The main building of Chengling is three yurt-style white halls, one of which has a spire-like attic on the top, which enshrines the holy relics and texts of the Golden Family, and no one is allowed to enter, but according to that, Genghis Khan, according to him, there are assassins hidden there.

For this sudden arrival, Genghis Khan "Most of the Mongols believe it, because today is the day to commemorate his old man's home, and the Ming Dynasty official, before being possessed", once pious incense and prayer Mongolians have always believed in shamanism, and shamanism is specially used to invite the gods to possess the body...... Similar to the Han people's Fuluan Qiqi and the third prince's possession, the shaman conveys the will of the gods, so most people look at this situation, "The first reaction is that this Han official is temporarily possessed."

And if that's not the case, how can this Han official suddenly speak our Mongolian dialect? What's more, in the ensuing search, two assassins were really caught from the well-guarded attic, "one of them committed suicide by poisoning, and the other was knocked out of his mouth before he could do so, if it wasn't for the manifestation of the Holy Ancestor", how to explain his uncertain prophet?

Of course, many Mongolian princes actually don't believe in these gods and ghosts. But they can't produce evidence, "they can't say it's fake, and for silence, this serves the purpose." Because the reason why he took the trouble to perform this scene was to weaken the hostility of the Mongolian civilians, and secondly, to give those Mongolian princes an internal reason, which was very important, "because even if it is a steppe nomad", you have to give him this "reason" to be attached to him in order to be strong.

一凵一"

The riot quickly subsided, and the silence came to his senses" Looking at the concerned eyes around him, he rubbed his forehead and said with a blank expression: "What's wrong with me?" "It's Chinese," and the voice is no different from when the sacrificial text is read, "and Fang Cai are like two people, and they don't have the domineering spirit of Fang Cai.

"Your Excellency just spoke Mongolian...... Noyandara whispered.

"Mongolian?" Shen Mo said in surprise: "When did this official learn to speak Mongolian?" The stunned look on his face was really impeccable, and it made those who didn't believe it believe it a little.

"Don't surround me", Shen Mo stood up and said with a pale face: "Don't delay the festival..."

"Yes......" Noyandara replied respectfully.

After these incidents, the festival did not end hastily, because during the ceremony of honoring the Holy Ancestor, it happened, the Holy Ancestor appeared, and this kind of great joy "whether you want it or not, you need to celebrate it vigorously." Moreover, the vast majority of Mongolians are convinced of this......

Therefore, the festival continued, and the sheep were slaughtered, the whole sheep were offered, and then the meat was shared, and a continuous ceremony was held at night, but Shen Mo, because he was unwell, went down the mountain early, "and went to the military camp next to the mausoleum to rest."

A cadre of civil and military ministers naturally followed down the mountain, returned to the big tent of the Chinese army, silently washed up in the back tent, changed into casual clothes, and saw that only Zheng Luo was waiting there.

"What about them?" looked at his confidant and classmates silently.

"I abandoned them," Zheng Luo said with a worried face.

"Why are you so sad?" Silently sat down in the chair.

"Today's events, the adults have good intentions" is just after it spreads, Zheng Luo said worriedly: "I'm afraid it will attract a lot of discussions." ”

"Hehe", silent but unimpressed, and smiled: "It's a mediocrity not to be envied, no matter what he does." ”

"This is not the Shen Jiangnan I know." Zheng Luo shook his head and said, "I don't know you yet?" ”

"People change." Shen Mo smiled faintly.

"Then if you say this, "I'd better hurry up and resign", Zheng Luo saw that he refused to tell the truth, and said angrily: "So as not to be implicated by you and delay my future." ”

"Don't, I apologize." Shen Mo hurriedly got up and apologized: "If you have anything to ask, it's all done now." ”

"Jiangnan" It's not that I have nothing to do" Zheng Luo sighed and said: "Today you are on the altar, first bow three times" and pretending to be Temujin's guy, isn't this a chance to splash you with those-stirring sticks? ”

The major events of the "Fan Xi" country are in worship and Rong. Sacrificing to the emperor of the previous dynasty, do you think I dare to advocate it? Shen Mo smiled bitterly and said: "It seems that I have protected you too well" I don't know that the court has become a pot of porridge. Then he explained the reason for this matter in detail.

