Comparing the secret report of the Imperial Bodyguard, Mei Guozhen's memorial, and Ye Mengxiong's military report, Zhu Yijun found that the content of the three reports was most consistent with the fact that Xiao Ruxun was the most deserving hero of this battle. In the bloody battle, the city was pacified, and the enemy was defeated by nine thousand soldiers. In addition, the long-distance raid caused the enemy's backyard to catch fire and had to retreat. Thus, Wei Xuezeng's rapid advance troops surrounded Ningxia Town and stood in an invincible position.
In addition, he repeatedly defeated Bo Bai's surprise attack with cavalry, and in the end, he used gunpowder to blow up the city wall, which led to the end of the rebellion. If there was no Xiao Ruxun, just like what Ye Mengxiong said, he would use the method of diverting water to flood the city and drown Ningxia City. At that time, not only would Ningxia City be destroyed, but it would also cause more killings.
However, the appearance of Xiao Ruxun not only caused the loss of only ten thousand households in a bloody battle of tens of thousands of people, but only a section of the western city wall and one-third of the city's buildings were destroyed. In addition, the death of six thousand Ming Army soldiers was far less than the expected loss of diverting water to flood the city. It could be said that the existence of Xiao Ruxun helped Daming to save two-thirds of the battle silver and reconstruction silver.
Moreover, according to the report, after the battle, Xiao Ruxun also devoted himself to maintaining the order of the city. He beheaded twenty-four soldiers who committed crimes and restored the order as quickly as possible. Then, he began to rebuild Ningxia. This kind of means and ability was not something a martial artist could have.
Ye Mengxiong's evaluation of Xiao Ruxun was that he was "well-versed in both the pen and the sword, the talent of a great general, and the ability of a herdsman."
Mei Guozhen's evaluation was that he was "a rare commander in the land of the nine sides in fifty years, and the demeanor of an ancient Confucian general."
The evaluation of the Imperial Bodyguard was: "He has the ability to manage both the army on horseback and the people off horseback. He has a literary reputation, reads a lot, manages the army rigorously, and is a good herdsman. This allows him to lead the army into battle and achieve the greatest results with the smallest losses. He is truly a rare and outstanding general."
In fact, even without looking at the Imperial Bodyguard's evaluation, just by looking at the two civil officials' evaluation of this general, one could see how much Xiao Ruxun was to their liking. In this day and age, the civil officials' evaluation of the generals of the nine borders was either pigs or dogs, and it was quite disdainful.
And Xiao Ruxun was the son of a general's family in the nine borders. First of all, he could marry the daughter of the former Minister of War, which was enough to show that Yang Zhao, a typical literary general, appreciated Xiao Ruxun. Now, the evaluation of Ye Mengxiong and Mei Guozhen even more reflected this.
In addition, according to the intelligence of the Imperial Bodyguard, Wei Xuezeng, who was brought back to the capital to be sentenced, also appreciated Xiao Ruxun. He was one of the first people to support Xiao Ruxun's use of gunpowder to break the city.
As the saying goes, it is easy to get a thousand troops, but it is hard to find a good general. In this era, where the civil officials were valued and the military was inferior, the birth of a rare and outstanding general was very precious. Zhu Yijun himself was very clear that there were always drawbacks to the civil officials leading the army. For example, if the civil officials were too powerful, the military groups that could originally compete with them would become lackeys.
A very good example was when he first ascended the throne, even the valiant generals like Qi Jiguang and Li Chengliang had to rely on him, and the emperor was ruthlessly suppressed by him. This had already made Zhu Yijun extremely dissatisfied with the civil officials. He had already begun to support the eunuchs to fight against them. For example, he had tried to send eunuchs to collect mining taxes to make money, and at the same time, to disgust the civil officials.
But after the war, a rare and outstanding general suddenly appeared, which made Zhu Yijun's mind start to move.
Although supporting the eunuchs was one of the necessary means of the emperor, it was a double-edged sword, which hurt others and himself. It was extremely easy to be scolded by the historians controlled by the civil officials, which would leave a bad reputation and be ridiculed by the later generations. This point was learned from the mistake of Emperor Zhengde. If it was not necessary, Zhu Yijun was not willing to do this. Then, for the sake of his reputation, to fight against the civil officials, and to ensure his authority, it was not enough to split and support the civil officials!
The way that Grandpa Jiajing supported Yan Song had been seen through and studied by these guys. His brain was not as smart as Grandpa Jiajing, so this method was not effective. He had to find another way.
He could not use the civil officials to split and get the pen. He could not casually use the big trick of using the eunuchs to disgust others and himself. The money bag was not so easy to get. Then, the only thing left was to support the military people to get the pen back.
Moreover, at this time, supporting the military people had a special advantage. Because the civil officials were noble and the military people were inferior for more than a hundred years, the civil officials were used to being superior. If a great military general suddenly appeared and shared power with them, it was just like how Di Qing disgusted the civil officials when he was the Privy Council Envoy. Zhu Yijun, who was familiar with history books, remembered clearly how he disgusted the civil officials.
However, the more wonderful point was that the Song Dynasty followed the ancestral system, in which the civil officials were noble and the military people were inferior. The civil officials really stood on the commanding heights and humiliated the military officials. But the ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty was exactly the opposite. Five of the six founding dukes were military generals, and the only one, Liu Ji, got the title of nobility because of his military exploits.
