The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"It seems that we can't wait any longer, we must follow Li Chengliang's suggestion and launch an early move to get rid of Wang Gao.

Wei Guangde had already read the memorial and knew Li Chengliang's idea, which was to go to war directly.

He had no idea that the situation in Liaodong would change so much within a month of paying tribute to the Court.

Wang Gao unexpectedly took the initiative to attack the Ming army, and he won a great victory. If his current arrogance cannot be dispelled as soon as possible, it will only become more and more arrogant.

Hearing that Wei Guangde also planned to use troops against Liaodong in advance, Zhang Juzheng was not surprised. In fact, he also had this idea.

There cannot be such forces that resist the imperial court around the Ming Dynasty.

Once it exists, it must be eradicated with thunderous force to avoid future troubles.

If in the last years of Jiajing, Wang Gao only made sneak attacks and made small troubles, now he dared to openly attack and kill the Ming army. This is unacceptable to any court.

"What are you going to do?"

Zhang Juzheng was waiting to see how Wei Guangde was going to deploy his troops. Previously, he had planned to send Qi Jiguang north to Liaodong to help in the war.

Launching the offensive in advance, some preparations have not been made, but I don't know whether Wei Guangde will also adjust.

Wei Guangde sat and thought for a long time, and then said: "Let me give Zhang Xueyan a message first, and ask him to contact the leaders of the Jurchen tribes as soon as possible, put pressure on them, state their interests, and ask them not to choose to help the traitor Wang Gao during the war.

At the same time, Qi Jiguang, the chief military officer of Ji Town, was ordered to lead 10,000 troops to board a ship from Tianjin to Gaizhou, and then sail to Gushan Fort. Li Chengliang was ordered to mobilize 30,000 soldiers and horses from Liaodong to garrison Xianshan Fort.

Waiting for Governor Zhang to finish appeasing the Jurchen tribes, and make arrangements to prevent the Tuman tribe from advancing eastward.

When everything was ready, the two men were ordered to lead their headquarters to advance in two directions, directly into Wang Gao's lair, and wipe out all the lairs. "

"But the imperial court originally planned to use thunderous weapons on all the Jurchen tribes who disobeyed. If they do this, I'm afraid it won't be possible to touch others."

Zhang Juzheng frowned slightly. He did not expect that Wei Guangde would consider appeasing other Jurchen tribes before attacking Wang Gao's tribe.

"Haha, among the Jurchen tribes, Wang Gao is the most active. As long as the Wang Gao tribe is completely eliminated, the vacated power will inevitably be competed by other tribes.

At that time, it may lead to fighting among various Jurchen tribes.

At that time, maybe the weaker party will take the initiative to ask the court to intervene in the mediation. "

Wei Guangde replied thoughtfully.

Regarding Wei Guangde's words, Zhang Juzheng disagreed and said: "But what if the Jurchen tribes don't fight each other?

We have just destroyed Wang Gao's tribe, and all the tribes are now frightened. They may not dare to use weapons at this time. "

"Of course they don't dare to deal with the imperial court, haha"

Wei Guangde smiled and continued: "But if it is against the same clan, that may not be the case.

Besides, even if they really don't want to fight, can't we find a way to force them to fight? "

The meaning of Wei Guangde's words was already obvious. Even if the Jurchens did not fight among themselves, the imperial court would still add fire to them and make them fight.

"Killing the Jurchens with their heads rolling and driving them back to the north, I thought about it. If I did this, it might hurt Tianhe. If not, I would give them the hilt of the knife and let them fight among themselves.

From now on, it was customary for the Jurchen tribes to fight each other, with the imperial court mediating in the middle. The ministers of the cabinet, the governor of Liaodong, and the general army only need to know about it, and they must implement this policy.

As long as the growth of the Jurchen tribe is controlled, once a tribe's strength surges, other tribes must be designed to attack them and weaken their strength. Liting can rest. "

Wei Guangde said, "If the imperial court can use weapons, it should try its best to use weapons."

Wei Guangde gave up the idea of ​​chasing Jurchen tribes from the north, which actually came about after seeing the memorials of Zhang Xueyan and Liu Tai.

Regardless, they painted the war in such a tragic light that Wei Guangde had to consider the attitudes of other scholars.

If Liaodong really did what he thought before, it's hard to say how it would be recorded in the history books, but those kind-hearted scholars probably wouldn't leave him with a good reputation.

"It just so happens that Yu Dayou led the navy to Huai'an this time and took the rations to Gaizhou. There is no need to worry about insufficient rations for this expedition."

Because there was no plan to start a war against Wang Gao in the first half of the year, the military rations that the court planned to allocate to Liaodong were not shipped, thinking that they would wait until the weather warmed up to facilitate transportation.

However, because Yu Dayou brought a huge naval fleet, he was now able to deliver not only military rations, but also people, and by the way, Qi Jiguang's troops and horses were sent to Liaodong.

Zhang Juzheng thought for a while and nodded, "Then just act according to your plan. Now that we're here, it's up to you to write a note to the military department and let them start preparations.

