The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 143 Ten Pots and One Cover
"This person is obviously trying to make a fuss, or knows what we care about, so he writes some specious things and uses them to tease me."

When Xie Qian handed over the note written by Zhang Zhou to Liu Jian and Li Dongyang the next day, he was still somewhat annoyed.

As a cabinet minister, Yu Zun descended to see Zhang Zhou, but he didn't see anyone.

Li Dongyang is not as sentimental as Xie Qian, he said: "The sentence that good and evil come to an end is saying that Zhang's relatives will cause retribution in the future? It may be inappropriate to use this kind of words here. It seems that he means more perfunctory. What does Mr. Liu think?"

Liu Jian still focused on the first sentence, and he frowned slightly: "War in the Northwest, must it happen? It's still the Mengchun season, and there has been no change in Diyi in the Northwest for two months."

The three couldn't find the answer from the note Zhang Zhou gave.

Xie Qian put the note away, burned it directly in the brazier, and sighed: "It seems that he is determined to be a courtier, Jiangnan Jieyuan, that's all."

……

……

The three members of the cabinet did not take Zhang Zhou's reminder seriously.

But as soon as February entered, the situation on the Nine Sides changed suddenly, and the ministers in the government and the opposition were also very confused.

In the usual years, the Tatars would usually have to wait until the autumn harvest to appear, but it actually started in February that year.

Coming up is Kou Bian from Duoyan Sanwei.

In the early morning of the fourth day of the lunar new year, at the court meeting in Fengtian Palace, Dai Yi announced the matter in public: "...Duoyan and other three guards invaded Liaodong Yizhou, and the guarding eunuch Ren Liang, the chief military officer Li Gao, and the imperial censor Zhang Yu retreated. Within the fortress of Yizhou, please send troops at the right time."

Duoyan Sanwei is considered "honest" among the grassland tribes.

The general sense of presence is also relatively weak, but if even the three guards of Duoyan come to Koubian, it seems to be a sign of the turbulent situation in the grassland.

The attitude of civil servants to this is also different.

Most of them advocate not to send troops easily, but to stick to it.

However, it was also suggested that the Ming Dynasty had relatively complete defenses in Liaodong, and the strength of the Duoyan Sanwei was relatively weak, so they could send troops to fight against them.

Ma Wensheng, Minister of the Ministry of War, said: "Now that the enemy's situation is unknown, sentry cavalry should be sent to investigate the places north of Liaodong and west of the grassland, and then make a decision."

After all, Ma Wensheng was an experienced Minister of the Ministry of War, so he could be regarded as calming down the scene.

As a result, the matter has not yet subsided.

In the next three days, until the seventh day of the lunar new year, more than a dozen places in the northwest reported the situation of the Tatar invasion of the frontier, and for a while there was smoke everywhere.

On the morning of the seventh day of the seventh day, the court meeting had just ended.

Dai Yi, the eunuch in charge of the supervisor of ceremonies, came to the cabinet to be on duty and asked Liu Jian to go out to discuss matters.

The two came back after discussing for a long time, and Dai Yi left in a hurry. Xie Qian took a look and said, "It doesn't look like I'm going back to Qianqing Palace."

Liu Jian said: "It's to the Ministry of War."

"What, another war happened?" Xie Qian asked casually.

Looking back at Li Dongyang, I saw that Li Dongyang didn't have much energy.

Liu Jian said: "Binzhi will enter the curtain in the afternoon. If you don't care about court affairs, you can go back and make preparations first."

The general examination will start on the ninth day of the ninth day, and the curtain official will enter the venue early on the seventh day of the seventh day. Li Dongyang and Cheng Minzheng are both the chief examiners, and they will also give questions after entering the arena.

"It's okay."

Li Dongyang wanted to know what happened now.

After entering the curtain, he will be unable to contact the outside world for more than 20 days. When he comes out again, maybe all the rumors in the northwest have subsided.

Liu Jian sighed: "Yan Sui and other places reported successively that Di Yi invaded the country, especially around Yulin Guard. The Tatar cavalry attacked lightly, and they didn't like to fight. .”

