Chapter 1041 - Passing the Buck (Part 2)

Shen Xi doesn't have much substantive understanding of the Northwest Border Pass, and if he wants to say that he is slightly familiar with it, there is only the Yulin Acropolis, which is the residence of the governor of the three sides and the governor of Yansui, which can be said to be the most important link in the defense of the Northwest Pass. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Unable to hold on, there was nothing to do, so he had to pursue, but as a result, he fell into the Tatars' plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, and the northwest war situation was completely ruined, and the capital naturally couldn't sit still.

Shen Xi looked at Xie Qian in the dark, and could probably guess why Xie Qian was so annoyed and irritable, because he proposed this tactic to Emperor Hongzhi by taking the initiative to pursue him.

Now that there is a deviation in the war, Xie Qian has to bear a lot of responsibility, but the implementation of tactics is mainly decided by Emperor Hongzhi, at that time Xie Qian just complimented Zhu Youzhi along the way, so that Zhu Youzhi was in a happy mood and agreed to the strategy of "holding on first, waiting for Beiyi to withdraw troops and then waiting for an opportunity to pursue".

This strategy is cleverly worded, proposing "waiting for the opportunity to pursue", not saying that you must be allowed to pursue, the Ming border army was in a plan, and the Tatars were ambushed, which was the problem of Liu Daxia, the commander of the army, and the generals at all levels in the middle and lower levels, and it had nothing to do with the emperor.

Since it has nothing to do with the emperor, Xie Qian's crime can be relatively light, depending on who is ultimately blamed for the rout of this war, but if you really want to find out who is responsible, Xie Qian will not be able to escape.

The carriage was still moving, and Xie Qian asked, "Yulin Guard is lost, what is your best plan?" ”

Shen Xi thought to himself, Xie Lao'er should be sick and rushed to the doctor, such a big thing as the loss of Yulinwei is almost comparable to the impact of the "Tumubao Change" on the Ming Dynasty, the best strategy is naturally to tighten the guards, and all the cities north and west of the Beijing Division are closed and closed, strictly guarded, and the Beijing Division is under full martial law......

In fact, martial law is not unfamiliar to the people in the capital and the surrounding areas, in the past, the Tatars committed the border, every one or two years, two or three years, there will be one or even many times when the Beijing division is in an emergency, not to mention, just in the thirteenth year of Hongzhi, the Beijing division has ordered martial law three times, and after Hongzhi ascended the throne, there were more than a dozen times because of the Tatar offense and martial law.

Shen Xi asked, "The juniors don't quite understand what the elder of the pavilion means by the good policy?" Didn't Mo propose how to recover the Yulin Acropolis and drive out the Tartars? ”

"Or what do you think?"

Xie Qian's voice became indifferent, as if he was angry Shen Xi asked knowingly.

Shen Xi sighed lightly: "The elder should know the temperament of the Tatars very well, give them the fortress, and they can't occupy it for a long time, because they can't transport supplies from the steppe into the pass, as long as the battle line is extended, the Tatars will inevitably withdraw their troops if they don't follow...... The border army can logically take back Yulin City, so why send troops to attack it? ”

Xie Qian cautiously asked: "Listen to what you mean, if the important town of the Ming border pass is lost, you will no longer care about it, and let the Tatars occupy it?" And then sit back and wait for the Tatars to invade our border lands, plunder the people, and even invade my capital in the east? ”

Xie Qian's words sound infuriating, but throughout the Ming Dynasty, except for the Hongwu and Yongle periods, which had an advantage over the north, and then there were the three major expeditions of Wanli, the rest of the time they were basically in a state of shrinking defense. The root of this is that the Yongle Emperor took the initiative to abandon the Hetao area and lost the natural dangers of Helan Mountain and Yinshan Mountain, which led to the strategic situation of the Ming Dynasty against the grassland tribes from offensive to defensive, bringing endless hidden dangers to future generations.

