My life skills in Daming Liver

The news of Su Ze's departure from Xuzhou was directly published in newspapers in the southeast.

After receiving the news, Li Chengliang in Shandong immediately changed his previous arrogant attitude and began to prepare nervously for war.

After leading the new army to extinguish the uprising in Liangshan, Li Chengliang was very arrogant in Shandong for a period of time.

The dissatisfaction of the Shandong gentry could only be temporarily suppressed by the muskets and artillery of the new army in the three towns of the Ming Dynasty.

Those Shandong civil and military officials who were dissatisfied with Li Chengliang also became deferential to the new army minister.

Then Li Chengliang led his troops to plow around Shandong and wiped out many road bully bandits. The public security in Shandong was actually better.

In addition, Li Chengliang also responded to Zhang Juzheng's call and actively organized new workshops in Shandong.

Shandong has experienced refugee uprisings from various places, and objectively the population has decreased, which has reduced the pressure on the land.

The workshops established by Li Chengliang also absorbed some people, and the tension in Shandong actually eased.

For a while, even the civil servants in Shandong did not dare to resist Li Chengliang and began to praise the new army minister for his ability in both civil and military affairs and as a capable minister in running the place.

However, Li Chengliang still has a knot in his heart, and that is Dengzhou, which is occupied by Southeast.

Now both north and south, everyone knows the benefits of the seaport.

But not every seaside city is suitable to become a seaport.

Deep-water ports require unique geographical conditions. Even if Shandong has a long coastline, there are not many places suitable for ports.

Dengzhou is the best natural harbor in the entire Jiaodong Peninsula, but now it is occupied by the navy from the southeast.

It was not that Li Chengliang had never thought about retaking Dengzhou Port by force, but the Southeast Army built many bastions near Dengzhou. Li Chengliang was frightened when he saw these bastions, and he never dared to attack Dengzhou.

Since Dengzhou could not be conquered, Li Chengliang chose to build a new port.

He found that Yi Sun-shin's eastward journey to Laizhou in North Korea was also a suitable place for building a port.

Although the conditions of the port in Dengzhou are not as good as those in Dengzhou, Yi Sun-shin can use fishing boats to cross eastward to North Korea. It is still very convenient to build ships in Laizhou to navigate North Korea.

Li Chengliang asked the Ming Dynasty to build a seaport in Laizhou, train the navy, and open navigation to North Korea here.

Zhang Juzheng quickly approved Li Chengliang's request, and Laizhou was a port during the Tang and Song Dynasties. After reorganization on the basis of the old port, it was barely able to open navigation to North Korea.

Li Chengliang relied on Laizhou Port to launch trade with North Korea.

But Li Chengliang soon discovered that North Korea is a poor country.

The only goods North Korea could export to the Ming Dynasty were grain and some luxury goods such as Korean ginseng and pearls. The country was just like the Ming Dynasty before the implementation of the New Deal, closed and backward, with fierce internal struggles.

But Li Chengliang soon discovered that although North Korea was a poor country, the Japanese country, which was farther away than North Korea, was a good trading partner.

The Japanese country was in the Warring States Period, and the great names in Japan were engaged in bloody fights, and they were very hungry for weapons.

Moreover, the Japanese country discovered the Iwami Silver Mine and had a lot of silver in their hands.

To put it this way, when Su Ze raised troops in Fujian, his first pot of gold was made from the skins paid tribute by Ryukyu and trade between Ryukyu and Japan.

As for the route to Japan, in addition to the southern route from Ryukyu to the southeast, there is also a northern route that goes along North Korea to Shandong.

In fact, before the Ming Dynasty's caravan arrived in North Korea, North Korea was already doing business with Japan.

The trading port between Korea and Japan was Busan.

Busan is the closest port to the Japanese country. When the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty conquered the Japanese country from Korea, they crossed the sea from Busan and landed on Tsushima Island, and then encountered the "divine wind" and failed.

North Korea set up a Japanese museum in Busan in the 15th century, doing business with the Japanese country in Busan, and making a fortune by taking advantage of the internal strife in Japan.

But later, Japanese pirates emerged throughout the East Asian seas. The father of Ming Dynasty could rob them, and the Japanese pirates of North Korea, their son, also wanted to rob them.

Busan became a city frequented by Japanese pirates. North Korea set up a Navy Protectorate in Busan and closed the Busan port to prevent Japanese pirates.

