Yang He, whose courtesy name was Xiuling, was from Wuling, Huguang. He was well-read in poetry and books and was full of knowledge. He was a high school scholar in the 32nd year of Wanli. He was first appointed as the chief censor. Because of his outstanding political achievements, he was transferred to the Right Minister of War!

Since the beginning of spring this year, Shandong and Henan provinces have suffered severe droughts, and a large number of refugees have poured into the Northern Zhili area. These people have no clothes, no food, no place to live, no matter how robbery, steal, and hurt people, and social security is extremely chaotic.

The court was worried about a civil rebellion and decided to send officials to provide disaster relief. However, the treasury was empty and it was difficult to allocate money and grain. The difficulty of disaster relief was very high. Therefore, the officials shirked each other and no one was willing to go there. Only Yang He volunteered to take on this chore!

Yang He personally visited Baoding, Zhending, Hejian and other places, and found that the serious disaster and the chaos in the hearts of the people were far beyond the previous expectations of the court. Nowadays, refugees are like a pile of dry firewood. As long as a spark is on the ground, they will immediately surge into the sky!

Northern Zhili is at the foot of the emperor. Once a large-scale civil unrest occurs, the consequences will be unimaginable and may even shake the foundation of the Ming Dynasty!

Yang He was anxious, but with his own strength, he could not solve this difficult problem, so he had to invite his good friend, Sun Chengzong, who was "Ding You" at home, to find a way to help the victims!

It happened to be the second day of the April 2, and the people of Hejian Prefecture worshipped the Dragon Prince, Yang He and Sun Chengzong were worried that there would be evil people and took the opportunity to stir up trouble for the people. So they came to inspect in plain clothes and ambushed a large number of soldiers and yamen runners around the Dragon King Temple, closely monitoring them to prevent accidents!

"Brother Zhisheng, the disaster is getting worse and worse. The profitable merchants took the opportunity to hoard grain and raise prices. A dou of brown rice mixed with sand has now risen to 400 cents. Even if the people lose their money, they can't afford it. They starve to death every day, but the treasury is empty. If they can't get any money and food to provide disaster relief, they are afraid that they will stir up changes in the people. Can't you think of a way?"

Yang He is an upright official. He knows that landlords and profiteers are making money in the national crisis and are willing to severely punish these people, but things are not easy to deal with!

These landlords and profiteers all have backgrounds and have very wide connections. They can deal with one, involve a group of people, and even bring out officials of the court. They dare not offend them easily when they are afraid of being afraid of being afraid of them.

Collusion between officials and businessmen and protection of officials is one of the unspoken rules of the Ming Dynasty officialdom and one of the biggest drawbacks!

"I thought about it a lot, but unfortunately the effect is limited. The landlords and profiteers are all rich, but they refuse to donate money and grain to help the victims. They will cry and cry poorly, saying that the granary is empty and there is no remaining wealth in the family. The angry man wishes to draw his sword and chop them!

Brother Xiuling, the disaster is serious now. If the people are in purgatory, can’t they beg the court to try to allocate some money and food to provide disaster relief? Just relying on local governments to raise money is a drop in the bucket!"

Sun Chengzong, whose courtesy name was Zhisheng, was from Baoding, Northern Zhili. He was also a Jinshi in the 32nd year of Wanli. He was also the second-in-year high school student. He was appointed as the editor of the Hanlin Academy. He also served as the lecturer of the Crown Prince's Mansion. He was the crown prince Zhu Changluo and the eldest grandson of the emperor Zhu Youzhai explained the classics and history. His father passed away two years ago, so he returned to his hometown to Dingyou!

The Ming Dynasty stipulated that after parents die, children must hold funerals according to etiquette, and marriage is not allowed during this period, and there is no auspicious ceremony. Those who serve as officials must leave their posts and return to their ancestral homes to observe the system for twenty-seven months, which is called "Dingyou!"

