Daming: I can’t kill such a greedy prince-in-law?

Chapter 537: New Military Reform (Subscribe!!)

"If this really fails, you and His Majesty should not blame me!"

Ouyang Lun said lightly.

"Father?"

Zhu Biao turned and looked at Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang withdrew his gaze from Ouyang Lun and saw Zhu Biao looking at him. For the first time, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a great deal of pressure.

First of all, regarding the new "military system reform" proposed by Ouyang Lun and Zhu Biao, he had no idea about the content, but based on Zhu Yuanzhang's understanding of this guy Ouyang Lun, this new "military system reform" was definitely subversive. This could be fully referenced by the previous education reform, imperial examination reform, tax reform, etc.

Although the previous reforms have achieved good results, this army is different!
The army is the real cornerstone of the Ming Dynasty.

If this reform fails, the Ming Dynasty will probably be in great chaos.

Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to refuse in his heart, but he had just boasted that he had let Zhu Biao make all the decisions. If he refuted at this time, it would be like slapping himself in the face, and he had to do so in front of all the civil and military officials.

Zhu Yuanzhang really couldn't bring himself to say that.

After thinking about it, Zhu Yuanzhang decided to continue to wait and see. If it really didn't work, he would stop this matter even if it cost him his reputation.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately said: "Biao'er, your father has already said that you are now almost like a real emperor. All matters in the court are decided by you!"

"Thank you for your trust, Father!"

Zhu Biao was deeply moved.

Then he turned his head back to a serious expression and said solemnly: "Regarding the affairs of the Ming army, Prince Consort Ouyang and I actually discussed it a few days ago, and we even discussed a brand new military reform!"

"If this new military reform can be implemented, the problems of military power and private armies will be solved!"

"Of course, the army is different from other things. Even if we want to reform it, we should do it step by step. Ministers, please rest assured that the reform of the Ming army will be a long process!"

A brand new military reform! ?

When hearing this, the generals felt very complicated. In the past two years, many reforms have been carried out within the Ming Dynasty, and the achievements of these reforms are obvious to all. If this military reform is successful, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army will definitely be raised to a higher level!
As a general, I am naturally happy to be able to improve my combat effectiveness.

But if Ouyang Lun is involved in this military reform, then the reform will definitely be earth-shaking. The interests of these generals may not be guaranteed. It can even be said that the losses will be greater than simply taking back the military power and abolishing the private soldiers!
There is a lot of uncertainty in this.

"Your Highness, could you be more specific?"

Li Shanchang asked hurriedly.

Things were getting more and more out of control, and he was getting quite nervous.

Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and others were also a little confused at this moment. They were very angry, but they didn't know how to vent it for a while. They couldn't find the breaking point at all and could only look at Zhu Biao helplessly.

Seeing that the situation was under control, Zhu Biao gradually showed a confident smile on his face, "Master Li, don't worry. Military reform is related to the overall situation. We must be very careful."

"The first step of this military reform is to implement the conscription compulsory military service system. All men in the Ming Dynasty who are 15 years old or older are obliged to join the army. The term of conscription is three years. After three years, they can choose to become professional soldiers or retire and return home!"

"As for professional soldiers, they are similar to our military households. On weekdays, professional soldiers train for battle, while conscripts have more responsibilities, such as reclaiming wasteland, patrolling, transporting supplies, building military facilities, etc.! All soldiers will be managed uniformly by the court!"

"In addition, a Ming Dynasty military academy will be established. All generals will be arranged to study in the academy. After passing the exam and graduating successfully, they will be reassigned positions!"

"The most important point is that the court will form a military cabinet and select suitable personnel to become cabinet generals. The military cabinet will be controlled by the emperor himself, and all future military deployments in the Ming Dynasty will be decided by the military cabinet!"

After Zhu Biao finished speaking, he looked at Ouyang Lun again and said, "Brother-in-law, do you have anything else to add?"

Ouyang Lun was quite relieved to hear Zhu Biao talk out in detail what they had discussed at the beginning. After all, this showed that Zhu Biao had put his heart into it.

"Your Highness, don't forget the military ranks and military organization."

