The situation in Liaodong is very calm, since Huang Taiji sent people to the capital to negotiate peace, the Houjin Tatars did not attack, and the skirmishes that often appeared before were gone, there was no war in Liaodong, on the other hand, the envoys sent by North Korea have come to the capital twice, crying about the brutality of the Houjin Tatars, Huang Taiji led the army to invade, so that North Korea suffered heavy losses, not only the population was taken away by hundreds of thousands, but also a lot of money and grain were looted, a few months have passed, and the various parts of North Korea that the Houjin Tatars have passed through are still a mess, It is difficult to recover quickly, but Fuzhou and other places were occupied by the Ming Dynasty, which made the Korean royal family feel a lot safer, at least Huang Taiji did not dare to attack North Korea again without scruples.

Shanxi, Henan, Huguang, Sichuan and other places, the Liukou are still plundering, but Lu Xiangsheng, the governor of the five provinces, has done his best to exterminate the Liukou, so that the situation in these places can still maintain general stability, and the Liukou have suffered a tragic blow from the Zheng Jiajun, and they dare not underestimate the army of the imperial court, and they are very cautious in their operations, so the situation of the Liukou looting has been greatly reduced compared with previous years.

There is no war in Liaodong, and the momentum of the spread of the rogue has been curbed, which has indeed made some changes in the situation in the imperial court, the biggest change is that the household department began to default on military salaries again, it should be said that the life of the household department in the past two years is relatively good, and the Houjin compensation is 10 million taels of silver, all of which have entered the treasury of the household department, during which one million taels of silver were given to the Zheng family's army, and the rest is not a big expense, it is said that paying military salaries is not a big problem, but the biggest hidden danger in Liaodong does not exist for the time being. The rogues are not as arrogant as before, and the status of the army is naturally not so important.

I don't know when the talk about the dismantling of the army began. Also began to appear.

Among them, the biggest spearhead is pointed at two places, one is the hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in Liaodong, some people think that so many troops are stationed, and too much money and food are consumed. The imperial court was already overstretched and could not afford such a burden, but now that the situation in Liaodong has stabilized, it can consider reducing part of the army.

Another spearhead is pointed at Zheng Jiajun, of course, no one said that Zheng Jiajun consumed too much money and food, after all, the imperial court did not bear Zheng Jiajun's military salary. However, some people believe that the imperial court should send a supervising army to the Zheng family's army, after all, the Zheng family's army is still the imperial court's army, and it is impossible to say that there is no supervising army, followed by the Zheng family's army's chief soldier and deputy chief soldier. It should also be adjusted appropriately, and so on.

These suggestions were angrily rebuked by Zhang Fengyi, the deputy assistant of the cabinet, and Yang Sichang, the secretary of the Ministry of War, whose attitude was very clear, there was no war in Liaodong, it was not completely safe, and the Eight Banners were eyeing each other, and their strength was still strong, and they could attack at any time. The rogues had not yet been completely exterminated, and in such a situation, there was a proposal to dismantle the army. Self-destructing the foundation, isn't this trying to destroy the Ming Dynasty.

In the early dynasties, Zhang Fengyi and Yang Sichang even directly said that there were ghosts in the court.

But even if Zhang Fengyi and Yang Sichang said so, proposals for dismantling the army continued to appear.

Of course, in this case. The so-called disarmament proposals, or setbacks, will not be on the high level. It will not be blatantly raised in the early morning, and no one dares to take such a risk. Everyone knows that the Guanning Jin defense line is related to the safety of the capital, in case of a large-scale reduction of troops in Liaodong, resulting in a weak force of guards, so that the Houjin Tartars suddenly break through or even occupy, then the capital will be dangerous, once there is an accident in the capital, it will indicate the demise of the Ming Dynasty, such a consequence, no one can bear it, it is not as simple as words.

But the emergence of some things made Zhang Fengyi and Yang Sichang helpless.

In the cabinet, Zhang Fengyi mainly has jurisdiction over the affairs of the Ministry of War, the Criminal Department and the Ministry of Industry, focusing on the affairs of the Ministry of War, while the Ministry of Household is directly controlled by Qian Shisheng and Hou Sui, who is already a cabinet minister, still serves as the secretary of the Ministry of Households, deciding all the expenses of the Ministry of Households, and Zhang Fengyi cannot interfere in the affairs of the Ministry of Households.

The biggest problem is the issue of unpaid salaries.

The military household system has existed in name only, especially in the north, successive years of famine, so that the life of the military household can not go on, more pitiful than the common people, the conscription system has long replaced the military household system, since it is a conscription system, then it needs military pay to maintain, the sergeant can not get the salary for a long time, the stomach can not be full, can not feed the family, the war is a luxury.

The imperial court once had a painful lesson because of the arrears of military salaries, and no one would forget this, and it is said that under such a painful lesson, it is very unwise to default on military salaries, but such a thing happened.

Don't think that things in the court are easy to solve, some things that seem unreasonable can still be popular, and this is the case with arrears of military salaries, which has been used to it for so many years.

