February of this year was full of major events. First, in the middle of the month, they were shocked to hear that the city of Xining had been lost. Not long after, the imperial court not only did not give any instructions to the governor of the three sides involved in Xining, but only scolded him for his procrastination and asked him to mobilize the army earlier.
, grain and other supplies were needed to regain the lost territory, and then very suddenly the seven-town manager was established, with Gao Pangshi serving concurrently as the original official, and he was given the title of Metropolitan Procuratorate again.
The full title of Gao Wuchen's current position is "Assistant Assistant to the Left Minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs and Military Affairs of the Beijing Camp, Censor of the Right Capital of the Metropolitan Procuratorate, Manager of the Fourth Town of Jiliao and the Third Town of Xuanda, etc., and in charge of border affairs and food and wages." In addition,
Zhu Yijun also incidentally promoted his prose official rank from Jiayi Dafu to Tongyi Dafu, on the grounds that he would be rewarded for the smooth restructuring of the Beijing camp. Yu Guan remained the same as before - Yu Guan was a false title such as Palace Protector.
The fact that this decree was successfully passed has caused a lot of discussion among the outside world. Some people even openly discussed it and suspected that the cabinet and the Sixth Section were crazy.
Why do we say this? This is related to the evolution of the establishment of governors, governors, managers and other positions in the Ming Dynasty.
In the Ming Dynasty, there was always a lack of formal official positions for senior military officers. Civil servants from the imperial court were dispatched to local areas, mostly with special identities such as the Ministry of War and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, overriding the three departments.
The origins and differences between the two positions of governor and governor have been discussed earlier in this book, so I won’t go into details here. I will mainly talk about this “management”.
"History of the Ming Dynasty" says: "In the first year of Tianqi, Liaodong Jinglue was established. The name Jinglue came from Song Yingchang and Empress Yang Hao in the 20th year of Wanli. In the first year of Tianqi, Sun Chengzong, the governor of the cabinet, managed Shanhaiguan and was called Shufu
.In the fourth year of Chongzhen, it was merged into the governor-general. In the eleventh year, a governor-general was added to Baoding."
However, the "History of the Ming Dynasty" is obviously wrong here, because judging from the information in the "Records of the Ming Dynasty", the earliest Jinglue did not appear in the Tianqi period. Of course, "Jinglue" can be understood here as a verb, as "managing military affairs"
To understand it with meanings like "Gonglue".
For example, on Bingchen in June of the 18th year of Hongzhi: Li Hao, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Jinglue Shanhaiguan, returned to Beijing and went to Jinglue to tell his story. From Miaoshan Pass to Miyun Tomb Tiangu Pass, he displayed fifty hectares of wasteland and twenty temples, and built side walls.
It is more than 24,790 feet long, the furrow is more than 3,300 feet long, there are more than 170 piers, towers, towers, barracks, etc., and more than 380 barracks. ("Wuzong"
Record")
In the first month of the 13th year of Zhengde, Guimao: The Tatar bandit Wu Chijin led his troops to Muhetao and entered Yansui. The guards heard about it. The Ministry of War issued an order: "Zhu Luan, the deputy general of Yansui, and the general Hang Xiong, guerrilla attack Zhou Zheng.
Liu Yujun's Anbian camp and other places, Ji Shiying, Feng Dajing and others stationed in the east camp of Convenient Castle; General Liu Yong guarded the town and sent troops at the same time, Ningxia General Anguo guarded the town, Deputy General Lu Ying, guerrilla Li Yongding's Qingshui camp, Huama
Chi, Dingbian camp and other places, together with the East Road generals, ordered soldiers to patrol and call for reinforcements. Zhao Wen, the commander-in-chief of Shaanxi Province, and Zheng Yang, the censor of the capital, were stationed in Guyuan to manage the strategy. Please listen to all the generals and guard the battle by yourself, and there is no need to control it remotely."
