"Now that the people from the grasslands have come to our homes and burned, killed and looted our homes, we cannot talk about war lightly. When can we talk about war?"
Emperor Hongzhi was angry. Although the education he received in the past was Confucian education, Confucianism was so talkative that he wished he could convince everyone in the world with just one mouth. But is this possible?
But now that you are being beaten into your home, burning, killing, looting, and committing all kinds of evil, you are still saying that you should not talk about war lightly. When can you do that?
Hearing Emperor Hongzhi's words and looking at his angry expression, everyone was silent for a while, speechless, because there was really nothing to say. Others have stabbed knives into your stomach. How can you still tell the other party?
reason?
If we could reason with each other, then there would be no such thing as the Tatars going south. For these prairie people, they just want to rob you or kill you, so what can you do?
"Xie Qian, tell me, when can we talk about war?"
Seeing that everyone was silent, Emperor Hongzhi looked at Xie Qian and asked sternly.
"I, I thought it was time to fight~"
Xie Qian was called out by Emperor Hongzhi, so he could only speak bravely, and then changed his tone and said: "It's just that our Ming army has low combat power and is no match for the grassland army. It can defend the city. This field battle outside the city will definitely be a disaster."
defeat."
"Not a match for the grassland army at all?"
"Who said that?"
"During the Taizong period, our Ming army killed seven people in and out of the grassland. The grassland people they killed were frightened and surrendered one after another. The Duoyan tribe and the Qiyan tribe still pay tribute to our Ming Dynasty every year. Are you telling me that it is not a grassland?
The opponent of the army?"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately asked sharply.
"This... Your Majesty, times have changed, times have changed, and our Ming army is no longer the army it was during Taizong's time."
Xie Qian didn't know how to reply, "How powerful is the Ming army? You, the emperor, don't have any idea?"
Let’s talk about the glorious story of the Taizong period here. If Yingzong had not been self-righteous and listened to the eunuch Wang Zhenzhi, maybe the Ming army could have fought with the grassland people.
The Battle of Tumubao completely knocked the backbone of the Ming Dynasty's army to its knees, along with the Ming Dynasty's military generals Xungui group. Most of the military generals Xungui who had some fighting ability were also killed in that battle.
After the Tumubao Incident, the military power was controlled by the civilian clique, the generals and noble clique were frantically suppressed, and all aspects of the military declined rapidly, leading to the current situation.
"Why not the army from Taizong's time?"
"Did the imperial court mistreat my soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, or were there other reasons that led to the low combat effectiveness?"
Emperor Hongzhi asked again.
"this…"
Xie Qian didn't know what to say. It couldn't be said that the current low combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty's army was due to our civilian group's desperate suppression of the military generals' group and the army.
It cannot be said that because of serious corruption, if the military expenditure of 100,000 taels is allocated, not even 10,000 taels of silver may end up going to the army.
"Liu Jian, please tell me."
Emperor Hongzhi looked at Xie Qian coldly, and then named Liu Jian.
"Your Majesty, the war is indeed going to be fought. The grassland people are so ambitious that they withhold customs every year and go south every year. They covet our vast land, kill my people, and rob my money. If this goes on, their ambitions will inevitably become bigger and bigger, and we may not be able to return it in the future.
Will want to steal my country again."
Liu Jian has actually been thinking about this problem. A fight now may cause heavy losses, but a fight can still find some problems. Now that the Ming Dynasty is still strong and the weather is good everywhere, even if it is defeated, the Ming Dynasty can still survive.
live.
If this problem continues, Liu Jian can already see the collapse of the Ming Dynasty in the future. The Ming army cannot continue to degenerate like this, otherwise there will definitely be foreign races taking over China in the future.
Although he knew that something was going to happen with this fight, a big problem was bound to happen, more people would die, it would more likely cause the military commanders group to rise again, and it might also make Emperor Hongzhi become warlike.
But after weighing it and thinking carefully, Liu Jian felt that he still had to fight, and the current Emperor Hongzhi had already conveyed a very obvious signal to everyone, that is, he must fight with the grassland people, no matter he wins or loses, he must fight
We must let the prairie people know how powerful it is and teach them some profound lessons.
One hundred thousand people were slaughtered, rivers of blood flowed, and all evil was committed, including burning, killing, and looting. Emperor Hongzhi, the great emperor of the world, must show something and give an explanation to the people of the world.
On this matter, just start to object. If you really want to fight to the death with Emperor Hongzhi, everyone will probably pack up and go back to their hometowns in the end.
After all, it was Emperor Hongzhi who changed.
It was better for Emperor Hongzhi in the past. He listened to everyone in everything. If everyone said we couldn't fight, we couldn't fight. Unlike now, Emperor Hongzhi knew a lot and would doubt others. He no longer blindly believed in everyone's words.
