Chapter 349 Volume C is struggling

Waging a war is not a simple matter. The Ningxia rebels are powerful. If they send troops hastily and lose, the whole country may be shaken.

 Sending troops, from where? Where to mobilize troops?

Now that all the lands on the nine sides are stretched thin, Ji Liao cannot move, and Xuan Da cannot move, so where can we mobilize the troops?

Jingying? Or was it formed from other Dusiwei towns? How much does silver grain cost?

I'm afraid there are some distant waters that can't quench the thirst nearby. If you really have to wait until these places gather the troops before setting off, I'm afraid that Ningxia and Gansu will be completely ruined. Without access, even Guyuan will be involved. By then, even if you can recover , can the imperial court afford such a large expenditure?

 After recapture, how to restore these towns to their original state? How much does that cost? Do we still need these three towns?

This is probably the huge stone that weighs on the hearts of the princes of the court.

Money flows out like water as soon as there is a war. The Japanese Rebellion of Imchen completely damaged the vitality of the imperial court, and it has not yet recovered. Coupled with the rise of the Jurchens in Liaodong, the imperial court's main concern now is to maintain the front line of defense in Liaodong and Xuanda. This This led to the collapse of the three sides.

But once the three sides collapse and the northwest front is tight, will the Mongolian left wing tribes and the Jianzhou Jurchens take advantage of the situation?

 The atmosphere at the dinner table was a bit heavy, and even Feng's rather sumptuous lunch became a bit tasteless.

Although both Zheng Chongjian and Feng Ziying made "accurate" predictions about the situation in Ningxia Town in "Internal Reference", even Feng Ziying himself did not expect that the situation would suddenly become so corrupt. Other students, including Zheng Chongjian himself, only relied on With Feng Ziying's trust and support, he also wanted to take this opportunity to remind the court to pay attention to trilateral defense. Unexpectedly, it turned into a divine prophecy.

In Feng Ziying's impression, it seems that the "Battle of Ningxia" in the three major campaigns of Wanli in her previous life was not so dangerous. Why were even Gansu Town and Guyuan Town involved? Could it be that the different historical planes caused the entire situation to move in a worse direction? Has it developed?

"Ziying, the Ministry of War has informed me that you and I are expected to go to the Ministry of War to discuss matters in the afternoon. That article is what caused the trouble. It is estimated that people from the Staff Division, the Pingren Division, and the Shaanxi Division of the Ministry of Punishment have all been mobilized to collect and organize relevant intelligence. Already..."

Zheng Chongjian’s face was red but also a little worried.

For him, this was a shock mixed with great happiness and fear. He never thought that he would suddenly receive such attention from the court. With this article, Zheng Chongjian suddenly became a celebrity. Of course This celebrity refers to the minds of those who read this article among the officials of Liubu Hall.

"I have also received the notice." Feng Ziying played with the tea cup in her hand and said relatively calmly: "Brother Chu Cai originally planned to come to me, but Mr. Chai directly brought him to court. The emperor and the cabinet elders have to personally listen According to Fang Si’s analysis, it is estimated that Brother Chu Cai will be promoted to Yuan Wai Lang.”

"I'm afraid it's not easy to be a foreign minister. He might be promoted. The next step is to go to jail directly and be accused of crime." Fang Youdu, who seemed very indifferent, added, shaking his head: "Once this war is over, I don't know what will happen. How many people want their black hats to fall to the ground?"

This is not a joke.

No matter how accurate your analysis of the military situation is now, it cannot withstand the ever-changing battlefield. Once there are changes that are inconsistent with your predictions, or changes that you cannot predict at all, and someone wants to blame you, you A little Yuanwailang may be the best scapegoat.

"It's easy if the black gauze hat falls to the ground. I'm afraid how many heads will fall to the ground to be real." Wang Yingxiong curled his lips, "Those people from the Ministry of Finance really deserve to be killed. Look at them in the past two years for three sides and four sides." How much food, salary and military supplies did the town provide? Based on this alone, isn’t it an exaggeration to jail a few fourth- and fifth-grade officials?”

"It's not that simple. It's hard for a good woman to make a meal without rice. The Ministry of Household Affairs has been like this for a long time. It's not like the emperor and the cabinet don't know about it. Why don't they change it?" Feng Ziying shook her head. "If we haven't found the crux of the problem or the channel to solve the problem, even if Isn’t it still the case after changing the minister?”

"Isn't this what ministers and ministers should do?" Wang Yingxiong retorted disapprovingly.

"How can it be as simple as you think? The imperial taxation is customized, and there is only so much every year. If you want to collect more, where will it come from? Land tax or business tax, or more mining and tax supervisors? Or open the sea?" Feng Ziying raised an eyebrow. Yang noticed that the attention of several people had been attracted, "Su Song's tax is the most hefty in the world. The scholars in Jiangnan have long been furious about it. If it imposes more taxes, it may be another civil uprising. How can we start from this?" Where? Huguang? Or the north?"

Several other people said nothing. Additional levies cannot be imposed from South Zhili and Zhejiang, let alone other places. The significance of additional levies is not great.

