Chapter 405 404 Fujian Defeat
Wei Guangde had his own goal, so from that moment on, he seemed extremely enthusiastic about Professor Yu Wang.
Because of the palace's wishes, Wei Guangde searched for information in the name of searching for documents related to northern Mongolia. In fact, he also collected and sorted out information related to the shipping department and the mutual market.
Based on what has been collected so far, Wei Guangde has already seen many problems. At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty actually wanted to be closed and self-sufficient. This may have been influenced by Zhu Yuanzhang's background.
Wealth, he may think that it should be accumulated bit by bit and kept in the country, but does not know that wealth can be increased through transactions.
Therefore, even though limited mutual trading began during the Zhu Yuanzhang period, it was more of a policy adopted as a last resort.
Just like the tea-horse trade carried out in border areas, the fundamental purpose was to solve the problem of insufficient war horses in the Ming army. It was carried out in an official-run mode, which not only controlled the total transaction volume but also increased the court's income.
Although the idea is good, after a hundred years of development, it has already become corrupt.
From the information he found, Wei Guangde discovered that during the Hongwu period, the price of a high-quality horse in the tea-horse trade was 120 kilograms of tea, but now it is 80 kilograms. It seems that tea is more valuable. , while horse prices are falling.
But the actual situation is that the price of tea has increased somewhat over the past century, but the rate of increase is far not as high as the increase in the price of fine horses.
It seems that the rise in tea prices and the fall in horse prices in the tea-horse trade is beneficial to the court, but the actual result is that the Ming army is now in dire need of horses.
Have the number of horses being traded really decreased due to changes in exchange value?
Not necessarily, it’s just that a large number of horses were not traded to the court. It seemed that the court was benefiting, but in fact it was at the expense of the weakened military strength. Those horses have flowed into the private market. .
Wei Guangde planned to talk to King Yu about these things later, but now he still wanted to finish talking about the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and the northern grassland peoples.
However, what he didn't know was that Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng outside the window also started whispering.
"Is what Shandai said appropriate?"
Zhang Juzheng was a little confused. He didn't know how Gao Gong and Chen Yiqin taught King Yu in the past.
Although Yin Shizhen also felt that there was something wrong, some of the things Wei Guangde said were actually reasonable when he thought about it, but his views were slightly different from those of the current court.
However, Wei Guangde did not impose his will on King Yu. After all, King Yu was an adult and had his own thoughts. Therefore, when Wei Guangde analyzed it, he combined the current outside world's opinions and his own information. All opinions were expressed to King Yu, and King Yu made his own judgment. The most important thing was to encourage King Yu to have his own thoughts.
Yin Shizhen looked in through the window. Prince Yu was older than Wei Guangde, and the situation in the room really felt a little out of place.
"It's just putting forward some ideas, not deviant."
Yin Shizhen whispered to Zhang Juzheng, "Actually, His Highness is an adult. He has his own thoughts. When Su Qing taught His Highness, he also Often."
The reason for the high arch. A very important reason for being respected by King Yu is that Gao Gong will not impose his ideas on King Yu. Instead, when explaining, he will explain from many aspects, and those that are recognized by the outside world, and those that are After being criticized, what King Yu finally chooses to believe depends on King Yu's own thoughts.
When King Yu and King Jing left the palace, they were actually adults and had completed basic education in the palace, but their thoughts were not mature enough.
Gao Gong's education to King Yu can be regarded as teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, and the result seems to be very good, which suits King Yu's temper.
At this moment, a young chamberlain appeared at the door of the courtyard. He came in with a note in his hand. When he saw Yin Shizhen at the window, he walked over quickly, taking three steps at a time.
Yin Shizhen tugged on Zhang Juzheng's sleeves, and the two left the window sill and walked over.
The young chamberlain handed over the note in his hand. Perhaps he also knew that his prince was in class, so he lowered his voice and said, "The news sent back by Master Gao."
Although Prince Yu's status seems to be It seems to have been clarified, but Prince Yu's Mansion still did not relax its vigilance. It kept an eye on the troubles in the court every day. Whenever any important event happened, the Prince's Mansion would know it immediately.
In the past, such news had to be bribed with scribes in various yamen to inquire about it. Now that Gao Gong has entered the court as an official, he is more informed and naturally has the responsibility of informing people.
He took the note and nodded at him. After the waiter left, Yin Shizhen lowered his head and glanced at the note in his hand, then frowned.
Zhang Juzheng said nothing, and he did not come close to Yin Shizhen when he read the note.
Yin Shizhen took Zhang Juzheng into the room next to him, then handed the note in his hand to Zhang Juzheng, and said: "You should also take a look, the Fujian side suffered a defeat and the encirclement and suppression campaign failed. ."
