Chapter 360: Political Influence

"Fifth Brother, stop hesitating!"

"That kid Qin Tianrui recovered Yangzhou City, and the nobility faction has all acted, wanting to recover Nanjing in one go.

Since the outbreak of the great war, they have been advancing triumphantly, while we have been dawdling here.

If this goes on for a long time, that group of guys in the court will fear that our Liaodong Army is just a showy appearance."

Shi Jingzhong said indignantly.

Also being a military family, these Nine Borders military families are still far behind the noble children.

They are fighting on the frontier, but the speed of promotion cannot keep up with suppressing the rebellion in the country.

Because they couldn't take Xuzhou Prefecture for a long time, the outside world has also developed doubts about the Liaodong Town's strength.

Many civil officials lacking military common sense simply measure strength by combat records, thinking their combat power is not as good as the Six Towns of the Two Guangs.

If they don't do something, it is estimated that before long, in the minds of those officials in the court, their combat power won't even catch up with the Jiangxi army.

The reasons are all ready-made; people's Jiangxi First Town could go deep alone to seize Yangzhou City, while they couldn't even handle the rebel army in Xuzhou.

Explanation is meaningless; the difficulty of attacking Xuzhou is only understood by those who know military affairs.

The emperor and the officials only need victory; as for how they won, they don't care at all.

Once the concept becomes a consensus, the preferential treatment Liaodong Town currently enjoys will disappear in the future.

If they want to negotiate terms with the court later, the difficulty coefficient will rise in a straight line.

"Old Nine, you are already at this age; why are you still so unsteady!"

"We must definitely participate in the matter of recovering Nanjing.

It is just that Liaodong Town is not good at water warfare, and now the navy of the southern provinces is all in the hands of the nobility faction.

To cross the river, we must obtain their support.

The rebel army is like the setting sun, and the court suppressing the rebellion is just a matter of time.

The bitter battles in the front were all fought by the nobility faction.

Now that it is time to harvest, why should they let us get involved?

Moreover, if we want to participate in recovering Nanjing, we must first conquer Xuzhou so that the main army can safely march south."

Shi Jinglin immediately reprimanded.

Military merit—except for that freak Li Mu, no one thinks it is too much.

The big shots of the nobility faction are not short of military merit now, but they can't stand the little brothers below being short of it.

So many noble children are counting on the great merit of recovering Nanjing to seal their wives and shade their sons.

If they join in, they are purely dividing the cake.

Liaodong Town's combat power is formidable, limited to the north.

Once in the water towns of the south, ten points of combat power will have at most five or six points left.

The Xuzhou Prefecture in front of them is also a blocking tiger.

Earlier, they planned to seize the Huai-Yang prefectures as a garrison after conquering Xuzhou and make a big profit from the local area.

Unfortunately, the rebel army knew the importance of Xuzhou and mobilized a large number of troops to defend the city to the death.

In order to conquer Xuzhou Prefecture as soon as possible, they didn't hesitate to pull in the imperial armies of Shandong and Henan to attack the city.

They paid a painful price, but still couldn't take the city.

"Fifth Brother, you are just too hesitant.

The Xuzhou that was hard to fight before doesn't mean the Xuzhou now is also hard to fight.

After losing Yangzhou Prefecture, the imperial armies of the southern provinces landed directly in the two Huai regions from the sea.

The rebel army cannot hold the prefectures north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huai River.

Losing these prefectures, Xuzhou is a lonely city, and defending it has no meaning.

If the nobility faction is willing to provide supplies for the main army, we can bypass Xuzhou City and directly participate in the Nanjing recovery battle!

On the nobility faction side, it is nothing more than a matter of conditions.

Everyone is a military general; if they want to confront the civil official group, they still need our support.

Although I don't think the nobility faction can suppress the civil official group in the court, it doesn't hinder promising to support them.

The nobility faction rushing to the front to confront the civil officials is also a good thing for us.

If military generals can huddle together, even if they only unify their stance on certain matters, they can play an important role."

Shi Jingzhong said indignantly.

Mixing in the Great Dayu dynasty, military generals must also learn to play politics.

In the past, Shi Jingzhong often appeared in the image of a reckless man, but that was performed for outsiders to see.

In the Liaodong faction, the Shi family is the only one in power; if everyone were both civil and military, the officials and the emperor in the court would not be able to sleep well.

When it comes to control over the troops, the Liaodong faction is much tighter than the Two Guangs faction.

As the most powerful military group in the Great Dayu, the Two Guangs faction brought out by Li Mu is purely a nobility grand alliance.

Relying on the support of the nobility group, they were able to develop and grow rapidly.

