Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 269: Keeping the enemy for your own benefit, the counties and prefectures are in Goryeo!
Jianzhou Jurchens.

It is distributed in Mudanjiang, Suifenhe and Changbai Mountain areas.

Li Chengliang sent out so many scouts to explore. Even if he didn't conquer the area inch by inch, he should not have been unable to find any trace of the remaining Jurchens.

Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou came to the map and started to deduce directly.

The two people thought about the entire territory of the Jianzhou Jurchens from the perspective of an observer. The more they thought about it, the more they felt something was wrong.

The war is a two-way fight.

Especially in a battlefield like this where only enemies and friends were distinguished, the entire Jurchen tribe stood on the opposite side of the Ming Dynasty.

The Liaodong Army required huge military expenses, and the Jurchen Army and the Jurchen people also required military expenses and living expenses.

Although the Jurchen army was made up of local people and nomadic cavalry, their expenses were less than those of the Liaodong army, even much less.

But behind the Liaodong Army was the Ming Dynasty, which had thousands of miles of territory, while behind the Jurchen army was nothing.

The Jurchen army and people also needed water, grass and food, and the Liaodong army had surrounded that area, but Wang Gao and Nurhaci were still able to hold on, which meant that they had a steady supply of food and grass.

The Jurchen army was like a beast trapped in a cage, and the Liaodong army stood outside the cage.

So the question is, when only the hunter is present, who is feeding the trapped animal in the cage?

Even if they couldn't believe it, the battlefield was the battlefield, and Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou would only believe in their own judgment.

Li Chengliang, on the surface, was destroying the Jurchens, but secretly, he was supporting the Jurchens.

The four words "nurturing the enemy to protect oneself" immediately came to the minds of Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou.

The imperial court was supporting the Liaodong Army, while Li Chengliang was supporting the Jurchens.

"brute!"

Yu Dayou cursed out loud and looked at the map, his gaze gradually shrinking from the edge of the map to the location of the Liaodong Army's garrison.

Finally, less than a hundred miles away from the Liaodong Army’s base, Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou almost simultaneously discovered a Falun Temple hidden among the mountains and rivers.

Temples and ancient monasteries have always been places where filth and dirt are hidden.

"Let the Jinyiwei investigate. If there are Jurchens there, we can be sure that Li Chengliang and the Jurchens are secretly colluding and jointly using the 'darkness under the lamp' trick on everyone." Qi Jiguang said with surging emotions.

He didn't expect that just after he took over the position of the Grand Marshal of the Army, a treacherous general who nurtured the enemy would appear.

Yu Dayou reminded: "Yuan Jing, the Liaodong army may rebel, we must be on guard."

Even without investigation, he could basically confirm the fact that Li Chengliang had ulterior motives.

In this case, it was Li Chengliang alone, or several generals of the Liaodong Army who colluded with the Jurchens, or the Liaodong Army rebelled against the imperial court.

If it was just Li Chengliang, it would be easy and we could just design a plan to capture him. But if there were multiple generals of the Liaodong Army with ulterior motives and wanted to capture him, we would have to be cautious.

If the Liaodong army rebelled, the imperial court would have to prepare in advance. It is only two thousand miles from Liaodong to the capital. With the convenience of marching along the Great Wall, it would take less than 20 days to reach the capital.

The defense of the capital happened once in the 29th year of Jiajing's reign, and it must not happen again.

"Shisuke reminded me of that."

Qi Jiguang had cold sweat on his back and said with a dry mouth: "Tell the Jinyiwei to send an urgent message to the capital at an 800-mile speed. Ask His Majesty to close the Shanhaiguan Gate immediately to prevent any accidents."

Shanhaiguan is the most important town in the world. The city walls are strong and the moats are deep. Once the gates are closed, it is difficult for an army of tens of thousands, let alone hundreds of thousands, to enter.

Even if Li Chengliang led the Liaodong Army to counterattack the capital, he could only sigh in front of the Shanhaiguan Gate. Once the Ming army from other places arrived, the rebels would be dead.

Yu Dayou was shocked by this and said quickly: "Yuan Jing, it's not that serious yet."

The current Ming army has sufficient salaries, silver, rations and food, which is unprecedented in the 200 years since the founding of the country. Therefore, the loyalty of all troops is guaranteed.

After all, with money to spend and food to eat, who would want to go against such a good life?

Even if a general has great personal charm, it cannot compare to his bulging pockets and belly.

There is a possibility that the Liaodong Army will rebel, but the possibility is not high. All we need to do is let the Shanhaiguan garrison be on high alert.

Once the door is closed, it would be easy to alert the enemy and make Li Chengliang desperate.

Qi Jiguang was not unaware of this, but as he had just taken office as the commander-in-chief of the army and was cautious by nature, he was unwilling to take any risks. However, Yu Dayou's words still played some role, and he agreed to report the danger to the court, but there was no need to be too nervous.

