The two battleships of the East China Sea Division fleet were ordered to move north, taking advantage of the North Sea Division, which was inferior in terms of the number of warships. Although this matter was passed at the Supreme Military Conference, Ge Tianzhang was still worried that the advantageous situation in the south that he had painstakingly managed for decades would be ruined by Wang Jue and Zhu Mu's indiscriminate conquest.

A fleet was ordered to go north, because there was a war in the north, which was not a big problem in the first place, but with the support of the Praetorian Guard in the north, the new army won in the north, and a large number of munitions, materials and logistics supplies were hoarded on the Liaodong battlefield, which made the sensitive military department Shangshu Ge Tianzhang smell a hint of the empire was about to change its strategy.

As the secretary of the military department who has always influenced the supreme strategic decisions of the Ming Empire, Ge Tianzhang has unparalleled confidence in himself, and he also has stubborn confidence in the strategic policy he formulated. He regards the strategic policy of first the south and then the north as the most proud work of his life, and he has spent his life defending this policy to ensure that it can be effectively implemented.

But now, this strategy has been challenged, which makes him, who is already over eighty years old, have to stand up again for this strategy to continue to be implemented, standing on the opposite side of the new emperor Zhu Mu.

"Your Majesty, first the south and then the north is the established national policy formulated by the first emperor, Your Majesty must not change the strategic plan that the Ming Empire has been planning for decades because of a small victory in Liaodong!" Ge Tianzhang spoke very slowly because of his age, and because of his age and seniority, Zhu Mu really didn't have the courage to interrupt the words of the patriarch of the Three Dynasties.

So when Ge Tianzhang finished speaking, Zhu Mu replied slowly with a wry smile: "Ge Lao Shangshu...... The rebels in Liaodong have already started a war with me, and because the situation in the early stage of the war was unfavorable, the recent mobilization of troops to reinforce Liaodong is a countermeasure, and there is nothing wrong with it, right? ”

In fact, the requisition of troops and the strengthening of the Ming army in Liaodong was a decision adopted at the Great Dynasty Conference, after all, the current war situation in Liaodong is unfavorable, and if you do not recruit troops to regain the lost land at this time, will you still have to endure the harassment of the rebels? This matter was voted on by Zhao Hongshou, the first minister of the cabinet, and even Ge Tianzhang voted in favor.

The transfer of the new army to Liaodong and the increase of 200,000 troops to increase the standing army of Liaodong to suppress the rebellion from 550,000 to 750,000 were the operational plans jointly drawn up by the cabinet and the military department at the imperial meeting.

Obviously, the center of the Ming Empire was already very dissatisfied with Wang Futong's performance in the battle of Liaodong, and the new army was expanded to 200,000, and the strength of the other old armies on the Liaohe defense line was also to reach 300,000 - this had already formed a suppression of the 250,000 troops of the Liaobei Army in terms of standing troops, and this suppression was doubled in one go.

Of course, if you count the mobilized reserve forces, this number is even larger, and after supplementing the troops lost in the Battle of Liaodong, the Ming Empire's troops in Liaodong can still exceed one million. This has formed a numerical advantage for the rebels, and they have already put on a posture to continue the war.

If the war in Liaodong does not end, but expands and intensifies, then there is no doubt that the Ming Empire will be forced to continue to transfuse blood to the Liaodong region. This is a situation that Ge Tianzhang of the military department does not want to see, because it will shake the strategic policy of the Ming Empire first in the south and then in the north, and break the strategic advantage of the Ming Empire in the Strait of Malacca.

"Your Majesty, if we continue to increase troops to Liaodong, will it affect our strategy in Southeast Asia?" Ge Tianzhang said slowly: "Since the situation in Liaodong has been stalemate, just leave it to Wang Jue, Wang Fu, Feng Pingzhang and others to manage, and leave the rest of the matter to the Ministry of Rites to negotiate, put pressure on Ceylon in Southeast Asia, and force the rebels to withdraw from Mukden in a multi-pronged manner." ”

"The rebels rashly provoked my Ming Empire, killed our border army and harmed the people, is this kind of thing just a thing?" When Zhu Mu heard Ge Tianzhang's words, he asked rhetorically with some annoyance: "Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia, is it true that the interests of Southeast Asia are more important than the blood feud in Liaodong?" ”

"The minister is guilty!" Cheng Zhixin hurriedly lowered his head and bent down to speak first: "Your Majesty! This Liaodong war was caused by the theft and sale of arms by officers and the shortfall of reserves...... The fiasco at the front line has caused His Majesty to lose his prestige, it is the responsibility of the ministers, please punish Your Majesty! ”

"Your Majesty!" Ge Tianzhang also reluctantly bent down at this time, and said with a mournful voice: "You can't use personal honor, disgrace, joy and anger to start a war. This is a lesson that has existed since ancient times, please give up such superficial ideas as revenge, and insist on putting the interests of the country first! ”

"Your Majesty! Even if a minister dies, he cannot atone for his sins. But this case of arms shortage on the Liaodong front has been investigated for so long, and there are some clues...... Some of the evidence is even related to the first assistant Zhao family and the second assistant Wang family. At this time, if you start a war rashly, I am afraid that the foundation of the empire will be unstable and affect the war on the front line......" Cheng Zhixin didn't wait for Zhu Mu to speak, and rushed to uncover the old wounds of the previous arms theft and sale case, which directly made Zhu Mu stunned.

Everyone knows that in the arms theft and sale case, Wang Nu and others of the Wang family can be regarded as inexorably responsible, and in the secret reports of Jinyiwei and Dongchang, this matter is also inextricably linked with some Jin merchants and Shoufu. If it is really investigated, no one can say what waves will be turned over, so Zhu Mu has never meant to kill them all.

But at this time, the Ministry of War turned over the case, and Zhu Mu had to temporarily put aside his plan to fight Liaodong - the reason is very simple, don't you want to fight, this traitor and the traitorous ministers will not be removed, how can the front line fight with peace of mind? The deeper implication of this is also very obvious: if you don't compromise, then the military department will turn over more disgusting things until you give in.

"Summons Zhao Hongshou, the first auxiliary minister of the cabinet, and Wang Jianfeng, the second auxiliary minister of the cabinet, to meet with him!" The more Zhu Mu looked at the two ministers of the military department in front of him, the more unpleasant he became, gritted his teeth and loudly ordered the attendants outside the door to convene the cabinet, and then waved his hand impatiently to the two of them, signaling that they could leave.

This is also his most helpless trick to deal with these difficult ministers: I won't talk to you, get out of here! Seeing the two ministers of the military department withdraw from the bookstore, Zhu Mu swept a jade paperweight on the desk to the ground, and when the jade paperweight broke, there was a crisp click.

"I see how long you can be arrogant! Old Puff! Suppressing his anger, Zhu Mu cursed in a low voice that no one could hear.