Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 873
Although Zhu Yixi and his party were not many, they all rode horses with knives, and even had short guns in their waists. They all had big arms and round waists, making them not easy to mess with.

Pedestrians on the road were frightened and ran around, while the returning soldiers were all vigilant, but they didn't draw out their waist knives.

After all, there was a military camp not far away, and few people dared to come here to act presumptuously.

"Are you soldiers from the Beijing camp?"

Zhu Yixi showed a smile, looking harmless to humans and animals.

It's just that he has already been in a high position, and his words unconsciously have a condescending attitude, and a few words make the group of soldiers cringe.

At this time, even a fool can understand that the person in front of him is not easy to mess with, and he might be a big shot.

"I'm waiting for Xishan Daying." At this time, the leader stood up and bowed his hands: "Who is it if you are not the son?"

"Not far ahead is the Xishan Camp. I'm afraid you don't know about it. Ordinary people within a radius of ten miles are not allowed to enter."

Zhu Yixi took a glance and saw two three-pointed stars on the belt buckled on his shoulders.

This is a sergeant, usually a team of hundreds of people, and he is also a low-level officer in the army.

Although it looks small, in the military system of Ming Dynasty, the team is the entry-level and most generally valued officer.

The most obvious example is that the bottom corps leaders and special leaders are basically decided by the team leader and deputy team leader after discussion, and then reported to the battalion leader.

As for the team leader, it is reported to the first army (ten thousand people), compiled into the file, naturalized, and directly selected by the military department, and the regiment and battalion cannot intervene at all.

So starting with them, the ranks are awarded, and most of them are right sergeants and sergeants, which means that they can receive the Jialu brought by the ranks.

In other words, they will receive [-] times the salary, which is a great improvement in life.

"Do you think I'm an ordinary person?"

Zhu Yixi smiled, and then said softly: "I was also born in the army, but I was injured later, so I came out to be an official."

"If you are still in the army now, you must be in the same robe as you."

As soon as these words came out, the group of soldiers at the bottom began to discuss in an instant, with a lot of doubts and curiosity on their faces.

The leader said in amazement: "It turns out to be senior."

During the speech, the two of them unconsciously got a lot closer.

"Senior, I don't know what official you are now? There are more than a dozen guards."

At this moment, a certain bold sergeant asked.

"The patrol battalion of a certain county in the local area is a seventh-rank official."

Zhu Yixi said softly, he performed very deeply, and unconsciously brought a little pride.

"what--"

These words aroused envy from everyone.

The leading team couldn't help being surprised and said: "That's the officer who turned the battalion, so you are the commander!"

Now, everyone is noisy.

There is no fear, because the local patrol battalion and the Beijing battalion are two systems, and they have no influence at all.

At this time, Zhu Yixi also felt a touch of down-to-earth. He couldn't help complaining: "The local patrol camp is much busier than the Beijing camp. There are endless thieves and thieves. Being urged away by the superior every day, I am so tired that I will die."

"You don't know how to be blessed while you are in the blessing." Team Zheng enviously said:

"I heard that in the entire Ming Dynasty, there are only about a thousand counties. In the past, the commander of the patrol battalion could be a team officer. Now even a battalion officer has to spend money."

"Giving money?" Zhu Yixi was angry in his heart, but suppressed it forcibly, and continued to guide: "The governor's mansion is so greedy?"

"It's not just the Governor's Mansion. It used to be the Organization Department, and now it's the Ministry of Officials. They are all in charge of our official positions. Can't the money be ranked first?" Team Zheng sighed.

As early as the Huguang period, Zhu Yixi promoted the army school in the army, requiring every ordinary soldier to know [-] characters, and the promotion to the team is based on [-] characters.

It is precisely because of this that a large number of officers and soldiers retired after being injured, and they were all arranged by the shogunate at that time to serve as local officials, at least as yamen servants.

You can continue to eat imperial food and solve your worries.

After the emperor ascended the throne, for the arrangement of military officers, the Dudu Mansion was responsible for the recommendation, and the Ministry of Officials was responsible for the arrangement, controlling the most critical places.

Over the past ten years, in the dark corners, a lot of corruption has been born unexpectedly, or a lot of unspoken rules have been born.

This made Zhu Yixi resentful.

Everyone knows that the emperor's most important thing is the army. As early as the Huguang shogunate period, he bluntly implemented the army-first policy, and more than [-]% of the finances were used to support the army.

Even after ascending the throne, the emphasis on the army remains the same as before.

Unexpectedly, the bureaucratic system still has cancer.

