The First Gongsheng of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 403
Ministry of War Yamen.

Xie Qian came here in the afternoon and found Ma Wensheng who had just come out of the palace. Before that, Zhu Youtang called Ma Wensheng to Qianqing Palace to discuss the Northwest military situation.

Ma Wensheng met with Xie Qian alone, and immediately stated the situation around Ningxia: "This battle is not optimistic."

Hearing this, Xie Qian probably has counted.

With Yang Yiqing alone, with the cooperation of the original system of the Ministry of War, it is difficult to win a hearty battle.

"Is it worrying about Yang Yingning?" Xie Qian asked.

Ma Wensheng sighed, with a helpless expression on his face, "Ying Ning has experience in studying in Gansu Province, and has a lot of experience in military affairs. However, he has never had experience in leading troops before, and his prestige in the army is not enough. Even with the cooperation of Marquis Anbian, the little Tatar prince Batu Mengke is coming so aggressively. With all the troops in Ningxia at present, it is not easy to meet the enemy head-on."

Xie Qian asked: "How many people can be dispatched in Ningxia?"

Ma Wensheng had obviously answered these questions with the emperor in detail before, so he came here with open mouth: "Excluding the troops necessary to defend the fortresses, there are less than [-] troops that can be assembled, and they are scattered among the passes in Ningxia. There are less than [-] new cannons that can be mobilized, and there are about a thousand rounds of shells. Even with the old cannons, it is difficult to form absolute suppression on the firearms of Shenjiying. The number of cavalry is only two to three thousand."

Xie Qian said: "How many Tatar troops invaded Ningxia West Road?"

"Fifty thousand!" Ma Wensheng said, "They are all cavalry."

"Cough cough!"

When Xie Qian heard this difference in strength, he immediately felt that Yang Yiqing was not sent to fight, but Yang Yiqing was sent to die.

Xie Qian calmed his breath and said, "The Tatars have learned a lot from a siege. If they know how to deal with the Ming border army, even if they don't go out with all their strength, they can't scatter their troops and horses to go deep."

Ma Wensheng sighed: "Even if the troops from all walks of life in Ningxia can be mobilized from the fortress, there are only [-] to [-], and the cavalry is less than [-]. This is like going out in force. Unless Ying Ning decides to put all his eggs in one basket."

"Don't!" Xie Qian said, "It's hard for a clever woman to cook without rice. If she can hold the pass, even if there is a slight loss, there is no room for loss in the northwest border."

"Yu Qiao, do you think His Majesty's intention is just to guard the pass?"

Ma Wensheng's question was very sharp.

The emperor asked Yang Yiqing to fight tough battles. If he didn't have this kind of ability, why would the emperor still trust him, and why should he trust people recommended by traditional civil servants?
To put it more bluntly, there may be a situation in this battle, and even the current minister of the Ministry of War, Ma Wensheng, will have to give way.

Xie Qian said angrily: "Your Majesty's move is not deliberately embarrassing us, is it to show that the court lacks that Zhang Bingkuan?"

Ma Wensheng didn't answer, but judging from Ma Wensheng's expression, he also felt that was the case.

Let Yang Yiqing use the [-] to [-] troops he can dispatch to confront the [-] main force led by the little Tatar prince, or fight in the wilderness after leaving the city... Let alone give you new artillery and yellow powder, even if the thunder rolls around and bombs everywhere, there is no chance of winning.

The emperor was clearly cheating people.

"It's a big deal, let Zhang Bingkuan go by himself for the next memorial!" Xie Qian was also annoyed, and his words were not very pleasant.

Ma Wensheng asked: "Yu Qiao, what can be done right now is to use Yansui troops to cooperate with Ningxia to send troops from all walks of life, and then return troops from Gansu, so that the number of soldiers and horses can be formed to [-] to [-], and Yansui has elite cavalry from the three sides, but I don't know..."

This means that our Ministry of War needs policy support from the imperial court.

The emperor meant to let Yang Yiqing go to Ningxia, and use the local soldiers and horses in Ningxia Town to cooperate with this battle.

But it didn't say that troops from Yansui, Guyuan, Gansu, etc. were not allowed to be transferred. If all people came together, there would be a chance to drive the Tatars back.

Xie Qian said: "Where is Huozhai? Hasn't Huozhai already surrendered to Daming now? He is still stationed in Donghetao, why not let him cooperate in dispatching troops? He has at least [-] to [-] elite cavalry? If he can cooperate with all his strength..."

Ma Wensheng shook his head and said: "Your Majesty said clearly beforehand that Huozhai will definitely watch the fire from the other side. If Ming loses in this battle, it will only be a matter of time before Huozhai returns to rebellion."