First of all, the attitude of the national dynasty towards Meng Yuan has gone through several turns. But in any case, its status as an orthodox dynasty is recognized. Because if the Yuan is not orthodox, then the legal system of the Han people should still be in Zhao Song, "The world laid down by Zhu Yuanzhang has to be given to the surname Zhao." This is how Emperor Zhu could not accept it, so Fang must be Ding, Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly ordered someone to revise the "History of the Yuan", the purpose is to show that he was ordered by the sky, the vitality should be exhausted, and the Ming Dynasty should be prosperous.

After that, Zhu Yuanzhang treated Meng Yuan with etiquette in the previous dynasty. In the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the Northern Yuan monarch Tuhuan Timur died of illness in Yingchang, Zhu Yuanzhang sent an envoy to hold the festival and sacrifice, perform the great gift of the monarch and the minister, and take the Yuan lord "without a fight and run to know the destiny of heaven, and say that Emperor Shun." And announced the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

Later, when the imperial temple of the past dynasties was built in Nanjing, it was dedicated to the three emperors and five emperors, the founding emperors of each generation, until Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty, which was a complete recognition of the orthodox status of the Yuan Dynasty. The reason for this is that, first, because of the etiquette system and legal system, the Yuan Dynasty ruled the world for a hundred years, and it is impossible to do without an explanation; second, because the Yuan Dynasty has won the allegiance of the Han landlord class and its intellectuals in the past 100 years. As a great politician of a generation, Zhu Yuanzhang is shrewd, he knows this situation, so he generously recognized the Yuan Dynasty, recognized the Yuan Shizu, and Emperor Yuan Shun, and declared that the Yuan Dynasty has exhausted its strength to "win people's hearts."

Although after that, the Ming Dynasty did not relax its strangulation of the Mongol forces for a moment, the attitude of the emperors of the previous dynasties towards the former Yuan did not change...... This is because as a dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty has perished, and how you honor it" The emperor who honors it is, de jure, has nothing to do with those remnants. On the contrary, "they will be charged with undermining national unity and will be crusaded."

In fact, Emperor Chengzu's later expedition to the desert was basically in this name.

However, after the "Tumubao Change, the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards the former Yuan Dynasty changed", the "decline in national strength", and the successive military defeats made the nerves of the Ming Dynasty's monarchs and ministers particularly sensitive and fragile. Its ultimate is Emperor Sejongsu, in the ninth year of Jiajing, built the "Temple of the Emperors of the Past Dynasties" in Beijing, but revoked the throne of Kublai Khan, the ancestor of the Yuan dynasty.

It was also during the Jiajing period that the Ming Dynasty's policy towards Mongolia underwent a major change. Prior to Jiajing, the dynasty allowed a few designated Mongol chiefs to pay regular tribute, thus forming the tributary system of the dynasty.

The function of the dynasty* system is that, first of all, the tribute of the Mongols is based on the premise of political submission, that is, each ministry must accept the canonization of the Ming court, which was determined during the Yongle period of Chengzu. To accept the canonization "is to accept the rule of the Ming Dynasty", even if only in name. Secondly, "the imperial court will treat the tributary envoys well", as soon as the tributary envoys enter the country, their clothing, food, housing and transportation are almost all taken care of by the imperial court, and there are rich rewards, gifts, and return gifts.

Thirdly, and most importantly, it will be permissible to receive the tribute on the third or fifth day of the opening of the Huiguan. This kind of inter-market trade is very attractive to Mongolians and other ethnic minorities, who can sell their horses, furs and other animal husbandry products during the opening of the market, "as well as sell the goods obtained from the tribute in exchange for the necessities of life that their tribes urgently need."

Behind this tributary system was the feudal rule of the ethnic minorities in the frontier from the time of Chengzu, which was the best way to "make them accept the rule of the Central Dynasty" under the situation of being unable to rule them directly. In the dynasties before Wuzong Zhengde, the operation of this system was basically relatively smooth...... Even after the "Tumubao Change, after the Tile Thorn became strong for a while, this tributary relationship was not affected, and the same was true for the shoe target department.

However, with the weakening of the Ming Dynasty, "the Mongol tribes, which had become stronger and stronger, had maintained their tributaries, but on the other hand, they continued to invade the frontiers, and they no longer obeyed the rules as before." Later, in the Hongzhi period, Dayan Khan unified the Mongol tribes, "the power was strong for a while, the frozen west entered the Hetao, and the river opened to the east through Datong, or occasionally came to pay tribute, or sometimes there were encroachments, and did not dare to be rampant." However, the Ming Dynasty itself had fallen into a financial crisis and could not meet its requirements, and in the ninth year of Hongzhi, Dayan Khan rewarded Bo Shengsheng with "frequent invasion and plunder, and returned with a big victory."