Xie Qian said: "The Tatars are still here, but why did they come so strangely? In February, the grasslands everywhere in the grassland have not yet sprouted. At this time, what is the plot of the bandits...?"

Then Li Dongyang found a copy from a pile of memorials.

Liu Jian held it in his hand and looked at it, but sighed heavily.

Li Dongyang said: "Those who asked for Wang Weining to go to the northwest to reorganize the army are mostly because there are still people in the court who don't know about Wang Weining's presence in the northwest, or they may be trying to test it."

"It's been a while, and I don't know that Wang Weining is in the northwest?" Xie Qian was laughing.

Are these officials naive or stupid?
When there was no war before, you trampled on Wang Yue and regarded him as a moth of the Ming Dynasty. As a result, now that there is a war in the northwest, you all want the court to transfer Wang Yue to the northwest to deter ghosts and monsters.

Come and go when you call?

Li Dongyang looked at Liu Jian and said, "What is the purpose of the Tatars to invade the border so recklessly? Is it true as what I said before, or do they have the intention of committing a large-scale crime?"

Before letting Li Dongyang analyze it, he never believed that the Tatars would commit large-scale crimes before the spring.

But now Li Dongyang is not sure either.

Xie Qian asked, "Where is Wang Weining now?"

Liu Jian said: "Piantouguan."

Xie Qian asked with doubts: "There has been no battle report from Piantouguan recently. Why did the Tatars miss this place? It seems that the Xuanfu is hostile."

Li Dongyang said: "In the past, it was said that in the northwest of Daming, there were ten pots and nine covers, and there was always a place that couldn't be covered. But now there is only one Wang Weining, with ten pots and one cover. Since the cover is at Piantouguan, Tatars will It happened to be here? Or is it that His Majesty will let Wang Weining take precautions on the front line of Xuanda and move troops at any time?"

Liu Jian just shook his head.

Until now, he still hasn't figured out the specific movements of the Tatars in the northwest, and he hasn't even figured out what the purpose of the Tatars' invasion is.

Xie Qian said: "Now Duoyan's three guards are the most powerful to invade Liaodong, and Liaodong is still the focus of defense. If it's just Liaodong... I'm afraid Wang Weining will have nothing to do."

From the Ming Dynasty to the Hongzhi period, the Liaodong battlefield had always been where the hard power of the Nine Sides was located. In other words, the Diyi outside Liaodong were too inexperienced.

On the contrary, the three sides and Xuanda often suffered repeated attacks from the Tatars and became the most important part of the defense of the nine sides.

……

……

At the beginning of February, because of the continuous battle reports from the Nine Sides of the Ming Dynasty, the people around the emperor were extremely anxious.

Dai Yi even had to go in and out of the yamen such as the Supervisor of Rituals, the Cabinet Office, and the Ministry of War to ask for opinions from all parties. After collecting the information as soon as possible, he reported it to Zhu Youtang to know.

Zhu Youtang didn't dare to be negligent, and stayed in the Qianqing Palace almost every day, and didn't care to go back to the Kunning Palace after nightfall.

Empress Zhang was a little cold towards him before, but now he is the one who is neglecting Queen Zhang.

"...Your Majesty, in the opinion of the Ministry of War, the Battle of Liaodong should be the first priority. At present, it seems that Duoyan has sent no more than [-] troops in Liaodong, mostly on foot and cavalry. If he pursues with light cavalry, he may completely wipe out the siege. ..."

The opinions given by the Ministry of War are basically consistent with those of the cabinet.

If you have to hit only one place, you should pick soft persimmons.

The situation of the enemy outside Sanbian and Xuanda is unknown, and those places have been controlled by the Tatars for hundreds of years. If you send troops inadvertently, you will easily fall into the quagmire. It is not as good as in Liaodong...at least most of the land is Ming Dynasty In the deep plowing area, let's talk about whether there are dates to hit a few shots.

Zhu Youtang said with emotion: "But Wang Weining is not in Liaodong."

Dai Yi didn't know what to say.

