prosperous age

“What are Shandai’s thoughts on this proposal?”

At this time, Zhang Juzheng was happy. He had actually chosen to support this proposal at the first sight. After all, it was a great achievement.

Just seeing Wei Guangde's reaction made him wonder if there were any problems that he hadn't discovered yet.

"Brother Uncle, you must know where Kuandian is."

Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Juzheng and said.

"Located in the northeast of Liaoning, bordering Jianzhou Jurchen."

Zhang Juzheng said.

"This place has not been controlled by our Ming Dynasty for a long time. It is a traditional Jurchen hunting area in Jianzhou."

Wei Guangde continued.

“The Jianzhou Jurchens, especially the Wang Gao tribe, have been invading the border for more than ten years.

Shandai, you don’t think that the two sides started a war because of the construction of Kuandian Six Forts. "

Zhang Juzheng said curiously.

Wei Guangde handled the affairs of the Ministry of War in the cabinet, and it was impossible not to know the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Jurchens at this time.

In name, the Jurchens of Jianzhou were annexed to the Ming Dynasty, and the so-called three guards of Jianzhou were conferred on them, but in fact the relationship between the two parties took a turn for the worse after the Zhengtong period.

Fourteen years before the orthodoxy, due to the strong national power of the Ming Dynasty, the Jianzhou Jurchens had always been able to obtain generous rewards through tribute, so the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the Jianzhou Jurchens was relatively harmonious during this period.

Fourteen years after the orthodoxy, due to the Tumubao Incident, the Ming Dynasty turned from prosperity to decline and its national power was greatly damaged. It had no choice but to limit the number of Jurchen tributes and personnel in Jianzhou and reduce rewards. Therefore, in order to meet the demand for property, Jianzhou The Jurchens began to raid Liaodong continuously.

In the early years of Chenghua, the Jianzhou Jurchens actually "invaded ninety-seven times in one year and killed more than 100,000 people." This triggered the Ming Dynasty's large-scale conquest of Jianzhou Jurchens, which is the so-called "Chenghua" in history. Hua Li Ting".

In this large-scale expedition, the Jianzhou Jurchens, mainly composed of Jianzhou Right Guards, Jianzhou Guards, and Jianzhou Left Guards, almost suffered a disaster. Their leaders Li Manzhu, Dong Shan and others were captured and killed, and their population and livestock losses were even greater. There are countless.

Only the Dong'e tribe, which also belonged to the Jianzhou Jurchens, escaped the disaster. Because they had always been "quite law-abiding", the Ming court did not list them as targets for conquest.

During the Jiajing period, the three Jianzhou guards who had regained their strength once again took up the idea of ​​Liaodong. Among them, Wang Gao, the right guard of Jianzhou, was the most powerful and restless.

He first made a sneak attack on Fushun in the 36th year of Jiajing, killing guard Peng Wenzhu, and then set up an ambush to capture and kill the deputy commander Hei Chun in the 41st year of Jiajing. He then plundered Gushan, Fushun, Tangzhan and other cities and forts. Dozens of commanders, guards, and commanders were killed in the battle.

In sharp contrast, Wang Wutang, the leader of the Dong'e tribe in Jianzhou, inherited the tradition of "quite law-abiding" by the leaders of the Dong'e tribe in the past. Not only did he not follow Wang Gao to plunder Liaodong, but he also captured some people who robbed the people of Liaodong. Wang Gao's men dedicated it to the Ming Dynasty.

What situation is Liaodong facing at this time?

Serious problems such as poor people's livelihood, low morale, empty defenses, corruption of generals, and constant flight of military households led to the Ming army in Liaodong losing successive battles against the invasions of Tuman and Jurchen tribes.

In ten years, Wang Zhidao and other three generals of Liaodong were killed in battle, so that a situation emerged where "the Hai and Jian tribes became increasingly strong, and they all established their own countries and became Khans." It is no exaggeration to say that at this time, the Ming Dynasty It is only one step away from losing Liaodong.

Even in this situation, Zhang Juzheng still supported Li Chengliang, who could temporarily stabilize the situation in Liaodong, and supported all his decisions in Liaodong.

