Chapter 1595: Zhang Xianggong's Defense Breaks

"Is it really a good omen?" Young Master Zhao asked hurriedly with a look of surprise on his face.

"It's more than just a good omen! The unicorn, the phoenix and the five spiritual spirits are the auspicious signs of the king! The highest level of auspicious signs!" Zhang Juzheng was so excited that he grabbed Zhao Hao's wrist tightly and choked with sobs.

"And this is a divine turtle! It's not a phoenix, a unicorn, a dragon, or a white tiger, but a turtle. This is definitely God's will!"

Zhang Juzheng grabbed Zhao Hao's hands and lifted them up to the sky, then knelt down in front of the giant tortoise in the sedan chair.

He prostrated himself, worshipped devoutly, tears streaming down his face, and said with great excitement: "Once the divine turtle appears, I, Wanli, am destined to revive the Ming Dynasty!"

Mr. Zhao was held by his father-in-law by the wrist, so he could only kneel down and pray for a long life.

He was dumbfounded. He never thought that he would kowtow to a turtle in his lifetime. Well, it was an elephant tortoise...

But what could he do since his father-in-law was so happy kneeling?

Zhao Hao has known his idol for ten years. Even when his daughter was pregnant, he had never seen his father-in-law lose his composure like this.

I didn't expect that a tortoise from Devil's Island would break my defense. It turns out that a gift from a daughter can touch a father's heart the most.

Well, Zhao Hao knew why Mr. Zhang was so excited, but he didn't expect him to be so excited.

It seems that my father-in-law has been under a lot of pressure in recent years...

~~

As the saying goes, a tree that stands out in the forest will be destroyed by the wind, and a dam that is higher than the shore will be destroyed by the waves.

Zhang Juzheng is now the most powerful official in the past two hundred years. Moreover, he has implemented reforms and used the performance evaluation system to make the Ming officialdom burnt on the outside and tender on the inside, making it difficult for officials to make a living! If he is not a wasteful person, who is?

Of course, his ability to control the situation is too strong now... The cabinet, the imperial guards, the science and technology departments, and the harem are all his die-hard supporters, so it is difficult for him to get wet in this storm.

It was not until a year ago that Zhang Juzheng finally suffered the first blow since he came to power!

The cause was also very ridiculous, it was actually due to a great victory.

After Zhang Xianggong came to power, he continued to make important use of Zhang Xueyan, the governor of Liaodong, and Li Chengliang, the general, and trusted and strongly supported them.

These two did not disappoint Zhang Xianggong. In the winter of the third year of Wanli, 20,000 Tuman cavalry broke through Pinglu Fort and marched south to invade Liaodong.

The Mongols thought that the Ming army would definitely retreat, but Zhang Xueyan and Li Chengliang led their troops and lined up outside the city of Shenyang to meet the enemy, scaring the Tartars into retreating quickly.

At this time, the Liaodong government troops had undergone military reforms implemented by Zhang Juzheng and were under the leadership of the famous general Li Chengliang, and their combat effectiveness was very strong.

The government troops first bombarded the Mongols with artillery, scaring them to the ground. Then Li Chengliang's elite cavalry launched an attack and defeated 20,000 enemy cavalry in just one round.

Then Li Chengliang personally led his troops to the river ditch, annihilated thousands of enemies again, and achieved a resounding victory in Liaodong!

This was also the most brilliant victory of the government army since the beginning of the Wanli reign. Who would have thought that the victory report, which was rushed to Beijing over 800 miles away, would trigger an uproar that almost ruined Wanli's reforms!

Upon learning of the great victory in Liaodong, Zhang Xianggong was naturally the happiest. He had promoted the performance evaluation system for more than three years. How many people's jobs had been destroyed and how many colleagues' official hats had been taken away? The resistance he encountered from all sides was naturally getting bigger and bigger.

This great victory came at the right time to prove the correctness of the reform, which is much more convincing than any auspicious sign!

So Mr. Zhang couldn't wait to open the good news, but he couldn't help frowning.

It was not the victory itself that had problems, but the person who reported the victory - the person who reported the victory was not Zhang Xueyan, the governor of Liaodong, but Liu Tai, the provincial inspector of Liaodong.