From it. ("Wuzong's Records")
In the seventh month of the 16th year of Zhengde's reign, the Ministry of War reported: "Juyong, Zijing, and Daomaguan built piers, towers, and wall trenches, all of which are extraordinary. Li Zan, the royal censor of the capital, has summarized the experience." ("Records of Emperor Shizong")
》)
In the 11th month of the 30th year of Wanli, Jiashen: From the Imperial Procuratorate, Youdu Censor, Jianda, was the governor of Ji, Liao, Baoding and other military affairs, and also in charge of food and wages, as well as the strategy to ward off the Japanese; Youchendu Censor, Hu Yingyuan, was the governor of Zhejiang, etc.
At the local level, he supervises military affairs. ("Records of Shenzong")
"History of the Ming Dynasty" also has later records, such as Bingzi in June of the 26th year of Wanli: Wan Shide, the censor of Qiandu in Tianjin, conducted an expedition to Korea.
It can be seen here that the minister of the Ministry of Industry can also assume the position of "Jinglue". Therefore, the actual minimum "standard configuration" of the "Jinglue" is the minister. In other words, ministers of Liubu Hall and above can hold the position of "Jinglue" in the imperial court.
Serve as "manager" when necessary.
The mention of Yang Gao in the history of the Ming Dynasty was made in Geng Shen, the leap month of the 46th year of Wanli Period.
Literally understood, Yang Hao's actual position was the left minister of the Ministry of War and the censor of the right Qiandu, responsible for "the management of Liaodong". "Jinglue" is more appropriately understood as a verb here.
Of course, sometimes, governor and manager are often used together as verbs. For example, "History of the Ming Dynasty" records that on Bingchen of the first spring of the 225th year of Wanli: North Korean envoys came to ask for help. On Bingyin of February, they reconsidered the expedition against the Japanese. Bingchen
His son, the former governor, Tongzhi Ma Gui, was the general military officer preparing for the Japanese, and commanded all the armies in the north and south. In the third month of Yisi, Shandong You participated in the political affairs. Yang Gao became the censor of Qiandu and managed the military affairs of Korea. Before that, Xing Jie, the minister of the Ministry of War, became the minister.
, Governor Ji, Liao, Baoding military affairs, economic strategy to ward off the Japanese.
Xing Jie here is even more interesting. As the minister of the Ministry of War, he served as both governor and manager.
To sum up, based on his high pragmatic status and past achievements, there is no problem for him to be a "manager". Even if he manages the seven strongest towns of the Ming Dynasty by himself, it is actually not a big deal for him.
question.
What's the big problem? It's because Gao Pragmatic himself was surprised before: he didn't step down as Minister of Rongzheng, but actually took up the post of Minister of Rongzheng and concurrently served as the manager of the Seven Towns.
This property is quite different.
As we all know, although the Minister of Rongzheng was nominally only the "second in command" of the Jingying camp, due to the fact that the Ming Dynasty had been noble and military for a long time, the "Governor of the Rongzheng of the Jingying" and the "Assistant of the Rongzheng of the Jingying" had actually been misaligned and even
In a state of being suspended upside down - you want Zhangwu Bo Yang Bing to really think of himself as the "governor" when Gao Pragmatic presides over the Beijing camp meeting, and try to boss Gao Pragmatic around? I'm afraid he will be scared to death.
Therefore, the assistant manager of the Jingying Rongzheng has long been the de facto "top leader" of the Jingying. And that was before. After Gao Pragmatic's maneuvers last year, the Jingying was divided into the Imperial Guard and the Production and Construction Corps, both of which were directly
He obeyed the orders of "assistant in charge of military affairs in the capital" - that is, Gao Pragmatic himself.
Among them, the Production and Construction Corps is not responsible for combat, but is only responsible for logistics, equipment and other matters. Therefore, the Imperial Guard responsible for combat has one and only one immediate boss, that is, the Minister of Rongzheng.
In other words, now even if the emperor wants to mobilize the imperial guards, in theory, he must go through Gao Pragmatic, the Minister of Rongzheng.
