Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Finance has always been a major problem for the Ming Dynasty court.

It can even be said that the source of the current problems faced by the court lies in finance.

The millions of unpaid wages accumulated in the nine border areas have always been a heavy burden on Zhu Youjian's mind.

If there were no unpaid wages, and the border troops' loyalty to the court could be guaranteed, he would be more relaxed in doing many things.

For example, he managed to solve the wage arrears problem of Shaanxi's border troops last year, and this year he used them to put most of Shaanxi under military control.

This ensured that there was no major chaos in Shaanxi when it encountered a major disaster this year.

They even used the garrisons in Shaanxi to successfully organize the victims to migrate overseas.

However, it was not enough to solve the problem of unpaid wages for the border troops in Shaanxi. There was also unpaid wages in Jiliao, Xuanda and other places.

Zhu Youjian used the grain shipped from Southeast Asia to distribute basic rations to them to ensure that these soldiers did not mutiny.

But if we want to use them to fight, we must first settle all the unpaid wages.

Especially since next year is the year of Jisi, a war is bound to break out between the Ming Dynasty and the Jianlu.

In order to avoid being plundered by the Jianlu through the grassland as in history, Zhu Youjian tended to adopt Yang Sichang's four-square and six-corner plan:

Take the initiative to attack the Jianlu and prevent them from withdrawing troops to enter the pass.

Now he knew clearly that the Ming Dynasty court was just a shabby house, but with his reluctant pasting, it looked quite impressive. The localities would still obey the court's orders, and taxes could be barely collected.

However, if the Jianlu attacked and were driven back to the capital, the local areas would see the emptiness of the imperial court.

By then, it will be much more difficult to collect taxes from local areas.

In order to avoid such a thing from happening, he would never allow the Jianlu troops to enter the pass.

Even if he had to use up all the troops outside Shanhaiguan in Liaodong and Dongjiang, he would also ask Sun Chengzong, Mao Wenlong and others to help him buy time.

This is why he established the Privy Council:
Form a more professional team to command the battle against Jianlu next year.

Therefore, although Zhu Youjian was very worried about the finances of the Ming Dynasty, he first urged the Privy Council to start operating, asking them to send out personnel to calculate how much money would be needed next year if Yang Sichang's four-square and six-corner plan was implemented.

This will allow the Ministry of Revenue to be prepared and raise money for themselves.

Zhu Youjian summoned Yuan Keli, who was in charge of the establishment of the Privy Council, and asked him what he thought.

The establishment of the Privy Council was mentioned more than a month ago. Although no formal decision had been made before, Yuan Keli and others had made various preparations.

After the order to restructure the Five Academies was issued, Yuan Keli quickly submitted a memorial to the Minister of War, requesting that the offices of the Left Army Governor's Office, the Right Army Governor's Office, and the Front Army Governor's Office to the south of the Central Army Governor's Office be transferred from the Five Army Governor's Office to the Privy Council.

The Central Military Governor's Office remained as a place for court meetings, while the Rear Military Governor's Office was left to the Five Military Governor's Offices as their headquarters.

In this way, the Privy Council had an office equivalent to the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Revenue, and the Ministry of Rites, which was more than enough to accommodate the newly established offices of the Privy Council.

Zhu Youjian listened to Yuan Keli's request and nodded slightly.

The Five Military Commandery had long been an empty shell, so there was nothing wrong with transferring its office to the Privy Council.

After all, the predecessor of the Five Military Governors' Office was the Grand Governors' Office, and the predecessor of the Grand Governors' Office was the Privy Council.

Although Zhu Youjian retained the Five Military Commandery at the request of the Duke of England and other nobles, he did not expect these people who had long lost power to fight for power.

In this case, they don't need to occupy such a large space, and the government office can be vacated.

So he ordered:
"The rear military governor's office was changed to the five military governor's office."

"From now on, when officials from the Five Military Commandery are on duty, have them go there."

"The three military governor offices of the Left Army, Right Army, and Front Army will be under the control of the Privy Council from now on."

He agreed to Yuan Keli's request and assigned them to the Privy Council.

Yuan Keli was delighted when he heard this, because in this way, the Privy Council would be located east and west of the Ministry of Personnel and other government offices of the Executive Yuan, and would be officially called the West Palace.

