Lin Tailai suddenly pointed his sword at the Ministry of War's Fang Division. For a moment, the monarchs and ministers in the palace were quite confused.
But the specific reasons for confusion vary from person to person.
Some people are confused because the staff department is so important.
You, Lin Tailai, are so nakedly coveting the position of Fang Si, you are really not afraid of being overwhelmed!
Although institutionally and nominally, the head department of the Ministry of War is the Department of Military Selection, just like the head department of the Ministry of Personnel is the Department of Wenxuan.
But in today's actual work, the Staff Department is the head department of the Ministry of War, and even the most core department of the Ministry of War.
In the early days, the Ming Dynasty's military system was based on the garrison system. The Military Selection Department was responsible for the promotion of military attachés in the garrison. It was logical that the head department of the Ministry of War was responsible.
Later, the focus of the Ming Dynasty's military system increasingly shifted to the garrison system and the camp system, and the role of the garrison became smaller and smaller.
The importance of generals such as generals, generals, guerrillas, and garrison officers gradually replaced the traditional military attachés such as commanders, Qianhu, and Baihu.
From the beginning to the present, the Department of Military Affairs has only been responsible for the promotion and recording of meritorious services for traditional hereditary military attachés.
The affairs of the town garrison camp have always been under the responsibility of the Zhongfang Division. As a result, the selection of the town garrison generals and the Beijing camp officers was also the responsibility of the Zhongfang Division.
Therefore, with the changes in the military system of the Ming Dynasty, the power of the Zhongfang Division, which is responsible for the selection of general officers, has long surpassed that of the Military Selection Division, which is responsible for the military attachés of the guards, and has become the de facto first division of the Ministry of War.
Not to mention that the Zifang Division also has responsibilities such as troop deployment and training, city guanjin, and map drawing. It can be said that most of the power of the Ministry of War lies in the Zifang Division.
At that time, the powerful minister Yan Song had "two stewards, civil and military", among whom the Wen steward was the doctor of the Wenxuan Department of the Ministry of Personnel, and the Wu steward was the doctor of the Fangsi Department of the Ministry of War. This shows the status and power of the Fangsi Department.
So today you, Lin Tailai, opened your mouth to slander Fang Si out of nowhere. Isn’t this power-hungry look a bit ugly?
Another group of confused people is Chief Assistant Shen Shixing and his followers.
Yang Yuting, the doctor in the staff department, is Shen Shoufu’s disciple and party member, so starting from Shen Shoufu’s side, he is one of your own, Lin Tailai!
You, Lin Tailai, are simply going crazy when you want to mess with Fang Si like this! You don’t distinguish between ourselves and the enemy, and you bite people indiscriminately!
Yang Yuting, the doctor of Zhongfang Si, couldn't help but asked Lin Tailai: "Why did you impeach Fang Si?"
It's not that I'm angry, it's just pure curiosity.
Lin Tailai replied plausibly: "Huo Luochi was ready to move two or three years ago, and there was a lot of friction in the West Sea. This time, the captives are crossing the river in large numbers to go to the West Sea, which will definitely cause commotion again.
It can be said that all accidents have early signs. Your department was unaware of the military situation and had no foresight of the border police.
As a result, the incident has already occurred and the imperial court hastily responded to it. Isn't it the fault of Zifang Si?"
Yang Yuting was still confused and replied: "This is because Li Tingyi, the governor of Gansu, missed the embankment and missed the military situation. The matter was critical and he still didn't report it. What does it have to do with my official position?"
Lin Tailai asked aggressively: "The collection, analysis, and judgment of military intelligence from overseas barbarians have nothing to do with your office?"
Yang Yuting said in surprise: "I am in charge of map, military system, city god, garrison, drill, expedition, city, Guanjin, rectification of the army and other matters.
As for collecting military intelligence, isn't it the responsibility of the governor of the border town? How can our staff department take care of it?"
No matter what the specific operations are, in terms of explicit accusations, the Staff Division does not have the job of collecting overseas military intelligence.
At least at this time, you must not admit it, otherwise you will take the blame.
"What?" Lin Tailai opened his eyes wide, as if he heard something incredible, "You don't even care about collecting military intelligence?"
Anyone with eyes in the hall can see that Lin Tailai's acting is really fake at first glance.
But Lin Tailai continued to say exaggeratedly: "In addition to the Staff Division, the Ministry of War also has the Military Selection Division, the Arsenal Division, and the Vehicle Driving Division, and they will not care about the collection of military intelligence.
In other words, there are countless yamen in the Ming Dynasty, and there are tens of thousands of civil and military officials, but there is no professional military intelligence collection yamen?
The daily collection of military intelligence relies entirely on the consciousness of the governor of the border town, and random inquiries are made for reports?
No way? No way? How could our Ming court be so useless?"
At first, the emperor and his ministers didn't think this was a big deal. It had been like this for so many years.
But Lin Tailai's tone was very exaggerated and harsh. It was simply making a fuss out of a molehill and sensationalizing!
