Chapter 1682: The Donglin Faction Is Grabbing Money!

The Forbidden City, the Hall of Literary Splendor.

Once again it was the time when the Grand Secretariat ministers, the supervising censors of the Censorate, the military administrators of the Capital Camps, the commanders of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and the brush-holding eunuchs of the Directorate of Ceremonial stood in their assigned ranks, reported matters if there were any, and waited for the court to dismiss if there were none.

Zhu Youjian looked at them all with a smile, then reached out and picked up a memorial from the table, held it up for the ministers in the Hall of Literary Splendor to see, and said with a laugh, "Gentlemen, the Left Chief Censor, Master Sun, has presented Us a memorial."

At that point he suddenly stopped, and his gaze turned extremely sharp as it swept across the assembled ministers. Whoever his gaze passed over felt a jolt in their heart.

There was no help for it — they were all eunuch-faction men, all traitorous ministers! Sun Chengzong's memorial was surely an impeachment. Judging by the Emperor's expression, perhaps he had believed it — Amitabha, Boundless Heavenly Venerable, may the Heavenly Emperor and Father on High protect us!

Seeing the traitorous ministers all trembling one after another, Zhu Youjian thought to himself: Traitorous ministers really are useful! Especially traitorous ministers you have something on — they all have guilty consciences, and each one is more obedient than the last. It seems no one will oppose the salt-for-grain policy now.

With that thought, Zhu Youjian lowered his voice: "Master Sun proposes restoring the salt-for-grain policy, with the Censorate given full authority over salt affairs, exchanging salt for grain to supply exclusively the pay, provisions, arms, horses, and all other expenses of the eighty thousand troops in western Liaodong. What do you gentlemen think?"

What?

Sun Chengzong wants to restore the salt-for-grain policy and have his own Censorate take over salt affairs — this is a money grab! Wasn't this Donglin leader supposed to be incorruptible? How has he become so greedy too?

The traitorous ministers were all stunned, and all turned questioning gazes upon the solemn-faced Sun Chengzong. The more they looked, the more he seemed a corrupt official!

Right — the Donglin Faction had never been a bunch of honest, upright officials in the first place! They had always been in league with the Huizhou merchants and maritime merchants of the southeast — all corrupt officials and venal clerks!

The court full of traitorous ministers very quickly "figured out" that Sun Chengzong was trying to lead the southeastern Huizhou and maritime merchants in seizing the turf of the Shanxi-Shaanxi salt merchants — most of the Shanxi-Shaanxi salt merchants had risen by currying favor with the northern military nobility, because back in the day they too had monopolized the salt trade through the salt-for-grain policy, and so they were very tightly entangled with the military nobles who then controlled the troops.

And back when the salt-for-grain policy was in effect, the salt merchants delivered grain to the northwestern military garrisons of Datong, Taiyuan, Yulin, Ningxia, Guyuan, Gansu, and the like. So the beneficiaries were all Shanxi-Shaanxi merchants. These unscrupulous merchants did not actually ship grain from the southeast, but instead set up "merchant farms" — that is, merchant-run agricultural estates — near the northern border garrisons, using the grain produced on those farms to exchange for salt certificates. And to open farms on the northern frontier, it was impossible without colluding with the border army's generals.

But this time, if the salt-for-grain policy were implemented again, it would not supply the northwestern border garrisons, but rather western Liaodong. Western Liaodong bordered the sea and was narrow, so merchant farms could not be established there; grain could only be shipped by sea.

Therefore, those who could profit from the salt-for-grain policy this time would inevitably be the southeastern maritime merchants colluding with the Donglin Faction.

Only they could ship several million shi of grain to western Liaodong!

And Sun Chengzong, Yuan Chonghuan, and the Donglin traitors in the Censorate would surely be able to work things from top to bottom and rake in a huge haul.

"Your Majesty," Zhang Weixian, Duke of Ying and Commander of the Capital Camps, had already stepped forward, "this subject believes that western Liaodong is narrow terrain. Although it is near the sea, it has no good harbors to rely on, making supply extremely difficult. Therefore it is advantageous for defense but not for offense. Stationing heavy troops at Jinzhou and Ningyuan is a waste; we should withdraw our forces to Shanhai Pass."

"With such a deployment, thirty thousand men would be enough to keep the mighty pass secure, and there would be no need at all to station eighty thousand. The troops thus saved could be transferred to the garrisons of Jizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, and elsewhere, ensuring the Great Wall line in the north is as secure as Mount Tai!"

So you're a traitorous minister too!

When Zhu Youjian heard this, his anger flared. So you, Zhang Weixian, actually understood military affairs — why didn't you say so earlier? Why didn't you say so in my previous life? You let Us be deceived by Yuan Chonghuan and nearly destroyed the entire Ming dynasty!

Sun Chengzong was also angered by Zhang Weixian's words and immediately retorted: "According to the Duke of Ying's meaning, are we to abandon all the territory of western Liaodong? If we abandon western Liaodong, how can we ever recover Liaodong? Are the ancestral lands of Liaodong and western Liaodong all to be given up? If they are to be recovered in the future, must the fortresses of western Liaodong be taken back one by one?"

