Chapter 941 1030 Three Things?

"Brother Uncle, you still remember that a few years ago, Burma rose up and invaded neighboring areas such as Mubang and Mengyang. They repeatedly requested the imperial court to have a happy life, awarded red cards with gold letters, and sent envoys to mediate disputes.

Wei Guangde's words stunned Zhang Juzheng. It happened in the second or third year of Longqing, but it has not been reported again in these years.

Because of this, Zhang Juzheng had long forgotten about this matter.

When I first received the memorandum from Yunnan, the cabinet was very controversial. Most of them felt that it was just a small border country and they could just let it go, so they didn't take it seriously at all.

In fact, the subsequent outbreak of the Ming-Burma War was also related to this.

After Mang Yinglong succeeded Mang Shwe Ti as the king of the Toungoo Dynasty, he fought in various places and spent several years reunifying Myanmar, and then began to expand outwards.

But in Mang Yinglong's heart, he still hated Daming.

This is exactly the same as Nurhachi who later released "Seven Hatreds".

Since Jiajing, Mubang, Mengyang and others have united to defeat Burma and kill Burma to comfort Mangji Sui. Burma sued the Ming Dynasty, but Ming Dynasty officials did not report it to the capital and ignored it.

His son Mang Ruiti fled and hid in his mother's house in Dongwu. He adopted him as his own son. Mang Ruiti was older and started his own army to regain his father's old land. Later, his power gradually became stronger and he annexed all the nearby tribes. Due to his anger, Ming failed to rescue him. It is difficult, so there has always been the intention to send troops to invade the border.

And just a few years later, Mang Yinglong began to continuously send troops to attack the Ming Dynasty.

Now Wei Guangde suddenly mentioned Myanmar, which had not been reported for a long time, which surprised Zhang Juzheng.

"Shandai, what news did you get?"

Wei Guangde shook his head and said: "It is because there is no news that I am worried that Myanmar has already invaded the surrounding countries.

Being so militaristic and murderous, once they conquer the surrounding areas, who will be their next target? "

"No way."

Zhang Juzheng hesitated after hearing Wei Guangde's words.

He knew very well what the Ming Dynasty's national strength was, and he could more or less guess the impression it would have on foreign vassals.

Does he dare?

But at this point, Zhang Juzheng finally understood why Wei Guangde wanted to vacate the seat of the Youjun Governor's Mansion for Li Chengliang. Yunnan was not under the jurisdiction of the Right Army Governor's Mansion.

When something happens in Yunnan, Li Chengliang will be responsible.

“I checked the official documents about Myanmar since the Jiajing Dynasty. In the ninth year of Jiajing Dynasty, Emperor Sejong ordered Yunnan to purchase gems.

Liu Zhen, the censor of the time, spoke about the disadvantages of purchasing gems and exposed the gem trade between Meng Mi and the "Xiyang Fanbo" of Fo Langji. As for other problems that occurred in the purchasing, they were actually not important.

The most important thing is that Liu Zhen noticed that Meng Mi continued to have disputes with Mubang, Mengyang and other border chieftains by taking advantage of the treasure well, causing the local area to fall into continuous chaos, so he asked the court to "wait for the peace of the barbarians." Purchase separately'. "

Wei Guangde started talking about old events in Jiajing, and Zhang Juzheng also listened carefully.

When Wei Guangde raised this matter, he actually let Zhang Juzheng know that Myanmar has never been peaceful.

It has become normal for local chieftains to attack each other.

"After that, Yunnan often reported to the extreme border areas to the west and south of Yunnan's periphery that the six Xuanwei Departments accused each other of infringements. At first, they sent people to intervene, but it had no effect at all. Over time, Yunnan officials also Just too lazy to care.

After that, there was an evil incident of breaking through the Xuanwei Division and killing the Xuanwei Division envoy appointed by the imperial court. "

When Wei Guangde said this, he paused briefly and let Zhang Juzheng think for himself.

Zhang Juzheng naturally understood the meaning of Wei Guangde's words, that is, the prestige of the imperial court had actually been lost in Myanmar.

If when such a vicious incident first broke out, the imperial court could intervene in time and punish the Xuanweisi who provoked the war, then the Ming court would still have its prestige.

And after the chaotic war, the new king who came out might also despise the Ming court's will.

"You said before that no official documents like this have been sent to Yunnan in recent years?"

Zhang Juzheng asked.

Wei Guangde nodded immediately and said nothing.

Zhang Juzheng was relieved and said worriedly: "If your guess is correct, then the six major Xuanwei Divisions may have been unified."

Wei Guangde nodded and sighed: "Judging from the official documents received from the imperial court, this should be the most likely.

After unifying the six divisions and having no scruples about the imperial court, the next step would be to kill the lord. "

"Not that serious."

Hearing Wei Guangde's words, Zhang Juzheng shook his head. He still didn't think that the owner of the tiny country of Myanmar dared to make plans against the Ming Dynasty.

You know, these foreign countries all sent envoys to the Ming Dynasty, so they naturally knew how strong the national power of the imperial court was.

Although this year cannot be compared with the beginning of the country, only the imperial court knows about these situations, and foreign vassals will not know.

