Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 60: Gathering Fire and Setting the Field on Fire

Zhu Changluo collected his thoughts and sat down to look at the information that Tian Yi and Chen Ju had found. Then he said, "Come on, Cheng Sigong, tell me what you know."

"...Ahem."

Several people looked at him again, and Zhu Changluo didn't know why he suddenly cleared his throat.

"The tiger corps marched out on horseback, and the vast dragon sand celebrated its victory. The enemy was annihilated and all Tang territory was taken back, and the soldiers rushed to embrace the Han banners. The wine was cold and the soldiers were drunk, and the alfalfa flowers were deep and the soldiers were slow. Listen to the pipa playing on the moonlit night, and the short flute and long pipe swallow the cool breeze."

"..." Chen Ju had a complicated expression. After all, he had just said that he didn't study.

Cheng Jing grinned and said, "It was the poem "Determining Songshan" written by Huo Peng, deputy envoy of Suzhou Military Preparations during the Battle of Big and Small Songshan. There is also a "Determining Songshan Stele". It's too long for me to memorize it. But I like this poem very much, so I wrote it down."

"Is it related to Tian Le?" Zhu Changluo asked.

"Yes!" Cheng Jing nodded.

"Any troops who delay or cowardlyly approach the enemy will be killed immediately!"

"We swear an oath of blood to destroy the 'Songlu'! Those who don't use their lives will have such blood!"

"Everyone must obey orders and fight on their own. Do not shirk responsibility or stand aside. Anyone who retreats in fear of the enemy will be killed immediately!"

"Lord Tian holds the axe and raises his banner, and mobilizes Lord Ling's cavalry; Peng and his men sound their bows and armour, and regroup in the champion camp. He supervises the seven schools to follow the will of heaven, and commands the six divisions to shake the earth's axis!"

Cheng Jing was a little embarrassed: "Your Highness, I only remember these few sentences, which were very powerful. They were all the Tianle words and the momentum at that time that Huo Pengji remembered."

He showed a longing look: "He is a little different from other civil officials."

"Why is it different?"

"His son Tian Ergeng is in the Jinyiwei." Cheng Jing thought for a moment and said truthfully,
"His son was a little clever and loved money, but he was under strict control and didn't dare to do anything wrong. In July of the year before last, Yang Chaodong wanted to bribe the Tian family, who had been appointed as the Minister of War. At that time, Tian Le was still supervising the battle in Xiaosong Mountain. Tian Ergeng didn't dare to collect the bribe and tied the man up and sent him to the county."

"At that time, the Tian family had already been granted a male hereditary commander, Tian Ergeng's brother Tian Ershu, who was only a stipend. Tian Ergeng joined the Jinyiwei last year because of his son's promotion to Jinyiwei. Now he is only allowed to be a small flag officer with a real job. This was Tian Le's special request."

“Why did you add shade last year?”

"The new border of Songshan." Tian Yi answered instead, "Your Highness, the battles of Songshan and Songshan were successful, and the territory was recovered and expanded by nearly a thousand miles. The prestige of the Grand Marshal is still there, and the new border of Songshan has been built. The Qinghai Tartars and the Mobei Tartars can no longer respond to each other from a distance, and the threat to the northwest border has been eliminated. If the situation in the northwest had not changed drastically at that time, the court would have faced the enemy from three sides, Korea, Bozhou, and the northwest. Therefore, although Tian Le was awarded the title of Prince Taibao based on his merits, and the original hereditary title was promoted to the commander, the people at that time thought that the reward was not enough to compensate him. Therefore, after Tian Le arrived at the Ministry of War in February last year, he was also awarded the title of Prince Taifu, and another son was given the title of Jinyiwei Zhengqianhu, and in September he was awarded the honorary title of Zhuguo."

Zhu Changluo was a little shocked.

Tian Ergeng knew that he was a minion of Wei Zhongxian in the late Ming Dynasty and had been in charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Could it be that because Tian Ergeng had a bad reputation, his father Tian Le's deeds were also covered up in history and are not well known to later generations?

But Zhu Changluo knew one reason why his father did not appoint many officials: one less official meant one less salary.

It's outrageous, but there are reasons for this, and it also disgusts the civil officials.

It is rare to see such a Zhu Yijun who repeatedly praised Tian Le, who had already been praised for his merits.

When the imperial court talked about the wars in recent years, why did it rarely mention the Three Victories of Huangzhong and the Battle of Songshan, which changed the strategic situation in the northwest, on the same level as the Battle of Ningxia, the Battle of Korea, and the Battle of Bozhou?

