Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 89 Whose Beijing Camp, Who is the Loyal Minister

Of course, Zhong needs money to support him, Li Chengliang said something straightforward.

After all, there is no common ideal nowadays, isn’t it just interests?

If the emperor could not distribute the benefits properly, why would the officials, gentry and relatives of the nobles continue to assist you in securing the throne?

But when Zhu Changluo asked this question, all the ministers kowtowed, including Li Chengliang: "I dare not."

But the more this happens, the more it seems that people are just saying they don't dare, but they are resentful in their hearts.

The expressions of the three cabinet ministers became more solemn. Shen Yikuan looked deeply at Li Chengliang, and then looked at the emperor who asked this question.

Tian Le felt a lot more relaxed.

Zhu Changluo still stared at Li Chengliang: "Ningyuan Bo, since you are willing to speak clearly, why do you say you dare not? I have three questions, you must answer them clearly."

Li Chengliang straightened his back and said, "The establishment of the Beijing Camp is to protect the Holy Emperor and to provide assistance to the borders when needed. Your Majesty is willing to reorganize the Beijing Camp. As your general, I am naturally excited! However, if the troops in the Beijing Camp are to be trained and used, it will not only cost more than the salaries and food of the current official troops. The military preparations, barracks and training are consuming every day. I dare to say that the court may not be able to give so much silver. The food and salaries for the nine borders have exceeded three million taels. Your Majesty's question, I, a military general, cannot answer."

He said he couldn't answer, but he said so much.

Zhu Changluo then looked at Shen Shixing who was about to leave the class: "Lord Shen, I understand. Earl Ningyuan said that the gradual desolation of the Beijing camp was not the fault of the military officers, but the fault of the civil officials."

Li Chengliang's eyes narrowed slightly, and he looked at the emperor in surprise.

On the civil officials' side, many people's faces suddenly changed.

"That's not what Earl Ning Yuan meant!"

Before Shen Shixing could answer, Hou Xianchun, the military officer who had mentioned Liu Jing's private visit to Tian Le, spoke again. He bowed and then said, "The Beijing camp has gradually become dilapidated, which is the fault of the military commanders! Even if the border troops have been short of pay from time to time, the Beijing camp has never been short of pay. In the 19th year of Wanli, first the Minister of Works Zeng Tongheng went to ask for craftsmen from the Qing Imperial Palace, and then his brother, the Supervisory Censor Zeng Qianxiang, petitioned to cut redundant staff to increase funds."

"The military officers of the Beijing camp mistakenly thought that they were going to have their salaries and rations reduced, so in early October they gathered in a group and entered the Chang'an Gate, making a commotion, surrounded Minister Zeng and humiliated him. In this case, Duke Dingguo, who was in charge of the Rear Army Governor's Office at the time, was deprived of his salary for half a year, and the rest were punished. The gatekeeper of the Chang'an Gate was brought in by the judicial department to be interrogated."

Hou Xianchun looked at the emperor and said with a stubborn heart: "Ningyuan Earl is sincere and loyal to the country! Your Majesty asked him to his face, but he said he dared not. However, at that time, he just requested to cut redundant personnel to increase funds, and the military officers of the Beijing Camp mutinied! Is the decline of the Beijing Camp due to financial difficulties and the fault of civil officials? Ningyuan Earl is unwilling to speak frankly, so I will speak frankly! Over the years, the Beijing Camp has never lacked food and wages. The decline of the Beijing Camp is due to the lack of meritorious military power!"

When Xu Wenbi was called, he closed his eyes tiredly.

It is true that the meritorious officials in the Beijing Camp are not very decent, but are these the only problems of the Beijing Camp?

He is already very old and doesn't want to say much.

"Ningyuan Bo, is what Hou Jieshi said the secret that you don't want to speak out?"

Li Chengliang looked at the emperor sitting on the throne below the Qianqing Gate.

It was not yet fully light, and under the palace lanterns, Zhu Changluo's face was light and dark.

Li Chengliang looked at the emperor.

He stood up against Tian Le for his own considerations.

With his status, he didn't have to worry about being punished for this matter, after all, he was speaking for the current nobles. And if he opposed Tian Le at the beginning, he could make some stupid civil officials think well of him.

Li Chengliang also wanted to test the emperor's thoughts on military power and whether he had sufficient understanding of the difficulty of reorganizing the Beijing camp.

But the emperor had just said, "It is not the fault of the military generals, but the mistake of the civil officials," and he also said that this was the intention of him, the Earl of Ningyuan.

It seems that he is really extraordinary.

Want to cut?

Li Chengliang made a decision: "What Hou Jieshi said is not what I mean."

Shen Yi Guan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Hou Jieshi mentioned the 19th year of Wanli, so I will mention the 29th year of Jiajing." Li Chengliang said slowly, "During the Gengxu Rebellion, the Tartar invaded the capital, and the Beijing camp was in chaos and could not resist. Afterwards, the governor of the Beijing camp and the eunuchs who supervised the guns were dismissed. A military official was appointed to supervise the military affairs of the Beijing camp. A civil official was appointed to assist in the military affairs of the Beijing camp."

