At Denglai, the Ming army occupied the main camp.
Luo Sigong, the commander of the Jinyiwei, who was wearing a second-grade Feiyu uniform, sat in the main seat, slowly drank a sip of tea, raised his eyes, and glanced at Shen Yourong, the general of Dengzhen.
Originally, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was of the third rank, but when he received the secret order from the emperor to leave the capital, Zhu Youxiao promoted him one level to the same rank as the governor of Denglai.
In the Ming Dynasty, the general was the highest military commander guarding the local area. This changed the situation where generals who trained troops did not command battles, and generals who commanded battles did not care about training troops. This was conducive to improving the combat effectiveness of the army and forming a situation of centralized power.
However, the emperor was worried that the general would dominate a certain area and become self-reliant, so he sent officials, called governors, to participate in military management and weaken the power of the general.
Because the imperial court's principle was to emphasize civil affairs over military power, the general was under the governor's control.
In other words, Dengzhen General Shen Yourong would be under the command of Denglai Governor Tao Langxian. Without a cabinet-signed imperial edict or a review by the Ministry of War, Shen Yourong's face shifted. Although he was following orders, he felt a sense of unease.
Speaking of Shen Yourong, he is already sixty-three years old, about the same age as Luo Sigong.
Although Shen Yourong is not very famous in history, he joined the army after passing the military examination at the age of 22 and had a fighting career of more than 40 years.
Shen Yourong participated in the war to support Korea, fought against the Yehe rebellion under Li Chengliang, Ningchengbo of Liaodong, fought against Duoyan under Qi Shaobao of Jizhen, captured and killed Japanese pirates in Dongsha, and scared off the Dutch in Penghu...
In the first year of Taichang (1620), the invasion of Liaodong by the Later Jin Dynasty intensified, so the Ming court appointed a deputy general of Shandong, stationed in Dengzhou, to command the navy to provide support on land.
Because of his past merits, Shen Yourong was "known by famous people of the time" and was appointed as the general of Dengzhen and the deputy governor, and "Denglai became an important town."
In the first year of the Tianqi reign (1621), Shenyang and Liaoyang fell one after another, and the Later Jin occupied the Liaodong Peninsula and some coastal islands, posing a serious threat to the Ming Dynasty.
Xiong Tingbi, the governor of Liaodong, proposed a "three-party deployment strategy" based on the overall situation. The second strategy was "to use Denglai crossing the sea as a surprise attack" and recommended Tao Langxian as the governor of Denglai and stationed in Dengzhou.
Denglai Governor Tao Langxian was also a capable official.
In the 41st year of the Wanli reign, he was transferred to Dengzhou Prefecture as prefect. He petitioned to lift the ban on sea trade and transport grain from Liaodong to aid the country. He established academies and military farms, recruited people to reclaim 7,000 mu of island farmland, and stored 300,000 dan of grain. He ranked first in performance appraisals and was promoted to Deputy Censor of Shandong.
In the 46th year of the Wanli reign, Nurhaci captured Shenyang. The Ming army sent grain to the Liao Dynasty via sea. He was in charge of transporting grain by sea, and over two years, he sent 1.8 million dan of grain to the Liao Dynasty, saving 5 million gold coins compared to land transportation.
In the first year of the Tianqi reign (1621), Liaodong was completely occupied by Nurhaci, who recovered 200,000 dan of military supplies from the sea route.
At that time, countless people fled to Dengzhou from the sea route. Tao Lang first distributed land according to oral instructions and incorporated the strong ones into the army, thus maintaining social order.
After the court agreed on a three-party deployment strategy, it advanced into Liaodong from Tong (formerly Tong County, Beijing), Jin (Tianjin), Denglai (referring to Dengzhou and Laizhou), and Korea, and ordered him to stay in Denglai to make preparations.
Tao Langxian actively cooperated with the plan, using the recovered grain to build ships and procure weapons. Dengzhen now had 30,000 soldiers, nearly 10,000 fine horses, 2,000 warships, and countless armored vehicles.