"Oh, yes, how could I forget such an important thing." Zhu Biao suddenly realized and continued, "Regarding military ranks, in the past, our Ming Dynasty used to follow the scattered ranks of martial arts halls, but it was rather messy, so later it was divided into three ranks and ten levels, namely generals, colonels, and lieutenants. In addition to generals being divided into general, admiral, lieutenant general, and major general, the colonels and lieutenants are both upper, middle, and minor. To become a general of the military cabinet, one must have the rank of general!!"

"In the future, the Ming Dynasty will be divided into five major military regions, namely the southeast, northwest, northeast and central regions. The person in charge of each military region must be at least a lieutenant general or above. In addition, it will be divided into provincial military regions and state military regions. Different military regions will have generals of corresponding ranks as military chiefs!"

"As for the military organization, it will be reorganized into seven levels of military combat units: army, division, brigade, regiment, battalion, company, platoon, etc."

"Of course, what I have said here is not specific enough. I will discuss with the Ministry of War later and write down the specific content of this military system reform and send it to everyone present!"

As Zhu Biao finished speaking, the Taiji Hall had become unusually quiet.

Compared with the military reform proposed by Zhu Biao, the seizure of military power and the recruitment of private soldiers are simply trivial matters!

After such reforms, the Ming army will be completely transformed and will no longer be the Ming army they are familiar with.

Military cabinet, conscripts, professional soldiers, general rank, brand new military organization.
After listening to Zhu Biao's words, it seemed that no action was taken against the military power and private soldiers, but in fact, they were all included. In the future, there will be no more struggles for military power and raising private soldiers, because all soldiers will obey the command of the military cabinet!
There is no doubt that this military cabinet is just like the cabinet in the court, except that one is responsible for managing political affairs and the other is responsible for managing military affairs!

It is obvious that this reform plan came from Ouyang Lun. Zhu Biao praised it so much, which showed that he was determined to stand on Ouyang Lun's side.

It was originally thought that after Zhu Biao took control of the government, the situation of the Huaixi Party would improve, and their military power and private soldiers would be preserved. But now it seems that the result is not optimistic!

The Ming army is likely to face a major reshuffle next.

Oppose?

When Crown Prince Zhu Biao took charge of government for the first time, they fiercely opposed it. Everyone would think that they opposed Zhu Biao becoming emperor, which pushed Zhu Biao to Ouyang Lun's side. Besides, Zhu Yuanzhang was not dead yet, so if they opposed him at this time, Zhu Yuanzhang would not let them go.

Li Shanchang's brows were deeply furrowed at this moment.

The military reform proposed by Zhu Biao sounded very novel, and everything was more unified, which was conducive to the court's control of the overall situation and the unleashing of the overall strength of the Ming Dynasty, but it was undoubtedly a challenge to the generals of the Huaixi Party.

Maybe this is also an opportunity!
Li Shanchang keenly realized that if the new military system reform was carried out, then the military cabinet would undoubtedly become the new core power institution of the Ming Dynasty, and it would have the full power to control the army. Since it was a cabinet, there would be multiple cabinet generals! If this military system reform plan was passed, then whoever could obtain more cabinet generals would have more control over the Ming army. Wouldn't this be better than controlling the military power of small armies?
In addition to the cabinet generals, the positions of military chiefs in major military regions are also goals that must be strived for. More positions such as generals, lieutenant generals, and major generals should also be occupied!
In today's Ming Dynasty, more than 60% of the senior generals are from Huaixi. If they can get these key positions, the military power held by the Huaixi Party will be even greater than it is now!
Thinking of this, Li Shanchang's uncomfortable mood dissipated and his expectation increased, so what he had to do now was not to find a way to stop this military reform. After all, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang had not spoken out to stop it so far, which meant that the chance of stopping it was not great. Moreover, Li Shanchang had tried his best to stop the previous reforms, but the final result was failure.

Since we have failed before, we might as well change our thinking now, follow this military reform and reap the greatest benefits from it!

In this way, as long as the benefits gained by the Huaixi Party from the reform are great enough, they can cover the losses, which can also be considered a victory!

With this in mind, Li Shanchang stood up again and asked loudly: "Your Highness, I have no objection to the military reform, but I just want to ask about the generals in the military cabinet. Does Your Highness have any candidates?"

When they heard that Li Shanchang actually agreed to the military reform, Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and other Huaixi generals were extremely shocked. They thought that Li Shanchang was going to betray them. But when they heard Li Shanchang asking about the candidate for the general in the cabinet, they all reacted!
Li Shanchang wants to compete for the position of general in the cabinet!

Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and others also had shining eyes at this moment.

There have been fewer and fewer wars in the past two years, and naturally there have been fewer and fewer opportunities for these generals to demonstrate their merits. Seeing the civil servants thriving and becoming cabinet ministers, it would be a lie for these generals to say they were not envious.

Although he was rather disgusted with the military reform proposed by Zhu Biao, he was quite interested in this cabinet general.

The Grand Secretary of the Cabinet and the Grand General of the Cabinet, these two are obviously of the same rank, and they also control all the military forces of the Ming Dynasty, which means they have even more power!

If he could become the general of the cabinet, he would undoubtedly be at the pinnacle of military generals. Military generals are the group of people with the greatest sense of honor. How could he not think about such a goal?

Not only the military generals, but even the civil officials wanted to know, with so many capable and good fighting generals in the Ming Dynasty, who would receive these rare cabinet generals, or how many of the Huaixi generals would be selected?
For a moment, everyone wanted to know who would become the general of the cabinet?

Cabinet General. What an interesting position.

Zhu Yuanzhang was sitting next to Zhu Biao, and he was also very curious about who Zhu Biao would appoint as generals of the cabinet.

Zhu Biao smiled slightly, "Lord Li is really anxious, but I already have a candidate for the cabinet general!"

quiet!
Everyone in the court held their breath, waiting for Zhu Biao to announce the name of the candidate.

"The first cabinet general is Xu Da, Duke of Wei!"

"I think the ministers have no objections?"

Zhu Biao asked with a smile.

Duke of Wei Xu Da?!

Of course I have no objection.

He is like a military god of the Ming Dynasty. It is because of Xu Da's existence that the northern part of the Ming Dynasty can be stable today.

Moreover, with the achievements of Duke Wei Xu Da, there is no second person in the entire Ming Dynasty who can match him!
Therefore, when Zhu Biao said that Xu Da, Duke of Wei, became the first general of the cabinet, the civil and military officials in the Taiji Hall all nodded slowly. Even Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and others were obedient and did not dare to say a word of dissatisfaction.

"Your Highness, where is your second cabinet general?"

Li Shanchang continued to ask.

"As for the second cabinet general, I think Duke Xin Tang He is qualified for the position! What do you think, ministers?"

Zhu Biao asked again.

Duke Xin Tang He?
That's no problem, of course.

As the earliest general to follow Zhu Yuanzhang, although Duke Xin Tang He's record was not as impressive as Duke Wei Xu Da's, he was definitely better than the generals present.

"There is no problem for Duke Xin to be the general of the cabinet!"

“He is indeed the right person.”

“Enough for the job.”

Civil and military officials all nodded.

Although Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and other Huaixi generals were nodding, they were becoming more and more anxious in their hearts. Now that two cabinet generals have appeared, could it be that Zhu Biao had no arrangements for them at all?

At this moment, Zhu Biao spoke again.

"I have a third candidate for the cabinet general!"

"That's Lan Yu, Duke of Liang!"

yeah!
finally come!

When Li Shanchang, Lan Yu, Feng Sheng and other members of the Huaixi Party heard Zhu Biao's words, their faces immediately turned from gloomy to bright.

The originally extremely tense atmosphere in the court became much more relaxed at this moment.

Lan Yu became the general of the military cabinet, which meant that the power of their Huaixi Party was not only not diluted or weakened, but strengthened.

More importantly, the first military cabinet general, Duke of Wei Xu Da, is now guarding the northern border. The second military cabinet general is in charge of the coast, navy and Dongying Island. He is basically not in the capital all year round. As the cabinet general, Lan Yu has even greater power!

Zhu Biao did a great job of balancing this!

In this way, the Huaixi Party has become willing to accept the new military reform.

After Zhu Biao announced the three candidates for cabinet generals, Zhu Yuanzhang also showed a satisfied smile. In fact, what Zhu Yuanzhang was most worried about was that Zhu Biao would obey Ouyang Lun's orders, and would become a puppet in Ouyang Lun's hands.

This was something that Zhu Yuanzhang absolutely could not tolerate, but judging from Zhu Biao's arrangement of the generals in the cabinet, he seemed to be worrying too much.

(End of this chapter)