Being able to produce so many high-ranking generals is also the result of the power behind them operating on their own.

The role Li Mu plays is more like a teacher bringing students; once they graduate, they go their separate ways.

When dealing with the outside, they are a group, but internally they are actually divided into multiple factions.

Almost every old-brand noble family has a small mountain head of its own.

These large and small mountain heads can talk directly to the emperor.

The big shots of the nobility faction take turns sitting; once there is a sign of one family dominating, the emperor will engage in political marriage.

Marry an imperial princess over, and use the reason that the royal clan cannot interfere in politics to cut off the official career of the direct heir.

If this family has many excellent descendants, then marry a few more over.

If the emperor's daughters are not enough, there are still royal clan women.

Once the marriage is completed, they take the initiative to hand over military power; this is the tacit understanding reached by both sides.

With the ready-made methods left by the ancestors, the emperor's wariness of the nobles is relatively less.

A group of noble clans basically all intermarried with the royal clan in their ancestry.

Liaodong Town is different; the appointment of major generals in the army is all handled by their Shi family.

The senior generals in the army are basically monopolized by them.

With this way of playing, it is difficult for the court not to be wary.

When power reaches the level of the Shi family, behind is an abyss; they can only move forward bravely.

"Enough!"

"If you want to try, then send someone to contact the nobles and see if they have sincerity.

Before that, we must first take Xuzhou Prefecture to prove our strength.

Pass the order down: at all costs, we must break Xuzhou City within five days!"

Shi Jinglin said helplessly.

As long as the nobles are not stupid, they will not cooperate with them.

Even if they really want to cooperate, it is to maintain tacit understanding with each other, not direct contact.

It is true that the combat power of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot has declined, but that does not mean they are dead people and collect no intelligence.

Once the emperor knows that the two major armed groups in the country have merged, something big will happen.

Knowing there is no chance, he still cannot refuse.

Shi Jingzhong's words represent the thoughts of a considerable part of the clan.

Only a very few people can see the essence of the matter.

……

Capital.

"Good!"

"Qin Tianrui is truly a pillar of the country!

Issue an imperial decree: add the title of General Dingguo to Qin Tianrui, reward: one superior horse, one hundred taels of gold, fifty bolts of cloth..."

Looking at the victory report in his hand, the dragon-faced Emperor Yongning was overjoyed and immediately gave rewards.

If reason hadn't prevailed, he almost issued an imperial decree to let Qin Tianrui inherit the title of Xingguo Duke.

According to the convention, with Qin Tianrui's merits, he is now fully qualified to inherit this ancestral title.

However, being qualified does not mean one can inherit the title.

A title at the level of a Duke falling on a general with real power means another top noble is born.

In recent years, the nobility faction has developed rapidly, and he, the emperor, needs to consider the balance of power.

Supporting the nobility to confront the civil officials might have been serious in the late emperor's dynasty, but here in Emperor Yongning, it is merely a means to intimidate the civil official group.

If he really wants to support the nobility group, he, who is suspicious by nature, simply cannot sleep peacefully.

If possible, he would rather confer a new title on Qin Tianrui than let him inherit the position of Xingguo Duke.

Undoubtedly, this is impossible.

According to the Great Dayu's current harsh title-conferring system, with Qin Tianrui's current merits, he can only obtain a lifetime title.

Compared to the hereditary founding Duke title, the difference is unknown how many levels.

Doing this not only fails to win people's hearts but also pushes people to the opposite side.

Thunder and dew are all imperial grace—that is just to fool fools.

Having been emperor for several years, he knows very well that the people below are not saints.

If he really cuts off Qin Tianrui's hope of inheriting the Xingguo Duke title, this general who is loyal to the Great Dayu will become an unstable element.

The Great Dayu is beset by internal and external troubles, and now is the time to use people.

Destroying the Great Wall at this time is not something he, this wise emperor, should do.

"Congratulations, Your Majesty, for gaining a good general!"

"Recovering Yangzhou Prefecture, the rebel army's good days are coming to an end.

I think it won't be long before the victory report of recovering Nanjing will be sent.

……"

First Assistant Wan Junhui took the lead in flattering.

In the past, when such things happened, the censors would have started spraying.

Today's situation is special, and everyone's mood is very good.

The rebel army was hit hard, and the Great Dayu dynasty, which was in danger, suddenly turned from danger to safety.

For everyone, this means they don't need to consider changing jobs for the time being.

Theoretically, civil officials and gentry can be officials by changing masters.

But everyone knows that changing dynasties requires paying a painful price.

Looking at human history, more than 90% of the former dynasty's officials did not survive until the establishment of the new dynasty.

Besides placing the wrong bet, more officials didn't even have the chance to place a new bet before they were killed.