As for the current situation in which the civil officials were noble and the military people were inferior, it was the result of evolution, not the ancestral system. One of the big tricks of the civil officials, the ancestral system, couldn't be used. If they used it, they would be lifting a rock and dropping it on their own feet. Zhu Yijun wanted to talk to them about the ancestral system and disgust them.
Zhu Yijun was extremely disgusted and disgusted with these civil officials.
Therefore, Zhu Yijun would not blindly trust the civil officials like Song Renzong and indulge them to force Di Qing to his death. Zhu Yijun, who had seen through these guys, would find ways to support and protect his spokesperson to compete with the civil officials for interests in the court.
After the civil officials rose up and attacked, the military officials could only rely on the emperor. Relying on the emperor's prestige and power to compete with the civil officials, the civil officials would definitely fight back. The military officials finally saw the hope of rising, so they would definitely resist desperately. Once the two groups fought to the death, who would be the final winner?
Himself.
In addition, with the biased methods of the Imperial Bodyguard East Faction Guards, they could fight a good battle for the military officials from the very beginning. The military officials and the Imperial Bodyguard East Faction Guards could join forces and beat down the arrogance of the civil officials. In the end, the one who would benefit the most would still be himself.
As the emperor, if the officials under him were united, it would be equivalent to the emperor losing his power. Although Sun Quan, who stubbornly divided his officials, had a bad reputation in history, he at least guaranteed his power. Zhu Yijun's thoughts were the same.
All of you had caused a foul atmosphere in the court of the Daming, and now you want the emperor to take the blame and be scolded by the people of the world. How could this be?
This was the so-called thinking of an emperor. This was also the biggest limitation of a country with only one surname. At this time, it was the only hope to break out of this situation.
As the saying goes, there are no stupid moves, only clever moves that are used in the wrong place. Even if it was turning back the clock in history, it could still play an extremely positive role at certain times.
And the current situation, Zhu Yijun could not accept it! A series of strategies began to take shape in his mind.
As Zhu Yijun was planning his grand scheme, a report from the Liaodong Governor was delivered to the Ministry of War. It was seen by the newly appointed Minister of War, Shi Xing, and attracted the attention of Shi Xing.
Shi Xing was an old official of the Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli dynasties. He was honest and upright, so his official career was quite bumpy. First, he wrote a memorial to persuade Emperor Longqing, but because he offended the eunuch Teng Xiang, he was almost beaten to death.
After Wanli ascended the throne, Shi Xing finally made a comeback. In the end, he fell out with Zhang Juzheng and wrestled with Zhang Juzheng. At that time, Zhang Juzheng was at the height of his power and had power over the six ministries. Shi Xing had to give up his official post and go home. It was not until Zhang Juzheng died that he returned to the center of the court.
Shi Xing was very clear that as the most important vassal state of the Daming in the East, Korea had several intelligence systems belonging to the Daming. First of all, there must be the Emperor's Imperial Bodyguard, and then there was the Liaodong Governor, the Ministry of War of the Daming, and so on.
Even some businessmen and other private systems doing business in Korea had their own intelligence stations. From time to time, they would provide information to the court for their own interests. Korea thought that the Daming did not know them well. In fact, the Daming did not know them very well, but he was well aware of it.
Therefore, this report from Yang Shaoxun, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Governor, made Shi Xing's heart beat like a drum. This report was sent at the end of April, when the capital of Korea was in a state of emergency. When Shi Xing received it, it was mid-May. To make up for the time difference, Yang Shaoxun specially added that the situation in Korea was deteriorating and might be beyond control. He asked the court to make early preparations.
Shi Xing was suspicious. Korea could barely be considered a big country. It had three thousand miles of natural strongholds and hundreds of thousands of armors. How could they be attacked to the capital in just a dozen days? According to the report, the Japanese army began to attack on April 13. In just a dozen days, the capital of Korea was in a state of emergency. Were the soldiers of Korea all scarecrows? If they had put up a little resistance, they wouldn't have been defeated so quickly, right?
At this moment, Shi Xing suddenly remembered that last year, in the second half of the 19th year of Wanli, there was an uproar in the capital. It was said that Korea had colluded with Japan to plot against the Daming.
At that time, the Cabinet Elder Xu Guo successfully defended the rumor and proved it to be false. But was it possible that the Koreans were deliberately showing weakness and making way for the Japanese? Otherwise, why hadn't they received a letter asking for help from Korea so far?
Thinking of this, Shi Xing suddenly shuddered. But when he remembered that the battle in Ningxia had been pacified and that Daming had been freed up, he felt a little more confident. He ordered Ni Shangzhong, the commander-in-chief of Baoding, to move to Tianjin and strengthen the war preparations along the coast of Jizhou and Shandong. At the same time, he asked the Liaodong Governor to quickly send people to Korea to conduct a detailed investigation.
It was already the beginning of June when Yang Shaoxun received Shi Xing's instructions. He arranged for two investigators, Cui Shichen and Lin Shilu, to prepare to enter the court. At the same time, he sent Tong Yangzheng, the deputy commander-in-chief of Kuandian Fort, to Yishun Hall in Korea to set up an emergency communication channel during wartime. He also placed several scouts and messengers from the Daming army there.
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