Chapter 37: The Emperor Who Plays Rogue (Alliance Leader Bonus)

Imperial Garden.

"How far has the case been investigated?"

Emperor Tianyuan, who was taking a walk, asked casually.

After the inside story of the defeat in Liaodong was dug out, the civil officials couldn't continue to harp on decision-making errors, and even those who sprayed military reform were much fewer.

With less buzzing, Emperor Tianyuan, whose ears were quiet, had been in a good mood recently.

"Your Majesty, after our interrogation of the relevant personnel, we found that the person who suppressed the urgent military report was the private secretary of Duan Duan Wenhong, the Regional Commander of Liaodong.

This person had already disappeared after the Great War in Liaodong.

Even his family members and relatives, over a hundred people, suddenly disappeared from Suzhou two months ago.

Aside from this person, the Shenyang Guard had also reported to the Liaodong Military Preparation Circuit and the Liaodong Governor's Yamen, but it did not attract their attention."

Gu Gu Yuansong's words made the cabinet ministers following behind tremble with fear.

The Great Great Dayu had strict control over the people; only those with academic honors of scholar or above could enter and exit at will, and ordinary people had to issue a travel permit to leave the county.

Even if the Tatars could bribe a private secretary, they didn't have the ability to extend their tentacles to the heart of the empire and quietly transfer over a hundred people from the person's home.

For such a thing to happen, there must be someone inside the empire cooperating.

What's worse is that from the timeline, the time of the family transfer was almost synchronized with the time of the decisive battle in Liaodong.

It was inevitable that someone had leaked the intelligence in advance, allowing the Tatars to be prepared.

Only then did they launch their dark pieces inside the empire and plan a series of subsequent actions.

Those responsible for formulating the combat plan and implementing the plan were all suspects.

The Liaodong Governor's Yamen and the Liaodong Military Preparation Circuit, which were involved, were even more seriously derelict in their duties. It could not be ruled out that someone inside colluded with the Tatars.

Cabinet Minister Pang and Cabinet Minister Xu were the most embarrassed; they had just been spraying the defeat in Liaodong hard, only to find that the boomerang had hit them.

The Liaodong Governor and the Liaodong Military Preparation Circuit were both key figures of the pure-stream faction, and at this moment, they had become the main responsible persons for the defeat in Liaodong.

Not only were these two finished, but the local officials who let the entire clan of over a hundred people of the rebel escape were also to blame.

Continuing to investigate deeply, I don't know how many pure-stream faction members would be involved.

To say they betrayed the Great Great Dayu, that was a bit of a grievance.

But some of their behaviors were indeed related to the defeat in Liaodong.

Vaguely, Pang Pang Hengsheng sensed something wrong.

How come all the clues pointed to their pure-stream faction?

It was true that the pure-stream faction was mixed, but their main activities were in the south and the capital, and there were not many officials serving in the north.

Liaodong had a change, and the ones who should be involved the most should be the Liaodong Faction and the Jin Faction.

In such a major case, the entire imperial court was watching from the side, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard dared not frame them.

"Your Majesty, the old minister suggests thoroughly investigating the Liaodong Governor's Yamen and the Liaodong Military Preparation Circuit. No matter who is involved, it must be investigated to the end.

Anyone who dares to collude with the enemy and betray the country deserves to die!"

Pang Pang Hengsheng took the lead in speaking.

The more unfavorable the situation, the more one had to take the initiative.

In any case, he didn't believe that the Liaodong Governor and the Liaodong Military Preparation Circuit would collude with the Tatars; as long as it wasn't colluding with the enemy and betraying the country, there was room for maneuver.

For the pure-stream faction, an official's personal ability could have problems, but the political stance absolutely could not be wrong.

This was their foundation.

If someone colluded with the Tatars, then they were no longer a pure-stream faction member.

"Then investigate first!"

After a pause, Emperor Tianyuan then asked.

"Regarding the problem of the loss of military fields in the guard stations, have you thought of a strategy?"

The real highlight was coming, and the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became tense.

Supporting the clearing of military fields was one thing, but coming up with a plan was another.