After Li Chengliang learned about the Busan Port through Korean merchants, he immediately ordered the North Korean ruler to open the Busan Port as a transit port for trade between the Ming Dynasty and Japan with the order of the Minister of the New Army of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Li Chengliang plundered Shandong's old weapons, transported them all to Busan, and sold them to Japanese merchants.

Then Zhang Juzheng asked Li Chengliang to organize a gun workshop and artillery factory in Shandong, and those poor-quality firearms were also sold to the Japanese state by Li Chengliang.

Relying on this trade, Li Chengliang retained a lot of profits and distributed them as bounties to the middle and low-level officers of the New Army, firmly holding the New Army in the three towns in his hands.

Originally, Li Chengliang was domineering in Shandong and had a very uncomfortable life, but when he heard the news from the newspaper that Su Ze went to Xuzhou in person, he was so frightened that he immediately led his troops out of Jeju City and went to the southern part of Shandong to set up a defense line.

In these days, in addition to his civil affairs achievements in Shandong, Li Chengliang also built some buildings similar to the Dagu Fortress in southern Shandong.

The Ming court's heavy artillery was stuffed into the bastions. Although these bastions were not as good as the Daku bastions, they could still block the southeastern advance relying on the defensive power of the bastions.

Li Chengliang built more than 20 bastions opposite Xuzhou. These bastions were intertwined and blocked the northward path of the southeastern New Army.

After Su Ze arrived in Xuzhou, Chen Lin told Su Ze a series of arrangements by the Ming court. After watching Li Chengliang's defense deployment in Shandong, the young staff officers who came with Su Ze frowned.

Chen Lin said with a grimace: "Grand Governor, this Li Chengliang is determined to be a coward."

Su Ze looked at Mingting's defense line and said with a smile:

"Isn't this a good thing? If Li Chengliang hadn't been afraid of us, could he have retracted into his turtle shell?"

Everyone laughed along with Su Ze, but after they finished laughing, Su Ze also looked at the map and started thinking.

War is a continuation of politics. Su Ze chose to come to Xuzhou to command the Fifth Brigade at this time in order to put pressure on the Ming court during the autumn harvest.

This autumn offensive was not to occupy many places, but to disrupt Zhang Juzheng's deployment through the pressure of the war, and once again uncover the Ming court issues that Zhang Juzheng had suppressed.

It has to be said that Zhang Juzheng is indeed very capable.

Compared with Gao Gong, who was upright and hot-tempered, Zhang Juzheng was more tactful in his governance.

In fact, Zhang Juzheng had tighter control over the court than Gao Gong, but his methods were superb, and the officials did not dislike him as much as Gao Gong. Zhang Juzheng had stronger control over the center of the Ming court.

In addition, Zhang Juzheng also gave some rights to the local governors of the Ming Dynasty, allowing them to support his new policies, instead of just setting up new affairs near the capital like Gao Gong.

This is also the reason why after Zhang Juzheng took charge of the Ming court, he suppressed the opposition within the Ming court in a short period of time and achieved certain results in the reform.

But everything has two sides. Those in power are wielding a double-edged sword, and they may also hurt themselves when killing the enemy.

In order to control the center, Zhang Juzheng promoted and appointed many private parties who defected to him. These private parties did not defect to him because they agreed with Zhang Juzheng's ideas. Most of them worked for Zhang Juzheng for fame and fortune.

This is quite similar to the feeling of Wang Anshi's reform and the new party of the Northern Song Dynasty that surrounded Wang Anshi.

These private parties form a clique for personal gain and seek quick success for personal gain, and some simply do it to make money.

Zhang Juzheng, in order to control the Ming court center, indulged these private parties, which strengthened the power of the Ming court center in the short term, which was actually equivalent to laying more mines.

A group of corrupt and ruthless officials who are capable of causing trouble are far more terrifying than mediocre officials.

After all, the Ming court already had a mature bureaucracy that could run itself most of the time.

Daming this weak patient, if he takes a strong dose of medicine, he will burp faster.

In addition, Zhang Juzheng won over the local areas and sacrificed the authority of the central government. This made the local governors of the Ming Dynasty support the New Deal, but it also created a group of forces that separatized the local areas.

The largest among them is Li Chengliang from Shandong.

These problems were temporarily suppressed in front of the powerful enemy in the southeast.

Zhang Juzheng needed Li Chengliang to block the southeast in Shandong and give him time to continue to extend the life of the Ming Dynasty.

Li Chengliang also needed Zhang Juzheng to control the Ming court and provide him with a stable logistical supply.

