Chapter 282: Spring Breeze Turning to Rain — Weighing the Balance Before the Move

Hong Chengchou finished laying out only the fundamental strategy, then stepped down briskly — he did not try to dominate the entire session.

Had this been that interminable New Policy project-launching conference two months ago, every Minister would have been desperate to say everything himself; when would a Vice Minister or Bureau Secretary underneath ever have gotten a chance to show his face?

But this was precisely one of the many small changes that the "Yongchang New Deal" had been steadily bringing about.

A ruthless measure spearheaded by Ni Yuanlu, head of the Administrative Reform Group, and jointly pushed by the Ministry of Personnel and the Directorate of Ceremonial, had been gradually rolling out:

Every undertaking has one overall supervisor, but its detailed tasks are pinned to specific individuals.

Huo Weihua sat in the front row of the officials' ranks, hands tucked into his sleeves, his fingers unconsciously rubbing a precious jade thumb-ring.

It had been bestowed by the Yongchang Emperor after a memorial audience one day — no illicit possession.

He tilted his head slightly, watching a middle-aged official preparing to take the stage, his gaze complicated.

As the chief officer of a ministry, his feelings about this new regulation could only be called deeply mixed.

Under the new rule, the Minister remained the overall supervisor, but the concrete strategy, execution, and reporting had to be nailed down to specific Vice Ministers, Bureau Directors, and even Bureau Secretaries. Before, the division of spoils was by "person" — the Minister ate the meat, and those below drank the broth.

Now, the division of spoils was by "task."

The chief officer took thirty percent; seventy percent went to the subordinates, and their subordinates in turn took seventy percent of that seventy percent.

Huo Weihua had long since done the math in his head.

If the original bonus-merit regulations still applied, once the Ministry of War's many reform projects were pushed through and implemented next year,

he, as Minister, could easily rake in over a hundred bonus-merit citations; then, accumulating merit to convert his rank, sitting back and being enfeoffed as an earl — how glorious would that be?

As for the convention that a civil official enfeoffed as a noble must join the ranks of the merit-aristocracy and could no longer participate in policy deliberations — after these months of New Deal baptism, the many civil officials were, on the contrary, no longer worried about that.

Since the Yongchang Emperor had pushed this bonus-merit policy, when the time came, he would absolutely never permit such a thing to happen.

But what about now?

Once it was all broken down and apportioned, what fell to his own head would probably be only twenty citations.

It was like a top-tier banquet one used to enjoy alone suddenly turning into an open buffet; although he still sat at the head table, that thrill of standing alone at the pinnacle had, after all, faded considerably.

"Still... it's not entirely a bad thing."

Feeling the oppressive and solemn atmosphere within the hall, Huo Weihua found that bit of regret in his heart dissipating somewhat.

He stole a glance at the young emperor upon the dragon throne.

This lord was a notorious "detail fanatic."

Before, when a Minister reported, the slightest omission would have him interrogated until he was drenched in sweat, unable to get off the hook.

To cope with an imperial audience, they, the chief officers, had to repeatedly memorize every scrap of detailed business under their subordinates just to avoid making a mistake.

Now, that was all fixed.

Whoever does the work does the reporting.

Every grievance has its debtor, every debt its creditor — that suffocating pressure could finally be passed down to the people below, fair and square.

Of course, in the Yongchang Emperor's own words, it should be called: "A supervisor's energy ought to be concentrated more on resource allocation, strategic decision-making, and personnel development, not on memorizing details every day just to field my questions."

The way he put it — if you just stopped asking, wouldn't that solve it...

Of course, more importantly, once this method came out, the ministry business meetings that had originally been endless shouting matches over New Policy slots instantly fell quiet. Merit? Hardship? Closeness or distance, favorites or strangers — no, now only task-performance counted.

The various chief officers' care for their own protégés shifted from covert allocation of bonus-merit to the even more covert allocation of assignments.

And even if someone was not a protégé, so long as he could deliver results, why wouldn't a chief officer be happy to see him succeed?