When the others heard Liu Jian's words, they were slightly startled, and then after thinking about it, they understood that this battle must be fought even if it is not a fight. Since Emperor Hongzhi wanted to fight, he must fight.
"Your Majesty, the treasury is empty and there is not much money to spend on war."
Zhou Jing, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, stood up. His meaning was very simple. It was okay to go to war, but the treasury had no money. In the past, he used this move to block many Emperor Hongzhi's ideas.
No matter what Emperor Hongzhi wanted to do, if he didn't have money, he would just throw away all of Emperor Hongzhi's ideas, and he could only listen to everyone honestly.
"How much money does the treasury have?"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at Zhou Jing and asked calmly.
"Less than half a million silver taels~"
Zhou Jing thought for a while and said, thanks to the two million taels of silver received by the Changlu Saltworks a year, the treasury finally had some money and would not have no place for the rats to hide.
"Five hundred thousand taels of silver~"
"Then the state treasury allocates 200,000 taels of silver, and I allocate 300,000 taels of silver from the internal funds, plus the allocation of grain, weapons, etc., we must fight a fierce battle with the grassland people, kill them, and give them the courage to
The innocent people of Gansu and Shaanxi seek revenge."
After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi thought for a while and said.
Only at this moment did he realize the great role of money. Money is much easier to use than the emperor's jade seal.
When Zhou Jing wanted to do something in the past, he was speechless when he said he had no money. Now that he has money, and the treasury has no money, right? I use internal funds to fight the war. This is the head office.
Bar.
Being rich means being willful.
Thinking of this, he had to thank Liu Jin again from a psychological point of view. Without Liu Jin and without money, what kind of emperor is he? What he wants to do depends on the faces of the ministers in the DPRK. The issue of money alone is a big problem.
It's enough to turn the emperor into a dog.
"Your Majesty, the treasury may not be able to provide two hundred thousand taels of silver."
Zhou Jing looked at Emperor Hongzhi, thought for a while and said.
"Eh?"
"Didn't you just say that the treasury still has five hundred thousand taels of silver?"
"How come you can't even get out two hundred thousand taels of silver?"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately stared at Zhou Jing.
"Your Majesty, although there are 500,000 taels of silver in the national treasury, all these 500,000 taels of silver have already gone somewhere, and there is no way to allocate them elsewhere."
Zhou Jing said bravely, Zhou Papi was still the same as before. Emperor Hongzhi wanted to use the money from the treasury, but there was no way. What's more, who doesn't know that you, Emperor Hongzhi, are rich? Who doesn't know that your son Zhu Houzhao is rich and wants to fight?
Okay, you pay for it yourself.
"Okay, very good~"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he laughed angrily, then looked at Zhou Jing coldly and said: "Since the national treasury has no money, then I will withdraw another 200,000 taels of silver from my internal funds, for a total of 500,000 taels of silver.
It shouldn’t be a problem to get some food and grass here, right?”
"No problem, the national treasury has enough food and grass to allocate and use it."
After all the talk, if Zhou Jing still said no, he would probably be kicked off by Emperor Hongzhi immediately.
This battle has been decided. Emperor Hongzhi himself spent 500,000 taels of silver from his own funds to fight this battle. What else can he say?
Everyone looked at each other and saw helplessness in each other's eyes. Emperor Hongzhi was rich, and it was no longer possible to use money to choke Emperor Hongzhi's neck.
Five hundred thousand taels of silver, Emperor Hongzhi took it out as soon as he asked, without even frowning.
In the past, Emperor Hongzhi was not even willing to repair the courtyard of the palace. He was frugal and frugal. That was the real good emperor.
Now, the current Emperor Hongzhi is very wealthy and throws away half a million taels of silver casually. There is no way anyone can stop Emperor Hongzhi's neck.
This feeling is very unpleasant. In the past, the relationship between monarch and ministers was so good. Emperor Hongzhi trusted everyone and listened to everyone. Everyone had the final say on everything in the court.
Now it has changed, everything has changed.
Emperor Hongzhi changed, and the situation in the court also changed.
Emperor Hongzhi is no longer naive and no longer blindly trusts civil servants. When discussing national affairs, Zhang Mao had no role in the past. Now Zhang Mao is almost never absent. Emperor Hongzhi will come to Zhang Mao to listen to anything.
Zhang Mao’s opinion.
Emperor Hongzhi also had money. Not only did he have money to repair the garden, but he also had money to invest in Jinyiwei and Dongchang, reviving the factory guard force that had been dormant.
Moreover, now it is possible to spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver on war casually, and five hundred thousand taels of silver is thrown away in one fell swoop.
"Is there anything else you want to say?"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded with satisfaction, and then looked at the others.
"I have no objection~"
Everyone looked at each other and could only reply in unison that this battle was inevitable.
