Chapter 378: Revision

"Ministers, rise! What Minister Wen has just described is indeed most gratifying to me. At present, no matter which angle one looks from, the Great Ming is striding forward toward a better direction! And the reason we have achieved this today is all thanks to the joint efforts of you ministers and all officials, working in unity and striving together! In the new year, I hope you ministers will guard against arrogance and impatience, take a stronger sense of mission and responsibility as your driving force, take the welfare of the people of the realm as your goal, be diligent in your duties, dare to take responsibility, and build our Great Ming into a prosperous nation with strong people at the earliest opportunity, so that the light of our Han civilization may illuminate every corner of this world! Ministers, strive on!"

Zhu Youjian had originally wanted to deliver a rousing, blood-stirring speech, but after all, the limitations of his previous life's identity were there—his mind lacked the corresponding vocabulary, and his emotional expression was equally lacking, so he could only barely manage to issue a few words of sentiment, feeling deeply embarrassed inside.

"Your ministers humbly obey Your Majesty's decree!"

The assembled ministers standing below all wore grave expressions, then with unusual solemnity answered in unison and bowed, indicating that they had taken the Emperor's entrustment to heart.

Although Zhu Youjian felt he had spoken poorly, in the perception of the assembled ministers, these words were already quite capable of inspiring people.

No emperor in the Great Ming's successive dynasties had ever addressed the ministers in such a manner with such a speech, nor had anyone ever spoken of the mission and responsibility that ministers should bear, nor had anyone ever mentioned illuminating the world with the light of Han civilization.

Although they did not know the concept of "the world," that did not prevent them from understanding the meaning of the word, and moreover, these words sounded immensely stirring.

"The tenth year of Chongzhen is now past, and the most important matters of the new year are two: first, the decisive battle beyond the passes against the Jianzhou slaves; second, the matter of military farmland and settling the people. These two matters, one internal and one external, bear upon the safety and security of the state and the rivers and mountains, and therefore must be placed in the foremost position. You ministers may offer suggestions and strategies concerning these two great matters, coordinate arrangements, and plan comprehensively so that they may be accomplished at the earliest opportunity! Let Minister Yang begin first!"

After the ministers had all taken their seats, Zhu Youjian set the tone for today's deliberation and named Minister of War Yang Sichang to speak first.

"Your minister obeys the decree!"

The elegant Yang Sichang rose, bowed to Zhu Youjian, then walked to a spot several paces before the imperial seat, drew a routine memorial from his sleeve with his left hand, unfolded it with both hands, cleared his throat once, and began his exposition.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, your ministers have already deliberated on the matter of the decisive battle beyond the passes on numerous occasions, and the battle strategy has now largely taken shape. Your ministers believe that in this campaign our army should adopt the basic strategy of waiting at ease for the exhausted enemy and prolonging the duration of the war as much as possible—not engaging the Jianzhou slaves in a frontal decisive battle, but rather luring the enemy deep, forcing their supply lines to stretch to the vicinity of Ningyuan town, then seeking opportunities to concentrate superior forces to annihilate small bands of Jianzhou slaves, accumulating small victories into great ones, and when their troops are weary and their morale spent, crushing them with elite regular forces!"

After Yang Sichang succinctly and clearly presented the Ministry of War's strategic plan, he paused and waited quietly for Zhu Youjian's questions and for others' challenges.

"What is the reasoning behind the Ministry of War's strategy? Minister, pray elaborate a little!"

Zhu Youjian was rather surprised by Yang Sichang's remarks.

Regarding the upcoming campaign beyond the passes, he had on several occasions summoned the relevant personnel to participate in deliberations, and the main tone of the entire battle—frontal decisive engagement, flanking surprise attacks, and swift resolution—had already been set. He had not expected the Ministry of War to make such a major alteration.

In Zhu Youjian's conception, the Yongwei Camp's chariot division would serve as the vanguard, the remaining forces together with the Capital Camps would advance as the main body from the front, the Qin army on the left and the Sichuan troops on the right, deploying their formation in the open ground between Yizhou and Jinzhou, directly confronting the Jurchen Eight Banners as well as the Mongol cavalry and Han banner troops head-on, using the Ming army's superior firearms to inflict heavy casualties on the Jianzhou slaves, then deciding the remaining tactics based on the battlefield situation.

According to the common view of later generations, the Jianzhou slaves' combat effectiveness was not as formidable as propaganda suggested. Based on the Ming army's current equipment levels and high morale, even if they could not defeat the Jianzhou slaves in a frontal engagement, there would not be a collapse like the great defeat of the Song-Jin Campaign in history.