The Mongols invaded this time, not only tasted the sweetness, but also tried out the Ming Dynasty's paper-paste border defense, so they began to plunder frequently, causing huge losses and disasters to the Ming Dynasty, in this case, the tribute was naturally cut off.

一一"

The initial robbery was naturally very rewarding, but the people of the Ming Dynasty could not wait for them to rob, even if the officers and soldiers could not beat the Mongols, "Won't they still build the castle?" Therefore, with the concerted efforts of the soldiers and civilians in the border areas, well-defended fortresses rose from the ground, and once they heard the warning, they immediately withdrew to the fort. Wealthy families live in the fort all year round to protect the safety of property.

The Mongols were not good at attacking cities, but even a fortress with a height of a few feet could make them pay a heavy price." So they came again and again, and returned disappointed, and it was difficult to get enough money as before. I can only try to go deeper into the Ming Realm, but then the losses will also surge, and there will even be no return, and the gains outweigh the losses.

Therefore, since the seventeenth year of Hongzhi, Mongolia took the initiative to pay tribute, and in the eleventh year of Jiajing, Mongolian Jinong Gunbilik asked for tribute again. But Ming Ting, who had already hurt his self-esteem, ignored it. Later, Altan Khan became the de facto leader of the Mongols, and repeatedly asked for tribute. However, at that time, there was already a discussion of repetition in the DPRK and China, and the first assistant Xia Yan was a hardliner, and Zeng Rui, the governor of the three sides, was a strong advocate of repetition, so it was naturally impossible to agree. It is also to kill the envoys, in order to stop their luck, I replied to the anger of the news, and then learned that the crowd entered the Kou, plundered Shanxi "south and Pingyang, east and Luqin, every time the village fort was conquered, the slaughter was extremely miserable, in retaliation.

But four years later, I once again ordered someone to bring a generous gift to the Ming Dynasty to ask for tribute, because the official who killed the envoy last time was promoted, so this time, the envoy was killed by the family of the Xuanfu general army to seek merit before he even saw the official, which naturally caused the Mongols to plunder on a large scale.

After the revenge, I asked for tribute again. This time, because of his induction, the former governor was convicted. The new governor of Xuanda, Weng Wanda, was the most capable border minister during the Jiajing period, and thought that he could agree to my request" and put forward a practical plan, but Jiajing vetoed it.

After the twenty-sixth year of Jiajing, I replied to ask for tribute again, and this time his tone was particularly deferential: Now with the "China" country: if Dazi enters the border wall to be a thief, the "China" country insists on paying him "He takes all the horses he has stored to compensate for the "China" country "If the Han people go out of the grassland to be thieves, he insists on paying the "China" country to punish the crime, and if he does not accept it, he will kill him: it is always better. and assured the border ministers that as long as they were willing to play on his behalf, they would tell the tribe to "forbid his life."

My attitude made the Ming Dynasty's frontier civil and military forces see the hope of peace, so they jointly sent a letter to the court, asking the imperial court to allow them to pay tribute, and considered various possible situations, "Preventive measures were anticipated, and the design can be described as complete." But the result is very regrettable, Jiajing is immersed in the eagerness of "repetition" again refused his request.

But not long after, Xia Yan and Zeng Mill of the main battle were killed, and Weng Wanda did everything possible to appease him, so I didn't get into the prison because of shame. Later, Weng Wanda fulfilled his promise and put forward Altan Khan's request for tribute in the last book, but was severely reprimanded by Jiajing: I used side affairs to send Wanda and others "self-expediency and defense, Hu Nai repeatedly asked for tribute? The order is to abide by the previous decree, and he insists on refusing to "take strict precautions, and those who violate the law will not be punished." , sternly reprimanded Weng Wanda and others, "So no one dared to speak for me."

Why, then, did the imperial court rather "damage millions of people" than stubbornly refuse my request?

Speaking from facts, the root cause is mainly in Emperor Sejong Jiajing.

First of all, as the emperor who was enthroned as the son of a vassal king, Jiajing did not have a complete imperial education. For the Mongols, "he had the same deep-seated hatred as the common people. From time to time, in his edicts, I see that the ugly prisoners, "the atmosphere of the captives is very evil," "the year of the captives, the sins are serious," "the words of the tribute are sophistry," and so on. It is not difficult to perceive this kind of thinking at work.

