Dream of the Red Chamber: I can upgrade my entries!

Chapter 108 The Emperor's Fear, Emperor Yongping: Who can wield this knife?

"Uncle Liu."

“The Ma family of Ningxia, the Wang family of Gansu, the Ma family of Guyuan, the You family of Yulin, and the Cao family of Shanxi.”

"These military families from the early Ming dynasty were nothing short of a malignant tumor to the Northwest."

Looking at Liu Fang, Jia Yan mentioned the five military families.

"I'll take care of it."

Liu Fang's expression turned serious, and she spoke earnestly.

He knew that Shaanxi was related to the entire Northwest region. If he could handle it well, he would definitely have a place in the Five Military Commissions, just like Niu Jizong handled Beizhili. Beizhili was just a beginning, a front line to solve the problems in the two major provinces of Henan and Shandong.

"I"

Hou Xiaokang quickly stood up.

"Haha."

Niu Jizong and Liu Fang burst out laughing at the same time.

"The Tusi system in the southwest region has been in place for 500 years since the Yuan Dynasty, and its problems have been long-standing."

“The chieftains held absolute power within their territories, appointing officials, collecting taxes, and controlling the army, effectively making them independent kingdoms.”

"They frequently fought each other, causing local unrest and making it difficult to implement the government's decrees. This seriously hindered the centralization of power. Furthermore, their closed management meant they had no communication with the outside world, leaving a large amount of resources sitting idle and unusable."

"Such a situation was undoubtedly the biggest challenge for the governance of the dynasty. The Ming dynasty established a large number of garrisons in Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan to maintain local stability."

"Guizhou is undoubtedly the place where the Tusi (chieftain) forces are most stubborn."

"Uncle Hou, abolishing the garrison and raising 50,000 Guizhou garrison soldiers is only the first step."

"To truly govern the southwest, it is necessary to abolish the Tusi system and have the dynasty appoint officials to manage it, rotate them regularly, and implement the same political, economic, and cultural systems as other places, as well as build water conservancy projects, reclaim wasteland, and establish schools."

"Your responsibility is immense!"

Patting Hou Xiaokang on the shoulder, Jia Yan offered words of encouragement.

"I, Lao Hou, may not understand anything else, but I do understand one thing: whoever has the bigger fist gets to speak."

"More than thirty garrisons and nearly a million military households—I refuse to believe we can't deal with these southwestern barbarians."

“Kill them if they don’t obey. Kill them until they obey. What kind of chieftains are they? I think they’re just bastards.”

Hou Hsiao-kang patted his chest and gave his assurance.

"it is good."

Upon seeing this, Jia Yan revealed a faint smile.

The reason Hou Xiaokang was chosen to go to Guizhou was because of his stubbornness. This stubbornness was most effective in dealing with the single-minded Miao people. Without eliminating all the chieftains in Guizhou, Guizhou would not be able to fully accept the imperial edict.

Guizhou is located between Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, and Hubei, making it a crucial province. Once Guizhou is stabilized, the 50,000 Guizhou garrison troops under the command of the Guizhou general can be deployed to surrounding provinces at any time, thus ensuring stability in the southwest.

"Nephew."

"It's getting late, so we'll take our leave now."

Having received a reply, Niu Jizong and his two companions did not linger in Ningguo Prefecture any longer and eagerly returned to their respective residences to make preparations.

"Master."

Only after Niu Jizong and the other two had gone far away did Jingzhe and Mangzhong come out and stand respectfully to the side.

"Jingzhe, arrange for someone to leak the news to Yang Jishan, Zhang Ji, Zhao Tengye, Sun Yanliang, and Wang Senluo as quickly as possible."

"The Emperor Emeritus's men are watching them closely, so they probably won't be able to find any loopholes."

"However, they cannot ignore the favor of my recommendation. It will be useful to establish a good relationship in the future."

With a deep, thoughtful look in his eyes, Jia Yan gave the order.

"Yes."

Jingzhe, who was in charge of Fengtai, immediately responded and accepted the order.

"Master."

The Grand Commander of Luange, Mangzhong, reported: "Yesterday, Zhen Yingyan went to Xuanzhen Temple. Later, the people from the Chess Camp swaggered into Xishan carrying one million taels of silver."