Although both the governor and the inspector were imperial envoys, there was a difference in status! The governor was the chief military and political officer, while the inspector was only an inspector!

For such a big show of face, of course the chief officer had to report the victory in person. The most Liu Tai could do was to co-sign and endorse the authenticity of the victory report.

How dare Liu Tai ignore the governor and report the victory first?

Because he was a Jinshi in the fifth year of Longqing, and the favorite student of Mr. Zhang!

Mr. Zhang promoted reforms, breaking the old and establishing the new. In order to fight against the old forces, he of course had to promote his own disciples.

Moreover, Liu Tai was from Xingguo, Huguang, and was a junior fellow villager of Zhang Xianggong, so he was given an even more important position.

It was obvious that Zhang Juzheng sent him to Liaodong to keep an eye on his fellow Northeasterners and to make them work hard and not cause any trouble.

After Longqing's tribute, Altan Khan became the Shunyi King and no longer had to rob. Feeling empty in spirit, he and his wife converted to Tibetan Buddhism. Under the leadership of the Shunyi King and his wife, the entire Tatars became obsessed with Buddhism and could hardly lift a knife. So now the main border threat of the Ming Dynasty was Liaodong.

When the Mongolian tribes in Liaodong saw that the Tatars were enjoying both spiritual and material prosperity and were living a very comfortable life, they also wanted to follow suit and pay tribute.

When Altan Khan was paying tribute, although Gao Gong was in charge, Zhang Juzheng, who was in charge of military affairs, also made great efforts. Just when everyone thought that this would definitely be "the nephew holding a lantern - as usual", Zhang Juzheng made it clear that he would not allow it!

His reason was that the Ming Dynasty had been weak for a long time and could not, in the short term, launch a large-scale expedition to the Mongolian tribes and drive them out of the northern desert in one fell swoop, as it did at the beginning of the country. So the only thing he could do was to be more practical and temporarily keep the nine borders peaceful and not disturb the interior.

But the Tartars are cruel and untrustworthy, and blindly appeasing them will only encourage their arrogance. If the Tatars in the west and the barbarians in the east both offer tribute, neither side will cherish it. So we must resolutely use one faction to attack the other, and only with a carrot in one hand and a stick in the other can it last long!

Since Altan Khan has been behaving well since he was conferred the title of tribute, and is said to have taken the lead in fasting, we should continue to feed him carrots. However, we must resolutely strike back at the barbarians in Liaodong.

We cannot let them go just because they beg for mercy. We must fight them every year, and fight them to the death every year, until there are no more Tuman. This will not only deter the Mongolian and Jurchen tribes in the northeast, but also make Altan Khan in the west cherish the hard-won opportunity to pay tribute and not dare to cross the line.

After the government troops concentrate their forces and pacify Liaodong, wouldn't it be easy to turn around and deal with the Tatar tribe that has been weakened by religion and trade?

"Eastern Control and Western Concealment" is the prescription that Zhang Xianggong wrote to cure the disease of the Tartars that had plagued the Ming Dynasty for 150 years.

Now that the "Western Huai" has been completed, the only thing left is to focus on the "Eastern Control". Zhang Xianggong naturally hopes that the civil and military officials of Liaodong will work together, both inside and outside, and work together. So before Liu Tai left, Zhang Juzheng specifically gave him instructions in person, warning him to just observe and not say anything when he went to Liaodong, and to report any problems to him after they were investigated, and not to interfere with the civil and military officials of Liaodong, especially not to give orders to the Liaodong governor.

Because Zhang Xueyan was employed by Gao Gong, and now Gao's party was almost wiped out in the court, almost anyone who had anything to do with Gao Gong was in trouble. It was natural that Zhang Zhongcheng, who had escaped the net, was worried.

But Zhang Juzheng couldn't touch him because he was really indispensable.

Liaozhen has a border of more than 2,000 miles, 120 forts, and is surrounded by enemies on three sides. The government troops are nearly 100,000. However, since the great famine in the Wuwu year of the Jiajing reign, two-thirds of them have fled. The two previous governors, Wang Zhigao and Wei Xuezeng, were both famous officials and capable officials. However, the two Zhongcheng tried their best and could not restore half of their former glory.