For middle- and lower-ranking officials, this was undoubtedly a heaven-sent rain after a long drought.

This approach, on the one hand, regularized and codified the distribution of bonus-merit.

On the other hand, it greatly elevated the opportunities for capable middle- and lower-ranking doers to show their faces.

Although the reporting hierarchy had not changed at all, the horizons it opened up were completely different.

Before, they worked themselves to death, and the vast bulk of the credit went to their superiors; their names rarely reached the imperial presence.

Now, so long as you had real ability, there was a seat for you at the conference.

Take Bureau Director Liu Yingyu of the Ministry of Revenue's Old-Regime Fiscal and Tax Division.

As early as the Tianqi era, he had proposed establishing a unified ledger, integrating the tax affairs of the Two Capitals and Thirteen Provinces.

The aim was to break the structural defect under the original Ministry of Revenue framework where each province's fiscal affairs were on the same level, with no unified command over one another.

It was exactly as the saying goes: "When this province's funds are used by another province, this one is not informed; when this office records only incoming sums that serve as another office's outgoing sums, this one is not informed; when this item of tax revenue incurs penalties while another item ought to be penalized or exempted, this one is not informed."

Shandong would say, I sent a million taels in aid to Henan, so this year I haven't paid my taxes in full.

Yet looking at Henan's account books, you would find they had only received five hundred thousand taels.

That was precisely the sort of situation he was pointing to.

But for such an outstanding talent, his original career path could hardly be called smooth.

Under the old order, as a man of juren background, if he were sent out to be a local chief official, reaching Vice Minister at most would have been his ceiling. Yet simply because, at a budget briefing, he laid out every fiscal and tax detail of the old regime with perfect clarity, as if reading the lines on his own palm, he instantly stood out.

Although that fiscal budget proposal for the first year of Yongchang was ultimately not adopted in its entirety, His Majesty's appraisal — "Here is a talent in reserve for the Finance Minister's seat" — instantly made his name resound through the capital.

With this living, breathing example before them, the push for "every undertaking has one overall supervisor, but its detailed tasks are pinned to specific individuals" rolled forward like an unstoppable wheel. When many veteran officials spoke privately, they sighed with one voice.

From this single detailed regulation alone, one could see that His Majesty's grasp of the human heart was growing sharper and sharper.

Under a single policy rollout, he could work like a spring breeze turning to rain, moistening all things in silence, so that no one could utter a word of objection.

Compared to the earlier grand, stormy, hard-driving methods, this was truly far more masterful.

Yet a still more important objective was concealed behind this method, advancing quietly, unnoticed by anyone.

That was... the grooming of mid-level cadres for succession!

Ahem, there was no helping it — the governing team the Yongchang Emperor had assembled, in order to ensure a smooth transition, was simply too severely aged! If they did not cultivate mid-level and lower-level cadres in advance, what would happen when these old fellows could no longer hold out one day?

The Yongchang Emperor could hardly say openly that he wanted the cadre corps rejuvenated, that they should prepare to yield their places to the young, so he could only resort to this stratagem of advancing by hidden paths. The middle-aged official walked with a slight stoop.

His name was Li Yu'kui.

A forty-five-year-old "middle-aged fossil."

He had passed the provincial examination in his prime during the Wanli years, yet sat through four more triennial sessions before finally passing the metropolitan examination in the second year of Tianqi.

Then he toiled for a full five years, only now managing to work his way up to Bureau Secretary in the Operations Bureau of the Ministry of War.

When the new office of the Court of Colonial Affairs hung out its signboard, others stood watching, hesitating over whether to stake their futures on it.

Only he, in a single instant, made up his mind. He stayed up until his eyes turned bloodshot, wrote a treatise titled "A Survey and Examination of Mongol Genealogies with Vertical and Horizontal Strategic Essentials," took the voluntary application route, fought his way through multiple rounds of interviews, and seized this post.

This was the first time in his life he had ever stood on so illustrious a stage.