After Shen Shoufu provided psychological counseling to the emperor, he had been sitting firmly on Diaoyutai. At this time, he finally couldn't bear it anymore.
If the imperial court is a grassroots team, then who is he, the chief minister who has been working for six or seven years?
So Shen Shoufu rebuked Lin Tailai and said, "Lin Tailai! Don't be so presumptuous! If you have nothing to say, just stand down!"
Not only did Lin Tailai not retreat, but he said even louder: "Do you know, do you know that the Folangji and the Red-haired Yi thousands of miles away in the West have already attacked cities in Southeast Asia and are approaching the Ming Dynasty?
Do you know, do you know that 25 years ago, Fo Langji occupied Luzon on the outskirts of the South China Sea, and that their governor of Luzon has been formulating a plan to conquer the Ming Dynasty?
Do you know that the Hongmao barbarians send countless large ships across the South China Sea every year, and recently they have spied on the islands along the southeast coast in an attempt to occupy Penghu off the coast of Fujian?
Do you know, do you know that the Japanese country in Japan has ended its civil strife and has stationed three or four hundred thousand troops in an attempt to invade the Ming Dynasty and use Ningbo as its capital?
Compared with the above military situation, the pirates are just suffering from scabies!
No way? No way? The princes of the imperial court are already members of the Ming Dynasty, but they know nothing about these external military affairs?"
Everyone: "."
Can't Lin Tailai speak calmly? Do you have to use such a tone of voice that you don't want to be beaten?
Do you want a palace full of hundreds of civil and military ministers to beat you together?
One hundred against one, maybe you can't beat them? Then forget it.
Yang Yuting, a doctor on the staff, asked: "How did you learn about it?"
Lin Tailai replied: "When I was in Jiangzuo, I liked to chat with various maritime merchants and hear overseas news.
After many verifications, we can know a lot of military information! I, Lin Tailai, can guarantee and confirm that the military information mentioned above is very different!"
Everyone couldn't say anything and could only listen to Lin Tailai's nonsense, because this was the blind spot of most people's knowledge, and they didn't know how to speak back if they wanted to refute.
Lin Tailai turned to Emperor Wanli again and said passionately: "As the saying goes, only by knowing yourself and the enemy can you be victorious in every battle, but I didn't expect that my Ming Dynasty was so blind and ignorant of the enemy's situation!
Countless jackals, tigers and leopards are spying on our Ming Dynasty in the East China Sea and Southeast Asia, but the imperial court is completely unaware of the situation!
Your Majesty is completely in the dark, who is to blame?"
First make some alarmist remarks, and finally use rhetorical questions to increase the emperor's sense of involvement. This is called conversation skills!
Emperor Wanli heard this and said, "You already knew it, but you didn't mention it in the memorial. As a result, the court didn't know the truth. Isn't it your fault?"
Lin Tailai: "."
Why does His Majesty the Emperor act so irrationally? Is there anyone who talks like that?
But Lin Tailai could only follow the emperor's words and say: "I just found out a few things by luck, but one person's power is limited after all, how can it become the norm?"
Emperor Wanli was not a fool. He knew the elegant meaning of the song after hearing it, and asked again: "Do you mean to assign the task of collecting intelligence to a certain yamen? The official position is Fangsi?"
When Yang Yuting, the doctor of the Zhifang Division, heard this, his eyes lit up. Could it be that Lin Tailai's fundamental purpose was to increase the power of the Zhifang Division?
Then I heard Lin Tailai say: "The affairs in charge of the Staff Department are already extremely complex, and no more authority can be added!"
This makes sense. A department is in charge of the selection of generals in border towns, the selection of camp officers in the capital, the deployment and training of camp troops, and the border city of Guanjin. The authority in itself is already very large.
Then Lin Tailai continued: "Therefore, a separate yamen should be set up to be responsible for intelligence. In addition, the map responsibilities should be assigned from the official department. The yamen's name can be tentatively named the Military Intelligence Bureau, or the Intelligence Bureau, or whatever it is called."
When they heard this, the officials felt that they had no idea what they were doing, and Lin Tailai's intention was finally exposed.
It's nothing more than taking on another official position and taking over the task of collecting intelligence.
But everyone still couldn't understand why Lin Tailai wanted to be responsible for such a thankless job?
In the traditional official power structure of the Ming Dynasty, collecting overseas intelligence was definitely a relatively marginalized job.
From a selfish point of view, it is not easy to rely on good luck to achieve success in this job, but it is easy to take the blame, and it is completely useless to the court's power game.
Even if overseas intelligence can detail the color of the female chieftain's underwear, will it be of any help to the fight for ministers or cabinet ministers?
Could it be that everyone mistakenly blames Lin Tailai? In fact, Lin Tailai is a selfless person who does not care about gains and losses for the benefit of Ming Dynasty?
Emperor Wanli also thought of this and was suddenly moved.