Originally, this system was established because Gao Pragmatic wanted to ensure that the imperial guards would not be treated like the Beijing camp in the past, being ordered around by various ministries of the imperial court to do things like sweeping the streets and clearing sewers.
The training of the troops was delayed, but later a situation was formed in which the Minister of Rongzheng had full control over the Imperial Guards.
This situation is equivalent to the relationship between the military minister and the commander of the Imperial Guard similar to that between the governor and the general, that is, the civilian officials control the military commanders, and the civilian officials are actually "literary commanders." In other words, if under the Beijing camp system now
If new establishments such as the Yulin Army and the Yulin Army are established in parallel with the Imperial Guard, they should also be under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Rongzheng.
Trouble came when Gao Jingshi served as Minister of Rongzheng concurrently as Ji Liao and Xuan Da Qizhen, which was equivalent to controlling almost all the combat forces in the Ming Dynasty's capital and surrounding areas.
Some officials counted on their fingers: Liaodong had 180,000 soldiers, Jizhou had 180,000 soldiers, Changping had 60,000 soldiers, Xuanfu had 130,000 soldiers, Datong had 120,000 soldiers, and Shanxi had 77,000 soldiers.
Ten thousand, Baoding has 40,000 troops... The total strength of the seven towns is more than 780,000.
If we add the 60,000 Imperial Guards, that would be an army of nearly 850,000!
Cuo Fei is a civil servant and a "loyalty of all ages" background, otherwise what is waiting for him now may not be "questioning" or "discussion", but straightforward verbal and written criticism, and even "everyone will punish him"
.
In fact, the officials who now question this appointment are not doubting or worrying that Gao Pragmatic will rebel, because that is actually impossible - the civilian military command power comes directly from the emperor's temporary appointment, which does not mean that he has any control over these armies.
In other words, the troops under him only obeyed his temporary command because they were "under the emperor's order" and were not under his control in normal times. This obviously did not meet the necessary conditions for rebellion.
What a rebellion needs is to control an army for a long time and raise this army to the point where it only recognizes the commander-in-chief and does not recognize the emperor at all - so the court always suppresses the general soldier, not the governor, governor or manager.
Such civil servants.
After all, the general soldiers these days basically rely on their servants to fight, and servants do not recognize the emperor's imperial edict. They only listen to the instructions of the family head. Li Chengliang and others will not talk about it. Even though Qi Jiguang claims not to support his servants, in fact, the entire Qi family army
They are all equivalent to his servants. The only difference is that he did not take the deed of betrayal as a soldier of the Qi family army. In terms of prestige, there is not much difference.
This is also the reason why when Qi Jiguang came to Beijing last year to be the commander of the imperial guard, he only brought a few people with him, but he also stopped outside the capital to ask for instructions in the morning and report in the evening, asking when he could enter the capital.
Because the military power of civilian officials comes from the emperor, he does not have "direct troops", so there is no need to guard against his rebellion, but military generals all have direct troops, so they have to guard against it.
The Ming court actually had a deep understanding of this issue.
Although the current doubts about Gao Pragmatic arise from the fact that the army under his direct control is too large and elite, the focus of the conflict is not whether he will rebel, but that his current responsibilities are too heavy - the military strength under his command has reached the level of the entire Ming Dynasty.
More than 70% of them, and they are all "elites from nine sides", plus the Imperial Guards who "defend Shenjing", these are all capable troops, far from those who are fleeing at the guard post in Nanjing.
In his twenties, he has such great power, and every move he makes is related to the safety of the world. If something goes wrong, can he bear this responsibility?
What’s particularly strange about the officials who question this is that although Gao Pragmatic’s status is very special, officials from the Practical School certainly don’t mind him holding such power, but... what about the Xin School?
Why did the cabinet also agree and the Sixth Section also agreed?
It is obvious that the first assistant, Shen Shixing, is from the Xin School, and there are also quite a few officials from the Xin School among the six subjects, right?
Why?
Because Shen Shixing believed that the situation was not out of control.