Facing the most preeminent magnates of the Great Ming, facing that sovereign upon whom so many legends had been heaped.

Li Yukui walked up before the enormous screen, only then realizing his palms were slick with cold sweat.

He opened his mouth; his voice came out parched and rasping:

"This humble one is the Court of Colonial Affairs Mongol Bureau Director... Mongol Department Bureau Director, Li Yukui."

Nerves made his tongue trip.

From some corner of the great hall came a few faint, low snickers.

The laughter was not loud, yet it mortified him beyond endurance.

"Minister Li, do not be nervous. Take your time," the young ruler Zhu Youjian said, seeing this and gently reassuring him.

He actually understood this phenomenon quite well.

It was perfectly normal for a "young professional" untested by grand occasions to get stage fright on the spot; it hardly proved any lack of ability.

Li Yukui abruptly raised his head and met that encouraging gaze.

A warm current surged through his heart, instantly sweeping away all his apprehension.

Truly, just as the legends said — the innate quality of a sage sovereign!

In that moment, all the rumors he had heard about the Yongchang Emperor being harsh, exacting, and relentlessly calculating crumbled to dust in his mind.

Those must be slanders concocted by people with malicious intent!

Li Yukui drew a deep breath, straightened his slightly stooped back, and began:

"What this subject is charged with presenting is the short-term strategy for the Mongol theater in the first year of Yongchang."

He picked up a slender wooden pointer beside the screen and aimed it at the screen.

"To discuss strategy, one must first seek truth. It is therefore necessary to first describe the current state of the Mongols, in order to understand why this strategy is so defined."

Following his gestures, a junior eunuch, in seamless coordination, flipped the illustrated pages on the screen, revealing a strategic disposition map of the steppe spanning thousands of li. (Attached illustration. I could not find an accurate 1627 power map online, so I had to adapt one from Tan's atlas. The basic positions are correct, but it is not that precise. In 1627, the main Mongol tribes to the north were just these eight.)

Li Yukui laid out the results he had long prepared, one by one.

"What is called the Mongols is divided into many branches, with three tumens each in the east and the west."

"In the east, they are called the Mongol Left Wing: the Chahar Tumen, the Khalkha Tumen, and the Uriankhai Tumen."

"Among these, the Chahar and the Khalkha are of the Mongol Yuan Golden Lineage, while the predecessor of the Uriankhai Tumen was the three guards of Fuyu, Taining, and Duoyan established by our dynasty."

"During the Chenghua reign, the three guards were consolidated by Dayan Khan into the Uriankhai Tumen and merged into the Mongol Left Wing."

"In the Jiajing years, the Uriankhai Tumen returned to the Great Ming, but was dismembered jointly by the Little Khan, chieftain of the Chahar Tumen, in league with the Mongol Right Wing led by Altan Khan. Thereupon, the Fuyu Guard went to the Khalkha Tumen; the Taining Guard and the northern part of the Duoyan Guard were annexed by the Chahar; the southern part of the Duoyan Guard went to the Tumed. Thereafter, although the various tribes still frequently offered tribute under the names of the three guards, they were in fact no longer the original three guards."

His pointer traced across the map, his exposition crisp and clear.

"As for the Khalkha Tumen, during the Zhengde reign it was divided and enfeoffed by Dayan Khan. One part, in Mobei, is called the Outer Khalkha, or sometimes the Mobei Mongols. Another part, near Guangning, is called the Inner Khalkha."

"But afterward, the Inner Khalkha chieftain Chaohua was defeated by the barbarian chieftain last year, and the Tiger Chieftain seized the opportunity to annex them."

"Thus, apart from the Khorchin tribe, which defected to Jianzhou in the fourth year of Tianqi, and the Outer Khalkha encamped in Mobei, the entire strength of the Mongol Left Wing has been consolidated by the Tiger Chieftain of the Chahar tribe."

He paused, then added:

"This is also one of the reasons the Mongol Right Wing suffered successive defeats before our army intervened at the Battle of Qingcheng. To attack a disunited force with a consolidated force naturally makes victory effortless."

