There was a mutiny in Ningxiawei, and lower-level officers Liu Dongyang, Xu Chao and others killed the governor Dang Xin, the deputy envoy Shi Jifang and a cadre, and Zhang Jizhong, the general soldier of Ningxia Wei, was forced to commit suicide......

The news was rushed to the Beijing division through 600 miles, and the court was immediately fried, and the military generals of Wenchen made a fuss and expressed their opinions. Some people suggested that important ministers should be sent to lead troops to clean up the rebellion, while others said that the mutiny stemmed from the corruption of the party, and that the rebels were forced to initiate the mutiny because they were forced to do so, and that they should send people to pacify them, pardon the sergeants involved, and resolve the mutiny in a peaceful way.

"Wang Shangshu, what does the Ministry of War have to say about this?" Shoufu Shen Shixing looked at Wang Yiyu, the secretary of the military department, and asked him.

Wang Yihe said: "Elder Shen Ge, if you want to solve the Ningxia matter, you must first figure out what the cause of the Ningxia incident is, otherwise you will not be able to prescribe the right medicine." ”

"Didn't the urgent report make it very clear that it was because the governor Dang Xin was in arrears with the soldiers' food and salaries, and he was too harsh on the soldiers, which led to the mutiny." Fujian Provincial Imperial Shi Jia Xiyi said.

"Jia Yushi only knows one thing, but he doesn't know the other, the affairs of Ningxia have been concerned by the Ministry of War for a long time. As far as the current matter is concerned, it is true that the traitor Liu Dongyang arose, but in the old man's opinion, behind Liu Dongyang, there is another mastermind. Wang Yihe said.

Jia Xiyi asked, "Who does Wang Shangshu think is the mastermind?" ”

"If the old man didn't guess wrong, this matter must be the master!" Wang Yihe said in an affirmative tone.

In Wang Yiju's heart, he had long expected this rebellion in Ningxia, but what he never expected was that the person who raised the army was not Bibai, but a little-known Liu Dongyang. In the information held by the Ministry of War, there is no record of Liu Dongyang at all.

After Wang Yihe got the news of the rebellion in Ningxia. urgently convened a staff meeting to discuss, and everyone thought that Liu Dongyang was just a clown jumping off the beam in front of the stage, and the real black hand must be Bibai.

"Why did Wang Shangshu say this, the emergency report clearly said that Liu Dongyang and others raised troops. There is no mention of the word "Bibai". Yushi Zhou Honghe retorted. A year ago, it was he who reported to the imperial court, saying that Bibai and Bi Chengen and others were loyal and brave, if Bibai really rebelled, wouldn't it mean that he, the recommender, was blind?

Wang Yihe said: "Zhou Yushi, you have been to Ningxia Town, you should know that in Ningxia Town, Ruo Bibai will not participate in the rebellion. With a small hundred households like Liu Dongyang, can he stand up to the storm? ”

"This ......" Zhou Honghe was a little dumb, "Maybe Liu Dongyang instigated the soldiers to be powerful, and he couldn't be suppressed with the power of Bibai, so he could only be wronged?" ”

Wang Yihe sneered, he knew very well how big Bibai's power was, if Bibai really wanted to suppress it, it would be impossible for ten Liu Dongyang to make a disturbance. For a civil official like Zhou Honghe, Wang Yihe couldn't explain to him any concepts such as combat effectiveness. Can only continue:

"Zhou Yushi, you have also seen the urgent report, after Liu Dongyang got into trouble, he killed Governor Dang Xin and other officials, completely blocking the road to compromise. There have been cases of mutinies among my court soldiers because of their salaries, but those rebels who initiated the mutiny were often just coercing the magistrates, but there were people like Liu Dongyang who killed the magistrates cleanly? ”

"What does that mean?" Zhou Honghe asked.

Wang Yiyu said: "Coerce the magistrate." is just waiting to bargain with the imperial court. The ultimate goal is to make a profit, not a rebellion. I have millions of soldiers. The soldiers and horses of an ordinary town cannot be the enemy of our entire Ming army. Therefore, the rebels generally did not dare to block the road. Instead, they waited for the court to agree to their conditions, and they were able to join the court.

But Liu Dongyang is determined to rebel this time, if there is no support behind him, where can he run after he rebels? ”

"If he has the support of Bibai, where can he go?" Jia Xiyi asked, with his knowledge, he really couldn't think of the subtext that Wang Yihe didn't say.

Wang Yiyu said: "Bibai is from the Tatars, if Liu Dongyang gets the support of Bibai, he can unite the forces of the Tatars, make enemies of my Ming Dynasty, and even divide Ningxia Town from the territory of my Ming Dynasty." ”

"Wang Shangshu is sensational, right?" Zhou Hong said with a smile, but he already accepted Wang Yiyu's opinion a little bit in his heart.

Wang Xijue asked: "Since Wang Shangshu said that the black hand of the curtain hand is a worship, so how should we deal with this matter now?" ”

Wang Yihe said: "It has not been a day or two since I have supported the army and respected myself, and I have the intention to rebel. This time, Liu Dongyang launched a mutiny, and the next step must be to invade the forts in Ningxia and form a separatist trend. In the old man's opinion, when the foundation is not stable, quickly mobilize a few troops and horses to pacify, if it stabilizes its position, it will be difficult to quell the rebellion. ”

"Recruiting soldiers is easier said than done. However, the soldiers and horses have not moved, the grain and grass go first, if you want to send 100,000 people with armor to invade Ningxia, the cost of various expenses alone will cost millions of taels of silver, which is not a small amount. Shen Shixing said worriedly.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, China was a typical state of wealth and poverty, with private merchants being rich and rivaling the country, and it was difficult for the government to collect taxes from them. Due to the continuous expansion of the size of the army and the government, and the increasing expenditure of various items, the finances are almost unable to make ends meet. As the saying goes, even the emperor has no surplus food in his house, otherwise he would not have sent a large number of mine supervisors and tax supervisors to compete with the people for profit.

