Zhu Yijun did not answer Xu Wenchang's words. In fact, could the Daming withstand it?
Compared with Xu Wenchang, who was full of confidence, Zhu Yijun was not so confident.
"Take it slow!" Zhu Yijun said with a sigh.
Nothing could be done overnight. If he was too anxious, it would be easy for things to go wrong.
After returning to the palace, it was already late. Zhu Yijun did not work and went back to rest.
The Grand Council. This yamen had a very special position in the Daming. Since its establishment a few years ago, the power of the Grand Council had been increasing day by day.
Although it was under the banner of the preparation yamen for the northern expedition, its reach was very long.
At first, it was the military. After the Grand Council and the Commander-in-Chief's Office of the Five Armies got close, the entire military power was basically divided from the cabinet.
Whether it was a local civil official or a military general, all the memorials related to the military would go to the Grand Council.
The transfer of personnel, the purchase of ordnance, and the purchase of logistics were all under the Grand Council.
After achieving this step, the Grand Council extracted some power from the Six Ministries.
For example, the money of the Ministry of Revenue, the craftsmen of the Ministry of Works, and the punishment power of the Ministry of Justice.
The most direct embodiment was the punishment power of the soldiers.
A very key power of the local officials to control the army was the power to inspect and punish the army. Now this power did not belong to the local officials, let alone the cabinet.
This power now belonged to the Imperial Bodyguard, and the commander-in-chief of the Imperial Bodyguard was the Grand Council Minister of the Grand Council.
The stripping of the whole power had greatly increased the power of the Grand Council. It was not an exaggeration to say that it was the most powerful yamen in the Daming now.
With the recovery of these powers, the local army was actually loosened.
Of course, the supervision of the Grand Council was also very strict.
The Commander-in-Chief's Office of the Five Armies and the Imperial Bodyguard both had the power to inspect, and there was also a military intelligence agency specifically under the command of the emperor, the Imperial Horse.
In the past few years, the Imperial Horse had begun to come to the table. It was no longer a yamen that commanded the emperor's personal army, but the emperor's military intelligence agency.
In the army everywhere, there were people from the Imperial Horse.
The status of the Grand Council made countless officials want to get into it, whether they were civil officials or military generals.
Compared to the civil officials, the generals were more ambitious. They saw an opportunity.
In the Grand Council, Qi Jiguang was the Grand Council's Minister of Military Affairs, while the British Duke Zhang Yong and the Dingguo Duke Xu Wenbi were Honours.
The Imperial Bodyguard was also considered part of the military. This gave the military an opportunity.
In the past, Daming's generals could not enter the center of power, but now they could.
Now that they had a goal, their spirits were naturally different. This caused the Daming Generals to look as if they had been injected with chicken blood.
Especially the younger generation, they all wanted to compete for the position of Advisor of the Grand Council.
The military was very simple. If you wanted to improve, then you had to make contributions.
In this way, the military's desire for battle was unprecedentedly urgent. Coupled with the huge benefits that Wala brought, it made everyone's eyes green with envy!
Ji Liao and Liaodong were guarding the Great Wall, drooling at the sight of the grassland.
Especially the generals from Ji Liao and Liaodong, their eyes almost popped out.
Fighting and seizing territory, not only could they be promoted, they could also make a fortune. The generals in the northwest were so rich that they were practically overflowing with oil.
He could casually find a business to do, and he would be able to make a lot of money.
Who wouldn't be envious?
Under such circumstances, Zhu Yijun felt that he could not hold it in any longer.
Especially after all kinds of resources were stockpiled at the border, the demand for battle grew stronger. These few years, Zhu Yijun had been busy at the northern border.
The cement road from the capital to Ji Liao and Tianjin was built. The road from Ji Liao to Liaodong was also built to Shanhai Pass.
Military equipment and rations were constantly being stockpiled. The Daming Generals were almost howling, and the soldiers were basically the same.
Forty taels of silver for a head made these soldiers want to transform into wolves.
The most obvious manifestation was the prevalence of firewood cutting at the northern border in the Daming.
In the past, wise emperors also went out of seclusion to fight, but there were not many times like this.
Now, Zhu Yijun was stockpiling resources crazily and constantly building cavalry at the northern border, which made the generals of the northern border crazy.
Bringing cavalry out of seclusion to collect all kinds of firewood, forty taels of silver for a head. The Ming Army treated this as a way to get rich.
This was very obvious from the number of beheadings reported by the Grand Council every year. It was increasing every year, and the imperial court needed a large amount of money just for the heads.
Under such circumstances, the entire imperial court was filled with an atmosphere of war.
Seeing that it was almost spring, the soldiers at the northern border began to get restless again. One could imagine the pressure on the Grand Council.
Under such circumstances, Zhu Yijun's first meeting of the Grand Council after the new year began.
Zhu Yijun sighed as he walked to Wenhua Hall.
In fact, a large part of the reason he said to prepare for the battle at the northern border three years ago was to divert the conflict of business taxes, stimulate domestic demand through military orders, and then achieve the goal of stimulating production.
Of course, it was necessary to prepare for war. One of the three heroes of the Japanese Empire, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was going to fight.
When the time came, he could give Toyotomi Hideyoshi the military supplies and armaments that he had stockpiled.
The Royal Navy of the Daming had also formed an army, and they could give Toyotomi Hideyoshi a hard blow.
