Fu Shanhe

Chapter 445 The counterattack begins

The panic in the capital lasted for three days until Jing Guoliang and Li Yuan reappeared in everyone's sight, and everyone's hearts slowly calmed down.

If everyone is safe, it means the situation can be stabilized.

If the two pillars supporting the sky were to disappear, no one would know how the situation in the Great Yu Dynasty would develop.

Even political enemies only want to gradually take away power, rather than directly seize power.

The core factor that enabled the nobility to dominate the government was never in the court.

The military forces distributed throughout the country were the source of Jing and Li's power.

If the underlying issues aren't addressed before seizing power, no one can maintain stability.

The Hall of Nourishing Heart.

"What are you standing there for? Hurry up and bring the chair over."

"Upon hearing of the assassination of the two Grand Secretaries, I have been unable to eat or sleep in peace."

Fortunately, the two lucky people were not harmed by the assassins, otherwise the loss to our Great Yu would have been huge!
......"

Emperor Yongning said with great enthusiasm.

Only by experiencing it firsthand can one truly understand the seriousness of the problem.

Previously, he only regarded Jing and Li as obstacles to his control of the court. Only after this assassination attempt did he realize the significance of their existence.

Without the two people acting as a mediator, those arrogant and fierce soldiers below might not necessarily respect him as emperor.

Everything was caused by the expansion of the military.

In the past, with the exception of Liaodong Town, the total strength of the other towns was at most 12,000 men.

With such a small force, they may have some say, but they are absolutely not qualified to negotiate with the imperial court.

Now the situation has changed. With the increase in the number of troops, in order to better command the troops, a new rank of Admiral has been added above the General.

Although this was a non-permanent position, it is an undeniable fact that military commanders were gaining more troops under their command.

The governor-general was in charge of the military affairs of a province. In addition to recruiting soldiers in two or three towns, there were also a large number of garrison troops.

The provinces of Dayu are quite large, and each admiral has a nominally registered force of no less than 100,000 men.

It depends on the specific circumstances of each province. For example, provinces like Guangdong and Guangxi, which are fully staffed, each have more than 100,000 troops.

In some provinces where the military garrisons were corrupt, the figures could be halved.

Regardless of the situation, the military strength of these admirals was enough to make the imperial court wary.

If we are not careful, a bunch of warlords will appear in the territory of Dayu.

Emperor Yongning had read history books and was very clear about the dangers of the regional military governors.

Liaodong Town is a prime example. It didn't cause any major trouble mainly because the rise of the nobility faction was rapid, which suppressed them in terms of strength.

Even with some reservations, the military families of Liaodong often outwardly complied with the emperor's edicts but inwardly defied them.

If other generals of the Great Yu followed suit, his position as emperor would become an empty shell.

It's difficult to maintain a balance of power; if a military general wants to overturn the table, the local government simply can't stop him.

To solve the problem of growing local power, simply reducing the power of local warlords is not advisable. Only by strengthening the central government can the balance of power be restored.

This is exactly what Jing and Li are currently doing—reorganizing the Beijing garrison.

The Beijing Garrison consisted of twelve regiments and three battalions. Each regiment had two garrisons under its command, while the three battalions did not have a fixed organizational structure.

In normal years, the total number of registered troops in the Beijing Garrison was approximately 300,000.

However, after Emperor Yongning ascended the throne, the Great Yu Dynasty began to suffer a series of misfortunes, with the capital garrison suffering heavy losses in two invasions by the northern barbarians.

Although the imperial court replenished some personnel, the combat effectiveness of the Beijing garrison has decreased significantly.

If we don't strengthen the rectification, this will just be a large-scale, superficial operation.

The current progress is quite unsuccessful.

On the one hand, there are obstacles from vested interests, and on the other hand, there is a shortage of talent in the Beijing garrison.

The previous defeats resulted in the deaths of many outstanding generals in the Beijing garrison on the battlefield.

While there are many sons of noble families, the number of elites with military talent is very limited.

With a large number of elites going to local positions, it has become impossible to replenish the Beijing Garrison with enough outstanding officers.

Promoting grassroots generals touches upon the core interests of the nobility.

The nobles were well aware that their wealth and status were built on their tight control over the Beijing Garrison.

Once they lose control of the Beijing garrison, who knows, one day a dim-witted emperor might appear and directly take action against them.

When it comes to striking down other powerful groups, Jing and Li can be ruthless, but when it comes to reforming their own people, things become tricky.

You can't sabotage your own people's efforts; even if you replace the commanders of the Beijing Garrison, it must be done within the nobility faction.

We wanted to draw officers from local troops, but unfortunately, the troops below us also lacked mid- to lower-ranking officers.

In addition, the current focus is on strengthening the Great Wall defense line, and the limited number of elite sons must be prioritized to reinforce the few towns stationed in the northern frontier.

In the armies of the southern provinces, it is now rare to see sons of noble families among the generals at the thousand-household level.

