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Volume 6: The whip points eastward to the end of the world Chapter 500: Traitors are to be feared

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    Although Emperor Wanli was negligent in his administration and had a negative attitude of not publishing many of the memorials issued by his foreign ministers, he still paid great attention to the border troubles in Liaodong. After the news of the fall of Fushun reached the capital, Emperor Wanli had nightmares for three consecutive nights.  Cidu dreamed of a foreign woman riding on him and stabbing him with a spear. When he woke up, he was sweating profusely.

    There is no need to ask the ministers to interpret the dream to understand that this foreign woman represents the Jurchens. The threat of Jianzhou Jurchens to the Ming Dynasty is imminent. On October 16, he learned the news of the defeat of Zhang Chengyin, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong. Emperor Wanli could not sit still.  Since the attack last year, the emperor has not summoned the foreign ministers again. This time, it is impossible not to see the foreign ministers. On October 21, he summoned the cabinet and the six ministers and nine ministers to discuss the crisis in Liaodong.

    Xue Sancai, the Acting Secretary of the Ministry of War, reported that Liaodong was short of pay. Since last autumn, the Liao had been owed 500,000 taels of pay. He begged the emperor to send a large amount of internal funds to help pay, so that Liaodong could recruit troops to deal with the offensive of the slave chiefs. The slave chiefs raised troops to invade the border, and there were Mongolians.  We must help each other when spring comes, and we will invade the border again. Although Wang Keshou, the governor of Jiliao, has selected and mobilized 6,500 soldiers from Jizhen to assist Liao on schedule, the number of soldiers is still insufficient. Therefore, we have to recruit troops in the Ming Dynasty and transfer wages. It is difficult to delay.  .

    As soon as Emperor Wanli heard that he wanted money from his inner treasury, he immediately said: "The internal funds are empty and the expenses in the palace are not enough. How can there be any spare money to help pay? This matter has to be discussed by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household. Taipu Temple can allocate some money."  Silver taels are used to buy war horses." After hesitating the Liao pay, he added: "Liao Zuo has overthrown the army and killed generals, the captive power is increasing, and the border situation is very critical. Your ministry will appoint a general military officer to take charge of the military affairs.  , all defense and extermination matters will be dispatched by the governor and other officials at their convenience, and the service will be destroyed in time. In order to establish the border, and other matters such as conscription and transfer of pay, it is the meeting document in compliance with the decree."

    Fang Congzhe reported that the ministers, ministers, ministers, ministers, ministers, ministers, ministers, ministers, and ministers all needed to be filled. He recommended Yang Hao, who was familiar with Liao affairs, to manage Liaodong. He also accused Li Weihan, the governor of Liaodong, of being mediocre and incompetent. He should be dismissed from his post and investigated.  Afterwards, Emperor Wanli agreed and ordered the officials to immediately recruit Yang Hao to the court.

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    Three days later.  Xue Sancai, who was in charge of the Ministry of War, reported to the emperor the results of the meeting of the officials of the Ministry of War: First, 30,000 strong men from Baoding, Zhending and other places were recruited as soldiers; second, all the retired servants from all sides were allowed to serve in front of the army, and thousands of people could be obtained.  People; Shanhaiguan is the gateway to Jiliao, and a general must be appointed to raise troops to suppress it, not only to ensure that the capital is safe, but also to support Liaodong. The Ministry of War will postpone Sui Shenjun Du Song to garrison Shanhaiguan, and Baoding Commander-in-Chief Wang Xuan will enter the pass. After Zhang Chengyin died in the battle,  There is a vacancy in the general army of Liaodong, and it is planned to use the retired general Li Rubai.

    Xue Sancai's memorial has just been submitted.  News of the rebel general Li Rufang's recruitment to the Songshan forts was also sent back, and all eleven forts including Fu'an, Huabaochong, and Sancha'er fell.  After the Jian slaves looted and burned the villages, they took the Han people, cattle, sheep and other property and returned to Hetuala through the first snow of this winter.

    Before retreating, Nurhachi released two businessmen captured in Fushun and asked them to deliver a message to Li Weihan in Guangning. These two businessmen were subordinates of Eunuch Lu. One of them had gone to North Korea with Zhang Yuan, named Zhang.  The scholar and another man named Yang Xishun gave Li Weihan a document written by Nurhachi to the Ming Dynasty. In the document, Nurhachi cited the Seven Hatreds as the reason for the army, and asked the Ming Dynasty to send officials to fight with the Ming Dynasty.  He made great efforts to negotiate the tribute and troop withdrawal matters, including the return of the heads of Nalanbakshi and Hurhan.