The change of the world does not just change the former emperor, but also the vested interest group.

Everyone risked the risk of punishing nine generations to follow the rebellion, not for nothing.

If the vested interest group is not wiped out, what will be used to reward the meritorious officials?

Complaining privately is complaining, but being an official in the Great Dayu dynasty is still very comfortable.

"Hahaha……"

"The First Assistant is right; while the Marquis of Wuyang submitted the victory report, he also presented the next combat plan.

According to his plan, the next step will be to concentrate troops and go all out to recover Nanjing City.

I think it is very good and can be supported.

The only problem is that continuous fighting puts great financial pressure on all provinces.

Ministry of Revenue, how much money, grain, and supplies can be extracted to support the recovery of Nanjing?"

Emperor Yongning asked with concern.

The Great Dayu dynasty's biggest problem is finance, and the series of problems that have appeared now are all centered around finance.

If the court had enough money and grain, there wouldn't be so many rebel armies.

"Your Majesty, the Ministry of Revenue's finances have always been tight.

The autumn taxes from all over the country were just put into the warehouse, and they were taken to fill the holes.

Now the national treasury is empty..."

Pang Chengjie instinctively chose to cry poor.

Of course, the Ministry of Revenue is also really poor.

The bad debts owed by the court are a pile, and it is not a season of autumn taxes that can fill the pit.

Even if taxes were collected for ten more years, the old debts in front could not be paid off.

In order to balance the accounts, the Ministry of Revenue had to use treasure notes that were no different from waste paper to make up the numbers.

However, these waste papers can be used to pay the salaries of officials, royal clans, and nobles, but they cannot be used to issue military pay.

The Great Dayu has been established for so many years, and the currency inflation has been unknown how many times, but the soldiers' military pay has not increased, and it is often deducted.

If this last life-saving military pay is also fooled with treasure notes.

Then the treasure notes will be issued in the morning, and the troops will mutiny in the afternoon, and the next day the "clearing the emperor's side" banner will appear on the city wall.

It has nothing to do with loyalty; it is purely that soldiers also need to survive.

If you don't leave a way for people to live, then everyone will go to hell together.

"Enough!"

"I don't want to hear these old-fashioned reasons.

If there is no money or grain, think of ways to raise it.

If I have to handle everything, what are you, the Minister of Revenue, for?

The Cabinet should also participate and must raise a sum of military pay."

Emperor Yongning said unhappily.

Every time he is in a good mood, some moths will always appear, ruining his good mood.

On the issue of suppressing the White Lotus Sect rebellion, the Great Dayu dynasty only provided money, grain, and troops in the early stages.

As the national treasury was exhausted and the internal treasury left by the late emperor was sucked dry, the rebel-suppressing army could only rely on local yamen to raise money and grain to survive.

The southern provinces are rich, but everyone was devastated by the rebel army, and each suffered heavy losses.

The newly recovered prefectures have not had time to restore production.

Against this background, the rebel-suppressing army reaching out to the court for money should show something.

"Your Majesty, calm your anger!"

"It is not that Minister Pang is shirking; the Ministry of Revenue is truly in difficulty.

The court owes too many debts, and the creditors are all staring at the Ministry of Revenue; the national treasury simply cannot keep money."

……

Gu Jiaxi hurriedly spoke to persuade.

As a cabinet minister, he didn't have much friendship with Pang Chengjie, and his pleading was entirely out of public interest.

Replacing the Minister of Revenue is easy; what is difficult is the mess left by the Ministry of Revenue, which no one is willing to clean up.

Pang Chengjie is stingy, but he managed to live his life.

If another Minister of Revenue goes up, if he doesn't have this ability to be frugal and manage the family, the situation will be even worse.

"Your Majesty, Cabinet Minister Gu's words are reasonable; this matter cannot be blamed entirely on Minister Pang.

The Ministry of Revenue is really not easy now; in order to..."

Wan Junhui followed to help explain.

In the past year, he has been under tremendous pressure, and his physical fitness has declined sharply.

He had already submitted his resignation long ago, just waiting for the emperor to approve it so he could jump out of the storm center and return home to retire.

At this juncture, if something goes wrong with the Ministry of Revenue, he, the First Assistant, shouldn't think about getting out of it unscathed.

"Humph!"

"Don't cry poor here; the Ministry of Revenue is responsible for the world's money and grain, so it must fulfill its obligations.

I can wait, but the main army on the front line cannot wait.

I will give you three more days; I need to see the results!"

Emperor Yongning ordered coldly.

The Battle of Nanjing is about to start, and it is the time when military morale needs to be boosted the most; the court must definitely show support.

……

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 361 =====