As a hot-blooded scholar with ideals and pursuits, Wang Xijue had dreams. However, as he struggled and wandered in the field of fame and fortune, Wang Xijue gradually lost his original intention. The degenerated Confucianism could no longer create the grand occasion of Confucius and his 3,000 disciples. Although he had more than a million disciples, less than 3,000 of them had truly inherited his ideals. The ideas inherited by the Taoists and Rationalists were extremely conservative and old-fashioned theories, and they could not produce saints.
Wang Xijue was obviously not a saint. He was just a bureaucrat, not even a scholar. Although he once had ideals, he only had the desire to survive now.
The condition for Wang Xijue to survive was that he had to live under the surveillance of the royal family for the rest of his life. He would clearly know that there were spies of the royal family around him, and he would know very well that the concubines sleeping next to him could all be from the royal family. However, he had no choice. He had to dance with these people who could take his life at any time because he had mastered a shocking secret, a secret that was enough to shake the rule of the emperor.
Although he succeeded in preventing the tragedy from happening, the price was the rest of his life. He would resign in three months at the latest, leave the capital, leave the vanity fair forever, and return to his hometown to live the rest of his life. His life and death were destined, and he could not resist. Thinking of this, he gradually saw through the world of mortals.
The day before the army arrived in the capital, Li Chengliang finally could not bear his social intercourse and ran to Wang Xijue's mansion to ask for an audience. This time, Wang Xijue did not stop Li Chengliang. He openly received Li Chengliang and told Li Chengliang about the past with a smile. However, he did not say anything about what Li Chengliang was most concerned about, which made Li Chengliang very depressed and confused.
Finally, Li Chengliang could not bear the doubts in his heart and asked, "Minister, what should I say about Xiao Ruxun and my son Rusong? Xiao Ruxun has made such a great contribution. Does His Majesty want to replace our Li family to guard Liaodong with Xiao Ruxun? "
Wang Xijue smiled and said, "Why do you think so?"
"Isn't it?" Li Chengliang said anxiously, "Xiao Ruxun is good at fighting, leading troops, and training soldiers. He made the Nihon Country obedient and made so much money for the imperial court. The emperor will definitely want to use Xiao Ruxun to completely solve the problem of the Mongolians and the Jurchens. Besides, now Xiao Ruxun's prestige has soared. Many lords in the capital city don't take me seriously and all go to the Xiao family to flatter Xiao Wenkui. What should I do?"
Wang Xijue looked at Li Chengliang, who was jumping up and down anxiously. It was as if he could see his past self through Li Chengliang.
"Don't worry. After this battle, Li Rusong will be the commander of the Liaodong army."
Li Chengliang was shocked at first, and then overjoyed. He hurriedly asked, "Will Xiao Ruxun replace my Li family? That was great! Then … Xiao Ruxun, he … "
Li Chengliang became worried again. It seemed that he was frightened by the ferocity of Xiao Ruxun, the rising star. The fierce Li Chengliang of the past was gone. The current Li Chengliang, who had been eroded by time and degenerated into a politician, was really old.
"Xiao Ruxun will be appointed by His Majesty as the commander of the Yunnan Border Army. He will lead the army of Yunnan to conquer the Dongwu Country and completely clean up the Dongwu Country, which has been harassing our border for more than ten years. At the same time, he will be promoted to Marquis of Peace."
"Conferred the title of Marquis?" Li Chengliang was stunned. "I, Li Chengliang, have been in the border for more than ten years. I have fought hundreds of battles and won ten big victories, but I only got the title of count. Xiao Ruxun can be promoted to Marquis of Peace with only two battles?!"
Li Chengliang looked very unwilling. He felt that the glory he had fought for all his life had been surpassed. The position of the first general in the Wanli era had been taken away, which made him very unhappy.
Wang Xijue sneered. It was not easy for him to say it in front of Li Chengliang, but he knew how much of Li Chengliang's ten victories was exaggerated. The title of count was just a move made by the civil officials of Liaodong. They created the role of God of War for the sake of political struggle. However, Xiao Ruxun had brought benefits to the country that could not be ignored in the two battles, especially in the battle of Korea.
Tens of millions of taels of silver were equivalent to the central tax revenue of the Daming for decades. It meant that the Daming had two years of tax revenue to use, which greatly eased the financial burden of the imperial court. This was a great plus for the officials who did not know about the Emperor's coup.
Therefore, when the Emperor withdrew the conferment order of the Three Princes and ordered the conferment of Xiao Ruxun, it was passed by the ministers without any resistance, allowing Xiao Ruxun to become the first military general to be conferred the title of marquis in the Wanli era. This was a well-deserved title without any controversy. However, Marshal Li's controversy has yet to dissipate. The weight of this comparison was not on the same order of magnitude.
"Xiao Ruxun has brought tens of millions of taels of silver to the imperial court. The imperial court's finance will be a lot better in the next ten years. Therefore, Xiao Ruxun has a very good reputation among the officials, especially the officials of the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of War, who praise Xiao Ruxun very much. They also privately praise Xiao Ruxun as the first general in Daming. General Li, you'd better not get entangled in this matter. Besides, Li Rusong will be appointed as the Commander of the Army of Liaodong. Isn't it your dream?"
Li Chengliang was speechless by Wang Xijue, but he was still unhappy.
"Minister, I also know this. I just can't stand that guy going against me as soon as he came to the capital and competing with my son for the position of the commander. If it weren't for him, my son would have fought in this battle. My son would definitely have made such a great contribution. At that time, my son would have been the one to be conferred the title, not Xiao Ruxun!"
Li Chengliang's words were very unprofessional, so Wang Xijue sneered and said, "Don't put Xiao Ruxun's achievements on Li Rusong's head. The result will be really different if it were someone else. Li Rusong is good at using cavalry, but not firearms. This time, Xiao Ruxun used more than 600 cannons and countless muskets to fight against the Japanese pirates.
Xiao Ruxun is the first general in Daming since Qi Shaobao who is so good at using firearms. In this battle, Xiao Ruxun only has one cavalry under his command, Li Rusong, which has never been more than 5,000. Can Li Rusong do it? "
Li Chengliang was very depressed. It was really hard for him to say this. The Liaodong Army had always despised firearms and did not use them at all. They still used the Three-eye Gun. It was said that Xiao Ruxun did not like the Three-eye Gun very much. Instead, he advocated the large Franco gun and muskets, and advocated the use of firearms with hot and cold.
In the official document to the Ministry of War, Xiao Ruxun even suggested to completely eliminate the firearms of the previous generation such as the Three-eye Gun, Thunderbolt Gun, and Bowl Gun. The Ming Dynasty Army should establish a special firearms unit equipped with Franco gun and muskets to achieve long-range and short-range firepower. The cavalry should also cooperate with the rapid mobile firearms unit such as vehicle artillery.
The Liaodong Army and some troops in the coastal areas naturally strongly protested. It was too difficult to use the musket, which was not as easy to use as the Flintlock Gun. They were not willing to replace it. There was no more powerful threat and it would be a waste of money, so there was a lot of resistance. In addition, there was a lot of protest within the Liaodong Army. In addition, Xiao Ruxun had a conflict with the Liaodong Army before. It was only because of Xiao Ruxun's unparalleled prestige that the Liaodong Army did not dare to make trouble.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
