Chapter 184 Attack on all fronts!
As soon as Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, no official in the crowded and narrow Yulin County Yamen stood up to reply.
Because the current situation is more or less helpless for Daming.
Economic blockade was the most effective way for the Ming Dynasty to control the Mongolian tribes outside the Great Wall.
But now, due to internal collaborators, once the economic blockade fails to work, it means that the Ming Dynasty has nothing to do with the little prince's military operations.
Because in the vast desert, the Ming army could not determine where the little prince would fight on the Mongolian right wing.
This is not the 21st century, and there are no convenient means of communication. Even if the Ming Dynasty wants to prevent the little prince from unifying Mongolia and rescue the Mongolian right wing, he is afraid that the little prince will have destroyed the Mongolian right wing before the Ming reinforcements have found the little prince.
The Central Plains Dynasty was sometimes in a very embarrassing situation, because the nomadic cavalry was flexible, which made it difficult for the Central Plains Dynasty to completely annihilate the nomads even if it had strong national power. Sometimes, in order to cherish the power of the people, they had to take measures. On the defensive, you can only wait for the nomads to attack and fight them. Even if you fight, you will only be able to repel them at best! It is difficult to achieve the goal of chasing and annihilating and maintaining peace forever.
Now, Daming has once again fallen into this embarrassing situation.
The little prince did not choose to become an enemy of the Ming Dynasty because Zhu Houzhao delayed his son Ulus Boluot, and still implemented his strategy of unifying Mongolia first.
The Ming Dynasty will either choose to take the initiative and spend its national power to rescue the Mongolian right wing and prevent the little prince from unifying Mongolia. However, if he does this, he may return without success because he is lost, or he may not be rescued before the Ming Dynasty. The war with the Mongolian right wing was over.
Either the Ming Dynasty can only watch from the sidelines, sit back and watch the little prince unify Mongolia, and then further expand, posing a greater threat to the Ming Dynasty in the future.
Moreover, there is another problem facing Zhu Houzhao, the Zhengde Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Houzhao has just granted three princes to the Mongolian tribes and asked them to surrender to the Ming Dynasty.
But now.
Of these three Mongolian tribes who had just been crowned kings and had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, two of them were about to be destroyed by the little prince. One of them directly rebelled and joined the little prince, and colluded with the little prince to destroy the other two who had surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. Mongol tribe.
If Ming Dynasty left this matter alone, it would have a negative impact on Ming Dynasty's national prestige.
This also means that in the future, other Mongolian tribes will think that it is meaningless to submit to the Ming Dynasty, because even if they submit to the Ming Dynasty, other tribes can still attack them unscrupulously, and the Ming Dynasty will be unable to do anything about it and will not rescue themselves, so they will therefore Despise the Ming Dynasty.
In addition, if the Ming Dynasty sat back and inspected the behavior of the Haer tribe who first surrendered to the Ming Dynasty and then betrayed the Ming Dynasty and colluded with the young prince, and did not crack down on it, it would also lose the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, and make the Mongolian tribes who submitted to the Ming Dynasty in the future betray the Ming Dynasty without any scruples. .
In history, the story evolved like this. After the rise of the Later Jin Dynasty, although Anda had been crowned king by the Ming Dynasty, the Mongolian tribes still betrayed the Ming Dynasty and became lackeys of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
It can be seen that if the Ming Dynasty left the little prince and the Chahar tribe to trample on their majesty this time, there would be serious consequences.
Jiao Fang, the chief minister of the cabinet, Liu Jin, the eunuch and other officials present were aware of this, but they did not dare to advise Zhu Houzhao to ask Ming Dynasty to send troops to rescue, because this would probably waste money and food without any results. , those who proposed to send troops to rescue the Mongolian right wing are likely to take the blame for this.
Zhu Houzhao himself also knew that now was the time when he had to face a decision, a time when he had to decide whether to maintain the external majesty of the Ming Dynasty. If he wanted to maintain this majesty, he had to be prepared to spend money and food, even return in vain or even be defeated.
In fact, this decision can only be made by Zhu Houzhao himself.
Seeing that no one answered, Zhu Houzhao became even more certain that this matter was just like Qiu Yue said, and he, the Ming Emperor, could only make a new decision.
The dry firewood burned fiercely in the winter night, making a rattling sound from time to time! The vibration stirred up some dust, and when the dust settled, the entire Yulin County government office fell silent again.
Zhu Houzhao stood up and stepped on the charcoal that splashed on the ground. There were still sparks in the charcoal, but in an instant it was crushed by Zhu Houzhao's thick shoes into ink stains on the ground. He couldn't help but said:
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"The little prince correctly guessed that Ming did not dare to attack the desert easily. He did not care about Ming's dignity and only thought that the grassland was the world of their Yuan people! But I was not as he wished. Ming's dignity is sacred and inviolable!
If his little prince dares to destroy the tribes that have surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, I will dare to destroy him, no matter how much national power it costs! National strength can be restored again! But the dignity of the Han Dynasty cannot be desecrated, and the prestige of the Ming Dynasty cannot be limited to the walls! What's more, I won't do anything to get a reputation and suffer a loss! ”
As he spoke, Zhu Houzhao looked at Jiao Fang, the chief minister of the cabinet, and Liu Jin, the chief minister of etiquette:
"Draw up the decree! In all the border towns of the Ming Dynasty, the cavalry will come out of the desert! Harass the little prince's back road, and kill the cavalry when he encounters them! Loot them when they encounter herdsmen! Burn them when they encounter tents and courts! Robbery them when they encounter horses and sheep! The main attack is !
