For the turmoil in the northwest and southeast, Emperor Chongzhen could not do more than take some measures in personnel arrangements and the selection and appointment of personnel. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Therefore, after supplementing the lack of officials in the Yamen and the Third Division, the governor of Zhejiang, he also let these people go to deal with them.

In fact, in the original history, there are many things that the front-line ministers can do well, for example, on the issue of dealing with thieves, whether it is Hong Chengchou, Chen Qiyu, or Sun Chuanting, they are all very capable, but it is a pity that Emperor Chongzhen and his court in Beijing always like to meddle and command indiscriminately.

Especially Emperor Chongzhen himself, his ears are too soft, he listened to the minister's words today, and listened to the minister's words tomorrow, which made the front-line generals at a loss and in a hurry.

Now that Emperor Chongzhen has decided to overcome such a problem, since he has placed Yuan Chonghuan, Hong Chengchou, and Sun Chuanting, who are eloquent and strategic, in key places, there is no need to worry about the chaos in the northwest every day.

There is no need to issue decrees one after another to conduct remote command over a war that is 3,000 miles away.

Therefore, after explaining some of his arrangements for exterminating the thieves to the governors and ministers of the northwest, Emperor Chongzhen did not spend much energy on the war in the northwest.

Now that the personnel arrangements in Zhejiang have been made properly, they have shifted their energy to another seemingly innocuous matter.

This seemingly innocuous thing is the terrain sand table that Emperor Chongzhen has always wanted to gather people to do well.

The day after Geng Ruqi and others left Beijing to take up their posts in Hangzhou, the emperor issued another decree through the cabinet, and Niu Jinxing, a scholar in the Wuying Palace, was promoted to the post of Fang Langzhong of the Ministry of War, and concurrently served as the military aircraft staff officer of the Military Aircraft Department.

Niu Jinxing, that is, Niu Juming, although he was a little reluctant to take the position of the scholar in the Wuying Palace, he was also very satisfied with the new appointment.

Although he was a literati scholar, he liked to talk about military debates since he was a child, and he had admired the position of the military department, especially the position of the Ministry of Labor.

Besides, a new science and technology scholar, in just half a year, has jumped from a scholar in the Wuying Hall of the Seventh Rank to a member of the Ministry of War, which is definitely a miraculous promotion, not to mention that after returning from outside the Saiwai, he brought back a now favored Concubine Lan to the emperor, and from then on, even if Jane was in the emperor's heart and the saint's family was immortal.

Therefore, for Niu Juming's new appointment, the same year that Enke knew each other well in the first year of Chongzhen, especially Shen Tingyang, Li Xin and others who were also in the Wuying Palace, were even more envious.

Although these people served in the central institutions and worked beside the emperor, they did not want to go out to do something great and make a contribution all the time.

Especially after Niu Juming came back from his meritorious service in Saibei, the things he talked to them about in Saibei made several other military personnel in the Wuying Hall amazed.

However, these people also admire Niu Juming very much for being able to stir up the storm in Saibei and make contributions from it as a military aircraft man.

At the very least, Shen Tingyang and Li Xin felt that if they were in the same position as Niu Juming at that time, they might not dare to do this, and they might not be able to do so well.

Let's say that Niu Juming received a new appointment, bid farewell to the military aircraft department in the Wuying Palace, and went to the Ministry of War to take office.

The staff department is one of the four major divisions of the Ministry of War, with many functions and powers, and the functions and powers are very heavy, among which it is in charge of the military geography and mountains and rivers of the Ming Dynasty, Beijing and 13 provinces, as well as the border fortress and the coastal defense and sea ban of the coastal ports.

Among the staff divisions, he is the leader of the staff division, and almost all the affairs of the staff division are decided by him.

On the third day after Niu Juming took office, Emperor Chongzhen sent someone to call him to the imperial study in the East Warm Pavilion of the Qianqing Palace.

Niu Juming entered the cabinet and made a big salute, and Emperor Chongzhen said: "How do you feel about Qing taking office today?" ”

Niu Juming kowtowed and said: "Wechen is Chinese in June, joined the Chinese scholar in July, and was ordered to go out of the city in August, and it has only been half a year to this day, and His Majesty has been promoted to the important point of the Ministry of War, and Weichen is really panicked. Your Majesty is so trustworthy, Wei Chen can only repay His Majesty Long's grace with his liver and brain. ”

Seeing Niu Juming say this, he knew that he obviously misunderstood what he meant, so Emperor Chongzhen said: "Speak calmly!" ”

After seeing Niu Juming stand up, he bowed respectfully and stood up, and Emperor Chongzhen simply said: "The functions and powers of the Ministry of War are important, I let you go, first, you have made meritorious contributions in Saibei, which shows that you also know the soldiers and have strategies." Second, I do have something to do for you. ”

Speaking of this, Emperor Chongzhen looked up at Niu Juming and quickly lowered his head, knowing that he had doubts in his heart, so he continued: "The staff division is in charge of the world's soldiers' important geographical chronicles, mountains and rivers, although this matter is very important, but the previous dynasties have not paid enough attention to it. As a result, the maps of the mountains and rivers I see now are obscure, and there are many mistakes, omissions and ambiguities.