After a previous conversation between him and Zhang Cheng, Shen Shixing thought about it for a long time and decided on a pragmatic response to Gao.
Shen Shixing actually recognized Gao Jingjing's ability in his heart. He didn't doubt that Gao Jingjing couldn't do the seven-town management strategy, nor was he worried about what big trap he would create - he had even guessed that the emperor had originally In my heart, I am afraid that I have already decided on the candidate for the head coach of the "Chahar Decisive Battle" that has not yet happened. He is highly pragmatic.
In this case, it actually doesn't matter if he takes the title of manager in advance now.
In addition, the emperor's decree was issued after it was discussed with the cabinet. Zhu Yijun even personally invited Shen Shixing to the West Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace for a secret discussion and told him Gao Pragmatic's so-called "economic strategy" this time. "The main purpose is just to scare Tumen and Boshu Ketu and others, and it is not really about launching troops now.
At that time, Shen Shixing expressed "a huge sigh of relief."
But what Zhu Yijun didn't know was that Shen Shixing's expression was actually just for him. In fact, Shen Yuanfu was not worried that Gao Pragmatic would actually send troops this time, nor was he worried that Gao Pragmatic would be defeated. To put it bluntly, Shen Yuanfu Yuan Fu also wished that he would be defeated as soon as possible, even if the defeat was miserable, it wouldn't matter.
After a serious talk with Zhang Cheng, Shen Shixing has realized that one of Gao Pragmatic's biggest advantages is that he "can always help the emperor solve problems." Other aspects, such as his background, having a small relationship with the emperor's classmates, etc., then It's all just icing on the cake.
Gao pragmatism can solve financial problems. Shen Shixing's own family knew about this, so they could only stare in disbelief. After all, no one in the world would dare to disagree with Gao's ability in this matter.
But his other ability is not "indestructible". This ability is the so-called "handsome talent".
According to Zhang Cheng's analysis, being highly pragmatic in fighting "is actually not very good". It can be said that he rarely personally directs battles and relies on his generals to be "too good at fighting", so he wins.
For example, when he conquered Annan, he relied on Huang Zhiting and Cen Ling's unparalleled wolf soldiers; when he fought in Monan, he relied on the invincible Mongolian general Qataiji; when he conquered Liaonan, he relied on Ma Fang's secret Guidance.
In a word, Zhang Cheng believes that the so-called handsome men who are highly pragmatic are not worthy of their name. With such subordinates to command, whoever replaces him will do the job.
Although Shen Shixing's views were not as absolute as Zhang Cheng's, he generally agreed with Zhang Cheng's analysis, and he also found that Gao Pragmatic's war had a very obvious "weakness", which was that it cost too much.
The current situation is that the court has no money at all, so once Gao Pragmatic really sends troops, whether it is fighting Tumen or Boshu Ketu, Gao Pragmatic may not be able to successfully win.
It was not that Shen Shixing did not consider the consequences of defeat. After all, he was the chief minister of the dynasty and could not completely ignore this, but he believed that the problem would not be too big.
Regardless of whether he is willing to admit it or not, the situation in the Ming Dynasty has really improved a lot over the past ten years since Gao Gong returned to the dynasty. Jiubian's military strength was greatly exaggerated back then. At the most dangerous time, it was almost half short.
Now it has been supplemented to 7788. If we only talk about the seven towns that Gao Pragmatic has planned this time, the overall full manpower rate may be as high as 89%, and the installation and replacement of high-quality firearms are also progressing smoothly due to the private military industry.
.
The true strength of these seven towns, according to Shen Shixing's estimate, is at least twice that of more than ten years ago. Even if Gao Pragmatic sends troops and suffers a defeat, or even a major defeat, even if he loses 100,000 troops at a time, the Ming Dynasty can still withstand it
, at least they will not be invaded by the Tatars and cause the second Geng Shu uprising.
In this case, what does Shen Shixing have to worry about? Let Gao Pragmatic do it. He only needs the camera to see if he should implement "that plan" in advance.
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Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
