Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 141 Zhang Xiao’s ideas for border defense

"Your Majesty, I have been following up on the situation of the Jianzhou Department. Especially after Nurhachi defeated the nine-unit coalition this time, I paid more attention to the Jianzhou Department. When I returned to Liaodong, I kept track of the military and political affairs in Liaodong. The officials also talked about the gradual progress of the Jurchens such as the Jianzhou Department. The minister chatted with Dong Zongbing of Liaodong for a long time, and Dong Zongbing also told Weichen what he knew in detail. At that time, the imperial military strength in Liaodong was really stretched, and so on. I was able to free up one hand at the back, but I didn’t expect that the nine coalition forces were quickly defeated.”

"Now that the Jianzhou Ministry has just risen, if the Jianzhou Ministry overestimates its capabilities and starts a war with other Jurchen tribes, the Ming Dynasty can take the opportunity to intervene and mediate and completely isolate the Jianzhou Ministry. If the Jianzhou Ministry is bold and provokes border provocations, the imperial court will You can contact other tribes to destroy the Jianzhou Department. If the Jianzhou Department does not move, but reconciles with other tribes and remains loyal to the Ming Dynasty, that is the most correct strategy for the Jianzhou Department. Now the Jianzhou Jurchen Department is executing This is the most strategic one." Zhang Xiao replied.

"If the Jianzhou Ministry remains unchanged, how will the imperial court respond now? After all, which of the Jurchen tribes is too strong, it will not be beneficial to the imperial court." The emperor asked.

"Although the Jianzhou Department has won now, it is not easy for Nurhaci to unify the Jurchen tribes. The mountains where the Jianzhou Department is located are densely forested, which is not suitable for large armies. The nine coalition forces have different orders, so they will collapse at the first touch. But if Nurhaci It's not easy to attack other tribes. Even if it's a small tribe, it's not that easy to attack a large tribe. So Nurhaci just accepts it as soon as he can, at least in the short term. Big military action."

"That means that the Jianzhou Ministry is no longer a big threat to the imperial court?"

"From a military point of view, this is indeed the case. But from a political point of view, unless the Ming Dynasty mobilizes its army to deal with Nurhachi, the Jianzhou Ministry will now be in an invincible position, and all the forces nearby will recognize the Jianzhou Ministry's With military hegemony, I am afraid that even North Korea will take the initiative to send envoys to the Jianzhou Department to contact them. In the future, it will not be so easy for the court to order the Jurchen tribes."

"If I follow what you said, then the Jurchen issue is not so urgent. Now Buyan Khan of Eastern Mongolia pretends to have discovered the gold seal of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty, and wants to use it to order the tribes. Has the Mongolian Yuan power been revived? possible?" the emperor then asked.

"Your Majesty, the Mongolian tribes no longer listen to the orders of the Great Khan. Needless to say, the descendants of King Anda Shunyi in the west are in their own line. The Mongolian tribes in the east are also doing their own thing. In addition to the relatives of Subahai, they are also going to revenge. After harassing Liaodong, the other tribes are now secretly doing business and exchanging news with Da Ming. The rise of Mongolia relies on the outstanding talents of the Mongolian leader Genghis Khan. In those days, Genghis Khan was able to establish a great cause because of the Sulu ingot spears and tens of thousands of cavalry in his hands. , and did not rely on any jade seal or gold seal. Although Buyan Khan inherited the throne of his father Tuman Khan and inherited the false name of Mongol Khan, he did not establish any outstanding military achievements, nor did he have any prominent reputation. Now we can only rely on this method of discovering the golden seal to win people's hearts. Don't say that this golden seal is probably fake, even if it is real, it is not surprising. The ruins of the capital city are still not far from the capital, and the decline of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty has How can we make a comeback with just a golden seal?"

"Okay, now that the Mongolian Khanate has declined, is it time for me, the Ming Dynasty, to attack the grassland? By then, my Ming Dynasty cavalry will go deep into the grassland, and we can defeat or even eliminate the Mongol Khanate on the grassland. In this case, the barbarians from all walks of life in the north will You must not dare to act rashly because of the Ming Dynasty's military power." The emperor was a little excited.

"Your Majesty, although the grassland tribes are currently divided, if our Ming army goes deep into the grassland, these tribes will unite to deal with the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty sends more people, they will withdraw. If there are fewer people going, they will It is easy to be ambushed and annihilated by the grassland tribes. Therefore, Wei Chen suggested that if we want to deal with the Mongols, we still need to build fortresses along the way, recruit Mongolian tribes who are willing to submit to the court, and camp step by step, so the Mongolian tribes will definitely be unable to resist." Zhang Xiao said. After all, although Admiral Li was arrogant, he was at least polite to him and never forgot about him even if he had any good deeds. Zhang Xiao did not want Li Rusong, his old friend, to go out to the grassland like in the original time and space, and ended up with the whole army in the grassland in a daze. Overturned.

