Chapter 235: War Begins

Capital, Hall of Supreme Harmony.

"Your Majesty, I impeach Xu Wenyue for dereliction of duty during his tenure as Viceroy of the four provinces of Yungui, Huguang, and Jiangxi, leading to the fall of Jiujiang and the collapse of the situation in Jiangxi!

……"

"Your Majesty, I impeach Liaodong Governor Bao Zhiyong for embezzling military pay and appointing people by favoritism during his tenure, triggering the Jinzhou mutiny.

A few days ago, when he celebrated his birthday, the Northern Barbarians even sent him a generous gift, suspected of colluding with the Northern Barbarians……"

"Your Majesty, I impeach Marquis Wuyang for appointing people by favoritism and wantonly…… during his tenure as Viceroy of Liangguang and Fujian……"

……

Just after the morning court, they were met with the full output of the censors, and Emperor Yongning was full of fire.

From south to north, all those serving as Governors and Viceroys were on the impeachment list, as if there wasn't a single good person among these high-ranking officials sent out.

The hundred officials in the court also followed the censors in making a ruckus. For a while, they impeached this one, and for a while, they impeached that one, but the charges were mostly painless.

"Enough!"

"According to what you say, they are all corrupt officials, and I should dismiss them all.

Then after dismissing them, who can take over their duties, and who can guarantee they will do better than them?"

Emperor Yongning questioned coldly.

It was one thing for the censors to catch shadows, but for the hundred officials to follow suit, it was clearly the usual routine of party strife.

Against the backdrop of not knowing the situation, everyone's first choice was to drag others into the water and make the water even muddier.

Everyone knew that it was impossible for the court to dismiss so many important officials at once.

Even if these people had various problems and Emperor Yongning was dissatisfied with their performance, it was still not a reason to dismiss them from office.

If one were to nitpick, there would be no one left in the Great Dayu court.

The officialdom was muddy; this was a historical legacy problem, not something that could be solved now.

Important officials holding main armies on the front line were themselves subject to suspicion. Every move they made would be politically interpreted.

As long as they were doing things, it was inevitable they would make mistakes. No plan could be implemented perfectly, and the flaws in it became the sharp sword for others to attack.

If it were when he first ascended the throne, Emperor Yongning might have taken it seriously. But having experienced several years of being an Emperor, he already knew that before replacing someone, one must first find a successor.

Without a better candidate to fill the pit, they could only let them continue to do it. As long as they didn't poke a huge hole, it was acceptable.

"Your Majesty.

Warfare is a major matter of the state, a place of life and death, the way of survival and destruction; it cannot but be examined!

Jiujiang has fallen, Jiangxi is in crisis, and half of Jiangnan is under threat from the rebel army.

Affected by the war, the tax revenue of the Jiangnan provinces this year basically cannot be counted on, and the court's fiscal deficit is becoming increasingly serious.

More serious than the fiscal deficit is the grain crisis; Huguang has lost seven or eight out of ten, and if Jiangnan also has an accident, the empire's two major grain barns will be gone.

At this moment, the price of rice in the capital has soared to 1 tael 2 qian per shi. Facing the soaring grain prices, the people are suffering unspeakably!"

Pang Chengjie said bitterly.

He didn't want to impeach anyone; it was just that the Ministry of Revenue was truly empty now. He couldn't conjure up money and grain for a while, so he had to seize the time to complain and sell misery.

For solving the problem, the actual effect was zero, but Emperor Yongning just ate this set.

Only by letting the Emperor see the difficulties would he know he was doing things. If he encountered problems and buried his head to solve them himself, who would know the bitterness of the Ministry of Revenue?

In the eyes of the outside world, the Ministry of Revenue was the number one fat yamen in the world.

Not to mention anything else, the "drifting loss" generated during the allocation of various funds was a huge wealth.

The annual tax collected was also a good opportunity to fish for money. Whether the quality of grain and cloth was qualified, and the purity of silver, were all decided by the officials of the Ministry of Revenue.

Various provinces wanting to pass the level couldn't do without spending money to handle it.

Like the yamen below, the tax entering the warehouse was always only allowed to be more, not less, under the euphemism of "fire loss."

A typical "rich official, poor yamen."