"Don't bother."

Jia Yan rolled his eyes. He could guess with his own eyes that this was the old man's doing. He had taken back the money he had given him over the years. From then on, the Jia family and Prince Yizhong had a falling out.

"Yes."

Grain in Ear (芒种) nodded slightly and left the main hall.

Qianqing Palace, Yangxin Hall.

"gentlemen."

"Isn't the Jia family being a bit too presumptuous?"

“Three memorials were submitted in succession, concerning five border towns, and the establishment of the Tianjin Navy was also proposed.”

"Even I, the emperor, am not as thoughtful as him."

Emperor Yongping, dressed in a dragon robe, had a sinister look in his eyes. On his desk were three memorials presented by Su Peisheng, all written by Marquis Wu, Jia Yan.

"Your Majesty, there is no need to be angry."

Wu Sidao, in his wheelchair, was easygoing and indifferent.

"How could I not be angry?"

"Let's leave the Earl of Zhongshan, the Earl of Qingjiang, and the Earl of Lintao out of the picture for now."

"The four marquises of the dynasty—the Marquis of Zhenguo, the Marquis of Liguo, and the Marquis of Xiuguo—will follow his orders."

"Is he the emperor, or am I the emperor? Is he instructing me on how to do things?"

Upon hearing this, Emperor Yongping picked up a memorial and slammed it heavily on his desk, his anger blazing.

Su Peisheng, sitting at the lower end, quickly gestured for the eunuchs around him to leave, for what was to come was not something they could hear.

"Does Your Majesty know what Marquis Wu is doing?"

Instead of directly answering Emperor Yongping's question, Wu Sidao changed the subject.

"What is he doing?"

A hint of doubt flashed across Emperor Yongping's cold, stern eyes.

"Your Majesty."

Su Peisheng, the chief eunuch of the Qianqing Palace, said, "In the past few days, Marquis Wu has caused quite a stir at the Jia family."

"The eldest son of the Rongguo Mansion moved into the main hall, and the wife of Jia, the Assistant Minister of Works, was confined to the mansion."

"Of the eight branches of the Jia family in the capital, all the sons who had not yet reached adulthood participated in an examination, and in the end, only fifteen remained."

"These fifteen members of the Jia family were all personally trained by the Marquis Wu's twelve personal guards." (Question mark)

Upon hearing this, Emperor Yongping was completely bewildered. Jia Yan was already a Marquis of Wu and had established his own residence. Why should he bother with the Ning and Rong residences?

The person standing at the pinnacle of the dynasty is actually busy cleaning up the inner court and has time to cultivate the clan's children. If this is not a waste of talent, what is it?
"His Majesty."

Seeing that Emperor Yongping's expression had softened, Wu Sidao continued, "The Marquis of Wu's memorial truly considered the current problems plaguing the nation."

"Isn't it His Majesty's wish to rectify official corruption, abolish the garrison system, and increase fiscal revenue?"

“Starting with the garrison, we will change military households into civilian households, establish prefectures and counties, and provide 20 million people and 4 million hectares of fertile land. These will all be additional taxes.”

"These few dozen prefectures and hundreds of counties alone require tens of thousands of officials. Your Majesty has always wanted to promote scholars from humble backgrounds and change the situation of rampant factionalism that has existed since the Ming Dynasty. This is the best opportunity."

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire hall fell silent.

Emperor Yongping pondered for a moment and said, "What you say makes sense."

"The Jia family son is skilled in both literature and martial arts. I deeply agree with the policies he mentioned, such as merging the poll tax into the land tax and replacing the native chieftainship with a centrally appointed official."

"In the 43rd year of the Shunzhi reign, the Emperor issued an edict: 'No additional taxes will be levied for increasing the population.' The original intention was to change the long-standing situation where heavy taxes had caused the people to live in misery, but this measure only addressed the symptoms, not the root cause."

"The 'equalization of land tax and poll tax' will merge the poll tax, which has been levied on land tax for generations, into the land tax collection. The poll tax will be collected in a unified manner, and the poll tax will no longer be levied on individuals. People will no longer be burdened by heavy taxes, and will be able to actively cultivate wasteland and have children, thereby promoting the prosperity of the country."