Li Chengliang turned around and looked at Hou Xianchun: "Hou Jieshi only said that the military officials were not effective, so what have the successive assistants in charge of the military affairs of the Beijing Camp done since the 29th year of Jiajing? Are those who actually in charge of the Beijing Camp in these years military officials or civil officials?"

There was total silence outside the Qianqing Gate. The people sent by Empress Dowager Li had just arrived behind the Qianqing Gate.

Seeing him, Cheng Jing just shook his head slightly to indicate that nothing was wrong.

Zhu Changluo took a deep look at Li Chengliang who turned around and looked at him again.

Sure enough.

Given Li Chengliang's experience, did he jump out just to irritate the emperor? To make the emperor bear a grudge against him?

Knowing that he could no longer return to Liaodong, he began to strive for new things.

At this time, Zhu Changluo sighed and said, "It seems that I understand Ningyuan Bo. Elder Shen and Elder Wang, now you two understand what I was worried about at that time, right?"

The three cabinet ministers looked unhappy.

Bringing up old issues again and trampling on the imperial authority, is it necessary to do this?

But Li Chengliang has already exposed the facts: after the 29th year of Jiajing, the actual control of the Beijing camp had actually been seized by civil officials.

Although on the surface he was still the governor of the Beijing Camp, and the civil officials were only assistants, but he controlled the money and grain, could participate in the affairs of the Beijing Camp, and participated in the selection of military generals. However, since the meritorious officials were dismissed and had many handles, how much effort could they use in the affairs of the Beijing Camp?
Just like Wang Chengxun had been in charge of the Caojun for more than eight years, and when the stronger Li Sancai came, he had to "move under him".

Xu Wenbi couldn't help but look at Li Chengliang: He is worthy of being the first generation of meritorious official who made his mark through his own efforts.

But if he did that, he would completely break with the civil officials.

Are you really not afraid?

"Your Majesty, the abuses of the Beijing Camp, such as excessive labor and occupation, often involve meritorious officials." Shen Shixing tried to smooth things over. "The abuses of the Beijing Camp have been around for a long time, and it is impossible to directly blame anyone. Now if we want to reorganize the Beijing Camp, the difficulty of financial planning mentioned by the Earl of Ningyuan is one thing, and the Hou Jieshi is worried that the meritorious officials will resent it. This is because the selection and promotion of military officials are mostly recommended by the Five Prefectures to the Ministry of War, and their posts are spread across the nine border provinces. Your Majesty, please understand!"

"Mr. Shen is wrong!"

Xu Wenbi suddenly spoke, and Zhu Changluo looked over in surprise.

He actually has a brilliant idea?
"Since the establishment of governors-general in the nine frontiers, governors-general in various places, ministers in the court, and provincial governors are all eligible to recommend military generals; the re-examination and selection are also jointly presided over by the six ministries and the five government offices! Are you implying that the generals recommended by our meritorious officials are all over the Ming Dynasty, and there is a fear of disloyalty? Your Majesty is wise, we are innocent!"

As soon as Xu Wenbi said this, all the meritorious officials started to protest their injustice in unison.

Some of them began to show signs of swearing and gave examples one after another.

Do all the military commanders in the world still rely on the path of meritorious officials as they did in the past? Haven't you seen who the military commanders are bribing now?

Liu Jing was immediately used as an example: Look, he went to Li Hualong and Cui Jingrong, which one of them was not a civil official?
"Silence! Silence!" The censor who was impeaching the court ceremony finally came out.

The scene fell silent, but Xu Wenbi spoke again.

The high priest had been performing for so many years, and at this moment, relying on his seniority, his tone was full of grievances: "I have grievances, but I am loyal! The loyalty of a meritorious official means that I will obey your majesty's orders! We have benefited from the Beijing Camp, and your majesty is willing to reorganize the Beijing Camp. As meritorious officials, we can only suppress our grievances."

Tian Le looked at him in surprise, and Shen Shixing and the others seemed to have gotten to know Xu Wenbi all over again.

Xu Wenbi's gray beard trembled, and his emotions continued to burst out: "The Beijing Camp protects the emperor, and it is usually run by meritorious officials! Now the Beijing Camp is abandoned, even if it needs to be reorganized. We, the ministers, have failed the emperor's expectations, and we should obey the order; but the new generals in charge of the Beijing Camp must still be meritorious officials! In any case, if the meritorious officials are guilty, only Your Majesty can punish them! If you use the excuse of reorganization to criticize the meritorious officials, who will the later ones be loyal to? Who will they dare to be loyal to? Whose Beijing Camp is it?"

Xu Wenbi, who was described as "vulgar and lazy in appearance, and a man obsessed with wine, sex and money", complained loudly, and a group of meritorious officials looked at him in astonishment.

Old Duke Dingguo... is so strong?
(End of this chapter)