Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 274 The Wisdom of Revelation

With the support of Emperor Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian was full of energy and went to arrange this matter.

After Wei Zhongxian left, Emperor Tianqi smiled and shook his head. He naturally understood why Wei Zhongxian was so enthusiastic about this matter. Emperor Tianqi knew that Wei Zhongxian was loyal and could get things done. Although there were the reasons Wei Zhongxian had just mentioned for enfeoffing the Tengger tribe, Wei Zhongxian also had his own calculations behind the scenes.

This calculation is nothing more than wanting to control the border trade in his own hands with his own permission and by using the Tengger tribe. The profits from border trade are huge. The Emperor Tianqi still remembers the things that Feng Quan reported after returning to Beijing last time. He did not expect that the Shanxi merchants would be so rich in a mere Shanxi, and the court officials who colluded with the Shanxi merchants, especially the Donglin Party, made so much money from it.

The imperial court had always been short of money, and Emperor Tianqi tried every possible means to get silver. This was also the main reason why he privately asked Wei Zhongxian to stop recalling local tax supervisors and mining supervisors, and to use the Ministry of Revenue to clear taxes, so as to collect commercial taxes from Jiangnan to get silver.

The tax situation has improved now, but it still cannot meet the financial needs. In addition, the silver in the treasury has been flowing out instead of coming in for the past two years. If this continues for a long time, Emperor Tianqi will also have a sense of crisis. Now the border trade cooperation has allowed him to see the possibility of opening up another source of income.

As for what Wei Zhongxian was thinking and why he was so enthusiastic about this matter, Emperor Tianqi knew it very well. Wei Zhongxian just wanted to take advantage of this and enrich himself. However, Emperor Tianqi was not angry about this. On the contrary, he encouraged him. First, Wei Zhongxian's loyalty to him could not be questioned. Second, since he wanted to use Wei Zhongxian, he had to be tolerant.

As the saying goes, it is impossible to ask a horse to run fast without eating grass. People who do big things sometimes cannot be so rigid. As long as the people below are obedient and can get benefits for themselves, it is natural for them to get some benefits from the process.

Moreover, Emperor Tianqi knew that similar things were happening everywhere in the court. Not to mention the inner court, it had become a common practice in the outer court and in local areas. If one hundred taels of silver were allocated from above to do something, it would be considered good if 20% to 30% of the money could be implemented in the end. The difference had long become the so-called "loss" and fell into the hands of those officials.

Officials all did this, not to mention eunuchs. Besides, eunuchs were slaves of the royal family, and they were rootless people. So what if the eunuchs made more money? It was impossible for them to pass on the money to their children and grandchildren. As slaves, the money in the hands of eunuchs was nothing more than temporary management for the emperor. As long as the emperor said a word, the eunuchs' life and death were in his hands, and the money could fall into the emperor's hands anytime and anywhere.

Therefore, Emperor Tianqi was not worried about Wei Zhongxian's greed, as long as he was useful to him, it was fine. This matter was handed over to Wei Zhongxian, and with Wei Zhongxian's intelligence, he would definitely get it done.

Putting this matter aside for the moment, Emperor Tianqi picked up the memorial beside him and looked at it carefully.

The Tianqi Emperor was a young monarch, but he was calm and wise beyond his age. In the eyes of outsiders, the Tianqi Emperor liked carpentry and stayed in the harem every day, doing carpentry work. Except for the grand court meetings, the Tianqi Emperor rarely met with court officials. Even the cabinet elders had to go through Wei Zhongxian to see the emperor.

This seems to be similar to his grandfather Wanli and great-grandfather Jiajing, both of whom were emperors who did not work properly. But in fact, Emperor Tianqi was not like the rumors outside. Although he did like carpentry, he liked it, but it was just a hobby for Emperor Tianqi. Carpentry was just his pastime, a way to exercise and relieve stress, rather than being addicted to it.

On the contrary, Emperor Tianqi was very concerned about state affairs. He always paid close attention to both court and local affairs, and even reviewed the daily memorials personally. On the surface, it seemed that he had handed over the power to Wei Zhongxian. In fact, Wei Zhongxian was just a tool put in the front by Emperor Tianqi, and the imperial power was still firmly controlled by Emperor Tianqi.

Emperor Tianqi's behavior was not uncommon. Whether it was the Taoist Jiajing Emperor or his grandfather, Emperor Wanli, who had not attended court for decades, they seemed to have no interest in state affairs on the surface. One was keen on practicing, and the other was keen on being a stay-at-home in the harem.

But who could have known that these two emperors had always been firmly in control of government affairs during their reigns? How could they have done that if they were really like that? Just like the Tianqi Emperor, outsiders only thought that the Tianqi Emperor was hiding in the palace and working as a carpenter every day, but in fact, the time the Tianqi Emperor spent on government affairs every day far exceeded the time he spent on carpentry. He even stayed up late to read memorials many times, but when it was spread outside, it became that the Tianqi Emperor stayed up late to work as a carpenter.

Emperor Tianqi disagreed with such rumors and even acquiesced to their spread. Because Emperor Tianqi knew very well that the more "stupid" he acted, the more he would be despised by the civil officials, especially the Donglin Party. If he, as an emperor, pretended to be diligent, he would inevitably become the target of vigilance of the civil service group, including the Donglin Party. At that time, the civil service group and the Donglin Party would unite to compete with the emperor for power, and Emperor Tianqi would not be able to stay out of it like he did now, letting Wei Zhongxian attract firepower for him and hiding aside to control it secretly. This is the political wisdom of Emperor Tianqi. The current development is just as Emperor Tianqi expected. As the status of Wei Zhongxian, whom he supported, became higher and higher, and the power in his hands became greater and greater, Wei Zhongxian had been fighting with the Donglin Party.