The six garrisons in Guangdong and Guangxi, where the most personnel were transferred, saw not only generals and deputy generals who were sons of nobles, but even junior officers from humble backgrounds among them.

Further redeployment would not only affect the combat effectiveness of the troops, but also cause problems with the control of the troops.

The most direct manifestation of this is the lack of checks and balances on power, with one entity dominating the military, which easily leads to regional separatism.

A typical example is the Annam Army Corps, where all military power fell into the hands of Li Mu's trusted confidants.

Nominally, it was an armed force of noble families, but in reality, apart from the Li family members, the power of other noble families did not extend there.

In a poor, remote place like Annam, nobody cared, so doing this was naturally no problem.

However, other core provinces must consider checks and balances on power.

Each of the military towns below must be jointly controlled by multiple noble generals; no single general should be allowed to dominate.

Without a sufficient number of qualified generals, reform is out of the question.

Coupled with financial pressures, the reorganization of the Beijing garrison has been delayed for a long time.

"Your Majesty, we have caused you worry; we are guilty!"

Jing Guoliang and Li Yuan answered in unison.

If the emperor was willing to perform, they would naturally cooperate.

The worst thing is if they don't even pretend, then the relationship between the ruler and his subjects will truly become impossible to maintain.

"It was all those assassins' fault! What crime have you two ministers committed?"

"All the major government offices in the capital have launched investigations, but I wonder what the progress is?"

After exchanging pleasantries, Emperor Yongning changed the subject and asked a question.

All the major government offices in the capital were mobilized, but few found any evidence.

The investigations reported by the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot unanimously concluded that someone in the court colluded with the Northern Barbarians to jointly plan this assassination.

The basis for this conclusion is that one of the captured assassins did not speak Chinese and spoke Tatar.

As for who colluded with the Northern barbarians, everyone only has suspects, but no concrete evidence.

The Five Cities Garrison had the most information because they reacted the fastest and were the first to arrest the suspects.

The subsequent interrogations were firmly controlled by the nobility faction.

This means that Jing and Li can decide the outcome of the interrogation.

They said that whoever was colluding with the Northern barbarians would be implicated in the interrogation.

No matter how noble one's status, once involved, one will immediately become a prisoner.

In theory, once the case is thoroughly investigated, the wronged person can be exonerated.

But when politics is involved, no one will simply believe that as long as they are innocent, they can escape punishment.

Evidence is something that can always be found if you look hard enough.

If you really can't find them, then let them confess on their own.

Everyone has a wealth of experience in this area.

Some officials have fabricated wrongful convictions themselves, so they are naturally afraid of being targeted by others.

"Your Majesty, the shop owners along the street where the assassins were lying in ambush include Vice Minister Zhang of the Ministry of Rites, Chief Clerk Cui of the Ministry of War, and the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review..."

Jing Guoliang rattled off a string of names, implicating multiple factions within the court.

If we had to pinpoint a pattern, it would be that they were either Shanxi merchants themselves or had close ties with Shanxi merchants.

The suspicion of framing can be largely ruled out.

Sending a group of assassins to the capital and carrying out the assassination requires a considerable amount of resources. Any problem at any stage could lead to the plan's failure.

It's simply unrealistic to just throw out a scapegoat.

Only by relying on the influence of officials in the imperial court could they evade the eyes and ears of the secret police.

According to the investigation, the assassins entered the city by infiltrating the Shanxi merchant caravans, with no more than three people entering the city at a time.

Judging from the interrogation confessions, the Shanxi merchants who covered their entry into the city, as well as the officials behind them, all boarded the ship in a daze.

They assumed it was to cover for Northern spies to enter the capital and gather intelligence.

Such things are commonplace for them.

It doesn't matter if we get caught; everyone here has powerful connections. A simple "the northern barbarians are cunning" will be enough to settle things.

If they knew it was an assassination attempt on a high-ranking official, they wouldn't be foolish enough to cooperate.

"Bastard!"

"The Northern barbarians are really going too far, daring to bribe spies to assassinate my trusted lieutenant."

Xu Zhongen drafted an imperial edict, summoning officials of the third rank and above for a meeting: "I am going to send troops to annihilate the Tatar royal court!"

Despite his harsh words, Emperor Yongning secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

It's good that the mastermind is the Northern Barbarians; what's worse is if the civil service group does something stupid, then there's really no hope.

As for the officials and businessmen involved, since they're implicated, they deserve to suffer.

Even if they didn't exterminate nine generations of their family, the execution of the entire family would certainly be a given.

Emperor Yongning didn't care at all whether there were any innocent people among them.

Among those involved in the case, the highest-ranking official was only a second-rank vice minister.

Compared to the complete annihilation of cabinet ministers and six ministers in the last factional struggle, the impact of the two is on a completely different level.

Even if they were innocent, Emperor Yongning would be happy to use their heads to quell the storm.

"Your Majesty, please calm your anger!"

As the art of war says: A ruler should not raise an army in anger, nor should a general wage war in resentment.

"Although the northern barbarians deserve to die, now is not the time to send troops."

