eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 879: Military Aircraft Master

Xia Yan was transferred to the capital at the instruction of Zhu Houzhao.

This person was somewhat famous when he was studying history, so he had a slight impression.

Xia Yan's life can be said to be a life dedicated to revitalizing the Ming Dynasty, or a life of fighting with Yan Song.

In the end, he was defeated in front of Mr. Yan Ge.

The specific incident at that time was that Zeng Mian, the minister of the Ministry of War and the governor of Shaanxi military affairs, sent a letter to the court to regain the Hetao. Xia Yan was very supportive in the court.

But there was one person who did not support it, that is Emperor Jiajing.

At this time, this man was obsessed with refining. He was very opposed to fighting. It would be fine if he won. But if he lost, wouldn't it cause trouble for nothing?

The key point is that it was not easy to win in the eyes of the people at the time. It was really not to his liking to keep shouting to regain the lost ground.

He asked the courtiers: Is it really famous to drive out the rebels in Hetao now? If the soldiers really have enough food, will they be able to succeed? What's the point of a former child? How about poisoning the living people?

For him, if he doesn't fight this battle, everyone will be safe and sound, and he can concentrate on cultivating Taoism.

It's really annoying to fight.

Being a good person and acting without giving others a way out will eventually push you to a dead end.

But if the emperor is not involved in such a big event as sending troops to fight, who can coordinate it all? Apart from anything else, how could it be done without the pressure of the emperor or powerful ministers when the national treasury was already tight with the huge amount of military expenditure alone?

Therefore, if Emperor Jiajing wants to find a reason, he will definitely be able to find one.

Xia Yan was executed in the 1548th year of Jiajing (1526). There are still twenty-two years left in the twenty-first year of Zhengde (), ​​and he is sixty-seven years old.

Later, he had someone forge Xia Yan's letter to Zeng Mian, falsely accusing Zeng Mian of not reporting his defeat, deducting military pay, and bribing Xia Yan.

In fact, Zhu Houzhao himself was thinking that Yan Song was also helping Emperor Jiajing do dirty things by framing Xia Yan. Emperor Jiajing himself wanted to deal with Xia Yan.

The implication is that if you desperately say you want to fight but are not prepared enough, it must be your fault.

To put it bluntly, he would not 'pretend to be confused'. In the 24th year of Jiajing reign, Yan Song had already gained power in both the government and the public. Xia Yan was recalled back to the court and placed above Yan Song. They even have to remove these people from their official positions.

Of course, during the process, this experienced emperor wielded power in a fierce way, because Zeng Mian recommended it several times and he expressed his agreement. Then ask the Ministry of War to come up with specific measures, including military expenditures, generals, weapons, soldiers, etc.

To put it bluntly, Xia Yan and Bian Jiang got together.

This was also the reason why Zhu Houzhao kept attacking him in this life, so that he was still an eighth-grade field leader in middle age.

At this time, how could a cunning and cunning person like Yan Song not know the emperor's thoughts?

In addition, Xia Yan and he were tit for tat in the court, and they had to seize on him several times to punish him. So he wanted to take this opportunity to bring down Xia Yan.

From this perspective, whoever is in Yan Song's position will have to find a way to get rid of him.

It's also because Xia Yan has some problems.

So Emperor Jiajing scolded the ministers again.

Not only that, Xia Yan, the young eunuchs around Emperor Jiajing, also had arrogant attitudes.

It's just that he is a bit arrogant and treats people very rudely.

He was fine when he first entered the court, but as he gradually defeated Zhang Cong, Fang Xianfu and others, he began to lose control of himself. His ups and downs are all related to this.

His tactics were very good. As the emperor, he couldn't keep being a coward, lest he lose his reputation as a "wise king", but he really didn't want to fight, so he found fault with the war department's preparations for war.

This is something that the emperor is very taboo about.

On the surface, it doesn't matter that you should come up with a solution for what the minister proposes.

Because although Emperor Jiajing's moral values ​​were not normal, he was extremely smart. How could it be possible for Yan Song to deceive him?

A person,

No matter how pretentious you are, if you still achieve nothing when you are in your forties and approaching your destiny, then you will most likely have to 'reconcile' with yourself. Otherwise, how will you live the rest of your life?

Only a few people are still paranoid and arrogant. Although they have accomplished nothing, they are still arrogant. They are invincible and have no choice.