Although he was in the wild, Sun Chengzong had always been concerned about national affairs. At the invitation of his friend Yang He, he immediately participated in the disaster relief work. He first sold all his property to help the victims!

He ran around again and contacted the landlords and merchants in Baoding, Hejian, Zhending, and Zhending. He hoped that they would donate food and money to help the victims, but they were disappointed!

"Oh, Brother Zhisheng doesn't know that in recent years, disasters have been going on in various provinces, prefectures and counties, and the taxes paid to the court have been greatly reduced, less than 60% of the previous years. The treasury has become ineffective.

This year, the Jurchen tribe who used troops in Liaodong to conquer the rebellious Jurchen tribes spent a lot of money and food. Now there is only an empty shell left in Taicang, and even the salaries of civil and military officials cannot be paid. So there is still enough effort to help the victims!"

...

"It's really internal and external troubles. I hope the army will win in Liaodong Banner, and quickly defeat the Jurchen tribes, and promote the prestige of our Great Ming Dynasty. In this way, external troubles can be destroyed and people's hearts can be determined. If the war is not going well, the consequences will be unimaginable!"

...

"Brother Zhisheng, don't worry. This time, the court sent Liaodong Strategies - Yang Hao to take charge, as well as the four generals Du Song, Ma Lin, Liu Ting and Li Rubai to command 120,000 troops, and four groups of attacks in groups to deal with only tens of thousands of Jurchen barbarians, just like Mount Tai, is it not unbeatable?"

"I hope so!"

The two talked quickly and talked about the war in Liaodong. According to time, the two sides were in a decisive battle, and soon the military newspaper would be sent back. I don’t know who won and who lost?

Like most officials, Yang He believed that this war would be victorious, because the Ming Dynasty had been repeatedly fighting with the Mongols in the north for more than 200 years, but he never took the uncivilized and small number of Jurchens seriously.

The Jurchens lived in the Northeast for generations, relying on hunting, fishing, and collecting mountain goods for a living. The people were strong and brave and good at fighting. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Jurchen Wanyan tribe rose between the white mountains and black waters and established the Great Jin Empire, first destroyed Liao and Song, and became a powerful country that dominated the north. They enjoyed the country for 119 years, and later destroyed the Mongols!

There are other Jurchen tribes who are still living in the Northeast region and are gradually divided into three major divisions: Jianzhou, Haixi and Donghai. Each division is divided into countless small tribes, attacking each other, like loose sand!

After the establishment of the Ming Empire, the leaders of various Jurchen tribes were won over with the policy of restraining the people, granted officials, promoted titles, and rewarded property; while the two Jurchen tribes were divided into the people, making them opposite each other so that they could be divided and governed. Therefore, for more than 200 years, the Northeast region has been safe and sound!

Unexpectedly, a tiger and leopard crept in the deep mountains and a kirin hidden in the wilderness. Between the white mountains and black waters, another hero - Nurhaci!

On February 21, the 38th year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, Nurhaci was born in Hetuara, the family of a small chief of the Zuowei of Jianzhou. He was considered a Jurchen nobleman!

In the 11th year of Wanli, the Ming army conquered the rebellious Jurchen tribe. As a result, during the war, Nurhaci's father Juechang'an and his grandfather Takshi were accidentally killed. Later, the Ming Dynasty returned Nurhaci's father's body and gave him thirty imperial edicts, thirty horses, and the Dragon and Tiger General, and gave him the imperial edict to the governor as compensation!

In the same year, Nurhaci, who was twenty-five years old, raised his army with the support of more than a hundred tribes, with the thirteen armor left by his ancestors and fathers, and embarked on the road of revenge!

In the 16th year of Wanli, Nurhaci unified the various divisions of the Jianzhou Jurchens!

In the 41st year of Wanli, Nurhaci annexed most of the Jurchen tribes in Haixi and successively surrendered various Jurchen tribes in the East China Sea, and their strength continued to expand!