That was quite an accusation to lay on someone! Sun Chengzong may have been utterly useless at commanding troops and fighting wars, but he was extremely skilled at pinning accusations on people and finding fault — Wang Zaijin, Zhang Fengyi, Yan Mingtai, and Gao Di had all suffered at his hands. If it were not for the millions at stake in salt profits, Zhang Weixian, the leader of the military nobility, would never have opposed him!

But now Zhang Weixian had no choice — millions! Could he afford not to fight?

"The Chief Censor is mistaken," Zhang Weixian shook his head. "Western Liaodong is worse than a chicken rib — holding it brings no gain, and abandoning it is no loss. If we abandon it, the enemy may not even take it, because if the eastern barbarians take it, they too will find it hard to defend. If they garrison the fortresses of western Liaodong, many troops mean no grain, and few troops mean being besieged. If their main army comes forward, it can neither break through the mighty pass nor protect its supply lines. For their supply lines all lie within the reach of the naval forces of the Eastern River!"

"And if we wish to recover Liaodong, we must first train a mighty army of two hundred thousand! Without a mighty army, holding a few empty fortresses — how dare we speak lightly of recovering Liao?"

"Moreover, recovering Liao need not advance through western Liaodong. The coast of western Liaodong has few good harbors and supply is difficult. Better to sortie from Lüshun, advance along the coast to the area of Haizhou and the mouth of the Liao River — a distance of only three hundred li. Then everything west of the Liao River would be ours. Not only could Ningyuan and Jinzhou be recovered, even Daning would be ours."

As Zhang Weixian spoke, he suddenly realized something was wrong!

The Ming Emperor was glaring at him with murderous eyes!

Why?

Where did such hatred come from?

Zhu Youjian suppressed his fury and said coldly: "Western Liaodong is ancestral land and cannot be spoken of as abandoned. Therefore Ningyuan must be held! As for training troops — troops can also be trained at Ningyuan! The Duke of Ying just said that two hundred thousand troops must be trained before Liao can be recovered. What do you gentlemen think?"

Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Zhang Weixian wished he could slap himself in the face — because now they had to train troops again!

And to train two hundred thousand troops, there would inevitably be another round of reorganization!

"Your Majesty, this subject believes the Duke of Ying is absolutely right!" Wang Zaijin immediately picked up the topic. "The eastern barbarians, together with the five great camps of the Inner Khalkha and the Khorchin tribe, have no fewer than a hundred thousand troops under arms. Without two hundred thousand elite soldiers, how dare we speak of victory?"

Sun Chengzong, for once, stood with Wang Zaijin: "Elite troops are of course the more the better. With two hundred thousand troops, victory would be assured."

Yuan Chonghuan also said: "This subject also believes two hundred thousand troops would be best! This subject has trained eighty thousand troops in western Liaodong, Marshal Mao in southern Liao has thirty thousand, and the imperial guard has twenty or thirty thousand. The remaining sixty or seventy thousand should be drawn from Jizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, and other garrisons."

Huang Liji, the Chief Grand Secretary, then said: "The Capital Camps also contain many stalwart men. With intensified training, they too could be used to recover Liao."

What? The Capital Camps too? Zhang Weixian was stunned. How could the Capital Camps fight the Tartars? Did this Chief Grand Secretary want to get all the officers of the Capital Camps killed?

The current Capital Camps were also called the Three Great Camps, namely the Shenshu Camp, the Shenji Camp, and the Wujun Camp. This organization had been set during the Jiajing era's military reforms, and on paper numbered over a hundred thousand men. The main force was not hereditary military-household troops, but able-bodied men recruited from the capital region, Shandong, Shanxi, Henan, and elsewhere — in theory they were supposed to be able-bodied men, while the officers were basically all hereditary military officials.

But this army had long since rotted away completely. The officers did not know their soldiers; the camp troops merely had their names on the rolls to draw pay, hiring substitutes and buying replacements, changing from morning to evening, with no combat strength whatsoever.

In his previous life, Zhu Youjian had been bitterly harmed by these paper troops of the Capital Camps — the Ming dynasty had almost been destroyed by them. Could he let them off this time?

Of course, he would not immediately propose reorganizing the Capital Camps. He had just let Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan seize the salt profits — how could he immediately seize the Capital Camps' military nobility's phantom payroll slots?

"The Capital Camps can be set aside," Zhu Youjian said. "The Capital Camps are specifically for guarding against the Mongols and need not be used to recover Liao. To recover Liao, there are the eighty thousand troops in western Liaodong, the thirty thousand troops of the Eastern River, another thirty thousand to be trained in the imperial guard, and Xuanfu, Jizhou, and Datong must each train twenty thousand elite troops — two hundred thousand in total, which should suffice to recover Liao."

"Minister Yuan, western Liaodong currently has a troop quota of one hundred ten thousand, which is more than needed. Draw out thirty thousand and distribute them among the three garrisons of Xuan, Da, and Ji, then use them as the backbone to train each garrison's elite troops. Do you think this is feasible?"

(End of Chapter)