    The city of Fushun was destroyed, Zhang Chengyin was killed in battle, and the military and civilian losses in Liaodong were extremely heavy. As the governor of Liaodong, Li Weihan certainly understood the responsibility he had to bear. In order to alleviate the accusations of malfeasance and incompetence by officials in the DPRK, Li Weihan forwarded the document to Nurhaci.  At the same time, he also sent a memorial to the emperor, deliberately exaggerating the seventh of Nurhachi's seven hatreds, saying that Jiannu's invasion of Liaodong was forced by Zhang Yuan. This was Li Weihan's despicable mentality of wanting to find a scapegoat.  At that time, Li Weihan did not know that the court had decided to dismiss him from office.

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    On October 29, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of War submitted a letter to Emperor Wanli after a meeting and recommended that Yang Hao be reinstated as the left minister of the Ministry of War and the censor of Liqiandu to manage Liaodong; Wang Keshou, the governor of Jiliao, led his troops out of the customs and arrived directly.  Guangning, the governor of Guangning; Zhou Yongchun was appointed to patrol Liaodong on Li Weihan's behalf, and the governor's headquarters was moved from Guangning to Liaoyang. He worked with the new Liaodong commander-in-chief Li Rubai to resist the defence, and waited for the arrival of the soldiers before making further progress; Shanhaiguan military town was established, and Yansui was  General Du Song was appointed as Shanhaiguan Commander-in-Chief, and Baoding Commander-in-Chief Wang Xuan led his troops to move to the pass to guard the capital together with Du Song. The military pay should be reissued as soon as possible, and the emperor should use internal funds to support the pay.

    Emperor Wanli, who had been idle in the past, also knew that the situation in Liaodong was urgent. He issued a reply the next day, adopting all the suggestions from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel, and added something: "Wang Keshou commanded the troops to leave the customs, proceed with the camera, and be prudent in their duties.  To ensure safety; the governors of Shuntian and Baoding moved to Shanhai and Yizhou to support each other; Liaodong soldiers quickly recruited reinforcements; Li Weihan was dismissed from his post to listen to the survey; Yang Hao sent someone to urge him to come at night to try to calm down the conflict.  No more delay."

    Regarding the issue of internal funds to support the military pay, Emperor Wanli finally relented and agreed to allocate 100,000 taels of silver from the internal treasury to meet the urgent need. Taipu Temple also raised 60,000 taels of silver to buy war horses, and the rest needed to be paid by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household AffairsSelf-financing.

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    On the third day of November, Qi Chengshun came to Zhang Yuan's apartment in the evening. Qi Chengshun looked solemn. After a brief tea tasting, he said: "Meson, Li Weihan of Liaodong has sent the latest memorial. It contains the paradox of the slave chief. The slave chief reiterated  The seven great hatreds, and asked for negotiations to stop the troops and pay tribute, and mentioned the return of Narambakshi."

    To pay tribute is to go to the capital of the Ming Dynasty to contribute gifts. Isn¡¯t it strange that Nurhachi still came to pay tribute after winning a battle?  In fact, it is not surprising that although Nurhachi captured Fushun and annihilated Zhang Chengyin's 10,000 Ming army, he was still extremely afraid of the national power of the Ming Empire. He stated the Seven Hatreds to justify his own troops and described himself as a victim.  The persecution had to be resisted. The reason for the strike to pay tribute was to let the Ming Dynasty reopen the horse market and Jianzhou trade. After all, Nurhachi was not very confident in a full-scale confrontation with the Ming Dynasty. It would be best if he could strike to pay tribute. Anyway,  A lot has been robbed. After Nurhaci retreated, Fushun City and surrounding villages were burned down. This shows that Nurhaci at this time had no intention of occupying the territory of the Ming Dynasty. He was just a big thief who robbed and left.  The cowardice and incompetence of the Liaodong Ming army fueled his ambitions

    Zhang Yuandao: "The emperor has been very diligent in his work recently. He has mobilized troops and generals and raised military pay. He wants to launch a general attack on Jianzhou. I foolishly thought that we should not rush to it. Why not negotiate with the old slave as a way to delay the attack."

    ¡°Absolutely not!¡±

    Qi Chengshun said horrified: "Meson must not mention such words about the withdrawal of troops and peace talks to others. The Jiannu captured Fushun and plundered Liaodong. The capital was shaken. From the emperor to the common people, everyone hated the Jiannu and wanted to bring troops to wipe them out.  The thief's lair, capturing the old slave alive, how can I, as a vast empire, negotiate with Jiannu!"