"Ugh!"

Xie Qian sighed heavily.

Ningxia's local troops were insufficient, and Huosie's troops could not be counted on. Daming had to mobilize troops from three sides.

"Ma Butang, you should be aware of the current situation of the imperial court. The treasury can't allocate enough money and food for a big war. Now it's the time of the autumn harvest, and the three sides are guaranteeing the harvest. If you send troops from different places at this time, the loss may be...uncountable! So Ying Ning can only...ah!"

Finally, Xie Qian sighed again.

Probably means.

Yang Yiqing can rely on his own ability.

If you can go out to fight, you will fight, if you can't fight, you will shrink back. In the worst case, you will be dismissed and questioned after the defeat, which is considered a sacrifice for the overall situation.

Ma Wensheng's face was silent, and he also understood that Xie Qian didn't deliberately not help, but because the situation in the northwest was indeed the case.

"Then can I ask your Majesty to transfer troops from Pianguan, Datong, and Xuanfu?" Ma Wensheng proposed a new concept.

Xie Qian almost rolled his eyes.

Xuanda is now Zhang Zhou's territory. The traditional civil servants in the Ming and Ming Dynasties said that the northwest can stand without Zhang Zhou, but now they have to transfer troops from the front line of Xuanda, which Zhang Zhou has cultivated deeply... Isn't this slapping yourself?

"The three sides have to guarantee the harvest, so Xuanda doesn't need it?" Xie Qian sighed, "Let's see. In the current situation, which side of the nine sides can recruit troops? It's too late to guard against wolves... Now the situation in Jizhou is also quite tight... I can see that the group of hungry wolves on the grassland are also treacherous and cunning."

It is not clear why the prairie people are cunning.

But in fact, the meaning is very obvious... Zhang Zhou's influence is in Xuanda, Liaodong, and Tatar and other grassland tribes are from outside Zhang Zhou's sphere of influence... Three sides and Jizhou are both left and right.

Zhang Zhou's territory did not dare to move, so he took the traditional territory in charge of Qin Hong, Wang Xian and others... The Tatars are simply picking soft persimmons.

Ma Wensheng said: "Xuan Da and Liaodong have obviously cast too many cannons in the past two years, so they should be transferred to other places, and the defenses on the three sides should also be strengthened."

Xie Qian said: "In the past, there were many people in the court asking His Majesty to stop mining, but now they want to increase the artillery garrison on the three sides and other places. Is it... a bit contradictory?"

Ma Wensheng said with a grim expression, "The Ministry of War has never made such a request."

"That is, Zhang Bingkuan is in the Ministry of War. Now he is also a member of the Ministry of War?"

Xie Qian was about to show his vicious side again. When he saw Ma Wensheng's expression was unkind, he turned his head away and sighed, "Then add more casting guns, isn't it just mining? As long as Zhang Bingkuan has the ability, even if he digs up the mines all over Daming, he will be blamed for it alone! Alas! What a troubled time!"

……

……

Xie Qian can naturally feel that the nine frontier defenses of the Ming Dynasty have been very tight in the past two years.

Even if there were a few great victories, each victory was nothing more than killing one or two thousand Tatars, and Duke Duke sealed several of them, but the combined losses of the Tatars were only in the tens of thousands.

It's just that the credit has become greater compared to the previous period, but it has not reached the point where it hurts the grassland tribes.

At this time... Zhang Zhou was sent to Nanjing... It is not difficult to understand that the Tatars "snipped in".

"Infighting, how long are you going to fight?" Xie Qian was relatively open-minded, and felt that Zhang Zhou was indispensable.

He seemed to recall that he did not support the impeachment of Zhang Zhou before.

Annoyed that those colleagues are incapable of themselves, but still insist on suppressing Zhang Zhou.

When he gets home, he has to sort out his words, and prepare to play with the emperor in the morning, and ask for an order to send troops from the three sides... He did it as a last resort, and it can't be said that he gave up Ningxia West Road and other places in order to protect the autumn harvest everywhere, and also changed the emperor's main attack strategy... He Xie Qian didn't want to be a sinner.

"Master." A servant appeared in front of Xie Qian.

"Hmm." Seeing the people in the mansion, Xie Qian was in a bad mood, and was about to go in to tidy up, when he thought of something, "Is there something wrong?"

The servant said: "Master, the second young master has returned home."

"what?"

Xie Qian frowned.

His second son, Xie Pi, has been studying in the capital, and Xie Qian felt that the atmosphere here was suitable for his son's future exams. Who would have thought that Xie Pi would run away by himself.