Of course, there are deep-seated reasons for arrears of military salaries, that is, the matter of risking military salaries is also very prominent, some of the troops under the command of the general army are known as tens of thousands of soldiers, and the actual number can be half of the army, which is considered very good, but when people ask for military salaries, they will not say the actual number, anyway, how many sergeants were registered in the former military department, and the military salary will be allocated according to how many people, and the military department sometimes sends people to investigate, but these investigators, after getting the benefits, must safeguard the interests of the following, Anyway, they don't have to pay for the military salary.

It is in this kind of repeated confrontation that arrears of military pay have become a common practice, and the household department also knows that military pay is a big thing, but they are confident that the military salary will be allocated in the end anyway, but the time is a little late, and the sergeants below really have a problem or mutiny, and the officers will be anxious and will find a way to calm it down.

That is, there will be problems with arrears of military salaries, but not big problems.

The opinions of the cabinet can not be unified, everyone is responsible for a piece, everyone says that their own piece is very important, the cabinet chief assistant Wen Tiren also needs to balance the power of the cabinet, only by balancing the power of all aspects, so that the court as a whole looks stable, he can continue to serve as the cabinet chief assistant safely.

In the process of this and the mud, many contradictions gradually emerged.

The strangest thing is the emperor's attitude, to say that these things in the court, the emperor can't turn a blind eye, but it's a pity that after such a long time, the emperor doesn't have any attitude, as if the appearance of these things doesn't matter at all.

In late April, Liu Zunxian, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, made a petition and implored the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate silver taels to rebuild Dalinghe City.

The battle of Dalinghe, ended in the crushing defeat of the Ming army, Houjin Tatar destroyed the Dalinghe city that had been built, so that Jinzhou was still at the forefront of the Guanning Jin defense line, but when the emperor Taiji sent an envoy to negotiate peace, it has been clear that the Dalinghe City was ceded, and the construction of the Dalinghe City was the most prestigious prince in the court, the former Zhongji Temple scholar, and the proposal put forward by Sun Chengzong, the secretary of the military department, from the actual point of view of strategy, the construction of the Dalinghe City, for consolidating the Guanning Jin defense line, does have a vital role.

Although the Emperor Taiji of Houjin has sent envoys to the capital to negotiate peace, everyone understands that Liaodong cannot be calm forever, and the strength of Houjin Tartars is still strong, so taking advantage of this time, it is the best way to defend against Houjin Tartars by quickly building Dalinghe City and consolidating the defense line of Guanningjin.

This is the third time that Liu Zunxian has proposed to rebuild Dalinghe City.

The emperor finally reacted and asked the cabinet to discuss the matter.

Liu Zunxian, who was overjoyed, immediately found Wen Tiren, the first assistant of the cabinet, and Zhang Fengyi, the second assistant of the cabinet.

Zhang Fengyi's attitude was very clear, agreeing to rebuild Dalinghe City, Wen Tiren's attitude was a little vague, and he did not clearly express support or opposition.

Since the emperor decreed that the cabinet should discuss the rebuilding of Dalinghe City, Wen Tiren would certainly not slack off and immediately convened the cabinet to discuss the matter.

Wen Tiren would never have imagined that this time the discussion on whether to rebuild Dalinghe City would result in an extremely fierce debate, and even a crucial resolution would be issued.

Almost at the same time as the discussion began, the cabinet was divided into two factions, with Zhang Fengyi and Yang Yipeng as the faction, who supported the construction of Dalinghe City, and Qian Shisheng and Hou Xun as the faction, who were resolutely opposed to the construction of Dalinghe City.

The reason for the need to build Dalinghe City does not need to be said, everyone knows it.

Qian Shiqu and Hou Xun think that there is no need to build or temporarily do not build Dalinghe City, the reason is also sufficient, they believe that the current construction of Dalinghe City, the cost is huge, not to mention, once the city is built, it is necessary to send a large army to station, the number of troops in each city in Liaodong is fixed, can not be dispatched casually, if it is to defend Dalinghe City, then it is necessary to recruit sergeants, such an expense, the imperial court can not bear it for the time being.

What Qian Shisheng and Hou Xun said is indeed very reasonable, if you don't know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive, once this opening is opened, then a steady stream of expenses will appear, and the household department will not be able to bear it at all.

Liu Zunxian, who proposed the reversal, participated in the cabinet deliberations, and he originally had no right to speak, but at a critical moment, he put forward a proposal, that is, to collect the taxes owed by each year, and to link this task with the official hats of local officials. And the taxes collected can be used to build Dalinghe City.

Liu Zunxian's bad idea was put forward by the Donglin Party in the first year of Chongzhen, which led to a large-scale rebellion by the Liukou, and it was only a few years before Liu Zunxian put it forward again.

Wen Tiren, who felt that something was wrong, did not express his position immediately, but Zhang Fengyi, Yang Yipeng, Qian Shisheng, Hou Xun and others unexpectedly agreed to this proposal.

This inevitably makes people feel sad, the ministers of the cabinet, standing at the top of the position, should have the overall situation in mind, but in order to achieve the goal, they ignore the stability of the Ming Dynasty. (To be continued)