prosperous age

The Tiger Crouching Cannon was not used by the Divine Machine Battalion. The Divine Machine Battalion was equipped with the General Cannon, large Franconian Cannons, and arquebuses. This kind of primitive infantry cannon was actually used by the Fifth Army Battalion.

Deploy tiger-squatting cannons in front of the army formation, and deliver a head-on blow when the enemy gets close.

As for what happens afterward, even if the enemy continues to charge and their formations clash, they will not be able to generate much impact.

After all, those at the forefront were often the enemy's elite troops, who had already suffered heavy casualties from the Tiger Crouching Cannon.

When Wei Guangde said this, he was actually implying his and Zhang Ke's plan to rebuild the Beijing Garrison.

The Beijing garrison was practically defunct, but there were still 20,000 to 30,000 able-bodied men among its ruins.

Since the Longqing Grand Review, the Ministry of War has been struggling to maintain the combat strength of the Three Thousand Battalion and the Divine Machine Battalion. The cavalry and firearmsmen that have been painstakingly assembled will certainly not be allowed to be defeated again.

Fortunately, the two battalions together numbered less than 10,000 men, making them relatively easy to maintain.

The Fifth Army Camp was the largest and the main force of the Beijing Garrison. According to the Ministry of War's regulations, even without including the troops from the Shandong and Henan garrisons, its actual strength should be around 120,000.

However, most of them were already tools for nobles to embezzle salaries without working.

The Ministry of War was powerless to do anything about it unless the civil service group truly broke ties with the nobility.

But the key is that if it really comes down to a count of the number of soldiers, the emperor might not agree to reduce the number of soldiers in the Five Armies Camp. The most likely scenario is that the Five Armies Commandery will be responsible for selecting the military households.

This means forcibly converting civilian households into military households, forcing their family members to leave their positions and enter the military camp.

The vacancies in Nanjing were exposed due to the Zhenwu Camp mutiny. The Ministry of War in Nanjing then selected military households, and although the required number of people was found, tens of thousands of civilians fled and became refugees.

It took considerable effort from the local authorities to calm the people down, not to mention the civilian households that were selected, many of whom were determined not to become military households.

This is also why the Jiangnan region expanded its military camps so extensively in the later years of the Jiajing reign. There was simply no way to select soldiers for the garrison system. Some people were willing to serve temporarily and receive rations, but no one was willing to change their family status to that of a military household.

Therefore, in order to prevent a large number of people from the vicinity of the capital from fleeing, the selection of military households could not be carried out.

Stability is paramount and has been the dominant theme of every era.

Therefore, Wei Guangde naturally had to find another way. On the surface, he maintained the huge Five Armies Camp, and the Ministry of War also allocated military pay according to custom, so as to satisfy the nobles.

However, in private, they selected and divided the remaining tens of thousands of people into a smaller version of the Fifth Army Battalion, with more than 20,000 people forming it.

The response to the Five Military Commissions was simply to prepare for the grand review held every two years, so that the Beijing Garrison alone could field 30,000 men to show to the emperor and the inner court.

These 20,000-plus people were divided into five armies: front, rear, left, right, and center, with each battalion consisting of about 5,000 men.

Now, it can barely be considered an army, since there are three centralized training sessions every month, and the soldiers can receive 50% of their pay, which is enough to support their small families.

The Ministry of War no longer considers conscripting troops from Shandong, Henan, and other places. Every time troops are conscripted, it causes chaos and wastes a lot of money, but the results are not as expected.

Therefore, they also considered withholding the pay of 20,000 soldiers and recruiting additional soldiers to make up the numbers.

The matter naturally came to nothing, since the annual pay for 20,000 soldiers was a huge sum, and the nobles were unwilling to give it up.

It wasn't that these dukes and marquises were unwilling to part with it, but rather that the younger generations in their families relied on exploiting the capital's military to make a living.

If the Ministry of War is changed, they will cause chaos at home.

The noble families in the capital had long since developed into large clans, and the main family naturally had to help the branches, so they also had to make their stance clear.

This is the biggest obstacle to the military reform of the Ming Dynasty, and behind them stands the emperor, who still needs them to maintain his imperial power.

Although civil officials took away a lot of power, the nobles still held the reins of the capital garrison, which was the last guarantee of imperial power.

This is why, no matter how many emperors change, there will always be a duke who becomes the emperor's favorite minister.

He was the one who controlled the army under the emperor's command.

Therefore, the plan to recruit soldiers to replenish the army camp naturally failed, and even Wei Guangde's attempts to negotiate were useless.

The only thing the Ming Dynasty's capital garrison could do was focus on these 30,000-plus men, equipping them with the best weapons and subjecting them to rigorous training.

"Yes, I was planning to transfer a thousand men from the Fifth Army Camp to supplement the Shenji Camp. When these soldiers who went to Japan return, some will return to the Shenji Camp, and the rest will be added to the Fifth Army Camp."

Zhang Ke replied.