Xie Pi was eighteen years old and married. He can be said to be the absolute best among the children of the aristocratic family in the capital, but he hasn't even passed the provincial examination.

The servant lowered his head and said, "The young master has been away for three days, and the master hasn't come back these days, so..."

"Why did he go back to his hometown?" Xie Qian was so angry that he almost threw something.

The servant handed over a letter and said: "This is a letter from the second young master. Master, I have something to do, so I will leave it first."

When Xie Qian took the letter and read the contents above, his nose turned out of anger.

The son said that he was going back to Yuyao, but he said that he was going to Nanjing to participate in the so-called literary event. He also said that he only had one chance in this life, and if he missed it, he would never forget it.

"There is no fuel-efficient lamp!" Xie Qian almost looked up to the sky and screamed, "Zhang Bingkuan, Zhang Bingkuan, there is nothing worse than me to poison people's hearts!"

……

……

Morning the next day.

Under the leadership of Ma Wensheng and the cabinet, the matter of Yang Yiqing's appointment to Ningxia was singled out in the court, and Zhu Youtang was very unhappy when he mentioned the plight of sending troops to Ningxia.

He had just discussed with Ma Wensheng all afternoon yesterday, and the next day the cabinet seemed to know everything, and demanded the deployment of troops from various places to cooperate in the name of difficulties, and almost said that they would withdraw their intention to take the initiative... How could Zhu Youtang be angry?

"...Your family, please tell me that Ningxia is short of soldiers and horses. Where are there enough soldiers and horses? Can I send troops? Or point out suitable candidates for the leadership of the army. I will consider it as appropriate and accept your opinions. As long as Ningxia can fight the battle of Ming Dynasty, who and how to use it, you can speak freely."

The emperor was also angry.

You can talk about deploying troops everywhere... You also know that the defenses are tense everywhere now, where do the soldiers come from?Where will the food and luggage for war come from?Also, because the war affected the autumn harvest in the army, and the soldiers had no food for the winter, who would bear the responsibility?

Who wouldn't say it?Let's be realistic!

Li Dongyang came out and said: "Your Majesty, in the previous battle at Pianguan, because the city pass was damaged, tens of thousands of soldiers and horses were temporarily dispatched from Taiyuan, Datong and other places to reinforce the defense. Now that the Pianguan pass has been rebuilt, troops and horses can be dispatched from Pianguan to cooperate with Ningxia in the battle!"

"Will it be too late?" Zhu Youtang didn't say no, but asked if he would be a little bit far away when he transferred troops from Piantouguan to Ningxia?

Immediately Zhu Youtang added: "From Pianguan to Ningxia, the shortest way is to pass through Hetao, and pass by Huo Sha's grazing place on the way. Do you think Huo Sha will cooperate with the Ming Dynasty to send troops, or do you think he will not cause trouble for the Ming soldiers who are marching west?"

Li Dongyang said: "If you send troops out of the pass, maybe you don't need to rush to help Ningxia, but go north to the hinterland of the grassland, forcing the little Tatar prince to withdraw his troops."

"Siege Wei and save Zhao?" Zhu Youzhang said, "Do you know where the Tatar camps are? Or do you expect to be able to find the rear of the tribe exactly like the surprise attack on Wei Ninghai a year ago? The little Tatar prince said that he came out in full force, but he only dispatched [-] to [-] troops. There is still an absolute main force enough to garrison the headquarters camp. How many troops do you think can be sent from the side pass to achieve the goal of encircling Wei and saving Zhao?"

The emperor's question was acute.

Even a resourceful person like Li Dongyang felt that the emperor seemed to be much more mature than before.

And from the eyes of the emperor looking at the ministers, Li Dongyang could feel a kind of "narrowness".

Or rather, the emperor was laughing at them.

Look at you, I never supported my plan to send troops on my own initiative before, now listen to what you are talking about?He even took the initiative to send troops to the grassland, intending to force Batu Mengke to withdraw his troops?Then forget who, when Bing Kuan had the intention to send troops, he said that he rushed in lightly?
Who doesn't understand soldiers?
Seeing that even Li Dongyang didn't answer, Zhu Youtang said, "I also learned from the Ministry of War that it is somewhat difficult for Ningxia to dispatch enough troops to fight back the little prince's troops in a head-on confrontation. But difficulty does not mean that we should not do it... I also lowered my requirements. As long as I don't stick to it, even if it is a roundabout battle, no matter what kind of conspiracy it is.

The envoy Yuan Shouzhi said: "Your Majesty, it is the best policy to stick to the fortresses of Ningxia now!"