The names of East Palace and West Palace are well-deserved for the government offices.

In people's perception, the Privy Council is one of the two upper houses, along with the Executive Council.

Or it is called the Two Houses, to distinguish it from the other three courts.

While Yuan Keli was thinking this, Zhu Youjian was thinking about other government offices. He asked someone to find the map of the various government offices in the capital that he had ordered drawn, and looking at the road between the Privy Council and the Government Affairs Council, he ordered:

"The road between Chengtian Gate and Daming Gate should be renovated. It should be leveled with cement or stone slabs and officials should be allowed to pass through. It will be called Chengtian Street from now on."

"The Central Military Governor's Mansion, located at the northernmost part of Chengtian Street, is the location for court meetings. It is not a big deal to leave it empty during normal times, so it was allocated to Liu Zongzhou and others to prepare for the National Assembly."

"From now on, it will be called the Little Hall, where the daily work of Congress will be conducted and various special committees will hold meetings."

"Portraits of the Purple Pavilion's meritorious officials should be hung in the small hall for the officials attending the meeting to admire."

"The Zongrenfu across from it was changed to Lifanyuan, which was used to handle the affairs of the clan and other vassal states."

"The Supreme Court, the Censorate, and the Ministry of Justice will still form the Three Judicial Departments, and in the future, they will build offices in the Chang'an Street area."

The location of the Sanfasi Yamen was not in front of Chengtian Gate, nor was it in Dashiyongfang near Chang'an Street, but in Fucaifang.

Zhu Youjian's idea was to take advantage of the court's organizational restructuring to plan a new location for the yamen. Otherwise, as the Dali Court's organizational structure improved and its staff increased, the current Dali Temple Yamen would not be able to accommodate it.

The same is true for the Censorate. He does not like the uncontrolled officials now, but after reorganizing the Censorate and the Supreme Court into the way he wants, he will inevitably increase the number of supervisory personnel and rectify the Ming Dynasty's administration.

Therefore, he wanted to demolish a piece of land in Dashiyongfang, west of the Five Military Governor's Office, and place the three judicial officials here to facilitate the handling of official business.

This is a long-term preparation, but now due to insufficient money and food, it can only be put on hold temporarily so that the three judicial officials can be mentally prepared and not expand recklessly.

At the same time, he also planned the use of the two streets of Xijiangmixiang and Dongjiangmixiang, south of the Privy Council and the Executive Yuan. They would be demolished in the future and used to build government offices. For example, envoys sent by countries such as North Korea could build embassies in this area.

Yuan Keli listened to the emperor's arrangements and did not express any opinion.

He is now the Associate Privy Councilor and is in charge of the Privy Council. It is not appropriate for him to speak on matters other than military affairs.

In fact, because he was also the Minister of War during the institutional adjustment, and now he was in a very high position of power, he asked the emperor to resign from his part-time jobs such as the Governor of Shuntian Prefecture.

Zhu Youjian frowned slightly when he heard this request, because Yuan Keli did a good job as the governor of Shuntian Prefecture, so he really didn't want to change.

There was a severe drought in the capital this year. If it weren't for Yuan Keli's effective organization, the situation near the capital would never have been so stable.

Projects such as the Beijing-Tianjin Highway and the Princes' Palaces would not have been carried out so smoothly.

He was also worried that the Jianlu might break through the pass as they had done in history. At that time, the defense of the capital city required capable officials.

Yuan Keli was the person he had chosen to lead the defense of the capital. He did not want to replace the governor of Shuntian before confirming whether the Jianlu would break through again.

So he comforted her:
"Yuan Qing, be brave enough to take on tasks and don't worry about what others say."

"I know your loyalty, don't have any doubts."

Yuan Keli said seriously:
"I am not afraid of criticism, but I want to establish rules."

"The Privy Councilor already has great power, and serving as the Minister of War is a special case during the reform."

"If he holds other official positions concurrently, his power will be too great."

"I ask Your Majesty to make it clear that the Privy Co-Minister and the Privy Envoy cannot hold other positions concurrently."

Zhu Youjian listened to his words and knew that this was indeed for the sake of the court and to set rules for the future.

