"Bingkuan has made great achievements in academic research, which is rare."
Zhu Youtang was naturally delighted when he heard that Zhang Zhou promoted academic ideas and won the recognition of many people.
What he fears most is that Zhang Zhou will not be tolerated by Confucianism.
Xiao Jing said: "There are still controversies, and some people even secretly slander him. However, Dongchang has investigated and found that no one is secretly instigating it, either out of jealousy or because of dissatisfaction with Mr. Zhang's achievements in Taoism. Dissatisfied."
"Yes." Zhu Youtang nodded, "I can also expect it. If there are people who agree, there will naturally be those who oppose it. On the whole, things are going well, right?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, many people strongly support Mr. Zhang's academic ideas when discussing Taoism." Xiao Jing said happily.
Zhu Youtang said: "Then it seems that I should say a few words for Bingkuan later. But let me study it first... This book seems to be a real headache. I haven't read such a book attentively for a long time. I haven't been able to read it recently. I rarely read the memorials, perhaps because I am tired of court affairs."
…
…
Zhu Youtang was ready to personally stand up for Zhang Zhou.
From the emperor's point of view, this was just mutual benefit. Zhang Zhou had helped him, and he wanted to help Zhang Zhou.
However, Zhang Zhou, the person involved, did not seem to pay attention to the promotion of his academic thoughts. At least he did not personally support his school. Some people wanted to take the opportunity to meet him and even express their support and admiration for him. , Zhang Zhou would not go to meet him, because he knew that many people wanted to support his academic ideas and use his background in the court to become an official.
This group of people does not look like academics, but more like speculators.
On October 13th, there were only three days left before Zhang Zhou married Lin Yi. On this morning, Zhang Zhou also attended the court meeting for the first time after returning to the court.
Everyone was actually surprised.
Obviously Zhang Zhou has become a member of the "Shangting Office" and often goes in and out of the palace to attend private discussions with the emperor. He is also obviously the left minister of the Ministry of War, the only one, but he never participates in court meetings. Outsiders have long regarded him as There were voices of criticism.
Zhang Zhou naturally became the focus of others' attention that day. They were actually curious as to why Zhang Zhou came unexpectedly that day.
Discussion at Fengtian Palace.
At the beginning, Zhu Youtang asked Xiao Jing, who was acting as the Supervisor of Li Li, to report a report from Ningxia: "... The report was reported to the local government six days ago, on the seventh day of October. More than 10,000 soldiers and horses attacked Ningxia West Road and other places, imposing martial law in various parts of Ningxia for several days. The generals guarding Ningxia West Road were promoted to 6,000 men and horses from Thirteen Forts to cover the withdrawal of Ming soldiers and civilians..."
The Tatars have invaded again.
In fact, this kind of border report is not unusual at all in normal years, or even at the beginning of the year.
No matter whether the Tatars are internally stable or not, there will still be disturbances every year. It just depends on how much noise there is. However, because of the Ming Dynasty's several great victories, even the fire screen, which was the favorite to cause trouble in the past, has withered. The ministers present Only then would the little Tatar prince Batu Munch's sudden crime seem very rare.
Zhu Youtang waited for Xiao Jing to finish talking, and said with emotion: "Thirty thousand troops and horses, which is quite a lot. It was previously said that the little Tatar prince sent troops to the northwest of Liaodong to deal with the three guards of Duoyan. It seems that he is in the rear. We have deployed a lot of troops to guard against our Ming Dynasty’s surprise attack from behind.”
The ministers present pondered for a while, where did the emperor make this judgment?
It's very far-fetched.
Xie Qian said: "Your Majesty, the latest battle report about the dispute between the little Tatar prince and the three guards of Duoyan was nearly a month ago. If he sends troops westward after the war is over and harasses our land of Ningxia in the Ming Dynasty, …”
Zhu Youtang asked: "Wouldn't it be more convenient for him to invade from Liaodong?"
Xie Qian didn't know what to say for a moment.
It makes sense to think about it. If Batu Munch wanted to show off his prestige on purpose, why didn't he attack from Liaodong, where Ming Dynasty's defense was relatively weak? Why did he have to go all the way to Ningxia West Road?
One is to the east of Ming Dynasty, and the other is to the west of Ming Dynasty. They are two extreme geographical locations.
Li Dongyang said: "Perhaps the little Tatar prince wants to use this to show his power. He can divide his troops into several groups and cause harassment to all parts of our border."
"Yeah." Zhu Youtang nodded, "This makes some sense. Bingkuan, what do you think?"
Now all the ministers present understood the emperor's purpose of summoning Zhang Zhou today. It turned out that there was a war situation in the northwest, and Zhang Zhou had to come out to participate in the planning.
