It’s morning morning again, but today’s morning morning is different from the past.
The Emperor’s Palace of Imperial Martial Arts indicates that the government affairs to be discussed in the morning meeting are related to military affairs, and the ministers also know the specific situation.
Although various major events occurred during this period, most of the time these events affected high-level turmoil.
For most imperial yamen, the impact was not significant, and the government affairs of the imperial court were always in normal operation.
It is important to welcome back the Supreme Emperor, but it is impossible for such a large court to keep an eye on this matter every day.
Fall back to this morning.
After celebrating the New Year this time and relieved of his duties as the Admiral of the Beijing Camp, Yu Shaobao of the Ministry of War seemed to have finally let go of his hands and began to work with Fan Guang, the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army Governor's Office, to try to formulate reforms to the border defense lines.
Just a few days ago, it was said that the plan was finally mature, and the two of them jointly submitted a memorial called "Requesting the establishment of a nine-sided major town."
The matter is of great importance, and the emperor has issued an edict to discuss it at court this morning.
The morning of the court began. After the ceremony, the emperor didn't waste much time and directly called Yu Qian's name and said.
“Today, the court has decided to ask Shaobao to set up a nine-side spade. To Shaobao, please come and tell the courtiers what you think.”
Yu Qian strode out of the queue, walked to the middle of the palace and stood still. After accepting the order, he turned around and faced the ministers and said.
“Dear colleagues, since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Mongolian tribes have always been a serious concern for me. The ancestors Taizu, Taizong, Renzong, and Xuanzong all used their power to control the tribes.
"However, the so-called war is not a long-term solution. When Renxuan and Zhengxuan were in power, the loopholes in our border defense had gradually become apparent. The previous army also launched a large-scale attack and marched all the way in. They almost broke through the Bauhinia and invaded our capital. This is really a wake-up call."
“Therefore, I and Governor Fan discussed together. After several discussions, I imitated Taizu’s move of setting up thirteen fortress kings and asked your majesty to establish additional border towns to strengthen border defenses and provide peace of mind to the army and the people.”
As for the matter of Jiubian Military Town, the court has actually heard rumors about it for a long time.
After all, you can’t hide such a big thing even if you want to.
In fact, the courtiers basically recognized what Yu Qian said.
Of course, although what Yu Qian said was beautiful, it was actually just one sentence.
The Ming Dynasty’s current border defense line is equivalent to no border defense line.
At the beginning, after Taizu established the country, a very important principle in governing the country was to enfeoff the kings to consolidate the vassal screen.
This principle is also followed for how to fight against the Mongolian tribes on the border.
Therefore, after expelling the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Taizu gradually enfeoffed the thirteen Sai kings, and the fiefdoms were distributed throughout the borders.
Compared to the kings in the interior, the Thirteen Sai kings had greater power. Not only did they hold heavy troops, but in times of war, they could take over all military and political power in their fiefdoms.
At the same time, the thirteen Sai kings responded to each other and jointly built a solid line of defense to prevent the Mongolian tribes from invading.
However, this approach is obviously flawed.
Taizu was powerful all over the world, and Prince Yiwen was also highly virtuous and highly respected. However, Emperor Jianwen who succeeded him was restless because of the heavy power of the kings, so he aggressively cut down the vassals.
After the Battle of Jingnan, Emperor Taizong, who was already one of the Sai kings, was also worried that other Sai kings would imitate Jingnan, so he also continued the policy of reducing vassals.
With the military powers of the kings being completely deprived, how to continue to maintain peace on the border became Taizong's primary consideration.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty's border policy began to change to one of offense instead of defense. Emperor Taizong's five northern expeditions and Emperor Xuanzong's three northern tours were all continuations of this policy.
It should be said that this policy established the status of the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain state to a certain extent and completely disintegrated the remaining Northern Yuan forces.
Under Taizong's military attack, many Mongolian tribes, including the Tatars, Walas, and Uliangha, declared their surrender one after another and became vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.
But this policy is destined to be short-term.
Frequent wars are a serious drain on national power.
By the time of Xuanzong, Ming Dynasty had consciously begun to shrink its defense lines and turn to recuperation.
Hence, in a certain sense, the civil war is inevitable.
It is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to maintain a state of war continuously. Once it becomes lazy and lax, and it is difficult to maintain the momentum of the offensive, the shortcomings in border defense will undoubtedly become apparent.
Therefore, establishing a new and complete border defense line is something that must be done. On this point, many ministers have a unanimous view.
What is controversial is the specific plan.
After giving his reasons, Yu Qian took out the memorial and re-explained his views.
The so-called nine-border stronghold is actually very easy to understand. It is to imitate Taizu's idea of setting up a fortress king to break up the scattered troops at various border passes into whole and gather them together.
Then, relying on the Great Wall, we concentrated our forces and added border military towns like Datong and Xuanfu to echo each other and establish a solid defense line.
It seems simple, but in fact, various problems will be encountered during implementation.
The most acute and obvious one is the financial issue.
As soon as Yu Qian finished speaking, the first person to stand up and object was Shen Yi, the Minister of Hubu.
“Your Majesty, I have no objection to the re-establishment of the border defense line, but I think the nine-border stronghold proposed by Shaobao is too wasteful.”
Speaking, Shen Shangshu began to calculate.
“According to what Yu Shaobao said, when establishing a nine-border town, the first thing to do is to eliminate the many scattered and unsystematic passes on the border and gather them into the town.”
"Then, the first thing the court faces is how to resettle the people in these passes. If they stay in place, the army will be transferred away, making it difficult to guarantee safety. In addition, there will be no soldiers but no people in the important towns, which will not last long."
“If you move to an important town, the court will definitely provide compensation for such a large number of people to be relocated. If it is not done properly, a large number of refugees will be generated.”
“This is one of them.”
Although Shen Yi and Yu Qian have a good relationship in private, when it comes to government affairs, he is not polite at all.
What's more, although Shen Yi is in charge of the household department, he is not completely ignorant of military affairs. Although he is not as good as Yu Qian about the situation on the border, he is also very clear.
"Secondly, as Yu Shangshu said, all the important towns established in Ming Dynasty today are based on the Great Wall. However, if according to Yu Shangshu's idea, the city can be built to echo the nine sides, then Ningxia, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places need to be strengthened. Build the Great Wall to connect everywhere.”
“Preliminary calculations by the Ministry of Household Affairs show that it is necessary to build more than hundreds of border walls. Where will the taels of silver come from for the corvee levy?”
“The imperial court added Liaodong Town in addition to Xuanda, and the Liaohe Great Wall that needs to be built has not yet been completed.”
“If several military towns are added in addition to this, how will the imperial government’s finances support it?”
In fact, the proposal of the Jiubian Town is the greatest pressure on the Ministry of Revenue. As for the reason, it is of course an eternal topic of the Ministry of Revenue.