prosperous age

Chapter 509 Chapter 508
After the first month of the lunar year, the major yamen in the capital have resumed normal work. Various memorials and official documents from the two capitals and thirteen provinces were sent to the capital, and then distributed to each yamen for processing. Finally, the ministries reported the resolution to the emperor. Except for memorials, which have to be faced directly, and will be issued after processing.

This is the mode of operation of the capital's officialdom.

The Ming Dynasty has been under the empire for more than a hundred years. It is reasonable to say that the world should be peaceful and peaceful. Even if there are small troubles in some places, natural disasters and man-made disasters continue, the affairs have not decreased.

Every day, the flow of official documents is still sent to Beijing and then returned, managing the big and small things that happened in the entire territory of the Ming Empire.

After so many years, although Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang established the framework of the imperial court in the early Ming Dynasty, there were a lot of official duties in various ministries from time to time. In order to run smoothly, they had to expand their manpower again and again.

At the local level, similar situations are not obvious, and the positions of the third departments of the provinces and local government offices have expanded several times.

There is an interesting situation in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, that is, Zhu Yuanzhang established a relatively reasonable official system, but at the same time there were problems of official redundancy and official shortage.

Redundant officials refer to officials who do not have a full-time job and are ready to perform temporary missions, and also refer to officials who are idle and have nothing to do.

In ancient China, overstaffed people and overstaffed institutions often became a heavy burden on society, especially during the Northern Song Dynasty. History textbooks have records of the Northern Song Dynasty's "redundant soldiers, redundant officials, and redundant expenses".

Throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, the flood of officials has always plagued the court.

The official system of the Ming Dynasty was divided into three parts, namely the central government, the local government, and the military. At that time, there was a saying in the selection of officials called "three methods combined". One way, officials and others are one way, the so-called three ways are used together." That is to say, through any of these three ways, one can become an official.

When Zhu Yuanzhang set up the official system, he fully considered the functions of officials to check each other, and dispersed the power of officials, which not only increased some official positions, but also implemented a shadow system because he wanted to win people's hearts.

Officials with meritorious service are often given shelter, and their descendants can enjoy privileges and be qualified to be officials.

There are too many officials, and the affairs handled are scattered. As a result, when encountering problems, there will often be a phenomenon of bickering and buck-passing, so often only a new official position can be created to manage the bickering affairs.

When the cycle is formed, it will cause overstaffing, shirk responsibility from each other, make the officialdom more and more bloated, almost become a disaster, and it will also impose a huge financial burden on the country.

The reason for the lack of officials is mainly due to party disputes, normal officials' resignation and the wanton impeachment of the speech officials of the Metropolitan Procuratorate.

It is normal for officials to retire when they get old, it is also normal for officials to be dismissed due to party disputes, and it is also normal for officials to gossip about things. It is just that when the vacancy is released, due to various reasons, it is often impossible to find a suitable official to replace the vacancy.

It's not that there is no one, but because there are too many people fighting for the vacant position, the result is often unable to reach an agreement, and the official position remains vacant in the end.

In the early Ming Dynasty, when the country was established, it was still in the exploration period of establishing rules and regulations. Many scholars who had gone through wars lived in seclusion. In addition, Zhu Yuanzhang had very high requirements on officials, and there were too few scholars who were willing to become officials. Therefore, he began to implement policies that benefit scholars Preferences and exemptions.

In the middle and late stages, it is basically related to party struggles, and some important position struggles often cause huge court disturbances.

The negative impact of the lack of officials is also very obvious. It brings too low efficiency. For example, when a matter needs to be resolved, but the corresponding official cannot be found to handle it, then the resolution of this matter will be very slow. It can also lead to negligence.

Occasional official vacancies, it is normal to find suitable candidates for some positions temporarily, but the official vacancies in the Ming Dynasty were long-term, which was very unfavorable to the development of the government.

It can be said that from the Hongwu Dynasty to the Zhengde Dynasty, the number of officials in the Ming Dynasty continued to increase. In the early Jiajing Dynasty, Emperor Jiajing carried out a large-scale streamlining. There was a quick backlash among officials.

However, Emperor Jiajing may not have been able to see these changes. After all, in his eyes, the court now seems to have only six ministers and ministers, as well as other officials from five temples, two prisons, two courtyards and one government.

"Two days ago, Yang Shangshu went to Miyun to meet Yang Xuan. I didn't expect that such a thing happened in the Ministry of War."

In a study room in King Yu's Mansion in Beijing, King Yu sat on his seat and said with some concern.

"Yang Shangshu probably didn't expect that the situation in Xinghua would become like that. According to the military newspaper, Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang have already rushed outside the city of Xinghua."

Yin Shizhen also shook his head and sighed.

