Rise From the Humble

Emperor Jiajing's intention was very clear. How could other officials be ignorant? When Emperor Jiajing asked the Ministry of War Minister He Ao and others for their opinions, they all agreed to send troops to suppress the Japanese, but the tactics of sending troops were different.

"How dare fifty-seven Japanese pirates in red clothes and yellow umbrellas sit and watch Yingtian City? How can we punish them if we don't punish them all! The order is issued to Yingtian and the surrounding prefectures to punish these Japanese pirates without any mistake. We will not let any Japanese pirates slip through the net!"

After Emperor Jiajing asked several people, he issued an order on the spot, ordering people to rush to Yingtian and other places for eight hundred miles.

After the Japanese pirates in Yingtian were dealt with, Emperor Jiajing waved his sleeves and said to Yan Song and others, "The Japanese pirates in Shangyu are not accidental, nor is they an isolated case. During this time, I believe you and others also know that Japanese pirates have come and gone in the Jiangnan area. , has become more and more serious. The importance of the land south of the Yangtze River is self-evident, and it is urgent to deal with the Japanese invasion of the south of the Yangtze River. Your Majesty will go down and summon the six ministers and the left and right ministers for an hour to hold a meeting in Wuyi Palace."

"According to the order."

Yan Song and others knelt down to accept the order and retire.

Emperor Jiajing asked for a court meeting, and Yan Song and others did not dare to slack off. They immediately sent people to summon six ministers and ministers to come to Wuyi Hall for a meeting.

Soon, the six ministers and the left and right ministers all arrived. After tea time, Emperor Jiajing also arrived at Wuyi Hall.

"I am the leader of the thirty-one people in the world. I respect the heaven and the earth and cultivate myself. I work hard and sleep late at night without daring to slack off. However, natural and man-made disasters continue, the northern captives have not stopped, and the southern Japanese have come one after another. I feel deeply ashamed of the common people of the world. This is all my fault."

Emperor Jiajing wore a golden Taoist robe, sat high on the throne, glanced at the courtiers, and spoke slowly and sincerely.

Hearing Emperor Jiajing's words, "It's all my fault," all the courtiers hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed. They apologized one after another, saying, "Your Majesty, forgive me. Everything is the fault of my ministers. Your Majesty, your Majesty, governs the world, and you have to work hard to achieve success." In the prosperous Ming Dynasty, the Northern and Southern invaders are all incompetent ministers, and the Holy Spirit has troubled the whole people, causing all the people to suffer."

It's no good if you don't kneel down to apologize. History has proven that every time Emperor Jiajing said "it's all my fault", in fact, the fault in Emperor Jiajing's heart was someone else's.

For example, one year there was a heavy snowfall, an extremely heavy snowfall that was unprecedented in history. Hundreds of thousands of people were affected, and millions of acres of wheat seedlings were frozen to death. When Emperor Jiajing summoned his courtiers to discuss disaster relief, he said, "It's all my fault." During the court meeting, an official from the Qintian Prison followed Emperor Jiajing's words and suggested that Emperor Jiajing issue an edict to pray for God's forgiveness. Then, this upright Qintianjian official was beaten to death with a stick.

There are many examples of this. The most recent one was during the Gengxu Revolution. Emperor Jiajing once said, "It's all my fault." Then Ding Rukui, the Minister of War, was executed.

Therefore, upon hearing Emperor Jiajing's words "It's all my fault", all the courtiers broke out in cold sweat, fearing that they would become criminals in Emperor Jiajing's heart.

"There's no need to argue. Let's all get up. This matter can be discussed later. Today, I'm calling you to discuss the Japanese invasion of Jiangnan. My dear friends, the Japanese invasion of Jiangnan is urgent. Please come up with some details. Don't wait. To disappoint me."

Emperor Jiajing waved his hand noncommittally, motioning for everyone to stand up, and ordered everyone to start a court discussion around the Japanese pirates in the south of the Yangtze River.

This time Yan Song realized it and took the initiative to speak immediately without asking Emperor Jiajing to name him.

