Wandering the Heavens

Criticism of Wang Zhen continued, and some families even invited opera troupes to hold celebrations and performed the main song "Wang Zhen's Evil Deeds" compiled by Yu Xian himself. Then the officials of the Three Judicial Departments seemed to have gained a lot from the work of clearing up Wang Zhen, so the corrupt officials who were investigated also received similar treatment.

Yu Xian was too lazy to pay attention to their infighting, and took advantage of the disastrous defeat at Tumu Fort to reorganize military affairs and plan an expedition.

The most sinister principle of war for agricultural civilization is to defend in autumn and fight in spring. Nomadic peoples do not have to follow this rule, but they must find suitable grazing in the rainy season when the climate warms up, and settle the cattle and sheep before the snow falls to reduce the number of people freezing to death. The rest of the time, they cross the Great Wall under the leadership of noble lords to plunder all the supplies and people they can.

On the third day of the third month of the first year of Jingtai, the Duke of Xuanwu personally led the soldiers who had performed well in the defense of Beijing to form a new army and marched to the grassland in the name of revenge. This expedition was to avoid the attacks of the civil officials, who were too annoying.

In fact, after years of infiltration, Zhu Jianshen's ruling team had spread throughout the two capitals and thirteen provinces, but as long as Zhu Jianshen did not ascend the throne, they had to reveal their position.

From taking over the Five Military Governors' Office in mid-October last year to before the expedition, Yu Xian had already firmly controlled the military power here and established the General Military Affairs Office. The five governors could no longer issue orders at will, and the Ministry of War, which was dominated by civilian officials, had no way to intervene.

It was originally thought that since the nobles died in Tumu Fort, the civil officials could take this opportunity to rise up and change the situation of emphasizing military over civil officials since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. Who knew that Yu Xian, the bastard, would crush the possibility of civil officials suppressing military generals in just half a year.

Not only that, he also petitioned the emperor to set up a Military Academy. Military officers above the rank of a thousand households must have experience studying in the Military Academy before they can be promoted further. In addition to the Military Academy, an institution for training professional officers, he also reformed the military supervision system. Units above the rank of a hundred households must have a military supervisor who is responsible for the daily management of the soldiers.

In this way, the army will have two chief officers, one responsible for daily training and combat command, and the other responsible for managing the soldiers' status and logistics.

God knows how Yu Xian, an old man who is almost seventy years old, can be so energetic. After some further investigation, I found out that there is a Military Affairs Office with 500 people in the Five Military Commanders' Office. So there is nothing to worry about.

In line with the tradition that if you agree, I oppose, they saw that the Five Military Commandery was increasingly out of the control of the civil service system, so they could only focus their conflicts on opposing this expedition, and all kinds of opinions were said at once.

However, the Ministry of War was Yu Qian's home turf, and their opposition was useless. The military funds that should be allocated were still allocated according to the budget. Moreover, there was a group of Yu Xian's disciples lurking in the dark. When other civil officials wrote letters to scold Xuanwu Bo, they followed suit and scolded him even more fiercely, but they did not miss a single thing. It was the same mentality as the students who wanted to blow up their alma mater in reality.

As the sun rose, the soldiers rode on their horses towards Xuanfu. Yu Xian and Yu Qian stood on a high platform, looking at the soldiers marching in an orderly manner, and then looked at the tall Beijing city wall behind them.

"Xuanwu Bo, you chose a really bad time to go on this expedition!"

Watching the cavalry slowly walking away into the distance, Yu Qian, who had come to see them off, was a little confused.

"Minister Yu, as long as I am in the court, people will not be at peace. It is better for me to go out and take a look. My goal of this expedition is to take control of the Hexi Corridor. You can start preparing for it, otherwise it will be too late." Yu Xian changed the subject.

"You have other intentions!" Yu Qian had a strategic vision. At present, the Ming Dynasty's control over the Hexi Corridor was very weak, and Hami Wei and Jiayuguan were more like an enclave.