"According to what you said, can't the imperial court take any big action against Mongolia now?"

"Your Majesty, if this step-by-step strategy can be used smoothly, although it will cost a lot at the beginning, it will not cost much later. After all, if the fortress is well repaired, the Mongols may not be able to raise tens of thousands of cavalry. Successfully captured it. Then the imperial court slowly infiltrated various ministries. Even if Buyan Khan dug out the imperial seal, those Mongolian tribes would not obey his orders and insist on becoming enemies of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, for those who want to resist the Ming Dynasty stubbornly We can focus on the tribes that are at the bottom and destroy their tribes.”

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I am really busy with Korean affairs these days, and I just want to continue writing the history of the Kingdom of Folangji after I come back."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Your Majesty, North Korea has suffered many military disasters, and people's thoughts are agitated. I suggested that North Korea open the imperial examination early to calm the hearts of the scholars. I also remembered that the provincial examination of the imperial court was about to begin, so I asked North Korea to find some more talented scholars for me. When the time comes, I will bring you to the capital to take part in the imperial examination. This will not only win over the hearts of North Koreans, but also allow the people in the capital to see the style of North Korean scholars and know that North Korea is now stable."

"Weichen will study it carefully. In fact, when I went to North Korea this time, in addition to reading documents and documents related to the Japanese country, there were also many books and documents related to the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties. Weichen also brought some back and presented them to His Majesty after sorting them out. "

"If this is the case, it will cost too much." The emperor was a little dissatisfied.

"Zhang Xiao, the situation in various Mongolian ministries is complicated. Since you are interested in understanding it, the imperial court will also provide you with some conveniences. What you are saying now may make some sense, or it may not make sense. There are also many people from the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties in the capital. You can go and take a look at the archives. Many civil servants and generals in the DPRK have experience in dealing with and fighting against Mongolian tribes, and they have a relatively clear understanding of the situation of various Mongolian tribes."

"If you lose etiquette, you should seek help from the wild people. If China loses etiquette, you can seek help from the barbarians. Since Korea still has these books and documents, you should sort them out. But I see what you said in your memorial, you also brought many Korean scholars with you. When I returned to the capital, I said I wanted to take them to participate in the imperial examination in the capital. What's going on?" the emperor asked.

"You are really interested. Since it involves foreign vassals and the imperial examination, I will instruct the Ministry of Rites to take over this matter."

“The most important thing for the court right now is to understand the detailed situation of each Mongolian tribe, the strength of each tribe, the relationship with the Mongolian Khan Court, the relationship between each other, the weapons, equipment and the source of the weapons, so that we can prescribe the right medicine. Just like Cortez was able to use hundreds or even thousands of troops to drive tens of thousands of Native Americans for his own use and destroy the Aztec country."

"How about it? Do you have any plans to write any books recently?"

"The history of Folangji Country is worth writing more about. After all, Folangji Country is now the most powerful country in the West, and it has established its stronghold under the eyes of the Ming Dynasty. Since you have been in Nanyang for a long time, you must have an understanding of Folangji Country. It is also more profound. Also, the foreign monk Matteo Ricci has arrived in the capital a few days ago and presented me with some novelties. You can also chat with him. After all, Matteo Ricci is also a well-educated scholar in Western Yi. Gentleman, you might be able to gain something by talking to him."

"Matteo Ricci has come to Beijing?" Zhang Xiao was also a little surprised.

"Yes, Matteo Ricci has been thinking about dealing with the officials in the capital these days. I think this person has some real talents. If you want to chat with him, he should be quite happy. You can also go and ask about this. What is the purpose of the foreign monks coming to our country? After all, I have also heard that the so-called commander of the Japanese First Army, Commander Konishi, also believes in this cross religion. When the Japanese invaded Korea, was this cross religion adding fuel to the fire? Do you also Go and find out." "I will meet with Matteo Ricci to see what this foreign monk is capable of, and also find out the foreign monk's intention of coming to Ming Dynasty."

"One more thing. You proposed to me before that you wanted to supplement the History of the Yuan Dynasty. How to supplement it? Do you want to add supplements to the "History of the Yuan Dynasty" or write a new one?" the emperor asked.

