Zhu Yijun stepped into the hall, and the quarrel in the hall stopped abruptly. All the officials hurriedly stood up and saluted Zhu Yijun.
Waving his hand and motioning for everyone to dispense with the formalities, Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "Everyone, you, sit down and talk!"
This was a privilege of the Grand Council, and it was also the difference between the Grand Council and the Cabinet. When the Grand Council held a meeting, each of the five ministers of the Grand Council had a chair.
This was a manifestation of Zhu Yijun's promotion of the status of the Grand Council.
The privilege of the Grand Council sitting in front of the Emperor was not to be underestimated. It was enough for countless people to fight for it.
Since ancient times, there had been a saying, "If you can't eat in five cauldrons, if you die, you must be cooked in five cauldrons." It was the same now.
"I heard it from outside just now. It seems that the quarrel here is very fierce. Tell me, what's wrong?"
Zhu Yijun glanced at the crowd and asked first. In fact, even if Zhu Yijun didn't ask, these people would definitely speak.
After hearing Zhu Yijun's words, several people had different expressions. Xu Wenbi stood up directly and said, "Your Majesty, it's me who is speaking. This is a memorial from Li Chengliang, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Army."
Zhu Yijun's impression of Li Chengliang was somewhat complicated, because later generations had different opinions on this person.
Many people thought that he had nurtured bandits for self-improvement, and blamed the rise of Nurhachi on Li Chengliang's indulgence.
Zhu Yijun actually felt that this statement was a bit biased. Li Chengliang did have his faults, but it was actually a bit unfair for him to be made such a big scapegoat.
In fact, starting from Wanli, Daming had been going downhill.
Ten years after Wanli, Daming had been eating off the old capital of Longwan's new policies. By the end of Wanli's reign, he had eaten almost all of it.
Sa Hu's defeat could not be blamed on Li Chengliang.
As for whether or not it was Li Chengliang who had nurtured bandits, it was hard to say.
Even if Li Chengliang killed Nurhaci, the Mongolians still had Lin Danhan. To put it bluntly, Daming was weak, which made Nurhaci look strong.
Just like during the reign of Jiajing, even someone like Adahan could be so arrogant.
Zhu Yijun had never thought about punishing Li Chengliang. He didn't think that Li Chengliang could cause any trouble.
He didn't know how to rebel. Everything else was just a small problem. Nurturing bandits for self-respect, you go ahead. Nurture Nurhachi. It would be best if he could gather all the Jurchen people, so that he wouldn't have to go deep into the mountains and forests to look for them.
In fact, Zhu Yijun wanted to defeat Toyotomi Hideyoshi first, and then go back to deal with Nurhachi. Then he would sweep from east to west, from Liaodong all the way to the northwest. With a pincer attack from both sides, he would completely destroy the entire grassland forces.
From then on, the Daming Empire's position in the North would be completely established. As for whether or not they would expand to the North, that was a matter for the future.
This was Zhu Yijun's overall strategy. Sometimes, the strategy was good, but there were some things that could not be ignored. For example, the fighting spirit of the people below.
Zhu Yijun had originally wanted to wait until the battle of the Nine Divisions was over before Daming struck.
However, Zhu Yijun couldn't share these things with others.
"Dingguo Duke is speaking?
Then tell me, what happened? "Zhu Yijun asked with a smile.
Xu Wenbi directly took out the memorial: "Zongbing Li wrote one thing in the memorial. A month ago, the Tatars invaded our Daming Liaodong. This is Zongbing Li's memorial requesting for war."
Zhu Yijun took the memorial from Zhang Jing, flipped through it, and put it aside.
This memorial was nothing out of the ordinary. It was basically the same as the previous ones. In any case, they wanted to start a war.
In reality, the border generals of the Ming Army had a certain degree of autonomy. They didn't need to ask for permission to send out ten or twenty thousand soldiers to fight.
Obviously, Li Chengliang didn't want a small war, but a big one. He was prepared to send out troops to destroy the Duoyan Tribe.
The entanglement between the Duoyan Tribe and the Daming Tribe could be said to be very deep. The Duoyan Tribe was actually one of the original Duoyan Guards.
During the Hongwu era, the Duoyan Guards were also known as the Wuliangha Guards. They were ruled by the King of the Frontier, King Ning. Among the kings, the northern kings had the greatest power.
During the Yongle era, the Wuliangha Guards were established. However, the Wuliangha Guards had already rebelled in the second year of the establishment and were attacked by the Ming Army.
In the eighth year of the Yongle era, the Wuliangha Guards were also discovered to have joined the Tatars during the first expedition to the north.
After the Tumu Fortress incident, the three guards began to move south in order to obtain the pastoral rights of the Daning region.
From the Xilamulun River to the Liao River valley, the three guards launched an all-out attack and pushed south.
During the Wanli era, they finally arrived at the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty and were stationed there.
After that, the Wuliangha Guards were stationed there. From Daning to Xifengkou, near the Xuan Residence, they were called Duoyan.
From Jinzhou and Yizhou, through Guangning to the Liao River, they were called Tai Ning. From Huangniwa to Shenyang, Tieling to Kaiyuan, they were called Fuyu.
Of course, Zhu Yijun knew where the Duoyan Guards were located. Basically, it was in the western part of Liaoning in the future.
It included Kazuo, Fuxin, and other places, as well as Ningcheng on Huludao, all the way to Chifeng in Inner Mongolia.
In fact, in Zhu Yijun's strategy, if they were to start a war, the first target would be the Duoyan Guards.
If they took down the Duoyan Guards, they could attack Horqin in the north and Chahar in the northwest.
