The Ming Dynasty's Five Hundred Years

Chapter 325 Tiger Power
Although Li Xianmu disagreed with the campaign against Luchuan, he resolutely carried out the imperial decree issued by the palace.

At the Grand Secretary's command, the Ministry of War, the Court of Colonial Affairs, the Central Bank of the Ming Dynasty, and the General Administration of Customs of the Ming Dynasty immediately began to operate like a finely tuned machine.

"Prime Minister, this is a memorial submitted by the Central Bank, requesting an expenditure of five million taels of silver for the expedition against Luchuan."

"Let him dream big."

Li Xianmu was ruthless. "Send it back and make them redo their plans. If they dare to exceed two million taels, they can just beg for their bones and get out of here."

Li Xianmu was practically cursing. Five million taels?

He was willing to send the Anti-Corruption Chief to follow up on a case involving three million taels of silver, and he actually dared to ask for five million taels? Was he afraid that someone was trying to embezzle military funds?
"Prime Minister, the Five Military Commands have made a plan according to His Majesty's instructions, which calls for 150,000 troops to advance into Luchuan, and two million taels of silver. I'm afraid that's not enough."

Li Xianmu was taken aback, frowned, and said, "Why wouldn't I..."

He stopped mid-sentence and looked at the memorial submitted by the Central Bank, which bore the glaring figure of five million taels of silver.

He then looked back towards the palace.

What a hefty tuition fee! Hopefully, this setback will bring the emperor to his senses and help him mature.

In the end, Li Xianmu said nothing more. He simply circled the memorial and affixed his seal, which was bright red and upright. The four characters "Li Xianmu's Seal" represented a kind of power in this era.

Seeing that Yang Shiqi had persuaded Li Xianmu, the rest of the cabinet breathed a sigh of relief. They were actually very worried that Li Xianmu would quarrel with the emperor again, and then they really wouldn't know what to do.

No one can afford to offend them.

These days, being able to retire peacefully is already a blessing and a luxury.

"The Court of Colonial Affairs here..."

"Prime Minister, the Tax Commissioner plans to send four teams of personnel to Guizhou, Yunnan, Guangxi, and Jiaozhi provinces, along with the Ministry of War and the Five Military Commissions. If the imperial treasury does not have enough funds, then the military pay, provisions, and logistics for the conquest of Luchuan will be apportioned to these four provinces."

Since the war was being fought in the south, it was natural to need to conscript soldiers and supplies from the south, with the Jiangnan region being of paramount importance. However, because the north was dealing with the Mongols, the burden was already being shifted to the Jiangnan region, which bore the brunt of the workload, and no further supplies could be added.

Moreover, the imperial court set up a Nanjing branch of the General Tax Office in the three provinces of Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Yingtian Prefecture, which were directly northerners from Gansu, Shaanxi, Liaoning, Zhili, Shandong, and Henan, and was specifically responsible for collecting taxes from these three provinces.

Li Xianmu glanced at it, pondered for a moment, and then added Sichuan, Guangdong, Hunan, and Hubei. "If we only collect taxes from these four provinces, the burden might be too heavy and cause people to rise up in rebellion. Let's add a few more and spread the burden evenly."

Ugh.

What an undeserved disaster!

No one in the cabinet dared to speak. Yang Shiqi and Yang Pu naturally agreed with Li Xianmu, but with doves like them, there were also hawks.

There was long-standing dissatisfaction among the court and the public that Li Xianmu had not dispatched a large army to conquer Luchuan, believing that the cabinet was too weak and had disgraced the court.

"Does the Grand Secretary believe the imperial court cannot win?"

"This isn't the first time Da Ming and Lu Chuan have clashed. We can naturally win, and we can even wear them down. But if we can't defeat them in a short time, then it's better to lose quickly."

You must remember that our enemies have always been the Mongol Golden Family on the vast grasslands to the north and the Jurchens in the icy snow and deep forests of Liaodong.

Even if Luchuan develops for another thousand years, it can only stay in the deep mountains and forests and be passively attacked. But on the Mongolian grasslands and in the snowy lands of Liaodong, if things are not managed well for more than ten years, a regime that can sweep away everything and confront our Great Ming will emerge.

Back then, neither the Jin Dynasty nor the Mongol Empire rose suddenly, with a constant stream of talented individuals emerging, and suddenly they came to rule the world.
History serves as a mirror, revealing the rise and fall of dynasties. The lessons of the past are still fresh; we must be mindful of potential dangers even in times of peace, and never forget the calamities of the late Song Dynasty.

Li Xianmu looked out the window with his hands behind his back. He saw a clear blue sky, drifting clouds and mist, a gentle breeze, and calm waters.

……

At the end of the seventh year of the Zhengtong reign.

