Chapter 647 Chapter 646 Miscellaneous
Guo Pu left the cabinet, leaving four people, and Xu Jie completely controlled the cabinet's voice.
Before Guo Pu was in the cabinet, the cabinet ministers who were not Xu Jie's party members included Li Chunfang, Guo Pu and Chen Yiqin, but now the ratio is two to two, and Xu Jie still has the power of the chief minister, almost the only one.
However, as for the current situation, it seems to have little to do with Wei Guangde.
That was a fight in the cabinet, but it was not really a fight. After eliminating dissidents, Xu Jie seemed to have returned to his original state. He always liked to discuss things with Li Chunfang, Chen Yiqin and others.
It seems democratic, but in fact it is also to let everyone work together, share the credit and take the blame together.
Xu Jie is really the same person as Yan Song. He is over 60 years old but still energetic, and he doesn't look old at all.
"He is still a scholar."
At this time, in the duty room of the Ministry of Personnel, Wei Guangde was reading Li Chengliang's information.
Wei Guangde didn't know much about the generals of the Ming Dynasty. Only Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and Li Chengliang were remembered by later generations.
Qi Jiguang was remembered, which was also due to the fact that later generations praised him a lot. Whether in the Ming Dynasty or the later Qing Dynasty, or after the Republic, Qi Jiguang's reputation has always been very large, and he is called a national hero.
As an official, who doesn't like subordinates who can win battles and flatter, and most importantly, give gifts to curry favor with him.
As for Yu Dayou, there is actually very little introduction. Wei Guangde knew him because he had read an essay, which described Yu Dayou as the "world's best master" recorded in history books. You know, history books will not record any strange people and things in the rivers and lakes, but being able to say that Yu Dayou is the best master of the time naturally makes it difficult for Wei Guangde to forget.
Although Yu Dayou never admitted this title in front of him, he really beat Shaolin Temple with a stick. Therefore, Wei Guangde also felt that there were not many people in the world who could beat Yu Dayou in a single fight.
As for knowing Li Chengliang, it was purely because the Qing Dynasty could rise, all thanks to this fierce general.
If Li Chengliang had not underestimated the ambition of "Nu'er", his successor Li Rusong would have died unexpectedly, and the Jianzhou Jurchens might not have had a chance to turn the tide.
However, he also had the opportunity to become famous in later generations, otherwise Wei Guangde would have disappeared and would not have known that there was such a person in the Ming Dynasty.
And what he is reading now is the information about Li Chengliang copied from the Ministry of War.
Li Chengliang's great-grandfather Li Ying surrendered from Korea in the early Ming Dynasty. He was awarded the title of Commander of Tieling Guard for his military merits. This is also the foundation of the main line of the Li family. It is similar to Wei Guangde, who is considered a military household, but the hereditary military position of the Li family is much higher than that of their Wei family.
However, compared with the military position, it is actually not very useful, because no matter how high the Li family's official is, it is still in the border, while the Wei family is rooted in a rich land.
Li Chengliang's luck in the imperial examination was not good. He was still a scholar at the age of more than 40, and he had almost no chance of becoming an official through the imperial examination. So he chose to inherit the family business and took over the position of commander of Tieling Guard. Since Tieling Guard already had someone, in other words, the official position had been occupied, Li Chengliang had no choice but to change his place, that is, Xianshan Fort.
In the 16th year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, Tangzhan, Fenghuang and other forts were built one after another, and troops were stationed to guard the border.
In the 25th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, six forts such as Gushan and Xianshan were built on remote roads. Among them, Xianshan Fort was the first fort among the Liaodong forts and served as a military base camp.
In the 43rd year of Jiajing, Wang Zhigao, the chief censor, proposed to set up a lieutenant general of Xianshan, stationed in this fort, and governed 13 castles with more than 3,000 officers and soldiers. This should be the situation in the east of the Ming Dynasty.
Li Chengliang's military career began with the lieutenant general of Xianshan Fort.
During this period, although the nine frontiers of the Ming Dynasty were suppressed by the Mongols, the Ming Dynasty still had an overwhelming advantage over the Jurchens in Liaodong.
Therefore, the newly built Xianshan Fort was actually an action of the Ming Dynasty to expand its borders, including Li Chengliang's later advocacy of building six Kuandian Forts to expand the territory of the Ming Dynasty by 100 miles, directly pushing the border forward to border with Korea.
In the early Ming Dynasty, when the Ming Dynasty demarcated its territory, it intentionally left a buffer zone between it and Korea, which is also the reason why some people clamored about territorial disputes.
However, in the Jiajing Dynasty, most of these buffer zones were occupied by the Ming Dynasty, and they were directly incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty.
Many people in later generations identified the places where the Ming army had been as the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but whether in ancient or modern times, in fact, one of the most important signs of territory is "actual control".
No matter how many reasons there are, as long as there is no actual control, the so-called "territory" is just a joke.
