My father is Jiajing

The Ministry of War in the capital.

Just as Zhu Zaigui was accompanying Emperor Jiajing on his southern tour, Hu Zongxian also received Zhu Zaigui's reply early in the morning.

When he saw the word "可", he felt both excited and nervous, as well as feeling indescribable fear and uneasiness.

After all, this matter involves too many aspects.

But now that it has come to this, and with the cabinet position that Zhu Zaigui had hinted at and promised him, Hu Zongxian's heart couldn't help but get excited.

What is the purpose of life?
Isn't the purpose just to be able to live a glorious life in this world?

Today is a time of great changes. If we just stick to the old ways and live our lives in a muddle, what's the difference between that and being dead?
Hu Zongxian took a deep breath, his face flushed with excitement. He shouted to the clerk outside the room, "Go, take my business card and ask the Minister of Revenue and the governors of the Five Military Commands to come to the Ministry of War!"

The clerk didn't know what Hu Zongxian was so excited about, but after hearing Hu Zongxian's order, he did not delay at all and immediately went to the Ministry of Revenue and the Five Military Governor's Office according to Hu Zongxian's order.

After seeing Hu Zongxian's business card, Gao Yi, the Minister of Finance, couldn't help but smile at the Vice Minister of Finance beside him, "I guess Hu Ruzhen must want money again."

When the Minister of Revenue heard what Gao Yi said, he immediately replied, "Your Excellency's opinion is good. Now the prince wants to raise a strong army again and expand the sea. The money is spent like water, and there is no return so far. The Minister may have easily agreed to Hu Ruzhen's request."

Gao Yi smiled and said, "Of course I understand. This time, I will not only go over to him to sort out the money that the Ministry of Revenue has allocated to them over the years, but also persuade him not to waste the national treasury on building those flashy treasure ships. Wouldn't it be better to save the money and keep it in the court?"

Gao Yi and his colleagues shared the same views as the vast majority of officials on Zhu Zaigui's expansion of the navy.

When the Yongle treasure ship entered the port of Tianjin for sea trials, all the spectators were amazed at the power of the Ming Dynasty.

But behind this strength, countless amounts of money were spent like flowing water.

If this money were kept in the court or somewhere else, it would be better than wasting it on building ships.

What's more, in recent years the Japanese navy has been like a money-eating beast, building giant ships, creating new artillery, and constructing a naval port on Taiwan to deal with the red-haired foreigners who appeared out of nowhere.

However, in the historical records of the Ming Dynasty, there is no record of any conflict between the red-haired foreigners and the Ming Dynasty. They mostly came to the Ming Dynasty to buy silk, tea, porcelain and other items. It was not at all as alarmist as the Oriental Navy and Hu Zongxian and others said.

Therefore, over the years, even with Zhu Zaigui's strong support, the construction and expansion of the Oriental Navy was still not recognized by most people.

So much so that when Hu Zongxian sent a business card inviting the Minister of Revenue Gao Yi to the Ministry of War to discuss important matters, Gao Yi thought that Hu Zongxian wanted money again.

Gao Yi said: "I will not go to Hu Ruzhen's invitation this time. You can go on my behalf. Remember our bottom line. There is no money for you!"

After hearing Gao Yi's words, the Minister of Revenue also bowed immediately: "I understand!"

At the same time, at the Five Military Commanderies.

The Five Military Commanderies is much more complicated than the Six Ministries.

The Five Military Governorates were divided into five governorates, namely the Central Military Governorate, the Left Military Governorate, the Right Military Governorate, the Front Military Governorate, and the Rear Military Governorate.

The reason why it is so complicated is also due to Zhu's idea of ​​decentralization back then.

When Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, he also felt that the military's power was too huge. If it could not be restrained, it would sooner or later cause trouble.

So after careful consideration, Zhu Yuanzhang divided the original Grand Marshal's Office, which was in charge of military affairs, into five parts, which later became the Five Military Marshal's Offices.

There is no distinction between the five military governorates, and each has its own rights and functions.

In this way, the military will no longer have a situation where one person can control the entire army.

But with the development of the times, the imperial power deliberately controlled the military power of noble generals, and the civil officials deliberately suppressed military officers and generals.

Gradually, the Five Military Commanderies became a decoration of the Ming Dynasty.

But even if it was just a decoration, the Five Military Commandery still honored a large number of veteran generals who had made great contributions but were difficult to be promoted. They were allowed to serve as the deputy commander or deputy commander in the Five Military Commandery, so that they could no longer rack up military merits and strive for titles like the generals at the time of the founding of the country.

It can be said that under such deliberate suppression, there were very few generals who could be named in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. Even generals such as Qi Jiguang, who were famous in later generations, had a very limited upper limit in reality, and they could not even reach the point of being promoted to a higher position or be granted a title.

