Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"The feudal rites and the noble council."

"Jianwen Jun died well!"

"How else would these appear?"

Li Zicheng, who had no idea that he had claimed to be a descendant of Jianwen in history, grinned and laughed after reading the relevant information in the newspaper.

Before he and his uncle went north last year, they received the emperor's promise that they would be given hereditary positions and converted into titles.

That’s why they didn’t avoid danger and set up camp in the bitter cold place on the north bank of the Heilongjiang River. Many people still stay there now.

Isn't the purpose to make that place a fiefdom and a hereditary family property?
Now the emperor ordered his ministers to formulate the etiquette of enfeoffment and to form a parliament of nobles. This made him feel that his fiefdom and title could be guaranteed, and gave him more motivation to make meritorious contributions and be awarded a title.

"I need to work harder and strive to obtain the title."

"We can't let Zhang Xianzhong get ahead of us, or he will laugh at us in the future!"

This time when he returned to the Central Plains, Li Zicheng's mission was to recruit immigrants.

This mission went smoothly against the backdrop of another severe drought in Shaanxi.

Not only did he bring the families of his uncle's subordinates out, he also successfully recruited tens of thousands of refugees through various connections. If the best and strongest among them were picked out, there would be at least 3,000 troops.

This made him quite happy, knowing that he had made an invaluable contribution.

However, Zhang Xianzhong's subordinates also sent people to recruit manpower, which made him quite unhappy.

What made him particularly dissatisfied was that Zhang Xianzhong was promoted by the emperor and was allowed to independently establish the Daxiying because he presented a beauty.

If he didn't work hard to get promoted, he would probably be overtaken by Zhang Xianzhong and get the title before him.

So after Li Zicheng sent the immigrants on board, he hurried to the capital and asked for food, money and weapons.

He had already made up his mind to launch another attack on the Khorchin tribe this winter, hoping to snatch a few beauties for the emperor like Zhang Xianzhong did.

Since Zhang Xianzhong was able to form an independent camp, he and others were naturally qualified as well.

In the future, they all have the possibility to lead an army on their own and obtain titles and territories.
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As a person sent out from the imperial camp, Li Zicheng knew many people in the inner court.

Many eunuchs who wanted to be granted titles were paying attention to him and Gao Yingxiang and others, planning to establish fiefdoms overseas in the future.

Wang Chengen, the seal holder of the Imperial Household Department, knew that the emperor was very concerned about Li Zicheng, so he specially met with this person and took him to the Armory.

Pointing to the weapons stored in the Armory, Wang Chengen said to Li Zicheng:

"These are the ones eliminated from the Imperial Camp. You and General Gao both came from the Imperial Camp, so you can use as much as you want."

"Even the latest muskets can be applied for."

As he spoke, Wang Chengen gave an order, and the eunuch in charge of the Armory Bureau immediately ordered the young eunuch to take out the revolver musket and practice target practice on the parade ground.

Li Zicheng was so surprised when he saw the young eunuch pouring gunpowder and turning the cylinder to fire six shots in a row. He could hardly close his mouth.

Being well versed in martial arts, he knew how powerful a musket with such a fast firing rate would be on the battlefield.

No matter how skilled one is in martial arts, it is difficult to dodge six gunshots in a row.

This made him feel both worried and happy:

What worries me is that the importance of martial arts will obviously decrease, and I may be eliminated without even being able to display my skills.

The good news is that this type of musket is very powerful and will give us a greater advantage in the battle with the Khorchin tribe.

If he can seize the opportunity to make meritorious service, it will not be difficult for him to obtain the title.

The eunuch from the Armory Bureau, who had no idea of ​​what he was thinking, smiled and introduced:
"This is the second generation revolver musket. A connector is added between the revolver and the spring wheel."

“Turning the wheel winds the spring wheel, without the need to turn the spring wheel separately.”

"Even the primer needs to be poured one by one, which is not convenient to operate on horseback."

"Once we can test fulminate of mercury in the future, we will be able to make a more useful cavalry rifle!"

After the invention of the revolver, Zhu Youjian did not pay much attention to it, because in his opinion, it was a weapon for self-defense. Its role in large-scale wars was really unremarkable.

However, the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty did not have this fixed understanding. They lengthened the barrels and made more powerful revolver muskets. Although the power and range were reduced due to air leakage, the increased rate of fire made the generals reluctant to give up.

Especially on horses where loading is inconvenient, the bullets in the cylinder of the revolver musket can reduce many loading steps. They issued this musket to the cavalry just like the three-barreled musket.

The effect is good and it has received a lot of praise. However, it is inconvenient to manually rotate the wheel and spring wheel, and there are still too many steps to pour the primer and fire immediately.

Engineers from the Equipment Academy and the Armament Bureau thought hard and came up with a solution of adding a connector to the revolver and spring wheel, thus reducing one step and creating the second generation revolver musket.