With the deterrence of the past, maybe they could not care about a piece of paper from the court, but they did not dare to covet the Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde's later impressions told him that it was a fact that China and Myanmar were at constant war during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

But there was no way to tell Zhang Juzheng this.

He could only make some preparations silently to avoid the court being in a hurry.

Wei Guangde was right or wrong in choosing Li Chengliang to target Burma, but now there are not many generals that the DPRK and China can safely send out to fight.

Yu Dayou wanted to take charge of Nanyang, Qi Jiguang wanted to stay in Liaodong, and Ma Fang was already old, over sixty, and could not be sent to fight this battle.

Thinking of this, Wei Guangde couldn't help but blurt out: "Without a war, it would be difficult for the court to select generals who can fight."

Wei Guangde said this out of emotion, and he scorned the so-called "peaceful development" of later generations.

I didn’t see that this beautiful country is causing trouble every day, but its national strength is booming.

As for the bad debts that "may" drag down the economy, just let them go. Are you afraid that creditors will come to collect debts even if you have guns and cannons?

The worst-case scenario is to let the private bank "Federal Reserve" go bankrupt and turn all U.S. dollars into waste paper. Anyway, they are not legal tender guaranteed by national credit.

All we need to do is to let the dozen or so major banks set up a private bank and discover new credit notes when they can no longer bear it.

In the beautiful country, as long as certain "paper" is allowed to be included in the collection system of the tax bureau, that is, it can be used to pay taxes, it is equivalent to being officially recognized as a currency that can be circulated and valuable.

Because of this understanding, when Wei Guangde let people go out to sea for sea trade, he even asked them to bring the Ming Dynasty's best-quality currency-baobao, in order to fool the foreign countries.

With his status as the second minister of the Ming Dynasty's cabinet, who among those merchants from other vassals would dare to come to his Wei Mansion to ask for accounts.

As a result, the information he got was that Bao Chao's reputation had long been so bad that other vassals did not recognize it at all, which made him depressed for a while.

Wei Guangde felt this, but when he heard Zhang Juzheng's ears, he was not that good at it.

"A good loan, a soldier, is a great matter for the country, a place of life and death, a way of survival. Don't think of it as a means of accumulating merit."

Zhang Juzheng's words made Wei Guangde realize that he seemed to have said something that was not in line with the mainstream views of scholars of this era.

"Ahem. I'm just saying that it's difficult to determine whether a general is qualified without being tested in combat."

Wei Guangde had no choice but to say, "The imperial court's appointment of generals does not only require them to be able to stabilize the local area. The key is that they must be able to mobilize troops during war and win the war.

Stabilizing a place can be done by civil servants, definitely not by the generals of the imperial court. "

Zhang Juzheng didn't want to say anything more, so he nodded and said, "Are you still going to the palace today?"

"Tomorrow, I will think more about the prisoner sacrifice tonight."

Wei Guangde sighed and said.

When Wei Guangde returned to the duty room, he immediately wrote several notes, including one to Zhu Heng and Tan Lun, inviting them to come to his house to talk in the evening, and one to Liu Shouyou, naturally asking about the situation in Myanmar.

Yes, Wei Guangde had informed Liu Shouyou a long time ago to help check information about Nanyang and Myanmar, but he still received no response.

Although Wei Guangde had some guesses, Jin Yiwei's focus was still on the ministers in Beijing, fearing that the external intelligence was extremely poor.

Even if there is an external intelligence system, I am afraid it is mainly aimed at Mongolia, and they travel between the two places as businessmen.

They were suddenly asked to check information on Nanyang and Myanmar. It was normal for it to take a long time.

As for inviting Zhu Heng and Tan Lun, Wei Guangde naturally wanted to listen to their opinions.

That night, after the banquet at Wei Mansion, all three of them were already tipsy.

After the three of them sat down in the study, Zhang Ji was responsible for retreating, and Wei Guangde recounted today's conversation with Zhang Juzheng.

Of course, Wei Guangde did not hide anything about his attitude towards Dongfan Island or his arrangements for Li Chengliang.

After all, these two things are not trivial, and they are closely related to the two of them.

Naturally, the Ministry of War will not talk about it. No matter whether it is mobilizing the garrison or sending troops to Yunnan, there is no way to bypass this Yamen.

As for the Ministry of Industry, it involves the maintenance and construction of Nanyang Navy warships. In particular, Wei Guangde also plans to move the shipyard to the island. This is all the work of the Ministry of Industry.

"Shan Lian, I don't think Zili will object to the Dongfan Island matter."

Zhu Heng spoke first. After all, he was considered a senior in the court and was older than Wei Guangde.

After hearing Zhu Heng's words, Tan Lun also nodded slightly.

"Think carefully before taking action to prevent those rotten scholars from ruining national affairs. You are right to do this."

Zhu Heng commented, and then said, "As for arranging for Li Chengliang to stay in Beijing and preparing him to go to Yunnan to lead the army, what I am more concerned about is whether the imperial court knows what the situation is in the Sixth Division in Myanmar?