Xianshan Lieutenant General was stationed in Xianshan Fort, which had jurisdiction over 13 forts, including Xin'an Fort, Caohe Fort, Nianyang Fort, Samaji Fort, Ningdong Fort, Jiangyantai Fort, Tianshui Station Fort, Qingguyu Fort, Zhenyi Fort, Zhendong Fort, Fenghuang Castle, and Tangzhan Fort, 74 border piers, and more than 40 inner piers. There were more than 7,000 soldiers in total, and the border wall was more than 40 kilometers long.
The construction of these military facilities allowed the territory actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty to expand outward. The Ming army's step-by-step pressure naturally made the Jurchens feel like a thorn in their throats, so military frictions continued.
Li Chengliang grew up in Liaodong since he was a child. His family was originally a military family. At that time, the tribes in Liaodong region continued to conquer and conflicts were frequent. Therefore, although Li Chengliang focused on the imperial examinations, he also constantly increased his knowledge and abilities.
Liaodong is a place where Han people, Mongolians and Jurchens live together. The situation is very complicated. His enemies include both Jurchens and Mongolians.
After Li Chengliang took office as the Lieutenant General of Xianshan, he performed well, which accumulated enough capital for his promotion.
In the forty-fifth year of Jiajing, nearly a thousand troops from the Mongolian Khanju and Kewa tribes plundered Dongjianwei, and all the nearby villages were defeated. At the critical moment, Li Chengliang led 300 cavalry to attack the Mongolian Kewa tribe. Prince Luntu Khan immediately returned to his army after learning about it, but was ambushed by Li Chengliang. More than 100 people and 10,000 kilograms of grain were plundered and recaptured.
After this battle, Li Chengliang was promoted due to his meritorious service. However, due to the obstruction of the state funeral, he was transferred from the dangerous mountains a few days ago. Now he is the deputy chief military officer, leading an army of 2,000 to guard the important town of Liaoyang.
After reading the information, Wei Guangde understood the reason for Li Chengliang's rapid rise.
In Liaodong, as long as you fight a few battles a year and report your victories, it is really not difficult to accumulate military merit and get promoted.
But fighting a war, with your head in your belt, is risky.
Within a few years, Li Chengliang was promoted to deputy commander-in-chief of Xiezhen due to his merit. If he had further military merit, he could still control one side even if he could not be promoted to commander-in-chief.
If you want to catch Li Chengliang and train him, at least you can't let him put the slave back to do what Nurhaci does. In this way, the Ming Dynasty will lose a strong enemy in Liaodong.
But it was under the control of the Ministry of War, and although he was a big official in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, it was difficult for him to reach out.
"Forget it, let's wait a little longer. It's still early anyway, so let him develop on his own until he becomes the King of Liaodong."
Wei Guangde thought to himself, "But we can also let the businessmen from Liaodong have contact with him first."
Wei Guangde did not forget that he also had a group of businessmen who dealt in mountain products from Liaodong. They traveled around Liaodong all year round, collecting ginseng, velvet antlers and other mountain products and transporting them to the mainland for sale. Most of them held his post in their hands.
As a businessman, his status is really low in this era. Although he has money, it is of no use. He has to rely on his connections in the officialdom to be able to move around.
The post of the Minister of Civil Affairs is very useful no matter where it is, and local civil and military officials must give it face.
Of course, the reward for posting these posts is news from all over the world and a lot of money.
This is the source of money for Beijing officials to live in Beijing. Relying on the salary from the court, Wei Guangde can only eat dirt to raise a large family.
The current court has finally calmed down after Guo Pu left. In addition, with the completion of the new river channel, the court seems to feel that the world is peaceful again. The water transportation will soon be restored to its original state, and the grain squeezed in the south will soon be transported in. Beijing, that is, the imperial court has always been short of money, and there is really no big deal elsewhere.
Against this background, Wei Guangde also continued to take actions in private. Among those who jumped out to impeach Guo Pu this time, he repeatedly combed through and found many officials suspected of being Xu Party officials.
Wei Guangde plans to clean out some of them with more misdeeds during the next year's inspection in Beijing. There are not that many official positions for them in the local area.
The vacant official positions were filled by new and old Jinshis one after another.
With the big framework in place, Wei Guangde's life in the official department became easier. After he was dismissed, he also had time to gather with his colleagues and fellow villagers to live a comfortable life.
"Sun Zhi from your criminal department recently heard that he offended someone from the household department in the Yamen."
At the wine table, Wei Guangde looked at Ouyang Yijing and asked with a smile.
"He's not from the military department, so he doesn't care about my business."
Ouyang Yijing replied, "But because of the Nine Taxes in the Capital, I did offend a lot of people."
The Chaoguan in the Ming Dynasty was not necessarily located on the main transportation routes, such as Jiujiang or the Chaoguan on the Grand Canal. There was also a Chaoguan in Beijing, namely the Nine Gates of the Capital.
Officials are responsible for taxing all goods entering and exiting the city. The original rules have long been in vain. In recent years, taxes have been doubled, causing many disadvantages.
In fact, most of the ministers in the DPRK and China are well aware of these issues.