This touched his heart, and he said with some emotion:

"If all the court officials are like this, why should I worry about the affairs of the court?"

"Mr. Yuan is loyal to the country and is a role model for officials!"

After praising Yuan Keli, Zhu Youjian still did not agree to his request and decided:
"It will take at least half a year to set up the Privy Council, and it will also take time to get in touch with the local authorities."

"I will designate the next year as a transitional period and not make it the norm in the future."

"Yuan Qing will continue to serve as the governor of Shuntian Prefecture for another year so that he can improve the defense of the capital."

"I will arrange for Guo Yunhou, the Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, to concurrently serve as the Minister of Shuntian Prefecture. What do you think, Mr. Yuan?"

With an additional official to check and balance him, and being praised by the emperor, Yuan Keli accepted the emperor's appointment and decided to hand over the affairs of Shuntian Prefecture to Guo Yunhou as much as possible and intervene less himself.

In fact, he had a lot of contact with Guo Yunhou that year, because the tax reform implemented by Taifu Temple was mainly in Shuntian Prefecture.

Now the emperor appointed Guo Yunhou as Shuntianfu Chancellor concurrently, which was intended to let him continue to promote tax reform and also to appease this person.

The transfer from the position of Minister of the Ministry of Finance to the Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture reduced his power by half. This may be difficult for Guo Yunhou, who had worked hard for a year, to accept.

So the emperor gave him a part-time job to show that he still trusted him.

In fact, it was not difficult for Guo Yunhou to accept it at all. Even before the division of Taifu Temple, Bi Ziyan had consulted him for his opinion.

He agreed to the division because he was too exhausted this year. The tax reform in Shuntian Prefecture alone was too much for him to handle.

Thinking that the emperor might push tax reform to northern Zhili next year, he agreed to Bi Ziyan's proposal to split the Sinong Temple from the Taifu Temple, and transfer him to the position of Minister of the Sinong Temple, handing over taxes other than land tax to others.

What he didn't expect was that the emperor seemed to think he was too idle, so he added more responsibilities to him and appointed him concurrently as the Chancellor of Shuntian Prefecture.

He was even asked to sort out the Yellow Book of Shuntian Prefecture as soon as possible to see how many fields could be taxed, and how much wasteland could be reclaimed for military farming in the future after the Ministry of Works regulated the Haihe River.

The affairs of Shuntian Prefecture alone were enough to keep him busy. It was too much to think that he could relax a little.

After discussing some matters of the Privy Council, Zhu Youjian asked Yuan Keli:

"It's a subordinate office of the Privy Council. Yuan Qing should have seen it too." "Do you have any opinions? How do you plan to determine the rank?"

The five-institute plan he proposed earlier made some simple settings for the subordinate offices of each institute.

However, more specific institutions and levels have not been determined.

After hearing this, Yuan Keli immediately said:
"I think the Military Supervision Office and the Military Court should be jointly managed by the Privy Council, the Censorate, and the Supreme Court."

"The chief officer holds concurrent posts in both chambers, making it easier for him to participate in the affairs of the chambers."

"But the presidents of the two chambers are only of the second rank, and the deputy presidents or deputy censors are only of the third rank."

"Your Majesty has decided that the Privy Councilor is a second-rank official, which is a bit too high."

"I am afraid that it may be inconvenient for me to work part-time."

The level of the Privy Council was set high, which was set by Zhu Youjian before in order to divide the power of the cabinet.

Later, he proposed the Five-Academy Plan, unifying the ranks of the five academies as the first rank. In fact, except for the Privy Council, the other four academies did not have any first-rank official positions.

If one wants to be promoted to the junior first rank or the first rank, one can only increase the rank by adding titles.

This brings up a problem, that is, when officials of the Privy Council concurrently hold positions in the other four courts, their ranks will be relatively high, which may make the heads of the other four courts feel uncomfortable.

Now that the five-chamber plan has been passed, the level of the Privy Council cannot be lowered. Yuan Keli's opinion is to increase the level downward:
"I think that additional positions should be created below the left and right privy councilors, the associate privy councilors, the assistant privy councilors, and the assistant privy councilors."