Those in the hall nodded one after another, their opinion of this Mongol Bureau Director, who had seemed so nervous moments before, greatly revised.

This whole narrative laid out the origins of the Mongol Left Wing with perfect clarity; it could not be called anything but brilliant.

Li Yukui continued:

"As for the Mongol Right Wing, the Tumed Tumen is encamped at Qingcheng and is quite stable."

"The entire tumen, stretching eastward from Qingcheng, encompasses not only the core Tumed tribe but also the Haracin tribe beyond the Xuanfu passes and the Thirty-Six Duoyan Households beyond the Ji Garrison passes."

"This is why the Prince of Shunyi was able to summon the three tribes to jointly oppose the Tiger Chieftain."

He paused, then added:

"But this branch's power today is nothing like what it once was."

"After Altan Khan, the Sanniangzi, holding the prospect of tributary trade, effectively commanded this tribe, marrying in succession Altan Khan's eldest son Xin'ai Hong Taiji, and Xin'ai Hong Taiji's eldest son Chelike."

"However, in the forty-first year of Wanli, when the succession passed to Chelike's son Bushitu, the Sanniangzi favored her own grandson Sunang Taiji and wished to make him inherit the princely title."

"At that time, Bushitu's uncle, Wulu Budu'er Taiji, convened seventy-three tribal taijis to deliberate, and they vetoed the matter."

"Yet the Sanniangzi clung to the tiger tallies and seals and would not relinquish them."

"Both sides turned their troops against each other and nearly came to open bloodshed."

"It was our dynasty that dispatched the Governor-General of Xuan-Da, Tu Zongjun, to personally mediate, and only then was the dispute quelled and Bushitu allowed to succeed smoothly."

"However..."

Li Yukui's tone was even; he spoke entirely from memory, without a single stumble.

"Even though Bushitu succeeded, Sunang Taiji still controlled the troops and households left by the Sanniangzi."

"The two have been in opposition ever since, and the Tumed's prestige has waned day by day. Thus the Haracin and the Thirty-Six Duoyan Households merely pay lip service to the Prince of Shunyi. Perhaps this is also why the Ordos Tumen and the Yongshabu Tumen did not join the battle at the first opportunity."

"The present Prince of Shunyi is only the nominal overlord of the Mongol Right Wing."

"When faced with an invasion of the Left Wing, he can assemble the tribes, but when it comes to actually leading troops into battle, his name may not carry much weight."

As this dissection concluded, many officials in the hall who were unfamiliar with Mongol affairs listened utterly entranced.

Even the green-robed court historian Zhang Maoxiu had unconsciously stopped his recording brush and was listening with rapt attention.

His finger continued westward.

"As for the Ordos Tumen, they pasture in the Ordos Loop, just beyond the Yansui Garrison's passes — in former days they were called the Loop Brigands, or the Song Brigands."

"And the Yongshebu Tumen originally pastured beyond the Xuanfu passes, but during the Jiajing period, on Altan Khan's orders, they moved to the Western Sea — that is, Qinghai Lake — to pasture. These are what were formerly called the Sea Brigands."

"To discuss these two groups, one must necessarily speak of them together."

"During the Wanli era, the threat to Shaanxi lay precisely between these two barbarian groups."

He gestured, and a junior eunuch flipped the screen down another panel, revealing an even more detailed map of the Shaanxi region.

(Attached illustration: above Lanzhou lies the Greater and Lesser Song Mountains.)

"In the early Wanli years, these two groups echoed one another from afar and invaded year after year; the common people of Shaanxi suffered their depredations without cease."

"And the crux of the matter lay here."

Li Yukui brought his wooden pointer down hard on a sunken notch in the map.

"Between the Ordos Loop and the Western Sea, all is vast desert and barren waste; only here, in the Greater and Lesser Song Mountains, are the water and pasturage richest."

"For this reason, whenever the Ordos contingent sought to slip across toward Xining, they always had to rest and refit at this place."

