Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 161 His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Goes to War (Part 2)
"Good morning, Mr. Li."
"Good morning, Prime Minister."
"Have you read the memorial sent in today?"
“Haha, I haven’t watched it, but I guess most of the content is the same.”
Ye Xianggao and Li Sancai, the only two cabinet ministers in the Ming Dynasty, smiled at each other when they went to work this morning.
The cabinet ministers were the top civil officials in the Ming Dynasty, but they were also the general representatives of all civil officials and even scholars. The weight on their shoulders was no less than a thousand pounds. Wanli asked the cabinet to discuss a title for Zhu Youdong's expedition. No matter what Ye Xianggao and Li Sancai thought personally, they could not agree to this matter from the standpoint of the general representatives of civil officials.
However, the two cabinet ministers did not want to confront the emperor on this matter, so they handed the matter over to the Ministry of War in an official manner, and then the news naturally spread.
The civil and military classes of the Ming Dynasty suddenly formed two completely different attitudes.
For the military men, after the Battle of Tumu, the balance of power between the civil and military officials was completely unbalanced. When Emperor Wuzong passed away and Jiang Bin was skinned alive, the military generals were completely unable to fight against the civil officials. The military men's power over personnel, finance, strategy and even the formulation of marching routes all fell into the hands of the civil officials. If in the 21st century, there were news reports that a provincial military commander was servile to a mayor of a prefecture-level city, there is no doubt that this is fake news, and no one would believe it, and the rumormonger would soon be punished according to law. But this kind of thing, in the current Ming Dynasty, is not fake news but the norm!
The generals were bullied so badly, let alone the status of ordinary soldiers. But no matter what, the civil officials oppressed the military generals too much, and the emperor had to stand up and help. This made the military generals of the Ming Dynasty extremely dissatisfied with the civil officials, but still had expectations for the royal family.
If the Crown Prince really serves as the commander in chief of this expedition, then there is no doubt that things like military generals being blindly commanded by civil officials on the battlefield and soldiers' pay and rations being embezzled by civil officials will be eliminated. Even if these things cannot be completely prevented, it will be much better than having civil officials leading the troops alone!
And who is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? It has been more than ten years since Canglong appeared in the world, so let's not talk about him. Let's talk about the Henghai Guards that the Crown Prince is supporting now. There are sons and daughters serving in the various military towns and guards, and they know the situation inside very well! The treatment and equipment of the Henghai Guards, as well as their willfulness in spending a lot of money to ensure training, which soldier would not be jealous?
If the Crown Prince were to be the commander this time, he would definitely not sit idly by and watch us wearing rusty weapons, torn armor, and crusted cotton clothes !
Therefore, when the warriors heard the news, they were all excited.
Of course, if the military men were happy, the civil officials would definitely be unhappy.
God has mercy on us. After Emperor Wuzong, we spent nearly ninety years to finally separate the royal family from the military. Emperor Jiajing only thought about cultivating Taoism and immortality all day long, and had no interest in military affairs. Emperor Longqing was always in poor health and could not participate in military affairs. The current emperor is a disabled person with different lengths of legs, and the current prince's health has long been depleted to the extreme... Isn't it good to continue like this? How could such a troublesome imperial grandson appear? !
Think about the time during the reign of Emperor Wuzong. The civil officials at that time were really miserable!
Therefore, we must not let the Crown Prince be the commander of this expedition! Everyone, hurry up and get on with the book!
Speaking of the previous book, it is still quite troublesome: no matter how bad the civil officials are, they can't openly say that the royal family and the military can't get too close, right? So everyone has to repeatedly bring up the Tumu Fort Incident. In short, war is dangerous, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's body is worth a lot of money, so don't throw it in danger lightly.
The content of this memorial was not very powerful: Although the Ming Dynasty had many problems, the word "Gangming" was not false. If the emperor was captured, he could be replaced by another emperor to continue the war. If the crown prince really died in the war, he could be replaced by another one. The real purpose of the civil officials submitting the memorial at this time was to put pressure on the two cabinet elders: As the general representatives of the civil officials, you have to hold on at this time!
"Prince, why do I feel that what the Emperor is doing is totally unnecessary?"
"Yes, Lord Li, the Crown Prince is not a civil official like us. If the Emperor wants the Crown Prince to go to war, he can just issue an imperial decree. He doesn't even need to ask our cabinet to sign it."
"It seems that the emperor's action must have a deep meaning."
"Hmm..." The two cunning old bureaucrats smiled at each other, and both wrote "No" on the draft of the matter.
This was certainly what Zhu Youdong and Emperor Wanli expected.
"Young Master, there's news from the Ministry of Public Administration that the two ministers have returned His Majesty's order."
"Yes." After a slight smile, Zhu Youdong said, "Mr. Yuan, then shall we proceed according to the original plan?"
"Okay, I'll give the order right away."
Except for some students from Fangshan School, most of the officers of Henghaiwei are children of generals from various military towns and garrisons.
