During the Chinese New Year holiday, Liu Jun failed to eat Lantern Festival with his family at home...≦...≦The border conflict in western Liaoning finally spread to the central government. Today, Wu and Liu Zongzhou urgently convened a meeting of the Military Affairs Office to discuss the possible troubles caused by the conflict in western Liaoning.

This is also the first formal meeting since the establishment of the Military Affairs Office.

The emperor arrived, and the ministers ordered the ministers to preside over the three courts. The Ministry of War and the Privy Council all attended. The Minister of War, Privy Councilor, Chief of Staff, Commander of the Five Army and Commander of various military branches, as well as the General Equipment Director, General Logistics Director, etc.

"Border provocation!"

When Liu Jun heard the Minister of War Chen Xinjia mentioned this word, he looked calm. The so-called border conflict in western Liaoning was just a farce.

For the officials of the court, the border conflict in western Liaoning made them extremely nervous, fearing that another war would take place between the Ming and Qing dynasties. When the Ming army was suppressed and beaten by the Qing army, although the court officials still refused to negotiate peace. However, after the peace negotiation was successful, no one wanted to see the rare scene of peace being broken again.

Liu Jun was unwilling to start a war. He fought with the Qing army now, and it would not be time for him. However, he was not worried because he believed that the Qing army would not want to fight now.

After the last battle between the Ming and Qing dynasties, both sides were covered in scars and each needed to lick their wounds.

Liu Jun now hopes to clarify the internal affairs first, control the government, eliminate bandits, and rectify salt affairs, which will be his next top priority.

To fight against foreign countries, we must also settle the country.

The Military Affairs Office and the General Office are both on the square outside the Qianqing Gate, one on the west side and the other on the east side. The yamen are all the same, and the Military Affairs Office is not nominally as important as the General Office. The General Office is the office of the ministers of the regents, and the Military Affairs Office is equivalent to a military counselor meeting of the emperor and the ministers of the regents, coordinating the Privy Council and the Ministry of War, and responsible for the communication between the two yamen and the ministers of the regents and the emperor.

However, in fact, the members of the Military Affairs Office are composed of ministers and the most important officials of the Ministry of War and Privy Council. Therefore, this Military Affairs Office has actually become the highest decision-making body of the Ming army.

The little emperor Zhu Cixuan attached great importance to this meeting and even came in specially dressed in military uniform. He sat at the top and asked someone to put Liu Jun's chair next to him in case of inquiries at any time.

The biggest difference between the Military Affairs Office and the Prime Minister is that there is a large sand table in the middle of the hall. It is made very exquisitely. Today, because it is mainly discussing the conflicts in the western Liaoning border, the sand table in the western Liaoning is placed in the hall today. On the walls on both sides of the hall, maps are also hung.

In front of more than a dozen members of the Military Affairs Office, there was a fruit plate, which contained some fruits and dried fruits, and a tea cup.

"Emperor Brother." The young emperor glanced at the ministers, and finally his eyes fell on Liu Jun. "What's going on in the conflict in western Liaoning?"

"Your Majesty, there is no conflict in western Liaoning, it's just a misunderstanding." Liu Jun said lightly.

"Misunderstanding?" Wu Yan looked at Liu Jun in shock.

Liu Jun nodded, "The conflict in western Liaoning took place on New Year's Eve, and it has been half a month since now. The reason why I have been delayed until today is that I have not notified you because I have been investigating the details these days and contacting the Qing side. Now, the details of the entire incident have been investigated almost clearly. The Qing side has also been contacted, and the two sides have reached preliminary and effective communication. So far, I can tell you with great satisfaction that it was just a misunderstanding, and both sides have figured it out."

"The specific situation will be introduced to us by Chief of Staff Lao Fu." Liu Jun pointed to Fu Shan.

Fu Shan nodded and stood up, "Your Majesty, everyone, let me introduce the whole story to you. The cause of the incident was that a team of patrol soldiers in Panshan Fort on the border disappeared. Guangning General Wu Sangui received a false information that the patrol soldiers were ambushed and captured by the defenders of the Qing army's Zhenyuan Fort. Wu Sangui did not report it in time, so he rashly launched an attack on Zhenyuan Fort. After the Qing army denied that they had captured the lost patrol soldiers in Panshan Fort, he continued to attack Zhenyuan Fort, and after the breaking of the fort, he slaughtered more than 200 Qing troops in the fort."

"After the incident, the Qing army maintained restraint and did not fight back. Instead, they contacted our officials from Lushun to clarify the facts."

The senior officials listened silently, including Wu Xiang, the general logistics director sitting in the hall.

"So, only Wu Sangui was wrongly dealt with inappropriately in the whole matter." The emperor listened for a long time and finally made an evaluation.

"After investigating the incident, it was indeed the case." Liu Jun did not hide his opinions at all.

Wu Yan, Liu Zongzhou and others heard the Qing Fang's attitude and knew that they had no intention of breaking the peace talks, they secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Since it's just a misunderstanding, that's fine."

"Your Majesty, I think Wu Sangui is inappropriate in western Liaoning. His rash advancement in the battle of Yizhou led to Song Jin's defeat. Now, he has not been investigated and launched a rash attack. These all show that Wu Sangui is inexperienced and not enough to take on important responsibilities. Especially Guangning Town is the front line before the Ming Dynasty. The Qing army maintained restraint this time, but who can guarantee that if Wu Sangui does this rebellious next time, will the Qing army still maintain restraint? The peace talks in the Ming and Qing Dynasties are hard-won, and such a good situation cannot be easily ruined by reckless people like Wu Sangui."

