My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 64 Border emergency

It turned out that the so-called invasion by Altan Khan was caused by a middle-level tribal leader of Altan Khan's tribe secretly smuggling Hanaji with the Datong border troops. He happened to meet Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda, who was inspecting the border and seized the black market goods.

Hannaji suffered heavy losses, so he united with several tribes near Datong and raised an army, claiming to have 100,000 people. They surrounded Datong and demanded goods.

While Wang Chonggu sent troops to the court for support, he also organized the defense of Datong City and sent people out of the city to spy on the situation. Finally, he determined that Han Naji was just bluffing and actually had only 10,000 to 20,000 cavalry in total.

Of course, Wang Chonggu could not defeat the enemy even with 10,000 or 20,000 people outside the city, but it was more than enough for him to defend the city. While consolidating the defense of Datong City, he wrote a letter to the court, requesting the court to make a decision.

So when Wang Chonggu's second memorial was sent to the capital, the wind direction changed completely.

In the public room of the newspaper office, Shen Yikuan and Su Ze were talking about the interesting things that happened to the ministers these days.

"The court has been in a state of chaos lately. A few days ago, there were reports of Altan Khan invading the border. Some ministers submitted petitions urging Your Majesty to emulate Emperor Chengzu and personally lead the army in a northern expedition; others urged Your Majesty to move the capital to Nanjing to avoid his direct attack."

Luo Wanhua, who was writing a manuscript on the side, also laughed. The court was in chaos a few days ago, and it was very lively.

I don’t know whether these people who made these outrageous comments really don’t understand military affairs, or whether they are just trying to attract attention and gain popularity.

Su Ze looked at Shen Yi Guan and said jokingly:

"Didn't Brother Jianwu also submit a petition requesting the transfer of Zhejiang troops to guard the border? I heard that Lord Zhang took this suggestion very seriously and even drafted it himself?"

When Shen Yikuan heard Su Ze praising him, he couldn't help but straighten his back.

Shen Yikuan was from Zhejiang. His suggestion in the memorial was to dispatch Zhejiang soldiers who had made great contributions in the anti-Japanese war to the north.

There are many mines in the mountainous area of ​​southern Zhejiang, so there have been many miners here since ancient times.

When Qi Jiguang was fighting against the Japanese pirates in Zhejiang, he noticed that the people in southern Zhejiang were good at fighting, so he trained them and recruited them into the army, which was the Qi Family Army in later generations.

Shen Yikuan should have known about the strength of Qi's army, and his memorial was supported by Zhang Juzheng.

My good friend must have military talent.

In the history before Su Ze traveled through time, Shen Yikuan was the chief minister of the cabinet during the Wanli Dynasty. During his tenure as the chief minister of the cabinet, he planned the war to resist Japanese invaders and aid Korea.

Shen Yikuan was able to withstand the tremendous pressure of Emperor Wanli's inattention to government affairs, the constraints of officials in the outer court, and the collapse of the empire's finances, and finally won the war against Japanese invaders and aided Korea. His military abilities should be qualified.

Of course, Su Ze would not simply think that this was Shen Yiquan’s personal idea.

With Longqing giving a name to Xu Jie's garden, the storm of liquidating Xu Jie was suppressed.

However, Xu Jie had completely lost his political power, and an undercurrent of reversing the verdict on Xu Jie's political enemies emerged in the court.

Xu Jie defeated the Yan Party, but were all those targeted by Xu Jie partisans of the Yan Party?
One of the largest local leaders was Hu Zongxian, who once led the anti-Japanese resistance in Zhejiang.

Hu Zongxian's governor's office was in Zhejiang, and he was also in Zhejiang most of the time when he was in charge of the anti-Japanese war in the southeast. In the entire Zhejiang officialdom, countless officials were promoted and made contributions because of Hu Zongxian.

After Hu Zongxian's downfall, these officials were naturally affected.

