The Jiannu in Liaodong...this shadow is an indelible one for the Ming Dynasty.
If Chenghua had been more ruthless in his attack on Li Ting, perhaps the Ming Dynasty would have had no troubles in Liaodong more than a hundred years later.
Of course, this is just an afterthought. Emperor Xianzong had done enough at the time. The two Li Tings kept the Jianzhou Jurchens in line for more than a hundred years, so that when the Qing Dynasty revised the "History of Ming Dynasty", Emperor Xianzong was maliciously slandered and turned into a "tyrant".
If the Jiannu really did as the emperor said and waited for the bandits to retreat and then besieged the city, what should we do then?
Li Banghua frowned, thinking about Chongzhen's problem.
After a long while, he said leisurely: "Your Majesty, I think these are nothing to be afraid of."
"Tell me about it." Chongzhen became interested.
He deliberately told Li Banghua and the others about moving the capital, and he would never move the capital even if he died.
What I said before was just to tell these cabinet ministers that if they repel the bandits, the danger will not be eliminated but will come closer.
As long as he doesn't die at the hands of the bandits, half of his mission here will be completed.
"First, the Central Plains is in chaos and the situation is uncertain. Jian Nu will definitely wait for the right time to make a decision. In addition, Wu Sangui and the Guanning Army have just withdrawn from Ningyuan. Jian Nu needs time to digest these places."
Li Banghua continued, "Secondly, Wu Sangui and the Guanning Army have retreated to Shanhaiguan, which is more than 600 miles away from the capital. If the Jiannu take a detour through Mongolia again, they will be at risk of being cut off."
"Third, the Jian Nu and the bandits all want to sit back and watch the fight, letting the other side consume our army's strength, and then reap the benefits."
Li Banghua's remarks opened everyone's eyes.
The shadow that had just been cast over my heart by the Jiannu army also dissipated a lot.
There was no way out. The Jiannu army had invaded the Great Wall six times since the second year of Chongzhen, causing great damage to the Ming Dynasty.
Especially from July to August of the seventh year of Chongzhen, Huang Taiji invaded several counties in Xuanfu and Datong. Cao Wenzhao, who was besieging Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others in Henan, was transferred to Datong to fight against them, so the bandits took the opportunity to break out.
Chongzhen even suspected that the Jiannu were instructed by someone else to enter the Great Wall this time, otherwise the timing would not have been so coincidental.
"But..." Li Banghua continued, "Instead of imagining that the enemy will sit on the mountain and watch the fight, it is better to strengthen your own strength. A good iron must be strong itself!"
Chongzhen nodded, his eyes narrowed into slits.
He felt relieved after hearing Li Banghua's words. As long as the cabinet was of one mind with him, there would be no chaos in the court!
Thinking of the court, Chongzhen looked at Qiu Yu.
He had previously instilled the concept of KPI into the Organization Minister of the Ming Dynasty, and now there should be results.
"Qiu Yu, how is the inspection of the officials' work plans, work summaries, and the completion of the plans and the reasons for non-completion going?"
Qiu Yu was about to report the matter, but when he heard the emperor asking in person, he knelt down hastily and took out a memorial, "Your Majesty, this is the memorial I have prepared but have not yet submitted. Please take a look."
"Has Lord Li read it?" Chongzhen was not in a hurry to read it.
Qiu Yu was stunned for a moment, "Not yet... not yet."
"Let Elder Li take a look first."
Qiu Yu, Fan Jingwen and Fang Yuegong looked at Li Banghua with eyes instantly filled with admiration.
What does this sentence mean?
The emperor not only values Lord Li very much, but also respects him very much.
This was simply unimaginable in the Ming Dynasty, where ministers were often beaten with sticks in court.
This also shows that the emperor's decision to use Li Banghua was not a momentary whim, but a long-term plan.
As long as the old man is in good health, the emperor will continue to use him.
Li Banghua was not polite and quickly read through the test paper from beginning to end. While he was reading, Qiu Yu explained the daily work plan and what a work summary was.
After a long while, Li Banghua folded the petition and looked at Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, do you really want to dismiss all the officials listed in this petition?"
Chongzhen didn't even look at it and just nodded.
"There are eighty-nine officials on the petition, the youngest is a seventh-rank county magistrate, and the highest is the governor of the Zhili Provincial Administration Commission. Your Majesty, have you made up your mind?"
Chongzhen smiled faintly: "Lord Li, don't doubt my determination! I have long seen clearly that if the Ming Dynasty falls one day, the reason for its demise will not be natural disasters, not bandits, and certainly not the Jiannu, but the hands of these officials in the court!"
"If they can't even do a simple defense, what else can we expect them to do?"
"A monarch is the monarch of the people; the people are the people of the world. I sit high in the temple and employ hundreds of officials to manage the people. If they don't care about the people's life or death, what do I need them for?"
Li Banghua hesitated for a moment and said slowly: "Your Majesty, there are many honest people here!"
"What is clear and what is turbid?" Chongzhen asked back.
"Not being greedy is the basic bottom line for an official, not to mention that some people are only not greedy on the surface, but in fact they are more greedy than anyone else!"
"In fact, as long as they can do practical things for the court and me, and do their job well, I can tolerate corruption. But people who claim to be honest but do not do their job and delay national affairs are more terrible than corrupt officials!"
"Dismiss all of them, and remove them from office!"
The punishment of demotion is very serious. In ancient times, if an official was punished for committing a crime, demotion only meant the removal of the current position, leaving you unemployed at home, but there was still a possibility of re-employment. However, demotion means removal from the official list, because all officials have official rosters, and demotion means removing you from the official list, which means you will never be employed again.
"The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites should immediately prepare replacements. I want to show these people that it is not me who needs them, but they who need me to give them a meal!"
Li Banghua agreed with the emperor's remarks and nodded heavily in agreement.
"This needs to be done quickly. The Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Rites have to work harder recently. This is a signal from me to all officials! As for the officials' salaries, they are indeed not enough due to rising prices."
Chongzhen took the initiative to raise the issue of officials' salaries not because he felt sorry for them, but because he was afraid that these officials would feel unbalanced. The people of the capital were first given four or five taels of silver each for defending the city, and then various rewards were given according to the battle situation.
The officials who have been doing various logistical work behind the scenes must be feeling unbalanced, and he must take care of their emotions.
"The Ministry of Revenue will set a standard, and I will allocate money from the treasury to subsidize their household expenses. I want officials to have enough to eat, eat well, and not to embezzle money just to have enough food."
"I will draft it right away!" Minister of Revenue Fang Yuegong hurriedly knelt down to receive the order, fearing that Chongzhen would regret it and revoke his decision.
His family is so poor! They can barely make ends meet!
Although he worked in the Ministry of Revenue, as a new official, there were thousands of eyes staring at him. Even if he wanted to embezzle, he didn't have the courage to do so.
"Okay, let's talk about the second thing. I plan to set up a new department: the Land Department!"
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