But looking at Wei Guangde's performance now, it seems that it is different from what he thought.

"Unless Li Chengliang has the strength to defeat Wang Gao's tribe face to face, moving to Kuandian Six Forts will be a very dangerous military adventure."

Wei Guangde just shook his head and said, "When the Ming Dynasty built the castle, it was impossible for Wang Gao and other Jianzhou Jurchens not to take military action.

If Li Chengliang cannot take the opportunity to defeat or even kill Wang Gao, the entire plan will remain on paper and cannot be realized. "

Wei Guangde really didn't know that in the late Ming Dynasty, there had always been a lot of discussion because of the construction and eventual abandonment of Kuandian Six Forts.

Although most people think that Li Chengliang was right to build Kuandian Six Forts, he abandoned this place after the Jurchens became stronger. This is regarded as a huge failure of the Liaodong layout. However, some people think that Kuandian Six Forts themselves should not be built. Construction, because construction itself is doomed to be abandoned in the future.

In fact, it is this 180 miles of land that makes the distance between Kuandian Liubao and the main control area of ​​Ming Dynasty more than 400 miles. That is to say, once Liubao is attacked by Jurchens, it will be difficult for Liaodong troops to rescue them in time.

"But since Li Chengliang has the ability to defeat Wang Gao's tribe, why not intercept him when he goes south, but spend money and food to build a fortress in Kuandian?"

Wei Guangde continued.

"This"

Hearing what Wei Guangde said, Zhang Juzheng hesitated.

Wei Guangde actually skipped over whether to practice or not to practice, but considered how to practice and whether he could succeed in it.

Wang Gaobu had already broken up with the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty built a fortress in Kuandian. If they targeted them like this, they would definitely not sit back and wait for death, but would wreak havoc.

If the Ming army cannot defeat the opponent, then the soldiers and civilians who built the fort will become fat meat in the mouths of the Jurchens, allowing them to take whatever they want.

"Li Chengliang has a remarkable record in Liaodong. If it weren't for several recent big wins, the situation in Liaodong would still be unstable.

I think he should have this ability. "

Zhang Juzheng thought about it before saying, "What's more, according to Wang Shilang, this plan itself was proposed by Li Chengliang.

With his ability as the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, he should have thought of this place a long time ago, and there must be careful arrangements. "

After hearing Zhang Juzheng's words, Wei Guangde just blinked, then looked at Tan Lun and said, "Brother Zili, what do you think?"

"If the imperial court plans to build a fort in Kuandian, it will naturally have to allocate money and food and make full preparations, including dispatching troops to protect it.

Last month, the Ministry of War received a report from Zhang Xueyan, governor of Liaodong, that King Gao of Jianyi repeatedly looted and looted, but was defeated by the Ming army."

Tan Lun said immediately.

After reading this article, he also agreed in his heart, but building a fort and moving troops required money and food, so the Ministry of Household Affairs must allocate additional money to the Ministry of War, otherwise the Ministry of War would not be able to support this military operation.

"say no more."

However, Wei Guangde suddenly interrupted Tan Lun's talk, "Last month, I just rewarded Yang Jian, the commander of the front camp for defeating the Tuman tribe, and then he was dismissed from his post."

Wei Guangde's words made Tan Lun speechless for a moment.

It has to be said that this was an oversight by the Ministry of War, or the writing was too hasty, which led to such errors and omissions, and forced him to submit a memorandum of apology.

Just the month before last, more than 10,000 native barbarian soldiers invaded the rear post in Qiantun. The former camp's participating generals Yang Jian and guerrilla Li Weiyi defended them.

The Tuman tribe rushed to attack Shaheyi. During the fierce battle between the armies, the chief military officer Li Chengliang and others arrived. The Tuman tribe was frightened and had to retreat.

In this battle, faced with the dangerous front line of the 10,000-horse bandits, more than a thousand exhausted soldiers were used to fight against all the bandit forces, and they were divided to defend against the enemy's front line. Li Weiyi made most of the contributions, including Yang Jian, Li Yuanshan, Ge Jing, and others. Yue Yuqing came next, followed by Yang Teng and Chuan Tingxun.

