Chapter 37: Your Majesty, the Spine of the Great Ming Has Been Broken

"I grant you immunity. Speak!"

The Chongzhen Emperor's curiosity had been piqued by Fang Zhenghua. He was genuinely interested to hear what kind of disrespectful things this man might say.

Fang Zhenghua, kneeling on the ground, took a deep breath and said in a low, heavy voice, "Your Majesty, the backbone of the Great Ming has been broken."

This single sentence made Wang Cheng'en, who was waiting nearby, shudder in fear. He gestured frantically at Fang Zhenghua, secretly grumbling to himself. *The Emperor asked for your thoughts, not for you to pick fights. By saying something as treasonous as 'the Ming's backbone is broken,' are you trying to get the Emperor to break yours?*

The Chongzhen Emperor, however, kept his expression calm, as if he hadn't heard the remark at all.

"The older generation of the Great Ming has been terrified by the Oirat and the Jianzhou Jurchens. They have lost all spirit of enterprise, as well as the conviction to fight and the belief that they must win."

"Your Majesty, our Great Ming Dynasty possesses vast territories and faces many foreign enemies, but the greatest threat is the Jianzhou Jurchens in Liaodong."

Chongzhen frowned. He had asked Fang to share his thoughts, so why was he drifting back to foreign enemies? Still, he asked with forced patience, "On what basis?"

"In the forty-sixth year of Wanli (1618), Nurhaci announced his 'Seven Great Grievances' to Heaven and Earth and rose in rebellion against the Ming. Those seven grievances made the determination of the Jianzhou Jurchens clear. Since then, they have attacked our Ming Dynasty multiple times; with every engagement, their forces grow, their combat prowess increases, and their plunder expands. Thus, I am certain the Jianzhou Jurchens are the true heart-disease of our Ming."

Chongzhen felt a jolt in his heart, though his face remained indifferent. He retorted, "And so what? Liaodong has the Guan-Ning-Jin defense line built by Sun Chengzong—nine major cities, over forty fortresses, and more than one hundred thousand troops. Those few tens of thousands of Jianzhou soldiers are not worth mentioning!"

"Naïve!"

As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, Fang Zhenghua, still kneeling, straightened his back. "Your Majesty, though I do not know the ultimate goal of Grand Secretary Sun, I am a man of martial arts and I know that constant defense eventually leads to defeat. There is a common saying: 'A thief can be a thief for a thousand days, but who can guard against a thief for a thousand days?' The same applies to war.

"We have fortresses to hold, but we lack corresponding mobile cavalry. They can use endless harassment tactics. Every time they attack, we exhaust immense resources, while they, relying on the speed of their cavalry, suffer very little loss. If our Ming court were stable and our annual tax revenue reached fifty million taels, such a strategy might be feasible—but what is the situation now?"

Chongzhen did not respond. He turned and walked to the map hanging on the wall, staring at the Guan-Ning-Jin defense line beyond Shanhai Pass, his heart filled with complex emotions.

Later generations had mixed opinions on this line. Some said it was the Ming Dynasty's most vital defense, as it significantly delayed the Jurchens' entry into the heartland, exhausting two generations of Jurchen leaders. Others argued it was the Ming's "Maginot Line"—seemingly powerful but riddled with flaws.

A moment's thought made it clear: what dynasty or nation would build a defense line that perfectly aligned with or ran parallel to the enemy's invasion route? For an enemy determined to invade, such a line simply forced them to find other ways.

Sure enough, in the second year of Chongzhen, Huangtaiji led his troops to bypass the Jin-Ning line, entering through the Longjing and Da'an Passes of the Great Wall, capturing Zunhua and pointing directly at Beijing.

In Chongzhen’s view, Sun Chengzong had built the Guan-Ning-Jin line to combine offense with defense—to both guard against Jurchen cavalry and serve as a staging point for the eventual recovery of Liaodong. This was a primary reason he wanted to bring Sun Chengzong back into the Cabinet.

However, this line had a fatal flaw, just as Fang Zhenghua had noted: its base of support was the Ming court. With an unstable court and insufficient finances, this line was a money pit. As the fiscal situation continued to deteriorate, the court was forced to squeeze the common people to prevent military mutiny, which in turn fueled the peasant uprisings. The Guan-Ning-Jin line was a burden that accelerated the Ming Dynasty’s slide into the abyss.

There was one more crucial point, as Fang had initially suggested: the backbone of the Ming's military nobility had been broken; they were terrified by the Oirat and the Later Jin. The Jurchens had only a limited number of troops. If the Ming had held a desperate conviction to fight, even if ten Ming soldiers were lost for every one Jurchen, the enemy would have been exhausted—not to mention the Ming army's various firearms. During the Battle of Songjin (1640), where hundreds of thousands of troops clashed, the Ming army had actually adopted a strategy of retreat, only to be devoured bit by bit. That tactical stupidity could only be described as farcical.

Wang Cheng'en, seeing Chongzhen staring at the map in silence, whispered, "Your Majesty, Master Fang spoke out of urgency and offended you. I beg for your forgiveness!"

Fang Zhenghua had also calmed down. Realizing the impropriety of his behavior, he pressed his forehead to the ground, awaiting the Emperor's rage.

Chongzhen stared at the map for a while longer, then turned to look at Fang Zhenghua. "Fang Zhenghua, tell me your thoughts on what should be done next."

Fang Zhenghua raised his head again, his eyes filled with brilliance and fervor.

"If I were to take charge of the Imperial Horse Bureau, I would reorganize the Four Tengxiang Guards. First, I would select young commanders from the Beijing garrisons and the nine border armies to lead them, for they possess the ferocity, the daring, and the drive to kill and conquer. Second, I would use the remaining soldiers of the Four Tengxiang Guards as a core, then recruit warriors from the common people to fill the ranks. Third, the Guards would rely on the funds generated by the pastures and imperial estates under the Bureau to build a cavalry force. I do not ask for all to be cavalry, but at least eighty percent must be, with the rest serving as infantry to operate firearms—in battle, the cavalry would charge behind the fire support.

"In peacetime, one battalion would remain in Beijing, while the other three would be deployed to suppress rebellions, fight at the border towns, or train with local provincial garrisons. I want to train the Four Tengxiang Guards to be proficient in mounted archery and superior in hand-to-hand combat. Their desperate charges will be devastating, and their prowess on foot will be formidable. This cavalry force must eventually become as strong as the Jurchens', for they are the ultimate enemy."

Joy. Great joy.

Chongzhen was stunned. Fang Zhenghua had truly surprised him. His strategic vision was commendable, and his proposals were even more so. If his plan were followed, this would undoubtedly become the elite of the elites.

Even with the firearms available now, and even though he intended to establish the Great Ming Ministry of Industry once the court was stable—with Xu Guangqi and Bi Maokang as directors to focus on weaponry—it would be impossible to develop modern rifles within twenty or thirty years. That was a limitation of industrial foundations.

Therefore, in the short term, firearms could not stop a rapidly charging, death-defying iron cavalry. For at least the next thirty years, powerful cavalry would remain the masters of the battlefield.

In the short term, it would be costly and seemingly counterproductive, but in the long term, it was absolutely necessary. Cavalry would not just be for the Jurchens; in the future, dealing with the Oirat, Tatars, Tibetans, Yarkent, Ü-Tsang, as well as Siam, Vietnam, and others, would all require a powerful cavalry.

After a moment of contemplation, Chongzhen said in a deep voice, "Fang Zhenghua, your proposal is good, but I have a few questions for you."