The Son of Heaven guards the country, in which the word "guard" represents the basic national policy of the Ming Dynasty, that is to say, the foundation of the Ming Dynasty is guarded, not attacked. When the Tatars and Warats were strong, they were able to invade the border lands of the Ming Dynasty and plunder the population, but they were never able to threaten the foundation of the Ming rule.

Although Shen Xi felt that the defense was very weak, since the most important Yulin guard in the three sides was lost now, why didn't he stick to it to the end?

Shen Xi said: "The younger generation thinks that under the current situation, it is the best policy!" ”

"Your opinion cannot be used as a basis for the strategic adjustment of the imperial court."

Xie Qian did not scold Shen Xi, but put forward the current reality of the Ming Dynasty, "Since Your Majesty decided to use troops in the northwest, the whole country has prepared for war, dispatched countless soldiers and horses, money and grain, and even cast hundreds of cannons, in order to raise the prestige of our Huaxia army in this war, but the army has not yet been out of the fortress, and it has suffered a small setback, where is the prestige?" Where is the morale of my Ming soldiers? Where is the prestige of the imperial court? ”

Xie Qian's words were loud, but Shen Xi summed it up, it was nothing more than saying that the imperial court had spent so much money to prepare for this battle, and declared to the outside world how much success this war could achieve, and how many years of peace could be allowed for the people to consolidate, and the people were also cheering, saying that the world was peaceful and prosperous, and the son of heaven was shengming.

But the result?

Without waiting for the Ming soldiers and horses to come out of the jam, the Tatars themselves first "sent to the door", the Ming border army did not wait to accept the "thank you", and gradually found that the Tatars were still so fierce, and the border defense was still full of loopholes.

Xie Qian's series of problems, to put it bluntly, the emperor and courtiers couldn't afford to lose this face, and they didn't want to cause instability within the Ming Dynasty because of this rout.

If a foreign war is lost, internal contradictions will arise, and if one is not careful, it may cause the collapse of the dynasty, such as the "Tumubao Change", which led to the change of the throne.

Shen Xi pondered, is the face of the emperor and the Ming Dynasty important, or is the safety of the land and the people more important?

Could it be that in order to save face, knowing that there will be no good result in fighting with the Tatars, he still has to carry out the wrong policy to the end?

Faced with a series of questions from Xie Qian, Shen Xi only expressed his opinion euphemistically: "The younger generation is just like this, if the elder thinks it is inappropriate, the younger generation has not mentioned it!" ”

Although Shen Xi's attitude made Xie Qian dissatisfied, Xie Qian also knew that he couldn't embarrass people too much.

Shen Xi is not an immortal in the end, the northwest is defeated, and now the important ministers of the court are in a hurry when they hear the news, and even the emperor has lost his sense of proportion and does not know what to do, he now comes to ask Shen Xi about his countermeasures, Shen Xi can decisively say that it is rare to stabilize the pass and strictly defend it, and then let Shen Xi find the initiative to defeat the enemy and win, which can not only achieve victory but also save the face of the Ming Dynasty, which is really unrealistic.

……

……

The carriage stopped in front of the Daming Gate.

When Shen Xi got out of the car, the palace gate was deserted, originally the palace gate was closed at this time, and no one could enter and exit casually, but looking at Xie Qian's meaning, it seemed that he was ready to take Shen Xi into the palace like this.

At this time, Shen Xi still couldn't understand why Xie Qian brought him here, even if the emperor recruited ministers overnight to discuss, he would not summon him to be a civil servant who didn't even have an official position, and only had the title of the right deputy of the third grade, and even Shen Xi was not qualified to enter and leave the palace gate at all.

Xie Qian got out of the carriage, seemed to have some numbness in his legs and feet, and bent down to beat there.

Shen Xi didn't go up to help, turned his head and looked at a carriage coming in the distance, in the faint light of the lantern, Shen Xi found that this person's figure was a little familiar, and when he looked closer, he knew that it was Ma Wensheng, the secretary of the military department.

"Yu Qiao?"

Ma Wensheng obviously also came by edict, and after getting out of the car, he saw Xie Qian at a glance, and the previous strategy of sending troops to pursue the Tatars was proposed by Xie Qian, so Ma Wensheng naturally wanted to come over and ask Xie Qian's meaning.

