Chapter 1058 1149 Li Chengliang's Decision

Chapter 1058 1149 Li Chengliang's Decision

In the past, the battlefield in Liaodong was mainly based on defeat battles, and Li Chengliang would not consider encircling and annihilating the enemy at all.

This time he went to Yunnan to fight, which really posed a difficult problem for him, which he had never done before.

Just when Li Chengliang was thinking about how to deal with insurance, he heard his son's words.

"Dad, where is this place?"

Li Rusong pointed to two cities not far behind Baoshan and Shidian, one was Xidian and the other was Yongping.

Yongping was already within the scope of his consideration, but Xidian was not considered by Li Chengliang.

It's not that he can't see the advantages of this location, but this is Wandian and the chieftain's territory.

Under the influence of Luo Rufang, he was now worried about the local chieftain, so naturally he was unwilling to deploy his troops there.

However, Li Rusong had obviously thought about it, and he continued: "My father knew about his concerns. When the army entered Xidian, he just grounded the local chieftain, pushed his men to the front line, and made them cannon fodder.

If you don't know what's going on, just tell him that he's in Myanmar, and I'll just let the fourth man lead people to ransack his home. "

"hiss"

Li Rusong's thoughts shocked Li Chengliang.

Cruel enough.

It's no wonder that Li Rusong is already so cruel and ruthless at a young age. In the border town, such things are commonplace.

With hatred, some people will use the opportunity of war with surrounding ethnic groups to eradicate the roots and deal with their enemies. In any case, they will just lead the disaster to the enemy.

The officials above generally adhere to the style of doing more than doing less, and will not give a purpose to the dead.

Li Chengliang was able to climb from the garrison to the position of general officer, so his hands were naturally not clean, not to mention that for his own military merit, he took plunder and forcibly transferred elite soldiers and generals from various guards to his own army, offending those who Naturally, there are no young or old.

In order to raise troops, they also wantonly deducted the military pay allocated by the court and occupied the fields in Liaodong.

Although they started to prosper relatively late, the Li family's financial resources are already very considerable in Liaodong, and they are definitely among the best.

In fact, in the original history, the Li family was the natural emperor of Liaodong. It can be said that Liaodong is the richest, and there are many families who have made their fortune around the Li family.

Most of the military leaders in Liaodong in the late Ming Dynasty made their fortunes following the Li family, and they were all large landowners and merchants in Liaodong.

As the eldest son of Li Chengliang, Li Rusong had more or less contact with him, so it was not surprising to propose such a strategy at this time.

"That's not what I worry about as a father."

However, Li Chengliang was a man who worked his way up from the bottom, and was even more ruthless than Li Rusong.

This can be seen from the fact that he led his troops to attack Wang Gao and immediately issued the order to massacre the city after capturing Gule Village.

Most of the military generals in ancient times regarded human lives as nothing.

Not to mention using the heads of ordinary Han people to kill good people and taking credit, if you kill a few chieftains, you won't feel guilty.

However, Li Chengliang was indeed worried, but Li Rusong didn't understand it well.

"Dad, what are you worried about?"

After hearing his father's words, Li Rusong immediately asked.

“I told you about this, the glory and wealth of my Li family is all based on this use of troops against Burma.

If we win, our family will have the opportunity to become a noble family and a family that will live together with the country.

But if you are defeated"

Li Chengliang did not say any more. He knew that his son should understand what he meant.

Sure enough, Li Rusong immediately said: 'How can we lose? It's impossible. ’

"Yes, it is impossible to defeat under normal circumstances, but if we follow what was said before and lure the Burmese army into the country.

The plan is progressing smoothly, but what if the Yunnan censor wants to impeach his father?

After hearing that the Burmese army broke through the Ming Dynasty's borders, attacked cities and plundered territory, and disturbed the people, would the court depose my father for this? "

Li Chengliang said with a heavy tone.

"hiss"

Li Rusong took a breath. He now understood why his old father was hesitant.

In the past, they often did this in Liaodong.

They deliberately transferred the few Ming troops on the border to create opportunities for the Tatars to knock on the border.

After attracting people in, they can then use the Li family's retainers to raid the enemy's rear, destroy their supplies and camps, and then mobilize all Ming troops to encircle them. This will frighten the enemy into running away, and they will chase and kill them all the way.

After the fight, he reported his merits to the court.

Because it was a Tatar sneak attack, it is normal for a few castles to be lost on the border.

General Li led his troops to drive away the enemy troops, regain the lost territory, and obtain numerous gains. It is normal. Shouldn't the court reward him based on his merits?

This trick seems to be unusable in this battle against the Burmese army.

The Ming army had been on guard for a long time. If someone broke through the border city and entered the territory of the Ming Dynasty, and the censor impeached them, the father and son really couldn't explain it.

