"The last time the Ming Dynasty conquered the Western Regions, we had to trace back to the Taizu period when Feng Sheng, the Duke of the Song Kingdom, went to the west, but I didn't expect to see this scene in my lifetime."

Zhu Yong, the Duke of Chengguo, stood on the city wall, looking at the distant Ming soldiers and horses, and his heart was full of emotion. No one thought that the seemingly impossible feat of the Western Expedition could be achieved in the hands of Shen Yichen.

Even if there are only 50,000 soldiers and horses, even if the vast majority of the civil and military people of the Manchu Dynasty choose not to be optimistic, they still can't wipe out the greatness of this expedition, Zhu Yong is proud to have such a son as Shen Yichen!

"The difficulty faced by Zhongguo Gong in this western expedition may be greater than that of Feng Sheng's western expedition during the Taizu period, and he will definitely not choose to stand by when the Western Mongolian tribes and the Guanxi Seven Guards are attacked."

The expression on Shen Yichen's face was a little solemn, because he was very aware of the difficulties that Shi Hengxi, the prince of Zhongguo, would face.

During the Orthodox Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, even if it experienced the defeat of the First Battle of Tumubao, it still could not be regarded as a complete loss, after all, Gansu Wei still belonged to one of the important towns on the nine sides, but it lost the actual control of the territory in the northwest.

In addition, the Seven Guards of Kansai were nominally the guards of the Ming Dynasty, but in fact they were similar in nature to the three guards of Wuliangha, and they were only the guards of the local natives who were canonized. When the Ming Dynasty was strong, it was honest and obedient, and when it was weak, it listened to the tune and did not listen to the propaganda, and even simply chose to rebel.

The most important of the Seven Guards of the Kansai Guard, Hamiwei, was actually completely controlled by the Mongol Warat Department in the twelfth year of orthodoxy, and also served as a servant army in the Jingshi Guard War. Along the way of the expedition of Shi Hengxi, the prince of Zhongguo, he was not greeted by the soldiers and horses of the feudal states who accepted the canonization of the Ming Dynasty, but the enemy army!

"Yes, during the Taizu period, Feng Zheng, the Duke of Song Guo, marched westward, and the Ming Dynasty was in an offensive posture as a whole, containing the main force of the Northern Yuan Dynasty. Now Shi Heng, the prince of Zhongguo, belongs to a lone army, and the entire Ming Dynasty has no way to provide him with any strategic support, and it only depends on the will of heaven how far he can hold out. ”

The reason why there is such a military event as the Western Expedition is that there is only the scene of Shen Yichen and Zhu Yong seeing them off, and the strategic disadvantage also accounts for a large part of the factor.

Most of the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty were aware of the predicament that Shi Heng would face, and some conspiracy theorists even wondered if Shen Yichen was magnanimous on the surface, but in fact the United Emperor played a double yellow play, letting the palace rebels and the Shi clan go to death!

In fact, on the other hand, Shen Yichen did not hold a grand departure ceremony, and released more bold words, in a sense, he also put Shi Heng in the position of a "dead soldier".

This road west conscription horse is the biggest bait thrown to Tiansheng Khan, once he has the idea and action of eating, then it is the moment for the Ming Dynasty to wave the Northern Expedition. In many cases, in the "era of peace", if you want to unite as one, you need an opportunity and a reason.

Not only will the civil and military officials oppose the reckless use of military force, but even if the common people will prefer to live comfortably for a long time, forgetting that there is still a century-old enemy of Mongolia outside the Great Wall, and they are not aware of the situation in the far west.

The ancients have long said that war is not a good choice to be born in sorrow and die in peace, but it is a necessary means. Only by marching all the way to the northwest and resuming the Silk Road, which had been interrupted for thousands of years, will the people of the Ming Dynasty realize that there is more than just one Eastern Empire in this world before the advent of the Age of Discovery.

Ci is not in charge of the army, there is actually no mistake in this world that does not bear the consequences, Shi Henggong rebelled, and he could also let him lead the army to get a chance to break the earth and seal the king, which was already the limit of forgiveness that Shen Yichen could get.

Then you have to take your life to prove your worth!

With the departure of Shi Heng's troops and horses, the center of the court fell into a calm before the storm, and various reforms and changes were advancing in an orderly manner, waiting for Shen Yichen to show the last killing move of the gentry to pay for food.

It's just that Cao Jixiang, the eunuch who holds the seal of the celebrant eunuch, gradually realizes that he has now become the biggest victim of a series of reforms in the court. First of all, Wang Wen successfully entered the cabinet, and his status rose sharply after serving as the elder of the court, and he became no longer obedient when his wings were stiff.

After all, Wang Wen and Yang Shan are still fundamentally different, he has not fallen to the step of losing a family dog, and has always occupied a place in the civil official group. Committed to Cao Jixiang's eunuch party, it was nothing more than a hopeless attempt at luck for promotion, but it really made him succeed in stepping on two boats.