When Xu Jie was in power, these officials from Zhejiang did not dare to speak out. Now that Xu Jie has fallen, these officials from Zhejiang or with ties to Zhejiang have begun to resurface.

Zhang Juzheng obviously noticed this force. The memorial he wrote to Shen Yikuan also expressed his attitude towards these "Zhejiang Party members". He, Zhang Juzheng, was willing to accept these Zhejiang Party members.

Zhang Juzheng did just that in history. Tan Lun, who served as Hu Zongxian's deputy, and Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou, generals who served under Hu Zongxian, were all recruited by Zhang Juzheng. Pan Jixun, a water conservancy expert from Zhejiang, also managed the Yellow River and the Grand Canal with Zhang Juzheng's support.

After figuring out the key point, Shen Yikuan was probably pushed out by the Zhejiang Party to test the waters.

Of course, this is also beneficial to Shen Yikuan himself. Although this memorial was kept by the emperor, the emperor has already seen this option. If the situation in the north really deteriorates to this extent, Shen Yikuan, who first advocated the garrisoning of Zhejiang troops in the north, will be able to obtain a lot of political rewards.

After talking about what happened a few days ago, Shen Yi Guan said:

"Governor Wang's second memorial has arrived in the capital, and the atmosphere in the court has changed again. Now the court is divided into two factions."

"One faction wanted to resolutely enforce the border control policy, confiscate the stolen goods of the merchants of Bahan Naji and Bufa, and punish the merchants who smuggled goods to the Altan tribe."

"The most radical among them was the Metropolitan Censorate. Thirteen imperial censors jointly submitted a petition demanding that the people living around Xuanfu and Datong be relocated back to the interior, and that a border relocation and border closure policy be implemented at the border."

Luo Wanhua raised his head and frowned and said:

"Relocate the border? What will happen if the border is left empty? How will we resettle the people living near Xuanfu and Datong if we move them all inland?"

Shen Yiguan also nodded and said:

"Yes, it's easy for these censors to say it, as if the people at the border can be settled down with just one order from the court. If these relocated people are not properly resettled and cause unrest among the refugees, I'm afraid the entire northern border affairs will be ruined by them!"

"But they keep saying that the border ban is an ancestral law, and they cite the example of the previous emperor. Back then, the previous emperor opened a horse market in Xuanda, but these Tatars were fickle, so the previous emperor eventually rescinded the order and continued the border ban."

"This faction is the most vocal right now. Many ministers support the idea of ​​clearing the countryside and strictly enforcing border restrictions."

Luo Wanhua asked again: "What about the other faction?"

Shen Yiguan said, "It was a group of officials with experience in local government, led by Zheng Luo, the Shanxi councilor. They advocated relaxing border restrictions and engaging in trade with Altan's tribe."

Luo Wanhua frowned and said:
"When Altan Khan's forces were surrounding Datong, did we propose to agree to trade? Wouldn't that make the Ming Dynasty seem too weak?"

Shen Yiguan also nodded and said:

"This faction is also criticized in the same way. The censors also attacked Zheng Luo for being weak and incompetent. Some even said that Zheng Luo was the mastermind behind the smuggling in Shanxi and that he advocated relaxing border restrictions just to make a profit."

"But I've read Zheng Luo's memorial. He doesn't want to relax the border restrictions now. Instead, he wants to negotiate with Altan Khan and ask him to control the border tribes. He can only open the border market after the border situation stabilizes. This is actually a wise suggestion."

Shen Yiguan whispered again:

"Zheng Luo is a councilor of Shanxi and deputy to Wang Chonggu, the governor of Xuanda. I'm afraid his memorial also reflects Governor Wang's intentions."

"In fact, Governor Wang has been proposing to reopen the border market for years, but the opposition from the court is too great."

Shen Yi Guan sighed, "This incident is so confusing, and we don't know what will happen. His Majesty seems to be very hesitant, and he is keeping both sides in the dark."

Su Ze pointed out the crux of the matter in one sentence:

"What is the attitude of the cabinet ministers?"

(End of this chapter)