Is it true, as you guessed, that Myanmar has defeated the Mubang, Mengmi and other tribes and completed the agreement.

If so, I'm afraid we really need to make some preparations. "

After speaking, Zhu Heng turned to look at Tan Lun and asked: "Zili, has the Ministry of War received any news from Myanmar?"

After listening to Zhu Heng's question, Tan Lun shook his head and said: "No, in fact, the Yunnan Dusi has not received documents from Myanmar in the past two years, so naturally there is nothing to report.

But before that, Shandai did ask me for the documents stored by the Ministry of War. During the Jiajing Dynasty, there were many of them. Most of them came from fierce internal fighting and complained to me in the Ming Dynasty.

But in recent years, I have indeed not received such a document anymore. "

Tan Lun told the situation, and Wei Guangde would naturally come to him if he wanted to collect information.

Now Tan Lun's words also confirmed that what Wei Guangde said was true. Zhu Heng's face changed slightly when he heard this.

"Oh, I'm afraid it will be another troubled time."

After sighing, Zhu Heng stopped talking.

As for the other thing Wei Guangde said, the two of them had actually argued with Wei Guangde earlier.

Wei Guangde's invitation to them actually revealed a change in his attitude, but he was still unable to make up his mind or make a decision.

However, it was the first time that Wei Guangde had mentioned Dongfan Island and Myanmar to him, so Zhu Heng was more concerned about it.

The incident on Dongfan Island sounds like a good thing, mainly to prevent corrupt scholars in the court from objecting on the grounds of ancestral system.

Still saying that, Mingting actually knew that Dongfan Island was empty for a long time, and there was no question of the king at all.

It’s just that no one cared about it before, because developing a desert island would take a long time for them.

By the time they are really successful, I'm afraid they will already have a cup of loess, so why bother making wedding clothes for others.

Now that Wei Guangde has introduced Dongfan Island as a barrier to Fujian, the result is naturally different. Dongfan Island has military value.

As Wei Guangde said, Dongfan Island is covered with forests and is a good place to develop a navy.

By logging wood locally and having a shipyard, you can save a lot of money.

However, what really worries Zhu Heng is the Burmese affair. The Southern Barbarians are ferocious. This can be seen when Emperor Yongle conquered Annan and had to withdraw his troops in the end.

If Myanmar really has a disobedient heart, the war may not end in a short time once it starts.

By then, the lives of the people on the border would be in ruins. As an official of the imperial court, I naturally sympathized with them.

However, Zhu Heng stopped talking, but Tan Lun didn't answer for a long time, which was a bit strange.

Wei Guangde waited for a while and saw that Tan Lun still seemed to be deep in thought, so he had to ask: "Brother Zili, are you in trouble? Can't you tell me?"

Wei Guangde's words seemed to bring Tan Lun back to his senses. He smiled bitterly and said: "Suddenly everything is related to my Ministry of War. I am worried about how I will get the money."

The Ministry of War is a big spender of money for the imperial court, but only those can be used for annual imperial cases.

Wei Guangde had to do so many tasks at once, which would strain the Ministry of War.

"Unless there is a war in Yunnan, the Ministry of Revenue will definitely not allocate an extra copper coin to the Ministry of War."

Wei Guangde smiled bitterly and said, "Last year, the Ministry of Revenue managed to have a balance of tens of thousands of taels of silver. Brother Shu took it as a good sign. The government's perennial shortage of income is expected to improve. We must continue to streamline expenditures and save as much money as possible."

During the Jiajing Dynasty, people were struggling with food all year round and had a huge fiscal deficit, leaving a pile of bad debts that they could not clean up.

In the Longqing Dynasty, the situation improved slightly, but there were still constant losses, but not as much as in the Jiajing Dynasty.

Now, making up for the shortcomings of the previous dynasty is the top priority for Zhang Juzheng and Wang Guangguang, and it is also a huge pressure.

Well, Wei Guangde originally wanted to ask them what they thought about the prisoner presentation ceremony, but unexpectedly, both of them focused their attention on the southwest.

"It seems that the amount of money allocated by the Central Government to the Ministry of War is no less than in previous years."

Zhu Heng said in surprise.

"The Ministry of War has defaulted on the salaries of the troops in each town, and they have to make up for it slowly. Does Brother Shinan really think that with the Datong Contract, the previous arrears of salary will not be paid."

Tan Lun said with a wry smile.

"Oh, how many of them actually got into the hands of the soldiers, couldn't Zili have imagined it?"

Zhu Heng shook his head and said.

"The court always diverts money away. I just have to have a clear conscience."

Tan Lun was silent for a moment before speaking.

"Then let Ge Shouli know and ask him to send someone to keep an eye on him. He will be able to fall behind more or less."

Wei Guangde said.

"That's all we can do. Let the Metropolitan Procuratorate keep an eye on it and check a few."

Zhu Heng nodded and said.

"What about Wang Gao?"

Wei Guangde saw that the two of them were talking about Dongfan Island and Myanmar, but not about Wang Gao, so he had to talk about it himself.

"Shaloan, Wang Gao is the right-guard commander of the Jurchens in Jianzhou."

Zhu Heng said.