Zhu Youxiao had read Tao Langxian's resume and felt that he was far superior to Wang Huazhen. If he could carry out the imperial decree, that would be the best.
If TOMRA refuses first, then we can only take it and reuse it later when the opportunity arises.
After Shen Yourong took over as the general of Dengzhen, he got along well with Tao Langxian and received his strong support in the deployment of troops and military affairs. Deep down, he hoped that Tao Langxian would accept the order so that he could do his job.
The emperor issued the imperial edict bypassing the cabinet, which was certainly wrong in terms of procedure, but the fact that he sent an official of such importance as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard showed his determination. The consequences of refusing the imperial edict can be imagined.
Of course, no matter what Tao Langxian's attitude was, Shen Yourong had already issued an order in accordance with the imperial edict, and the entire Dengzhen army was making intensive preparations for the cross-sea operation.
This was the difference between civil officials and military generals at that time. Civil officials valued integrity and were also stubborn. Not only did they often say "I dare not obey the imperial edict", they also took pleasure in intimidating the emperor.
The angrier the emperor is, the better; the more harshly you scold, the better; it would be best if you were beaten with a stick in the court. You would immediately be praised by the literati and become famous throughout the country. This beating of a stick in the court is beautiful!
Haha, getting spanked, instead of feeling ashamed, he took pride in it, and even saw it as a great opportunity to become famous and be remembered for generations. Such a mentality is truly unique.
The most interesting thing is that during the reign of Emperor Jiajing, because of the dispute over the great etiquette, the emperor punished more than a hundred people with canings in court at one time.
Hey, guess what, when a list was made afterwards, the number of people on it was much higher than the actual number of people who were beaten. What happened?
It turns out that many people took this opportunity to add the names of their relatives and friends. Being spanked by the emperor brought honor to the family.
Because of this, several emperors of the Ming Dynasty were helpless against such shameless civil servants.
Sometimes, when I was scolded badly, I could only comfort myself: This guy did it on purpose, trying to get famous by being beaten in court, but I won’t beat you and won’t let you get what you want.
That’s right, it’s not that easy to get beaten.
Therefore, the emperor was filled with hatred, but he had to swallow his anger. Beating you up to vent his anger, but it would make him feel depressed because he was being played with.
As a result, there were many strange emperors in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
Emperor Zhengde completely let himself go, Emperor Jiajing embarked on the long road of cultivating immortality as a mortal, and I can neither afford to offend nor avoid Emperor Wanli. Can't I just be a fat otaku?
According to Zhu Youxiao's opinion, these emperors were forced and angered by the civil service group. It was shameless of them not to be mentally ill under the criticism.
"Lord Tao is here!" The announcement from outside made the two people in the tent stop what they were doing.
Luo Sigong put down the tea bowl, pursed his lips slightly, stood up with a smile on his face, and leisurely brushed off the small wrinkles on his clothes.
Shen Yourong had a complicated expression on his face. He stood up to greet the governor, Tao Lang, and politely invited him in.
"Sir Tao, I apologize for not coming to meet you in person." Luo Sigong bowed and smiled.
"I dare not, I dare not. Lord Luo, please wait for me for a long time. Please forgive me, please forgive me." Tao Langxian did not dare to be arrogant and quickly returned the greeting.
Luo Sigong smiled and said, "Lord Tao is busy with official duties and has governed Denglai very well. His Majesty even praised him, saying that Governor Tao has the talent of a cabinet minister!"
Tao Langxian quickly determined the direction, bowed to the west, and said, "Your Majesty, I am so honored to receive your praise."
Haha, Luo Sigong smiled, then put away his smile and extended his hand to invite, "Eunuch Chen, please announce the decree to Lord Tao!"
Eunuch Chen coughed dryly, then slowly stood up from his seat, stood upright, and took out the imperial edict.
Tao Langxian frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, then knelt down and kowtowed, "Your Highness Tao Langxian accepts your order."
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