In the 44th year of Wanli, Nurhaci called Khan in Hetuara, and decided to have the name of the country: Dajin, and the year name - Tianming! (To distinguish it from the Dajin established by the Wanyan tribe, it is customary to call the regime established by the Aisin Jueluo family the Later Jin.)

During the process of Nurhaci unifying the various Jurchen tribes, the Ming Dynasty kept watching coldly and did not send troops to intervene, believing that it was just a group of savages fighting in small matters. Even though the Later Jin regime was established, it still did not attract the attention of the Ming Dynasty. It believed that Nurhaci was like a kitten, and as long as he rewarded some wealth, it would be obedient!

Unfortunately, it was a big mistake!

In the first month of the 46th year of Wanli, Nurhaci took advantage of the fierce party struggles in the Ming Dynasty and the relaxed defense, and issued a "Seven Hate" manifesto, sent troops to attack and occupy cities such as Fushun, Qinghe, and captured more than 300,000 livestock and countless property. The whole Liao Dynasty was shocked!

At this point, the rulers of the Ming Dynasty realized that Nurhaci, who was entrenched in the northeast, was not a docile kitten, but a fierce and fierce tiger with sharp teeth!

Even Emperor Wanli, who had not attended court for more than 20 years, felt that the situation was serious. On the one hand, he issued an imperial edict, and the land in various provinces across the country (except Guizhou, the land was barren and the people were poor) increased by three cents and five cents per mu, and received a total of more than two million taels of silver, all for military pay!

On the same time, Yang Hao was appointed as the governor of Liaodong and presided over the political affairs of Liaodong. He also dispatched more than 86,000 elite troops from Sichuan, Gansu, Zhejiang, Fujian and other provinces, as well as the nine-border towns, plus 10,000 Yehe's troops and 13,000 Korean troops, totaling more than 110,000, claiming to be 470,000. On February 21 this year, he vowed to attack the Jurchens in four directions, vowing to defeat the enemy's nest and boost the national prestige!

"It's not that my brother is foolish and his ambitions are destroyed. You must know that although the Jurchens have few soldiers and horses, they have been roaming the mountains and fields for many years, joining birds and animals, enduring hunger and freezing, fighting for life, and are used to using long spears, heavy swords, strong bows and crossbows, and their combat power is quite powerful!

Although our Ming army was large, it was drawn from many places. Before it was integrated into one, it launched a hasty attack. The soldiers did not know the generals, the generals did not know the soldiers, and they were not familiar with the terrain. The combat power would inevitably be greatly reduced!

It is true that Yang Hao was a minister of the Ministry of War. He was actually a white-faced scholar. Although he liked to talk about military affairs, he did not know about military affairs and liked to make achievements. He asked him to command the war in Liaodong, but he was afraid he would underestimate the enemy and advance rashly!

Alas, if the court was willing to listen to me and beware of the Jurchens in advance, how could there be today's chaos?"

Although Sun Chengzong was from the imperial examination, he had a strong interest in military affairs. As early as his youth, he liked to wander around, guide mountains and rivers, and often talked with border veterans, asked about border defense issues, and was also familiar with the situation in Liaodong!

As early as the 35th year of Wanli, he had repeatedly reported to the court: "Nuerchi (Nurhaci) is a cunning chief of Jianzhou. His cavalry has already been worth tens of thousands of cavalry under his command, just like a tiger lying beside him. If the court does not observe it, the situation in the eastern border of Liao will be in danger!

It is better to take advantage of the time when Nuerchi paid tribute, detain the capital, grant titles, and destroy his ambitions with wealth, and then ask his sons to lead their subordinates and build tents to divide their power and disperse their troops. This way, Liaodong is as stable as Mount Tai!’

Unfortunately, Sun Chengzong made many memorials, but did not attract the attention of the emperor and the important officials of the cabinet, which led to the disaster in Liaodong!

…………

"Well, what happened?"

"There is a young man dancing in front of the altar. What is he doing?"
Chapter completed!