Zhang Zhou said: "Returning to your majesty, I believe that the Tatar invasion of our Ningxia West Road is more to control the hearts and minds of various grassland tribes."
"How?" Zhu Youtang asked as if he knew what he was talking about.
In fact, even those civil servants who had opinions about Zhang Zhou seemed to understand what was going on.
Your Majesty, this question... was asked to us on purpose?
Zhang Zhou had nothing to hide. He said: "The Tatars have been suffering from drought for the past year. They were defeated twice by the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty's border army, and they surrendered. The little Tatar prince bared his fangs and wanted to annex." The other clan leaders with different surnames, despite their power in the grasslands, lost their hearts because of this, and they did not win any direct battles with the Ming Dynasty in one year."
"He also robbed the three guards of Duoyan before, so that the tribes on the grassland became alienated from him. He had to send troops to harass our Ming border to re-establish his reputation."
Liu Jian came out and said, "I think what Shilang Zhang said is reasonable."
Liu Jian suddenly came out to support Zhang Zhou, which still made many people uncomfortable. However, Liu Jian's words at most followed an obvious truth, indicating that Zhang Zhou's analysis was nothing special.
Probably anyone present could tell the same truth as Zhang Zhou.
Zhu Youtang said: "Then the Ming Dynasty must win this battle, otherwise the several great victories that the Ming Dynasty has achieved in the past year will not be of such great significance. Could it be that I did not agree to send troops to assist the three guards of Duoyan before? related?"
The minister was also laughing secretly in his heart.
Is the emperor self-examination?
The three guards of Duoyan asked for help. If the Ming Dynasty sends troops, no matter what the outcome of the troops is, it will at least make the Ming Dynasty's reputation on the grassland greater, thereby making Batu Munch's reputation even lower.
In the end, it wasn’t Zhang Zhou who didn’t agree to send troops?
Of course, we don’t agree to send troops either, but who made it possible for Zhang Zhou to be the bad guy who opposed sending troops? He deserves it!
Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty, I also believe that the little Tatar prince may have the intention of pointing his sword at Turpan and other places in the Western Region."
Xie Qian asked: "But what did you extrapolate, Mr. Zhang? If there is anything, you'd better say it bluntly. There is nothing to hide here. We are all ministers of the same palace. Even if you say something wrong, it will not matter." event."
Zhu Youtang also looked at Zhang Zhou expectantly.
Obviously, the topic brought up by Xie Qian was what interested him the most. Once Zhang Zhou said that this was God's will, he would feel that it would definitely happen.
But Zhang Zhou would not use his own analysis to ignore God's will. Historically, the Tatars did not invade Turpan and other Ming vassal states at this time. Naturally, this analysis was only on paper.
"No," Zhang Zhou said, "I'm just guessing."
Having said this, Zhu Youtang also showed a little disappointment in his eyes.
But the disappointment soon disappeared.
It doesn’t matter whether Batu Meng wants to invade Turpan. This is not a border fortress in the Ming Dynasty. He can directly ambush if he is sure. How to solve the problem of attacking Turpan? Send troops to assist? Before assisting, should the Tatars on the west road of Ningxia be eliminated first? The main force of Tartar was repulsed?
…
…
Up to this time, Ma Wensheng, the Minister of War, had not said a word.
Just like Zhang Zhou represents the Ministry of War, Ma Wensheng knows how to control the situation and will not deliberately destroy the harmony within the Ministry of War.
Zhu Youtang said: "When the Tatars invaded Ningxia, it was Qin Hong who should be in charge of the military affairs of the three sides and dispatch troops and generals to fight the Tatars head-on."
Zhou Jingdao, the Minister of Household Affairs, said: "Nowadays, the Tatars are called harassers, but most of them are to establish prestige. Knowing the power of our Ming Dynasty's new cannon and gunpowder, they may avoid fighting."
"It's a good thing to avoid war." Xie Qian said with a smile, "If the Ming Dynasty sends troops and the Tatars retreat without a fight, wouldn't everyone be happy? I'm afraid that the Tatars not only won't withdraw, but also want to use their cavalry advantage to fight the Ming Dynasty border troops... …Your Majesty, as far as I know, most of the cannon casting and other matters in the northwest are currently completed at Pianguan and Datong. There are very few new cannons in various places on the three sides. I am afraid that it will be difficult to complete the encounter outside the city fort."
"Yep……"
Many ministers present echoed this.
Probably he wanted to say that Zhang Zhou put all the focus of defense on Xuanda, so that the defenses on the three sides were weak and the Tatars could take advantage of it.
