Chongzhen Chat Group

Not long after, all the ministers arrived at Wenhua Hall. Many people's minds are focused on the upcoming auction of shares of Daming Construction Bank. They wonder why the emperor suddenly summoned them.

Emperor Chongzhen did not delay and said straight to the point: "I summoned all the ministers here to discuss the issue of military pay for the border troops in Qin!"

Upon hearing this, everyone felt troubled. This problem has actually been plaguing the court, but there is no solution for the most part.

Wen Tiren had been in contact with Emperor Chongzhen for a long time, so he naturally knew him better than others. With a thought in his heart, he bowed and said, "I wonder what your Majesty's strategy is?"

"Well, I just have an idea. I summoned all the ministers just to see how this idea goes!" Emperor Chongzhen nodded and replied, "The main reason for the salary of the border army lies in the loss of true colors, which consumes a lot of transportation, and the loss of silver depends on the quality. Silver has no food. The fundamental reason is that Qin is not rich in supplies."

"Your Majesty, your Majesty!" Wen Tiren agreed, flattering him a little. Everyone has a consensus on this. Otherwise, there would be no need to waste money and food on the long and dangerous journey.

"The land of Qin is only rich in Hanzhong, but the taxes collected by the imperial court from Hanzhong are very limited..." Wen Tiren followed Emperor Chongzhen's thoughts and said this. Suddenly his heart moved, and he was a little surprised. He looked up at Emperor Chongzhen and said, "Your Majesty's intention , it should be with the kings of Qin..."

Emperor Chongzhen understood what Wen Tiren meant. He thought he wanted to attack the vassal kings and gentry of Qin and clear out the fields in the Hanzhong Plain to create more fields that the court could collect taxes from. But this was not what he meant. He had said before that it was not yet time to move them. Therefore, he immediately shook his head and interrupted Wen Tiren's words: "No, what I mean is that the nine bends of the Yellow River are only rich in one thing!"

"..." After hearing this, the officials were stunned. They did not expect that the emperor would actually set his sights on the land of the Loop.

Indeed, the Hetao is rich. If it is cultivated and irrigated by the water of the Yellow River, it will be able to produce a lot, more than enough to feed the Qin Dynasty. But the problem is, the Loop is not in Ming’s hands!

"Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty once occupied Tumochuan, but it is difficult to hold it!" Min Hongxue, the assistant minister, added.

Shen Yongmao, Minister of the Ministry of War, also followed suit and said: "Your Majesty, the Tumochuan tribe has tens of thousands of people, and now there is a new arrival, Lin Dan Khan. The number of people is so large that our Ming Dynasty is afraid... I am afraid that it will be difficult to defeat!"

"Yes, Your Majesty, now in our Ming Dynasty, there are rebels in the east, chieftain rebellion in the west, and frequent droughts in various places. At this time, it is time to recuperate and recuperate. If we use weapons and fight on several sides, it will be an embarrassing burden!" Wen Tiren Then he also said that this time, he had objections.

When Emperor Chongzhen saw that most of his ministers were opposed, he was not annoyed and continued the discussion: "I know what you mean. But if war can make money, then is it okay to fight?"

"Making money by fighting?" When the officials heard this, they looked at each other and were all confused by this novel statement. Fighting has always been a costly and laborious matter. When did it become profitable?

When Emperor Chongzhen saw this, he frowned and gave an example: "Although the Jianlu are our enemies, their wars make money."

"..." The ministers were speechless.

After a while, Wen Tiren, as the first assistant, had to say: "Your Majesty, our Ming Dynasty is a kingdom of heaven and a country of etiquette. How can we learn to build captives and plunder the people?"

"Wrong!" Emperor Chongzhen immediately denied, "It's not plundering the people, it's loot! Land, wealth, and population are just the spoils of war after winning the war! Moreover, I didn't say that I would allow the Ming army to plunder the people. The wealth of the people is a spoil of war!”

Wen Tiren looked at his colleagues, with a little helplessness on his face. The emperor is the greatest, he wants to say so, but in reality it’s not much different!

On the contrary, Shen Yongmao and Min Hongxue, who had commanded the war, were thoughtful after hearing this. Ordinary Confucian scholars may be pedantic, but those in high positions are rarely truly pedantic.

Emperor Chongzhen thought about it and made his attitude clear: "Let's put it this way, which one is more important, the people of other countries or the people of Ming Dynasty? Let our people of Ming Dynasty starve to death or the people of other countries starve to death. Which one do you choose? Drought in Qin It has been two years. Do you know how many people have died? The grassland tribes are the enemies of our Ming Dynasty. Their people have become herdsmen and bandits. How many times have they invaded our Ming Dynasty? They have occupied Tumochuan in vain. In the plains, but you only know how to raise animals, how wasteful it is, how many people are you missing?"

When he said this, when he saw that some ministers wanted to speak, he spoke louder: "I know that it is not easy to use troops on the grassland. It is easy to defeat them, but it is difficult to annihilate them. But the court must have a strategy to properly and permanently solve the Qin Dynasty. Dilemma!"

After hearing what the emperor said, all the ministers were silent. As officials of the Ming Dynasty, they had no shame in saying that they did not care about the life and death of the people of the Ming Dynasty. The best strategy is of course to own the Hetao Plain.

"Your Majesty is wise, I agree with you." Min Hongxue first agreed, but he changed the subject and said, "But the enemies of the grassland, as your Majesty said, are easy to defeat but difficult to annihilate. Even if the Ming Dynasty temporarily occupied Tumochuan , but it’s also embarrassing to be harassed by Mongolia!”

Emperor Chongzhen looked at him and nodded. Without speaking, he glanced at the other ministers, asking them to also express their stance.

After he looked at it this way, the other ministers had no choice but to take a stand. Whether it was Wen Tiren, Cheng Jiming and others, they all finally agreed. However, the biggest problem, Min Hongxue has already said, is that if this problem is not solved, it will still be just a fantasy. If we insist on sending troops, we will lose our troops and lose our generals. In the end, we will achieve nothing!

Seeing that everyone's opinions were unified, Emperor Chongzhen nodded and said: "Okay, my Ming Dynasty wants to capture the Hetao Plain. This is a strategic goal and must be achieved. Then, the ministers will discuss how to deal with the enemy on the grassland? "

This proposition seemed unsolvable, at least after he finished speaking, all the officials were silent and no one spoke.

Seeing this, Emperor Chongzhen was silent for a moment, and then said slowly: "I have heard a saying, if you don't demolish the Great Wall, you are not a true man, and you must let your horse go to Beihai to dominate! I don't know what do you think?"

"..." The ministers were speechless.

Throughout the past dynasties, even during this dynasty, the Great Wall was the focus of defense. A large amount of manpower and material resources were often spent on repairing the Great Wall, and a large number of troops were stationed. This was the case even when Qi Jiguang was alive during the Jiajing period.

When Emperor Chongzhen saw them all staying there, he smiled and said: "Actually, I am quite opposed to this..."

"..." All the ministers were confused. What did the emperor mean?

"The first sentence actually means to oppose passive defense and to take the initiative. I appreciate this very much, but what I want to object to is the second sentence. What I want is not dominance, but peace and security for the country and a permanent solution. Border troubles in the north. It’s time for Ming Dynasty to divert its attention from the grassland!"

Old bookworms should know where this comes from. The fourth update is probably around five or six o'clock, I'll be going out soon.