But there was really no way to deal with the primer, as fulminate of mercury had not yet been tested, so it was impossible to prime the bullet. Every time a bullet was fired, the primer had to be poured out in order to fire again.

This weapon, named the Cavalry Gun, is similar in function to the carbine of Western cavalry and is now mainly used by cavalry. It is very expensive and only the Imperial Camp and the Patrol Camp have it.

In order to win over Li Zicheng, Wang Chengen planned to equip him with this latest weapon and allocated one hundred rifles in the name of battlefield testing.

Li Zicheng, who heard the inside story from the eunuch of the Armory, thanked Wang Chengen profusely and received a hundred revolving muskets of different lengths, intending to use them on his elite troops.

The power and size of these fire guns vary, most of them are 12mm in caliber, and they use the same bullets as light fire guns. There are also some 9mm fire guns, which are mainly used for self-defense with miniature hand guns.

After receiving these weapons, Li Zicheng selected many weapons that were eliminated from the imperial camp and were suitable for use in Liaodong.

There are also some equipment that were specially developed for Liaodong soldiers under the emperor's order.

Li Zicheng loved the sheepskin coat, dog-skin hat, deerskin gloves, kerosene lighter and torch very much.

With these, life in the wild became easier, and it was also easier for them to set fire when they attacked the Khorchin tribe.

Of course, what made Li Zicheng most happy was that he got a lot of armor from the armory that Wang Chengen used to be in charge of.

If we recruit some Jurchens from the Solon tribe and equip them with heavy armor, we may be able to train an army similar to the Eight Banners of Jianlu.

Finally, he also received food and wages, as well as trading supplies such as salt, wine, and iron pots from the Imperial Household Department, and transported them across before the Heilongjiang River froze, in preparation for this year's winter.
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Wang Chengen, who saw Li Zicheng off, quickly reported the matter to the emperor.

When Zhu Youjian heard that Li Zicheng had received so many weapons, he frowned and asked:
"Do you think Li Zicheng and his men are still loyal to the imperial court?"

"They are too strong. Will there be any problems?" Wang Chengen didn't know why the emperor said this. After considering it, he said:

"I think this man is quite respectful, unlike Zhang Xianzhong who is unruly."

"As long as we control the food and supplies, it will be difficult to rebel."

"Moreover, Liaodong is bitterly cold, and even with the severe drought in Shaanxi, they only recruited less than 10,000 people."

"There will certainly be even fewer people that can be recruited in the future, and they won't have the strength to rebel."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly, agreeing with this view.

In fact, this is also the reason why he sent Li Zicheng and others to Heilongjiang area.

In this era, it was a bitter and cold place further north than Ningguta. No matter how capable Li Zicheng was, he could not develop without manpower.

The only thing we need to pay attention to is to prevent them from merging with the Jurchens, so as to avoid the birth of a new Jurchen force after the Jianlu are eliminated.

So he ordered again:
"Give orders to Jiangling Duke Zhang Tongchang to send Liu Zongmin and others to recruit soldiers from the Suolun, Yupi and other Jurchen tribes."

"Also, have him choose a relative as a representative to sit on the Council of Nobles."

"The same is true for the Han Wang vassal state. Let him choose a relative to serve in the parliament."

In the Council of Nobles, princes have fixed seats. They are what are usually called great nobles, and their status is higher than others.

The representatives Zhu Youjian asked them to send were actually similar to envoys sent by foreign vassal states, who were responsible for handling the relationship between the vassal states and the imperial court.

The so-called aristocratic parliament was actually a platform for discussions between the imperial court and the vassal states to prevent some court officials from acting recklessly in the future and causing the vassal states and the imperial court to become alienated.

If one wanted to punish disobedient vassal states, one could also pass a resolution through the Council of Nobles to have them join forces to fight against the disobedient.

When this order was announced, those who knew the news were excited again, realizing that the emperor was not just talking about it, but really wanted to establish a parliament of aristocrats.

For a time, the civil officials, military generals, and wealthy businessmen in the capital were all concerned about titles and territories.

They might not dare to think about dukes, marquises, and earls, but the three titles of son and man are not difficult to obtain.

Not to mention the indiscriminate granting of titles of nomination during the Wei Zhongxian era, the current emperor, after being stingy at first, granted hereditary titles to dozens of ministers last year, and this year he even converted them into titles of nobility.

This time, Lan Yu's case was rehabilitated and founding heroes were given titles and honors. More than twenty earls and more than a hundred sons were conferred titles at once.

The emperor bestowed titles on the descendants of these heroes who had made contributions to the founding of the country.

How could the emperor treat these meritorious officials who were making contributions to the emperor unfairly?