Zhu Youtang said: "Northwestern defense is already a system of its own, and it won't change much with the emergence of mighty gunpowder and divine artillery, right?"
Xie Qian didn't answer.
That being said, without new cannons and new gunpowder, we still have to be on guard, but with them it is better. At least now that the Tatars have defeated Duoyan, the three guards will not dare to send troops to the Ming Dynasty from Jiliao or Xuanda, and go directly to the west of Ningxia. The road... is to choose an area where the new firearms of the Ming Dynasty are weak. Isn't it obvious that you want to avoid the strong weapons of the Ming Dynasty?
"This is also the reason why I want to use Bingkuan to strengthen border defenses in the next few years. If there are divine artillery everywhere, the Tatars will not dare to attack anywhere, and even the Ming Dynasty can launch a full-scale attack and fight the Tatars head-on. " Zhu Youtang said.
These are only matters at the strategic level, and from the "pragmatic" perspective of the current ministers of North Korea and China, they feel too vague.
Li Dongyang came out and said: "Your Majesty, if the artillery and cavalry gathered on the three sides are not enough to fight the Tatars, should we dispatch troops and horses from Datong to coordinate the fight?"
Zhu Youtang said: "No need. Bingkuan, what's your opinion?"
Zhu Youtang was very rebellious against the traditional civil servants. He felt that these people had bad ideas, and it was also because their opinions were mostly related to Zhang Zhou's opinions. Therefore, after he directly denied it at first, he thought of it and asked Zhang Zhou. Zhou is the best result, why should you make the decision yourself?
Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty, I believe that to fight the Tatars, it is not necessarily necessary to send troops from Ningxia. If we send troops from Datong, the result will be the same."
"ah?"
The ministers present immediately started talking about it.
Zhu Youtang seemed to have found the direction and said: "Are you saying that we want to surround Wei and rescue Zhao?"
"Your Majesty." Li Dongyang quickly interrupted the singing and singing between Zhu Youtang and Zhang Zhou, and asked sternly, "Even if the Tatars have the royal court of the Khan on the grassland, they can move around in large numbers and are not used as strongholds or cities. The so-called strategy of encircling Wei and rescuing Zhao is very likely to cause our officers and soldiers of the Ming border army to go deep into the grasslands and find themselves in danger."
Zhu Youtang said angrily: "Li Qing's family, can't you wait until Bingkuan finishes speaking?"
Li Dongyang was furious.
Your Majesty, it seems that you interrupted Zhang Zhou first and said that he was here to surround Wei and rescue Zhao. I just wanted to kill some of your ideas.
Shouldn't treating a headache be the best solution? Your Majesty, have you learned badly from Zhang Bingkuan?
It's obviously a war on the West Road of Ningxia, but if you insist on following his lead and saying that you want to send troops from elsewhere, the result is likely to be a mess and the siege of Ningxia will not be solved, or the Tatars will flee after plundering, leaving the Tatars with a small army behind. The prince's goal of showing off his power was achieved, but the Ming Dynasty's dispatch of troops to the grassland only remained at the theoretical level.
Zhang Zhou looked around at the people present and found that none of them were looking at him, but they were obviously directing their aura towards him.
He was like a bullfighter, facing so many bulls at once who needed to vent their anger.
Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty, my opinion is to send troops from Liaodong, take the opportunity to fight against the three Duoyan guards, and completely integrate them. And use the strength of the tribe to take back the pastures and other places where the three Duoyan guards are located."
"As for the threats from Ningxia West Road and other places, the Qin General Command dispatched troops and horses inside the pass, and Huoshai was ordered to send his own troops to attack outside the pass, and promised to return his own people according to the outcome of the war after his victory... This is a two-pronged approach.”
…
…
Zhang Zhou finished speaking.
It was very quiet inside the palace.
The most surprising thing to the ministers present was that Zhang Zhou wanted to annex the three guards of Duoyan by force. Logically speaking, the three guards of Duoyan had previously sent troops to the Ming Dynasty for help, but were later defeated by Batu Munch. This should be the result of the Ming Dynasty using a gentle policy and treating them with a soft policy. At this time when he was demonstrating his benevolence and righteousness to all the grassland tribes, Zhang Zhou seemed to have no benevolence and righteousness to speak of.
It's just taking advantage of your illness to kill you.
But this seems to be the best choice for Ming Dynasty... Of course, it throws out Confucian concepts of benevolence and righteousness.
From a traditional Confucian perspective, how can we take advantage of the situation? If you take advantage of the situation, how can you use benevolence and righteousness to recruit other tribes?
Zhu Youtang originally wanted to hear the objections from the ministers present, but found that... there was not a single objection.