Obviously, Li Chengliang didn't like the Duoyan Guards for a long time. Now that there were people under his command, he would naturally fight them.
After reading the memorials, Zhu Yijun didn't say anything. In fact, he was wondering if he should fight them.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi hadn't arrived yet, and his subordinates were in high spirits. It wasn't a good idea to keep suppressing them.
It didn't seem like a big deal to fight the Duoyan Guards.
There was no need for the capital to send troops. With the current strength of Liaodong, it wouldn't be a problem to send troops to fight the Duoyan Guards.
The problem now was who should fight them. Should he let Li Chengliang do it himself or should he let Qi Jiguang do it?
Letting Qi Jiguang do it was, of course, to familiarize himself with them and then prepare for the upcoming war.
Letting Li Chengliang do it was because he was the Governor of Liaodong. His position and position were suitable.
Now that he was actively asking to fight, letting Qi Jiguang do it might dampen Li Chengliang's enthusiasm. This wasn't good.
"Everyone, what do you think?" After thinking for a moment, Zhu Yijun looked at the five Grand Council ministers.
"I think they should be beaten!"
Hearing Zhu Yijun's question, Xu Wenbi was the first to speak. "The Tartars have gone too far. They should be taught a lesson. I am willing to go to Liaodong to supervise this war. I will definitely destroy the Duoyan Tribe in one battle."
Zhu Yijun glanced at Xu Wenbi and saw that his face was filled with righteous indignation.
Although he had a smile on his face and nodded, Zhu Yijun didn't think much of it in his heart. I told you to fight. Stop messing around.
Do you really think I don't know what you're capable of, Xu Wenbi?
Moreover, Xu Wenbi was so active in promoting this war. Zhu Yijun didn't believe that Xu Wenbi was really indignant.
There was nothing fishy about it. Zhu Yijun ate the table.
There was no need for Dongchang's internal affairs to investigate. Zhu Yijun could already guess.
Li Chengliang must have bewitched Xu Wenbi. Li Chengliang had his eyes on the business in the north and wanted to drag Xu Wenbi down with him.
The two of them must have made some secret agreement.
Xu Wenbi didn't go to Liaodong to fight a war. He went there to make a fortune with Li Chengliang.
The reason why Xu Wenbi dared to go was simple. Wasn't there Li Chengliang in Liaodong?
It didn't matter if Xu Wenbi didn't know how to fight. It was fine as long as Li Chengliang knew how to fight.
Although Li Chengliang didn't have the title of God of War like Qi Jiguang, Li Chengliang was also one of the Daming's few fierce generals. He definitely knew how to fight.
With the Ming Army's current strength, Xu Wenbi didn't think it would be a problem to fight the Duoyan Guards.
In fact, Zhu Yijun had guessed correctly. Xu Wenbi and Li Chengliang were here for this.
Not only did the imperial court strengthen the army in the north, but they also built roads and hoarded resources. From these actions, it could be seen that the Daming was going to have a war in the north.
This war wasn't just a small one. It was going to be a big one.
The current emperor was ambitious and it was obvious that he wanted to sweep the north. This was very important.
Under such circumstances, everyone had their own plans. Li Chengliang was no exception.
Basically, the Daming's Honours and the border generals were planning how to get a share of this feast.
The first place that Li Chengliang thought of was the Duoyan Guards. It was definitely a big fat piece of meat.
First of all, he was very close to the Daming. Whether it was from Jinzhou, Ningyuan, or even Shenyang, the distance was very close. It would be easy to manage after conquering it.
Everyone knew that the grassland was a fat piece of meat. Even wool was money, not to mention cows, goats, and horses.
The place that the Duoyan Guards occupied was very good. It was rich with water and grass. It was also very close to the Daming. How could Li Chengliang not want to take a bite?
If the war really started, it would be too difficult to take down the Duoyan Guards.
Fight first and take them down first. This was what Li Chengliang wanted to do.
However, he was alone, so he needed to find an ally in the imperial court. The first person that Li Chengliang thought of was the Duke of England.
However, the Duke of England was cunning. In addition, Zhang Weixian of the House of Lords was in Jiliao. Once this plan was revealed to the House of Lords, it was very likely that he would have nothing to do.
Therefore, Li Chengliang took a step back and chose the Dingguo Public House.
The Duke of Dingguo Xu Wenbi was the Grand Council Minister, but there was no junior like Zhang Weixian in the place. Li Chengliang easily reached an agreement with the Duke of Dingguo Xu Wenbi. The two of them cooperated with each other and worked together.
Now, the military in Daming was divided into three forces. One was the scattered generals led by Qi Jiguang.
These people were generals with real power in the military and were trusted by Zhu Yijun. The other was led by Zhang Weixian of the House of Lords. It was the martial arts hall faction led by the second generation of Honours from the Imperial Academy. The disciples of the martial arts hall were their wings.
They were young, driven, and had a solid foundation. The only thing they lacked was military exploits.
The Duke of Dingguo Xu Wenbi was the representative of the veteran generals. The main backbone was the hereditary generals. After the military reform, those who were promoted to generals were basically under the Duke of Dingguo Xu Wenbi.
The competition between the three parties was fierce. Of course, all three parties followed the lead of Zhu Yijun, but they were in a competitive relationship.
Zhu Yijun did not have a good solution to this situation. Where there were people, there would be conflicts, and when there were conflicts, there would be factions. As long as they did not form factions for personal gain, Zhu Yijun could only turn a blind eye.
"I don't think this is appropriate!"
Before Zhu Yijun could speak, the Duke of England, Zhang Yong, had already objected.