The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty

The first step is to manage Liaodong.

The second step is to rebuild Daning.

Rebuild the border defense system of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houzhao was very interested after hearing this and turned to look at Yang Tinghe.

After all, if he really wants to send troops, he needs the cooperation of civil officials and gentry.

Yang Tinghe made a simple calculation and asked: "How many troops does Tang Hou plan to bring this time?"

"Ten thousand Beijing troops will be enough. In addition, the war horses from Jeju Horse Farm will also be transferred to Liaodong. The court can also order Korea to send troops to cooperate and eliminate the barbarians in Liaodong."

It is customary for Korea to cooperate with the Ming Dynasty to eliminate the barbarians in Liaodong.

When Chenghua Liting was in power, Korea, as a vassal state, sent troops to fully cooperate with the Ming army to suppress.

The main reason is that the Jurchen barbarians are too rampant. While looting the Ming Dynasty, they also looted the Korean people. Anyway, as long as they can rob, they will make a profit. If they can't rob, it's another matter.

"If we dispatch 10,000 soldiers, the money, food and supplies can support it."

Yang Tinghe gave a reasonable suggestion, saying: "Marquis Tang can transfer the border troops of Liaodong Guard. They have been fighting with the barbarians for many years and still maintain a good combat effectiveness. This war can be ended as soon as possible."

The border troops of the Ming Dynasty rely on the system of nine border military towns, which is to send generals to guard the northern border areas. The generals have full autonomy in the places they guard. They can deal with them according to the situation and manage the military and civilians in the guarded areas. It belongs to the military and political integration of the guarding mode.

The nine border military towns of the Ming Dynasty are Shanxi Town, Shaanxi Town, Yansui Town, Jizhou Town, Liaodong Town, Datong Town, Xuanfu Town, Ningxia Town, and Gansu Town. Liaodong Town is known as the first of the nine borders because of its critical geographical location.

Among the nine frontier military towns, the four towns in Shaanxi set up three frontier general offices, stationed in Guyuan, known as the "Western Three Frontiers"; Shanxi set up a governor, liaison Xuanfu and Datong, known as the "Central Three Frontiers"; in Jizhen, a governor was set up to manage Ji and Liao, known as the "Eastern Three Frontiers".

Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang established the Dusi Weisuo system in the border areas and began to militarize the border areas. These Dusi Weisuo in the border areas can not only strengthen the military rule of the border areas, but also promote agricultural production in the border areas, which is of great significance to the development of the border areas.

These Dusi Weisuo in the border areas are important garrison forces in the border areas. At the same time, the kings were sent to guard the border areas, connecting the northern defense line into a whole. The establishment of Weisuo in Liaodong strengthened the central government's rule and control over the border. These Weisuo laid a solid foundation for the formation of the nine frontier military town system.

During the Hongwu period, the court took active defensive measures in the northern border areas, established important military towns in the northern border, and stationed heavy troops in preparation for combat.

After adjustments, the Mongolian tribes in the northern desert grew rapidly, and the Tatar and Wala tribes posed a new threat to the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. Emperor Taizong Zhu Di personally led five expeditions to wipe out the Mongolian forces, but due to the long battle line, the results were minimal, and the frequent military operations made the court unable to make ends meet, and he eventually died on the way to the expedition.

In addition, Emperor Taizong Zhu Di moved the Daning Dusi to Baoding, and the east-west joint defense system established during the Hongwu period was broken. The entire Liaodong was surrounded by barbarians on the east, west and north sides, so that the situation became increasingly corrupt, and the court also lost the right wing of the empire. During the Zhengtong period, the Battle of Tumu Fort even put the Ming Dynasty in danger of extinction.

During the Chenghua period, Mongolia frequently harassed the Liaodong region, and the northwest gate of the Ming Dynasty was also wide open. The war with Mongolia continued, causing the border troops of the Ming Dynasty to be in a situation of shifting defenses from east to west and fighting back and forth all year round. The northern defense system had been severely damaged, and the court had to adopt the policy of "dividing the land for defense", dividing one side into nine sides, and dividing the defense into zones to prepare for war.

With the establishment of the nine-border military towns, an obvious phenomenon is that the border defense of the Ming Dynasty has moved southward by a large margin, indicating that the border defense of the Ming Dynasty has been gradually weakened after several generations of emperors, and the border of the Ming Dynasty has been shrinking. In dealing with the invasion of nomadic peoples in the north, the Ming Dynasty has always been at a disadvantage.

Due to the southward shift of the border, the focus of the border had to be shifted to defense. Military defense has caused the military expenditure of the Ming Dynasty to increase day by day, mainly due to the personnel supplement of the nine-border military towns, the bad phenomenon of "insufficient main soldiers, increased by recruited soldiers, insufficient recruited soldiers, increased by guest soldiers" has appeared, resulting in insufficient food and grass supply and military expenditure of the nine-border military towns.

In addition, the military facilities of the Nine Border Military Towns had to be built and reinforced all year round, which consumed a lot of manpower and material resources. A large amount of wall construction would cost more than 1.5 million taels of silver and more than 2.3 million shi of grain a year. I don’t know how much money and grain was embezzled and went into the pockets of corrupt officials.

Another point is that the Nine Border Military Towns were the main battlefields of the war between Ming and Mongolia. Once the war started, the troops were dispatched and the military pay was countless. For example, in the eighth year of Chenghua, the governor of Yansui Town, the right deputy chief censor, reported: "The bandits have invaded the border one after another... We must prepare for next year's military expenses... A total of more than 946,000 taels of silver..."

This is only a small part of Yansui Town's annual military expenditure, not all of Yansui Town's annual military expenditure. If the annual military expenditure of the Nine Border Military Towns is added up, it is simply an astronomical figure that makes people despair!