The imperial army was mobilized from the southern provinces, and a small part of the three major camps also came down the Grand Canal from the capital. Through the construction of a dense water network, they gathered outside Luchuan, ready to set off.

This was not the first time that the Ming Dynasty and Luchuan had clashed. As early as the fifth year of the Zhengtong reign, the Luchuan Rebellion had already begun. The Ming Dynasty's first campaign against the Luchuan rebels was very successful, and the rebel leaders were routed, with tens of thousands of heads taken.

but.

The desolate place of Luchuan is characterized by high mountains, dense forests, crisscrossing cliffs, and swift-flowing waters, making it extremely difficult to supply food and provisions. Every time the imperial army retreated due to food shortages, Luchuan would make a comeback and continue its rebellion.

At that time, the Five Military Commissions submitted a memorial to the court, hoping that the court would support their total mobilization, because the court had previously only used a portion of its forces. The generals believed that if the court could provide full support, they would definitely be able to pacify Luchuan.

However, Li Xianmu rejected this suggestion without hesitation.

The reason, as mentioned before, lies not in military strength, but in the hearts and minds of the people in the Luchuan Rebellion.

From both the perspective of the Ming Dynasty's external situation and the cost of war, it is impossible for him to agree to launch a national war of total mobilization against Luchuan, unless the Mongols were to die on the spot and the Ming Dynasty would have no external threats for the next ten or twenty years.

This campaign against Luchuan boasts an all-star lineup for this era, comprised of marquises and governors who distinguished themselves in the first Luchuan campaign.

The Yunnan direction mainly focuses on the Duke of Qian.

This war was led by Emperor Zhu Qizhen, so he used only fierce generals in order to win as many victories as possible.

Of course, many of these people were also connected with Li Xianmu. After all, these generals stationed in the field all had powerful backers in the court; otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to withstand the pressure for political reasons alone.

Li Xianmu was quite satisfied with Zhu Qizhen's personnel choices; with these veteran generals, the defeat was unlikely to be too devastating.

While the Luchuan Campaign was in full swing, Li Xianmu turned his attention to the northern provinces, especially the border provinces of Liaoning and Gansu. He also repeatedly urged the generals of the northern garrisons to pay close attention to the movements of the Tatars, Oirats, and Yilibali.

Any major changes on the grasslands must be immediately reported to the cabinet in the capital.

Secret reports were exchanged between the capital and key border towns, forming a vast and dense net that firmly bound the border regions into an indestructible Great Wall. This Great Wall could not be built with bricks and stones, but was maintained by concerted efforts and the cabinet. It was a "Great Wall of spirit".

One in the north and one in the south, with the Great Wall to defend against the Mongols in the north, the net to trap the Luchuan in the south, and the needle to pacify the sea kingdoms in the East China Sea, these were the three military networks that Li Xianmu built in response to the Ming Dynasty's foreign situation. They were meticulous, sophisticated, and effective.

At this moment, Da Ming took the initiative to tear open the net, wielding swords, spears, and halberds, ready to enter and fight the trapped beast.

……

The morale of the Ming generals was quite high. Many Ming generals were buried here after the first Battle of Luchuan. Among them were the sons of many generals who had died in the previous battle, who were in the army this time with the intention of avenging their deaths.

This is a force that even Li Xianmu cannot ignore.

For example, Fang Ying, the son of former Right Vice-General Fang Zheng, could never forget that hellish scene.

The corpses of the soldiers were covered in wounds, their bodies and faces burned, as if they had emerged from the lava of the deepest hell. Their faces were extremely ferocious, and anyone could feel the boundless pain they had endured before their deaths.

His father, who was at the forefront, died a gruesome death. He vowed to avenge his father, but after the first Battle of Luchuan, the imperial court chose to cease hostilities.

The Grand Secretary personally pressed the ceasefire button in Luchuan. He was just a minor commander who was rewarded for his merits after his father's death in battle, and he didn't even have the right to speak to the Grand Secretary.

Moreover, what about such a major event for the imperial court?
He was angry, helpless, and depressed, yet he still harbored fantasies that one day he could take up arms and go into battle.

He didn't expect this opportunity to come so quickly. His Majesty assumed personal rule and wanted to restart the Luchuan war. He immediately volunteered to come. He didn't understand the priorities in politics. He only knew that he had a chance to kill his enemy.

There are quite a few people like Fang Ying in the military.

Furthermore, the Ming army was significantly stronger than the Luchuan rebels, so the Ming army achieved successive victories and made numerous decapitations at the beginning of the war.

These battle reports were sent back to the capital one after another by express courier. The Ming army in Luchuan also took advantage of the victory and continued to advance deeper.

When the battle report reached the capital, Zhu Qizhen was overjoyed and smiled at his attendants, saying, "Just as I said, Luchuan is no match for us. Our Great Ming Dynasty is invincible. As long as we send troops, how could we possibly fail?"