"Business taxes have also been customized for a long time. Once they are levied, I am afraid that they will also attract criticism from the people for competing for profits. You should know the people behind these business gangs." Feng Ziying said without politeness, "Don't mention the tax supervisors and mine supervisors. The emperor has done it all, and he has suffered so much infamy, but he still has to bear it. If there are more attempts, even the emperor may not be able to bear the infamy, so where does the money come from?"

Several people were silenced by the refutation, and then they realized that it seemed that the imperial court really could not support such a war now.

It was already dark when Zhang Jingqiu and Chai Ke returned from the palace to the palace of the Ministry of War, and both of them looked ugly.

 Hsiao Daheng has become "sick", and it is "serious". He has suffered a stroke. Looking at the drool dripping from the corners of his mouth, I wonder if he can really be an actor.

Zhang Jingqiu finally took charge of the Ministry of War as Zuo Shilang. Perhaps after this war, he can be promoted to Minister of War, but the premise is that the war will end as smoothly as everyone expected, and this is exactly what Zhang Jingqiu and Chai Ke both Things that I have no idea about.

 The Ministry of War's public house is still brightly lit, and it is estimated that this situation will continue for a while.

 In the afternoon, another newspaper came in and was delivered directly to the temple.

 Still bad news, Tatar cavalry appeared outside Datong and Xuanfu, and Su Nangtaiji had formally made a request to the court that he should succeed King Shunyi.

Not to mention whether Su Nangtaiji is qualified to succeed, just taking advantage of the situation at this time is not acceptable to the court. If everyone agrees in this situation, wouldn't any tribe on the grassland be able to threaten the court? ?

A flat refusal is necessary, but the towns of Xuanda will have to withstand military pressure from the Tumuts.

"I'm afraid the Ningxia rebels are connected with the Tumote tribe." Chai Ke suddenly said.

Zhang Jingqiu, who was walking a little ahead, paused slightly, "I'm afraid it's not just the Tumote Department. I'm worried that Liu Dongyang and Kuaibai both have their own agendas, but they are actively looking for outside forces to get involved. Turpan The Mughal tribes over there do indeed harass the guards in the western part of Gansu Town every year, but according to the feedback from the Zifang Division and the Pingren Division in the past few years, they have not done so with such great intensity, and they have never wanted to completely cut them off. This trade route has been maintained intermittently even for paying tribute, but the recent intensity of harassment is obviously different. Is this an error in the letters reported by the Staff Division and the Pedestrian Division? "

Chai Ke's expression changed slightly, "Master Zhang, are you saying that Liu Dongyang and Kuai Bai have been planning this for a long time? They have long wanted to separate the two towns?"

Zhang Jingqiu stood in front of the porch of the public house and sighed deeply: "Zishu, why don't I hope it's not the case? But we have to think of the situation to be worse, otherwise if we make a mistake, it will be disastrous. What a disaster."

Chai Ke lowered his eyebrows in thought, and finally shook his head: "Mr. Zhang, your concerns are right, but I don't think Liu Dongyang and Kuaibai have such a far-reaching and careful plan. Shi Guangjue has only been in charge of the army for two years. , Although the situation in Ningxia Town was bad, it did not reach this point. The main reason was Shi Guangjue..."

"No, Zishu, you didn't understand what I meant. I mean that Liu Dongyang and Kuaibai may not have had the intention to do such a big thing before, but they have been arrogant and domineering for a long time. Maybe they have connected with the Tatars or even the Uighurs. In the past, it was just for making money, but later on, he may not have felt that Zhou's control over these two towns was beyond this, so he replaced him. In this case, the change of mind may be normal and only requires a reasonable reason. Or maybe there’s a fire,…”

Chai Ke remained silent.

The two of them entered the house and saw a solitary lamp like a bean. A clerk had already brought them food and drink, but neither of them was in the mood to eat and waved their hands.

"I'm afraid five hundred thousand taels of silver is just a drop in the bucket, but the Ministry of Household Affairs only has so much to offer. Can the emperor raise more?" Chai Ke raised his expectant gaze.

The court meeting has agreed that he should serve as the governor of the three sides and be responsible for countering the rebellion. Yang He will serve as the censor of Youqiandu of the Metropolitan Procuratorate to assist Chai Ke in countering the rebellion.

The counter-rebellion troops mainly focus on Yulin and Guyuan towns. Datong Town dispatched 10,000 troops and rushed to Yulin immediately. Military orders from the Ministry of War and the Fifth Army Governor's Office have been issued to Datong Town. In the future, battalions will be mobilized from Sichuan and Henan. Accept the unified command of Chai Ke.

 Deploying troops and setting up a counter-insurgency team are relatively simple. The key is money and food.

Food is also a big problem. The military rations in the three sides and four towns have always been half-starved and half-full. Now that we are going to war, people eat horse chews. This is a big problem.

What's more critical is that the reinforcements from Yulin Town, Guyuan Town, and Datong Town are all in arrears for several years, and they have to work hard to fight. If you don't repay the military pay first, then the morale will definitely not be sustained. to fight this battle.

Zhang Jingqiu felt sad. The emperor had almost exhausted all the internal treasury, but the Ministry of Revenue did not have any money. Thinking of this, Zhang Jingqiu's heart became darker and darker, but he could not refuse Chai Ke's request: "I Please ask the emperor to think of a way again, Zi Shu, see if you can also think of a way to raise some money."

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 (End of this chapter)