The purpose is not to annihilate the enemy, but to capture the enemy's property as a result. If the main force of the Little Prince's Department withdraws, they will quickly withdraw to the pass!
The purpose of this battle is to disrupt the entire rear of his little prince! His little prince can plunder the Central Plains, and my cavalry can also plunder the Hetao he currently occupies! "After Zhu Houzhao finished speaking, the chief minister of the cabinet, Jiao Fang, and others looked at Zhu Houzhao in surprise. They admitted that this was a very effective response measure, and it was also the best and most beneficial measure to Ming Dynasty.
However, Jiao Fang couldn't help but wonder if this was too shameless and despicable. Instead of engaging in a decisive battle with other people's troops, they took advantage of their retreat and plundered their rear. This was no different from the Tatars! There is no righteousness in the country!
"Your Majesty! This move may be despised by the world's scholars. Your Majesty is impeached by officials. You do not dominate the world with royal principles, but plunder the world with cruelty. I will impeach you. This is an act that has lost the support of the people of the world. After all, China is a country of etiquette. , You can't do this if you fight," Jiao Fang reminded hurriedly.
Zhu Houzhao was very surprised. Isn't it normal to retaliate with tooth for tooth and treat others with their own way? Besides, this can only be used as the only means now. Is it possible to just sit back and watch the little prince become a big man? Is it necessary to be mean and elegant in dealing with the enemy?
But Zhu Houzhao didn't ask much. He knew that this era was deeply influenced by Confucianism. It emphasized that teachers should be famous, speak truthfully, and govern the world with etiquette. Even if you treat your enemies, you should be lenient. Therefore, Jiao Fang's reminder also made Zhu Houzhao It is understandable that he also knew that he could not convince these officials who had grown up with Confucian education, but he was the emperor and he had the power to make decisions. Therefore, Zhu Houzhao still said firmly:
"That's the decree! Impeachment and censure are their rights! But decision-making is my power. I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, not them! And this move is not an act to lose the people of the world, but an act to win the people of the world. Since ancient times, Everyone will obey the strong! This is also true between countries! ”
"Obey!"
Jiao Fang, the chief minister of the cabinet, replied.
At the end of the fourth year of Zhengde and before the arrival of the New Year in the fifth year of Zhengde, countless messengers began to appear on official roads from Gansu to Xuanhua. The sound of horse hooves resounded throughout this cold winter. The experienced veterans knew that the imperial court wanted to Something big has happened.
Gansu, Shaanxi, Yansui, Ningxia, and Xuanhua all began to send border troops out of the fortress one after another under the leadership of the governors and eunuchs of each border town! For a time, the entire Hetao area was infested with Ming cavalry, and because the little prince had led all 50,000 cavalry to fight against the Mongolian right wing, the rear was extremely empty.
Shaanxi General Secretary Cai Kuan only brought 3,000 cavalry. Starting from Yulinwei, he swept across the entire Hetao and plundered all the way to the vicinity of Muna Mountain!
Along the way, they met Tatar tents and burned them!
Kill the Tatar cavalry whenever you see them!
If you encounter herdsmen slaves, sheep and horses, capture them!
When spring comes back in March, three thousand people are directly supporting nearly ten thousand herdsmen and slaves, there are even six thousand horses, and there are no less than ten thousand sheep!
Officers and soldiers in other border towns also made a fortune and rescued many Han people who were plundered by the Tatars.
When spring came in March, when Ma Wensheng was ordered to send the censor to count the plundered materials, he saw many of the border officers and soldiers coming back with a sense of satisfaction. They had obviously tasted the taste of women, and they were much docile than before. .
Moreover, according to the rules, the gold and silver that these frontier soldiers picked up on their bodies were considered their own. Therefore, the frontier soldiers who had only relied on Lumi for many days in the past had completely made a fortune this time!
For many officers and soldiers, going out to the fortress to plunder under orders was not only a way to make a fortune, but also a way to feel proud and proud!
After all, in the past, the Ming Dynasty was plundered by the Tatars. Now the role has been changed, and the soldiers and civilians in the border town instantly felt like they were letting out a bad breath!
The conflicts between the army and the people have also eased a lot. After all, the officers and soldiers have become rich and will no longer be too harsh on the people of the country, and military discipline has also improved a lot.
The border troops were eager for the emperor to issue another decree and let them go out to plunder again.
But obviously this is impossible, because this kind of robbery is not tolerated by the Confucian gentry. The Tatars have been robbed. How can they make money from the commercial border trade they secretly control?
In the past, the Tatars plundered the wealth of soldiers and civilians in border towns, and then bought salt, iron, tea, cloth and other items from businessmen with powerful gentry backgrounds. In the end, it was the powerful gentry who gained the most.
They even had to feed the bandits and let them plunder the border towns, so that they could take advantage of it and annex the land.
Now that the Tatars have been robbed and killed a lot, how will they support the bandits in the future to make it easier for them to annex land?
But now that the border troops have taken back the money stolen by the Tatars, the powerful gentry will naturally not be able to make any more money, and their interests will naturally be damaged.
Therefore, there is no doubt that they wanted to stop Zhu Houzhao's behavior of encouraging his own soldiers and civilians to plunder foreign countries, and their reasons for this matter were particularly just, that is, it was really unreasonable for the emperor to let the border troops do this. , it is too unpopular and not something that should be done according to the magnanimity of the heaven.
The memorials of remonstrances flew to Datong Mansion like snow flakes. They were all discussing the matter and using Confucian theory to tell the emperor that when the Ming Dynasty was founded, we should abide by the words of the saints and convince people with virtue.
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(End of chapter)