Pang Chengjie, the Minister, was naturally clear about the abuses within the Ministry of Revenue. But knowing was knowing; he was powerless to change it.

Once the lid was lifted, he would stand on the opposite side of the bureaucratic group. There were so many things in the Ministry of Revenue that needed people to implement and execute.

Without the cooperation of the officials below, nothing could be done.

The impeached important officials were the best examples. Xu Wenyue did not touch the interests of the officials, but was just sprayed by the censors for incompetence and dereliction of duty.

Marquis Wuyang appointed Li Mu to command the three-province allied army, breaking the tacit understanding of suppressing military officers, and was impeached for appointing people by favoritism and cultivating party wings.

This was still considered easy; the content of the impeachment a few days ago was even more ruthless, directly saying he harbored evil intentions and attempted to gather people to rebel.

It wasn't until the news of Jiujiang's fall came that the civil officials in the Jiangnan region suddenly changed their stance for the sake of their own interests.

Following the defection of these officials, the civil official group also had a brief disagreement on the stance of suppressing military officers.

Some civil officials advocated continuing to suppress military officers and never giving them a chance to turn over.

Similarly, some people advocated temporarily untying the military officers. After suppressing the rebellion, they would gradually tighten the reins.

With the growth of the rebel army, officials from the Central Plains region also felt the threat. The voice of "temporarily untying" gradually occupied the upper hand in the court.

After all, military officers could be suppressed through rules within the rule system; these were the games they were familiar with.

The White Lotus Sect rebel army was different; they played "nine-clan elimination." They started killing as soon as they came up, simply not leaving a way for everyone to live.

Influenced by this mainstream concept, the impeachment against Marquis Wuyang continued, but the charges were getting lighter and lighter.

Liaodong Governor Bao Zhiyong was in trouble; he came to the capital to face the Emperor a few days ago, was moved by the Emperor's sincerity, and went back to strictly investigate smuggling trade.

The Great Dayu was currently short of grain; controlling the outflow of grain was a benefit to the country and the people.

Purely from the perspective of profit, the profit from grain export certainly couldn't compare to smuggling salt, iron, tea, silk, and satin.

An apparently correct operation, but it accidentally poked a hornet's nest.

To obtain sufficient grain, the Northern Barbarians made a mandatory regulation: if you want to do smuggling trade in Liaodong, you must match it with corresponding grain and ironware.

Seeing the Liaodong Governor cracking down on smuggling, affecting their own interests, the Jin merchant group suddenly became angry.

On one hand, they spent heavy bribes to bribe the border generals on the front line; on the other hand, they mobilized their connections in the court, preparing to bring Bao Zhiyong down.

With both hands working together, the originally well-reputed Bao Zhiyong suddenly became notorious, and all kinds of charges were buckled onto his head.

Some things said too much, and the fake could become real.

At the beginning, Emperor Yongning just smiled at these impeachments. But as more people impeached, he couldn't help but doubt.

For a monarch, once the seed of suspicion was planted, it could never return to the past.

Not replacing him was because he couldn't find a better candidate. No matter how many problems Bao Zhiyong had, at least he guarded Liaodong like an iron bucket, and even had a counterattack once.

If it weren't for the court's lack of financial resources, he might have launched a counterattack, which was enough to prove his ability.

However, the more capable one was, the more one needed to be guarded against. If he truly colluded with the Northern Barbarians, it would be a huge disaster.

"The people's livelihood is difficult!"

After sighing, Emperor Yongning did not answer directly.

He also didn't know what to do about the lack of money.

To reduce fiscal expenditure, he had even delegated power to the Viceroys on the front line, allowing them to raise military expenses locally.

Militias that had long been explicitly prohibited by the court were now springing up like bamboo shoots after rain from various places.

All policies that could be given were given, but the people below were still constantly reaching out for money.

Emperor Yongning could only express understanding in his heart for the bitterness of the Ministry of Revenue. When it came to needing money, he still had to find the Ministry of Revenue.

……

"Boom……"

"What's going on? Where is the artillery firing?"

The artillery fire coming from afar woke Shi Rongxuan from his sleep.

Since leaving Guilin Prefecture, he had been extra sensitive to artillery fire. With a little movement, he would wake up immediately.

"Holy Emperor, the artillery fire is coming from the south. The maid has already arranged for people to ask; I think the reason will be found out soon."

