue. Every expenditure was published in the Yuefu New Newspaper for public disclosure. Soldiers who fought in battle and killed the enemy were also commended in the newspaper. Pensions and exemptions for the wounded and the dead were also announced in the newspaper."

Zhang Juzheng asked again:

"Can this method be extended to the Nine Borders?"

Su Ze shook his head and said:

"The nine frontiers have accumulated deep-seated problems. The implementation of this law will face too much resistance, and the imperial court cannot afford it."

The important cabinet ministers present also sighed.

The shortcomings of the Nine Frontier Military System were well known to all the important officials present. However, the Nine Frontiers were united as one, and even if a few governors were replaced, the result would be the same.

If the court encountered a person with better character like Wang Chonggu, it could still maintain the situation in the Nine Frontiers. But if it encountered a valuable person like Qiu Luan, the court would have to spend money and suffer a beating.

Gao Gong stood up and said with finality:

"Zilin, please write down everything you just said in the minutes. Your Majesty will review it and make a decision."

All the ministers nodded, even Zhao Zhenji, who had opposed it just now, fell silent. Su Ze knew that his recommendation of Qi Jiguang had succeeded.

Several important personnel appointments have been discussed, and the next step is the specific implementation level.

I have to say that the quality of the cabinet ministers in the Longqing Dynasty was really high.

The Minister of War, Huo Ji, was very professional. He proposed a very detailed and feasible plan for mobilizing troops to the garrisons along the way and allocating money and food.

Zhang Juzheng added several plans for raising funds for transporting military rations, saving some expenses.

Zhao Zhenji also proposed several supervision plans to prevent soldiers from disturbing people along the way.

Su Ze also witnessed the process of how the Ming Dynasty made decisions on troop deployments, which was considered to be a very important work experience.

The cabinet meeting was finally over. Su Ze handed the minutes to the ministers present for review. Everyone signed with their seals, and then the cabinet sent it to the palace for Emperor Longqing to review.

After the cabinet meeting ended, Su Ze looked at Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, thinking of his own task of improving the reputation of the cabinet elders. He planned to find an opportunity to get close to Gao and Zhang and strike while the iron is hot to improve their reputation.

But unexpectedly, Su Ze was stopped by someone unexpected.

I have saved up some manuscripts for the purpose of putting them on the shelves. I will update them for you once they are on the shelves.

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(End of this chapter)