"The Ministry of War should keep a close eye on the troops of the Beijing Garrison. After a few battles, they can be recalled."

After all, they already have combat experience. I think it's better to send another group there for rotational training than just having them drill on the parade ground.”

Wei Guangde brought up the old mountain rotation battle from later generations. He didn't need the people in the Beijing garrison to have too much battlefield experience, since most of them were firearms operators and rarely had the opportunity for close combat.

The previous battlefields provided enough experience in some battle formations.

As for whether rotating such a small number of people would be troublesome, in the eyes of these superiors, it was just a matter of a word.

The troublesome things are all handled by the people below; they can't manage them.

However, if a few groups of people could be sent there during the Eastern Expedition, their return would be equivalent to giving thousands of soldiers from the Beijing Garrison battlefield experience.

In the event of another military operation, they will be much more composed than those soldiers who only know how to drill in the training ground, and they will not become weak-kneed when they enter the battlefield.

Having already experienced weakness in Japan, going back to the battlefield was naturally much easier.

After the test firing was completed, Wei Guangde handed over the casting work to Jiang Zhi and left it to Jiang Zhi.

Having worked in the Ministry of Works for many years, Jiang Zhi naturally had ways to produce and deliver the most cannons in the shortest amount of time.

As for the later ones, of course, they need to continue to be cast, as the Beijing garrison also needs these.

When Wei Guangde left the Ordnance Bureau, it was still early, just past Shen Shi (3-5 PM).

Upon reaching the sedan chair, Wei Guangde instructed, "Return to the Cabinet."

After speaking, he turned around, cupped his hands in greeting to Zhang Ke and Jiang Zhi, and then climbed into the sedan chair.

With the lead sedan chair bearer's shouts, the other bearers lifted the sedan chair and carried it forward, its wheels swaying.

When Wei Guangde returned to the cabinet, Lu Bu was somewhat surprised.

He thought Wei Guangde wouldn't come to the cabinet, and was even thinking of taking the initiative to talk to Grand Secretary Zhang at dusk to see if he would summon Grand Secretary Shen for a meeting.

After all, it had been a routine for more than a decade for the cabinet members to exchange information before the end of the day.

With no memorials to be submitted in the duty room, Wei Guangde finally had a rare moment of leisure.

When Lu Bu brought the tea, he told him to wait outside, and then randomly picked a book from the bookshelf and sat down to read it.

Leisure time is always short-lived; before long, it was already dusk.

Wei Guangde then put away the book, picked up his pen and drafted an edict according to the Wanli Emperor's wishes, ordering the Ministry of War to send more troops to reinforce the Japanese front. It wasn't until mid-afternoon that he sent Lu Bu to fetch people.

Soon, Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing arrived.

In fact, they all knew when Wei Guangde went out and came back.

The cabinet had no shortage of spies they had planted, and every day, they kept a clear record of who came to the cabinet, who they went to, and how long they stayed. Only then did Wei Guangde tell them about the frontline battle reports received by the Ministry of War, and also told them about Emperor Wanli's attitude, showing them the battle reports and the edict he had drafted.

Zhang Siwei and Shen Shixing naturally didn't say much in response, and both nodded in agreement.

"Your Excellency, does Japan really have an army of 400,000?"

Shen Shixing, however, pressed for an answer. After all, their understanding of Japan, or rather, China's disdain for its neighboring countries, made it hard for him to believe that such a small country like Japan could support so many people.

"The Embroidered Uniform Guard has already verified that in Japan, large-scale battles involving tens of thousands of people have broken out quite often in recent years."

Although most of them were peasant soldiers, it was indeed possible to gather so many people to fight.

Wei Guangde nodded and said, "That's good. As long as we hold out for half a year, Japan will have no choice but to give in."

With the able-bodied men and women gone to the front lines, leaving the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled to take charge of the farm work was clearly unsustainable.

Even if they have some food reserves, it's impossible for them to last long.

In other words, increasing the number of troops would require too much military expenditure; otherwise, deploying even more troops to conquer Japan in one fell swoop would also be an option.

Wei Guangde sighed.

With only tens of thousands of troops at present, this is actually the limit that the Ming Dynasty can send out.

The previous campaign against Burma was prepared for three years, during which all the wealth of the southwestern provinces was left in place and sealed away.

That's how it was; World War I depleted all these reserves.

Fortunately, the army invaded Burma and requisitioned grain locally, which solved the problem of insufficient food and military supplies.

This also made the officials of the Ming Dynasty realize for the first time that Southeast Asia was so prosperous, with rice harvested three times a year.

In some southern regions, the ability to harvest two crops a year is something they talk about for ages; Myanmar's climate is just too wonderful.

Of course, this is also because they did not experience it firsthand; the hot climate there was absolutely unbearable for these officials in the capital.

Perhaps only officials from Guangdong and Guangxi can adapt easily.

"Today I received a memorial from the Ministry of Rites forwarded by the King of Joseon, saying that they are having a hard time collecting the 100,000 shi of grain we requested, and have only managed to gather 20,000 shi in this period of time."

