control the heavens

Chapter 48
In September, the temperature gradually cools up.

The autumn wind blew across the fields, and huge piles of straw stood in sight one after another.

In the open space on both sides of the road, there are corn fields drying everywhere.

A group of people and horses marched forward, everyone was riding a horse, about a thousand riders, and the soldiers were fully equipped. When the people saw it from a distance, they fled in panic, thinking that the border town had been broken by Wala again, and the imperial court dispatched troops to fight.

Back then, Ming Taizu expelled Yuan and Mongolia, unified the Central Plains, and restored the clothes of the Han family, but after Mongolia fled back to the Mongolian grassland, it was still a powerful enemy of Ming Dynasty.

During the reign of Ming Taizu, eight northern expeditions to the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and five northern expeditions to Mongolia during the reign of Ming Chengzu, dealt heavy blows to various Mongolian forces.However, Yingzong's Northern Expedition to Oirat, the "Tumu Fort Change" caused the Tumu Fort to fall, the elite division was defeated, and even the emperor was captured, which made the Oirat army drive straight in and approach the capital.

After the change of Tumu Fortress, Wala was strong, and the trend of offense and defense changed, which made Mongolian cavalry often go south, endangering border towns.

"General, the city of Xi'an is twenty miles ahead!" A burly man in armor clasped his fists and reported to a young man.

The young man smiled lightly and said: "March faster, I haven't seen Master for several years, I don't know how Master is doing now, even thinking about Master, I would never have imagined that this great general will come to Xi'an."

Following an order, all the soldiers whipped their whips and galloped, and soon arrived at the outskirts of Xi'an.

"No, there are enemy invaders, close the city gate quickly, and inform your lord!" On the city wall of Xi'an, looking at the dust rising in front of him from a distance, the guards suddenly lost consciousness, and the generals with higher ranks hurriedly After giving the order, the city gate was closed immediately, and soldiers were sent to report.

At the same time, a sergeant blew the horn, one after another, the soldiers in the barracks rushed to the city wall as quickly as possible under the leadership of the general.

Governor Yamen.

"What's going on, the horn was blown and the beacon fire was ignited!" Tang Han had just had lunch, when he heard the sound of the horn and saw the smoke of the beacon fire rising from the sky, he was slightly startled, and quickly issued an order to gather the governors The sergeants of the yamen, as the governor of the yamen, are usually guarded by a hundred soldiers.

As soon as the guards had assembled, they saw a soldier coming on a fast horse. He got off the horse and reported: "Report, my lord, a large number of people and horses have arrived outside the city. I don't know the details!"

"Master Qian, you take the guards to go for reinforcements, and I will go on horseback immediately!" Tang Han ordered the captain of the guards, and then rode his horse and galloped to the gate of the city.

When Tang Han arrived at the city wall, he saw that there was a commotion everywhere. Some soldiers didn't even wear their armor neatly, and some soldiers even went up to the city wall without their weapons.

Tang Han stepped on the horse and used the light kung fu technique 'Golden Goose Crossing the Sky', but the city wall of Xi'an is four feet high, even if Tang Han is already at the peak, it is difficult to fly up the city wall at once, he kicked on the city wall , With the help of this power, he jumped onto the city wall.

"Meet the governor!" The general who was organizing soldiers on the city wall hurriedly bowed when he saw Tang Han.

"General Xin, don't be too polite!" Tang Han said, looking ahead, he saw a thousand cavalrymen below the city, wearing Ming Dynasty uniforms, with the character 'Zhu' written on the flag, obviously the leading general was a surnamed Zhu General.

Looking at the general in golden armor under the banner again, Tang Han was taken aback. Although more than ten years had passed, Tang Han recognized this man at a glance—Emperor Zhengde.

"General Xin, let people open the city gate and welcome the Holy Majesty into the city!" Tang Han ordered helplessly.

General Xin was shocked, and said in disbelief, "Master Governor, you mean that His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!"

"Go!" Tang Han said, thinking in his heart that Emperor Zhengde is really messing around. As the king of a country, he doesn't understand that "a gentleman should not stand under a dangerous wall". If someone assassinates him, the consequences will be disastrous.

Over the years, Tang Han has also heard a lot of silly things about Emperor Zhengde. After he ascended the throne, he built many shops in the palace imitating the appearance of the market. .He felt that it was not enough, so he imitated a brothel and asked many court ladies to pretend to be fans. Emperor Zhengde went in from house to house to listen to music and lewd music, and the harem became a mess.At the same time, the conflict between eunuchs and court ministers suddenly intensified, and many ministers jointly signed a letter requesting that the Eight Tigers be severely punished.

As a result, when dealing with party disputes, Emperor Zhengde lacked the ability to control the officials. Seeing such a massive remonstrance, he couldn't bear it. He wanted to compromise with the officials and get rid of the Eight Tigers, but at the critical moment, Liu Jin Crying in front of the emperor made Emperor Zhengde's heart soften again. The next day he punished the ministers who first made admonishment. Criticism.

Tang Han also heard that Emperor Zhengde built a Leopard House in the northwest of the imperial city. He left the Forbidden City in the third year of Zhengde and lived in a new house in the Leopard House.

Many ministers of the current dynasty wrote to Tang Han, hoping that Tang Han could speak to Emperor Zhengde and make Emperor Zhengde a wise king.