Zhu Youtang raised his voice an octave, and shouted angrily: "That means that the autumn grain in all parts of Ningxia will be handed over to the little prince of Tartar? Will the people, animals, and goods outside the city be ignored? Will Bingkuan's advantages in the frontier war accumulated in two years be wiped out because of your retreat?"

A series of aggressive rhetorical questions, let alone Yuan Shouzhi's inability to resist, most of the ministers present felt the heavy burden on their shoulders and they couldn't breathe.

"From the first time I discussed military affairs with Bingkuan, he told me not to think that the Tatars rarely violated the border ten years before Hongzhi, and that the Tatars would keep their own law and order. This is precisely their forbearance."

"After the 11th year of Hongzhi, droughts continued throughout the north. The little prince of the grassland Tatars, Batu Mengke, took advantage of the situation to rise up. He has annexed many tribes such as Oala, and those tribes in the cracks are no longer able to survive. Under such circumstances, if Ming still uses a defensive posture to deal with the incoming enemy, it will only make the enemy worse."

"In the future, the little Tatar prince can really unify the grasslands, and then go to war with Ming, and there will be beacon fires everywhere on the nine sides."

"I don't want to discuss these matters with you. If you think that Bingkuan is scaremongering, then you can look at the current border situation. Has there been any change because of Ming's forbearance? Only those places where Tatars took the initiative and won a complete victory rarely set foot in it. Doesn't this explain the problem?"

Zhu Youtang is also hardened now.

The three ministers Tu Yu, Xu Qiong, and Bai Ang have retired, and Min Gui, the censor of Zuodu, is missing. There are fewer and fewer ministers in the court who can challenge the imperial power, and the military deterrence brought by Zhang Zhou is becoming more and more effective.

It also allowed him, the emperor who always advocated filial piety to govern the country, to finally open his heart and mention his achievements in martial arts.

In front of all the ministers, he seemed to be elated.

"Your gentlemen, think carefully after you go back. If you have a good strategy, just tell me, and I will treat you all equally." Zhu Youtang didn't want to listen anymore, and waved his hand, "Retire!"

……

……

There are still many topics in the court, but Zhu Youtang doesn't like to hear it, so just skip it.

Out of sight, out of mind.

Wouldn't it be nice to go back and reunite with Concubine Ai, hug the newborn son, and enjoy the family happiness?

But on the side of the ministers, it was like overturning the jar of vinegar. After the court meeting ended, a bunch of people were upset again. This time their target was not the three cabinet members, but Ma Wensheng, who was "a vegetarian meal in the corpse".

"Ma Shangshu, you were considered a famous commander in the Northwest back then, and it was easy to dispatch troops and generals, but now you want to watch Xiao Xiaoyu make troubles in the court and turn a deaf ear to it?"

"The affairs of the Ming Dynasty's military and political affairs should not be relied on by alchemists who speak indiscriminately!"

The words of the ministers are somewhat extreme, but civil servants are like this, and any major family and country affairs are not as real as party disputes.

If you change the emperor or the name of the country, you will still be a minister, and you will still suppress political opponents with the principle of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

Xie Qian stepped forward, smiled and waved his hands and said: "You don't need to be excited. In fact, your Majesty has already made a plan for this battle, and the Ministry of War has already made a complete plan. You should not speculate. No matter how tight the battle in Ningxia is, it will not affect the stability of the capital."

"Old Xie Ge, this is wrong. The land of Ningxia is related to the stability of Guanzhong and other places. Guanzhong has always been the production area in the north of Ming Dynasty. Only Guanzhong can secure the Central Plains. Don't you understand this truth?"

Xie Qian said with a smile: "This is meaningless, why don't you ask your majesty to call back the Duke of Lai?"

Mentioning this, all the ministers fell silent again.

There are great opinions on Zhang Zhou, but now the emperor thinks that the best solution is to transfer Zhang Zhou or Zhang Zhou's people to Ningxia.

What Xie Qian meant was.

Since you are so excited, then transfer Zhang Bingkuan back, regardless of success or failure, he will bear the responsibility... This is always in line with your wishes, right?
Zhou Jingdao: "Before next year or the battle in Ningxia, everyone, let's stop for a while. Let His Majesty and the various ministries in the court discuss with the local government about the transfer of money and food."

"Yep."

Immediately, people from the moderate faction came out to ease the conflicts between the parties.

Someone said: "Can that Yang Yiqing really do it? Ningxia asked him to lead the army, why not send a famous military figure there? It would be good to let Qin Lao Zhitai send troops."

"Farewell." Xie Qian said, "Such an arrangement must have a deep meaning. Your Majesty is more anxious than anyone else to ensure the stability of the three sides, and your Majesty will definitely make reasonable arrangements."

(End of this chapter)