In history, when Wanli fought Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Zhu Yijun always felt that it was not enough.
Although that battle was won, it was not enough. Zhu Yijun was ready to fight a war to his heart's content.
The current situation was that he, the emperor, was not excited, but the people under him were already excited.
Especially the Ming Army of Jiliao and Liaodong.
Of course, the people in the capital were not much better.
A large number of students from the Royal Martial Arts Hall had entered the army in the past two years, and every day, they would fight to the Wolf Storey Mountain.
Zhu Yijun regretted it. Back then, he had promised that whoever fought to the Wolf Storey Mountain first, he would confer the title of Marquis Daming.
The bastards from the Martial Arts Hall were now clamoring to fight to the Wolf Storey Mountain, and then take the title of Marquis Champion.
Even the Northwest Army came to join in, asking for battle every day.
They would send troops from the northwest, and attack the Tartars at the northern border from the grasslands.
He did not know which idiot came up with this strategy, but it was too obvious that they wanted to steal the credit.
The Northern Daming had no shortage of people, and the Jiliao and Liaodong armies had sufficient troops and were in high spirits. The capital had 400,000 soldiers, and it was too shameless to ask them to attack from outside the Great Wall, and even send troops to attack.
When Zhu Yijun walked out of the Hall of Literary Glory, he heard a quarrel inside.
"In any case, no matter what you say, I will definitely ask for battle. Look, look at how badly I have been bullied.
This is a memorial from the Liaodong Army Commander Li Chengliang. "
"The Tartars have gone too far, we must teach them a lesson, we must beat them."
Zhu Yijun shook his head helplessly. Zhu Yijun did not believe that the Tartars had gone too far.
There had been too many memorials like this in the past two years, and the Northern Daming had been engulfed in flames.
Those who knew that the Daming was now very strong, and the Northern Daming had stationed troops there, but those who did not know would think that the Northern Daming was about to be breached.
Today there was military intelligence, tomorrow there would be Tartars, and the day after that, there would be Tartars infiltrating the border again. It was endless.
The Imperial Horse Supervisor had also investigated and found that a few lost herdsmen had been captured. They also wanted to report that they had found traces of the Tartars.
The problem was that you had sent troops a hundred li away and found the Tartars. How could that be called finding traces of the Tartars?
Are you sure you did not run out to find them?
Zhu Yijun reckoned that these fellows would open their eyes wide and specifically look for the Tartars. After they found them, they would go back and write memorials. They did not care about their reputation at all.
According to the intelligence sent back by the Imperial Horse Supervisor, the Tartars outside the Northern Daming had not been in the mood to cause trouble in recent years.
The Mongolian Great Khan in name, the Great Khan of the Chahar tribe, Buyan Chechen, was about to die.
The old man was fifty-five years old this year, but his health was very poor and he could die at any time.
Two years ago, Buyan Chechen's eldest son, who was also his appointed successor, Mang Heke, died.
Without an heir, the Chahar tribe was now very unstable. The surrounding tribes of the Chahar tribe, such as Horqin, Necarkha, Tumed, and Ordos, were like a pack of wolves eyeing a fat sheep.
Everyone was waiting. These people all wanted to wait for Buyan Chechen to die so that they could swallow this fat meat.
In addition, the Daming had been eyeing them covetously for the past two years. There was also the rising Nurhaci in the east. The Tartars were very quiet. No one wanted to go and fight with the Daming at this time. The whole grasslands and the Northern borderline were very peaceful.
Apart from the troublemaking Ming Army, to borrow a saying from later generations, the Ming Army had become the biggest unstable factor in the region.
According to the intelligence of the Imperial Horse Supervisor, Nurhaci was preparing to go on an expedition to the east to attack the Yalu River. He would annex and conquer the Zhusheri and Neyin Roads, and then bring the Changbai Mountain tribe into his sphere of influence.
After that, he would send troops to seize the East Sea tribe.
If this strategy was achieved, then Nurhaci would completely stabilize his base.
Behind him, there would be no more enemies between the Changbai Mountain and North Korea. If he launched an expedition to the west, no one would stab him in the back.
At the same time, the Hercynian Jurchens, Ula, Huifa, Hada, and the Mongolian Horqin tribes were also seeking to destroy Nurhaci.
In the past few years, Nurhaci had been fighting everywhere, constantly annexing and strengthening himself. They had already felt the danger.
The entire Northeast region was already filled with the clouds of war. In his previous life, Daming had been watching from the sidelines, cheering for a while, and while he was at it, beat up Toyotomi Hideyoshi in North Korea, then left them alone.
By the time they wanted to intervene, they had already sent out their troops. Then, they had defeated Sa Er Hu.
This time, of course, Zhu Yijun would not ignore them. As for roping in this and that, or scheming against this and that, Zhu Yijun had never thought about it, because there was no need.
Zhu Yijun didn't want to do that. What Zhu Yijun wanted to do was lie down.
Daming didn't make a move, but once he did, it would be like a thunderbolt. No matter who it was, whether it was the Jurchen tribes, Chahar, Horqin, or Nekhalka, they would either submit or die. There was no third option.
Now, Zhu Yijun had the determination and the confidence to do so.
Daming could beat the Tartars for one year, two years, five years, ten years. As long as they didn't admit defeat, he would keep beating them!