The literati have a kind of contempt for eunuchs in their bones, not to mention that Wang Wen entered the cabinet with the rank of imperial envoy, one of the three legal divisions, which can be called a great power, not inferior to He Wenyuan, the head of the civil official, how can he still be willing to saddle the horse and the horse?

In addition, Shen Yichen has become a Daming money bank and the Ministry of Finance, and the impact of recovering the coinage right and financial power has not made the six departments of the court and the local wealthy families feel pain so quickly for the time being.

It takes time to mint money, and it is not possible to replace private bad money in circulation throughout the country. However, the royal treasury controlled by the eunuch group has become a direct victim, and Cao Jixiang is the first to bear the brunt!

You must know that the official name of the Ming Dynasty's internal treasury is called "Inner House Ten Libraries", and if you count the "Heavenly Treasury Library" and "Supply Library", it can also be called the Inner Mansion Twelve Libraries. Among them, the inner transport depot is specially responsible for storing gold and silver, and the status of the twelve depots is the highest.

The money was originally issued to the military ministers, but the amount was huge and could not be used up, and the status of the military generals and relatives continued to decline, so it almost became a common practice to deduct and deplete the money, and it slowly became the emperor's private money, and it could also be used as a reserve at critical moments.

In fact, the real right to manage and use the money is in the hands of the eunuchs, and the specific amount is only known to the eunuch group.

Cao Jixiang is the master of ceremonies, the well-deserved leader of the eunuch group, and the huge royal property is naturally under his control.

As a result, who would have thought that Shen Yichen took advantage of the opportunity of the reform of the court to confuse the concept and say that the internal government belongs to the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry, and should be under the unified management of the Ministry of Finance.

Then there was a set of great principles of kingly responsibility that fooled Emperor Mingliang, and before Cao Jixiang did not react at all, he received a holy decree to completely replace the eunuch managers of the twelve treasury of the inner government, and was replaced by the officials of the Ministry of Finance under the command of Xiao Yi.

Cao Jixiang, who was hit by this move, was caught off guard, and there was nowhere to "redress his grievances". After all, this money belongs to the emperor's private property, and now even the emperor himself has agreed to take it out and manage it by the Ministry of Finance, what right do you, a domestic slave eunuch, have to object?

At the same time, the deprivation of financial power immediately stopped Cao Jixiang's expansion momentum in the army. After all, it takes silver to win over the generals of the Beijing camp and raise the generals, so why should you give you a eunuch to sell your life if you don't have money, just because your name is Cao Jixiang?

To be honest, Shen Yichen's formulation of the tax reform plan did not even think that it would affect the expansion of Cao Jixiang's power in the army, which can be regarded as a complete surprise.

At this time, there were several people sitting in the yamen, namely the heir Zhaowu Bo Cao Qin, the nephew Cao Xuan, the governor of the Five Armies, Wang Cheng, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, Yang Shan, the right capital of the Imperial Inspectorate, and Tang Xu, the recently joined Taichang Siqing.

Everyone's faces were a little gloomy, especially Cao Jixiang could almost drip water. Quoting Wang Wen's operation is completely a complete trick, and it has also achieved the goal of making wedding dresses for others.

But at this moment, Cao Jixiang doesn't care about Wang Wen, the financial crisis is his weakness!

After a long silence, Cao Jixiang finally asked his heir Cao Qin: "Qin'er, how is the situation in the Fifth Military Camp now, and has the group of generals made trouble?" ”

Hearing his adoptive father's inquiry, even the heir Cao Qin, who had been knighted, still stood up and replied respectfully: "In the past few months, there has been a decrease of fifty percent, and there have been some people clamoring for trouble, but the child has already tried his best to suppress it with his cousin." ”

The ancient clan is the hub that maintains the existence of the power, don't look at Cao Jixiang as a eunuch, in addition to the existence of adopted sons and righteous sons, the nephews placed in the Guangjun are Cao Xuan, Cao Duo, and Cao? Waiting for more than a dozen people, there are hundreds of relatives and guests from the far tribe.

It is precisely by relying on this group of descendants that Cao Jixiang can gain a firm foothold in the Beijing camp and suppress the unruly generals. However, this kind of suppression can only be used for a while, and the contradictions cannot be accumulated for a long time, otherwise it will erupt more violently in the coming days.

Although the Cao clan is the core of Cao Jixiang, the generals are the foundation of his life and the source of his combat effectiveness. In history, Cao Jixiang dared to rebel even more rampantly than Shi Heng as a eunuch, because he often rewarded loyal generals and soldiers and tried his best to meet the latter's needs for money, materials and even women.

So much so that this group of Mongolian generals was more worried than Cao Jixiang himself that he would lose his power by asking for guilt, which would lead to his treatment and status being insecure, so he simply rebelled and gambled with his life.