Before he could think too much, a soldier said: "I heard that the nearest three elders also have to use money. If there is no more than a hundred yuan, they can't get it at all."

"These people have all fallen into the eyes of money."

These words aroused the sympathy of everyone, and they continued to curse, without taking into account Zhu Yixi's ugly face at all.

The so-called three elders are actually one of the new policies that the emperor has tried to implement in the past four or five years. About a thousand households and a dozen or so villages are the center, and the three elders of the township are established.

That is, the head of the township responsible for taxation, the elders responsible for indoctrination lawsuits, the township police responsible for thieves, and the militia command.

Township elders are generally held by local respected old people, while township chiefs and township police are basically retired soldiers who belong to the army.

They were all born from the ninth grade, and their salary was only ten silver dollars and ten stone grains, which acted as a lubricant for the county government and the countryside, which was very important.

They are also the extension of the imperial court's rule over the countryside, such as household registration checks, trivial civil lawsuits, and the biggest supervisors of interest and rent reduction policies.

Such an important basic official position was also sold, which made Emperor Zhu almost unable to restrain his anger.

He showed a smile that was uglier than crying: "Why spend money? As far as I know, the three elders have a lot of official vacancies."

"You don't know?" The team was surprised: "According to those former comrades, the position of the three elders has been taken over by the local patrol battalion, and there are very few places in the Beijing battalion, and they can only be located in the vicinity of Gyeonggi and Hebei. "

As he spoke, his tone became more and more high-pitched: "Besides, you don't know, those people in the county government are very greedy. Many gentry mix some offshoot children into the patrol camp, and after a few days, they can arrange to be the third elder... ..."

Hearing this, Zhu Yixi's anger disappeared unexpectedly.

Sure enough, how could the gentlemen be dealt with so easily?
Since the imperial court set up three elders, they arranged for their own people.

The imperial court required that he must be a military officer, so they let the side branch into the patrol battalion, and after a few days, he could get seniority.

The county government is naturally very cooperative.

Because all of this is in line with the rules, and there is no overstepping at all.

The bug is directly stuck.

If it is a novel, as the protagonist, he should kill all quarters, kill all the disobedient gentry and ransack their homes, and then distribute them to ordinary people.

On the surface, it seems to have won the hearts of the people, but in essence it is digging its own grave.

Because the allocated land will still be merged violently, and within ten years, new gentry will appear.

Land mergers are not allowed, just like in the 21st century, real estate sales in China are not allowed. Those who want to buy and those who want to sell will complain.

Then the bureaucrats will reap the benefits.

Of course, with the efficiency of the feudal era, it is impossible to equalize land and prohibit land trading.

"There are very few in our county." Zhu Yixi said, "Probably because the magistrate is very clean!"

"That's right, it's different to have a good official."

"Whenever Hai Qingtian appears again—"

"No, there has to be a war."

Suddenly, a certain person raised his head and raised his chest, attracting everyone's attention.

"Let me tell you, in the final analysis, their official positions are too low."

"As long as you become a baron, hey, what kind of patrol battalion, county magistrate, what a fart?"

"Don't think about becoming an official after leaving the army, let's fight hard!"

At this time, the team that came out nodded, first agreed a few words, and then smiled wryly at Zhu Yixi:

"The battles under the sun are almost over, so how can there be any merits to speak of?"

"That's why all the sons want to go out, even if they are three elders, they are still officials anyway!"

Next, Zhu Yixi asked about the salary, the military judiciary, logistics and other matters in a timely manner. He was relieved that the current capital camp is relatively intact, and there has been no deduction of military salary, shoddy goods, and lack of food and clothing. Case.

And these credits were all attributed to the supervisory role of the Military Justice Department.

The Military Jurisdiction adheres to the idea of ​​assigning military judges to the team, so each team has a military judge who acts as a supervisor, and is also responsible for recording meritorious service during wartime.

The military chief officer is in charge of command; the deputy team is in charge of coordination and daily management.

The rank of a military judge has always been paralleled with that of a military chief officer in the army.

For example, if the team is a sergeant, then the military judge is a sergeant, and it must not be inferior to him.

It is precisely because of the role of the Military Justice Department that its direct rate falls under the jurisdiction of the General Staff Department, which is the emperor's military staff group.

Independent of the management of the Dudu Mansion, the power of the Military Judiciary cannot be underestimated.

After chatting for a quarter of an hour, Zhu Yixi bid farewell to the group of people in a friendly manner, and then hurriedly headed towards the town by the mountain.

This is the boundary where the military families of the entire Xishan Daying lived. In other words, it was the place where the officers placed their families and the back garden where they rested.