After the emperor established the rites of inheritance, the rites of enfeoffment, and the establishment of the aristocratic parliament, people fully felt the sincerity of the current emperor and confirmed that the current emperor was not the Taizu who killed his meritorious officials, but more like the Chengzu who shared weal and woe with his meritorious officials.

In the future, the meritorious officials of the Chongzhen Dynasty will most likely be able to share the same ties with the country as the meritorious officials of the Chengzu Dynasty.

As long as a civil official could become a minister in this era, he would have the opportunity to obtain a title and a territory, just like the current court ministers.

Military generals, on the other hand, had an easier job than civil officials because most of them had hereditary official positions. As long as they were determined to establish a fiefdom, they could convert their hereditary positions into titles of nobility.

Not many people took action before because they were worried that after the establishment of the feudal system, the emperor would reduce the power of the feudal system, or force them to migrate after their territories became prosperous, just like he did with the vassal kings.

Now that the Noble Parliament has been established and the emperor has taken the initiative to restrict the transfer and reduction of fiefs, they no longer have this worry. Many people want to take the initiative and choose a good fiefdom around the Ming Dynasty.

Now that the reform of the Shuntianfu Garrison system is in full swing, many Garrison hereditary officials who are unwilling to lose their military households and become serfs and retain only empty official positions have already planned to go overseas to establish fiefdoms. They intend to make their own generation more difficult and leave a piece of territory for their descendants to become feudal lords.

This made the reform of the garrisons smoother and reduced their resistance.

This was true for civil officials and military generals, and merchants were also extremely eager for titles and fiefdoms.

Although they were rich in the past, their status was very low, and they were often extorted by some officials, so they had to spend money to avoid disaster. Otherwise, if they were forced to trade, they might be bankrupt.

After the current emperor ascended the throne, he abolished the evil policy of collective purchasing by merchants, which made them feel a little relieved.

However, extortion by corrupt officials is always inevitable.

After some people knew that the title could be donated, they planned to use the status gained by donating the title to avoid some minor troubles.

Now that they know that the Noble Parliament has been established, that titles and territories will not be abolished at will, and that they can even be elected to the Noble Parliament, many people have begun to take action, selling their property to raise food, and donating titles to open fiefdoms.

They were all worried that there would be no more disasters next year and the emperor would stop donating. In that case, they would miss the opportunity and would not be able to buy the title even if they had money.

Zhu Youjian, who was delighted by this, considerately extended the installment payment period from the original ten years to fifteen years.

This means that the price of 150,000 shi for a hereditary knight can be obtained with only 10,000 shi, and after the subsequent development of the territory, it can be repaid with the grain produced in the territory.

This condition was so generous that most of the powerful imperial merchants who were related to the inner court donated the title of knight. They also had more face when facing the inner court officials.

Those with less power also donated money to become officials in order to improve their status and become eligible to participate in parliamentary elections in the future.

Zhu Youjian thus earned a lot of money and grain, which he used for disaster relief in the capital this year.
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This year, Shuntian Prefecture suffered a severe drought, just like last year, and it was even more severe.

Zhu Youjian ordered his officials to fight drought several times, and built a highway from the capital to Yongping Prefecture and Shanhaiguan, just like the Beijing-Tianjin highway he built last year, provided labor relief to the victims, and strengthened the connection between the capital and Liaodong.

Taipu Temple also planned a highway from Tianjin to Yongping Prefecture to facilitate logistics from Tianjin to Liaodong.

These three roads form a triangle and are collectively called the Triangle Highway.

Because of the road construction, some officials in Shuntian Prefecture have proposed to incorporate Yongping Prefecture into Shuntian Prefecture and change it into Yongping Office under Shuntian Prefecture to facilitate governance.

However, Zhu Youjian had not yet agreed, because Yongping Prefecture was located to the north of Shanhaiguan, and before the safety of the pass was confirmed, it could not be arbitrarily incorporated into Shuntian Prefecture, lest the enemy enter Yongping and be rumored to have reached the capital.

But he was still very interested in this proposal, because Yongping Prefecture was Tangshan in later generations. If Yongping Prefecture was incorporated, the three cities of Beijing, Tianjin and Tang in later generations would all belong to Shuntian Prefecture. It would be conducive to the coordinated development of the three places and the establishment of a heavy industrial base.

The imperial court directly controlled this industrial base, which could effectively enhance its strength and deter the local areas.

Therefore, although Zhu Youjian did not agree to merge Yongping Prefecture now, he had already asked Shuntian Prefecture to make an overall plan to develop industries such as steel, ceramics, and cement in the Yongping area.

Industries that cause serious pollution should be relocated to this place as much as possible to avoid affecting the environment of the capital.

The construction of the Triangle Highway is also a manifestation of the integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Tangshan. The connection between these three places will be closer in the future. (End of this chapter)