The Ministry of War rewarded the generals, but when they turned around, they were impeached by Li Song, the minister of Ningqian.

Li Song visited the border fort and heard that Liu Dengyun, the acting guard of Heizhuang's nest, was shot to death by thieves. Yang Geng, the former camp commander, wanted to cover up his crime and reported that Liu Dengyun was ambushed and killed by thieves just to welcome Li Song. In fact, the purpose was to cover up the incident. Misdirection on his part.

After this incident, Yang Jian knew that he had offended Li Song, so he sent 200 gold coins hidden in a wine vat in the name of giving wine to Li Song, intending to use the money to get Li Song to expose the incident.

However, the result was naturally not what he wanted, and Li Song still chose to report it. Yang Jian was offended and dismissed from his post, and was later investigated by the censor. "Brother Zili, I am not saying this for anything else. I just hope that the Ministry of War will not be so arbitrary in its actions.

Li Chengliang was the first to mention this matter, and he raised it in front of Wang Daokun, but was it appropriate? "

When Wei Guangde said this, he just looked at Tan Lun with a frown, and then continued: "It is best for the Ministry of War to write a letter to Zhang Xueyan, the governor of Liaodong, and let him make the final decision."

After hearing Wei Guangde's suggestion, not only Tan Lun, but also Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang also nodded slightly.

After all, Wang Daokun was only touring Liaodong and was not familiar with the place.

The governor of Liaodong, Zhang Xueyan, was different. He had been in Liaodong for two years and should be very familiar with the local area, especially the deployment of troops in Liaodong.

To put it bluntly, the opinion of local snakes is the most pertinent at this time.

"Kuandian, if it's just targeting Wang Gao's tribe, it's reasonable."

Wei Guangde continued, "But I'm afraid of causing dissatisfaction with other Jurchen tribes, especially the Jianzhou Dong'e Wang Wutang tribe. This tribe has always been quite obedient. In fact, part of the land where Kuandian Liubao is located is also the area of ​​this tribe."

The construction of Kuandian Six Forts advocated by Li Chengliang was essentially to establish six strongholds more than a hundred miles north. The first was to detect the movements of the Jurchens in Jianzhou, and the second was to act as the first fortress to delay their southward movement, allowing the Ming army in the rear to There is time for transfers.

But the six forts were facing two Jurchen tribes, Wang Gao tribe and Wang Wutang tribe, which was extremely dangerous.

In fact, it was precisely because of the completion of Kuandian Six Forts that Wang Gao's and Wang Wutang's tribe felt uneasy. Especially the always obedient Wang Wutang's tribe finally ended the cooperative relationship with the Ming Dynasty in the next few years and turned to attack the Ming Dynasty and choose to go to war. .

Of course, maybe even if the Ming army did not build a fort here, Wang Wutang's tribe would betray the Ming Dynasty a few years later. But after all, judging from the time when he launched the rebellion, Wang Gao's tribe had already been struck by a thunderous blow from the Ming army and was almost destroyed. Gao himself was even captured, taken to the capital and executed by Ling Chi.

Wang Wutang chose to betray the Ming Dynasty at this time, which was indeed very strange. His strength was not as strong as Wang Gao.

Wang Gao was defeated by Ming Dynasty, let alone him.

Wei Guangde feels that the layout in Liaodong needs to be done, but it requires long-term planning.

Now that he is here, he will naturally not let the Jurchens sweep the world and take over the Han people like later generations.

But to start plowing the court and sweeping holes, we need an opportunity so that Ming Dynasty can draw money and food from its distressed finances to support the First World War.

War cannot be decided by cabinet ministers just by slapping their heads.

Without adequate logistical preparations, Wei Guangde would not let the Ming army sacrifice his life and lose his prestige as Wei Ge Lao.

"In this case, I will return to the Ministry of War to write about Liaodong."

Tan Lun nodded and immediately stood up to leave.

"Wait a moment."