"Father, why don't you report your plan to the military department in advance?"

Li Rusong hesitated for a moment before speaking.

If he wants to come and report it in advance, and then impeach the censor, the court will naturally not adopt it.

"Alas, the court will not agree."

Li Chengliang sighed and said, "How could the imperial court agree to our plan? If we really want to implement it, we will inevitably order to clear the country and move the border people inward to reduce losses.

But in this case, the plan is exposed. Will Mang Yinglong still be fooled? "

Li Chengliang's idea is naturally correct. Although officials actually don't care about the common people, in the face of war, they will still falsely express their concern for the common people in the devastated war.

If they really want to press forward, the army intends to invite you into the urn, surround and annihilate them, and the court will definitely ask them to retreat the people to avoid the loss of life.

This shows the imperial court's care for the people, and it is possible that some money and food will be allocated for disaster relief.

Of course, whether these things will finally reach the hands of the people and how many they will have is another matter.

But the court will definitely do this.

Li Chengliang once devoted himself to literature and wanted to be a Jinshi. Naturally, he had a deep understanding of the hypocritical style of civil servants.

"In this case, why not adopt Luo Yushi's countermeasures and directly send troops to Mengyang to defeat the Burmese army head-on and defeat Mang Yinglong?"

Li Rusong knew that this strategy would not work, so he immediately suggested it.

"In normal times, Luo Rufang's plan would be fine, but you didn't hear what he said. The chieftains in Qianya, Longchuan and other places are not stable. Who knows if these people have secretly colluded with Myanmar Mang Yinglong.

If there is really a hookup, sending troops to Meng Yang would be equivalent to sending both of Liang Dao's hands to Mang Yinglong.

The army has no logistical supplies. Do you think we have a chance to come back after this trip? "

Li Chengliang's current situation is really a dilemma.

Fighting out is the most risky, but that's still on the battlefield.

But the risk seems to be greater if he wants to retire, because the court will probably not give him a chance to show his talents, and will deal with him on the grounds of incompetence and dereliction of duty, loss of teachers and loss of territory.

"Well, when I was in the capital, I had no idea that things in Yunnan were so complicated, otherwise I wouldn't have accepted this matter.

I would rather stay in the capital and be a powerless military leader than lead a fearful life like this. "

Li Chengliang really regrets it now.

In Liaodong, he had the final say, and he didn't have as many worries as he does now.

But after Mr. Wei Ge made it clear to him about the affairs in Myanmar, he naturally did not take the war in the south seriously at all according to his previous thinking in Liaodong.

Unfortunately, after arriving in the southwest, he discovered that the terrain here was more complex than he imagined, and it was also very different from the records in the military register of the Governor's Mansion.

In the past few days, I have learned about the characteristics of the war in Myanmar. Although I am confident that I can command the Ming army to defeat the opponent, if I want to win a beautiful victory, there must be no mistakes, but it will be a bit troublesome.

The most important thing is the toasts, whose attitude is unpredictable.

Fighting violence with violence is actually the best response.

For the chieftain who is not sure of the context, it is the best way to directly treat him as a spy of the Burmese army, but it is difficult for the court to explain.

There are too many constraints.

"Father, why don't you send a copy of our countermeasures to the capital and give it to Mr. Wei Ge?"

Li Rusong suddenly suggested that he still remembered that when his father suddenly came home and told him that he might go to the southwest to fight, he looked excited and said that the old Li family had been favored by Mr. Wei Ge.

Well, at that time they all thought things were simple, that's why they thought so.

However, the impression left in Li Rusong's mind was that his father said that Mr. Wei Ge thought highly of him.

Wei Guangde is a young dignitary in the court, but his strength is not trivial.

Li Rusong had stayed in the capital for a long time, so he naturally knew a lot about his past.

"Dad, think about it, Mr. Wei Ge thinks highly of you. As long as we tell Mr. Wei Ge about our plan, he will agree with your plan, dad. Even if someone in the court takes this matter to criticize my father, there will naturally be Mr. Wei Ge in the court to help him speak. Take care of one or two.

To put it bluntly, we are not blindly defensive. As long as we survive that period, when the time is right, we can send troops to surround the Burmese army and capture Mang Yinglong alive.

In fact, what dad was worried about was that something unexpected happened during the waiting period and the court punished him.

But as long as someone in the court speaks for dad and buys time, great things can happen. "

Li Rusong told everything about his thoughts. As he spoke, he felt that he seemed to be right, and his tone of voice couldn't help but become louder.

"Mr. Wei Ge?"

After listening to his son's suggestion, Li Chengliang was silent for a moment, and then hesitantly said: 'If you tell Mr. Wei Ge about this, will he listen to his father? ’

"As long as dad tells the whole story without reservation about the predicament he is currently facing, it has always been widely spread in the capital that Mr. Wei Ge knows military affairs and is well versed in strategy, so he should understand his father's difficulties.