"Precisely because of this, in the twenty-third year of Wanli, after our dynasty had freed its hands from the Bobai Rebellion and the Imjin War, we set about clearing this area."

"The late Minister of War, Tian Le, the late Regional Commander of Gansu, Da Yun, and others devised the strategy from their tents."

"In the first battle they smashed Qingbadu at Ganzhou; in the second they defeated the Yongshebu at Nanchuan; in the third they lured the enemy deep and crushed the various western barbarian tribes at Kangchan."

"Afterward they cut across the Song Mountains, built border walls, and severed contact between inner and outer."

"From that point on, the power of the western barbarians declined. Though sporadic incursions still occur from time to time, they can ultimately never amount to a serious threat."

Tian Ergeng sat in his chair, feeling the gazes cast his way from all around, and could not help narrowing his eyes, savoring the glory his ancestors had brought. Li Yukui, pointing at the map with his staff entirely from memory, finished laying out the whole situation, then turned to face the assembly.

"Thus, with the circumstances of each tribe made clear, the strategy for the Mongols naturally becomes attainable."

As his words fell, those in the hall were still absorbing them.

Zhu Youjian, however, smiled faintly.

This content — he estimated a quarter of the people in the hall already knew it.

After all, with so many discussion sessions held so many times, they'd have grasped it even if they didn't want to.

But at least another three-quarters understood it only in fragments.

Only with this sort of systematic overview could a comprehensive strategic vision be built from the top down — so they wouldn't submit memorials prattling about this and that without knowing a damn thing.

Besides, working under an emperor who was a humanities student — how could they not familiarize themselves with geography? Once the maritime ban was lifted, they'd have to do as he himself had done back then: memorize the names of every barbarian people under heaven, the ocean currents, the climate types.

Zhu Youjian was feeling quite pleased with himself.

Then he saw Li Yukui, having completed the "fact-finding" phase of his briefing, finally lay out the strategy.

"This ministry, after leading multiple discussions with all relevant departments, has finalized the following short-term strategy for the first year of Yongchang."

"First: the strategy differs for each tribe."

"The Yongshebu and Ordos — their power is already in decline, and they are far removed from Liaodong. We take no action; the emphasis is on stability."

"The Tumed, Kharchin, and the Thirty-Six Houses of the Doyan, who took part in the Battle of Qingcheng — they have seen the military might of the Great Ming, and with the Tiger Chieftain at their flank, they are just right for a deep implementation of 'royal acculturation.'"

"As for the Tiger Chieftain's Chahar tribe — newly dealt a great defeat, their morale unsteady — we should apply both grace and authority. First seek to keep them stable; royal acculturation may be pursued or not, but we do not force it."

"As for the Khorchin tribe — they only submitted to Jianzhou in the fourth year of Tianqi, and are not beyond drawing over. We may first establish contact and await the right moment."

Just as Li Yukui paused in his speech, a voice suddenly broke in.

"Bureau Director Li, I have one matter I do not understand, and hope you can clarify it."

Li Yukui took no offense; such interruptions and challenges occurred from time to time during briefings and were not considered a breach of decorum.

An official in a blue robe spoke up and asked:

"At the Battle of Qingcheng, our army won a great victory, and the barbarian chieftains quaked with fear."

"If the concern is to maintain the balance of power between the Mongol left and right wings, then halting the blades and leaving them their troops would suffice — why, then, such caution?" Li Yukui smiled. "This judgment is based on the conclusions reached at the 'Offensive Projection Exercise for the Barbarians of the Nine Garrisons.'"

He gestured toward the seats and said, "Secretary Sun, why don't you answer this question?"

Sun Chuanting rose, cupped his hands, and without any ceremony, spoke directly.

"This matter comes down to the differing circumstances of the left and right wings."

"Since the projection exercises began in the early eleventh month, the various protocols have grown increasingly rigorous."

"Participants play the roles of Jianzhou, or of the Tumed, Kharchin, Chahar, and other tribes, each using the existing conditions and exerting every effort to deduce the possible ways those parties might break the deadlock in the face of the New Policies."

