Fu Shanhe

Chapter 234 The war breaks out

The capital, Hall of Supreme Harmony.

"Your Majesty, I impeach Xu Wenyue for dereliction of duty while serving as the governor of Yunnan, Guizhou, Huguang and Jiangxi provinces, which led to the fall of Jiujiang and the deterioration of the situation in Jiangxi!
......"

“Your Majesty, I impeach Liaodong Governor Bao Zhiyong for embezzling military funds and appointing people based on personal connections during his tenure, which led to the Jinzhou mutiny.

When he celebrated his birthday a few days ago, the Northern Tartars gave him a generous gift, which seemed to indicate that they were colluding with the Northern Tartars..."

"Your Majesty, I impeach the Marquis of Wuyang for appointing people based on personal connections and arbitrarily..."

……

As soon as he entered the court, he was met with the full force of the censors, and Emperor Yongning was filled with rage.

From south to north, all those who served as commanders and governors-general were included in the impeachment list, as if none of these expatriate officials were a good person.

All the officials in the court followed the censors in making a fuss, impeaching this one and that one, but most of the charges were minor.

"enough!"

"According to what you said, they are all corrupt officials and I should dismiss them all.

So after people are removed from office, who can take over their positions, and who can guarantee to do a better job than them?"

Emperor Yongning asked coldly.

It would have been fine if the censor had just made groundless accusations, but all the officials also followed suit. It was obvious that this was a common tactic used in factional struggles.

In the context of unclear situation, everyone’s first choice is to drag others into the water and make the water even more turbid.

Everyone knew that it was impossible for the imperial court to dismiss so many important officials at once.

Even though these people had various problems and Emperor Yongning was dissatisfied with their performance, it was still not a reason to dismiss them from office.

If people keep nitpicking, no one will leave the court of Dayu.

The corrupt officialdom is a historical problem that cannot be solved now.

The important officials who commanded the army on the front line were themselves subject to suspicion. Their every move would be interpreted politically.

As long as you are doing things, you will inevitably make mistakes. No plan can be implemented perfectly, and the flaws in it will become a sharp sword for others to attack.

If he had just ascended the throne, Emperor Yongning might have been more serious about it. But after a few years as an emperor, he already knew that before changing the emperor, he had to find a successor first.

If there is no better person to fill the position, then we can only let them continue to do it. As long as they don't cause any big trouble, it's acceptable.

"His Majesty.

War is a matter of great importance to a state. It is a matter of life and death, the road to survival or destruction. It must be carefully considered!
Jiujiang fell, Jiangxi was in crisis, and half of Jiangnan was threatened by rebels.

Affected by the war, the taxes from the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River can basically not be relied upon this year, and the financial deficit of the imperial court has become increasingly serious.

Even more serious than the fiscal deficit was the food crisis. Huguang had lost seven or eight out of ten grains. If another accident happened in Jiangnan, the empire’s two major granaries would be completely gone.

At this moment, the price of rice in Beijing has skyrocketed to 1 tael and 2 cents per stone. Faced with the skyrocketing food prices, the people are suffering terribly! "

Pang Chengjie said bitterly.

He didn't want to impeach anyone, but the Ministry of Revenue was in serious deficit. It would be impossible to generate money and grain in a short period of time, so he had to hurry up and complain.

The actual effect of this approach on solving the problem was zero, but Emperor Yongning fell for it.

Only when the emperor sees the difficulties can he know what he is doing. If he encounters a problem, he will just try to solve it by himself. Who knows the hardship of the Ministry of Revenue?

In the eyes of outsiders, the Ministry of Revenue is one of the richest government agencies in the world.

Apart from anything else, the loss caused by the allocation of various funds alone is a huge fortune.

The annual tax collection was also a good opportunity to make money. The quality of grain and cloth, and the purity of silver were all decided by the officials of the Ministry of Revenue.

If the provinces want to get through, they have to spend money to make arrangements.

Just like the other government offices below, the taxes paid into the treasury could only be more but not less, and this was euphemistically called "fire consumption".

A typical case of rich officials and poor government offices.

Pang Chengjie, the Shangshu, was naturally well aware of the problems in the Ministry of Revenue, but even though he knew, he was powerless to change them.