Under such circumstances, the biggest obstacle to mobilizing heavy troops to Ningxia to quell the rebellion is the issue of military spending. But as long as there is a little other way, Shen Shixing is unwilling to choose the way of sending troops.

Xia Guan thought that what Wang Shangshu said was just a conjecture. There has not yet been news of the Bibai rebellion from Ningxia, and if things are not as bad as we think, wouldn't it be a waste of money and labor in vain if things don't go as bad as we thought? Zhou Honghe said along with Shen Shixing's words.

"Then according to the meaning of Zhou Yushi, what should be done?" Shen Shixing asked.

Zhou Honghe said: "The current plan should be to wait and wait, wait a few days, and see the new news from Ningxia." ”

"If it is really a rebellion, in a few days, Bibai will be able to recover the forts in Ningxia and invade Hedong, how will it end at that time?" Wang Yihe asked.

Shen Shixing said: "During this period, Wei Xuezeng, the governor of Shaanxi, can be ordered to lead Shaanxi soldiers and horses to take strict precautions outside Ningxia Town, so as to avoid the expansion of the situation." Even if as Wang Shangshu said, it will take some time to send a few soldiers and horses to pacify, and what Zhou Yushi said has no conflict with Wang Shangshu. ”

"Yes!" Wang Yihe was helpless and had to agree. He knew what Shen Shixing was thinking, and as far as he was concerned, he also knew that the matter of using troops was very important, and casually transferring troops and horses all the way would cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, in case things were really as Zhou Honghe said, it would indeed be inappropriate to use troops in a hurry now.

Shen Shixing reported the results of everyone's discussion to Wanli, who agreed to their idea. Then there are the specific arrangements.

First of all, it is necessary to send an official to Ningxia Town, Starry Night, to negotiate with the rebels, promising that as long as the rebels lay down their arms, the imperial court can pardon their crimes. At the same time, the Ministry of War issued an order for Wei Xuezeng, the governor of Shaanxi, to command the soldiers and horses of all towns in Shaanxi to prepare for the invasion of Bibai. Next, the Ministry of War also issued a notice to the general troops of Shanxi, Liaodong, Zhejiang and other places, as well as the Miao people in the south, telling them to be ready to send troops to attack the rebels in Ningxia at any time.

When the affairs were stopped, the courtiers breathed a sigh of relief and returned to their yamen. Mutinies are not new, and there are several cases every year across the country, but on different scales. Some small mutinies, that is, more than a dozen soldiers kidnapping or killing their superiors for some trivial matters, will be suppressed within a few days. Although the matter in Ningxia is bigger this time, after all, Ningxia is still far away from the capital, and the matter will not affect the capital for a while.

Wang Yiju and Wang Xijue walked out of the court together, and saw that there was no one left and right, Wang Xijue asked Wang Yiju in a low voice: "Wang Shangshu, is there any news of Su Gaizhi?" ”

Wang Yihe shook his head and said, "No, I'm also waiting for news from him." ”

Wang Xijue said: "You used Su Gaizhi as an ambush army and sent it to Ningxia last year, just because you were worried about today's affairs. Now things are as you expected, but I don't know what Su Gai's good luck is, and whether his survey camp can be reused. ”

Wang Yihe said: "After the Kanyu Battalion defeated the Japanese with firearms in Huai'an the year before last, I instructed Su Gaizhi to train the Kanyu Battalion into a strong force that is good at firearms. Some time ago, I received a report from Xu Guangzu that the application of firearms in the survey camp had made some achievements, so I sent them to Ningxia. If what Xu Guangzu said is true, I think the survey camp should be able to contain Bibai. ”

"I hope so." Wang Xijue said, "I'm just worried that Su Gaizhi is too young, and when he encounters such a major event, he will be in chaos." ”

Wang Yihe smiled and said, "Didn't Elder Wang Ge say that Li Zhen and his people are in Su Hao's camp?" Su Hao is indeed young, but he has Xu Guangzu, Chen Dao, and Li Zhen by his side, and these people have all experienced a lot of things. With their help, the survey camp should not make too many mistakes. ”

It turned out that after Wang Xijue returned to the capital from Runing, he told Wang Yiju about Li Zhen. Li Zhen is a great Confucian in the world, and there are not many people who don't know him. Except for Jinyiwei and those people, most of the officials admired Li Zhen quite a lot, and Wang Yihe also belonged to one of them, so when he learned the news, he naturally wouldn't report it to Jinyiwei.

When sending Su Hao to Ningxia, Wang Xijue and Wang Yiju had repeatedly discussed, and the main worry was that Su Hao was inexperienced. But with Li Zhen and Xu Guangzu in Su Hao's army, Wang Xijue and Wang Yiju are much more relieved. In order to increase the insurance coefficient, Wang Yihe also specially sent Chen Dao and Su Hao to lead the army together, and before Chen Daolin set off, Wang Yihe secretly instructed him on the appropriate time, and talked about how to deal with the Ningxia incident.

"I hope this Su Gaizhi can bring us some surprises." Wang Xijue said slowly.

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