Chapter 288

"Song Nan, it's better for you not to say much about military affairs." Liu Jin said coldly.

Song Nan said with a smile: "Since it's a court discussion, why can't I say what I think, isn't the court discussing major national affairs just brainstorming?" ”

Liu Jin said coldly: "It's good to brainstorm, but if anyone comes to interject, won't it be messed up?" ”

Zhengde waved his hand and said: "Liu Jin, Song Nan also experienced the battle of Xinpingbao, when you accompanied me in Ulzhou, Song Nan was fighting with the Tartars on the battlefield, although his status as a Jinyiwei is inconvenient to participate in military affairs, but it should not be unpurposeful to propose to build a building." ”

Liu Jin was speechless, bowed down and said, "The emperor is sage, the slave and maid are just afraid that the number of people will affect the decision." ”

Zhengde said: "It's okay, Song Nan, do you have any high opinions to say." ”

Song Nan thanked him and said quietly: "Your Majesty, my lords, it is not feasible for Liu Shangshu to discuss, but the weakness of the defense of the border town this time is indeed true, and the minister believes that the key to the problem is not whether Xinping Fort can be rebuilt or whether the avenue along the Great Wall can be built between the neighborhood guards of Datong Xuanfu Township, but how to coordinate the use of troops. The key to knowing the enemy's intentions before they move is to be able to take aim and defend or rescue them early. ”

Zhengde was confused, he didn't understand what Song Nan said, Jiao Fang said lightly: "Lord Song said lightly, and he has insight into the enemy's intentions, which is easy to say, but difficult to do." ”

Song Nan said: "What's so difficult? As far as I know, the 10,000 cavalry of the Tartars' attack on our Datong Tiancheng Pingyu Erwei were mobilized from the border towns of Shaanxi, but with such a large transfer of troops to the east, there was no piece of paper to transmit information in the border towns of Shaanxi, Gansu, shouldn't this point be improved? It is true that the soldiers and horses in the border towns in the Shaanxi and Gansu areas did not know that the emperor was patrolling in Datong, but if the Tartar cavalry led from Yansui in Lingzhou to the east to assemble, and the troops in my Shaanxi and Gansu areas could pass the news in time, my Datong defenders would be stupid and would know that the Tartars would take action. What's more, the emperor is in Datong, and he will have insight into his intentions, how can he let the emperor experience the dangers in the future? ”

The ministers nodded secretly, this is quite reasonable, the military affairs of the border towns are under the jurisdiction of the yamen of the various capital divisions, and they rarely know the news in peacetime, the Shanxi capital division and the Shaanxi capital division each guard their border towns, and the troops are enough to defend against the Tartar attack, so there is not much military affairs between them. This time, if the Shaanxi Dusi could inform Wang Xun, the general soldier of Datong, of the news of the eastward march of the 10,000 Tartars, Wang Xun would have understood that the Tartars must have come to the emperor, and he might have already put his pockets in his pockets and waited for the Tartars, and how could he be so wolf that the Tartars broke through the Great Wall, and Tianchengwei and the Pingyuwei were almost lost.

As long as Datong and Xuanfu can prepare for defense in advance, and the method of containing the two wings of the Tartars does not work, they will not dare to stay in Xinpingbao for a long time, and it is difficult to say whether they dare to enter the Xinpingbao valley.

Song Nan continued: "In fact, it is a matter of reaction mechanism, no matter whether the emperor is out on patrol this time, if the Tartars want to mobilize troops and horses to attack in one place, they will always suffer if they react slowly." The speed of the Tartar cavalry is fast, if the soldiers and horses in our border town want to effectively curb their assembly and raid, they may have to pass the news quickly, respond faster, and wait for the Tartars to come in with their pockets open, which is the way to solve the passive beating from the mechanism. ”

Zhengde seemed to understand whether he understood or not, his eyes passed over the faces of the ministers, listening to Song Nan's tone, it seemed that he did not need to spend a lot of money to build roads and forts to solve the problem of poor rescue in border towns, it sounded a little taken for granted, but with Zhengde's ability, he really couldn't tell whether what Song Nan said was reasonable.

All the ministers are frowning and thinking, although some of them think that what Song Nan said is not unreasonable, but some people think that Song Nan is talking nonsense, according to the inherent thinking, the defense of the border towns of the Ming Dynasty still needs to have enough soldiers and horses, and the fort is strong, which is the necessary hardware; The root cause of the failure to rescue the two places of Datong Xuanfu is that the plank road is not passable and cannot quickly reach Xinpingbao.

"The old minister has something to say." In silence, a person slowly stepped forward to salute Zhengde.

Everyone looked at it and couldn't help but be stunned, the person who spoke, the British Gong Zhang Mao, this old man would take the initiative to speak, which was surprising; When the ministers were deliberating, the two princes rarely participated in the opinions, and even if the emperor asked for opinions by name, they hummed and did not express their opinions, and it was the first time that they took the initiative to speak like this.

"Oh? Husband, please speak. Zhengde smiled.