As the border defense became increasingly corrupt, the military expenditure in the Ming Dynasty's finances increased, until it reached the point where the income was not enough to cover the expenditure. Then what could the court do?

When the imperial court faced a financial crisis, it would naturally rely on the people for compensation by increasing taxes and squeezing their wealth. The end result was the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people. The people were completely disappointed with the Ming Dynasty and even hated it. They then rose up in rebellion, and a huge dynasty collapsed!

So, in a sense, the Nine Border Military Towns have undoubtedly become a key factor in the collapse of the Ming Dynasty.

Tang Hao previously carried out reforms here and there, but never touched the Nine Border Military Towns. It was not that he did not want to, but that he was not confident enough, or did not dare to act rashly.

Since the Daning Dusi moved to Baoding, the court abandoned the strategic location of Daning, and the entire northern border of the Ming Dynasty was completely connected. It was all horse pastures for the barbarians on the grassland. The first northern border defense line of the Ming Dynasty changed from Daning Kaiping to the Nine Border Military Towns. The defense forces of the Ming Dynasty were forced to retreat to the south of the Great Wall, and they completely lost the initiative to go out of the border. The Nine Border Great Wall also became a place where the barbarians on the grassland pointed directly. The nine borders were repeatedly raging, and the barbarians repeatedly went south to plunder and harass, and the Ming Dynasty’s border defense was under tremendous pressure.

In other words, the current Nine Border Military Towns are the last line of defense of the Ming Dynasty.

Once the Nine Border Military Towns are broken, just like when the Wala Grand Master Yesen took Zhu Qizhen to the gate and directly killed his way to the outside of the capital city, the Ming Dynasty will probably stage another battle to defend the capital!

Another point is that the border troops have been fighting for many years, and the people are tough and strong, but at the same time they also look down on the inland troops, including the Beijing troops. After all, the inland guard troops have basically no combat power to speak of, and the Beijing troops are becoming increasingly corrupt under the deliberate indulgence of civil officials and gentry.

In order to defend their country, they have been fighting with the Tartar women and barbarians for many years, while you are having fun in the inland drinking and playing with women. Who would be convinced by such a thing?

Not to mention that Emperor Hongzhi supported Ye Qi's reform, and the Nine Border Military Towns suffered a fatal blow. The soldiers and civilians were in great hardship and were dissatisfied with the court. It is no wonder that the border troops were alienated from the court, only recognizing money and grain but not the court, and mutinies often occurred in the border troops.

Zhu Houzhao looked at Tang Hao and asked: "Lord Tang, are you going to lead the troops in person this time?"

"Originally, I planned to let An Guo go, but after thinking about it, I still have to go in person!"

Tang Hao smiled and explained: "Liaodong is different from other military towns. It is the first of the nine borders and an important part of controlling the Mongolian grasslands. Using Liaodong to clamp down on the left wing of Mongolia is a major national policy of the Ming Dynasty for border defense."

"And Liaodong also has the strategic significance of defending the capital. North Korea must also go to Liaodong for tribute. Therefore, no matter from the military, border defense, or diplomacy, Liaodong is an important frontier town of the Ming Dynasty."

"Once the Liaodong region is not peaceful, the rule of the Ming Dynasty will not be stable, so how to manage Liaodong has become an imminent problem for the court!"

Tang Hao stretched out his hand and circled another place on the map.

"And don't forget the Nurgan Regional Command."

"The vast Nurgan region is the key land mentioned by Emperor Taizong, and it is no less important than the Western Regions."

"The Nurgan Regional Command, from the Greater Khingan Range to southern Liaoning, is equivalent to the right wing of our Ming Empire. The right wing Nurgan Regional Command bears almost the same important military significance as the Western Regions. The cooperation between the right wing and the Ming Empire can not only threaten the Mongolian regime in the grassland, but also effectively broaden the strategic depth of the Liaoxi Corridor to ensure the safety of the capital."

"In addition, now that our Ming Empire has conquered Japan, we can restore the Silk Road of the Bohai Kingdom in Northeast Asia since the Tang Dynasty, because there are a large number of barbarian tribes in the Heilongjiang River estuary, Kamchatka Peninsula, Kuril Islands, Sakhalin Island and even Hokkaido. They will come here to trade. Although the economic value is not worth mentioning, it will obviously help to enhance the influence of the Ming Dynasty in these areas."

Zhu Houzhao's eyes became brighter and brighter, and he looked at Tang Hao with a burning gaze.

"So, if our Ming Dynasty can continue to develop and cultivate this vast land of Nurgan Guard, the benefits will be far beyond imagination!"

"First, the Ming Dynasty can maintain military suppression of the Mongolian tribes from the right wing and the front to prevent the barbarians from the grassland from easily attacking the capital; second, if the Nurgan Guard is cultivated, the fierce warriors in these places can be used for their own use, which is an effective supplement to the cavalry of our Ming Dynasty; third, if the Nurgan Guard can become a self-sufficient cultivated land after deep cultivation, then the territory of our Ming Dynasty will expand a lot in an instant..."

Nurgan Dusi was also abandoned, or moved inland, and merged with Liaodong Dusi, which was equivalent to Emperor Xuande Zhu Zhanji directly abandoning Nurgan, a key land.

The result was that the abandonment of Nurgan Dusi almost destroyed the Ming Dynasty. The entire northern part of the Ming Dynasty was completely reduced to a pasture for the barbarians of the grassland. The Tumubao Incident completely stunned the entire Ming Dynasty.

This is the price of comprehensively shrinking the strategic defense line and living a comfortable life behind closed doors!