He simply wanted to trade lives for lives, to exhaust the Jianzhou slaves' effective strength, and then, when they learned that both of their lairs had been raided and their morale had plummeted, throw the entire army forward in an assault, striving to cripple them completely in a single battle.

This operational plan had already received general approval from the relevant personnel, and the Ministry of War had also maintained close communication with those commanding generals to research and formulate corresponding tactics to deal with various possible situations.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the reason your ministers changed the original strategy is that we made the modification only after comprehensive consideration. After repeated confirmation, your ministers believe this strategy is the best!"

Yang Sichang replied in a firm tone.

"Could the Minister of War's meaning be that he is worried the regular army is no match for the Jianzhou slaves in a frontal engagement, and that should they lose a battle, their morale would collapse and the formation would break?"

Before Zhu Youjian could respond, Sun Chuanting, seated below, was the first to pose the question—and it happened to be exactly the same doubt Zhu Youjian had.

"In war, one must consider defeat before considering victory. Scholar Sun's doubt is indeed one of the reasons! Reporting to Your Majesty, although the Great Ming's elite regular forces are currently concentrated beyond the passes and in the capital region, with all due respect, most of our army has never engaged the Jianzhou slaves in frontal combat and is extremely unfamiliar with their formations and tactics. Sunzi said: Know the enemy and know yourself, and in a hundred battles you will never be in peril; if you do not know the enemy but know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will be in peril in every battle. Since our army wishes to annihilate or severely wound the Jianzhou slaves, knowing both the enemy and ourselves is the superior strategy—and to achieve that, we must engage them in multiple clashes before we can understand them. Otherwise, victory or defeat is hard to predict!"

Facing Chen Qiyu's question, Yang Sichang admitted with a composed expression that this was indeed one of the reasons the Ministry of War had changed its strategy.

The Great Ming had now nearly climbed to the top of the mire—with just one more push, it would completely extricate itself from the pit over ten zhang deep. At this critical moment, every exertion of force had to be considered with the utmost care, lest all previous efforts be wasted.

Should the main army suffer defeat in a frontal confrontation with the Jianzhou slaves, the consequences would be unimaginable—a crime that no one could bear. If that truly happened, the only fate awaiting the several hall officials of the Ministry of War would be decapitation in the marketplace.

The Yongwei Camp had already engaged the Jianzhou slaves in frontal combat on several occasions, but those battles had all been fought under extremely favorable terrain conditions. Though they ultimately won, their own casualties had also been considerable.

This reflected from the side that the Jianzhou slaves' combat effectiveness was indeed extremely formidable—far beyond comparison with the roving bandits within the borders.

Although the Qin army was also an elite force, if it were to confront the Jianzhou slaves head-on, victory or defeat was still an open question, and the Sichuan army faced the same problem.

In a large-scale frontal engagement, once the flanks were broken through by the enemy, the main force at the center would suffer flanking attacks—the result went without saying.

Whether it was the Yongwei Camp, the Capital Camps, the Qin army, or the Sichuan army, these were the Great Ming's only elite regular forces. If these units suffered catastrophic destruction, the just-improving situation would rapidly deteriorate anew. At that point, the territory beyond Shanhai Pass might well change hands, the Jianzhou slaves' spearhead would reach right up to the pass, and the capital would face a situation of multiple alarms per day. With hearts and minds in turmoil, anything could happen.

After much deliberation, the Ministry of War finally revised its original strategy and submitted this most prudent operational plan to the Emperor.

The greatest characteristic of this plan was its emphasis on stability—avoiding field battles with the Jianzhou slaves as much as possible.

The Ministry of War's strategy was to station heavy defensive forces at every fort along the route from Jinzhou south to Ningyuan, fully exploiting the advantages of firearms, holding firmly to the forts, and then, when there was confidence of success, concentrating heavy forces to surround and annihilate smaller contingents of Jianzhou slaves.

"Minister Yang's strategy is on the whole without major error, but with over a hundred thousand regular troops plus several tens of thousands of civilian laborers—nearly two hundred thousand people gathered beyond the passes—if this is to be sustained over a long period, the daily expenditure would be truly staggering. I wonder how many days the Ministry of Revenue can support this? Pay silver is one thing, but grain and fodder absolutely cannot be lacking. On this point, I pray Your Majesty and all ministers to consider it deeply!"