In Zhu Youdong and Yuan Keli's plan, the first step was to obtain Wanli's consent and let him serve as the nominal commander of the war (as to whether this nominal commander would seize power and become the actual commander when he arrived at the front line, that was another matter).
The second step is to not have the Emperor Wanli issue an imperial decree, but to follow the normal procedures of the cabinet. Let's see how the civil servants react: Fortunately, there are many voices of opposition. But there are still some officials who remain silent, and these will be the ones we can win over in the future.
The third step is for officers of all levels of Henghai Guard to contact the various military towns and guards they originally came from: His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will be the commander-in-chief, which will be of great benefit to us warriors. At this time, the civil officials are collectively opposed, shouldn't you stand up and support them? You haven't been bullied by the civil officials for so many years that you don't even have the courage to help shout?
The so-called Zhongzhi refers to the decree issued directly by the emperor, without the cabinet's co-signature or the approval of the Jieshizhong. When Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Laosi were in power, this kind of decree had absolute and supreme legal effect: the emperor's words were the law of heaven, and what he said was final.
But in the later period, the imperial power was suppressed by civil officials, and such decrees gradually became a convention and became invalid.
Of course, this invalidity is not absolute. For example, if the emperor wants to give you a bonus, this kind of imperial decree is acceptable and everyone will recognize it. But if he wants to appoint you to an official position or provide relief to disaster victims, this kind of imperial decree will not be recognized. And the civil officials mentioned in the imperial decree did not dare to accept it: they would be impeached and killed.
However, Zhu Youdong was not a civil official, he was the grandson of the emperor and could receive imperial orders. The civil officials could not do anything to him.
But why didn’t Zhu Youdong just go this way but had to take a big detour?
Of course, we must take this opportunity to find out how many of the current military generals are brave enough to publicly express their stance and move closer to the royal family at this time.
In October 1611, Du Song, the current general of Liaodong, was the first to report that when the Liaodong heard that the emperor was going to send the crown prince to the war, millions of Liaodong soldiers and civilians were all excited, the people were eager to join the army, the soldiers were all excited, and the generals took the initiative to ask for battle. I thank the emperor for being so considerate of the soldiers, and thank His Royal Highness for taking the trouble to come to Liaodong to take charge.
Then, other senior generals in Liaodong Town, such as Li Rubai, Ma Lin, Ji Town General Wang Guodong, Datong General Ma Gui, and other nine important towns submitted reports. The implication was that they heard that the crown prince was going to Liaodong to represent the royal family to conquer Jianzhou. All the generals and soldiers below me were excited!
In short, now that the news has spread, everyone is excited. If you civil officials insist on messing around like this and make it so that His Royal Highness can't come down, and the morale drops immediately, we will not be responsible.
Zhu Youdong was very satisfied with this situation: Firstly, the warriors of the Ming Dynasty were still full of vigor, and naturally they dared to vent their previous grievances. Secondly, they were relatively united, and as long as they could unite, this battle would be worth fighting!
The collective submission of the military men really caught the civil officials, who had enjoyed a comfortable life for more than 90 years, off guard. Under the guidance of the Jinling Daily, some civil officials began to reflect: Did we treat the military men too harshly in the past?
Of course, this kind of reflection is extremely limited. But it is enough to make the civil officials feel apprehensive.
At this time, Ye Xianggao and Li Sancai, who had reacted, quickly began to put out the fire: "You guys, stop making trouble. You just made a little trouble, and the generals have a tendency to unite. If you continue to make trouble like this and anger the emperor, you won't be able to stop them if he issues an imperial decree. Not only that, the longer these generals make trouble together, the faster their collective consciousness will awaken as a whole in the future!"
So, just accept it this time. Alas, I don’t know what happened, in just a few years, His Highness has grown to a point where we can’t control him at all.
In early November 1611, Emperor Wanli again ordered the cabinet to decide on the title of the crown prince for this expedition. After repeated consultations and various compromises, on the 13th, the imperial edict, co-signed by two cabinet elders, was finally issued:
The imperial edict said: The chieftain of the Eastern Tartars, originally a vassal of ours. The chieftain Nurhaci, was pitied by our emperor for being alone and weak, so he was granted the position of the governor of Jianzhou. For decades, the chieftain has been living under the emperor's thumb, and has survived until now. If it were not for the emperor's benevolence, he would have died and his clan would have been exterminated. Who would have known that there would be such a heartless and shameless person in the world. He pretended to be loyal and obedient, secretly accumulating strength, and suddenly rose up to harm our official army and destroy our vassal states. Such a shameless and rebellious chieftain must be destroyed as soon as possible. Now, I appoint the crown prince Zhu Youdong as the general of the expeditionary army, and grant him the golden command arrow and the imperial sword. I appoint Yang Hao as the governor of Liaodong, and grant him the silver command arrow and the imperial sword. Lead an army of 400,000, quickly go out of the pass, destroy this jumping person, and have breakfast!