As long as he can speak for his father in court and make a few mistakes, it should be fine. "

Li Rusong continued to talk, and he felt that his idea was correct.

Wei Guangde came from a military background, so he naturally had a good impression of them, at least he would not look down upon them like those civil servants.

"But, after all, this matter involves military affairs. Shouldn't we go to the Minister of War, Tan Shangshu?"

Li Rusong's idea of ​​finding strong support in the capital reminded Li Chengliang.

However, Li Chengliang was a little undecided for a moment as to whether it was Wei Guangde or Tan Lun, or even other dignitaries in the capital.

Most of the military generals were nobles who had taken refuge in the capital.

Regardless of the current power of civil servants in the DPRK, only noble families can be regarded as century-old wealthy families, and their influence in the military is unquestionable.

The civil servants have indeed usurped a lot of their rights, but so what, who doesn't know that the wealth of civil servants only lasts a few years.

Therefore, although their rights have been weakened, there are really not many people in the civil service who dare to challenge the nobles.

The so-called loss of rights by nobles is actually just the right to speak in the court, but with the emperor here, they still have the right to speak.

Moreover, when nobles and civil servants fight, the emperor usually chooses to side with the nobles and will never speak for the civil servants.

The power of the Ministry of War seems to be in the hands of civilian officials, but in fact it still lies with the nobles.

Generals who lead troops abroad are closer to their nobles.

Civil servants rely more on military readiness to control the army's money and food, which indirectly affects the army.

In fact, Xungui is not without achievements. Ming Dynasty now has many military scholars each year, most of whom are related to Xungui, and there are also people who sit in high positions.

At the beginning, Li Dongyang, who was a member of Jinwu Zuowei, held the position of first assistant. Now, the first assistant and second assistant of the cabinet are actually from the military.

"Zhang Juzheng."

For no reason, Li Chengliang suddenly thought of his chief assistant.

"I'll think about it again."

Li Chengliang said.

“Dad, I’m afraid this matter cannot be delayed.

Yunnan is not close to the capital. If Meng Yang changes, countermeasures must be given here.

It's better to plan ahead. "

Li Rusong said anxiously.

How could he put off this matter? If he didn't decide it as soon as possible, he would be restless.

"Okay, then if you want to write a letter, who should you write it to?"

Li Chengliang glanced at his son and asked.

"Of course Wei Ge is old and he is in charge of the Ministry of War."

Li Rusong said without thinking.

"Mr. Wei Ge is indeed a choice, but there are others."

Li Chengliang spoke calmly and reminded: "Tan Lun from the Ministry of War, and even Zhang Juzheng, the chief minister of the cabinet, do they understand military affairs?

Everyone should know that Tan Lun has been in charge of soldiers for a long time.

But they are just civil servants. What will happen in a few years or more than ten years?

The most stable people in the dynasty are the nobles, such as Duke Yingying and Duke Chengguo, who are hereditary and irreplaceable. Emperors of all generations have placed their trust in them.

If you look at the Beijing camp and the imperial guards, it can be seen that several princes take turns taking command. "

"What dad means"

Li Rusong is also a smart man. In his early years, Li Chengliang spent a lot of money to hire his teacher to teach him.

Although Chinese writing is not his strong point, he is not a big boss either.

In fact, in this era, there were very few generals in the Ming army who did not study. That is to say, they joined the army and took military positions only because they were not good at writing.

"Mr. Wei Ge is indeed the best choice, but he already has Ma Fang, Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang under him. To join him for his father is just the icing on the cake."

This is actually Li Chengliang's plan. The icing on the cake is not as good as giving someone timely assistance.

Tan Lun, let's forget it. He is just the Minister of the Ministry of War and will definitely not be in the cabinet.

But compared with Wei Guangde, does Zhang Juzheng have an advantage?

Li Chengliang was undecided, but Li Rusong understood clearly.

"Dad, Mr. Wei Ge has an advantage that the Chief Assistant does not have, and that is his relationship with Duke Wei and Duke Ding.

Dad relies on Mr. Wei Ge. Even if Mr. Wei Ge becomes an official and leaves the court in the future, our Li family can still take advantage of this to catch the big ship of the Duke of Wei and the Duke of Ding.

Especially now that we are in the south, who else in the south is stronger than the Duke of Wei?

Whether it is for the present or the future of our Li family, the future seems to be better if we lean towards Mr. Wei Ge. "

Li Rusong said what he wanted to say, and his words reminded Li Chengliang.

"That makes sense."

After thinking about it for a while, Li Chengliang had to admit that his son's view was right.

"Then let's write a letter to Mr. Wei Ge."

Li Chengliang made a decision.