In the context of the accident in the border town where each other was passing the blame, someone was suddenly willing to take the initiative to take on the heavy responsibility and do a thankless job, which seemed particularly refreshing and refined.
Therefore, although Emperor Wanli was not interested in establishing any military intelligence bureau at all, he decided to give him some encouragement. After all, his spirit was commendable.
Then he said to Lin Tai: "If you have any ideas, you might as well tell them in detail."
I'll let you say a few more words, and that's it.
Lin Tailai took the opportunity to present his entire idea, "Set up a general bureau in the capital, and then set up a branch bureau in the southeast, southwest, northwest, and northeast!"
Down the branch, stations are set up at strategic transportation hubs, ports, and border towns, each focusing on collecting intelligence in a certain direction.
Officials in charge of the general bureau, branch bureaus, and sites are designated as civilians, but operational and service personnel do not need to be civilian servants, but are directly transferred from the army to serve.
From top to bottom, form an independent and professional intelligence network. When conditions are ripe, overseas stations can be set up in Japan, Nanyang and other places."
Just as Lin Tailai was talking endlessly about his future blueprint, he was suddenly interrupted.
"Wait a minute!" Suddenly Yang Junmin, the right minister of household affairs, stood up and stopped Lin Tailai from thinking.
Then he questioned with reason and evidence: "You are just making assumptions, just employing people. After all, our dynasty does not lack officers and soldiers, but where does the cost come from?
You said that we need to set up a general bureau, branch bureaus, stations, and a large number of operational personnel, and we need to collect overseas intelligence.
You don’t need to think about it carefully to know that it is expensive and requires long-term investment to maintain operation.
Nowadays, Taicang's expenses are tight, and it has already started to suffer losses only half a year ago. Where does the money come from for the ideas you Lin Tailai mentioned?"
Although Yang Junmin has been Lin Tailai's rival for many years, his words are very fair.
Even if Wang Situ, the Minister of Household Affairs, stood up, he could not deny Yang Junmin's opinion.
Especially since we are about to pass through the northwest, we will not have to use troops, which is an additional expense.
From an economic point of view, there is no need to spend a lot of money to build the intelligence network that Lin Tailai mentioned, especially since it sounds like a bottomless pit of long-term investment.
Lin Tailai blinked a few times and said to Yang Junmin: "What are you anxious about, Minister of Household Affairs? When did I say that we need money from the treasury?"
Yang Junmin immediately asked in anticipation: "Do you hope to spend money from the internal treasury?"
Emperor Wanli suddenly tightened his face and stared at Lin Tailai.
If you, Lin Tailai, dare to think about using the money from the inner treasury to do your own thing, then let me first let you feel what the wrath of the king is!
Lin Tailai quickly reassured the emperor, "Impossible! It is absolutely impossible to use the internal treasury for such a trivial matter!"
Yang Junmin still asked maliciously: "Then where do your expenses come from? Is it possible that you, Lin Tailai, still want to pay for it out of your own pocket?"
Lin Tailai stopped beating around the bush, "Yang Junmin, haven't you read ancient books like Spring and Autumn Period or Warring States Period?
Since ancient times, businessmen who traveled among various countries were often tasked with gathering intelligence.
Why can't the Ming Dynasty follow the example of the ancients? Nowadays, whether exporting, going to Southeast Asia or heading to the East China Sea, the number of merchants is very large!
The court can guide and utilize these businessmen by issuing licenses, anti-smuggling, taxation and other means! Let them collect intelligence for the court!
Of course, they also organize caravans directly to collect intelligence on the one hand and earn funds on the other.
In any case, establishing an intelligence network does not require spending money on the national treasury, and at most it may only require some initial start-up funds."
Damn it! The ministers were all shocked when they heard this. Your Lin Tailai's heart is really full of twists and turns!
At first I thought you wanted to invade the company, but it turned out that you wanted to set up an intelligence network.
When I really thought you were selfless and wanted to set up an intelligence network, it turned out that you were doing it for business! Or to put it more bluntly, to monopolize smuggling!
To guide and use foreign trade merchants to collect intelligence is to use the power of the court to monopolize smuggling!
At the end of the day, it’s all about business!
After Emperor Wanli was stunned for a while, he suddenly warned the ministers with serious words: "Lin Tai is right. The court is now blind and ignorant of overseas information.
If the imperial court had been able to obtain detailed information about the West China Sea and take preventive measures against the pirates, would there have been another Taohe Incident?
Therefore, gathering intelligence is urgent and very important. The establishment of an intelligence network must be put on the agenda as soon as possible!"
After expressing his attention and determination, Emperor Wanli further instructed: "The idea of using businessmen to collect intelligence is also very good, but other private businessmen may not be loyal and reliable. They can be used but cannot be completely relied on.
Therefore, we still need to have exclusive merchants, caravans, and merchant ships, and our own talents are the most reliable foundation."
Ministers: "."
So there is a legal question. If the emperor personally engages in smuggling, can it be considered smuggling?