Secondly, the Jiajing Dynasty was the first assistant before and after, and the former Xia Yan was tougher than Jiajing, "In the end, he lost his head because of the reset, needless to say." The latter is Yan Song, but his personality is weak, "but he is a pure bureaucrat", he regards all major national affairs as political struggles, and he hates the Mongols, so he naturally does not dare to support Tonggong.

In addition, the Han nationalist sentiment that pervaded inside and outside the imperial court "will also allow Tonggong to be compared with the Song Dynasty's peace negotiation and misguided country," especially Xia Yan, Yang Jisheng, and other well-known Qing officials, who were staunch supporters of this kind of thinking, so that the government formed a strong opposition to public opinion, so that no one dared to disagree.

一,一,一"一"一,一"一"一,一"一,壹壹", "一,壹", "一,"

However, most of the ministers of civil and military affairs at the border gates, as well as people of insight in the court, supported Tonggong. In fact, when Xu Jie became the first assistant, he realized the benefits of Tonggong, but Xu Ge Lao knew that public opinion was turbulent, and he would never change the national policy. This is also an important reason why he is rough with Gao Gong and others.

In the first time, the killing made no tribute, and after that, Gao Gong angrily criticized: , the military exchange, so that in the meantime, the situation is asking for tribute! Kill a messenger He Wu? Even if you don't allow it, you should do it. It is the purchase of "what is the reason? "So far, no one knows what is wrong" and later said: "Today, if you are suspicious of tribute, you will say that the Song Dynasty will mislead the country with peace, and I don't know that this tribute is not peaceful." The nine barbarians are all allowed to pay tribute, why should they be captured in the north alone? , he was unequivocally supportive of Tonggong.

Silence is also in favor of Tonggong. He did not have those narrow Han nationalism, and could see the benefits of Tonggong more clearly, and on the basis of his predecessors, he summed up and innovated a more powerful set of restraint policies. And after Gao Gong became the first assistant, he told him and Pan, and the two hit it off. Subsequently, it also received the full support of Zhang Juzheng, so the cabinet formed a unified opinion, and after reporting to Longqing, it was decided to fight first and then pacify.

In this strategy, "the purpose of the war was not to destroy the Mongols, but to make them submissive, so that it would be easier to bind them." This is an appropriate move to fully consider the current national conditions, because just as the Mongols did not have the strength to occupy the "Central" country, the Ming Dynasty, which was in deep financial crisis, could not completely wipe out the Mongols.

In fact, "if there is no silence and criticism, borrow money to fight" and Zhang Juzheng were also scolded to open source and reduce expenditure, and the Ming army did not even have the strength to recover the Hetao. But the battle has reached this point, and it is already the limit. For the Han nation, a war means huge financial expenditures, and a large-scale battle of 100,000 troops like this is terrifying every day.

In his letter to Shen Mo, Zhang Juzheng "has warned again and again that the people on the three sides are already extremely poor" and that the oppression of the provinces has also reached the limit, and if he "sends a large army to cross the Yellow River to fight" regardless of his financial resources, it is almost certain that the finances will collapse and provoke a popular uprising.

And the rich businessmen are not philanthropists, "they are talking about the return on investment" can pay tens of millions of taels, it is already for the sake of silent face, let them pay again, either you want their lives, or they want your life.

More importantly, the Tumut Department of Alta is not a scattered Ordos Division, they are strong in combat and "united, and they have already experienced the power of the Ming army's firearms and vehicle formations, and they will never repeat the mistakes of the Ordos Division." As the best military strategist," Qi Jiguang bluntly said in his report to Shen Mo that unless I take the initiative to engage us, our combat vehicles, infantry, and artillery units will be completely useless. There were only more than 30,000 cavalry at disposal. These cavalry are more than enough to guard the suit, but they are definitely not enough to cross the river and attack. Moreover, the nest will also cause the loop to lose protection.

Therefore, unless the imperial court had sufficient financial resources to "support the construction of the three cities on the north bank of the Yellow River and establish a solid defensive line, it should no longer try to forge ahead, and it is advisable to defend the suite."

Therefore, no matter how eager the soldiers are to make meritorious contributions, and how proud the hundreds of officials in the DPRK and the Central Committee are, the reality is already there to fight with the main force, and basically there will be no more.

