Although the emperor did not summon ministers easily after Chenghua, the operations of the Ming Dynasty were still as meticulous and orderly as a machine, relying on the system. In addition to the cabinet vote, all major matters were often discussed by the lower levels of the court.
As for the participation of cabinet ministers, it depends on the actual situation. On this day, because the little prince's tribes were trapped in Qingshui Camp in Ningxia and continued to plunder troops, Liu Daxia, the Minister of the Ministry of War, finally convened a ministerial meeting. Except for the shilang, Yuanwailang, the principal and the
In addition to the military affairs department, Li Dongyang and the Minister of Household Affairs Han Wen also attended the meeting at the invitation of Liu Daxia, and they gathered together for a while.
The focus of this discussion was only one thing, whether to send more generals to fight, or to hold on with the original team. You know, starting from the early years of Hongzhi, from the Little Prince tribes to the Huoshai tribes, and then to Turupan
, over and over again and never stopped. To put it bluntly, this so-called peace and majesty means that almost every year the borders are unjust and the Tartars are wreaking havoc year after year. So now when it comes to those Tatars who are not fed enough
, those experienced officials no longer felt indignant.
"Fight, the little prince's tribes invade every year, and the Tartars are good at riding and shooting. They come and go like the wind. The army gathers at a slow pace. I often advance and the enemy retreats, and I retreat and the enemy attacks. If there is something wrong with one back and forth, it will hit the target."
Their ambush! The current plan is to order all parties to hold firm and not send troops easily. As soon as the army moves for food and fodder, they will go first. There is not so much money and food in the treasury to waste!"
The person who spoke was Han Wen, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance. He had been in charge of the Ministry of Finance for many years. As early as the Chenghua period, when he was in charge of the affairs, he was famous in the government and the public for his outspoken style. Even Wang Yue and Ma Wensheng were criticized by him. He even
At one time, he was punished by Emperor Chenghua's imperial staff because of his harsh words. Now that he is much older, he still discusses all matters with fierceness.
As soon as Han Wen opened his mouth, Liu Daxia was convinced. The reason why he invited the Minister of the Ministry of Finance over was because it would be a one-man show for him to say some things by himself. With one more person, he could share the firepower better. So he looked around at the crowd and spoke to
Li Dongyang exchanged glances, and then said in a deep voice: "Han Shangshu's intention is to act steadily and order Yansui and other places in Ningxia to strengthen their defenses. I will never mention sending troops again. Do you have any other opinions?"
After several voices agreed that safety is the priority, a different opinion finally came from the corner: "It is good not to send troops rashly, but if we just order the nine sides to defend, the Tartars will come and go like the wind. After this year, there will be next year."
After next year and the year after that, if things continue like this, it will still be a serious problem on the border."
Although Wang Shouren was severely scolded by his father after returning that day, Wang Shouren was originally prepared to endure it today, but after hearing Han Wen's words and the fact that several mature and steady doctors agreed with Han Wen's proposal, he finally could no longer endure it.
Can't stand it any longer.
At this moment, he saw that all the eyes were focused on him, and he said word by word: "Just now, Han Shangshu said that the army was gathering slowly, but why is it so? It's because the imperial court wants to increase troops to annihilate these people.
For the Tartars, it would take ten days and a half just to gather troops and horses, and it would take at least ten days and a half to deploy such a large number of troops to the corresponding places. By the time the army arrived at the location after spending a huge amount of money and food, the Tartars had already plundered
Empty and ran away!"
The more he spoke, the louder he became, and he completely ignored what others thought of him: "So, there is nothing wrong with ordering the defense now, but in addition, how to draw elites from the garrison on each side to make them more refined cavalry?"
Shooting is specifically assigned to the task of clearing out small groups of Tartars. This is the most important thing. Only in this way can we reduce the number of troops and save costs. Our army goes deep into the grassland, which is the territory of the Tartars. If we are not careful, we will easily be ambushed.
But the Tartars have penetrated deeply into our territory, and it is our army who is familiar with the terrain. It is not impossible to attack quickly and destroy the enemy. This is to sacrifice shortcomings and use longitude. We should pay for the dead and wounded, reward the enemy with heavy rewards, and severely punish those who take advantage of their merits.
, this is to repay kindness with anger..."
Speaking of the rise, Wang Shouren couldn't help but expand on his previous statements about border affairs. However, before he could finish speaking, Liu Daxia's voice came from the other side: "On paper! If the border affairs here are really as you said,
If it is so easy and simple, will it give those Tatars in the north an opportunity to take advantage of it? It is good for young people to be ambitious, but they also have to think about whether it is realistic! Don't think that you have trained soldiers in Xiyuan for three months.
You really know what marching and fighting is like!"
After Wang Shouren choked back, Liu Daxia looked at the others and said, "Who else has something to say?"
Although Wang Shouren is a son of an eunuch and has a few friends in the capital, he is not popular in the Ministry of War when he first joined the Ministry of War. Especially this time, he stayed in Xiyuan for three months, and because of the
Lianbing was praised by the emperor and given the flying fish uniform, and others looked down upon his behavior even more. At this moment, Liu Daxia refuted him, and the others were secretly applauding him. Even those who had originally planned to raise different opinions, they all stopped for a while.