Once the lid is lifted, they will be on the opposite side of the bureaucracy. There are so many things to do in the Ministry of Revenue, and someone must be there to implement them.

Without the cooperation of officials below, nothing can be done.

The impeachment of a group of senior officials is the best example. Xu Wenyue did not touch the interests of officials, but was only criticized by the censors for incompetence and dereliction of duty.

Marquis Wuyang appointed Li Mu as the commander-in-chief of the three-province coalition army, breaking the tacit understanding of suppressing military generals, and was impeached for nepotism and cultivating cliques.

This is still considered easy. The content of the impeachment a few days ago was even more severe, directly saying that he harbored evil intentions and attempted to gather a crowd for rebellion.

It was not until the news of the fall of Jiujiang came that the civil servants in the Jiangnan region suddenly changed their stance for their own interests.

As these officials defected, there was a brief disagreement among the civil service group on whether to suppress military generals.

Some civil officials advocated that the military generals should continue to be suppressed and should never be given a chance to turn things around.

There are also some people who advocate temporarily loosening the reins on the military commanders, and then gradually tightening the reins after the rebellion is quelled.

As the rebels grew in size, officials from the Central Plains also felt threatened, and the voice of "temporarily loosening the reins" gradually gained the upper hand in the court.

After all, generals can suppress others through rules within the rule system, and these are the ways of playing they are familiar with.

The White Lotus rebels were different. They played the game of Nine Clans Elimination. They started killing people right from the start, leaving no room for survival.

Influenced by this mainstream idea, the impeachment against Marquis Wuyang continued, but the charges were becoming increasingly minor.

Bao Zhiyong, the governor of Liaodong, was in trouble. He went to Beijing to meet the emperor during the frontline and was deeply moved by the emperor's sincerity. He went back and cracked down on smuggling trade.

Dayu is short of food now. Controlling the outflow of food will definitely benefit the country and the people.

From a profit perspective, the profit from grain exports is definitely not as much as that from smuggling salt, iron, tea and silk.

It seemed like a correct operation, but it accidentally stirred up a hornet's nest.

In order to obtain enough food, the Northern Tartars made a mandatory regulation: if you want to engage in smuggling trade in Liaodong, you must have the corresponding food and ironware.

Seeing that the Liaodong governor's crackdown on smuggling had affected their own interests, the Shanxi Merchants Group became furious.

On the one hand, he spent a large sum of money to bribe the border generals on the front line, and on the other hand, he mobilized his connections in the court to bring Bao Zhiyong down.

With a two-pronged approach from both sides, Bao Zhiyong, who originally had a good reputation, suddenly became infamous, with all kinds of charges being pinned on him.

If you say something too often, even something false can become true.

At first, Emperor Yongning just laughed off the impeachments, but as more and more people impeached him, he couldn't help but doubt it.

For a monarch, once the seeds of suspicion are planted, there is no going back to the past.

No substitutions were made because no better candidates could be found. No matter how many problems Bao Zhiyong had, at least he defended Liaodong perfectly and even managed to counterattack.

If the court was not short of money, he might have launched a counterattack, which was enough to prove his ability. However, the more capable he was, the more he needed to be on guard. If he really colluded with the northern barbarians, it would be a disaster.

“People’s lives are so difficult!”

After sighing, Emperor Yongning did not give a direct answer.

He didn't know what to do about the lack of money.

In order to reduce financial expenditure, he delegated power to the governors at the front line and allowed them to raise military funds locally.

Militia groups, which had long been banned by the imperial court, were now popping up everywhere like mushrooms after a rain.

All the policies that can be given have been given, but the people below still keep asking for money.

Emperor Yongning could only express his understanding of the difficulties faced by the Ministry of Revenue in his heart. When it came time to ask for money, he still had to go to the Ministry of Revenue.

……

"boom……"

"What's going on? Where are they firing?"

The sound of cannons in the distance woke Shi Rongxian from his sleep.

Ever since he left Guilin, he had become extremely sensitive to the sound of artillery fire, and would wake up immediately at the slightest noise.

"Holy Emperor, the sound of the cannon came from the south. I have already arranged for someone to go and ask, and I think the cause will be found out soon."