Zhang Juzheng was also wary of Li Chengliang's expansion of power in Shandong, but he could only support Li Chengliang because of the situation on the front line.

Li Chengliang also had ambitions for the central power of the Ming Dynasty, and was afraid of Zhang Juzheng's influence and did not dare to take any action.

It can be said that the pressure from the southeast united all the forces in the Ming court.

But Su Ze knew very well that this balance was extremely fragile.

In the historical timeline before Su Ze's time travel, less than half a year after Zhang Juzheng's death, the new law he created was overturned. Although a whipping method was retained, the core test method was immediately abolished.

In fact, the whip law is nothing more than a fiscal policy to increase fiscal revenue, and the test law is the core of Zhang Juzheng's reform of officialdom.

Without Zhang Juzheng's strong push to pass the examination, the whipping method would only temporarily solve the financial problem.

Sure enough, after Zhang Juzheng's death, the Ming court's officialdom declined faster. The increase in fiscal revenue only intensified the court's exploitation of the people.

Even without Zhang Juzheng's restrictions, the little wealth he had accumulated was quickly wiped out.

Su Ze only needed to make Ming, a puffy patient, run, and he soon collapsed from exhaustion.

Su Ze looked at the map with a smile and said:

"I came to Xuzhou this time not to conquer many places, but to get Li Chengliang active."

After Su Ze arrived in Xuzhou, he first reviewed the Fifth Brigade, and then gave many speeches to boost the morale of the Fifth Brigade and create a trend for the Northern Expedition.

Although Li Chengliang did not believe that Su Ze was going to make the Northern Expedition relying on the fifth brigade, he was afraid of being beaten in the Battle of Dagu, so he cautiously led the new Ming army to start setting up defenses.

The defense line built by Li Chengliang in southern Shandong was mainly concentrated in the section from Zouxian County to Yutai County.

Yutai County and Pei County face each other, and Zouxian County is the main route from Xuzhou to the north. Li Chengliang built many bastions on this line of defense, and also built a beacon tower along the way.

Li Chengliang went to Yutai in person. After inspecting the bastion of Yutai, he held a meeting in Yutai.

"Great control! The new armies in our three towns have been deployed!"

After Li Chengliang took charge of the New Army in the Three Towns, he did not shy away from promoting his son. He also followed the southeastern example of setting up a staff office and transferred his son Li Rusong to his side as the chief of staff.

Li Chengliang's position was the Minister of the New Army of the Ming Dynasty, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Commander-in-Chief of Shandong's military and political affairs.

Now the officers of the New Army in the three towns call him "Da Tongzhi" in public.

Li Chengliang reviewed the front line and was very satisfied. The offensive launched by the Southeast in the autumn will not last long. As long as it lasts until winter, it can block this wave of attacks.

Relying on trade with the Korean and Japanese countries, Li Chengliang also stocked up a lot of food and supplies. He thought that there would be no problem in holding on until winter.

Li Chengliang said happily:

"Our army's defense line is impregnable. Please hold on a little longer. As long as we hold on until winter, we can return to Jeju City to celebrate the New Year!"

Then Li Chengliang said a few words to encourage morale, and asked his men to immediately go to various places to garrison.

After everyone dispersed, Li Rusong said:

"Father, where is Henan?"

Li Chengliang said angrily: "As a minister of the New Army, I am only the governor of Shandong. What does Henan have to do with me?"

Li Rusong immediately understood what his father meant.

Ever since Li Chengliang took office in Shandong, he had no dealings with Chen Yiqin, who was transferred to the governor of Henan.

Chen Yiqin, the governor of Shandong, can be said to have been squeezed out by Li Chengliang. Now the food allocation for the new army of the Ming Dynasty has to go from Huguang to Henan. Although Chen Yiqin did not deliberately delay, he often failed to deliver the food as scheduled.

In addition, after Chen Yiqin arrived in Henan, he also began to organize and train the new army in Henan, which naturally had to compete with Li Chengliang for supplies.

There is another route to the north of Xuzhou, which is to go west along the Surabaya River and break into the border of Henan.

Obviously Li Chengliang is not willing to take care of the life and death of Henan. If Chen Yiqin cannot stop the southeast, then he, the minister of the New Army, does not mind taking care of another place in Henan.

The premise is of course that the Ming Dynasty removes Chen Yiqin, the governor of Henan, and lets him, Li Chengliang, take charge of the military and civilian affairs of Henan.