Qi Jiguang gradually calmed down and slowly revealed the wisdom of a great marshal. He said: "Submit a memorial to the court and ask the court to issue two orders. One is to let the Liaodong Army speed up the elimination of the Jurchens. The second is to allow the Beiyuan Province to build a corps and march from west to east to support the Liaodong Army."

It is called support, but it is actually surveillance. As long as an unexpected incident occurs, the 60,000 troops from Beiyuan Province can take action to deal with the Liaodong Army.

Unlike the Liaodong Army that had a hard time fighting the Jurchens, the 60,000 men from Beiyuan Province had experienced hundreds of battles during the conquest of the Northern Tartars, and many of them were veterans, so it was not difficult for them to deal with the Liaodong Army.

These two orders were nominally an expression of dissatisfaction with Li Chengliang's slow progress in the war, but in fact they were also a precaution against Li Chengliang and the Liaodong Army.

Yu Dayou agreed, but out of trust in the 50,000 Liaodong soldiers and his life, he gritted his teeth and said, "Yuan Jing, I want to go to Liaodong secretly with the cattle and sheep I'm transporting to meet Li Chengliang."

Before the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, the Ming Dynasty's army, especially the border troops, whether they were the southeast army, the southwest army, or the nine-town border troops, were in a very difficult situation.

These ordinary soldiers who have shed blood and suffered countless hardships for the Ming Dynasty cannot pay an unbearable price because of the actions of a single general.

Yu Dayou wanted to go to Liaodong to meet Li Chengliang, point out the location of the Falun Temple to him, and see the reaction of Li Chengliang and the Liaodong army.

"Zhi Fu, isn't this too risky?" Qi Jiguang frowned.

If the Liaodong army really rebelled, Yu Dayou might not be able to come back.

Yu Dayou was gambled his own life against the lives of 50,000 soldiers in Liaodong.

If they win, Liaodong and the 50,000 border troops will be safe. If they lose, the general's head and the entire town of Liaodong will be lost.

does it worth?
Yu Dayou nodded heavily.

He could easily plot to kill a duke of the imperial consort, which was a disgrace to Li He, the royal family, and the Ming army. But he could not bear to see tens of thousands of soldiers in danger. He was a great general of the Ming dynasty, and the Liaodong army was also under his command.

Qi Jiguang did not persuade him any more. He stared at the map for a long time, drew a circle on the peninsula, and said slowly: "Yuan Jing, be careful that Li Chengliang will defect to Goryeo after his failure!"

……

Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou in action.

Li Chengliang was also taking action.

is the day.

A memorial was submitted to the cabinet.

Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, submitted a memorial pointing out that on the other side of the Yalu River, Goryeo was accepting the Jurchens. In other words, Goryeo was supporting the Jurchens behind the scenes, and the reason why the Jurchens had not been completely destroyed was all because of Goryeo.

The Kingdom of Goryeo rebelled against its suzerain, the Ming Dynasty, so Li Chengliang proposed to launch an attack on Goryeo and establish counties.

In short, Li Chengliang wanted to destroy Goryeo, incorporate the peninsula into the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and make it a county of the Ming Dynasty on the grounds that there were Jurchens in Goryeo and he suspected that Goryeo supported the Jurchens.

The memorial first entered the Yuxi Palace and then was transferred to the Cabinet. After reading it, the five cabinet elders, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong, Hu Zongxian, Li Chunfang, and Wang Chonggu, fell silent.

After a long while, Zhang Juzheng opened his mouth and said, "In my opinion, this is also good."

The imperial court had already made its arguments against all the enemies of the Ming Dynasty.

The biggest enemy in the north and northeast is the Tatar, who wanted the money and food of the Ming Dynasty and has now surrendered.

The next enemy is the Jurchens, who want to destroy the Ming Dynasty and are now being ravaged.

The next enemy was the Kingdom of Goryeo. Although the vassal relationship had always existed, they kept making small moves.

Every summer and autumn, they would disguise themselves as Jurchen troops and launch sneak attacks on the border towns and residents of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, Goryeo was really "stealing". It learned everything from China, but not completely. Whenever something was brought to the peninsula, it would be modified before being used again.

For example, the Goryeo language was modified from the Chinese language and then said to be the peninsula language. It is a very weird modification and is not even as good as the dialect of the Ming Dynasty.

He is a beggar who, when he gets the food, stirs the rice with his dirty hands and tells others that he cooked the food himself, not asked for it.

It perfectly interprets the sayings of "there is no silver here" and "stealing the bell while covering one's ears".

In Zhang Juzheng's view, the existence of the Goryeo Kingdom was like a toad that didn't want humans, but it was annoying, so he decided to destroy it.

Furthermore, as the Jinyiwei mined and surveyed the Iwami Silver Mine and the Sado Gold Mine in Japan, it became more certain that the reserves of these two mines were huge, which could well make up for the current situation of China's lack of silver and gold.