Even though Li Chengliang, who emerged during the Wanli period as the "most accomplished border warrior in two hundred years", was only able to rise to power by nurturing the enemy when the court's military discipline was lax and the court was unable to call on other available generals.

However, the military reputation gained in this way is still somewhat false.

Therefore, even though Li Chengliang was nicknamed the "Father of the Qing Dynasty", his influence in the entire Ming military system was very general. If he wanted to secure his position, he had to be humble, like a young wife, and bribe the officials in the capital in a humble manner, so that he could secure his position as the general of Liaodong.

Otherwise, how could he guard Liaodong for thirty years?

Moreover, from the perspective of the imperial court and its interests, how could they allow a general to stay in one place for thirty years?
It was obvious that the imperial court had no one available and no money at that time.

Otherwise, Li Chengliang would at most be a temporary general and would never become a master in Liaodong!
Although the Five Military Commandery is now ineffective, it still has some powers and functions, and it also contains some veteran generals whose words count.

Therefore, Hu Zongxian naturally did not ignore the Five Military Commandery and called it over as well.

Moreover, in Hu Zongxian's idea, this military and political reform was to let the Five Military Commission start the fire and resist the damage, while the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue would check for omissions and fill in the gaps and complete the subsequent cooperation.

Therefore, no matter how useless the Five Military Governorates are now, they are still a good shield in Hu Zongxian's eyes!
After receiving the invitation from the Ministry of War's Hu Zongxian, the Five Military Governors' Office involuntarily gathered together.

The group of left and right generals, led by Xun Gui, who were just there to do nothing, looked at each other in bewilderment.

They also know what the Ministry of War is up to.

Duke Dingguo Xu Yande looked at Duke Yingguo Zhang Rong.

As a descendant of an old predecessor, Xu Yande was also the son of Xu Guangzuo, one of the envoys who had come to Beijing from Anlu to welcome Emperor Jiajing. He was given the position of the Commander-in-Chief of the Central Army at an early stage.

Xu Yande said, "Duke Ying, what do you think Hu Zongxian means? Our Five Military Commandery and the Ministry of War have always kept to themselves. What does he want to do by sending us this business card today?"

Zhang Rong is a descendant of Zhang Yu, a hero in the Jingnan Rebellion. His ancestor, the old general Zhang Fu, who died in the Ministry of Civil Works along with Bao Zong, was also the last generation of military god-level figures in the Ming Dynasty who had well-deserved strength.

It was a pity that when Zhang Fu was dragged by Bao Zong to the Northern Expedition, he was already over 80 years old and his brain was no longer sharp. The most he could do was to be a lucky charm. He could have lived out his old age at home, but he followed Bao Zong on a journey and not only died in the Ministry of Civil Affairs, but his body was never found. It was extremely tragic.

Therefore, since the generation of Duke of England of Zhang Fu, successive Dukes of England seemed to be particularly trusted by the emperor. Many times, their line was often entrusted by the emperor to serve as ministers to take care of the emperor's young son. Of course, this was only in name only, and the Duke of England's line was not meant to be given real power.

Moreover, when the emperor had nothing to do, such as when he wanted to be lazy and did not go to the Taimiao or the Temple of Heaven and Earth to offer sacrifices, he would issue an order to entrust the Duke of England to offer sacrifices on his behalf.

It can be seen that the line of the Duke of Yingzhou was also considered the first generation of a noble family in the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, even an old senior like Xu Yande did not put on any airs when he saw Zhang Rong.

Zhang Rong looked at Xu Yande. How could he know what Hu Zongxian was up to?

Moreover, don’t you have any idea of ​​what status the nobles have in the capital and in the army now?
Zhang Rong said, "Since it is the business card of the Minister of War, we should give it some respect. Now that His Majesty and the prince have left Beijing, and Hu Zongxian is one of the ministers who stayed behind, if we don't give him face, he might do something to me. Although it won't cause me much loss, it will still be bad to lose the emperor's favor."

"So, in my opinion, we should go to the Ministry of War and see what Hu Zongxian wants to do?"

Seeing Zhang Rong's attitude, Xu Yande couldn't help but sigh.

To be honest, he didn't want to go.

The reason was actually nothing else but that his health was not very good. Both the academicians of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the imperial physicians of the Imperial Hospital advocated that he should rest at home and try not to overwork himself.

So Xu Yande became very lazy in recent years and didn't want to move anywhere.

He does not have the character of his grandfather, General Xu Da, or Xu Zengshou, who stabbed the little darling Jianwen in the back.

It can be said that the two duke lines of Xu Da's family were getting worse and worse during the Ming Dynasty.