"Damn, our family treats them well and well on weekdays, but they have been short of silver for a few months and started to make trouble, what a group of white-eyed wolves who can't be fed!"

Cao Jixiang scolded bitterly when he heard it, but he also understood in his heart that it was just a mouthful, and the reason why the alien race was called Fanbang barbarians was because they didn't understand benevolence, righteousness, etiquette, wisdom and faith, and they naturally wouldn't work hard if they didn't have money.

So Cao Jixiang could only look at Wang Cheng, the palm seal of the Imperial Horse Supervisor on the side, and said: "Princess, the Imperial Horse Supervisor controls the Son of Heaven's army, and the money has always been lenient, or you can find a way to transfer a sum of silver to the Beijing camp." ”

Shen Yichen controlled the financial power of the internal army, but he did not completely cut off the emperor's financial power over the pro-army of the Son of Heaven, after all, this thing is related to whether the dragon chair under the ass can sit firmly, but anyone who has no problem with his head knows that he must maintain the pro-army and cannot hand over the lifeblood to the courtiers.

Using eunuchs to take charge of Tengxiang's four guards, in a sense, is also to prevent courtiers from seizing power, Shen Yichen also touched the royal confinement prematurely, and did not take any action against the financial budget of the Son of Heaven's army.

Reform and change the law will offend the gentry class, and if you step on the bottom line of the royal family, it is really a bit too rampant, and the public enemy of the world is not so easy to be.

Hearing that Cao Jixiang was going to take his own money from the Imperial Horse Supervisor, Wang Cheng instantly felt bitter and couldn't speak, Teng Xiang Siwei was also a group of arrogant soldiers, how could they accept the reduced treatment?

But the problem is that the current Wang Cheng is no longer the big celebrity in front of Emperor Jingtai back then, and without the emperor as a backer, he can sit in the position of the palm print of the imperial horse supervisor, which is already a "charity" given by Cao Jixiang in order to avoid people's eyes and ears.

If you dare to refuse, several charges will emerge tomorrow for impeachment, not to mention enjoying the glory and wealth of the twelve prison seals, and whether you will live or not will become a suspense. After all, no matter how high and powerful the eunuch is, he has never been able to punish the privileges and preferential treatment of the doctor, and the emperor's favor is the only reliance.

"Yes, the subordinate obeys the orders of the Prime Minister."

As soon as Wang Cheng's words fell, Cao Xuan, his nephew on the other side, couldn't help but speak: "Shen Yichen is really a bit of a deception, he transferred Shi Heng's 20,000 soldiers and horses from the Fifth Army Camp, and we have obeyed his will to give enough face, but now we don't even let go of the internal guard." ”

"Is he going to make a move on his uncle next?"

As soon as Cao Xuan's words came out, the atmosphere in the lobby of the celebrant and the yamen instantly seemed to drop to below zero.

Originally, Cao Jixiang thought that he had the advantage of being an internal official, and he could sit firmly in Diaoyutai to watch Shen Yichen compete with the two tigers of the civil official group, and Shi Heng's rebellion at the beginning also allowed him to really eat a wave of dividends.

It's just that people are not as good as heaven, and the seemingly profound civilian-official group is not as good as Shi Heng, a reckless martial artist, and has no power to parry in the face of Shen Yichen's step-by-step offensive. The only one who organized a wave of impeachment from scratch with the help of Beijing officials sent abroad was easily resolved by Shen Yichen with fame and fortune and connections.

Now it seems that He Wenyuan, the newly promoted secretary of the Ministry of Rites, is far inferior to Hu Hu in terms of tactics, at least the latter can protect himself, but the former is played by Shen Yichen!

Shen Yichen took back the financial power of the internal money, Cao Jixiang didn't know if this was a harbinger of doing it to himself, but he was absolutely sure of one thing, that is, "there must be a battle" between Shen Yichen and himself, and there was no room for two tigers in the court.

Just when everyone was silent, Yang Shan, the right capital Yushi Yan, said in a yin owl voice: "Cao Dudu is right, Shen Yichen is pressing step by step, even if he can fill the hole in the Beijing camp with the military salary of the imperial horse supervisor today, if this son attacks the army of the Son of Heaven tomorrow, how can the internal minister fill this loophole?" ”

"Yang Duxian, you are a bit alarmist, Shen Yichen dares to move the Son of Heaven's army?"

Tang Xu, who had not spoken all this time, saw that everyone was saying more and more serious words, so he spoke to ease the atmosphere.

As a result, Yang Shan didn't buy it at all, but said more explicitly: "Alarmist? According to His Majesty's current posture of obedience to Shen Yichen's words, it is only a matter of time before he reaches into the army of the Son of Heaven. ”

"Do you really think Shen Yichen is a good minister of the auxiliary country?"

Speaking of this, Yang Shan sneered, gritted his teeth and spit out four words.

"Treacherous loyalty!"