Li Yuan began to offer advice.

Sending troops is out of the question.

The situation has only just stabilized; to launch a northern expedition against the Tatars now would be asking for trouble.

The war started because of them, and if the front lines suffer a defeat, the two of them will be held responsible.

Before the troops stationed along at least the Great Wall have reached combat readiness, it is not advisable for the Great Yu to initiate war.

"I'm sorry to have troubled you two!"

However, I will severely punish these traitors who dare to collude with the Northern barbarians.

Xu Zhongen drafted an imperial edict, ordering the Five Cities Military Command to thoroughly investigate and bring to justice all those who colluded with the Northern barbarians.

Emperor Yongning immediately chose to back down gracefully.

If Jing and Li didn't want to fight, he was even less inclined to.

Historically, after every major war, the power of the nobility faction tends to increase significantly.

If they were to quell the northern barbarians in one fell swoop, their immense political prestige would further diminish his presence as emperor.

"Your Majesty, all these people are pointing to a group of Shanxi merchants."

As far as I know, the culprit behind the court's failure to blockade supplies from the northern barbarians was the Shanxi merchants.

If they hadn't been smuggling strategic materials to the Northern Barbarians all along, even if the Northern Barbarians hadn't been trapped and starved to death, their development wouldn't have been so smooth.

In the past, the imperial court had repeatedly investigated smuggling, but all of these efforts ended in failure. The main reason for this was that the Shanxi merchants had powerful backers in the court who intervened to obstruct the investigations.

Shanxi merchants were fond of sponsoring scholars who passed the imperial examinations, and countless students received their assistance every year.

When something happens, these people will jump out and cheer for them.

If someone passed the imperial examination and became an official in the court, they would become their protector.

This group is so large that a thorough investigation would have far-reaching consequences.

As soon as Jing Guoliang finished speaking, Emperor Yongning hesitated.

He wanted to eliminate these traitors more than anyone else, but he feared that the nobility would take the opportunity to expand their influence.

It was common for merchants to sponsor promising scholars during the Dayu Dynasty, and no one knows how many people the Shanxi merchants sponsored.

If they continue to kill people on charges of being traitors to the country, the civil service group will likely have its very backbone severed.

"These damned unscrupulous merchants must not be let off the hook."

However, the officials and scholars involved must be dealt with with caution.

Many people consider Da Yu a pillar of the state, but this cannot be generalized.

Excessive killing and violence may offend the harmony of Heaven!

Emperor Yongning drew a line in a subtle way.

As a typical Confucian emperor, he had no fondness for merchants.

He especially hated the merchants who betrayed the Great Yu Dynasty; he wished he could drag them all out and exterminate their entire families.

The social hierarchy was scholar, farmer, artisan, and merchant; merchants, being at the bottom of the hierarchy, had no political standing whatsoever.

No matter how many die, no one will defend them.

This doesn't apply when it comes to intellectuals.

He'll fight his way through; those nobles and warlords don't care about their reputation, but he, the emperor, does!

"Your Majesty, rest assured, the officials involved will certainly be tried by the Three Judicial Offices before they can be convicted."

As for the scholars in the literati, they had not yet participated in selling out the country, so their primary focus was education.

The local education officials should be instructed to reprimand them and keep them away from unscrupulous merchants.

Jing Guoliang responded with a smile.

Even without this assassination attempt, they would have found an opportunity to target the Shanxi merchants.

To pacify the northern barbarians, we cannot confidently launch a northern expedition without first eliminating the internal rebels.

Moreover, these Shanxi merchants not only betrayed the country, but they were also incredibly wealthy.

Once they were eliminated, the imperial court's financial crisis was easily resolved.

Incidentally, the tax reform system can also be extended to Shanxi Province, further increasing fiscal revenue.

The reason for the delay in taking action is due to concerns about political repercussions.

After all, Shanxi merchants liked to spend money in the imperial court, and countless officials had received bribes from them.

Acting rashly will inevitably trigger a violent backlash.

The assassination made things seem legitimate.

The evidence we've gathered so far is enough to silence all the major factions in the government.

Anyone who dares to oppose us is definitely a accomplice of the Shanxi merchants, and they should be arrested and dealt with without any injustice.

"Ok!"

"Let's do as the Grand Secretary wishes!"

Emperor Yongning spoke calmly.

Reason told him that what appeared to be a discussion was actually an announcement of the outcome.

Whether he agrees or not, the noble faction will take action.

By agreeing readily, the emperor's face could be preserved.

At least Jing Guoliang made concessions and didn't eliminate all those involved in a blanket approach.

Even the accountability of the officials involved was carried out according to official procedures.

The Three Judicial Offices were the domain of civil officials; entrusting them with the trials themselves would effectively control the scope of the crackdown.

"Your Majesty, this matter is of great importance and requires the cooperation of the Imperial Guards."

Li Yuan then spoke up.

There are too many people involved; it would be too unseemly to not drag the emperor into it.

(End of this chapter)