" So fast?”
Zhang Juzheng was a little surprised. How long has it been since the imperial court made the decision to exterminate the rebels? The Fujian side launched the first encirclement and suppression operation. This is not in line with his efficiency in handling local government affairs. impression.
Yin Shizhen understood the meaning of his words and shook his head with a wry smile, "The imperial court asked about the news about Zhang Lian's group of rebels. It is impossible for the Fujian government not to guess that the capital already knew about it and should have started to mobilize troops and generals to prepare for the encirclement and suppression at that time.
And the previous memorial also mentioned that when Zhang Lian and others were bandits, the local government actually mobilized a large army to encircle and suppress them, but they failed to completely eliminate them
Because of this. ninety In the month of August, I was worried that the Japanese pirates would come with the wind, so I dispatched the bandit-suppressing army back to the coastal counties to defend against the Japanese pirates."
"Think about it, it was also the time when the rebels were almost wiped out that they woke up and each took over the mountain and became the king. They will be annihilated by the imperial army. It is better to join forces to strengthen their strength and be less likely to be eliminated."
Zhang Juzheng had already read the note in his hand and sighed: "What a pity."< br>
"The next year, March and April will be the time when the Japanese pirates come east again. There are only two months left in the middle. I'm afraid they won't be able to encircle and suppress them. After all, they already have a hundred thousand people. Without deploying the army, I'm afraid it will be difficult to complete the attack in one go. "Eradicate." >
Yin Shizhen was already sitting in his seat and said to Zhang Juzheng, "Actually, the method suggested by Shandai at that time might have been better.
Mobilize the officers and soldiers first to fight against the rebels in the outlying counties. station, blockade When the rebel forces expand outward, they only need to block the people in the encirclement and wait for the surrounding armies to mobilize and then annihilate them in one go. "
"It will indeed damage the majesty of the imperial court if we cannot eliminate the rebels at once. , It will also boost the morale of the rebels, and it will also damage the morale of the surrounding officers and soldiers. It shouldn't be."
Zhang Juzheng nodded in approval, "Will the court transfer Shandai away after this failure? ?”
"That's not true. There are many elite soldiers and generals in the south, including Wei Guangde."
Yin Shizhen shook his head and smiled, "Even Tan Lun from Zhejiang should be able to do it. I heard that he has trained a military force in the past two years." The army has made outstanding achievements in the battle against Japanese pirates. I think the court will choose to choose generals nearby. I just hope not to go back to the old path again. They hurriedly sent out troops to encircle and suppress them, but in the end they came back defeated."
It has been more than half a month since Wei Guangde and Zhang Juzheng entered Prince Yu's Mansion according to the order, and the time has now reached the 12th day of the 39th year of Jiajing. In August, when all the government offices were about to be sealed, news came from Fujian and soon spread to all the government offices in the capital.
Almost all officials looked shocked when they heard the news.
They were surprised at the reaction speed of the Fujian government and mobilized troops and horses so quickly to encircle and suppress the rebels. On the other hand, they found it difficult to accept that the officers and soldiers were defeated by the rebels so quickly. Fujian is not a peaceful place. The officers and soldiers there have participated in chasing down Japanese pirates many times, and they must have actual combat experience. However, just such an army was defeated by the rebels in just a few days.
Before, the officials in the capital were mostly dismissive of Zhang Lian's group of rebels. In their view, they were just gathering a mob of 100,000 people to seize the opportunity to take advantage of the imperial court's full efforts to exterminate the Japanese pirates. As a king, once the officers and soldiers get serious, they can be destroyed overnight.
But now it seems that this is not the case at all.
At this time, many people think of Fujian, which seems to be similar to the southwest. It is a mountainous land. It seems that it is really difficult to enter the mountains to encircle and suppress the rebels.
Think about the southwest region. In many places, there are actually rebels, large and small, who have not been wiped out. However, they all claim to be kings, and none of them dare to proclaim themselves emperor like Zhang Lian and scratch the beard of the government.
Moreover, because Zhang Lian is now raising the banner of rebellion, the imperial court must be paying special attention to it. Therefore, it does not dare to conceal the news if it can be concealed, and only report it if it cannot be concealed, as it did in the past. Instead, it will report the news of the defeat as soon as possible. Beijing.
Who knows if Jin Yiwei has been staring at this place?
While Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng in the room were still chatting about Fujian affairs, they heard the voices of Wei Guangde and Yu Wang chatting and laughing outside. It seemed that the class was over.
The two stood up and walked out, and sure enough they saw King Yu walking out of the study door, followed by Wei Guangde and Li Fang.
“Your Highness.”
Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng hurriedly stepped forward to salute.
"Both gentlemen are flat."
Wang Yu hurriedly stretched out his hand to help, and said.
"This is the news coming from outside today. Please take a look at it, Your Highness."
Yin Shizhen stood up, took out the note from his arms and handed it to Prince Yu. .
"There's nothing important in the court today. It's almost the Chinese New Year."
Wang Yu smiled relaxedly at this moment. Before Li Fang could pass by, he reached out to take the note handed over by Yin Shizhen and lowered his head. After taking a look, his brows instantly furrowed.
Although Wei Guangde beside King Yu was very curious as to whether something happened in the court today, he saw that neither Yin Shizhen nor Zhang Juzheng looked relaxed, but he was just curious, and he would be able to do it after a while. Know.
On the other side, Li Fang only took two steps. When King Yu reached out to take the note, he had already returned to King Yu.
“How could it be so fast? We were defeated in just three days.”
King Yu had already read the note in his hand and looked up at Yin Shizhen in disbelief.
Yin Shizhen smiled bitterly, "How can you be undefeated if you are ambushed?"
Zhang Juzheng next to him always had a serious face, and would choose to be quiet when King Yu didn't ask him He stood there without saying a word.
Failed? Zhongfu?
Wei Guangde naturally guessed what happened. No wonder Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng both appeared with faces like that. It was indeed bad news.
Not surprisingly, King Yu is the future emperor. If anything bad happens to the court now, it will actually be bad for King Yu.
On this point, a consensus has long been formed among the Yu Wang Party. They have already had the awareness to rectify the political agenda and lay a solid foundation for Yu Wang to ascend the throne. It is no longer the past, just for their respective promotions and interests. .
In the end, the country belongs to King Yu. If he is really beaten to a pulp by that group of rebels, King Yu will be the one who suffers in the end, and they don’t have to step in to deal with it.
However, Wei Guangde disagreed with Yin Shizhen's words.
Who said that if you fall into an ambush, you will definitely fail?
That's just what the literati subconsciously thought. It seems to be said in the books. It seems that if you are ambushed, you will definitely lose the battle. Who made the rules?
If the army's combat power is strong, even if they are ambushed by a mob, the outcome is uncertain. It can only mean that the army is either too arrogant or has a command error.
Wei Guangde paid close attention to the information from Fujian and came to the conclusion that the rebels were just a mob. How strong could an army composed of Fujian residents, boat people, miners, and refugees be? Combat power?
"Let's talk in the room."
After hearing Yin Shizhen's words, King Yu nodded slightly, and then led everyone back to the study, but this time the study was no longer his classroom. , but the place where they discuss things.
King Yu handed the note to Wei Guangde and asked him to read it too.
Although the two talked before, Wei Guangde also roughly guessed something, but he still lowered his head and looked down.
Sure enough, tens of thousands of Ming troops gathered in Zhangzhou Prefecture and set out into the mountains to suppress the bandits. On the third day, they were ambushed and most of them retreated.
Wei Guangde understood that the casualties were not heavy. It is estimated that the Ming army had just won the victory in repelling the Japanese pirates. At that time, its self-confidence was a bit overwhelming. Maybe it was still counting on the end of the battle before the year, so it underestimated the enemy and rushed forward. In the end He was ambushed and collapsed instantly.
After everyone entered the room and sat down, King Yu asked Yin Shizhen, "What do you think should be done after discussion?"
He was naturally asking Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng. They knew the news first and would naturally discuss it in advance. Now King Yu wanted to know the outcome of their discussion.
This is actually King Yu's test for these officials. Those who are capable will naturally be of great use in the future, and those who are not will naturally depend on the situation.
Yin Shizhen and Zhang Juzheng looked at each other before speaking: "We think it is best to do what Shandai said at the beginning, first deploying officers and soldiers to guard against the rebels in the surrounding counties, and then mobilize them in June next year big The army encircled and suppressed them."
At the beginning, Wei Guangde thought that there was no need to be so eager to encircle and suppress Zhang Lian and others, but he was worried that it would be counterproductive. It was better to make more preparations, encircle and explore the enemy's situation first, and then repel the Japanese pirates next year.
However, Wei Guangde also said that by doing this, the government is afraid that someone will impeach him, and the pressure on the local government will be great.
"Shandai, what do you think we should do now?"
Wang Yu nodded, but he seemed dissatisfied with their answers because there was nothing new.
"The officers and soldiers have up to three months to carry out the campaign. After that, they must return to their respective defense areas to guard against Japanese pirates. I'm afraid there will be some trouble in Fujian."
Wei Guangde shook his head, He poured cold water on everyone when he opened his mouth.
(End of this chapter)