"Your Majesty, my idea is to re-collate the "History of the Yuan Dynasty". After the "History of the Yuan Dynasty" was compiled and circulated to the world, there were scholars who collated the book. I suggest that these collations should be sorted out and the "History of the Yuan Dynasty" should be taken seriously. A thorough proofreading is required to correct the errors and omissions, and any errors in deeds due to duplicate names in the original text must also be marked, and after sorting them out, a collation note of "History of the Yuan Dynasty" will be formed."

"Of course, collation alone is not enough. After the collation is completed, the "History of the Yuan Dynasty" must be supplemented. For some important figures, if the records are too brief, the deeds will be supplemented. If there are no biographies, biographies will be supplemented. Supplements are required One of the main contents is the history of the four great Mongolian khanates. This part of the content is not easy to find, so it will take a long time to compile the information and write it."

"Of course, Buyan Khan still claims to be the Great Khan of Mongolia, so there is one more thing that needs to be done, which is to introduce the historical evolution of the Oara and Tatar tribes after Emperor Yuan Shun fled north to the grasslands. This part of the time is closer to the present. However, it is difficult to find the information in it, especially reliable information. After this part of the manuscript is written, a small part will be excerpted as appropriate and placed in the supplementary text of "Yuan Shi". The full manuscript of these parts is Your Majesty will take control of it." Zhang Xiao explained in detail.

"It seems that you are already confident about supplementing "Yuan History". But from what you said, this is also a huge project. How to supplement it? You can look for more information, think about it carefully, and report the memorial to me. Well, if possible, I will let the cabinet discuss it and take this matter forward."

At this time, Matteo Ricci, dressed in Confucian attire, was chatting with Li Zhizao in a teahouse in the capital.

"Mr. Li, over the years, I have met all kinds of people in the Ming Dynasty, including many Confucian scholars. When many scholars see me, they will think that I have a strange appearance, and they will ignore my appearance. Talk about something, just treat me like a rare animal to watch. I have also made friends with the officials of the Ming Dynasty. Many of your officials have a relatively deep foundation in Confucianism, but the operation of the government relies on some inheritance passed down from generation to generation. A junior official in the position.”

"Mr. Li, what do you think of our Ming Dynasty's official selection system?"

"I think this system of selecting officials through examinations is very good. In Europe, those nobles inherited the territory of the kingdom from generation to generation, but the descendants of these nobles are deteriorating. They only know about ease and enjoyment, and are not willing to obey the monarch's orders. What's more, they don't even believe in God and are completely deceived by Satan. In the Ming Dynasty, officials were selected by examination and hired on the basis of merit, which is completely impossible in Europe."

"Then where do all the European officials come from?" Li Zhizao asked curiously.

"The important officials in the kingdom are all from the nobility, and the titles of the nobility are basically passed down from generation to generation. As for the unimportant officials, they are just servants of the king and the great nobility."

"Then European countries are still famous for being famous. Mr. Li also became a monk and became a monk. So, is Mr. Li from a noble family?"

"I was born into a wealthy businessman. However, the status of wealthy businessmen in Europe is not high. They only gave me enough money and allowed me enough time to study all the way to become a missionary."

"So Mr. Li, after you have been studying for many years, your pope sent you to the Ming Dynasty? Then Europe is thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty. Doesn't your family miss you very much?"

"I have dedicated everything to God. I have lived this life without getting married, and I will not get married in the years to come."

"Oh? This foreign monk is also a monk and wants to become a monk. So when you come to the capital, do you also want to spread your cross religion?" Li Zhizao asked.

"No, no, no, I just want to lead the lost lamb to the right place."

"What kind of lost lamb?" Li Zhizao felt more and more confused after hearing this metaphor.

"Mr. Li, your talent and learning amaze me. Many of your senior officials I know know nothing about Europe. This shows that the Ming Dynasty did not value the study of world geography when selecting officials, but Li Sir, your astronomical knowledge, mathematical knowledge, physics knowledge and other aspects of the reserve are far ahead."

"Because my teacher is Zhang Shidu from the Hanlin Academy. He knows astronomy and geography very well, and he is also familiar with your European affairs."

"Oh? Your teacher, is he the author of the "Conquest of Mexico"? If so, Mr. Li, please arrange for me to meet with this author. This book faces the problems of our church and priests. There is bias in the evaluation. The Aztecs worshiped evil gods and retained the habits of barbarians. The King of Spain sent Cortez to conquer the Aztec country in order to break idolatry and let all Indians feel God's love as soon as possible. It is the gift of the world that transforms a savage into a civilized man.”

(End of this chapter)