But the imperial court was short of money, and it was naturally profitable for merchants to transport goods into the capital and sell them, so naturally no one took the matter seriously.
But this time, Sun Zhi, who was in the criminal investigation department, got mad for some reason, but he brushed the matter aside.
When the memorial came into the hands of Emperor Longqing, it was natural to write a large batch. From now on, it was assigned to a member of the army and horse of each censor committee of the five cities to collect it. At the end of the year, he would resume the memorial together with the officials. The original supervisors and officials were all abolished and ordered. State the original rules and regulations, and publish the list.
Well, a group of supervisors and supervisors lost their jobs as a result. At the same time, the Ministry of Household Affairs also lost an income, and relevant officials also lost a layer of gray income.
It can be said that Zhang Zhi's memorial offended a large number of people in the court, and he has been scolded badly these days.
However, the memorial made sense and has been restored to normal, so the scolding cannot be done in person, but can only be done behind the scenes, because scolding in person cannot be justified by reason.
"Did someone ask your staff to punish him?"
Ouyang Yijing approached Wei Guangde at this time and asked in a low voice.
Wei Guangde nodded, the meaning was self-evident.
"How to deal with it?"
Ouyang Yijing asked curiously.
"What else can I do if he is released to the outside world? I don't want to stay in the capital and enjoy the blessings, so let him go somewhere else to avoid having to revert to the old rules."
Wei Guangde smiled and said that regarding these requests, Wei Guangde felt that he was actually helping these people by agreeing.
They don't know how to adapt, and will get into trouble sooner or later if they stay in the capital.
Instead of offending everyone and being framed to death, it would be better to be a good person and transfer them away early so that they can go to a place where they can benefit the people.
Of course, that's assuming he is such a person.
By the way, I also received the gratitude of a bunch of officials, so why not do it.
Wei Guangde sometimes feels that he has become dirty, but he was born in the Ming Dynasty. It seems that he can stay out of the mud. It is so difficult!
I just hope that Sun Zhi will see through his good intentions after seeing the suggestions handed over by the officials, and will not anger the officials.
"I heard that it was your idea to transfer Qi Jiguang to the capital camp?"
Ouyang Yijing suddenly asked.
"Huh? Where did you get the news?"
Wei Guangde was shocked. Supposedly, the people who knew about this matter were Chen Yiqin and Emperor Longqing. The person who promoted the matter was Chen Yiqin. How could he be involved?
"Guess."
Ouyang Yijing replied.
"How did you guess it?"
Wei Guangde asked curiously, but when he said these words, there was actually no more than three hundred taels of silver in this place.
"Young man, no one else but you knows this."
Ouyang Yijing replied, "What's more, if Qi Jiguang is transferred, the Jiangnan army will rely entirely on Yu Dayou to suppress the Japanese pirates and bandits. Those officials originally had a nose instead of a nose and eyes instead of eyes for Yu Dayou.
With your move, they will have to rely on Yu Dayou more in the future, so naturally they will not be able to manipulate Taozi from behind.
But I also know that Yu Dayou is really not a good person down here. He often offends his superiors without telling them, and he doesn't know how to be filial and filial. It would be better for you to send him a letter later, and don't make the relationship so tense. "
Ouyang Yijing was in the military department and knew a lot about it. Yu Dayou's relationship with local officials in the south was very clear, but Wei Guangde didn't know much about it.
It was usually when something happened and Yu Dayou couldn't bear it anymore that he wrote to him.
"I came up with the idea, but it was not to protect Yu Dayou."
Wei Guangde calmly explained, but he couldn't admit it.
At the very least, if Emperor Longqing knew about it, he would probably have some objections to him.
The person you want to protect you actually doesn't tell me the truth, and even tells me that Qi Jiguang can train troops, but others can't.
"Your Majesty was angry about the Shizhou incident and planned to reorganize the northern army. He asked me for his general, so I recommended Qi Jiguang."
Wei Guangde whispered to him what happened before.
"I see. The Ministry of War is also considering transferring Tan Lun to Ji Liao, Governor of Ji Town, but I object."
Ouyang Yijing muttered in a low voice, "As far as I know, Yu Dayou is the only person in Guangdong and Guangxi who treats him slightly better. If he is really transferred to Ji Town, Yu Dayou's life in Guangdong and Guangxi will be difficult."
Wei Guangde was a little worried when he got the news from Ouyang Yijing that night.
When I wrote to Tan Lun before, I also asked him to help take care of Yu Dayou, if he was really transferred to the north.
If I had known earlier, I would have asked Yu Dayou to follow Tan Lun to Jizhen.
Wei Guangde thought in hindsight at this time.
But obviously, Yang Bo and Huo Yi should be driving this matter.
After the situation in Shanxi stabilized, Guo Qian, the Minister of War, was dismissed from his post and Huo Yi became the Minister of War.
In the first year of Longqing, the heads of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households both changed hands. This shows that in the first year of Emperor Longqing's coming to power, the fighting in the court was fierce. (End of chapter)