Although they seem to be a family of dual dukes, they do not seem to be that conspicuous either in the capital or in Nanjing.

Especially the current line of Duke Wei of Nanjing, who have been constantly making outrageous moves. A few years ago, they even wanted to "depose the eldest and establish the youngest", which simply shows that they do not care about the rules and face of the court.

Now that Gao Gong had gone to Nanjing, he heard that the Wei Mansion was being investigated again for the incident in which the eldest son was deposed and the youngest son was enthroned. Moreover, during the investigation, they discovered many bad things about the Wei Mansion, such as forcibly abducting women, seizing other people's land and shops, and so on.

In order to save himself, the current Duke of Wei has written a letter to the Duke of Ding’s Mansion.

But Xu Yande could do nothing to help when he saw the Duke of Wei's mansion asking for help.

First of all, he could never meet Emperor Jiajing, and Prince Yu never paid any attention to him.

If you give him face, he is the Duke of Dingguo of the Ming Dynasty and the governor of the Central Military Governor's Office. If you don't give him face, he is nothing.

Therefore, in Xu Yande's view, the Duke of Wei's Mansion asking for help from the Duke of Ding's Mansion was just a farce.

At worst, he would be fined by Gao Gong and reprimanded by the emperor, and then he would have to give up the benefits he had taken and that would be the end of it.

Anyway, as long as the title of Duke of Wei is still there and the title of Nanjing Governor is still there, why should I be afraid that I won’t be able to turn things around in the future?

What's more, compared to Gao Gong, a minor official, the Duke of Wei's Mansion is the local tyrant in Nanjing. What is there to be afraid of?
Just hide from the limelight for a while. Could Gao Gong stay in Nanjing forever?
Therefore, Xu Yande could do nothing to help the Duke of Wei's Mansion's request for help except to sigh.

Although these two branches are from the same lineage, they are also enemies at the root.

If it weren't for the Duke of Wei Xu Yaozu who kidnapped their ancestor Xu Zengshou and took him to Emperor Jianwen to inform on the matter and apologize, their ancestor Xu Zengshou wouldn't have been stabbed to death by Emperor Jianwen on the eve of the victory of the Jingnan Campaign.

Therefore, if we think about it this way, the Duke of Wei's Mansion and the Duke of Ding's Mansion can be said to have a feud.

At most, the two families had a common ancestor, General Xu Da. As for other ties, they had long been exhausted during the Jingnan Campaign.

The best way to get along with each other now is to never have any contact with each other again.

The Duke of Wei's Mansion continued to be the boss in Nanjing, and the Duke of Ding's Mansion continued to be a noble in the capital.

Xu Yande had no choice but to follow Zhang Rong and other officials from the Governor's Office to the Ministry of War.

By the time they all arrived, it was almost noon.

Hu Zongxian saw that only one assistant minister came to the Ministry of Revenue, and the Minister of Revenue Gao Yi did not come. Although there was no change on his face, he was still a little unhappy.

Hu Zongxian said to the Minister of Revenue, "The matter we are going to discuss today is of great importance. Please ask Minister Li to invite Minister Gao to come over to discuss it together."

When the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, named Li Shilang, heard Hu Zongxian's words, he couldn't help but look up at Hu Zongxian, although his official rank was not as high as Hu Zongxian's.

But the two have no direct affiliation.

Moreover, officials value integrity, especially in front of so many people. How could he be ordered around by Hu Zongxian like this?
Minister Li bowed to Hu Zongxian in a dignified manner and said, "Minister Hu, my minister has other important matters in the ministry, so he sent me here. I hope Minister Hu will forgive me."

Hu Zongxian looked at Minister Li with a chuckle. He couldn't just let it go at this time. Otherwise, when they came to discuss business next, the old foxes in the Five Military Commandery would also have the same attitude, and there would be no way to discuss this matter.

Hu Zongxian's face turned serious. "Really? Minister Gao is really so busy? If Minister Li refuses to invite you, I will have to come to your house myself."

When Minister Li heard what Hu Zongxian said, he was also shocked.

This may sound polite when coming in person, but it is actually a serious threat!

If Hu Zongxian holds a grudge against him, given the relationship between Hu Zongxian and Prince Yu, wouldn't his future be bleak?
After a fierce inner struggle, Li Shilang bowed to Hu Zongxian again and said, "Please calm down, Minister. I will go and invite you right away."

At this time, Minister Li also changed the way he addressed Hu Zongxian. When he called Hu Zongxian's minister, he no longer added the word "Hu", which showed that he had really surrendered.

When the other five military governors and other senior generals saw this scene, they were also shocked. What on earth were they discussing? Why was there such a big scene?
Even people from the Ministry of Revenue were called in.

------

Ask for monthly ticket~~(End of this chapter)