I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 354 Propaganda Wizard
At this time, Zhu Houxuan felt as if the clouds had cleared and the sun was shining.

With this military report, the pressure on him was finally relieved.

The most urgent task is to spread this news and calm people's hearts first.

This military report was written by Jiang Jiangong himself, which he could recognize. Although the content was outrageous, out of trust and understanding of Jiang Jiangong, Zhu Houxuan did not doubt the authenticity of the content of the military report.

So he summoned all the officials in Fengtian Hall. He could not hesitate at this time. The public opinion in the capital was not favorable to him. Many people probably knew that he had received the military report. If he hesitated for a while, the public opinion in the capital would be unfavorable to him.
In fact, all the ministers had been looking forward to it for a long time and soon gathered in the Fengtian Hall.

Zhu Houxuan didn't waste any words and went straight to the point, asking Wei Bin, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, to read out the latest military report.

silence--

The huge Fengtian Hall fell into an incomparable silence.
The ministers stood there in a daze, slowly digesting this explosive news.

Such a scene made Wei Bin somewhat uneasy. When he read the numbers of captured and prisoners, he hesitated for a long time before reading out the two numbers under the pressure of everyone's gaze.
Outrageous!

This was what Wei Bin was thinking, and it was also what the ministers in the palace were thinking.

"The most important things for a country are sacrifices and war! How can we treat military and national affairs as a joke?" A voice suddenly sounded in the Fengtian Hall, breaking the silence of the Fengtian Hall.

Everyone turned around and saw that it was the Left Censor-in-Chief Peng Ze. As the Chief Censor of the Ming Dynasty, the highest official of the Censorate, and the head of the censors, it was not surprising that the Left Censor-in-Chief stood up at this time.
Zhu Houxuan looked at Peng Ze and said, "General Peng, why do you say that?"

"Your Majesty has always loved military affairs, and this is the first time you have led an expedition in person, so it is reasonable to exaggerate the battle record. However, such an exaggerated record must have been deceived by Jiang Bin." Peng Ze said it directly and tactfully, still leaving some mercy for Zhu Houzhao and putting the blame on Jiang Bin. However, any normal person would know that Jiang Bin could not take the blame.

The reason why Peng Ze said this was very simple. In his opinion, this record was too insulting to his intelligence and the intelligence of the ministers present, so he directly pointed out that this record was exaggerated. Anyway, anyone with normal thinking would think so.

Peng Ze's words made the entire Fengtian Hall lively. The ministers began to discuss the matter, and most of them tended to support Peng Ze.

"General Peng, there is no need to be so arbitrary. The Ministry of War will verify the battle results reported in the military report later. Since there are military reports coming back from the front, it means that the emperor is safe, and we can rest assured," said the Minister of War Wang Qiong.

Wang Qiong's words made many people nod their heads. Now the most important thing is to confirm that Zhu Houzhao is fine, so that there will be no major turmoil in the court.

"Mr. Peng, why does my royal brother exaggerate his military achievements?" Zhu Houxuan looked straight at Peng Ze and took the initiative to bring up this topic.

Peng Ze could not help asking this question. Looking at the young Zhu Houxun, his habit of wanting to teach others came back again.

"Your Highness, do you know what this 'killing more than ten thousand northern barbarians in one battle and capturing 13,000' means?" Peng Ze said.

"I don't know. Please ask General Peng to teach me." Zhu Houxuan smiled.

"Emperor Taizong of our dynasty was a man of great talent and strategy, proficient in military affairs, and had many brave generals and wise counselors under his command. He led the army to five expeditions in person to the northern desert and swept across the Mongolian tribes. The results of these five expeditions combined are equivalent to what your majesty has achieved in the battle of Yingzhou this time." Peng Ze stroked his beard and spoke in a long voice.

The atmosphere in the hall was originally quite solemn, but once Peng Ze's example came out, the atmosphere in the whole hall became cheerful.
The example given by Pengze is so convincing, and the contrast is also very dramatic.

Originally, the hearts of the people were still shrouded in the dark cloud of war, but now that the military report had arrived, the emperor was definitely safe and there was little chance of a second Tumu Incident, so the mentality of the people became relaxed. After the people relaxed, they turned to the mentality of watching the fun.

Come to watch the fun, no matter how big the event.

So many people spoke out in accordance with Peng Ze's statement
Peng Ze's example made the battle results reported in the military newspaper seem extremely ridiculous and funny.

Zhu Houxuan's expression also became somewhat subtle.

Zhu Di did not achieve much in his five northern expeditions. There was no numerical result for the first expedition, only that his army was wiped out. The history books recorded that there were several thousand people killed in the second expedition. There was no specific number for the third expedition, only that many people were captured and killed. There was no significant result in the last two expeditions.

Therefore, the combined results of Zhu Di's five northern expeditions are comparable to Zhu Houzhao's results this time, so there is no big problem.

However, although the example cited by Pengze seems appropriate, the situation between the Ming and Mongolia in the Yongle era is very different from now.

What was the background of Zhu Di's five northern expeditions? How many Mongols were there on the grasslands at that time?

You should know that during the Hongwu period of the Yongle Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang launched thirteen northern expeditions against the Northern Yuan Dynasty. Basically, he would go to the grassland to sweep the grassland every few years. It is conceivable how much strength the Mongols had left on the grassland.

During Zhu Di's second northern expedition to the northern desert, the Oirat tribe could only gather 30,000 men and 100,000 horses near Ulaanbaatar to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army.

During the last three northern expeditions, the Mongols fled early as soon as they heard the news, so it was normal that there were no gains.

Since Yongle, the Ming army has not launched a northern expedition again. Although there are constant disputes on the grassland, the intensity of the war is still relatively low, and the Mongolian population is still increasing. After hundreds of years of population growth, Dayan Khan can easily organize 100,000 cavalry to invade the south...

Moreover, Zhu Di was fighting a foreign war across thousands of miles, while the Yingzhou War was just a defensive war. One was a long expedition, while the other was a rest and waiting for the enemy to tire. The difficulty of the two was not equal.

So the example cited by Peng Ze does have many flaws, but Zhu Houxuan did not refute Peng Ze at this time.

He was now in shock: Damn, why didn't I think of this propaganda? The results of the Yingzhou battle were equal to the five northern expeditions of Emperor Taizong! This propaganda slogan was too eye-catching!
Before summoning all the ministers, Zhu Houxuan had been thinking about how to publicize the victory in Yingzhou, but he had not yet come up with a good publicity direction.

As a result, someone brought me a pillow just when I was dozing off...

The most important thing is that this statement was proposed by Peng Ze on his own initiative. If this statement was proposed within the Royal Group, it would have a sense of self-promotion when promoted, and there would be suspicion of alluding to Taizong.

But now that Peng Ze has put forward this statement under such circumstances, there is absolutely no such suspicion...

Zhu Houxuan now looks at Peng Ze with a different look...

This - could this be the legendary propaganda genius?

Alas, I didn’t expect that I would get stuck in the transition chapter. Poor me, I got up early to write the book. I posted one chapter first and am still writing another chapter.

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(End of this chapter)