My life skills in Daming Liver

This series of changes in the Ming court were quickly collected and sorted out by Lu Tianshou at the Capital Information Station, and sent to Dagu by express horse.

The clipper ship from Dagu set off immediately and spread the news about the Ming court to Nanjing as quickly as possible.

Southeast Cabinet.

Su Ze rarely left the Governor's Mansion and personally participated in the cabinet meeting.

This time the cabinet meeting, in addition to the cabinet ministers, also convened seven ministries, five temples, two supervisors, and important officials from the Metropolitan Procuratorate. Naturally, the discussion was about the changes in the Ming court.

Regarding the internal struggle in the Ming court, Dongnan was naturally overjoyed when he received the news.

But how to profit from it is what needs to be discussed.

Xu Wei looked at everyone, cleared his throat, and came up with his plan first.

"Grand Governor, colleagues, I believe that the first thing is to increase assistance to North Korea and help Yi Sun-shin win the entire North Korea."

Xu Wei's suggestion was supported by everyone present. Yi Sun-shin had already attacked Pyongyang City, and the leader of North Korea had escaped across the Yajiang River with his concubines and ministers to the territory of the Ming Dynasty.

After the North Korean leader fled North Korea, the army that originally resisted the North Korean court immediately lost its fighting spirit.

Now increasing aid to Yi Sun-shin and allowing him to occupy the entire North Korea immediately is an inevitable choice for the Southeast.

Su Ze also nodded, and this opinion was considered unanimously approved.

Immediately afterwards, Xu Wei said: "The next step is the strategy for Mingting."

Xu Wei looked at it and said:

"Now the staff has come up with two plans."

"The first step is to immediately attack Henan and occupy the central area of ​​Henan. Now Chen Yiqin, the governor of Henan in the Ming Dynasty, is at war with Guo Pu of Shaanxi. In addition, his relationship with Li Chengliang is not good. If Henan can be occupied, the Central Plains can Certainly."

Xu Wei's plan made everyone raise their heads. Henan's location is too important.

If Huguang is the granary, then Henan is the heart.

Henan is also the core area that Southeast and the Ming Dynasty compete for. As long as Henan is occupied, Southeast can attack Guanzhong from the west and occupy the entire Shaanxi area.

They can also attack Shandong together with Huaibei and threaten the Ming Dynasty capital.

However, some people present shook their heads.

Xu Wei continued:

"Another plan was proposed by the Third Brigade in Sichuan. This winter we should unite the armies of Sichuan and Guangxi to pacify Yunnan and Guizhou."

Xu Wei looked at the crowd and said, "Both of these plans are considered feasible by the Army Department."

Su Ze looked at Army Minister Lin Liangjun and asked:

"Is the War Department ready?"

Lin Liangjun has been presiding over military affairs away from home, and has already developed some of the dignity of the Minister of War.

But when he returned to Nanjing and saw Su Ze, it was still like a mouse meeting a cat. Lin Liangjun immediately said:

"Back to the Governor, if we attack Henan, we will have to use Chen Lin's fifth brigade in Xuzhou and Lin Deyang's third brigade in Sichuan, but the fifth brigade needs to deal with threats from Shandong, and the third brigade Still suppressing bandits in western Sichuan."

(Correction in the previous article, Lin Deyang’s department is the third brigade)

“To complete the mobilization, we have to wait until next spring.”

Many people showed regretful expressions.

A war against the Ming Dynasty, a war of this level, requires time for logistical supplies and military mobilization.

The Third Brigade had just captured Sichuan. To attack Henan, it had to return to Huguang. Marching and supplying materials would also take a long time.

The Fifth Brigade also has the strategic task of containing Shandong. If you want to mobilize the Fifth Brigade, you must immediately replenish the army to take over the defense of Xuzhou.

Such problems occurred mainly because the changes in the Ming court were too sudden and there were too few available troops in the southeast.

Regarding this issue, Su Ze has never agreed to large-scale military expansion.

According to Southeast, in the age of firearms, sending untrained soldiers to the battlefield was tantamount to indifference to human life.

For a long time, the Southeast's combat strategy has been to encroach on the Ming court's area with as little battle damage as possible.

Even Sichuan, which had been attacked at great cost in previous dynasties, was solved with only one brigade under Xiong Kuang's extraordinary troops.

Another advantage of maintaining elite soldiers is that it can reduce military expenditures but ensure that each soldier receives adequate treatment.

The soldiers in the southeast were far better than the Ming court's army in terms of equipment and morale, because of the strategy of this elite army.

If the size of the army is expanded, military expenditures will either increase or soldiers' benefits will be reduced.

In comparison, the armies in the provinces of the Ming Dynasty were not small in size, but they were large in number and poorly trained, and their weapons and equipment lagged behind those in the southeast. In many places, most of the income was used to maintain the army, and ordinary people were struggling to make ends meet.

Su Ze asked: "What about Yungui?"

Lin Liangjun said:

"Qi Jiguang's Sixth Brigade has completed the Annan operation and is ready to return to Guangxi after reorganization, allowing Qi Jiguang to attack Yunnan and Guizhou from Burma."

"Yu Zigao's fourth brigade is in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas and can go north to attack Yunnan and Guizhou at any time."

"In addition, Sichuan's third brigade can also attack from a flank."

The result is now obvious. Although Henan is good, it is not something Southeast Asia can eat in one bite.

It is better to attack Yunnan and Guizhou and end the war in the southwest as soon as possible.

As long as the war in the southwest is over, Guangxi's Fourth Brigade and Annan's Sixth Brigade can go north and engage in the battle against the Ming court in the north.

Su Ze said: "The Second Brigade and the Fifth Brigade must also be prepared. Once a major change occurs in Henan, be ready to send troops immediately."

After the strategy of attacking the southwest first and then the central plains was settled, the atmosphere became much more relaxed.

Fang Wanghai began to discuss the situation in Annan and Nanyang.

"Annan's cane sugar imports are growing rapidly. Some large sugar plantation owners in Annan are already dissatisfied with the municipal shipping tax. They hope to end the status of a foreign province as soon as possible and merge into our southeast."

"Over in Nanyang, after Governor Zhang Lian and Zhang took office, Nanyang pirates can no longer hang out near Manila. I heard that most of them have now gone to the Malacca area. The Portuguese are asking us for help from the southeast, hoping that we can help maintain the Malacca waterway. ."

"North Korea is also discussing whether to maintain the treatment of a tributary state or to establish a governor's palace like Annan as our southeastern province."

Southeast now divides trading partners into four levels.

General trade partners, Western countries and Japanese countries, are treated in this way. Most of their goods entering the southeast need to pay higher tariffs.

Tributary countries, Korea, Champa, and a series of Nanyang tributary countries that Southeast received from Ming Dynasty, their domestic goods entering Southeast need to pay normal tariffs.

From other provinces, now Annan, their goods only need to pay relatively low tariffs when entering the southeast.

Finally, Ryukyu was merged into the Southeast. This area enjoys a unified market with the Southeast and does not need to pay tariffs.

Fang Wanghai added: "But Annan also has new methods of tax evasion."