But Xia Yan's own achievements are still indelible.

When he was the first assistant, he improved the cabinet, suppressed eunuchs, rectified officialdom, consolidated border defense, inspected farmland, and restricted officials and merchants. In addition, in the original history, during the Zhengde period, the phenomenon of taking credit and abuse of title was very serious, and it was Xia Yan who insisted on investigating.

After doing this, he found out that more than 30,000 people had falsely claimed credit, and 140,000 craftsmen and handymen were used at will. Millions of kilograms of grain are saved every year for this purpose.

How to put it, a person's character determines his destiny. If he hadn't been upright and heroic, he might not have been able to offend so many people. You must know that he was the pretend leader of Lian Jin Yiwei and a handyman.

In this life, he no longer had the opportunity to discuss matters with great ceremony, nor did he gain the emperor's favor when he was young.

In the twelfth year of Zhengde's reign, he passed the Jinshi examination and thought that his life would be smooth from then on. However, he did not expect that in the past ten years his official position had become smaller and smaller, and he almost lost his life in the Sichuan storm.

Now over forty-five years old, he is also much more restrained.

What's more, today's court has a strong monarch and a group of capable ministers. Even if he is arrogant, he must have some restraint.

It is not his turn to 'save the world' now that the imperial court is in ruins and full of treacherous ministers.

So even though he suddenly came to Beijing this time, he still stayed calm and did not visit or receive any reception. After waiting like this for half a month, it was almost the first month of the year, and finally he was asked to wait for the order to confer an official. His official name was: Military Aircraft Doctor.

The position of doctor was borrowed from the Six Ministries. For example, the Ministry of War had the doctor of the Martial Arts Department. The title is fifth grade.

Therefore, it is obvious that the military aircraft doctor is a full-fledged official.

It is said that the imperial court separated the military and political affairs a year ago and made the military aircraft department and the cabinet work in parallel.

Since then, the choice of Minister of Military Aircraft has been affecting people's hearts.

Now the answer to the mystery is revealed. The emperor does not want important ministers to be on military duty, but instead sets up fifth-rank official positions.

The intention is the same as the original cabinet, because this position is very important. If the official position is also very large, it means that the position is high and powerful.

Giving you a low grade now is just to suppress you.

The purpose of suppressing the power of ministers is naturally to demonstrate the power of the king. These officials, who are the size of sesame seeds and mung beans, are not qualified to talk to the emperor at all. They are of almost no use other than taking orders, preparing moves, and uploading and issuing orders.

But this is just the current situation,

In a few years, the status of the cabinet will gradually decline, and the real parallel to the military aircraft department must be the attendant's room.

The emperor is in the center, his position is natural.

In fact, there is a very dangerous aspect of the separation of military and political affairs. If civil servants cannot speak out on military issues, once the emperor is weak, the military department will suddenly have military power and one family will become dominant. What will happen then?

But the military power cannot be given to Mr. Ge.

Anyone other than the emperor who holds military power will get into trouble.

This is why after the military rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Song and Ming dynasties of the Han Dynasty emphasized civility over military affairs. Because the imperial system had no way to overcome this shortcoming, no one could guarantee that emperors of all generations would be bright-minded. The safest way was to abolish military personnel.

It's a knee-jerk reaction - as long as a general shows up, I'll take care of you.

That's actually it.

In this way, martial virtue will naturally be insufficient.

Zhu Houzhao's only solution was to separate troop command, troop deployment, and wartime command. Simply put, the person in charge of the troops does not have the power to mobilize troops.

When there is a war, the generals will be transferred to serve as marshals and lead the troops on the expedition. Normally, the two parties are not allowed to be together.

The other is to ensure an elite garrison force in the capital, staffed by nobles and close associates. In this way, if the central government is not in chaos, other places will not be in chaos.

The army is an active volcano wherever it is. If it is made stronger without artistic control methods, it will easily explode.

The Qing Dynasty's method of controlling the army is also not suitable for reference, because the Qing Dynasty only had Yongdi and no Hundi. Huang Taiji, Shunzhi, Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang, Xianfeng... the remaining emperors for many consecutive generations were relatively reliable, even if Some of his abilities were lacking, and running the country was a mess, but at least he didn't do anything like the Military Aircraft Department just turning its back on it.