Everyone expressed some mature and prudent opinions. When it was finally the turn of Li Dongyang, the cabinet minister who came to observe the ministry meeting, he took a sip of tea but only said a few words.
"When I came here, Yuan Fu and Muzhai both said that we should not repeat the mistakes of the past, but we should not stop eating because of choking. As for what Wang Shouren said, although it is unrealistic, it is not completely useless. Everyone from the Ministry of War,
Just think about it."
The so-called deliberation was just to give Wang Shouren a step down, and no one would continue to criticize him for a while. After they left, Liu Daxia knew that Wang Shouren and his son were on good terms with Li Dongyang, so he simply ordered Wang Shouren to see Li Dongyang off, so as not to show up in front of him.
It was an eyesore. When Li Dongyang left the Ministry of War Yamen, he saw that Wang Shouren, who was one step behind, did not look good, so he turned around.
"Bo'an, you have to understand that everything must be done step by step and not in a hurry. It's not like no one has mentioned this before, but do you know why it can't be done? It's simple. Although people are despised for achieving things, everyone in the world
Everything must be done by people. For example, what you call selecting elites, how to select them, who should be in charge, whether the food and salary should be more compared with other military horses, how to calculate rewards and punishments, etc. Those who are not elites
If the military needs to be eliminated, how to arrange it, how to save military expenses... these are all problems. As for pensions for casualties, etc., the same sentence remains, where does the money come from?"
Seeing that Wang Shouren was about to speak several times but stopped, Li Dongyang said earnestly: "Don't hang out with those sergeants who only work hard for a long time, and you will get into their impatient habits. As for Xu Xun, this is
He has a fair temperament, but he is too agile and likes to take shortcuts. Don't imitate him. March is the time for the general examination. Don't just keep immersing yourself in military affairs. Go and see what Jinke has to offer.
Only those who share the same goals are serious.
Well, it is said that Zhang Demao, the Nanjian Jiu Jiu, once kept a scholar who came to Beijing to take the exam to study in Nanjian. He just let him go to Beijing before. This subject seems to be for the exam. I remember that he was Chen Baisha's disciple, his name was...
…By the way, it’s Zhan Ruoshui, you can make friends with me at my family’s cultural gathering tomorrow.”
"Yes, thank you Mr. Li Ge for the tip!"
Although he promised, Wang Shouren was actually absent-minded. After sending Li Dongyang to the car, he was not busy returning to the Ministry of War, but walked along Zhi Street to Dongjiangmi Lane, and then headed west. He waited until he passed Qipan Street.
In Jiangmi Lane, before he reached the Jinyiwei Yamen, he heard a burst of noise coming from inside. Thinking of the letter Xu Xun had brought, he simply walked in.
"Jinyiwei is an important place, and no one else can enter without permission!"
"That's right, Mr. Xu from the vanguard of the government army is doing important things inside. Mr. Ye doesn't see any outsiders!"
Although Xu Xun only selected six people in total yesterday, and today there are still four more Jin Yiwei. The two captains in front of the gate are also very curious about the selection inside now, but their duties are, when they see the young man who looks like a civil servant in front of him
After stopping here, one of them shouted, and the other one kindly added. The latter didn't mind talking too much. Wang Shouren was in a depressed mood and came here to stroll around. After hearing this, he couldn't help it and left.
He stepped forward and said: "Notice in, and say that Wang Shouren, the head of the Ministry of War, is here."
"Wang Shouren?"
When one of the captains was puzzled to see such an arrogant chief of the military department, the other immediately pulled him aside and said with a smile: "It turns out to be Chief Wang! Well, Mr. Xu has explained it before, if you come,
Please come in immediately without any announcement, everyone is here!"
Wang Shouren was genuine. He rested at home for two days and read a few books to calm down. He didn't know that Xu Xun had not been idle at all in the past two days. When he entered the Jinyiwei Yamen, he walked around the wall in front of him with lotuses engraved on it.
After entering another door on the large screen wall, he could clearly see the situation in the courtyard. He saw Xu Xun surrounded by several young people of similar age and dressed in luxurious clothes, and six or seven young people lined up on one side. As for them
Not far in front of him, about twenty or thirty people were listening to Ma Qiao's commands, moving left and right. It was obvious that Xu Xun had used the same move he had previously trained in the formation.
"Brother Wang is here?" Xu Xun didn't notice Wang Shouren coming in at first, but was reminded by Qian Ning on the side.
It's your first day back at the headquarters to do business, why is the official work of the Military Selection Department so free?"
"Forget about the Ministry of War!" Wang Shouren felt depressed when he thought about today's events. He sighed and looked at the group of young officers who were turning left and right, and then turned to those obviously well-known young men.
The young man said, "I didn't expect that you would be so resolute and resolute, and you would be ready so quickly. But who are those four?"
"Those four? One is Shouning Hou Shizi. Of course, this time he is the real one." Seeing the corner of Wang Shouren's mouth twitching slightly, obviously thinking of the three months he had been tricked by Zhu Houzhao, Xu Xun smiled again, "
The remaining ones are the second son of Ding Guo Gong, the brother-in-law of Wei Guo Gong, plus the son of the eldest princess Renhe."
Seeing that Wang Shouren was shocked, he added with a smile but not a smile: "Of course, they are asking about hundreds of households in the army."