Zhu Changluo asked this question, and Chen Ju answered concisely: "It costs less money."

"what?"

“He knows about soldiers.”

Zhu Changluo looked at Tian Yi.

"…Your Highness, it's nothing more than not asking the court for extra money and food. After the Grand Marshal was appointed as the governor of Gansu, he opened the Beishan Ironworks to support the war and defense. The three victories in Huangzhong were also achieved by using the military like a god. He first conquered the Qing chieftain, then the Yong chieftain, and defeated them one by one, winning consecutive battles in six months. The battle of the Songshan Mountain and Xiaosongshan Mountain used only 20,000 soldiers, but it was also won in six months. Since it really didn't cost much money before and after, it's not good to use it to warn Your Majesty not to use the military repeatedly and waste people's money and energy."

"..."

Zhu Changluo actually understood Zhu Yijun a little bit.

Zhu Yijun repeatedly praised the "efficient and capable minister" who was rejected by all the civil officials.

And now, he is looking at Tian Le's early life.

That was about thirty years ago, during the Longqing period. Tian Le was 28 years old and had just passed the imperial examination and was appointed to Dong'a.

In the Tian Mansion, Tian Le suddenly whispered to his wife's spirit tablet: "My children and grandchildren have their own blessings, don't blame me."

He never remarried. Looking back on most of his life, the simplest and most fulfilling ones seemed to be the first four years as an official.

At the beginning, the government of Dong'e County was almost abandoned, and many parts of the county wall had collapsed.

He took the lead in repairing the county government office, the city, the bridge, the post station, and the canal, and did not assign any corvée labor to others.

In the past, taxes were collected by wealthy households in the village.

He knew the seriousness of this, after all, he came from a poor peasant family.

He set up a big cabinet and asked the people to put the stamped money they were supposed to pay into it, and then he counted them and gave them all to the big households.

It doesn't break the old rules, nor does it give big players the opportunity to play tricks.

Dong'a is on a major transportation route, and although the two post stations had been abandoned in the past, the horse owners who supported the post stations still had to pay money and perform their duties.

He also changed the rules, requiring horse owners to pay only what they should pay, and hired special postmen to manage the posthouses. Travelers and passengers were all subject to the rules. Those who wanted to enjoy special privileges had to worry about the name tags he issued.

He dismissed all the useless clerks in the county government and told the people that if they wanted to file a complaint, they could go and arrest the person themselves with the signature, without sending the yamen runners.

As a result, no one dared to not come after seeing the signature.

Because everyone knows that Tian Le will go to the door to pick someone up personally.

It's enough that there has been one example of this happening.

The man who took advantage of the loophole that most people would not carefully check when handing over personnel and sold fake engraved talismans for profit was caught red-handed by Tian Le who suddenly ran to his house, closed the door, and found him.

So he enforced his orders.

During those four years, he truly changed Dong'a County.

Afterwards, he was unable to change anything.

Perhaps Songshan Xinbian can be considered one.

But Tian Le didn't know whether Songshan New Border would change back to the same state as Dong'a County today in more than 20 years.

Today, he suddenly saw the heir to the throne take out such a vernacular imperial edict.

This reminded him of the days when he used plain language to tell the villagers what to do.

But now is different from the past, and he sees many things in the court more clearly.

The successor monarch is hiding his incompetence.

Why did he hide his incompetence? It was simply because he knew that the problems had been accumulated for a long time and the "evil forces" were rampant.

He also wanted to rehabilitate Zhang Juzheng.

But he wanted to take advantage of the emperor's regret after his paralysis, release a test of the wind direction, and look for loyal and aspiring ministers.

The country is peaceful and prosperous, but Tian Le is not sure whether the successor knows how difficult it will be and whether he knows that he will have to fight again to regain his throne.

In the eighth year of the Wanli reign, Zhang Jiangling began to survey the land throughout the Ming Dynasty.

He inspected Suzhou and Songjiang prefectures, and at that time he realized that he had to fight for the country again.

This is of course difficult, but fortunately he has some experience.

Today, the successor emperor in Wenhua Palace stood up and bowed to him, and Tian Le was willing to give it a try.

It was late at night, and the candlelight was reflected in his eyes, and in Zhu Changluo's eyes as well.

How many such loyal people were buried and how many people's enthusiasm was cooled in the party struggles and political chaos in the late Ming Dynasty?

How many people’s names have been hidden in the Spring and Autumn style of writing in history?
But it's different now.

Since he is going to be the emperor, he will gather these fires and create a bright and clear world!

(End of this chapter)