The battle report also reached the cabinet. Li Xianmu glanced at it and put it aside without paying any attention. If the Ming Dynasty couldn't even win the first battle, then he should reorganize the Beijing garrison again and suspect that there might be something wrong with the Ming army.

The difficulties of Luchuan have never been about the fighting strength of the two armies.

The capital was quiet for less than a month before news from the Luchuan front began to get a little off.

The battle reports continued to report various victories, but Li Xianmu immediately saw the biggest problem: "If we've been winning all along, why hasn't the front line advanced? It's even retreated a bit."

Battle reports may lie, but the front lines don't!

He immediately sent people to investigate the specific situation on the ground.

Luchuan.

Everyone knew that things were not going well. After the initial overwhelming victories, the imperial army was once again facing the same problem: the supply of provisions was running out.

After suffering heavy losses in several counterattacks due to lack of supplies, most people knew that they could no longer launch direct attacks.

Otherwise, they would inevitably suffer a total defeat.

Looking up at the vast mountains and the hazy mist within them, it was like a dark shadow gripping one's heart, making it hard to breathe. After a series of setbacks, the Ming army, whose morale had been high in the early stages, began to decline.

The Ming army's losses were increasing, but the results were not good, and the losses were even gradually increasing. After the Duke of Qian and others gathered, they were helpless because there was only one fundamental reason: the forces deployed were not enough!
This war requires a greater investment of resources.

To achieve this would be no simple task. On a smaller scale, one could simply begin levying taxes in the surrounding provinces. However, this would require the cooperation of the Ministry of War, the Inspector General of Taxation, the Central Bank, and the Five Military Commissions, with the Five Military Commissions being the obvious choice to cooperate.

The other three departments cannot bypass the cabinet. The ministers of these three departments would not dare to give the army that was conquering Luchuan higher authority without reporting to the cabinet.

Especially the tax commissioner, how can collecting half a percent of the Luchuan tax be the same as collecting three percent?

The Central Bank is also under great pressure. The allocation of five million taels of silver has already been squeezed out from various places, and the Grand Secretary is already quite dissatisfied. If a large amount of money is allocated again, it will inevitably affect other matters of the Ming Dynasty this year.

Both the Ministry of War and the Five Military Commissions are well aware that more elite soldiers are needed now. There are too few soldiers capable of overcoming difficulties. We need elite troops like the Three Great Battalions or the elite border troops in the north. The garrison soldiers and those temporarily conscripted soldiers are too weak!
They are simply incapable of fighting any tough battles.

The situation was as it was, but the leaders all knew that the most difficult part was that they had to choose between the emperor and the prime minister. These two people had different ideas, which made things difficult for them.

Finally, the group's gazes all turned to the Duke of Qian, hoping, "Your Excellency, only your status and position are sufficient to submit a memorial. We are of lowly status and our voices carry little weight; the court may not take us seriously."

Duke Mu Ang of Daiqian immediately waved his hand and said, "I am not a duke at all, this matter..."

"Are we just going to drag this out here? You are in charge of the hereditary Duke's Mansion, one of the few dukes in the Ming Dynasty. If you don't speak up, we can't do anything. Duke, we urge you to speak up!"

Looking at the expectant eyes of everyone in the tent, Mu Ang felt his scalp tingle and his soul almost fly away. Among the successive heads of the Duke of Qian's mansion, he was considered to be of relatively poor combat skills, but his political acumen was extremely high.

He was well aware of the current turmoil within the court, and his strategy was very simple: not to get involved.

He obeyed only the decisions of the central government, whether they were issued by the emperor or the cabinet. As long as it was a decision of the central government, he would obey. This was the principle followed by the Duke of Qian's family throughout the generations.

If we ask him to submit a memorial now, wouldn't that offend Grand Secretary Li Xianmu?

Even though he comes from the Duke of Qian's family, he still can't afford to offend this person.

Not to mention him, in the entire Mu clan, perhaps only Mu Ying, the first Marquis of Xiping, the adopted son of Emperor Taizu, and posthumously enfeoffed as the Prince of Qianning, could surpass Li Xianmu by virtue of seniority, since Li Xianmu still had to call him uncle.

As for his cousin who is not related by blood, dealing with him would probably be a piece of cake. Besides, he is not the real Duke of Qian, but merely the one in charge of the Duke of Qian's mansion.

"No, no, no."

Mu Ang continued to refuse, saying, "You should think of another way. This proposal is absolutely unacceptable."

Seeing Li Xianmu's tyrannical power, even Mu Ang, who was in charge of the Duke of Qian's mansion, did not dare to submit a memorial. Everyone sighed and became even more fearful.

For a moment, I was frozen in place, at a loss for what to do.

(End of this chapter)