In the fourth year of Longqing's reign, Liaodong was hit by drought again, and there were countless starving people. The Mongols and Jurchens took advantage of the situation and rose up, and the situation in Liaodong was precarious.

Zhang Xueyan was given the task at a critical moment. He first requested relief, strengthened the army, recruited refugees, manufactured armor and weapons, bought war horses, and implemented rewards and punishments, and finally restored Liaodong's combat effectiveness.

He also cooperated well with General Li Chengliang, and they complemented each other. After several years of efforts, they finally rectified the situation in Liaodong, defeated the Tartars and restored the population and military strength to their original state.

If he wanted to pacify Liaodong, how could Zhang Juzheng dare to replace such a capable minister who was in charge of the frontier? On the contrary, he had to promote Zhang Xueyan and comfort him with gentle words, so that he would give up the idea of ​​leaving and join Li Chengliang's team to defeat the barbarians.

But what will Zhang Zhongcheng think about Liu Tai’s actions?

Zhang Xianggong thought about it again and suddenly understood - this fellow villager in Liaodong didn't know how to use the big flag to act like a tiger. He must have been riding on the necks of Zhang Xueyan and Li Chengliang to bully others.

He realized that the reason why there was only Liu Tai's victory report but no Zhang Xueyan's was probably because the Liaodong civil and military officials were giving Liu Tai a slap in the face.

I also tricked Mr. Zhang a little bit. In your performance appraisal method, doesn't it emphasize "comprehensive verification of name and reality"? Whoever is responsible for doing the job should do it, and no one should exceed their authority!

Now Liu Tai has clearly exceeded his authority. Let's see whether Zhang Xianggong will favor his disciple.

Naturally, Prime Minister Zhang could only shed tears and execute Ma Su.

So Zhang Juzheng wrote an imperial edict, reprimanding Liu Tai in the name of the emperor and ordering him to return to Beijing immediately to accept punishment!

Normally, Liu Tai should be very clear that although he was scolded, he did not lose his job immediately. This means that the teacher still protects him. It is likely that he will return to Beijing to deal with it for a while, and then he will be entrusted with important tasks again.

However, Liu Tai was a fool, and he had the common problem of the censors - he wanted to save face. After receiving the imperial edict, he felt humiliated and angry. He felt that he had come to this bitter cold place for his teacher, mixed with a bunch of stinky soldiers, and his penis was cracked by the cold. Even if there was no merit, there was still hard work. Wasn't it just that I was the first to report the victory? Is it necessary to humiliate me like this and beat me to death with a stick?

Instigated by others, he got carried away and did something big. He became the first student to submit a petition to impeach his teacher in the two hundred years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty!

When Wang Wenhui, the head of the Household Department, wrote a memorial to criticize the censors, he vaguely alluded to Gao Gong, the next in command. This made Gao Gong so angry that he quit his job. He described Wang Wenhui's memorial as the first one to betray his teacher and ancestors! It was simply an unforgivable crime.

But compared with this Censor Liu, Chief Wang's innuendos back then were just that of a younger brother. Chief Liu impeached Zhang Juzheng by name, and as soon as the impeachment was submitted, Prime Minister Zhang was so angry that he vomited blood and fainted.

After waking up, he shed tears and sighed to Lu Diaoyang, "In the past two hundred years, there has never been a student who betrayed his teacher, but now it happens."

The next day, he submitted his resignation to the emperor...actually the empress dowager who was ruling the country from behind the scenes.

The Empress Dowager naturally refused, and Wanli personally stepped down from the throne, helped him up with both hands, and tried to persuade him to stay, but Zhang Juzheng still insisted on leaving.

Later, the Queen Mother personally came forward to persuade him to stay, and he reluctantly stayed.

At the same time, the Empress Dowager personally issued an edict, ordering the Jinyiwei to bring Liu Tai, the murderer, from Liaodong to Beijing in shackles and chains, and put him in the Jinyiwei prison, where he was severely tortured for being the mastermind behind the murder!

(End of this chapter)