"In the system of the former Song Dynasty, under the Privy Councilor, there were Privy Councilor-in-Chief, Privy Councilor-in-Chief, Privy Councilor-in-Chief, and Privy Councilor-in-Chief who were in charge of announcing the imperial edicts. There were also ...."

"I think these positions should be added to determine the ranks of Privy Council officials."

"The ranks of the various ministries and general offices under the Privy Council should be set at the third rank, equivalent to the vice minister and deputy chief censor."

Zhu Youjian hesitated and asked:

"Is it appropriate to designate him as a third-rank official?"

"Is he still called a minister?"

Yuan Keli said hesitantly:
"Perhaps he could be called Shizhong, to distinguish him from Shilang."

Zhu Youjian shook his head and disagreed.

Shizhong was an official position established by Emperor Jianwen in the Ming Dynasty, ranking between Shangshu and Shilang.

It has a good name, but Zhu Youjian doesn't want to use it——

In order to avoid people associating him with Emperor Jianwen and accusing him of arbitrarily changing the official system, he would inevitably fail.

So after thinking about it, he said:
"Just call him Minister! His rank is set at the third rank."

"From now on, the chief officer of a three-character ministry will be called minister, to distinguish it from two-character ministries such as the Ministry of Personnel."

"The rank of the Sanzi Ministry is set at the third rank, and the minister and deputy minister can be promoted to higher ranks by serving as privy ministers."

"Below the third-rank minister, the deputy minister is at the third-rank, the minister's assistant or the minister's assistant is at the fourth-rank, and the minister's assistant is at the fourth-rank."

"The chief officers of departments, offices, divisions and sections are also directly called director, director, director, section chief and section chief, and their ranks are set at fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth grades."

"Add the word 'deputy' to a deputy position, and the rank will be lowered by half a grade."

"This way, everyone from the minister to the section chief will have an official position."

Following the official positions previously set for the Jinyiwei, Zhu Youjian set these levels and said:

"Below the rank of Privy Councilor, there are four levels of imperial edicts, which are added to the Privy Council."

"Officials with this title can attend Privy Council meetings and participate in the affairs of the entire Privy Council."

"Privy Councillors and above are collectively called Privy Councilors. They attend Privy Council meetings and decide on daily affairs."

"They can also participate in the imperial court meetings and elect military officers such as the general and deputy general."

This changes the power of nominating senior military officers from the previous nine ministers to the Privy Council. Yuan Keli hesitated and said:
"The nine ministers in the State Council and other ministries might have objections to this."

Zhu Youjian even set up the Privy Council, so why would he still care about the opinions of some civil servants? He said nonchalantly:
"Let them raise their opinions if they have any, don't hold back on your dissatisfaction."

"How many generals in the army do they know? Isn't it random when they recommend them?"

"It's different for the Privy Councilors. They understand military affairs. When they recommend the generals and deputy generals, they are always more reliable."

Then he said:
"There are also the Guards of the Army and the Frontier Governors, the Privy Councilors and the Nine Ministers who will be recommended by the court."

"For matters involving vassal states and foreign affairs, the Minister of the Lifanyuan should also be included."

"The ministers of the Privy Council, like the Censorate, are nominated by the ministers of the court, and I select them from among them."

In just a few words, the ranks and selection and appointment methods of these officials were determined. In name, it was still recommended by the imperial court, but the emperor undoubtedly had more decision-making power.

Yuan Keli was somewhat helpless about this, but he was mentally prepared for this when the Privy Council was established.

The reason why the emperor established the Privy Council was to increase his decision-making power in military matters.

To this end, he did not hesitate to recognize the military power seized by the civil officials in exchange for the consent of the ministers.

If the ministers are still not satisfied, the emperor will become angry.

So he agreed with the emperor's decision, and at the emperor's request, discussed a list of Privy Council officials with other ministers of war.

Zhu Youjian specifically mentioned Yang Sichang and asked Yuan Keli:
"How does Yang Sichang arrange it?"

"What is Yuan Qing's plan?"

Yuan Keli believed that Yang Sichang was a natural staff officer and naturally wanted to arrange him in the General Staff.

Previously, he felt that Yang Sichang's current official rank was low and his promotion might lead to criticism.