To everyone's surprise, it was not Liu Jun who participated in Wu Sangui's book, but Liu Zongzhou.

"Brother, what do you think?"

"General Wu is still very brave in fighting, but he is a powerful general, but not a good general. He still lacks some in the overall situation. When hiring people, he should use his strengths rather than his weaknesses. I think Wu Sangui can be appointed as the deputy chief of staff of the General Staff of the Privy Council." Liu Jun replied.

Chen Xinjia asked who will take over Jinzhou and Guangning towns.

"For Jinzhou Town, the imperial court had previously made a decision to transfer Jinzhou General Zu Dashou into the court as the commander of the army, and Jinzhou Town was merged into Ningyuan and Guangning. However, now I think there is no need to retain Guangning Town anymore. Jinzhou and Guangning will be abolished together, and its defense zone will be handed over to Ningyuan Town to take over the defense."

"The two towns of Jinzhou and Guangning have been dissolved? Will it weaken the defense in western Liaoning?"

"The only thing that has been cut is the quantity, but the court can use more money, grain and equipment to train less equipment to strengthen the elite troops. After the Jinzhou and Guangning were cut off, there were still Ningyuan, Lushun and Zhenjiang towns outside the pass, which had a total of 90,000 troops. In addition, the Beiyang Navy in Shanghai still had more than 100,000 troops. Such a huge force actually far exceeded the number of troops garrisoned by the imperial court outside the pass in the early years."

"There are no more soldiers, not to mention that there are more than 100,000 soldiers outside the pass?"

Wu Yan looked at Wu Xiang who was sitting there and seemed to be dozing off, "If someone in the Liao army is dissatisfied with this result, the 100,000 Liao soldiers will change, and the consequences will be unimaginable."

"Where did the 100,000 Liao soldiers come from? Wu Ge Lao? Jinzhou and Guangning towns have only 60,000 troops in the list of the Ministry of War. One hundred thousand soldiers, Wu Ge Lao meant that the two generals Wu Zu recruited soldiers in private, and even more than 40,000?" Liu Jun asked with a smile.

Wu Yan snorted, glared at Liu Jun, thinking to himself that you would not know what the specific situation was.

"Don't worry, Master Wu Ge, this world is still the world of the Ming Dynasty. Jinzhou and Guangning towns will be abolished. The soldiers will have severance payments, and the generals will also transfer other towns, and they will be properly resettled. It's not that they will ignore it with an order. If this is the case, if the two towns in western Liaoning are still dissatisfied, then I have to ask, are they still soldiers of the Ming Dynasty? If they really want to sack the two towns, they will cause trouble because the court wants to sack the two towns, then will they dare to keep such soldiers? Isn't it a problem to raise a tiger?"

"Whoever dares to rebel will be the rioters of the Ming Dynasty, and everyone in the world will be punished!" Liu Jun said a murderous sentence.

The young emperor Zhu Cilang also waved his hand, "What the prince said is reasonable, and everyone of the traitors will be punished."

Wu Qi did not want to abolition of Jinzhou and Guangning Towns at this time, but was worried about chaos in western Liaoning. Secondly, he also wanted to use this Liao army to control Liu Jun. Now Liu Jun has laid off the army and extended his hands to all parts of the Ming army. The capital of the capital is basically controlled by Liu Jun. If the two towns in western Liaoning are also abolished, then the Chu army will be the dominant one.

But Liu Zongzhou did not support him at all. He ordered the ministers to be ordered by three ministers to one. In addition, the emperor also followed Liu Jiye's words, so he was unable to change the resolution of the Military Affairs Office to abolish the two towns of Jinzhou and Guangning, and transfer Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui into Beijing.

After the Military Affairs Office meeting ended, the three ministers welcomed the emperor to move to the General Office. Other officials from the Ministry of War and the Privy Council each left the palace and returned to the yamen to take charge of the officials.

The Prime Minister's Office and the Military Affairs Office are not far away, and they will arrive in a moment.

"Prince, it's already Lantern Festival, the Ministry of Revenue's budget has been completed long ago, the cabinet has also drafted a ticket, and the Prime Minister has also approved the bonus by asking the Sili Supervisor. Why hasn't the money been received yet?" Wu Yan asked impatiently as soon as he sat down.

"Mr. Wu, I am only responsible for raising money, and I will not make money out of thin air. Originally, the money and grain matters were the responsibility of the Ministry of Revenue, but now the court is staring at me every day for money. Don't Master. I think something is wrong?" Liu Jun said.

Wu Xuan could not have thought that Liu Jun would answer like this, and was stunned for a moment, and said angrily, "Don't you think it's irresponsible to say this now? He said before that you should solve the problem of money and food, and asked us to support you in the salt reform. We all agree. Now you say this again, what does it mean?"

"I didn't want to go back on my word. The court's financial difficulties are so we can all work together, but now the master of the court is doing it as if this financial problem is my own business, which is wrong. Speaking of the salt reform, I have carefully considered it these days. It is difficult, but it is really difficult. Now, in terms of salt affairs, from top to bottom, there are corrupt officials everywhere. It is really difficult to rely on these people to carry out salt reform and impose a 20 million salt tax on it."

Liu Zongzhou kept listening to the conversation between Liu Jun and Wu Yan, and at this time he couldn't help but say, "Prince, the court is now all about this salt tax. The court's expenditure budget this year is 50 million yuan, which is the result of compressing expenses everywhere. But now, there is only less than 10 million yuan in the five thousand yuan, and the remaining 40 million is not known where the salt tax is from. If there is no more than 20 million yuan, then I don't know how to maintain this year." (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!