The female official's answer did not satisfy Shi Rongxian.

However, with such dense artillery fire in the middle of the night, even if no one was sent to check, one could roughly judge that the enemy was attacking the city.

The government troops only arrived outside Yongzhou city at noon today, and launched an attack in a hurry at night, which really surprised him.

"The Holy Nation has occupied Yongzhou not long ago. There is a high possibility that there are people hiding in the city who are loyal to the Pseudo Dynasty. Tell the guards at each gate to be on high alert and not let the enemy take advantage of any opportunity!"

Shi Rongxian gave the order decisively.

There are many ways to attack a city, but there are only a few truly effective routines.

The most convenient way is of course to cooperate inside and outside and directly open the city gate.

When guarding Guangzhou before, the Holy White Lotus Kingdom suffered losses in this regard, so it is natural to learn lessons now.

"According to the order!"

……

"Have you found out the spies hiding in the surrounding areas?"

In the commander's camp, Li Mu asked with concern.

Not everyone can carry out a night attack, especially when the enemy is hiding in a fortified city. It is extremely difficult to launch a forceful attack at night.

The purpose of making such a big fuss is essentially to cover up the army's actions.

Sending troops to launch a surprise attack on Hengyang requires taking the enemy by surprise.

It is unrealistic to completely hide the truth from the enemy, but this kind of military operation must be kept secret for as long as possible.

Compared with Yongzhou, which was heavily guarded by the enemy, Hengyang, which was guarded by only a few old and weak people, was obviously a soft persimmon.

After taking Hengyang and controlling the Xiangjiang waterway, the rebels could only take a detour through Baoqing Prefecture to reinforce Yongzhou.

Adding a few hundred miles to the journey may not sound like much, but in wartime, it means doubling the logistical costs.

“My lord, please rest assured.

Our troops have captured dozens of rebel spies one after another, and the area around the camp has been cleared. Even if the rebels send out more spies, they will have nowhere to hide!"

Yun Yufeng replied immediately.

Reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance are both technical jobs that test the soldiers' experience the most.

Thanks to the rebels' scorched earth strategy, there was not a single building outside Yongzhou City. All the trees had been cut down, and even the weeds on the ground had been destroyed.

The effect was very obvious. The livestock accompanying the army could only eat the fodder they carried, which greatly increased the army's material consumption.

The barren land also made it more difficult for spies to hide. Before they could find any useful information, their position was exposed.

"Um!

Commander Zhu, you can lead your troops into action now.

With the cover of night, the enemy army should not notice if a few thousand people are reduced in the camp.

Whether the subsequent plan will be successful depends on whether your next actions can be kept secret!"

Li Mu said earnestly.

He is not a risk-taker. Rather than taking unexpected actions, he prefers to proceed step by step.

The situation this time is special. If we want to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible, we must take risks.

Otherwise, according to normal fighting methods, a large-scale battle of this scale rarely ends quickly. It is normal for a battle to last for a year or two.

If both sides send reinforcements, the war may drag on for a year or two and the outcome may not be determined.

“My lord, please rest assured.

The soldiers under my command have all received strict night combat training. Those who are unqualified have long been kicked out.

In the next few days, we stayed indoors at night.

We will not reveal our whereabouts until we reach the city of Hengyang!"

Zhu Jingyu immediately assured.

There were very few soldiers in the Dayu Dynasty who had received night combat training. It was not because it was technically impossible, but mainly because of night blindness.

If you want to train an army that can fight at night, you must first ensure the supply of meat.

If it were not for the proximity to the sea and the rich fishery resources, it would be very difficult to achieve this with the current productivity of animal husbandry.

It is precisely because of the difficulties that the plan is more feasible.

It is hard for a rebel general who has never seen such a thing before and comes from a grassroots background to imagine that an army can hide during the day and move at night to carry out long-distance raids and steal cities.

The armies of the Holy White Lotus Kingdom were all approaching Yongzhou. The troops drawn back from Xiangyang and Nanchang were now traveling by water and had to pass through Hengyang.

In terms of time, the fastest army in the vanguard is only six or seven days away from Hengyang City.

It is hard for normal people to imagine that someone would dare to attack Hengyang at this time.

(End of this chapter)