Now that the emperor has designated the Three Words Department under the Privy Council as a third-rank official, there will be no problem. He said:

"I believe that Yang Sichang is capable enough to serve as Chief of Staff of the Privy Council."

"He was just promoted to the third rank of councillor last year, so he hasn't had enough years of probation yet."

"I think he can be appointed as a third-rank deputy minister, acting minister."

Zhu Youjian frowned and said:

"Yang Sichang is capable, but he has no actual combat experience in military affairs."

"Let him take the deputy position, and you can take on the main position concurrently!"

"Also, the word 'general' can be added before the name 'General Staff'. The minister can be called the Chief of General Staff or Chief of General Staff, and the deputy minister can be called the Deputy Chief of General Staff or Deputy Chief of General Staff, to distinguish it from other ministers and deputy ministers, and show its difference."

"This is the most important department of the Privy Council. There should be a distinction in the name, and it should be managed by ministers like Yuan Qing. The officials who will take up this position in the future should be given the title of Privy Councilor."

"In the future, when Zhu Xieyuan and other meritorious governors are transferred to other posts, they will not feel that the court has treated them unfairly."

Yuan Keli thought so too. Although the General Staff Department was designated as a third-rank government office, its ranking in the Privy Council was actually before the Ministry of War. This ministry was actually the Military Affairs Department. When the Minister of War attended the Privy Council meeting as the Minister of Military Affairs, he would be ranked behind the Chief of the General Staff.

Such an official position indeed requires a high-ranking official to hold it and cannot be treated as an ordinary third-rank official.

So he agreed to the emperor's request and served as the chief of staff, using his own status to escort this department.

Then he heard the emperor say:

"Order Yang Sichang to take charge of the Operations Department of the General Staff as the deputy chief, organize the personnel of the Logistics Department, Equipment Department, Border Defense Department, and Navy Department, and calculate how much money and food will be needed to implement his four-square and six-corner strategy, and how many troops will be mobilized."

"The Jinyiwei Beisifang Intelligence Center, as the intelligence department of the Privy Council, is also involved in this matter."

"This is the first task of the Privy Council after its establishment. The establishment of other agencies of the Privy Council should be centered on being able to formulate and implement such operational plans."

"There will be many more combat plans in the future, and this is the significance of the existence of the General Staff."

"The Art of War says: More plans lead to victory, less plans lead to defeat."

"The Privy Council is in charge of military orders. We need to make more plans and fight a prepared battle."

This request made Yuan Keli's heart surge with emotion and he understood even more clearly the significance of the establishment of the Privy Council.

The Privy Council is an institution centered around the General Staff, and its most important responsibility is to participate in planning and making calculations for war.

The Ming Dynasty's military affairs are under the control of the Privy Council, so it will definitely have a better chance of winning.

After talking for a long time, Zhu Youjian and Yuan Keli agreed to transfer personnel from the Ministry of War and other government offices to do the temple calculations under the leadership of Yang Sichang.

In order to keep it secret, Zhu Youjian also gave this combat plan a code name, called the "Ji Si Plan," following the custom of later generations.

Special accommodation was arranged in the small meeting hall, which was newly renamed the Central Military Governor's Office, as the first thing to do after the establishment of the Privy Council.

Speaking of the Central Military Governor's Office, Zhu Youjian also remembered one thing, that is, to abolish the three titles of commander-in-chief, commander-in-chief associate, and commander-in-chief assistant.

The commander-in-chief and the deputy commander-in-chief are both of the second rank, the deputy commander-in-chief and the commander-in-chief are both of the third rank, and only the second rank position of the deputy commander-in-chief is vacant.

Now, because the Privy Council established the Privy Councilor under the Privy Councilor, Zhu Youjian followed this and added the second-rank Privy Councilor to the Five Military Commandery.

The Jinwu Guard Commandery also added this second-rank additional title. Even below the fourth-rank commander, the fourth-rank commander-in-chief was added. From the first rank to the sixth rank, there are stable additional titles.

The title of Dusi was completely useless and he directly abandoned it. The Jinwu Guard Dusi, a vacant institution, became history in just one year.

Zhu Youjian will also make changes to the future local military governors and re-arrange the chaotic local military power. (End of this chapter)