"Your Majesty," Fan Jingwen replied with a salute, "Winter is about to come to Liaodong, and the army that will pacify Liaodong is mostly infantry. Once heavy snow falls, not only will it be difficult to march, but supply will also face huge challenges. So Wang Yongji's idea is to maintain a standoff with the Jiannu during this period of time and wait until the beginning of spring next year before sending troops."
Gao Shiming, the head of the Imperial Household Department standing in the corner, retorted in a sharp voice: "It is difficult for our army to march, and it is not easy for the Jiannu to march either! The army has just won a victory, and we should pursue the victory!"
"Eunuch Gao, you don't know that when it snows in Liaodong in winter, the knee-deep snow is simply a disaster for the infantry." Wang Jiayan began to explain: "Although the Jiannu also have infantry, most of them are equipped with war horses, so it does not affect the march."
"Of course I know the impact of heavy snow," Gao Shiming said coldly, "It's mid-September now. How long do we have to confront the Jiannu?"
"It will be around February." Wang Jiayan replied.
"Four and a half months!" Gao Shiming stretched out his right hand and gestured, "Do you know how much food and grass will be consumed by more than 100,000 people in four and a half months? The court is already in deficit, and not only do they not think about saving food and grass for the court, but they also think of ways to waste it!"
Seeing Gao Shiming's aggressive look, Fan Jingwen got angry.
He said angrily: "Eunuch Gao is right! Instead of arguing here, why don't we immediately ask the emperor for permission to force Wang Yongji to send troops? As long as he buries all 100,000 troops in Liaodong, the court won't have to spend a penny anymore!"
"You..." Gao Shiming was so angry that his face turned red, "What you said is pure nonsense!"
"It was you, Eunuch Gao, who started making trouble first!" Fan Jingwen did not give in at all.
He recommended Wang Yongji to be the Governor-General of Ping Liao, and he had to speak for Wang Yongji in the court.
Otherwise, the dirty water thrown at Wang Yongji will sooner or later be thrown back at him.
"Fan Jingwen, don't do whatever you want just because you are old!" Gao Shiming was so angry that he started to threaten.
"Eunuch Gao, don't do whatever you want just because you're favored! This Ming Dynasty is your Majesty's Ming Dynasty. You and I should relieve your Majesty's worries, not cause trouble for him!" Fan Jingwen used a little effort to bounce back Gao Shiming's personal attack.
"You..." Gao Shiming was finally speechless and could only grit his teeth at Fan Jingwen.
"Okay," Chongzhen tried to smooth things over, "You guys keep arguing but still can't come to any conclusion!"
"Wang Yongji is the Governor-General of Pingliao. He can fight however he wants. I will not interfere." Chongzhen first set the tone for this matter.
“But,” Chongzhen suddenly raised his voice, “isn’t it a bit too…comfortable to not fight for four and a half months? Not only do we have cavalry, but they are all elite. They can definitely fight the Jiannu cavalry head-on this winter. We don’t ask them to capture cities or give them any goals. We just want to maintain our military strength while consuming the Jiannu’s food and grass!”
War horses need to eat twice as much food when fighting than when not fighting. The Ming Dynasty had the rich Jiangnan area to guarantee the supply of military rations, while the Jiannu could only eat stored food.
If both sides consume food at the same time, the Jiannu will definitely be the first to collapse.
Fan Jingwen and Wang Jiayan looked at each other and saluted Chongzhen: "Your Majesty is so talented that we cannot even compare to him."
Chongzhen shook his head and said, "I don't want to hear flattery. I just want to know whether there will be a change of power within the Jiannu after Jirgalang's defeat in Jinzhou?"
"If not, we will still face Jirgalang as our rival in the spring. If there is a change of power, who will be the next one in power?"
"Duoduo? Mandahai? Or maybe Dorgon who was deposed once?"
Chongzhen's words made everyone present fall into deep thought.
If you want to win a war, you must understand your opponent.
And they know nothing about it.
While he was thinking, he heard hurried footsteps outside the hall.
Before Chongzhen could ask, the palace door was pushed open from the outside.
Under the gaze of the crowd, a eunuch holding an official document ran into the hall breathlessly, fell to his knees with a thud and shouted, "Your Majesty, an urgent report from Shandong, six hundred miles away!"
Six hundred miles, urgent, Tangbao!
As we all know, Tangbao is only used when a war breaks out.
The 600-li rush meant that the war would come very suddenly and would most likely be disadvantageous to the court.
The cabinet chief Fan Jingwen, Xie Sanbin, Wang Jiayan, Gao Shiming, Wang Chengen and others all changed color at the same time.
Chongzhen also stood up anxiously.
There hasn't been such a scene in the Ming Dynasty for a long time.
Even the war in Liaodong had not made people so worried.
"Read!" Chongzhen ordered in a deep voice.
"Yes!" The eunuch took the opportunity to take a few breaths, swallowed his saliva and said, "Shandong Civil Rebellion!"
As soon as these words were spoken, there was an uproar at the scene.
Shandong is the base of the navy.
If there is any trouble, it will not only affect the navy, but also cause trouble to Wang Yongji's army to pacify Liao.
After all, most of the food and fodder for the Ping Liao army was transported by the navy.
"Where is Shandong?" Wang Jiayan asked impatiently.
"Puzhou, Dongchang Prefecture, Shandong (now Pucheng, Fan County, Puyang City, Henan Province)."
call--
Fan Jingwen was the first to breathe a sigh of relief.
Puzhou is located in the western part of Shandong, bordering Henan.
The navy's base is in eastern Shandong, so unless there is a province-wide civil uprising, the navy will not be affected.
The eunuch continued reading, "Last month, the Yellow River flooded, and five counties in Shandong were affected. Puzhou Yuyuan bandit leaders Zhang Qi, Fan Ciwu, Liang Min, Huang Zhenshan, Ren Qi and others took the opportunity to gather tens of thousands of hungry people, claiming to be a million people. They attacked Puzhou, Fan County, Cao County in Shandong; Nanle County, Qingfeng County in Henan and other places."
"The two counties in Henan were well-defended and the rebels were unable to break through."
"The defenders of Fan County and Cao County neglected their defenses, and there was an insider in the city, so the rebels broke into the city."
"The main force of the rebels is now besieging Puzhou. Please send troops to support us!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