"Today I have an idea called the sand table model. In the Wuying Palace, the maps of mountains and rivers such as wooden maps, layout maps, and paper maps hidden by the military headquarters and Ouchi in the past were all enlarged according to appropriate proportions to make a physical topographical map.

"All the mountains and rivers are compared with the real thing, and the sand and cement are simulated and shaped, and the mountains and rivers of the world are all collected in a unified sand table model. From now on, whether it is command and planning, or marching and arranging, I and the Minister of Military Aircraft and Military Aircraft can be clear and clear about the terrain of mountains and rivers, wouldn't it be good. ”

After Emperor Chongzhen said this, Niu Juming immediately understood in his heart that the emperor wanted to engrave the map of the past on the wooden board, depicted on the cloth or paper, and make it into a tiny physical appearance, and place it in the Wuying Palace!

After Niu Juming figured it out in his heart, he said: "Your Majesty's words made Weichen suddenly!" After this kind of terrain sand table is made, it will definitely be a big help for the generals of the Ming Dynasty to command and plan and lead the troops to fight in the future!

"It's just that the minister has been checking the old files in the cabinet library in the division in the past two days, and I heard that Liu Daxia, the secretary of the military department during the Hongzhi period, put a fire in the cabinet library, and burned the map of all countries accumulated in the imperial court since Yongle.

"The ministers and colleagues went back and forth, and the maps mastered by the Ministry Division, in addition to the southeast defense map since Jiajing, there is only the nine-sided map since Wanli.

"And judging from the experience of the ministers, the previous nine-sided map of the imperial court, in addition to the accuracy of Gyeonggi, is really bright and dark in Saibei, and there are many mistakes and omissions, which may not be enough to rely on."

After Niu Juming said this, he looked at the emperor, and then bowed his head and said nothing.

Liu Daxia is indeed a pedantic literati, after winning the Jinshi, he first became a member of the Hanlin Academy, and then became the director of the Ministry of Justice, and then promoted to the position of Fang Langzhong, and became the secretary of the Ministry of War in the fifteenth year of Hongzhi.

During his tenure in the Ministry of War, because he opposed the imperial court's use of troops abroad, especially disliked the practice of seven trips to the West during the Yongle period, in order to prevent some people in the court from advocating the strategic proposition of opening the sea in the southeast and recovering the northwest, as an official of the Ministry of War, he actually burned the maps and charts of Chengzu's five northern expeditions and Zheng He's seven trips to the West.

After the death of Emperor Hongji, Emperor Zhengde ascended the throne. Emperor Zhengde liked martial arts and was good at using soldiers, so he was quite dissatisfied with Liu Daxia's stubborn pedantry and did not use him much. In the eleventh year of Zhengde, Liu Daxia died at home at the age of eighty-one.

is such a person, he actually lived to be eighty-one years old, he is really a good person who does not pay for his life, and the scourge lives for a thousand years!

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen was also helpless in his heart, and said to Niu Juming: "What Aiqing said, of course I know. Now in the Wuying Palace, there is a complete map of all countries presented by the Westerner Matteo Ricci, but the sand table I said, there is no need to be greedy for perfection for a while.

"In my opinion, based on the map data currently in the possession of the Ministry of Justice, let's start with the surrounding areas of Gyeonggi. I made a topographical sand table around Gyeonggi and showed it to me. I think it's okay to do it later, and then I'll do it in Shanxi, Liaodong and other nine-sided ones. Do it step by step, and one day you can do it all.

"As for the scale between the sand table model and the actual geography of mountains and rivers, I will calculate it by a hundred miles away. During the period, I will give you a will, you can take everyone from the staff to visit the survey, as for the materials required to pile up the terrain sand table according to the ratio, you can ask someone to go to the Ministry of Works to select people to do it. It doesn't matter who it is, but if it is useful, I will allow it. ”

Niu Juming saw that the emperor said this, and his heart suddenly became much more steady, and now there are skilled craftsmen in the Ministry of Industry, plus there are magical things like cement, as long as the measurement is accurate, the terrain sand table of a Gyeonggi land is not easy to catch.

At that moment, Niu Juming received the decree of gratitude, and with the emperor's will, he organized people to go to various parts of Gyeonggi to survey the mountains and rivers, calculate the distance, and select craftsmen to plan and start construction.