"Of all the projections, the most terrifying scenario is, of course, a joint invasion by the left and right wings, Jianzhou, Khorchin, and the rest — beacon fires blazing everywhere beyond the Great Wall, and even radio stations proving useless."

"With our troops unreformed, all news beyond the passes cut off, they would harass us with raiding parties of a thousand or so, then smash through the walls with heavy forces numbering in the tens of thousands — coming and going like a sudden squall. Even if our forces could mass, they could not fight, and in the end it would all be for nothing."

He paused, then continued:

"Of course, such a scenario is far too extreme."

"There is enmity between the Mongol left and right wings, enmity between Chahar and Jianzhou, enmity between Jianzhou and Khorchin — even within the Tumed proper, directly ruled by the Prince of Shunyi, there is enmity between him and Sunang Taiji."

"With all these many grudges and feuds, if we exerted every effort and still let them unite, then that would truly be..."

The assembly broke into laughter at this; Zhu Youjian, however, could only manage an awkward inward smile.

Strategic reserves were not something you could simply declare into existence — at bottom, they had to follow logic.

In later ages, if you ordered the military to draw up a contingency plan for the entire world suddenly uniting to attack your own country, one could well imagine how much genuine effort that plan would receive. Sun Chuanting and the others, pressed by him into seriously gaming out every scenario, still refused to believe in this most extreme case... and there was nothing to be done about it. — Of course, Zhu Youjian himself didn't believe it either, but this was his thousand-year-old instinct for extreme caution acting up, wasn't it, seeking a hundred-percent victory rate.

Sun Chuanting continued:

"Setting aside the many other projections for now, our assessment is that the scenarios of relatively high probability and relatively high threat boil down to just two." "First: Jianzhou uses the right wing's momentum to jointly swallow up the Tiger Chieftain. In that case, for thousands of li from Datong to the Ji Garrison, every Mongol tribe could serve as Jianzhou's vanguard."

"Second: Jianzhou allies with the Tiger Chieftain and wages another westward-migration campaign, then devours the right wing and rides for the Great Wall."

"Under either of these possibilities, our Great Ming would be placed in considerable passivity."

"At present, the Great Ming's cavalry in the field can match Jianzhou in small-scale actions and break Chahar in large-scale ones."

"But if Jianzhou dispatches tens of thousands of elite troops, then for us to sally forth would, given the current state of armament and morale, be nothing more than a gamble."

"At that point, to fight would be wrong, and not to fight would be wrong — the very extreme of strategic disadvantage!"

"Therefore, the highest form of warfare here is to keep these four powers standing in balance, with no upheaval."

"After that, we will simultaneously carry out the New Policies in Northern Zhili, the New Policies in Ji-Liao, and gradually extend the royal civilizing influence eastward, starting from the Tumed tribe — the place farthest from Jianzhou."

"As for the Ligdan Khan in the far east, our objective is simply to preserve his independence and his continued existence."

Having finished laying out his view, he cupped his hands in salute.

"With that explanation, are there any further questions?"

That official pondered for a moment, shook his head, gave a respectful bow, and sat back down where he was.

Sun Chuanting nodded, also cupped his hands, and took the opportunity to sit down as well.

Li Yukui, seeing that the doubts had subsided, then continued speaking.

"In summary, the strategy for the coming year hinges entirely upon the Tumed Tumen and the Chahar Tumen."

"As for the Khorchin tribe mentioned earlier, they do not actually fall within the purview of the Mongol Bureau, but will be placed under the Jurchen Bureau for handling."

"After all, in the short term, this tribe does not involve the royal civilizing influence, and leans more heavily toward intelligence work — it will be better to handle it over there."

He raised his wooden pointer again and signaled the junior eunuch to turn to the next page.

Everyone fixed their eyes upon it, and what met their gaze this time was a neatly formatted table.

(The table won't be finished sorting out until tomorrow, so that's all for now...)