To say that civil servants are cautious about using troops on the nine frontiers, in fact Zhu Youtang may be more cautious about this. He agreed to Zhang Zhou's proposal and sent Wang Yue to the northwest, but he didn't say that Wang Yue would lead the troops to attack.

If it is aggressive, Zhu Youtang was the first to object without the dissuasion of those ministers.

Liaodong is a soft persimmon, but Zhu Youtang still dare not take risks easily.

"Your Majesty, why don't you transfer Wang Weining...to Liaodong?" Wei Bin on the side seemed to have a bad idea.

Along with the emperor, several eunuchs looked at Wei Bin.

Wei Bin lowered his head.

He himself knew that this was not a good strategy, so he spent half a day preparing for the battle, but finally transferred Wang Yue to Liaodong. If something happened to this...it would be a serious crime.

But sometimes, these eunuchs just keep the scapegoat.

In case the emperor also had this idea, but he was embarrassed to say it, then Wei Bin proposed it and asked the emperor to adopt it. In the end, something went wrong, and the emperor did not have to take responsibility, but Wei Bin would take responsibility...

No matter how stupid the idea is, the eunuch has to mention it.

Zhu Youtang said: "I'm still willing to believe in Bingkuan. He said that he was at Biantou Pass, so logically speaking... it's probably close to ten."

Xiao Jingdao: "Your Majesty's words are very true. They don't accept the enemy's situation reported in the northwest at night. The frontline of Xuanda is much calmer than when Di Yi invaded the country in previous years, or there is something brewing."

"What's Bingkuan's opinion?"

After Zhu Youtang said a few words, he brought them to Zhang Zhou.

Xiao Jing lowered his head and said: "Yesterday, my servant visited Mr. Zhang, and he clearly stated that as long as the Tatars start to violate the border, the result will be within ten days."

"Ten days?"

Zhu Youtang has doubts about this time limit.

Dai Yi said from the side: "Your Majesty, servant girl, what Mr. Zhang means is that if the Tatars want to use Piantouguan as the target of looting, and if there are suspicious formations everywhere, then they should also expect the court to be here." When making arrangements in the near future, they are also afraid that His Majesty will transfer Wang Weining to the northwest."

Zhu Youtang nodded in agreement: "It makes sense. If there is no real move in ten days, then the current suspicion will be meaningless."

While speaking, Zhu Youtang looked at the whole map.

This map was drawn by Zhang Zhou.

The passes, fortresses, and earthen fortresses on the nine sides are almost all marked on them, and the mountains, rivers, and rivers are also marked in detail. Zhu Youtang looked at it for a long time, and the eunuchs around him also stared for a long time.

In the end, Xiao Jing asked the question that everyone wanted to ask, but it sounded stupid: "Where did the Tatars come from?"

Zhu Youtang sighed: "The northern defense of the Ming Dynasty stretches for thousands of miles. If we want to find out where the Tatars are coming out, I am afraid that we must have internal support from Diyi."

Chen Kuan reminded: "It's not that Mr. Zhang..."

"Ha ha."

Zhu Youtang smiled, his face relaxed a lot, "There is Bingkuan who can relieve my worries, worth a hundred thousand soldiers. He also suggested that Wang Weining be placed at the Piantouguan, I accepted it, why bother now Do you doubt it again?"

Speaking of this, Zhu Youtang suddenly became a little nervous and said: "But I haven't come all this time, and I still worry. I think it will be ten days later, the day when I get the result..."

Xiao Jing persuaded: "Your Majesty, there is no need to rush."

"How many days are left before the exam?" Zhu Youtang asked.

Xiao Jingdao: "Candidates will enter the room before nightfall tomorrow, and the exam will start in the morning the day after tomorrow."

"Alas!" Zhu Youtang sighed, "Bingkuan is not by my side at this time, if he can make more suggestions by my side, it will not be like this...Didn't he say two other things..."

"Your Majesty, Mr. Zhang said that he will go again tomorrow, and he will write the submission before entering."

"This is Bingkuan, can't you be more straightforward? Let me wait anxiously."

(End of this chapter)