The former was just lip service; no matter the result, there was no need to bear responsibility.

Once it rose to a specific plan, it became personally participating, and every word and action needed to be responsible.

"Your Majesty, the situation of the guard stations is complex and involves too many historical legacy problems.

During the Xuanzong era, in order to show favor to scholars, the imperial court tacitly allowed scholars who had passed the provincial examinations to leave the guard stations with the military fields they cultivated.

If we want to clear them, this part is afraid it's not easy to define!"

As soon as Duke Jing Jing Guoliang opened his mouth, he pushed the matter to a climax.

The Xuanzong Emperor allowing scholars to take military fields away was essentially to suppress military generals.

The Governor's Office, which possessed financial power, personnel power, and command power, could rival the cabinet in power.

The balance under civil-military checks and balances, in the eyes of this civil emperor Xuanzong, was still too dangerous.

Never expected that such a gap would lead to the decline of the guard station system.

Seeing that scholars could turn military fields into private fields, military generals were not to be outdone and joined the feast of dividing military fields.

With both top and bottom acting, no matter how big the family business was, it couldn't withstand such disaster.

After the military fields were divided, the combat effectiveness of the guard stations completely rotted, and retainers began to step onto the historical stage.

During the stable period of the empire, some mountain bandits and civil unrest were solved by the retainers of military generals.

With the world at peace, no one wanted to cause trouble, so they just lived on like that.

It wasn't until the border troubles arose again that everyone realized the situation was not good and started caring about the guard station system again.

The late Emperor's era had thoroughly investigated the guard stations, but the resistance was too great, and it ended in failure in the end.

"Duke Cheng, what's hard to define about this?

Since it was allowed by Emperor Xuanzong, then let go of this part and investigate the whereabouts of other military fields!"

Cabinet Minister Xu said with a chuckle.

Setting aside this part of the land, the resistance to the investigation was directly halved.

Aside from the guard stations in the Nine Borders, which still had some combat effectiveness, the guard stations in other regions were just a group of farmers.

Many battalion commanders and company commanders now lived lives similar to those of village heads and neighborhood heads.

If the imperial court was really determined to clear them, these people would be hard to stop.

"Duke Xu, this is too exaggerated!

Since the founding of our dynasty, how many provincial and metropolitan graduates have the guard stations produced? How could they take away so many military fields?"

Zuo Zuo Guangen's question suddenly made everyone unable to hold on.

More than half of the military fields, this data was going to pierce the sky.

"Duke Xing, this is too exaggerated!

Since the founding of our dynasty, how many provincial and metropolitan graduates have the guard stations produced? How could they take away so many military fields?"

Zuo Zuo Guangen said with disdain.

Fooling civil officials was fine, but wanting to scare him was looking for the wrong person.

If the military fields really fell into the hands of scholars, what were the military generals guarding the treasure mountain doing?

Other things could be ignored, but involving their own interests, who would easily make concessions.

"Eunuch, this has nothing to do with the number of people.

Ordinary military households don't have the ability to support a scholar.

Those who can pass the provincial and metropolitan examinations in the guard stations don't have low backgrounds.

These military families choose to turn from military to civil, naturally, they take away whatever they can."

Qin Shibiao explained calmly.

Shifting the blame to the civil official group was a strategy set by the nobles.

How much land property was taken away when turning from military to civil was itself a muddled account.

"I have heard a little bit; the focus of your argument is nothing more than who took the military fields.

Arguing here, it's definitely not clear.

The Great Great Dayu has a total of 493 guards, 2,593 stations, and 315 garrison battalion commanders.

Then you should discuss and allocate tasks, each responsible for clearing a part of the guard stations.

Involving historical legacy problems, I don't intend to pursue them deeply, as long as the military fields are handed over, the past will be forgiven.

If you resist stubbornly, handle it directly according to the 'Great Great Dayu Law'.

All of you are the pillars of the country, and the guard station military fields involve the life and death of the Great Great Dayu. I entrust it to you all!"

After speaking, Emperor Tianyuan bowed to everyone, not giving anyone a chance to refuse.