As Zhang Siwei spoke, he took out a memorial from his sleeve and handed it to Wei Guangde.

"Only 20,000 koku? Haha, even a tiny country like Japan can support a million soldiers. Do you really think Korea is that poor?"

Wei Guangde smiled as he took the memorial and read it through. Then he said, "Let them continue to raise funds. If it's not enough this year, then next year; if it's not enough next year, then the year after. They must get the grain for me."

"Your Excellency, what if the Korean envoy goes outside and complains, saying that our court is bullying a vassal state?"

Zhang Siwei frowned and said.

In the past, the Ming Dynasty had also levied supplies from its vassal states, but never with such force as this time.

"Japan is disloyal, yet Korea secretly makes peace with them and engages in trade privately. Is this what a vassal state should do?"

Wei Guangde sneered, "The Japanese king calls himself the Emperor, I don't believe the Korean king would be completely unaware of that."

The 100,000 shi of grain was a punishment for their failure to report the truth, and a way to teach other vassal states that there cannot be two suns in the sky, so that they would do less of this kind of thing in the future.

Besides, His Majesty has approved this matter; is there any room for negotiation?

The amount of grain requisitioned from North Korea is indeed too large, and it is a fact that they cannot afford it.

However, it was precisely because Wei Guangde was not entirely honest with the Ming Dynasty that he persuaded the Wanli Emperor to impose punitive grain requisitions on Korea.

Either do nothing, or if you do, teach them a profound lesson so they'll never dare to have any disloyal thoughts again.

At this moment, Wei Guangde also saw Zhang Siwei's draft proposal and immediately shook his head, saying, "Ziwei's draft proposal is inappropriate."

After saying this, he handed the memorial and the draft proposal to Shen Shixing.

Wei Guangde's attitude was very clear, and Shen Shixing naturally knew what to say and what to do.

After reading the memorial, his opinion was the same as Wei Guangde's: they both disagreed with reducing the amount of grain to be requisitioned, and at most, they could grant a grace period of a few years.

"Even if Japan doesn't need this grain, Nurgan will need it in the future."

"The navy can then directly obtain supplies from Busan, saving the Ministry of Revenue a lot of trouble."

Wei Guangde had already found a place for this grain. The grain for the past two years could supplement the Japanese army's food needs, and in the following years it could be transported directly north to Nurgan.

Even if the collection of 100,000 shi of grain is completed, the Ming Dynasty can still continue to purchase grain from Korea and transport it north through trade.

In this way, the imperial court would also save on grain transportation costs, so why not?

To control Nurgan, without sufficient food and supplies, Wei Guangde was unsure how long the Ming army could remain stationed there. He wondered if, ten or twenty years later, the court would face financial difficulties and someone would propose withdrawing from there again, abandoning the vast northern lands.

Even if it's not explicitly stated, withdrawing troops is essentially abandoning the cause.

Decades later, the Russian Cossack cavalry will likely be on the border of the Ming Dynasty, at which point all his efforts will have been in vain.

As for the money to buy grain, there are the Sado Gold Mine and the Iwami Silver Mine; the imperial court shouldn't be short of this little bit of money.

Wei Guangde even planned to build a mint in the occupied Iwami area to mint gold and silver coins on the spot.

This business is profitable. The Ministry of Revenue was allowed to mint coins there, unifying the Japanese coin market. The Ming Dynasty would then earn nearly 10% of the processing fee, making it a long-term, profitable business.

People in this era didn't believe in theories of fiat currency, so printing money on paper, like the system played by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, was definitely not going to work.

Whether it was the common people within the Ming Dynasty, the surrounding vassal states, or the European merchants, they would not accept the paper printed by the Ming Dynasty; they only believed in real gold and silver.

Even now, there are countless treasuries and banknotes stored in the inner court.

It has been a century since they last printed them, yet the banknotes printed earlier still haven't been spent.

Nobody really believed in this thing. Apart from giving a few bills in cash when paying salaries to officials and members of the imperial family, there was nowhere else to use it.

Since the Ming Dynasty did not obtain a sea route to the Americas, its financial hegemony was firmly in the hands of Spain, which possessed the world's largest silver mine in Mexico.

As for Wei Guangde, the reason he sent his navy to explore the eastward route was because he remembered the gold rush in the American West.

Gold is usually a by-product of mining; where there is gold, there are often other resources such as silver and copper mines.

Finding gold and silver mines on the west coast of America would actually be a considerable fortune.

In fact, Wei Guangde was too ignorant. The gold mines on the west coast of the Americas are the world's largest gold mining area, stretching from Alaska to Argentina.

Furthermore, he noted that Nurgan and the area to the north, where the Ming Dynasty was about to restore its rule, were also regions with large gold and silver mines, not just the Far East oil and gas fields.

If you look at a future mining map, you might find that the Pacific coast is full of rich gold and silver mines.

If no gold or silver mines are discovered along the coast, the mining areas may have been submerged in the sea to the east. (End of Chapter)