"By converting military households under the garrison system into civilian households, the control over household registration is relaxed, and people who cannot make a living can freely migrate to make a living. This not only benefits the Marquisate of Wu'an, but also some remote areas of the country, such as the southwest, Guangdong and Guangxi, the northwest, and beyond the Great Wall."

"What angers me is not his talent, but his arrogance. He could have submitted several more memorials to explain these matters, but he only submitted three. The appointment of marquises, earls, second-rank military officers, and even first-rank military officers in the dynasty is so easily done in his hands."

"Don't say he's just a military commander. Even I, the emperor, can't do whatever I want. Does he still have any sense of loyalty between ruler and subject?"

'Thump!'

Su Peisheng's pupils contracted sharply, and he lowered his head even further.

"Your Majesty, Marquis Wu is only sixteen years old, and it is inevitable that he is young and impetuous."

Wu Sidao patiently advised, "To act first and report later, transferring the Earl of Lintao to the position of General of Jizhou is indeed an overreach of regulations."

"Zu Chong, the general of Jizhou, came from the Zu family and had been related to the Chong'an Marquis family of the same lineage for generations by marriage. Their influence in Jizhou was deeply rooted."

"If the imperial decree had been issued to the Ministry of War in a normal manner, everything in Jizhou would have been shrouded in darkness before Yue Zhongqi even took office."

"At that time, how can we clean up the garrisons and start this major military reorganization by purging the Jizhou garrison?"

"Only by taking down Zu Chong, pulling out the radish and bringing out the mud, and dealing with the generals of Jizhou and the officers and soldiers of the garrisons under his jurisdiction, will the bloody truth of corruption be laid out in the court, and only then will the Six Ministries agree to His Majesty's request, and the retired emperor will be unable to stop it."

"I understand."

With indifferent eyes, Emperor Yongping was filled with countless emotions, but he suppressed them all and issued an edict: "I hereby decree that Zhong Qi, the Earl of Lintao, is loyal to the country and brave in battle. He shall be transferred to the position of Commander-in-Chief of Jizhou Garrison to cooperate with the Embroidered Uniform Guard in investigating the embezzlement of military funds and collusion between superiors and subordinates in Jizhou Garrison."

"Zhongshan Earl Wang Ziteng was appointed Admiral of the Tianjin Navy, responsible for building the Tianjin Navy to defend the northern border and coast of the country; Qingjiang Earl Zhang Guangsi was appointed General Pingxi, recruited 5 Miao soldiers to quell the rebellions in Dajinchuan and Xiaojinchuan, and I allocated one million taels and three hundred thousand taels of silver respectively from my private treasury to them as military funds."

"The Marquis of Zhenguo, Niu Jizong; the Marquis of Liguo, Liu Fang; and the Marquis of Xiuguo, Hou Xiaokang, are hereby appointed as Imperial Envoys and granted the Imperial Sword, which allows them to execute first and report later!"

"Yes."

Su Peisheng quietly left the Hall of Mental Cultivation and instructed the young eunuch to draft an imperial edict.

"Does the Emperor think that the third memorial submitted by the Jia family son will be approved?"

Just then, Emperor Yongping asked Wu Sidao again.

"His Majesty."

Without hesitation, Wu Sidao replied, "General Yang Jishan of Ningxia and others were all promoted by the Emperor Emeritus, with the aim of dismantling the power of the Nine Garrisons."

"What Zhuge Liang did was exactly what the Emperor Emeritus wanted, so how could he disagree?"

"They have received imperial favor for generations and should naturally defend the country's borders. Your Majesty is the true Son of Heaven, the supreme ruler. Under heaven, all land belongs to the king, and all people within the borders are his subjects."

"call!!!"

Emperor Yongping's tense expression immediately relaxed. This was what he was most worried about: whether the people supported by Emperor Shunkang would be used by him.

As Wu Sidao said, just because someone is not used by him now does not mean they will not listen to him in the future. How many more years can the retired emperor live?

"Your Majesty should take heed of the actions of Marquis Wu."

"What do you mean, sir?"

Emperor Yongping suddenly looked up and stared at Wu Sidao, releasing an invisible sense of pressure.

"Of the three memorials submitted by Zhuge Liang, the one that focused most on was the southwest and the northwest."

