Chapter 354: Staying for a Meal

Zhu Youjian had originally wanted to exploit the opportunity of the internal strife in Liaoxi to make a big issue of it, weakening Zu Dashou's strength before slowly dealing with him, but Sun Chuanting's words reminded him that there were still several months before next year's great battle began, and what needed to be maintained most now was stability of the situation, not weakening oneself before facing the enemy.

Although the Zu and Wu families had been successfully divided, their complete dissolution was still far off — it was only that Liaoxi's strength had been weakened.

If at this time he used his power to pressure others, pushing Zu Dashou too hard, it might trigger unpredictable disasters.

Maintaining the status quo was the best strategy.

At present, no one in Liaoxi had any intention of defecting to the enemy. When the war began next year, Jinzhou city could serve as bait — Zu Dashou's existence would at least draw part of Jianzhou's attention, allowing the deployment of government forces to be more relaxed.

More importantly, Zhu Youjian suddenly understood a principle: as emperor, one should act openly and uprightly, not wallow in scheming.

What the ruler of a nation most needed to possess was far-sighted vision and a broad mind. Everything done should be with magnanimity, so that ministers need not worry about being framed or suspected by the sovereign.

An emperor like the Jiajing Emperor who delighted in manipulating people's hearts was not a glorious figure — if you put all your wisdom into playing mind games with your ministers, how could you possibly govern the country?

All schemes and machinations were utterly useless before absolute strength. With the power he now controlled, there was no longer any need to manipulate political tricks. In the future, dealing with the Zu family only required dispatching a proper and righteous army — how to choose was up to them.

If Jianzhou and Liaoxi fell in succession, the major external threats facing the Great Ming would essentially cease to exist.

The Mongol tribes had already been plundered and ravaged by Hong Taiji once; the stronger tribes had been relocated to Khorchin and Chahar Mongolia near Jianzhou, leaving only weak and impoverished small tribes behind.

Next year, when Lu Xiangsheng led the main army out beyond the passes, he would certainly adopt the method of screening the battlefield, which also meant more tribes would perish — then the north of the Great Ming would be very safe for at least fifty years.

Once the northern border was completely stabilized, Zhu Youjian planned to establish a Northwest Army Corps centered on cavalry, sweeping northwest in one direction, striving to open the traditional Silk Road while also restoring the territories and borders of the Han and Tang dynasties.

According to news sent back by Cao Wenzhao, who was stationed far away guarding Lintao Prefecture, the northern Shaanxi roving bandits who had been driven beyond the passes by Hong Chengchou seemed to be showing some signs of activity, occasionally entering Ming territory through breaches in the border walls, breaking into a few small villages to plunder people and supplies before fleeing back beyond the walls.

Cao Wenzhao had already ordered a Mobile Corps Commander under his command to lead troops north to strengthen the defense of the damaged border walls, waiting for an opportunity to encircle and eliminate this group of bandits.

But since Cao Bianjiao had already taken most of the cavalry to the Xuan-Da front line for joint training with cavalry from other routes, Cao Wenzhao had only a few hundred cavalry left under his command, greatly reducing his mobility. Since the bandits had spent years beyond the passes operating mainly as mounted bands, he could only adopt a defensive strategy for now — annihilating them would be extremely difficult.

Fortunately, the bandits seemed to have been frightened out of their wits by the government forces; each time they came in haste and left in haste, never daring to linger for long.

Moreover, the bandits mainly focused on plundering grain and supplies, killing few people — it seemed their days beyond the passes were also quite difficult.

Zhu Youjian did not take this news to heart after learning of it. This group of bandits was certainly Li Zicheng's lot. Judging by their current condition, they had degenerated into no different from horse bandits — this kind of scabrous ailment was not worth worrying about.

When the main army returned west next year and the Northwest Army Corps was reorganized and established, Zhu Youjian would order Cao Bianjiao to lead troops beyond the passes. After finding traces of Li Zicheng's group, he would press them northwest, forcing them to serve as pathfinders, then simply follow along in the name of suppressing bandits — by then they would also earn a good reputation as a righteous army rescuing foreign peoples from fire and water.

Such a strategy was not at all exaggerated.

The bandit nature of Li Zicheng and his ilk could never change. In their westward flight, they would certainly still focus on killing and plundering. As the Ming government forces followed behind, giving the plundered tribes a little sweetness along the way, a good reputation would easily spread.

With the due north and northeast stabilized in succession and the northwest taking the offensive, the Great Ming's land-based enemies would essentially cease to exist. What remained was building a fleet to attack and defend against threats from the sea.

Looking at the current situation, what most needed to be established was the South Sea Navy. The East Sea and Dengzhou navies could be put off until later — resources of men, money, and materials should be tilted toward the south sea direction. But establishing the South Sea Navy could not bypass the hurdle of the Zheng family.

It could not be denied that since Zheng Zhilong had been ennobled as a count, he had been completely obedient and cooperative with the court's demands, and over the years had played an extremely important role in settling disaster victims throughout the Great Ming. In terms of contribution to the dynasty alone, Zheng Zhilong had truly done his utmost, far surpassing other nobles.