The cabinet is considering bringing Japan under the actual control of the Ming Dynasty, and Goryeo is a very good place for the military and political extension of the Ming Dynasty.

By conquering Goryeo, we could not only form a pincer attack with the inland of the Ming Dynasty and control the entire northeast of the Ming Dynasty, but also "guardianship" over Japan at any time.

On the issue of Japan, the cabinet proposed a proposal, which was "guardianship of Japan", that is, Ming would not take care of Japan's internal affairs, but Japan's diplomacy and military should be directly controlled by Ming. Ming would directly station troops, train troops, and garrison troops in Japan, breaking the traditional vassal system.

However, Japan was isolated overseas and the Ming Dynasty had no direct contact with it, so many of its methods could not be used. Once Goryeo was incorporated into the territory of the Ming Dynasty, Japan would be only a few dozen kilometers away from the land of the Ming Dynasty, and operations would be much easier.

Gao Gong immediately objected when he heard this, saying, "The boundary marker is right there. If the Jurchens flee into Goryeo, they will be buried with Goryeo. This is too overbearing.

Moreover, the Emperor Taizu Gao had a rule that Goryeo was one of the countries that the Ming Dynasty would not conquer. To start a war would not only violate the harmony of heaven, but also hurt the dignity of the country. "

The reason why Emperor Taizu Gao established the Unconquered Country was that "the barbarians in all directions are all limited by mountains and separated by seas, and are isolated in a corner. Their land is not enough to provide supplies, and their people are not enough to command. If they do not judge for themselves and come to harass our borders, it will be ominous for them. Even if they do not pose a threat to China, it will also be ominous if we raise an army to attack them lightly. I am afraid that future generations will rely on China's wealth and strength, be greedy for temporary military exploits, and raise troops for no reason, resulting in the loss of lives. Remember not to do this."

In other words, these small countries are poor and weak. If the Ming Dynasty sends troops there, it may not even be able to recover the military expenses. What is the point of such places?

It is worth mentioning that among the fifteen unconquered countries of the Ming Dynasty, Goryeo ranked first.

However, ancestral systems will change with time. Influenced by the emperor's "arbitrary" attitude towards the ancestral system, court officials gradually became more arbitrary with the ancestral system.

Take it out when it is useful, and ignore it when it disagrees with your opinion.

The reason why Gao Gong did not support the Nan Peninsula entering the territory of the Ming Dynasty was very simple: he was unwilling to spend money.

There are two ways to truly control a place. One is to suppress it with force and educate it, and the other is to relocate the entire population.

However, the first method takes a long time and has slow effects, which is obviously inconsistent with the rapid development of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the second method, according to the calculations of the Ministry of Revenue, the court's cumulative expenditure on the annexation of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the surrender of the grasslands, and the migration of millions of people would be over 100 million taels of silver.

If we were to capture Goryeo and relocate all of its people, the expenditure would be over 100 million taels of silver.

Gao Gong, who also served as the Minister of Revenue, had no interest in "helping the poor" of ethnic minorities and was unwilling to spend a penny.

Zhang Juzheng looked at Hu Zongxian and Wang Chonggu, two cabinet ministers who were awarded titles for their military merits, and asked professionals about professional matters, "Ruzhen, Xuefu (Wang Chonggu's pen name), what do you think?"

Hu Zongxian did not rush to express his opinion, but let Wang Chonggu come first. Wang Chonggu nodded and said: "Korea should be included in our Ming Dynasty strategy."

Gao Gong became even more anxious. Wang Chonggu pressed his hand to signal him to wait even though he was anxious. He continued, “Some time ago, I had contact with a missionary from the West. When drawing the world map, the Westerners translated the small countries that had a vassal relationship with our Ming Dynasty into “Asia” and placed them in the middle of the entire map, referred to as “Asia” for short. The location of Goryeo is in Northeast Asia. For our Ming Dynasty’s strategy, it is a place that cannot be avoided. It will be taken sooner or later.

However, I think Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Town, is not suitable as the main general to attack Goryeo.

This Li Chengliang, his background needs to be considered."

Li Chengliang's ancestors fled to Goryeo to avoid the chaos at the end of the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Li Chengliang's great-grandfather Li Ying, they moved from the peninsula to Tieling and returned to China.

Goryeo was half of Li Chengliang's ancestral land. Although Li Chengliang wanted to attack Goryeo, it could not be considered as forgetting his roots, but his behavior and means were indeed despicable.

Others can complete the Ming Dynasty's strategy, but Li Chengliang should focus on the present matter.

So much manpower, material resources, time, and energy was wasted on a Jurchen tribe. They are either waste or...

Hu Zongxian took over the conversation and said what Wang Chonggu had not finished, "I think Li Chengliang has a rebellious mind. This time he submitted a petition, I am afraid he wants to be king."

(End of this chapter)