"The people have arrived, but the soldiers have not yet arrived. Naturally, we can only watch from the sidelines, but there is nothing we can do."

King Yu shook his head with a wry smile.

In the past two years, his life has become more and more comfortable, and he can have more opportunities to get in touch with the government affairs of the court, but now he will find that there seems to be no good news in the court all day long. It's all bad stuff.

The two of them were trying to speak each sentence when there were footsteps outside the door, and they stopped when they walked outside the door.

"Your Highness, Lord Wei and Lord Zhang have arrived."

The waiter outside the door reported to the inside.

"Invite them to come in."

When King Yu heard that Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng were coming, he shouted hastily.

As the curtain was lifted, Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng quickly walked into the room after giving in to each other.

"Shan Loan, Uncle, it's still cold today, let's warm up by the fire first."

King Yu saw them entering the house, and hurriedly asked them to warm themselves by the fire first.

"Thank you, Your Highness."

"Thank you, Your Highness."

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng hurriedly thanked them, and then rubbed their hands beside the brazier to keep warm.

The arrival of the 42nd year of Jiajing seemed to go smoothly at first, and nothing happened, but unexpectedly, it seemed to be a cold spring. In February, the weather suddenly dropped again, and people felt that the cold winter was even colder outdoors.

And with the arrival of the cold, there was also an unfavorable battle report from the Xinghua Mansion.

"Your Highness, how much defeat did Xinghua suffer?"

While warming up, Wei Guangde did not forget the reason why they were summoned.

On the way, they had already heard what the servants said, and they knew that it was because they heard the news from the Ministry of War that the Ming army suffered another loss of troops in Xinghua.

"Hey."

King Yu first sighed, and then said: "It is said that on the 29th of last month, the pirates suddenly withdrew from Xinghua Fucheng and retreated to the direction of Qitou. The terrain there is said to be good, surrounded by the sea on three sides, easy to defend and difficult to attack."

"Oh."

Wei Guangde nodded in agreement when he heard the words.

"The commander Ouyang Shen thought there was an opportunity to take advantage of it, so he led his troops to rush in during the Japanese pirates' evacuation, trying to catch them by surprise, but unexpectedly encountered an ambush, the entire army was wiped out, and he died there."

King Yu continued, "Afterwards, the Japanese pirates put on our army's armor, pretended to be sergeants returning from defeat, and tricked them into opening the gate of Pinghaiweiwei City, and then the Japanese pirates swarmed in."

"The Japanese pirates fled to Pinghaiwei City?"

Wei Guangde just frowned upon hearing this.

Thinking in another way, if he was a Japanese pirate, he would definitely not stay in Xinghua City. The longer he stayed, the worse his death would be.

To defend a big city, the Ming army will only send out troops to surround it continuously. After the strength is accumulated enough, it is imperative to attack the city.

In the face of a well-prepared and organized army attack, Japanese pirates are irresistible.

"No, after the Japanese pirates occupied Pinghai Weicheng, they set up a big camp in Xucuo to prevent the army from attacking."

King Yu replied.

"That is to say, in front of Pinghaiwei City, the Japanese pirates set up another camp to prevent the officers and soldiers from directly encircling Pinghaiwei City?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"Exactly, it is said that from Xinghua Fucheng to Xucuo, and then to Pinghai Weicheng, the terrain along the way is surrounded by the sea on three sides, which is very unfavorable for the army to attack."

King Yu replied.

"Is the news true?"

Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other, then asked.

"It should be reliable. Now the Ministry of War has been closed, and we are discussing this matter internally. It's a pity that Yang Shangshu has gone to Miyun. I don't know when the Ministry of War will be able to make a strategy."

Yin Shizhen spoke at this time.

"By the way, I heard that the Ministry of War received information that I Da Khan had threatened to attack Liaoyang in the middle of the year. Yang Shangshu went to Miyun to meet Governor Yang. It must be because of this incident."

Zhang Juzheng said.

"I answered Khan that he wanted to attack Liaoyang?"

Wei Guangde said in surprise.

Wei Guangde has never been to Liaoyang, but he has seen the map of Liaodong, and he roughly knows where it is. Just after Shenyang, it has always been the largest city in Liaodong in history.

When looking at the map, Wei Guangde also thought that the Ming Dynasty ruled the Northeast region of later generations, but after learning about the actual situation, he dispelled his idea.

In fact, let alone the Ming Dynasty ruled the Northeast, even the Liaoning region in later generations was relatively reluctant.

The Ming Dynasty once controlled the entire Liaodong, and the scope of its strength did extend to Jilin, Heilongjiang and other places in later generations, but this required huge resources from the court.

Given the economic level of Jilin and Heilongjiang at that time, this investment must have been a loss-making business, and it needed supplies from within the customs.