Do you want to call someone over and discuss it further? "

"No need, I'll go to the Ministry of War in person and make arrangements before returning home to rest."

When presiding over the examination, Wei Guangde is supposed to have three days off, but it seems that this time will be shortened.

After saying this, Wei Guangde said goodbye and left the first assistant's room.

After leaving the palace gate and getting on his sedan chair, he just said, "Go to the Ministry of War."

Then, he lowered the sedan curtain, leaned on the soft and warm chair, closed his eyes and meditated.

Wei Guangde is not as relaxed as he looks now. After all, he is presiding over a war.

According to the previous information from Zhang Xueyan and Li Chengliang, although Wang Gao's tribe only has a thousand soldiers and horses, there are nearly 5,000 young men in the clan who can easily assemble. If those old and young who can handle swords and guns are included, the number is 10,000. People can still make it happen.

The key point is that the Jurchens' cities were all located in the mountains of the north. Inconvenient transportation made it difficult for the Ming army to carry out expeditions.

Once the Ming army starts this battle, it must end it as soon as possible. Otherwise, if it drags on for a long time, it will definitely cause great harm to the court.

In addition, Zhang Xueyan's side is also very important, that is, when the army besieged Wang Gao's tribe, other Jurchen tribes stood aside and watched.

Otherwise, the estimated 40,000 troops may not be enough.

Wei Guangde's sudden visit to the Ministry of War was really sudden, but when the Ministry of War officials reacted, they felt that it was not unexpected.

After all, Wei Guangde has always been in charge of the military affairs of the cabinet.

The defeat of Liaodong has been reported in the capital, but after all, it is a war thousands of miles away, and the capital has not been affected at all. That is to say, the Ministry of War is planning how to respond.

Wei Guangde went directly to Tan Lun to check in, and explained the arrangements made by him in the cabinet again, and also asked him to read the details to see if there were any omissions.

"It is right to let Zhang Xueyan inform the Jurchen tribes. Since the imperial court wants to completely eradicate Wang Gao, it cannot create extraneous problems and let Wang Gao drag the entire Jurchen tribe into this war."

Tan Lun nodded slightly after hearing Wei Guangde's plan, but he also calculated the time in his mind.

Even if the imperial court is now operating at full capacity and preparing for the Liaodong war, it will take about two months for the army to arrive and besiege Wang Gao's tribe.

After all, mobilizing troops and transporting food takes time.

Even if the fight actually starts, I'm afraid it will be delayed until May.

But it just so happened that that season was quite conducive to the use of troops in Liaodong.

Afterwards, Wei Guangde planned to make inciting infighting among the Jurchen tribes an unwritten and permanent rule for the imperial court in Liaodong. If the provocation failed and the Jurchen tribes began to unite, they could only use force to carry out thunderous strikes.

"This matter is serious. I'm afraid it will have to wait for a few years. Your Majesty is getting older and it will be easier to settle it after passing the imperial court."

After hearing Wei Guangde's plan, Tan Lun frowned at first, and then reminded Wei Guangde.

"Imperial?"

Wei Guangde was stunned for a moment, and then realized the meaning of Tan Lun's words.

Indeed, for more than a year, when several of their cabinet ministers were dealing with government affairs, they almost forgot about the one in the palace.

Although the policies formulated were all public-spirited, Wei Guangde also knew that Zhang Juzheng would be in serious trouble in the future, and the reason for this was probably the little emperor's unwillingness.

Although there is no record of Zhang Juzheng bullying the young emperor Zhu Yijun in later generations, these things would never have been written down.

Did Emperor Wanli have no face?

Regarding his subsequent attitude towards the descendants of the Zhang family, one can only imagine how much anger he had swallowed at Zhang Juzheng's hands when he was young, before he vented so crazy after his death.

With a slight nod, Wei Guangde accepted Tan Lun's kindness.

Indeed, there was no need to fight with the emperor. He was already thinking about telling the matter to the young emperor Zhu Yijun during his next lecture, and by the way, he would also introduce Chenghua Liting to the young emperor.

It seems that Zhu Yijun is still very interested in these things.

"By the way, you just came out of Gongyuan, do you know what happened during the Lunar Dynasty?"

Tan Lun asked again.

Tan Lun knew about the announcement of the Gongyuan results today, so he was not surprised to see Wei Guangde coming to the Ministry of War.

But he was also curious, whether Wei Guangde found out about this in the Gongyuan, or whether he went to the cabinet to find out when he came out.

"No, as soon as I left the Tribute Courtyard, I was stopped by people from the cabinet, so I went back to the cabinet first, and now I'm here."

Wei Guangde said casually: "Why, are there any big things happening in the DPRK during this period?"

"Except for the matters in Liaodong, there is nothing else. The chief assistant is writing to ask your Majesty to summon Lian Nengguan."

Tan Lun smiled.

"An honest official?"

Wei Guangde was startled for a moment, then seemed to remember something, and smiled: "Uncle Zhang is really capable of remembering all these things."