    Zhang Yuan was silent, Qi Chengshun was right. If he advocated negotiation with Nurhaci at this time, even if he was to delay the war, it would not be tolerated by the public opinion of the government and the public. At this time, the scholars of the Ming Dynasty were still immersed in the power of the Celestial Kingdom.  In their dreams, the fall of Fushun and the defeat of Zhang Chengyin did not arouse much vigilance in them. They only thought that it was a moment of negligence that was taken advantage of by the enemy. The Ming Dynasty covered thousands of miles and had tens of millions of people, while Jianzhou Jurchen was located in a remote area on the east coast of the sea, with a population of only a few hundred thousand.  How can we compete with the Ming Dynasty? When the armies from all walks of life arrive, Jiannu will be defeated completely. The three major expeditions of Wanli twenty years ago were all great victories for the Ming Dynasty. This time will be no exception. Who would say at this time?  If the Eight Banners Army is powerful and difficult to defeat, it will definitely be said that you are "destroying your own ambition and the enemy's prestige", and you will be labeled as a "traitor" or "an open traitor".

    Qi Chengshun added: "Then Li Weihan is responsible for the crime. In the memorial, he slandered that it was you who captured and killed the slave envoys in North Korea and caused the old slaves to become angry and raise troops."

    Zhang Yuan sneered and said: "Can Fushun City be prevented from falling by allowing the slave chief to collude with Lord Guanghai? Li Weihan is so shameless!"

    Qi Chengshun said: "Although such ridiculous words are not worth defending, they may be detrimental to Jiezi if they are fueled by those with ulterior motives. Jiezi must be careful and never mention the words of peace talks, otherwise it will give opportunities to those with ulterior motives.  "

    Zhang Yuan nodded and said: "Thank you Kuang Weng for reminding me, Zhang Yuan knows the pros and cons."

    Qi Chengshun said: "Those scientific and technical officers don't know the difficulties of the Ministry of War. They are short of soldiers and pay, and they are in dire straits."

    Zhang Yuan asked: "The emperor is unwilling to allocate more internal funds to help pay, how to solve the problem of Liao's salary?"

    In fact, Emperor Wanli was very good at amassing money and had a lot of silver in his palace. According to historical records, after Emperor Guangzong Zhu Changluo came to the throne, he immediately allocated 2 million taels of silver as military pay for Liaodong and Jiubian. These were all the savings of Emperor Wanli, but now Emperor Wanli only  If he is willing to pay 100,000 taels of internal money for payment, no matter how much he asks the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households, it will be of no use, so he has to find another way.

    Qi Chengshun said: "Today the Ministry of War held a meeting with the Ministry of Household Affairs. Li Ruhua, the left minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, who was in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, cited the previous examples of conquering Japanese and Bozhou, and increased the allocation according to the acres of land, adding 3.5 cents per acre. In this way, the whole country can receive silver.  More than two million taels will be used as pay for the Liao Dynasty. After the situation in Liaodong is peaceful, this additional sect will be abolished immediately."

    Zhang Yuan thought: "The chaos in Liaodong is protracted. These two million taels of Liao's salary can solve the Eight Banners Army of Nurhaci. It is too wishful thinking." But it is useless to say this to Qi Chengyun now. Qi Chengyun is just  He was just a doctor from the Ministry of War, and asked: "Has Governor Wang left the customs?"

    Qi Chengshun said: "Governor Wang is still staying at Shanhaiguan, waiting for General Du of Shanhai to lead his army to the pass."

    Zhang Yuan said: "In this world of ice and snow, Jiannu has also returned to his hometown to avoid the cold and winter. Our army does not have to rush out of the customs for the time being. We should buy strong horses, new armor, and muskets to actively prepare for war. May I ask Kuang Weng, that new flintlock gun?"  How many have been made?"

    Qi Chengshun said: "There are about five thousand, each side has taken away two thousand, and the Ordnance Department still has more than three thousand left."

    Zhang Yuan said: "Three thousand are too few, we need to work harder to build them."

    Qi Chengshun said: "Shilang Yang of Shangqiu will come to Beijing tomorrow. Shilang Yang has been ordered to manage Liaodong. He has the right to make decisions on troop deployment, levying pay, and building ordnance. Jie Zi can give advice to Shilang Yang."

      In July, Zhang Yuan sent Wu Ling to Shangqiu to meet Yang Hao with his letter. Within four months, Yang Hao came back. Yang Hao was the decision-maker of the upcoming war, especially more critical than Du Song.  Zhang Yuan must exert influence on Yang Hao.

    (To be continued. Mobile phone users please go and read.)
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