lcionline Chapter 589 Tianjin Wei
Chapter 589 Tianjin Wei
Liu Ye said, "There must be something fishy going on. There is no love or hate without a reason. He must have his reasons for doing this, but I can't see through them. Since I can't trust him completely, I don't dare to entrust an elite force to him."
Liang Xiaoming nodded: "I understand. Although he is capable of this position, it is more important to ensure absolute control over the military. I support you. The Marine Corps is still just a concept and it will be a long time before it is formally established. We can slowly look for other candidates."
The minor disturbance at the dock did not hinder the Qionghai Army's progress, and they quickly entered the vicinity of Tianjin.
Tianjin is located east of the Bohai Sea and north of the Yanshan Mountains. The Haihe River meanders through the city and flows into the sea. Adjacent to Beijing and Hebei, it has long been known as a "strategic crossroads of rivers and seas" and a "gateway to the capital," making its geographical location extremely important. However, despite its importance, this port city has a very short history.
Before the Yuan Dynasty, this place was called Zhigu. During the Yuan Dynasty, it was renamed Haijin Town, becoming a transshipment center for grain transport. The Dazhigu Salt Transport Commissioner's Office was established to manage salt production and sales. In 1400, during the second year of the Jianwen Emperor's reign in the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, crossed the Grand Canal here to march south and vie for the throne. After becoming emperor, to commemorate the "Jingnan Campaign" that began here, Zhu Di personally issued an edict in 1404 to "build a city and dredge the moat, and bestow the name Tianjin," meaning the ferry crossing the emperor passed through. As a strategic military location, Tianjin began to be fortified and garrisoned in the Xiaozhigu area southwest of the Sancha River estuary, historically known as Tianjin Wei. Later, Tianjin Zuo Wei and Tianjin You Wei were added.
After Tianjin was fortified and established as a garrison, it was initially just a garrison post. The commander had no administrative authority, but possessed certain land (castles and military farms), a relatively large population (soldiers and their families working in the military farms), and political affairs (military and military administration). As the population increased, commerce developed, affairs became more numerous, and lawsuits and disputes arose. The garrison post could no longer govern this commercial city where military and civilians were mixed. Later, the imperial court successively established officials, government offices, and schools, or relocated officials and government offices from other places to Tianjin to handle affairs. However, it remained primarily a city with a garrison post as its core. Those who could speak for themselves were still the garrison commander, the military commissioner, and the garrison eunuchs, all of whom had ties to the military.
The sudden arrival of a large army in Tianjin without any orders from the Ministry of War alarmed the city's residents.
The Tianjin Garrison Commander's Office sent someone to inquire, and the Qionghai Army sent Qin Tian to negotiate, giving the same response as when dealing with the Dagu Forts.
"We have pursued the Tartars all the way here. The Ministry of War is processing the order... Please open the city gates to allow our army to enter and provide us with provisions."
The people sent by Tianjin Wei were somewhat embarrassed. "This is against the rules. Without an order from the Ministry of War, we can't enter the garrison city, let alone bring in supplies..."
Qin Tian was getting annoyed. He grabbed the man by the collar, lifted him off the ground, and asked fiercely, "What kind of rules are these? Didn't you hear us say we were going to fight the Tartars? Tens of thousands of Tartars crossed the border, did you ever come out of the city to stop them? How dare you talk about rules..."
The man was taken aback. The fierce man in front of him was unreasonable. A wise man doesn't fight when he's at a disadvantage. He rolled his eyes and argued, "Brother, please calm down. I'll go and report to the commander and see if he can make an exception. As for the grain supplies, they are all managed by the military commissioner. He is responsible for transporting the grain supplies for Jizhou and Liaodong, and he also allocates the grain supplies for the three guards of Tianjin. We can't make that decision."
Quartz released his grip and gave the man a push, causing him to stagger back a few steps and almost fall.
"You don't need to announce it. Our general is Liu Ye, the commander-in-chief of Qionghai Town and the Earl of Pingnan. He has ordered your commander to come and see you in person."
Qionghai Town had risen to prominence in recent years; every soldier who received a salary had heard of it. The imperial gazette had published it several times, and the victory in capturing Gao Yingxiang alive was legendary. Upon hearing this, the man involuntarily shrank back and quickly agreed, "I'll go and fetch the commander right away. Please ask the brothers to wait a moment." With that, he dashed off.
A person's reputation precedes them; once the name of the Qionghai Army was revealed, the commander of Tianjin Garrison couldn't sit still and quickly went out of the city to negotiate. Liu Ye "kindly" received this commander.
The commander wiped the sweat from his brow and said cautiously, "I am Xu Zhong, the commander of Tianjin Garrison. I have met the Right Vice-General. May I ask what brings you to Tianjin Garrison, sir?"
Originally, the garrisons and military camps were separate systems, independent of each other. No matter how bad the garrisons were or how capable the military camps were, they kept to themselves. However, in addition to his noble title, Liu Ye also held the first-rank official position of Right Commander-in-Chief of the Five Military Commissions, making him Xu Zhong's superior, the garrison commander. Although by the late Ming Dynasty, the Five Military Commissions had been largely sidelined, with most of its power transferred to the Ministry of War, it was still nominally the highest military institution in the country and, theoretically, the direct superior of the local military commands and garrisons.
Liu Ye thought to himself, having multiple titles really does make things easier. It allows him to legitimately suppress a garrison commander; otherwise, it would be like a general from out of town forcibly entering a garrison's territory, a completely different matter. However, the fact that this commander remembered this title among his many identities and quickly adjusted his position shows he's quite shrewd. Besides, since he specifically mentioned the Right Vice-Commander, it's not beneath him to pay his respects as a lower-ranking official; it preserves his face. Anyone who can rise to the rank of a third-rank commander is certainly not stupid.
The rules of the game in officialdom are that people help each other out. Since the other party has lowered their stance, one cannot retaliate against a smiling face. It is best to speak politely. He smiled and said, "Commander Xu, you are too kind. I have come to Tianjin for no other reason than to pursue the Tartars. I hope you can do me a favor."
Xu Zhong was taken aback and subconsciously asked, "Pursuing the Tartars? Aren't the Tartars in the Shunyi area?" The communication conditions in this time and space were naturally incomparable to those of later generations. The victory of the Qionghai Army in defeating Abatai in Changyi was only a few days ago and had not yet been reported to the court or reached Tianjin, so Xu Zhong naturally did not know about it.
Liu Ye patiently explained, "It's like this: there were two forces invading the Tartars, one led by Ajige and the other by Abatai. Ajige was in Shunyi, while Abatai marched south from Cangzhou into Shandong. We fought a battle with him, killing several thousand Tartars and scaring him away. So he took a shortcut by sea to Tianjin to intercept us. Tianjin is Abatai's only route north, and we wanted to completely annihilate his army here, so..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xu Zhong was so frightened that he lost his balance. His men quickly steadied him, preventing him from collapsing to the ground in embarrassment. Sweat poured down Xu Zhong's forehead as he asked incredulously, "Killed several thousand Tartars? And you want to completely annihilate Abatai's army?"