“Break down the Shaanxi province and establish a new Gansu governor-general's jurisdiction. The Gansu garrison has 50,000 combat troops, and the Gansu general has 50,000 guards, which is a total of 100,000 troops. If it is only to guard against the Dzungar Khanate, why make such a big fuss?”

"General Pingxi has 50,000 Miao soldiers to deal with Dajinchuan and Xiaojinchuan, which are located in the Kangduo Snow Region, one of the three major snow regions."

"When the Marquis of Xiuguo went to Guizhou to investigate the garrison system, he implemented the policy of replacing native chieftains with centrally appointed officials. With 50,000 Guizhou garrison troops under his command, he was able to deter the southwest."

As Wu Sidao analyzed the situation, a special place name came into view: Ü-Tsang, a place deep in the snowy plateau.

"The Jia family wants to take action against the Khoshut tribe, and by taking over Qinghai and Khamdo, they can create a pincer movement against Tibet."

Emperor Yongping was not particularly outstanding in military affairs. Among the imperial family, Prince Zhongshun and Prince Yizhong were the most skilled in leading troops, but he was not so oblivious as to not see this.

"Your Majesty underestimates the ambition of Marquis Wu."

"In the fifteenth year of the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty (1642), the Khoshut Khanate destroyed the Tsangpa Khanate and unified the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau."

"In the Yuan Dynasty's first campaign, the Dzungars, in alliance with the Khoshut, invaded the western border of the Qing Dynasty, but suffered a major defeat. The Khoshut tribe retreated to Qinghai and dispersed into more than ten tribes, losing its dominance over Tibet."

"Ten years ago, Tsewang Arabtan, the Khan of the Dzungar Khanate, under the pretext of protecting the religion, sent General Tsering Dondrup to advance into Ü-Tsang. The army bypassed the Gobi Desert, crossed the Pamir Plateau, and launched a surprise attack on Lhasa without warning, conquering various parts of Ü-Tsang."

"If Qinghai and Kangdo are captured, how can Tibet withstand the army of the Qing Dynasty? At that time, part of the Qing Dynasty's army will follow the example of the Dzungars, cross the Pamir Plateau and enter the Western Regions, while the main force will go out of Jiayuguan, advance on Hami, and drive the three tribes of the northern desert to detour through the Altai Mountains."

"With three routes advancing simultaneously, how can the Dzungar Khanate possibly withstand it?"

Wu Sidao has once again interpreted a brand-new strategic vision.

"What grand ambitions!"

Emperor Yongping rose from his dragon throne, gazed into the distance, and said softly, "Seize the snowy plateau and reclaim our lost lands in the Western Regions."

"If he achieves this, how should I reward him—as a duke, or as a prince of a different surname?"

"Your Majesty, I offer my congratulations!"

Sitting in his wheelchair, Wu Sidao's face was burning with fervor: "If the Jia family's son can achieve this, Your Majesty will be a sage emperor for all time."

"is it?"

Emperor Yongping kept his eyes fixed on the outside of the palace, and no one could see the deep, swirling thoughts in the emperor's eyes, as profound as the starry sea.

The emperor's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea. He wanted to achieve great things, but he was more worried about the Jia family becoming too powerful to control. Throughout history, there have been many powerful ministers who usurped the throne. Jia Yan was only sixteen years old, while he was already nearly fifty. He was not confident that he could control him in his lifetime.

If it were his son, the most outstanding Prince Bao, Qin Li, could he wield this incomparably sharp blade?
In an instant, fear arose in the heart of this man who was revered as a ruler by hundreds of millions of his subjects, and the object of this fear was just a sixteen-year-old boy.

PS: The four major chieftains of Guizhou were: the Xi'an clan of Shuizhou (Lady Shexiang), the Yang clan of Bozhou, the Tian clan of Sizhou, and the Song clan of Shuidong.

Tusi was a hereditary official position established by the central dynasty during the Yuan and Ming dynasties in the southwestern minority areas. It was held by local leaders and had both autonomous and vassal characteristics. The positions included military positions such as Xuanwei Shi (Xuanwei Shi, Pacification Shi, etc.) and civil positions such as Tuzhifu (Tuzhifu, Tuzhizhou, etc.).

(End of this chapter)