Chapter 375 The common people and civil servants of Ming Dynasty in the new era
Zhu Houzhao summoned Tang Kekuan and Lu Bo, naturally for the purpose of destroying the Japanese. Although it is unknown whether Tang Kekuan and Lu Bo would have any objections because Qi Jiguang took command, Zhu Houzhao believed that he had to give this The two of them do some ideological work.
Although Zhu Houzhao was the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and the first person at the top of power, he never ignored the people at the bottom of his power and would maintain respect for these people. Naturally, he would not be willing to risk war for the so-called face. The risk of failure should not be explained to the two veterans Tang Kekuan and Lu Boring.
Zhu Houzhao was undoubtedly right to do so.
Tang Kekuan and Lu Ti, as veterans of Yu Dayou's generation, were actually dissatisfied with the younger Qi Jiguang becoming the commander-in-chief of the war to destroy the Japanese. However, the fact that they were summoned by the Emperor and even explained by the Emperor himself made the two people feel bad. His dissatisfaction disappeared immediately, and he even promised to cooperate with Qi Jiguang.
After summoning Tang Kekuan and Lu Borang, Zhu Houzhao no longer worried about the specific matters of this war to destroy the Japanese.
As an old man, he now tried to make himself as relaxed as possible.
Of course, this does not mean that he will no longer pay attention to this war.
Zhu Houzhao still cared about this war to destroy the Japanese.
After all, compared with the Ming Dynasty’s Anti-Japanese War during the Wanli Period in history.
In this time and space, Ming Dynasty was the one taking the initiative to attack.
Before the war to annihilate the Japanese officially started, the Ministry of War and the General Political Department of the Privy Council began to publicize among the military and civilians why the Ming Dynasty wanted to annihilate the Japanese and the significance of annihilating the Japanese.
With the influence of new ideas, the emperor of Ming Dynasty and the central government in charge of military and political power began to take the initiative to report the significance and reasons of some major decisions to the people of the world.
This is a transformation of Ming Dynasty in the new era.
In the past, the emperor and the court issued decisions in the form of decrees to the people of the world in a father-to-son manner.
But now, the relationship has been reversed, and the emperor and the court report important decisions to the people of the world.
It seems that the Ming emperor and the court no longer rule the Ming people, but the Ming emperor and the court serve the Ming people, or are hired by people all over the world to manage the country.
The emperor and many high-ranking officials in the court have changed and have this idea.
However, many people still live in a stage where they distrust officials and are afraid of relying on them.
Of course, there are also many officials, especially those at the middle and lower levels, who are still at the stage where the people can do it but cannot let them know about it.
But the people of the Ming Dynasty in this era are actually happy. They have not experienced a hundred years of humiliation, nor have they experienced three hundred years of enslavement. They do not know what it means to worship foreigners and favor foreigners. Even the word "foreign" in life does not mean "more advanced" "More rare and precious" means backwardness and crudeness.
The hatred for the Japanese country was not that great, so although the court publicized the reasons for destroying the Japanese, they did not have any big feelings. After all, in this era, many of them had not even experienced major Japanese rebellions. I know the cruelty of war, but I don't understand why the war is launched.
"I would like to be a frivolous son of Chang'an, born in the time of Kaiyuan Tianbao. Fighting cocks and horses fly for a lifetime, and I don't know the rise and fall of heaven and earth." This is undoubtedly the best portrayal of the people of the Ming Dynasty in this era. They are most interested in the upcoming war to exterminate the Japanese. How many Japanese women can be bought at that time?
The people of the Ming Dynasty in this era are truly happy in their hearts. They don’t have much hatred to remember, and they are not that extreme. They even seem a little innocent.
Qi Jiguang did not think that the extermination of the Japanese would be a big problem this time. After all, the current military strength of the Ming Empire was not on the same level as any country in the world.
First of all, the transportation of the army is very different from that of other countries. No one except the soldiers and civilians of the Ming Dynasty can imagine what it is like to transport the army by train, but this is already a common thing in the Ming Dynasty.
Because of this, the troops training outside the Great Wall can be transported to Jiangnan within ten days, saving several times the time of transporting troops.
Moreover, using trains to transport troops does not worry about exhausting the troops from traveling long distances. Tens of thousands of troops can rest and march on the trains.
There are two big rivers in the Ming Dynasty, one is the Yellow River and the other is the Yangtze River. Before there were trains and railway bridges built with reinforced concrete, the army had to find pontoons to find boats to occupy the ferry crossing and requisition civilians to cross the river. Now it is not troublesome, and there are direct The railway bridge could pass tens of thousands of troops all day and all night.
Not only the army, but also logistical equipment can be quickly assembled to the destination through railway transportation.
The generals can also manage their officers and soldiers more conveniently, after all, all the officers and soldiers are in the car.
Of course, this is backed by the entire empire's powerful transportation capabilities, technological strength, and management capabilities. The railway department has now become one of the most important departments in the cabinet.