Every time Wei Zhongxian made progress, the Tianqi Emperor gained more power, and vice versa. In this case, the Tianqi Emperor put himself in the position of a bystander in this way, which could reduce the political firepower directly facing him, and he could watch the fight between Wei Zhongxian and the Donglin Party become more and more intense, thus controlling the overall situation of the government.

After reading a memorial, Emperor Tianqi pondered for a moment, then picked up a pen and wrote a few words on a piece of paper beside him.

He would not review these memorials personally. From the very beginning, Emperor Tianqi deliberately acted as if he was absorbed in carpentry and did not care about state affairs. In order to better cover up himself, Emperor Tianqi never reviewed the memorials sent by the Silijian himself. The right to review and approve was directly given to the Silijian.

However, no one knew that Wei Zhongxian, who had the power to approve documents, was just a tool of the Emperor Tianqi. The Emperor Tianqi had his own ideas about how to deal with these political affairs. Whenever he read the memorials, he would record the matters that needed to be dealt with in this way, and then write down his opinions. When Wei Zhongxian came to retrieve the memorials, the Emperor Tianqi would tell Wei Zhongxian his ideas, and then Wei Zhongxian would approve or deal with them according to his ideas.

So in the eyes of outsiders, the reason why Emperor Tianqi never reviewed memorials was because he did not care about government affairs. But the fact was just the opposite. This was also the political wisdom of Emperor Tianqi and a means to paralyze the civil service group.

Putting the memorial aside, Emperor Tianqi took out the next memorial and looked at it carefully.

This memorial was from the teacher of the military commander Sun Chengzong. The Emperor Tianqi not only respected his teacher, but also valued him. Last year, due to the great defeat in Liaodong, there was no one to clean up the mess in Liaodong. Sun Chengzong asked to be the military commander of Liaodong and got the Emperor Tianqi's permission. Sun Chengzong was appointed as the Grand Secretary and Minister of War and entered the cabinet, and then he was appointed as the military commander of Liaodong.

After Sun Chengzong arrived in Liaodong, he quickly stabilized the situation. As Sun Chengzong's layout in Liaodong gradually unfolded, the situation in Liaodong gradually improved. Later, Sun Chengzong suggested to Emperor Tianqi that a step-by-step tactic should be adopted in Liaodong to counter the Later Jin Jiannu. This suggestion was recognized by Emperor Tianqi. In the past few months, Sun Chengzong used this tactic to steadily advance and began to recover lost territory from Shanhaiguan to the east. He has now recovered Ningyuan and Jinzhou, and achieved initial results.

This made Emperor Tianqi very happy. He felt that he had made the right choice to hire Teacher Sun. Teacher Sun was not Zhao Kuo, who was only good at talking about military strategy on paper, but a man of real ability. The tactics he adopted now were indeed the most suitable tactics for Liaodong. Although these tactics seemed simple and the effects were far less direct than those determined by one battle, the Ming Dynasty no longer had the absolute military advantage over the Later Jin and Jiannu after suffering several major defeats in Liaodong. From a comprehensive offensive to a strategic offensive, and then from a strategic offensive to the later strategic defense, and then after experiencing the major defeats of Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi, it was already very remarkable that Sun Chengzong could achieve this level.

In the memorial, Sun Chengzong reported to Emperor Tianqi that he had begun to arrange the Guanningjin Defense Line. Sun Chengzong had proposed the idea of ​​the Guanningjin Defense Line to Emperor Tianqi at the end of last year and obtained the emperor's approval. Now the idea of ​​the Guanningjin Defense Line has begun to be implemented, and Sun Chengzong has also sent elite soldiers to Ningyuan to build the city to ensure that Ningyuan will become a nail in Liaodong.

Sun Chengzong explained in detail the specific plan for the construction of Ningyuan in his memorial. Emperor Tianqi read it and thought about it. After a while, he stood up and walked aside. In another place in the side hall was where he usually worked as a carpenter. However, no one knew that there was an exquisite sand table here. This sand table was made by Emperor Tianqi himself and was made completely according to the terrain of Liaodong. He leaned over the sand table to take a closer look and his eyes fell on the location of Ningyuan.

After staring at the position of Ningyuan for a long time, Emperor Tianqi nodded slightly and continued to read the memorial in his hand. At the end of the memorial, Sun Chengzong described the deployment of the Ningyuan garrison, which included sending Man Gui as the garrison commander of Ningyuan and Zu Dashou as the deputy general. In addition, he also let Yuan Chonghuan, the mountain and stone military governor, be temporarily in charge of the Ningyuan military preparations.

Sun Chengzong reported to Emperor Tianqi about Yuan Chonghuan in a memorial. He not only told Emperor Tianqi that Yuan Chonghuan, as one of the proposers of the establishment of the Guanningjin Defense Line, made an indelible contribution, but also that Yuan Chonghuan was a very talented person who was highly valued by Sun Chengzong. This time, Sun Chengzong let Yuan Chonghuan be in charge of Ningyuan, and he also wanted to train this person for great use.

At the same time, Sun Chengzong also proposed to Emperor Tianqi that he hoped the emperor could promote Yuan Chonghuan's official position. After all, he went to Ningyuan only temporarily, and it was not right for him to be in charge. It would be better if the court could formally appoint him. Sun Chengzong suggested appointing Yuan Chonghuan as the military envoy, and concurrently serve as the councilor and the censor. Only in this way could he be in charge of Ningyuan with full legitimacy.

(End of this chapter)