But if one wanted to bypass the Zheng family to establish a court navy, that would touch the Zheng family's bottom line — how Zheng Zhilong would react was hard to say.

It seemed someone should first be sent to test Zheng Zhilong's attitude before adopting relevant strategies.

Wait until after the great battle to reorganize the military. Appropriately disbanding and merging troops was the necessary path. Aside from stationing strong forces in the capital region to guard the capital, there was no longer any need to station troops within Ming territory — Regional Commanders and great generals should retire when it was time to retire.

Household retainers would no longer appear in the Great Ming's armies. Great generals could have personal guards for protection, retaining corresponding numbers according to rank, with the maximum not exceeding two hundred personal guards.

Personal guards were not household retainers either. All officers' and soldiers' pay would be distributed directly into the soldiers' hands by military law officers and the stationed Embroidered Uniform Guard, thus completely eradicating the malady of soldiers belonging to generals.

In fact, this measure had already begun implementation in most of the army. Even if some military leaders were secretly dissatisfied, no one dared to speak out against it openly.

The Embroidered Uniform Guard would shoulder the heavy responsibility of internal defense, used to suppress any disturbances that might arise within the country.

As long as the domestic political situation was stable and the people had food and clothing without worry, large-scale rebellion could no longer occur. Many serving soldiers who had fought for years would be demobilized and return to farming after receiving appropriate compensation. Although this would cost a great deal of silver in the short term, in the long run military expenditures would drop substantially.

"His Majesty, the imperial meal is prepared. Would you like..."

Wang Cheng'en, who had returned to calm, came back to Zhaoren Hall and bowed to Zhu Youjian as he reported.

"Mm, let's eat first. Of the several ministers, only Minister Sun has dined in the palace before — and that was already three years ago now, hehe!"

Zhu Youjian rose and walked down the imperial steps, chatting and laughing as he led the way toward the side hall.

After the Emperor turned through the side door of the hall, Wen Tiren and the others followed under the guidance of the young eunuchs.

The side hall of Zhaoren Hall had been converted into a dining room at Zhu Youjian's instruction, because he had considered the convenience of keeping important ministers for meals.

Zhu Youjian changed into a round-collar casual robe behind the hall, washed his hands in a golden basin, then returned to the hall and sat in a cushioned armchair behind a square table.

This too was something he had specifically instructed.

He truly did not like that kind of dragon throne (dragon bed) without armrests — this kind of wide armchair was his favorite.

Wen Tiren and the others also each washed their hands in the brass basins brought by the young eunuchs, then saluted Zhu Youjian before taking their seats behind slightly smaller square tables.

"Serve the meal!"

Following Wang Cheng'en's command, a row of young eunuchs entered in single file, both hands carrying gold-patterned red lacquered trays, then lined up in groups of four before Zhu Youjian, bowing and raising their trays high for him to select dishes.

After Zhu Youjian selected a bowl of bird's nest soup and a serving of peppered mutton, at Wang Cheng'en's instruction the first row bowed past the square table and walked toward the several important ministers.

After more than forty dishes had been served in this manner, the imperial meal finally began.

Eight dishes were set on the square table before Zhu Youjian — besides the bird's nest soup and peppered mutton, there were two servings of pan-fried fresh fish, garlic-vinegar white blood soup, spicy vinegar kidneys, vegetarian stew with clear broth, a bowl of mung bean chess-piece noodles, and a bowl of fragrant rice.

Wen Tiren and the others also each selected several dishes that looked quite delicious, along with pastries, fragrant rice, and other staples. Only after seeing Zhu Youjian pick up his chopsticks did they begin eating, somewhat reservedly.

Many people in later generations had a clear misconception about imperial meals, thinking the Emperor's food was cooked in an imperial kitchen — but this was merely the poison of Qing dynasty palace dramas.

There had never been a place called the imperial kitchen in the Ming palace. The Ming Emperor's meals and the food served at banquets for his ministers were all purchased, prepared, and managed by the Court of Imperial Entertainments.

It was only that what Zhu Youjian ate now was separately cooked by Empress Zhou and the female officials and palace maids of Kunning Palace. For this reason, Zhu Youjian had specifically ordered the expansion of the rear palace kitchens.

As someone who had tasted the delicacies of later generations, Zhu Youjian had no feeling for imperial meals whatsoever, and he was also preparing to reform the Court of Imperial Entertainments at an appropriate time.

Because the pig slop made by the Court of Imperial Entertainments was truly hard to swallow, nowhere near delicious — no different from a later-generation university cafeteria, at most only filling the stomach.

Now that conditions were in place, Zhu Youjian was not opposed to enjoying life — earning so much money, while benefiting the people's livelihood, how much could one's own family's enjoyment cost?

This imperial meal ended a little over half an hour after Zhu Youjian was the first to set down his chopsticks and rinse his mouth. Wen Tiren and the others saluted and took their leave, exiting the palace to attend to their duties.