Tang Han didn't care about this at all. He just managed the one-third-acre land in Shaanxi, and managed Shaanxi in an orderly manner. There are concrete roads connecting counties and counties, and the tax paid to the imperial court in Shaanxi alone is as much as 200 million taels of silver.

"Chen, Tang Han, pay homage to Your Majesty!" Tang Han jumped down from the city wall and came to the Emperor Zhengde, saluting.

Emperor Zhengde got up from his horse, helped Tang Han up, and said, "Master, please don't be too polite. I came to Xi'an this time, and I wanted to give Master a surprise. I never thought that Master would see through it."

Tang Han was secretly surprised. After seeing him for more than ten years, Emperor Zhengde's internal strength was not weak, which was equivalent to the second-rate realm. It can be seen that Emperor Zhengde did not give up cultivating internal strength in these years.

"Your Majesty's joke will cost Xi'an at least tens of thousands of silver!" Tang Han said helplessly.

Emperor Zhengde was not as thin-skinned as he was when he first came to the throne. Fighting against court officials all these years has also made his face thicker. Emperor Zhengde smiled and said: "This time I entered Shaanxi from the Xuanfu, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. He does not close his doors at night and does not pick up relics, and the people are rich. Master is truly versatile in both civil and military affairs. Not only is his martial arts superb, but his ability to govern the country is unmatched even in the imperial court."

Tang Han bowed slightly, and said: "Your Majesty, Liao Zan, I dare not take credit for it. It is mainly because of the concerted efforts of all colleagues that the current situation is possible."

"Your Majesty, please enter the city with your ministers, but this place is not suitable for chatting!" Tang Han said, and brought Emperor Zhengde into the city.

The news of Emperor Zhengde's arrival in Xi'an spread quickly, and the people of Xi'an realized that it was not the enemy's invasion, but Emperor Zhengde's arrival in Xi'an, and the whole Xi'an became lively.

During the Tang and Han Dynasties, Emperor Zhengde's holy car was placed in the governor's office, and at the same time, the prefects of Shaanxi prefectures and the main generals of the guards were called to Xi'an to meet him.

"Master, do you think the time is ripe for the Northern Expedition to Oirat?" In the garden of the governor's office, only Tang Han and Emperor Zhengde were left. Although the two hadn't seen each other for more than ten years, there was still a big gap between them, Emperor Zhengde said directly.

Tang Han was taken aback for a moment, and immediately understood what was going on. This Emperor Zhengde was a noisy person. In the original track, he was aliased as "General Zhu Shou". The army led the troops to fight, went to the front line to fight the enemy, and repelled the Tatar army.

Because of the influence of the butterfly in the Tang and Han Dynasties, the income of the imperial court increased greatly. The annual income was more than 1000 million taels of silver. Emperor Zhengde did not change his policy after he came to the throne, so the Southwest issue was settled in the fifth year of Zhengde, and the clan policy was also implemented in the tenth year of Zhengde.

With these confidences, Emperor Zhengde began to attack Wala's idea.

"Your Majesty, can the army be restructured?" Tang Han asked.

"Never!"

"Your Majesty, I don't know how to follow the imperial court, control the officials, and the emperor's authority is supreme?" Tang Han asked again.

"Never!"

Emperor Zhengde's face darkened. After he ascended the throne, he found that being an emperor was not so easy. During the reign of Emperor Hongzhi, all the officials were respectful and content with their duties. He rejected his will during the court meeting, so let alone smoothing the court and controlling the officials, it can be said that the conflict between the monarch and the ministers is really not small, like a powder keg.

"Army is a sharp knife, and it is the king's most powerful weapon. If the king does not have this sharp knife, the king's authority will be greatly reduced." Tang Han said with a smile: "When Taizu ascended the throne as emperor, all corrupt officials Corrupt officials are severely punished, arrogant soldiers dare not hesitate to kill the imperial power, but no one dares to rebel, why?"

Emperor Zhengde was a wise man, he understood the meaning of Tang and Han dialects at a glance, he was an emperor who didn't even hold the military power in his hands, and he didn't have smooth internal affairs, so he talked about the Northern Expedition.

Maybe he fought to the death with Wala on the front line, and as a result, there would be a coup in the capital, and he would lose the throne in an instant.

"Your Majesty, I have heard an ancient saying before: Power emerges from the barrel of a gun!" Tang Han said: "Only by firmly grasping the military power can your Majesty's will be carried out! Today's Ming Dynasty's illness does not lie in the threat of Mongolia, but in the Ming Dynasty. internal."

Since the change of Tumu Fortress, a large number of military elites have been killed or injured, and the military meritorious service has plummeted. However, the civil official group established a new army and Yu Qian defended Beijing to defeat the Oirats.

However, in Tang Han's view, the civil official group's arbitrariness will inevitably harm the country. Only when civil and military are both emphasized and civil and military are separated, is the most stable.

It is undoubtedly inappropriate for Emperor Zhengde to go to the Northern Expedition. Instead of wasting a lot of manpower and material resources on the Northern Expedition, it is better to refine his internal strength and completely control the emperor's authority.

After all, even though Oirat won the victory and Ming lost miserably, on the whole, the strength of Ming is still much better than that of Mongolia. The threat of Ming is not in the north, but in the interior.

(End of this chapter)