The female official's answer did not satisfy Shi Rongxuan.

But with such intensive artillery fire in the middle of the night, even without sending people to check, one could roughly judge that it was the enemy attacking the city.

The imperial army arrived outside Yongzhou City only at noon today, and launching an attack in such a hurry at night truly surprised him a bit.

"The Holy Kingdom has not occupied Yongzhou for long; it is very likely that people who lean toward the puppet court are hidden in the city. Tell the defending generals at each gate to increase vigilance and not let the enemy take advantage!"

Shi Rongxuan ordered decisively.

There were many ways to attack a city, but the truly effective routines totaled only a few.

The most convenient was naturally to coordinate from inside and outside and directly open the city gates.

When guarding Guangzhou earlier, the White Lotus Holy Kingdom had suffered a loss in this regard, and now they naturally had to learn a lesson.

"As you command!"

……

"Have the rebel army's scouts hidden all around been ferreted out?"

In the commander's camp, Li Mu asked with concern.

Night raids were not something everyone could play, especially when the enemy was huddled in a sturdy city; wanting to launch a strong attack at night was even more difficult.

Making such a big commotion was, in essence, to cover the army's actions.

Sending troops to raid Hengyang emphasized surprise.

It was unrealistic to completely deceive the enemy's eyes and ears, but such military actions certainly had to be hidden as long as possible.

Compared to Yongzhou, which was guarded by heavy troops, Hengyang, which only had old and weak guards, was clearly a soft persimmon.

Taking Hengyang and controlling the Xiangjiang waterway meant that if the rebel army wanted to reinforce Yongzhou, they could only detour from Baoqing Prefecture.

Adding hundreds of miles of distance didn't sound like much. But in wartime, it meant logistical consumption doubled.

"Commander, please rest assured.

My unit has successively captured dozens of rebel scouts; now the area around the camp has been cleared, and even if the rebel army sends scouts out again, there is nowhere to hide!"

Yun Yufeng answered immediately.

Reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance were also technical work, testing marching experience the most.

Thanks to the rebel army's scorched earth policy, there wasn't a single building outside Yongzhou City, trees had been cut down, and even the wild grass on the ground had been harmed.

The effect was very obvious; the livestock accompanying the army could only eat the grass they carried, greatly increasing the army's material consumption.

A bare patch also increased the difficulty of scouts lurking. Before they could scout effective intelligence, their own positions were exposed first.

"Hmm!

Commander Zhu, you can lead your troops to act.

With the cover of night, the rebel army shouldn't notice if the camp is reduced by a few thousand people.

Whether the subsequent plan can succeed depends on whether your next actions can be kept secret!"

Li Mu said earnestly.

He was not a person who liked to take risks; compared to winning by surprise, he preferred to fight steadily and surely.

This time the situation was special; to defeat the enemy as soon as possible, he had to take risks.

Otherwise, according to normal fighting methods, such large-scale decisive battles rarely ended quickly. It was normal for battles to last for a year or half a year.

If both sides sent reinforcements, the war could drag on for a year or two without a winner.

"Commander, please rest assured.

The soldiers under my command have all received strict night combat training. Unqualified soldiers were kicked out long ago.

For the next few days, we will rest during the day and march at night.

We will not expose our tracks until we are under the walls of Hengyang!"

Zhu Jingyu guaranteed immediately.

There were very few armies in the Great Dayu that had received night combat training; it wasn't that it couldn't be done technically, but mainly because they were affected by night blindness.

To train an army capable of night combat, one must first guarantee the supply of meat.

If it weren't for being close to the sea and having abundant fishery resources, it would be too difficult to achieve this with the current pastoral production capacity.

Precisely because it was difficult, the plan was more feasible.

Never having seen it before, it was difficult for the rebel generals from the grassroots to imagine an army that could rest during the day and march at night to conduct long-range raids to steal a city.

The various armies of the White Lotus Holy Kingdom were all moving toward Yongzhou. The troops drawn back from the Xiangyang and Nanchang lines were now taking the waterway and all needed to pass through Hengyang.

Calculating from the time, the fastest of the vanguard troops were only six or seven days away from Hengyang City.

It was difficult for normal people to think that someone would dare to attack Hengyang at this time.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 236 =====