Qi Jiguang also got on the train at Nanyuan Railway Station at this time, and he was accompanied by Tang Kekuan, Hu Zongxian, and Zhao Wenhua. Zhao Wenhua was the minister of the Ministry of Industry. This time, through Xu Jie's relationship, he was responsible for organizing project construction in the Japanese country, and Lu Boring Because he was a naval general, he had already taken the train south in advance, preparing to transport the Ming army across the sea to destroy the Japanese.
Prior to this, Pan Sheng, the right minister of the Ministry of War, had sent an envoy to Ryukyu and asked Ryukyu to provide a Ming military base as a transit station for the Ming army to conquer Japan.
Ryukyu naturally did not dare to resist the power of Ming Dynasty, so it agreed, cutting Okinawa into Ming Dynasty's military base, and at the same time proactively loaned millions of silver dollars to Ming Dynasty's banking institutions to renovate the corresponding infrastructure of the military base.
After all, the purpose of the Ming Dynasty in establishing a military base in Ryukyu was to help protect Ryukyu's national security. Therefore, the construction of the Ming Dynasty military base in Ryukyu was naturally funded by the Ryukyu State.
The Ryukyu Kingdom in this era was not poor. The trade between the Ming Dynasty and Japan and even Southeast Asia had to be transferred here. Therefore, Ryukyu, as a transit station, still made a lot of money through this, so a loan of one million silver dollars was not enough. question.
It stands to reason that the Ming Dynasty could also destroy Ryukyu in one fell swoop, but the cost of destroying Ryukyu is not proportional to the benefits. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty still did not choose to destroy Ryukyu before. However, now that the Ming Dynasty has established a military base in Ryukyu, it will naturally set the stage for the future. The foundation has been laid for destroying Ryukyu at a lower cost. Nowadays, the Ming Dynasty still has to focus on destroying Japan. After all, Japan has a larger territory and a large population, so destroying Japan is of greater significance.
Of course, regarding this war to destroy the Japanese, the Ming Dynasty did not intend to let Ryukyu stay neutral and stay neutral. Qi Jiguang followed the court's instructions and took the initiative to rule Ryukyu before going south. He also sent troops to assist the Ming army in participating in the war to destroy the Japanese. Although on the surface, Qi Jiguang The reason was to jointly punish Japanese pirates in Japan, which actually forced Ryukyu to become enemies of Japan.
Qi Jiguang, the great general who destroyed Japan, was sitting in a carriage of a military train. Sitting in front of him were Tang Kekuan, Hu Zongxian, Zhao Wenhua and other civil and military officials.
Although he had not yet boarded the ship to Ryukyu, Qi Jiguang had convened several meetings with these officials to fully understand the preparations for the entire war to destroy the Japanese.
As the supreme military commander of more than 100,000 land and sea officers and soldiers, although Qi Jiguang knew that Japan was not the enemy of the Ming Dynasty, he still did not dare to be careless in specific war command. After all, war command is also an art. As an outstanding general commander, Naturally, I want to direct the war more perfectly and wonderfully, so that when I leave it in history in the future, I will naturally be more brilliant.
But what Qi Jiguang didn't expect was that when he had a meeting about where more than 100,000 officers and soldiers planned to camp and build military bases after landing in Japan, Zhao Wenhua, Minister of Industry, asked:
"Commander Qi, Zhao thinks that you should tell someone why you chose Duoyi as a landing point and abandoned the Five Islands. In addition, Zhao doesn't know whether Vice Admiral Tang knows about your military plan, and Do you have any opinions on this? Do you disagree? Have you discussed it with Deputy Commander Tang? Do you have any intention of discussing it with Deputy Commander Lu after arriving in Okinawa?”
Hu Zongxian frowned for a moment and thought to himself: "It's bad. It seems that Yuan Fu told me more than one person about wanting to destroy the relationship between the Japanese generals. Now Zhao Wenhua is acting more and more on his behalf, armed with a gun and a stick, with a clear purpose." Come! Qi Jiguang is young and a military commander. He is leading an army alone this time. I don’t know if he can handle this. ”
Although Hu Zongxian was curious about how Qi Jiguang responded to this matter, he also followed Zhu Houzhao's holy will to mediate the conflict, so he smiled first and said:
"Da Sikong is overly worried. Qi Shuai has been fighting with the Supreme Emperor for a long time. He has obtained the Supreme Emperor's true inheritance. How could there be any mistakes? Naturally, he must have discussed it with Deputy Commander Tang. As civil servants, we can only do a good job in the rear and support. Military work means that when it comes to war, there is no need for laymen to direct experts. ”
Hu Zongxian said this with two meanings: You, Zhao Wenhua, don't just think about pleasing Xu Yuanfu, you also need to see who is behind Qi Jiguang. The other is to tell you Zhao Wenhua not to overstep his authority. Since you are only responsible for base construction, you should be responsible for base construction honestly. How the generals fight is a question for the generals.