Zhang Mao thanked him, glanced at Song Nan and said: "Your Majesty, after listening to Lord Song's words just now, the old man couldn't help but think of the fourteenth year of Hongzhi, when the Tartar fire sieve tribe went south to attack and harass the important town of Yansui, and Yansui was almost captured by the Tartar soldiers. But in that battle, I Yansui Zuo near the fort was completely destroyed, more than 6,000 soldiers and civilians were killed and wounded, it was a tragic battle, it was a tragic battle, it was a victory, in fact, to put it mildly, it was defeated, the Tartar soldiers plundered the people, cattle and sheep and other things and returned with a full load, Lord Liu can still remember this battle? ”

Liu Daxia nodded and said, "Why don't you remember?" It's a pain to the bone. ”

Zhang Mao said: "The reason for this defeat is that the towns of Gansu, Ningxia and Yansui were ordered to undertake the task of guarding the border within their jurisdictions alone. The emperor learned from the pain and decided to set up a trilateral general government to unify the dispatch and assist defense in wartime, but due to various reasons, although it was proposed, it was not implemented. ”

Liu Daxia frowned and said: "There is no need to hide it, the reason why it cannot be implemented is because of the resistance of the lieutenants and governors of the general army of the towns, and they always think that there is an extra temperance official on their heads, so they are opposed by the masses, and the emperor takes into account the opinions of everyone before postponing it." ”

Zhang Mao nodded and said, "Lord Liu remembers it very clearly, it is true; Lord Song just said that my border town was slow to react and the news transmission was not smooth, and the old man was deeply touched; In recent years, the little Tatar prince has unified all the tribes, his strength has gradually become stronger, and the harassment of knocks is also extremely frequent. The old man thought that the matter mentioned by Lord Song was very simple, and immediately restored the trilateral general system, coordinated the troops and horses of the northwest Yansui, Gansu, and Ningxia, and established a military linkage with the Xuanfu of Datong in the east. ”

Zhang Mao's mention immediately won the support of many people, and the governor of the border town was a three-legged leader, and the matter of mutual restraint and hesitation in case of trouble has happened many times, and every time there is a border war, most of them are defeated, and this matter has become a cancer in the military affairs of the border town. The lieutenant is the eunuch sent by the inner court, and the middle officer is often sitting in the middle above the lobby, and the governor and the chief military officer are on the left and right.

Many people can see this drawback, and it is not surprising that Hongzhi set up a trilateral chief to avoid this kind of disadvantage, but once it was established, it obviously weakened the power of the lieutenant officers and governors of the general army, and it was not surprising that it attracted large-scale opposition.

At that time, not only Yansui, Gansu, Ningxia and other towns opposed it, but also the commanders, governors, lieutenants and lieutenants of other important towns in Datong, Xuanfu, Guyuan, Jizhou, etc., for the simple reason that this fire would burn on their heads sooner or later.

The Inner Court relied on the Chinese officers sent to participate in the military affairs, which was a part of the power of the Inner Court to show its strength, which certainly weakened the influence of the Inner Court, and naturally attracted the opposition of the Inner Court headed by Wang Yue.

As soon as Zhang Mao opened his mouth, he immediately attracted the secondment of many people, not to mention the Ministry of War, Li Dongyang and Yang Tinghe were also keenly aware that this move was an opportunity to weaken the inner court, and they seconded the proposal in unison.

The little prince of Tatar gathered 40,000 horses in only ten days, and three raids showed that the Tartar ambition is not small, and the strength should not be underestimated, and the defense of the border town will become more and more tight, and it is time to eliminate the drawbacks. The old minister thought that the two important towns of Xuanda could set up the post of governor of Xuanda to oversee the military affairs of the two towns and coordinate the operations. Li Dongyang lost no time in intensifying the situation, if the two places of Xuanda were to set up the governor's palace, the influence of the inner court in the border army would be almost cut off by more than half.

Liu Jin's face was pale, Song Nan came out to mention yì today, and the old man came out to sing harmony, and finally attributed the ineffective rescue of the two towns of Xuanfu and Datong to the three towns of Yansui and Ningxia in the west, and then put forward the proposal to restore the general system; This qiē seems to be a collusion between Song Nan and the old man, if it is really Song Nan who colluded with them, this is a signal, a signal to start a war with the inner court.

Liu Jin nervously thought about countermeasures, the current situation is that the two places of Xuanda are indeed ineffective in rescue, and they were caught off guard, in fact, just now Zhengde also issued a holy decree to reprimand and punish him, in this case, it is logical to propose a change policy, but the question is how can the strength of the inner court be weakened? The eunuchs of the Chinese army sent out rode on their heads and a governor appointed by the military department, wouldn't they all become decorations?

Although Liu Jin's teeth are itchy with anger, he has not yet messed up, the old man mentioned yì, the cabinet seconded the proposal, it is really unwise for him to speak out against it, and there is no reason; While thinking about it, Liu Jin's heart lit up, and suddenly a smile appeared on his face.

Everyone thought that Liu Jin would oppose this move in court like Wang Yue back then, but seeing that Liu Jin seemed to be unaware, his face was calm and he didn't say a word, which surprised everyone.

Zhengde muttered: "Since you all think that the establishment of a chief officer can eliminate the evils, I ......"

Jiao Fang suddenly spoke: "Your Majesty, the trilateral general system can be set up, and Li Shoufu mentions that the Xuanda Governor's Mansion needs to be slowed down, after all, I don't know what the effect is, why not use the trilateral general system to set up a test effect." If it is useful to establish the post of governor of Xuanda in the future, if it is invalid, it will not cause chaos in the defense of the two important towns north of the capital division, and the position of Xuanfu and Datong can be much more important than the towns in the northwest. ”

Zhengde nodded and said: "What I said is that I am allowed to set up a trilateral general government first, and Xuanda and other places will see the effect before making calculations; The candidates for the trilateral system still need to be selected at your discretion, and the candidates will be decided by the court after they are reported; That's it for today, I'm a little tired, let's retreat. ”