That's probably the same sentence.
Let Zhang Zhou be the bad guy.
It seems that the ministers present also felt that it would be a good thing if they could take the opportunity to wipe out the three Duoyan guards at once. Whether it would succeed or not was beyond their consideration. Anyway, they were not the ones who advocated sending troops, nor were they the ones who actually did it.
The result is that annexation is good. Even if there is no annexation and there is a defeat, is it still the responsibility of Zhang Zhou who advocated sending troops?
Our ministers are not at a loss either way.
We don’t want to be good guys or bad guys.
Zhu Youtang said: "Bingkuan, I still advocate the inclusion of all the Tatar tribes in the grassland, and we should use benevolence. We should neither betray our trust nor add insult to injury. Will your suggestion be... hmm?"
He didn't finish his words, but he was probably talking about, is your idea a bit compromised? And it's not conducive to uniting the anti-Tatar princes on the grassland.
If you can't win over people's hearts, how can you lead the team?
Zhang Zhou said: "Your Majesty, the benevolence and righteousness of the Ming Dynasty have always been towards the subjects of this dynasty and those subjects of the vassal country who have sincerely surrendered. However, the grassland tribes, who drink blood like hair and drink blood, never take ministers' morality to heart, and even go so far as to write memorials and use state letters. Those who write in careless writing and do not think about the way of kingship, how can they be called the people of the Ming Dynasty, and how can they be worthy of the benevolence and righteousness of His Majesty and the Ming Dynasty?"
Xie Qian smiled and said: "Secretary Zhang, you seem to have forgotten that Huoshii's Menggoljin tribe was also recruited by the Ming Dynasty in this way. You advocate injustice to the three guards of Duoyan, and are you not afraid of Huoshii's rebellion?"
Zhang Zhou responded with a smile: "Xie Ge is wrong. Huoshai's submission has always been about interests and nothing else. For the grassland tribes, they only worship the strong. If the Ming Dynasty was benevolent and righteous to the three guards of Duoyan, he might He will rebel again, but if the Ming Dynasty sends troops to annex the Duoyan Three Guards, succeeds in one fell swoop, and even plunders the hinterland of the grassland, he will never rebel. Does he want to destroy himself?"
Xie Qian said: "You can say whatever you want, but you can't have both, and you can't verify them all."
Zhu Youtang seemed to no longer want to listen to any other opinions. He said: "I also believe that we should not only take precautions in Ningxia and other places, but also take action. Lu Wan, who is patrolling Liaodong, has already arrived. Yeah?"
Xiao Jing, who was standing next to him, said, "Your Majesty, I received notification of his arrival in Liaodong more than ten days ago, and my troops and horses have been prepared for a battle at any time."
"Let him recruit artillery, etc., and send troops from Shenyang Zhongwei and other places... The specific strategy of sending troops will be discussed at the listening office today."
This was the first time that Zhu Youtang took the military decision-making power of the "Shangting Department" to the court.
The ministers present instantly felt as if they had fallen out of favor.
There was an obvious court meeting, something that the emperor had not yet decided on, but he actually said that he would rely on some "supervisory office" to decide the details of sending troops on his own?
Li Dongyang asked for instructions: "Your Majesty, what position should the Ministry of War take?"
Zhu Youtang said: "Bingkuan is the minister of the Ministry of War, and he is already on duty at the Shangting Office. For this matter... let Bingkuan join the post in the name of Yanwutang, and as for the Ministry of War, he will be temporarily replaced by the Minister of the Ministry of War. In extraordinary times To do extraordinary things... For the remaining candidates, the governor's office and the cabinet will also select one person each... If there are no serious objections, the British Duke and Xie Qing's family will be selected as the candidates."
Xie Qian said: "Your Majesty, I am ashamed to answer."
He was thinking that it would be okay to let me make jokes and disrupt the situation, and let me make suggestions and even check and balance Zhang Zhou. Or let a powerful person come, of course let Liu Jian go.
In this way, both the chief minister of the cabinet and the Minister of War became members of the Shangting Department. The Shangting Department could at best strengthen and supplement the imperial system during wartime, and would not form a confrontation with the imperial system.
Of course, Zhu Youtang knew that he couldn't do this. He said: "If you don't want to go, then go to Li Qing's house. As for the candidates for the Shangting Office, I will say it again, only capable people can live there, and there can be no chaos. The original order of duties of the court. All strategic decisions are not made by you personally, but by me alone."
The general meaning is similar to that of discussing matters in court.
It seems that the ministers discussed and decided, but the final decision-making power still rests with the emperor, who can implement it how he says.
If it was the emperor who made the decision... then Zhang Zhou still had the final say.