"What Hu Jinglue said is funny. Military generals have only been in charge of the army for fifty or sixty years, and civil servants have been in charge of the army for hundreds of years. Why can't they get involved in military matters now? When it comes to war, military generals are not as good as civil servants. , Wang Yue and Wang Shouren are both men with great military exploits. Do you dare to say that your generals are more capable than them? "
Zhao Wenhua's question also confused Qi Jiguang. After all, in this time and space, he was not the same as in the original history of the Nanping Japanese Rebellion and the northern sweep of the Tartars. For a while, it seemed that no one except Zhu Houzhao was willing to recognize his military talents.
In response to Zhao Wenhua's provocation, Qi Jiguang naturally shouted angrily and slammed the table on the spot: "What do you mean by Da Sikong? Do you think I am not worthy of being the commander-in-chief? Then why don't you go to the memorial and ask the Supreme Emperor to replace Qi!" < br>
"How dare Zhao? You are a popular person next to the Supreme Emperor. Zhao just thinks that the battle to destroy the Japanese should not be taken lightly. Commander Qi should ask more about Deputy Commander Tang," Zhao Wenhua said.
Tang Kekuan had already received Zhu Houzhao's instructions, and he naturally knew that if he followed Zhao Wenhua to make noise now, he would definitely not be able to make a living in the future. Therefore, he did not cooperate with Zhao Wenhua, but took the initiative to stand up and salute Qi Jiguang in front of Zhao Wenhua: "Destroy the Japanese." During this period, Tang Mou only followed the lead of the commander. Even if the commander wanted to take Tang Mou’s head, Tang Mou would not say anything about it.”
When Qi Jiguang saw that Tang Kekuan actively expressed his obedience to him, he was naturally happy and hurriedly helped Tang Kekuan to sit down at the round table: "Old General, your words are serious. Qi is highly regarded by the Supreme Emperor and trusted by His Majesty. He is in charge of the position of commander-in-chief. He is originally worried. Fortunately, thanks to the assistance of Generals Tang and Lu, Qi can ask for advice at any time, so he can take up his post with peace of mind, which is enough to show the wisdom of the Supreme Emperor! This time, the elimination of the Japanese depends entirely on Generals Tang and Lu, as well as all of you here and the soldiers and civilians at the front! ”
Zhao Wenhua saw that his provocation had no effect, and Tang Kekuan made his position clear, which made him feel angry for a moment. He couldn't help but see Hu Zongxian smiling, he just snorted coldly and said in a low voice: "Hu Jinglue, could it be that before leaving Beijing? Didn’t Yuan Fu inquire? ”
"Of course I have seen it before," Hu Zongxian replied.
"Then why is it that Zhao is busy with the affairs of the world today, while Hu Jinglue has no thoughts about it? He even laughed about it!" Zhao Wenhua asked.
"Da Sikong's words are really funny. How come Hu didn't do his best for the king? Now that Hu has seen that the commander-in-chief and the deputy commander-in-chief are working together, he is happy that our Ming Dynasty can have such an official atmosphere. Why can't he laugh at it? Don't Da Sikong think this is a good thing? ”
Hu Zongxian asked rhetorically.
Zhao Wenhua couldn't answer Hu Zongxian's question, but he felt even more depressed. He wanted to ask Hu Zongxian if he considered himself a member of the civil service group, but he didn't dare to ask. After all, he knew that on the surface, he couldn't. Hu Zongxian was required to sit on the side of civil servants.
……
Zhu Houzhao was chatting with Zhu Zailei that day. He overheard Zhu Zailei mentioning Zhao Wenhua. He couldn't help but become curious and asked: "Isn't it because Zhao Wenhua got close to Yan Song that he rose to prominence? Why is Yan Song already dead now?" , can he still participate in important tasks? ”
"Yuan Fu strongly recommended it. This is also because Xu Jie does not avoid relatives when promoting talents, and people in the officialdom also praised him for his trip."
Zhu Zailei replied.
"Sure enough, no matter how the times change, people who know how to work in the camp will still work in the camp. You personally issued an order to transfer Zhao Wenhua back. Leading troops to fight is not an official. An old official like him is not suitable to stay in the military camp. It’s nothing bad. I’m old now and I don’t bother to worry about these little things. But if something goes wrong with the Japanese extermination this time, I will never give up!”
Zhu Houzhao cut a potted plant branch short and said to Zhu Zailei with some solemnity.
"I heard from Xu Yuanfu that this Zhao Wenhua has some abilities. If my son doesn't understand, my father will conclude that he is just a lowly person," Zhu Zailei couldn't help but ask.
"How many grains of rice have you eaten? How many grains of rice have I eaten? I have crossed more bridges than you have walked. Can you compare with me? Although I cannot possibly know what everyone in this world is thinking. Yes, but I still know what many officials in the court are thinking!”
Zhu Houzhao said a bit nonsense, and Zhu Zailei could not refute: "In this case, according to the emperor's wishes, who is more suitable to take over Zhao Wenhua's position?"
"Choose people with weaker personalities. The bad things that happen to civil servants are often not because they are stupid, but because they are pretentious, arrogant, and self-righteous. As long as they have the courage to hide their stupidity and clumsiness, they will be fine. In this kind of military war, they Civil servants are meant to serve the rear. We don’t need any other talents, just send experienced officials.”
Zhu Houzhao said.
(End of chapter)