“The King of Zhongshan and the King of Kaiping recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun that had been lost by the Central Plains dynasty for more than 400 years. We can’t let this go! The Western Regions lost in the late Tang Dynasty must also be taken back. Once a country’s fortune and power come to a halt, it will regress! From the first year of Hongxi to August of the fourteenth year of Zhengtong, everything seemed to be peaceful and tranquil. But in fact, the Ming Dynasty was regressing, and everyone was just blinded by the superficial prosperity.” Yu Xian’s words were a little heavy.

"Is it wrong to stop the war and give the people a rest?" Yu Qian was so devastated by these words that he began to doubt his life.

"As ordinary people, we naturally want to live a good life. However, we are fortunate to have come out from the common people and can see farther than them. We should also be able to see the potential crises under prosperity earlier than them. If we fail to prepare for the rainy day, when the problem breaks out, it will be like a catastrophe, and we will be powerless to save the situation!" Yu Xian's words sounded like alarmist talk.

"Since you have such great ambitions, why have you kept your shortcomings hidden until now?" Yu Qian didn't understand why Yu Xian acted like such a grandson.

"From the beginning to the end, I am just a human being. If I were to take responsibility for another possibility of the Ming Dynasty, I don't have the ability to do that!" Yu Xian explained.

"From today on, you, the Earl of Xuanwu, are no longer a human being. I, Yu Qian, also want to see another possibility of the Ming Dynasty!" Yu Qian looked at Yu Xian and bowed solemnly.

"It is my honor! I will soon be on an expedition to the grasslands. During this period, all court affairs will remain the same. But one thing is that no matter how the emperor views the emperor's northern expedition, you must not express your opinion. Just protect the prince."

Now Xiao Bishen's martial arts skills are very high, and the soldiers and officers who guard Zhu Jianshen are carefully selected from the Beidou Guards. However, they have no autonomy. If the emperor orders Zhu Jianshen to live in the Forbidden City, they can only obey the order.

"Don't worry, I will never let the prince fall into their hands." Yu Qian clenched his fists.

"Tingyi, take care!" Yu Xian jumped on his horse and bowed to Yu Qian.

"Marquis Xuanwu, take care!" Yu Qian also responded with a bow.

Yu Xian led the army through Juyongguan to Xuanfu. When passing Tumubao, the temple dedicated to the Tumubao army had been completed. At the entrance of the main hall was an iron kneeling statue of Wang Zhen and his followers. Yu Xian held a sacrifice here, took officers of all levels to visit the battlefield, and then continued to march. Finally, after a day of recuperation in Xuanfu, he entered the vast grassland.

From March of the first year of Jingtai to the beginning of the third year of Jingtai, Yu Xian, the Earl of Xuanwu, led 12,000 cavalrymen deep into the grassland, fighting to support the war. He did not take women and children or property. He only plundered some supplies from the surrendering tribes, and massacred all the adult men from the resisting tribes.

In this way, they went all the way west and finally entered Jiayuguan through the Hexi Corridor. After investigating here for several months, they set out non-stop back to Beijing. Yu Xian didn't even want the army anymore, and only led more than a hundred personal soldiers to rush day and night from the foot of the Great Wall.

It was only because the situation in Beijing had changed at this time, and the reason was that not long after he went on the expedition, an old hand brought Zhu Qizhen back from Wala with his mouth.

Zhu Qiyu, whose mentality had changed at this time, no longer liked his brother. After meeting him once, he put him under house arrest in the Nan Palace. However, the court officials kept forcing Zhu Qiyu to improve Zhu Qizhen's treatment, and even hinted that Zhu Qiyu was just a substitute for Zhu Qizhen, short of saying that the real master had returned and Zhu Qiyu should be sensible enough to hand over the throne and get out.

This touched Zhu Qiyu's sore spot. During this period, a case occurred that almost put Zhu Qizhen to death, but in the end, the investigation of the case turned out to be a mess.

For this reason, Zhu Qiyu focused his attention elsewhere. In the third year of Jingtai, he bribed the ministers to depose Crown Prince Zhu Jianshen as King of Yi, and made his own son Zhu Jianji the Crown Prince.

The situation was getting more and more serious, and Zhu Jianshen's life was in danger at any time. Yu Xian had to give up his plan to continue investigating the Hexi Corridor and return to Beijing to take Zhu Jianshen with him to prevent him from being affected by the life in the past five years.