Then it is natural to think about "Fu,." This is a more difficult thing than a war to recover the Hetao "at a time when the government and the opposition are agitated." This is also a consistent problem in the Ming Dynasty, where the Han ideology is pervasive: "Whoever negotiates peace will be attacked by the masses." Back then, he was beaten by the Mongols and bruised all over his body, and the ministers still opposed the peace, "Now the situation is just right, the government and the opposition are full of confidence, and they can't wait to drive a long car to break through Helan Mountain, who dares to rashly say, let's not fight" and drowned by the spitting stars?

But it really can't be fought anymore, otherwise something big will happen.

Fortunately, the elders of the Ming Dynasty "are not afraid of things." Gao Gong said, "I'll carry this black cauldron." Zhang Juzheng said, no, "I'll come, I still have you, the first assistant, to protect me; If you are flicked into a sieve, who can protect you?

In the end, he said silently, you all rest, if you go up, you will have to be scolded as a traitor and mislead the country. Only I, who have recovered the Hetao, can say this without being scolded to death. So the two of them shook his hand and said, brother, you are so open, of course, the last sentence is a silent imagination.

The reason why Shen Mo is willing to take on this drudgery is actually a last resort...... As a Zaifu, he "but controls almost the elite of the whole country, which seems to be extremely beautiful, but in fact it is also extremely dangerous! Why is his ancestor Yang Minggong so famous, but he has always been excluded from the capital? is because of his great military achievements, if he is allowed to enter the cabinet again, the emperor will definitely not be able to sleep well.

Since the Song Dynasty, why has there not been a single successful example of a minister usurping power? It is because all dynasties and dynasties have strictly guarded against the emergence of real ministers who will enter and exit the prime minister.

Shen Mo's luck lies in the fact that the current emperor Longqing is a rare king of leniency, and there is an example of Yang Yiqing in front of him, so he dares to take on the heavy responsibility and lead the army to the battle. But the credit for recovering the Hetao is too heavy, "it is not too heavy for the emperor to be rewarded by a duke, and he is now the second assistant of the cabinet" from the first grade of the bachelor. It is foreseeable that the day of triumph in the coming day will be the time when he will be idle and refrigerated, and he will never come out.

From the standpoint of a politician, "Silence should not lead troops on this trip, and should not even propose a repeat." But he is not all politicians after all, he has not forgotten the sentence, the life and death of the country is "not because of misfortune and fortune to avoid it", so he resolutely put his personal gains and losses behind for the time being.

But now, he has a certain grasp of the development of the war, and it would be too stupid not to consider a way out. Therefore, Shen Mo proposed to the cabinet to "take the opportunity of paying homage to Genghis Khan to send a signal of peace to China and foreign countries."

Gao Gong naturally had no objection and asked Longqing for instructions on this matter. Longqing did not have the slightest psychological burden on changing his father's government, not to mention that he also had unconditional trust in his masters, so he approved the red and discussed the relevant etiquette with the Ministry of Rites.

The Ministry of Rites consulted the classics and found that according to records, in the more than 200 years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, especially in several periods when relations with Mongolia were relatively good, successive emperors had sent envoys to worship Chengling many times. This is easy to do, "just copy it roughly", but there is one point, according to the records of the time, the envoys are all courtesy. Of course, there was no objection to this before Jiajing, "because when dealing with the emperors of the previous dynasty, it is necessary to salute like this." But Emperor Jiajing had invited Yuan Shizu out of the imperial temple of the past dynasties, and the world praised him at that time. Now, if an envoy is sent to worship Yuan Taizu, "if he still performs the courtesy of a monarch and a minister, it will inevitably cause controversy."

In this regard, the Ministry of Rites did not dare to be arbitrary, so it asked the cabinet for instructions. Because he knelt on behalf of the emperor, the cabinet did not dare to be arbitrary, and he had to ask Longqing. Long Qing asked how he did it before, and the cabinet said that it was a courtesy of a monarch and a minister. Long Qing is a good talker, so he said, if you have any doubts, just do it.

But the cabinet couldn't pit the emperor, so he made it clear that there was no controversy about the courtesy of the monarch and the minister at that time, which does not mean that there is no now. Times have changed, we haven't worshiped Chengmole for 50 years, and people's views now are very different from those at that time.

At this time, he saw that Longqing's strengths came, and he wrote in his edict to the cabinet: "Is it before the World Temple, the shoes are bad, or are they powerful after?" If it was powerful before, then of course it must be done according to the practice of the World Temple; But if the opposite is true, it should be corrected. ，！ ~！