Yan Song is a good person. He didn't take the initiative to speak in the palace just now. He was forced to speak after being called upon by Emperor Jiajing. Moreover, the content of his speech was not approved by Emperor Jiajing. He knew it well in his heart and was specially prepared this time. The purpose is to recover the points lost in the palace just now and to restore the image in the heart of Emperor Jiajing.

After he came out of the palace, he immediately reported the matter of the court meeting and sent people to rush back to Yan's mansion to inform his son Yan Shifan. He asked his son to quickly prepare a statement for him to speak at the court meeting.

In recent years, as Yan Song has grown older, he has relied on the advice of his son Yan Shifan for many matters in his position as chief auxiliary of the cabinet.

At that time, Yan Shifan was working hard among the women while he was drunk. After receiving his father's instructions, he had to interrupt his work, wring his forehead with a hot towel to sober up, and wrote a "Ten Difficulties and Three Strategies for Conquering the Japanese".

Yan Song received Yan Shifan's "Ten Difficulties and Three Strategies to Control Japanese Countries" before the court meeting. After reading it, he nodded repeatedly and felt confident in his heart. So after Emperor Jiajing finished speaking, he stepped forward and was the first to speak. .

"Go back to your Majesty. I believe that it is very difficult to control the Japanese in the south of the Yangtze River." Yan Song saluted Emperor Jiajing and said confidently.

"Oh, what are the ten difficulties?" Emperor Jiajing asked with interest.

"Back to the Holy One, there is one difficulty: the Japanese pirates come from the sea, and their comings and goings are erratic and difficult to predict, so they are difficult to control; the two difficulties are: the coastline is long and tortuous, making it difficult to defend; the three difficulties are: the water and land are intertwined, and they suddenly advance It is difficult to fight if they suddenly retreat; the four difficulties are: the Japanese pirates are treacherous, unethical, inhumane, and their plans are difficult to know; the five difficulties are: the Japanese pirates have been occupying the overseas desert islands for a long time, and they have been operating for a long time, and the strongholds are strong and difficult to prepare; the six difficulties are: Difficulties: the residents are fragile, and there are many unfilial people along the coast, who must cooperate with the Japanese pirates. The seven difficulties are: the land along the south of the Yangtze River is flooded with saltwater, making it difficult to build a city. If it is difficult to build a city, there is no danger to defend, and it is difficult to resist the Japanese pirates. The eight difficulties are: host and guest military strength It is limited and difficult to maintain for a long time; the nine difficulties are: lack of food and grass, which is difficult to raise, coupled with natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and locusts, making it even more difficult to raise food and grass; the ten difficulties are: many generals are arrogant and cowardly, difficult to trust, and ineffective in fending off Japanese invaders .”

Yan Song cupped his hands and reported them one by one.

Emperor Jiajing nodded when he heard this and looked at Yan Song approvingly. He was quite satisfied with Yan Song's summary of the ten difficulties in fighting Japanese pirates.

"In view of these ten difficulties, what can you do?" Emperor Jiajing asked again.

"I am not very good at military affairs, but I have done a lot of research on the Japanese pirates in the south of the Yangtze River. In response to these ten difficulties, I have three strategies to control the Japanese," Yan Song said slowly.

Emperor Jiajing nodded slightly and signaled Yan Song to continue.

"Wei Chen's three strategies to control the Japanese are: first, build more warships, occupy key points, attack them when they come, and destroy them when they go. Second, gather 500 sand ships and patrol the Haikou of Suzhou, and select more than 10,000 soldiers to guard the garrison. At the protective pond of Songjiang River, the Japanese pirates landed and attacked them. 3. Five or six hundred light warships from Jisu and Songjiang were stationed at Huangpu, Wusong, Taihu and other places, so that the Japanese pirates did not dare to go deep and the boats did not dare to sail wildly. .At the same time, to train more soldiers and horses in the guard station, consider recruiting wolf soldiers, native soldiers, and Zhang soldiers as supplements, and leave 100,000 taels of salt and silver left in Huai and Zhejiang, or borrow 80,000 to 90,000 taels of southern Jiangxi army pay as food and rewards. Yes." Yan Song said slowly.

Emperor Jiajing nodded while listening. It was obvious that Yan Song's three difficult strategies had caught his eye and made him quite satisfied.