A century-old family that runs through the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 319: Three Announcements and Six Comforts, Toungoo Dynasty

"The land of Xuanwei has almost been lost. He Long has arrogated the title of King of Donggu and disturbed our border. His power is getting bigger and bigger, and I may be in danger."

"General Zhengnan, Duke of Guizhou, Mu Tianbo."

The eunuch finished reading Mu Tianbo's letter, and there was silence above the court.

Zhu Changxun's eyes sparkled, he scanned the ministers in front of him, and then said:

"Everyone, this Talong is getting more and more rampant. He dares to break my vassalage of Sanxuan and Liuwei, harass the border areas, and despise our court like this. How can we ignore it? What's more, with his arrogance to this point, I'm afraid that the old things of Wanli are just around the corner. .”

"I want to send troops to quell the chaos, to command the world, and to promote my great power."

"How much money does the Ministry of Accounts still have in deposits now?"

He turned his head, looked at Ni Wenhuan, and asked. After Li Ruhua became an official, the left minister of the Ministry of Revenue naturally became the new Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

Ni Wenhuan respectfully reported:

"Your Majesty, there are 4.3 million taels of silver in the national treasury."

At this time, the Ming Dynasty's treasury was still quite abundant.

After all, after experiencing a series of innovations by Yan Chenhao, Ming's annual income, although I dare not say it is similar to that at its peak, has reached about 15 million taels, and this number is still rising.

Although the military garrison system has basically collapsed, resulting in a surge in military expenditures. In addition, previous salary arrears must be made up, as well as official salaries, palace expenses, and some expenses such as relief for disaster victims. Fortunately, there is no need to support the huge royal family in the original time and space. By the way, I have saved a lot of money in the past few years.

According to Yan Chenhao's original plan, both to conquer the grasslands and to support water conservancy construction, the treasury was not expected to have much left. However, Zhu Changxun's "genius" came up with this method of exempting people from their monthly salary, which saved a lot of money. Little money.

Hundreds of thousands of laborers worked for free, saving nearly three million taels of silver a year, which was originally a large part of the expenditure on water conservancy.

Now that the savings are down, it is not unusual to have more than four million taels.

Zhu Changxun also nodded with satisfaction.

He set his sights on the map in front of him, where the Toungoo Dynasty was located.

Southwest of the Ming Dynasty.

As early as the Jiajing year when the Toungoo dynasty began to rise, wars continued between the Sanxuan and Liuwei periods. Even in the Wanli year, a Sino-Burmese war broke out.

Although at that time, Liu Wei and Deng Zilong hung up the Toungoo army and beat them, they were not able to damage their roots. Soon after, the three great campaigns of Wanli broke out. Two brave generals entered the court one after another, and then came the Battle of Bozhou. , all the accumulation of Zhang Juzheng's governance was wiped out, and then a vigorous struggle for the throne broke out in the DPRK. Naturally, no one cared about the affairs of the southwest anymore.

In the 34th year of Wanli, 300,000 Dongyu troops broke through Mubang Xuanwei Division, while the Ming army was trapped in Bozhou and was unable to go south to support. Three Xuan and Six Wei completely declared their losses.

This is also inevitable. At the peak of the Central Plains dynasty, the territory was often very large, but once it reached the end of the dynasty, basically only the eighteen provinces of the Han region remained, with few exceptions.

Now Zhu Changxun's meaning is also very clear. He wants to send troops to Dongxu and regain the vassal land that has been declared three times and six comforts.

He slowly raised his head and looked at the ministers in front of him.

Although he didn't speak, his meaning was very clear. He was waiting for their opinions.

Although the emperor was silent, he was very oppressive. Many ministers wanted to object, but under his glance, they did not dare to speak. They just looked at the chief minister in front. Yan Chenhao finally understood what the emperor was planning, and he was also thinking nervously at this time.

In fact, he has never objected to the use of force. What he objects to is the use of force at inappropriate times, meaninglessly, or even just for selfish purposes.

While the Toungoo Dynasty has become more and more aggressive in recent times, it has also harassed the borders of the Ming Dynasty from time to time and plundered the people of the Ming Dynasty. Although it was not the large-scale invasion that it once was, it still caused headaches for the border troops.

It is actually appropriate to send troops to teach a lesson.

Four million taels...

It would not be a bad idea to win a quick victory. The two battles of Ningxia and Bozhou during the Three Great Expeditions of Wanli lasted for several months and cost around two million taels. Although this number was also huge, thanks to Zhu Changxun's "savings", Now the treasury can still get it.

They don't seek to completely destroy Donggu, but just defeat them and regain the old lands of Sanxuan and Liuwei. This should be accomplished.

The Ming Dynasty's treasury cannot support a protracted war, but as long as the speed is fast enough, it will not delay various ongoing matters.

Moreover, Yan Chenhao himself knew that the last victory had made the people sing praises and made the emperor full of confidence. He thought that he was another talented and strategist, and his determination to send troops was extremely firm. Even if he tried to dissuade him, there was a high probability that the emperor would not listen. Once a fight breaks out, it will be a big quarrel, which is not what he wants.

The plan was decided, so he stood up from the team and said:

"Your Majesty's intention of sending troops to the southwest is also good. Taungoo has become more and more rampant recently, but it should be punished... It just needs to be dealt with quickly. It is best to withdraw the three announcements and six comforts within a few months, and calm down This is chaos.”

Zhu Changxun couldn't help but widen his eyes when he heard this.

He was already prepared to argue with Yan Chenhao again, but he didn't expect that his teacher would be so "aware" now.

Could it be that my previous behavior has successfully shocked him?

For a moment, Zhu Changxun had a lot of thoughts in his heart, and he felt like "I am the protagonist, the tiger's body shook, and all the people bowed their heads".

Although the rest of the ministers have doubts in their hearts, the leader has already agreed, so they will naturally not object.

This proposal was thus passed.

Subsequently, the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion began to discuss the situation of mobilizing troops and the list of generals.

In order to implement the will of the chief minister, fight quickly and ensure victory with one blow, the Ming Dynasty will dispatch a total of 200,000 troops from the five provinces of Huguang, Guizhou, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Yunnan, as well as 50,000 troops from Beijing, known as the Five A hundred thousand troops were led southward by Yan Shizhao, who had a long history of military exploits.

Zhu Changxun quickly got the proposal.

After reading it for a while, and seeing that there was no problem, he asked someone to take it to the Supervisor of Ceremonies, and handed it over to them for stamping and issuance.

However, not long after, he saw Wang Tigan, the eunuch in charge of the ceremony, arriving in a hurry.

After saluting, he approached the emperor and said to him:

"Your Majesty, the commander-in-chief is Chen Guogong, and I think it is inappropriate."

"Chen Guogong has made great achievements in battle now. As a small country on the border, it is not necessary for him to go on an expedition, but he should also give other ministers some opportunities to perform."

"Besides..."

He got a little closer to the emperor and whispered:

"Your Majesty, please don't forget that Duke Chen is the nephew of the chief minister after all..."

(End of this chapter)