Wei Guangde stopped Tan Lun. At this time, he rubbed his chin and said, "In the text for Zhang Xueyan, let him pay attention to the terrain of Kuandian area and whether it is easy for an ambush."

"Why ambush instead of building a fort?"

Tan Lunqi said.

"When the fortress is built, Wang Gao's troops will mobilize troops to stop it. If we can seize the opportunity to annihilate most of them, and then send troops to attack Huanglong, great things can be accomplished.

Doing this is far better than sending troops to attack Wang Gaobu's city on an expedition.

I remember that in Chenghua Liting, although the strong were killed and the young and young were captured, the Ming army suffered a lot of casualties.

If we can lure them out of the mountains and wipe out the young and strong tribes in the Kuandian area, our army's casualties will be much smaller in the end. "

Wei Guangde explained, and then added: "Regardless of whether the Six Kuandian Forts are built or not, the Ministry of War will use this as a plan and conduct deductions. I think it should be possible to lure them out in the name of building a fort."

When Wei Guangde said this, he was actually asking the Liaodong Ming Army to kill Wang Gao. There was really too much hatred between this man and the Ming Dynasty.

Just kidding, kill the Liaodong general appointed by the imperial court. If you don't kill him, you won't be able to restore the imperial court's prestige in Liaodong.

When Tan Lun left, Wei Guangde stopped Lu Tiaoyang, who was about to leave too, and said: "Wang Daokun's memorial gave me another idea, that is, salt luck."

"Shandai, do you plan to change the luck of salt?"

Zhang Juzheng said suspiciously. He looked confused at first, and then seemed to understand what Wei Guangde meant.

However, after a while of entanglement, Zhang Juzheng still hesitated and said: "If we resume the opening method at this time, I'm afraid it will be counterproductive."

The Salt Law was the focus of the Ming Dynasty's finances and taxation. Most of the court's annual tax revenue of three million taels came from this.

If Wei Guangde cancels the method of making concessions and restores the original requirement of aiding the border with grain and grass in exchange for salt, the border will probably become empty talk and the court will go bankrupt.

In fact, starting from the Jiajing Dynasty, the Ming court wanted to restore the original Kaizhong method, but abandoned Ye Qi's reform.

However, in the face of increasingly difficult financial conditions, the salt policy implemented during the Yan Song period emphasized the approach of "exerting salt to the middle and the border, and releasing salt to the transportation department".

That is to say, the salt supply is divided into normal salt and residual salt. The positive salt needs to continue to deliver grain and grass to the border town according to the Kaizhong method, while the residual salt needs to pay money directly to Yousi to obtain the salt supply from the salt supply.

But in terms of actual results, it is of course far from ideal.

The dereliction of the border towns has not been restored. The phenomenon of large numbers of border residents and military households fleeing continues. Once the border strategy is destroyed, it will be extremely difficult to restore it.

These are all things that the three ministers in the cabinet are well aware of.

Zhang Juzheng once thought about saving the Salt Law, but he couldn't come up with a good solution.

"Shandai, do you have any good ideas for the salt method?"

Zhang Juzheng asked tentatively, while Lu Tiaoyang on the side also looked at Wei Guangde with joy.

The salt method was really important to Ming Dynasty.

"It's very difficult to recover the Kaizhong method. It was completely ruined at the beginning."

Wei Guangde just shook his head and said.

At the time of the founding of China, because salt was valuable, the royal family, nobles, and generals in border towns often profited from it.

“In my opinion, since the opening method was able to be designed to solve the real-border problem, under the current situation, there should still be a way to revise the salt method.

The new salt law should not only take into account the needs of developing border towns, but also solve the financial problems of the imperial court.

It’s just that neither you nor I come from the salt administration field, so we are naturally very unfamiliar with it. Can we find officials who are familiar with the salt administration, and let them think about this matter and design a salt law that will not only last for a long time, but can at least be used for decades?

The so-called customization can only meet temporary needs. The world is constantly changing and time has changed, so there is no one way to stay the same. "

Wei Guangde couldn't help but sigh. (End of chapter)