Lian Nengguan literally means an honest and capable minister.

But in the Ming Dynasty, it actually meant foreign official.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang often summoned foreign officials to give him food and visited the people's sufferings whenever they came to Beijing to perform affairs. Even if there are county magistrates and historians who are honest and can love the people, they will be specially sent to reward them.

It can be understood that Zhu Yuanzhang understood the public sentiment through direct contact and conversations with local officials.

This gradually became a system, and during the Xuande, Chenghua, and Hongzhi years, such banquets were still often held.

Of course, when the emperor became Zhengde and Jiajing, such things would naturally become less common.

Emperor Zhengde's interest was not in civil affairs. He preferred the bizarre and military, leaving full civil power to the cabinet.

Emperor Jiajing also left the military and political power to the cabinet and concentrated on practicing by himself, just holding the handle of the knife in his hand.

As a result, the emperor's special activities of summoning foreign ministers, giving banquets, and asking about the sufferings of the people almost disappeared for decades.

This was also the reason why Wei Guangde was stunned for a moment when Tan Lun suddenly mentioned it. In fact, such a thing had never happened to him since he entered the court.

"Who has your Majesty summoned?"

Wei Guangde asked jokingly at this time.

There is no way, the emperor is too young, if you let him have contact with foreign ministers, what can you ask?

Maybe he didn't know that this was an opportunity to learn about the situation outside the capital, and he probably just thought it was a kind of etiquette in the palace.

Anyway, Wei Guangde doesn't think Zhang Juzheng's doing this has any practical significance.

Even if he had to do it, it wouldn't be too late to wait until Zhu Yijun was fifteen or sixteen years old.

"Summoned 20 people including Xie Pengju, Zhejiang's political envoy from Zuo, and gave them rewards, silver coins, wine and food.

It was just a few days ago that they were summoned at Huangji Gate according to etiquette. "

Tan Lun said.

After staying at the Ministry of War for a while and arranging things, Wei Guangde got up.

"As a rule, I have three days to rest. Today I was delayed for most of the day, so I will leave first.

If anything happens, come directly to the house to see me. "

Wei Guangde said to Tan Lun before going out.

When Wei Guangde returned home, naturally many people in his family came out to greet him.

When they arrived in the backyard, Xu Jianglan had already ordered his servants to prepare hot water for Wei Guangde to wash up.

Although you don't have to worry about food and drink in the Gongyuan, it is still not as convenient as at home, but there is no place for you to take a bath or anything.

The only thing I could do was wipe myself with hot water and change clothes directly.

For Wei Guangde, it was very uncomfortable not to take a shower for almost a month.

After taking a shower and changing clothes, I finally felt comfortable.

Wearing clean clothes and eating sumptuous food and wine under the service of his wife, Wei Guangde still had the time to ask Dalang and Erlang about their studies while he was away from home, and memorized some articles before letting them go.

In the study of Wei Mansion, Wei Guangde was sitting on the chair of the imperial master, with Zhang Ji standing in front of him.

"Tell me, I saw you come twice during dinner. Do you have something to report?"

"Master, I'm afraid Tao Dalin and Tao Yuchen are dying. Look, do you want to go and have a look?"

Zhang Ji asked in a low voice.

"ah?"

Wei Guangde was shocked after hearing Zhang Ji's words.

Tao Dalin had a fairly good relationship with him. He was ranked second in that subject, but his official career could not be compared with Wei Guangde's. Now he is the right minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and a bachelor's degree student at the Hanlin Academy.

Starting from the first year of Wanli, Tao Dalin also took over the job of giving lectures to Emperor Wanli, filling the role of lecturer on feast days.

"I heard about the cold at the end of last year, and I seem to have been recovering from the illness since then. How could this happen?"

Wei Guangde was very curious. You must know that Tao Dalin is not old now, he should be less than fifty.

"I don't know about this. I heard that it may be the root cause of the disease caused by reading books in the early years. Anyway, it's just that I worked too hard. Now the medicine is ineffective."

Zhang Ji could only say.

"Let's arrange it. I'll go over and have a look later."

When Wei Guangde heard this, he shook his head slightly.

The ancient imperial examination was an opportunity for ordinary people to change their destiny. Li Yu jumped over the dragon gate.

It's a pity that the imperial examination is really difficult, with thousands of troops crossing the single-plank bridge.

This is because the people are not enlightened. If they were enlightened and there were more scholars, the competition would be even more fierce. It is no wonder that many gentry would use crooked methods in the imperial examinations.

"One more thing, sir, Wan Gong has been impeached."

Zhang Ji agreed and then said.

"Who impeached him?"

Wei Guangde was a little surprised. Wan Gong knew that fellow countryman Zhu Heng had sent him to build rivers and dams the year before last. He was said to have done a good job, but he didn't expect to be impeached.

"Chen Tang, the Censor of Huguang Road, Nanjing."

Zhang Ji replied.

"Go down and check on him and see what's going on."

Wei Guangde just ordered lightly. (End of chapter)