Walking on the street, Zhu Yixi felt full of military characteristics.

My good fellow, nearly half of the street is occupied by women's branch courtyards, facing the street for work, dressed in ragged clothes, and the smell of rouge and gouache soars into the sky.

The other half of the street is full of blacksmith shops selling weapons and equipment.

Custom-made knives, guns, saddles, horseshoes, helmets, all kinds of weapons and equipment are dazzling, and they are placed directly on the street like this, making people dizzying and wanting to wave them.

Concerned that many officers would recognize him, Zhu Yixi directly put on a half-face mask. Although it looked awkward, it was safe after all.

Walking into a restaurant, Zhu Yixi found a seat by the window and looked down at the street, his eyes were blank, obviously thinking about how to deal with the rotten meat in the army.

There will be troubles for the Governor's Mansion and the Ministry of Officials of the Five Armies.

But it is obvious that the Ministry of Officials is very simple. If a group of corrupt officials are arrested and exiled, the civil servants will only try to get vacant official positions one after another.

The Dudu Mansion of the Five Armies is more difficult.

This is not to say that he can't do it, but to avoid political turmoil as much as possible and keep the court as stable as possible.

After all, in the Dudu's Mansion of the Five Armies, the upper-middle-level officials are basically held by nobles.

Earls and above, even if they serve in the Beijing camp or the frontier army, they will also be appointed to the governor's office of the five armies.

On the side, Yang Le saw the emperor looking down, and immediately approached quietly, and glanced at the carriage at the entrance of the brothel. Every noble family was different, and he nodded as if reporting the name of the dish:

"The one with the red top on the left is Uncle Jiyang, and the one with the blue top in the middle is Uncle Tongchuan..."

"All right--"

Zhu Yixi didn't know whether to laugh or cry, is it necessary for Xungui to go to a brothel: "Never mind."

"Let's go back!"

"Yes!" Yang Le was rather disappointed, but quickly restrained himself.

There are many things to do in this trip, but the distance is not far.

Yuquan Mountain belongs to Xishan, and the entire Xishan camp is only tens of miles away from Yuquan Villa. It is precisely because of their care that Yuquan Villa will always be reassuring.

Otherwise, it would be uneasy to rely on only a few thousand guards.

When they returned to the villa, the concubines in the harem were already used to the emperor's disappearance, and they all thought that the emperor had gone hunting for beauty.

Who didn't know that the emperor got another pair of sisters last year, and they were born in Xiyi, which caused a lot of complaints in the harem.

The emperor continued to be caring and caring in the harem, and it took more than half a month to appease him leg to leg before he calmed down.

"Master, the Ministry of Khan has selected eighteen beautiful women to enter the palace this year, do you want to see it?"

Liu Afu felt very uneasy about not accompanying him out of the palace today, fearing that it was a sign of falling out of favor, he hurriedly handed over a bunch of picture albums.

The selection of beautiful women in the Khan tribe is also part of the marriage between Han and Mongolia, which can not only expand the court ladies, but also enhance the influence on the Khan tribe.

After all, even if the emperor does not enjoy it, he will be rewarded to military officers and nobles after leaving the palace in the future.

In addition to Xiunv, the bodyguard department will also recruit bodyguards, and the imperial court will also conduct imperial examinations and military examinations, all in the Khan Ministry, as well as in Suiyuan and Chahar. Although the Mongols have little knowledge, they cannot support the population base there. , If things go on like this, the accumulation will inevitably create a group of vested interest groups.

Of course, the emperor is the most pitiful, and needs to use his own body to create the future of Ming Dynasty.

Three seconds after pitying herself, Zhu Yixi turned her eyes to the picture album and picked a tall one with a thin waist and a tall chest.

He hopes that a broad mind can make his head quiet for a while.

Needless to say, the night of fuss.

The next day, the emperor dealt with political affairs in a refreshed manner.

The first thing to deal with is the Ministry of Officials.

Zhu Yixi has always been adhering to the fact that the imperial power is detached from the outside world, and never takes action personally.

It's the same this time.

First, the Metropolitan Procuratorate impeached a doctor from the Ministry of Officials for buying and selling official positions, accepting bribes, and sounded the horn of attack.

Afterwards, people in the Metropolitan Procuratorate continued to impeach the Ministry of Officials, from the chief officer, to Yuanwailang, doctor, and finally even impeached the servant.

Obviously, only the resignation of the Minister of the Ministry of Officials can pour out Zhu Yixi's anger, and it will not cause shocks in the court.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Minister of the Ministry of Officials at this time is Zhu Mou.

(End of this chapter)