Therefore, during the reign of Ming Xuanzong, Ming Xuanzong was unwilling to do business that lost money, so the Ming Dynasty withdrew from Jilin and Heilongjiang.

However, although the Ming Dynasty withdrew the guards stationed in these places, the indigenous tribes in Jilin, Heilongjiang, and the outer northeast still paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty all the year round, and the Ming court would also confer titles on the local chiefs.

Under such an environment, it can only be said that it is barely included in the territory, but the actual control is very weak.

After the forces of the Ming Dynasty in the Northeast retreated to Liaodong, the Duoyan Sanwei, who used to serve as a frontier barrier, often rebelled, so that the Mongolian forces could not be restrained, and then entered the vicinity of Liaodong, forming a mixed state of Mongolian and Han.

However, the Mongols who entered Liaodong were all members of the Sanwei tribe who claimed to be on good terms with the Ming Dynasty on the surface, so the real situation is naturally hard to say.

However, the Liaodong generation has always been threatened by the Mongolian tribes, but it is real. The Ming Dynasty army and the Mongolian tribes have large and small wars every year.

At the beginning of the year, the Ministry of War received news that Altan Khan's sons Xinai Huang Taiji and Tubert Hei Taiji gathered their troops and declared that they would attack Liaoyang and then control the entire Liaodong region.

With this piece of information, Yang Xuan, the governor of Jiliao, naturally attached great importance to it, and personally supervised the army to prepare for the battle.

However, in terms of strategic direction, his judgment had a major disagreement with Yang Bo, Minister of the Ministry of War.

In Yang Bo's view, Xin Ai Huang Taiji and Tubert Hei Taiji's so-called attack on the Ming army in the Liaodong area was nothing more than a tactic to attract the main force of the Ming army to move eastward.

Because in Yang Bo's eyes, the Liaodong region was bitterly cold. In fact, the Ming Dynasty's rule over this place could only be said to barely balance the income and expenditure. We had to open the sea port to Jiliao.

In such a place, how can the Mongols gain a firm foothold.

To put it bluntly, even if An Dahan really took down the territory, they would not be able to hold it, and would only disperse their insufficient strength.

This is a loss-making business, and I Dahan will definitely not do it, so he judges that these words are lies and cannot be trusted.

However, judging from the behavior of the Mongols, Yang Bo is even more worried that the Alta Khan may launch a more sudden attack on Jizhen in the Ming Dynasty this year.

However, Yang Xuan, the governor of Jiliao, disagreed with Yang Bo. He believed that Al Dahan should have the intention to seize control of Liaodong from the Ming Dynasty and drive the Ming army back to the Great Wall.

At this time, the Northeast Plain had not been effectively developed, and farming was very difficult for the Han people, but for the grassland tribes, it was a natural pasture.

Once the Alta tribe realizes the situation of occupying Liaodong, the capture of the entire Northeast Plain will undoubtedly strengthen the strength of the Mongols.

For this reason, Yang Xuan chose to gradually divide his troops and move eastward, determined to launch a big war between Liaodong and Alda, using the castle in Liaodong to consume the strength of Alda, so that it would no longer be able to threaten Xuanda and Jizhen in the south.

The two Yang had serious differences. In order to ensure the stability of the border, Yang Bo went to Miyun in the name of patrolling the border, intending to persuade Yang Xuan to take a defensive position in the Liaodong area and focus on strengthening the defense forces in Jizhen, especially along the Great Wall north of the capital.

Zhang Juzheng introduced to Wei Guangde the news he had heard before, and let him know the purpose of Yang Bo's going to Miyun.

After talking so much, Zhang Juzheng also felt a little thirsty. After drinking the tea brought by the servant, he asked curiously: "Shan Loan, after talking so much, do you choose to support Yang Shangshu or Governor Yang?"

But at this time, King Yu had forgotten the reason for calling Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng before, but listened to Zhang Juzheng's news with relish.

King Yu had heard about the disagreement between Yang Bo and Yang Xuan, but he didn't know much about it, far less detailed than Zhang Juzheng, and Wei Guangde had never heard of it.

In fact, the news that Huang Taiji and Hei Taiji planned to capture Liaodong was still sent to the Ministry of War from the Governor's Mansion of Jiliao, but it was a big matter, and the Ministry of War strictly blocked the news.

Of course, as the cabinet, Yang Bo, Minister of the Ministry of War, would naturally have to disclose some information, hoping to get the support of the cabinet.

In fact, as long as the cabinet can be persuaded, the cabinet and the Ministry of War will strictly order Yang Xuan to obey orders.

Of course, Yang Xuan can also choose to refuse as a foreign border seal, but by then, his official career will be nearing the end.

"General Liaodong, it's Yang Zhao now."

Wei Guangde asked hesitantly.

(End of this chapter)