When Ma Wensheng came closer, he realized that it was not a small servant or a groom standing behind Xie Qian's side, but Shen Xi in civilian clothes. Ma Wensheng greeted: "Isn't this Shen Hanlin?" ”

"The student has seen Ma Shangshu." Shen Xi hurriedly saluted.

Ma Wensheng smiled and bowed: "You are the prince's teacher, and you can't afford to be your 'student'." Yu Qiao, this is going to the palace? ”

Marven Sheng has an extraordinary bearing, a person in his seventies, he entered the palace at night, his spirit is still so good, and his words are not as flustered as Xie Qian, and he has the style of a general at a glance.

In Shen Xi's opinion, Xie Qian lacks this kind of unruly bearing, of course, mainly because Xie Qian is easy to be moody, and he is more like a lover.

Shen Xi, as a junior, is not an important courtier, even if he followed Xie to the gate of the palace, Ma Wensheng just said hello to him, and didn't take him seriously.

Ma Wensheng and Xie Qian, the two old ministers, walked in front, and Shen Xi followed behind the two and went to the palace gate together.

Shen Xi muttered in his heart, Ma Wensheng and Xie Qian are frequent visitors in the palace, and they will naturally not be blocked from entering and exiting the palace gate, but he is just a Hanlin official, and every time he enters and exits the palace gate in the past, he has to rely on the waist card of Zhan Shifu, but now the waist card has long been deprived, and he will not be stopped if he enters the palace rashly, and he will even be regarded as an assassin of the chaotic party, right?

As a result, when they arrived at the palace gate, the royal guards and palace guards guarding the palace gate opened the palace gate with just a glance, allowing the three of them to enter, and they didn't even come forward to interrogate Shen Xi.

Shen Xi felt very strange and thought to himself: "Could it be that I am so famous, the palace guards all know who I am, and I don't even have a symbolic inspection?" ”

Shen Xi was full of doubts, and suddenly heard Ma Wensheng and Xie Qian arguing loudly, Xie Qian raised his voice: "...... I wrote a letter to Liu Shiyong before, asking him to stick to it and not to rush in, but now he is eager to make meritorious contributions, which led to the fiasco of my Ming border army, and he must bear it alone! ”

Because the two old guys deliberately lowered their voices when they spoke before, Shen Xi didn't hear what he was talking about, but when he heard this, Shen Xi probably understood that Xie Qian was so angry, it should be Ma Wensheng who considered the problem from the position of Liu Daxia, the secretary of the Ministry of War, and thought that the strategy of the imperial court rashly sending troops to pursue was wrong, so Xie Qian stopped doing it.

Xie Qian felt that the main planner of this battle was the Son of Heaven, and the specific executor was Liu Daxia, and I also foresaw in advance that the Tatars had invaded the border before, and the emperor asked me about my strategy, and my strategy was to wait for the Tatars to withdraw their troops, and also specifically mentioned "waiting for the opportunity to pursue", it was you Liu Daxia who waited for the opportunity to serve the wrong thing, what is the matter with me as a consultant?

Even if there is to be accountability, it should be a matter for decision-makers and implementers.

Xie Qian has a thought now, no matter what the final result is, he will protect himself first.

Xie Qian knew that he was not lightly responsible in this matter, although the decision-maker was the emperor, but the defeat could not be held accountable to the emperor, and the adviser should be held accountable, that is, Xie Qian's staff and strategists.

Xie Qian didn't want to shirk the responsibility, but he just thought of the frustration and despair of Hongzhi who knew that he was going to die in the thirteenth year, so he didn't want to experience it a second time, so this time he brought Shen Xi directly into the palace, not to push the responsibility to Shen Xi, but to let Shen Xi be his think tank, in this desperate situation on all sides, Xie Qian trusted only Shen Xi the most.

Ma Wensheng said: "Yu Qiao will dissipate his anger first, wait to see His Majesty, and listen to His Majesty's will!" ”

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