Except that Xianfeng was a little lazy and had poor health and energy, so he asked Cixi to approve the memorial on his behalf, but something went wrong later.

So if there is a carpenter emperor, who has not been in court for decades, and who does not even look at the military aircraft, it is hard to say whether it will be chaos or not.

All in all, when the emperor is weak, trouble is easy to happen. Wasn't there the Obai Rebellion in the early days? Therefore, it is not that the system is too good, but an adult and reliable emperor is the key.

From this perspective, it is indeed worth debating whether to establish the eldest son or the one with the best ability.

No matter what, Zhu Houzhao put aside the possibility of military chaos and put up a stand at the military aircraft department.

Inside, there were only a few military pilots... They were not asked to kneel down and take notes, but they still only assisted in some basic work, and the real decision-making power rested with him.

In addition, the placement of civilian officials instead of generals on military aircraft is also a consideration for the checks and balances between civil and military forces.

If the Military Aircraft Department is full of border generals and people who are always ready to use big swords, it is really unimaginable that after two or three generations, a strong man will appear and take the emperor hostage. This is Cao Aha's idea of ​​"taking the emperor hostage to order the princes".

So when it comes to deploying troops for war, the Military Aircraft Department cannot decide on its own. The battle plan, troops, food, money, and weapons are all circulated internally. That won't work!

Military affairs, important matters of the country, must be discussed with the courtiers. The Military Aircraft Department only assists the emperor in commanding various military divisions, so military orders are issued from the Military Aircraft Department.

And what is the Ministry of War doing now?

First, recruit troops and conduct initial training. Second, establish the rank and salary of general officers. Third, the research and development of weapons and equipment. Fourth, dispatch and supply military uniforms, grain, war horses, ammunition and other materials. Fifth, the construction and management of various military infrastructures such as military ports and castles. Sixth, manage military academies.

Zhu Houzhao will further expand their responsibilities in the future, such as war mobilization, placement of retired soldiers, national defense education, etc.

The general direction is: the Ministry of War is in charge of everything except the deployment of troops to fight, and the Military Aircraft Department is in charge of everything except directing operations.

In this way, people who have too much control will not be able to direct them.

People who can command cannot fight without logistical support.

From this point of view, the Military Aircraft Department does not need important ministers, because the emperor will still discuss specific war plans with the court officials and will not be decided by the Military Aircraft Department.

In particular, it cannot be said that the military aircraft department skipped over other people. With his own order, the troops of a certain military region were moved.

As for Xia Yan, he was naturally extremely surprised by his new position.

Unfortunately, he had no seniors to consult with, so he could only go on duty with trepidation.

After arriving at the military aircraft office, I found that there were several different 'rooms' divided according to military divisions. Memorials submitted by different military divisions entered different rooms.

Zhu Houzhao did not insist on writing work for soldiers. He only had two requirements:

First, write down the attribute classification of the matter. For example, if it is a request to send troops, then it is a use of troops; if it is a change on the frontier, then it is a border incident, etc.

Second, be sure to indicate the degree of urgency, whether it is general, urgent or special, and mark it yourself.

In this way, the people in the Military Aircraft Department knew how to classify them, sort them according to each military division, and then send them to the Qianqing Palace for the emperor's inspection and approval.

Sometimes when there were too many things to do, Zhu Houzhao wanted to save trouble, that is, he would dictate the notes and let these military doctors take notes. Finally, he would circle his own name, which was equivalent to Zhu's signature.

This was what Xia Yan did for the first time. They couldn't read these memorials, they could only sort them into categories, then carry them over in piles, and then take back the piles that Emperor Zhu had approved and distribute them according to the process.

When there is no war, most of the things are for the commander-in-chief of each military region to report the progress of forming a Class A field army.

Zhu Houzhao only used instructions to find out, or picked out one or two points to warn. In fact, it was relatively easy. He also had time to raise his eyebrows and glanced at Xia Yan, "Are you in charge of the Xinjiang Military Region?"

Xia Yan didn't dare to look up and could only reply, "Your Majesty, yes."

"understood."

According to the current memorial system, after the emperor has reviewed it, they can read it in a 'copying and filing' method.

This process will bring you into contact with the country's military affairs. If you are a thoughtful person, you will understand the country's logic of doing things after a period of time, and your skills will quickly increase.

Zhu Houzhao just made a comment and didn't say much, just let him copy it first.

(End of this chapter)