Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 634: Grandson's Young Army
The officials in the court were already worried about the prince being in charge of the army, and the emperor wanted to take this opportunity to take control of the Four Imperial Guards, which made them even more vigilant. They firmly rejected the emperor and the prince's proposal to jointly control the Four Imperial Guards.

After hearing the unanimous opinions of the civil servants in the court, Zhu Youjian felt that he had underestimated the difficulty and underestimated the civil servants' vigilance against the emperor's expansion of military power, even though he knew that this matter was a bit difficult.

But even so, he still tried his best to fight for it, and said to his ministers:
"The prince has three guards, and the prince has six."

"I am the Son of Heaven. The number of guards under the control of the Imperial Horse Administration must be at least more than ten, right?"

"Now there are only Tengxiang Left and Right Guards, Wuxiang Left and Right Guards, and Zhuolu Left and Right Guards, which adds up to six guards."

"Isn't it natural to increase the number of Yulin Guards?"

The Minister of Rites Cheng Jiming tactfully reminded the emperor:
"Your Majesty rules the world, how can there be only six guards?"

"Besides, the Four Tengxiang Guards belong to the Twenty-Six Guards of Shangzhi. Are they all your Majesty's personal troops?"

"Why does Your Majesty only pay attention to the four Tengxiang guards under the Imperial Horse Administration and ignore the other guards?"

Wang Zaijin, the Left Censor-in-Chief, also said:

"Your Majesty, have you forgotten that the Jinyi Guard is also one of the 26 guards of Shangzhi and now belongs to the inner court?"

"With the addition of the Zhuolu Left and Right Guards, there are now seven guards in the inner court."

Remind the emperor that the Jinyiwei is also a guard post and belongs to the upper direct army.

It would have been better if I hadn't reminded him. As soon as Wang Zaijin finished speaking, Zhu Youjian immediately said:

"Now the Jinyiwei is mainly responsible for intelligence and arrest work, and there are many things that they cannot take into account for ceremonial work."

"The Banner Guard is in charge of the imperial drums and flags, and their duties overlap with those of the Imperial Guard. In the past, the captains of the Banner Guard also belonged to the Imperial Guard."

"I think the Banner Guard should be transferred to the Jinyiwei Supervisor."

This is a problem left over from the previous incorporation of the Jinyiwei into the inner court.

After the Jinyiwei became a complete inner court department and was separated from the outer court, some problems arose in its coordination with the Qishouwei.

The main reason is that the funding sources of the two parties are different. The Jinyiwei is allocated funds from the inner court, and there is a special logistics department inside to be responsible for it, which makes it more convenient to do anything.

While developing sniper tactics, Zhu Youjian asked the Jinyiwei to strengthen their defense against firearms. The guards and security work of the Jinyiwei were adjusted accordingly. Even the carriages, processions and ceremonial guards were changed accordingly.

Because there is a special equipment hall and the support of the Imperial Household Supervision Weapon Group, the Imperial Household Supervision craftsmen can quickly make what they need.

The flag bearer guards had to apply for everything they did, wait for their superiors' approval, and then hand it over to other government offices for production. Naturally, the speed was not fast, and it was not necessarily suitable.

This caused the Jinyiwei to complain a lot, and when reporting to the emperor, they often pushed the responsibility onto the Qibiaowei.

Zhu Youjian was very concerned about his own safety after the appearance of the sniper musket, and naturally would not allow any mistakes in this regard. This time he took the opportunity to propose that the Banner Guard be merged into the Jinyi Guard.

The officials in the court are on high alert right now, so how could they be willing to approve this proposal?

Zhang Fengxiang, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, said:
"If the Jinyi Guards are too busy, they can hand over all matters such as the procession and ceremonial guards to the Qibiao Guards."

"The Ministry of Justice can also take on the work of the Weiwei Temple."

"I think Your Majesty should not only focus on the inner court, but also treat the outer court's government offices and guards equally."

This was an attempt to take advantage of the opportunity to intervene and separate the Weiwei Temple from the Jinyiwei.

Zhu Youjian ignored Zhang Fengxiang and said to Yuan Keli:

"Which government office is in charge of the logistics of the Banner Guard now?"

"Why did the Imperial Guards quickly prepare the new carriage and ceremonial guards, but the Banner Guards took so long to do so?"

Yuan Keli looked at the Minister of Logistics, Min Mengde said:

"The Banner Guard belongs to the Shangzhi Imperial Army, not to the Five Military Commandery."

"It is under the jurisdiction of the Shenshu Camp. The logistics affairs should be under the jurisdiction of the Logistics Department of the Beijing Camp Guard Division."

This made Yuan Keli look at the Imperial Guard of the Beijing Camp, Li Banghua, and said:

"The capital's military budget has always been tight, and the flag bearer guards' ceremonial weapons are not unusable, so the military guards did not allow them to make new ceremonial weapons."

"I think it is better to cut down on such unnecessary expenses."

Zhu Youjian absolutely disagreed with this. He said:

"Ever since the top leaders of the Jianlu were assassinated one after another, even the Jianlu have adjusted their carriages and ceremonial guards."

"Does the great Ming Dynasty still want to stick to the old ways?"

"If you can't even perform a ceremonial guard properly, how can I trust you to be in charge of the flag bearer guard?"

After hearing these reprimands, Li Banghua's face turned red and he could only apologize to the emperor.

The officials of the Privy Council were aware of the threat posed by sniper muskets, and some even wrote memorials to advise the emperor and his ministers to be careful and on guard against them.

Now they haven’t even adjusted the guard of honor, which is clearly a dereliction of duty.

Zhu Youjian had never punished Li Banghua before because he knew that the work of the Beijing Camp was not easy. Li Banghua just needed to keep the Beijing Camp in shape so that he could defend the city when the Jianlu attacked.

However, after the Jisi Incident did not happen and the possibility of it happening became smaller and smaller, Zhu Youjian's requirements for the Beijing Army had changed. He no longer focused on stability, but wanted to build a combat-capable army.

So he began to crack down on Li Banghua, intending to reorganize the Beijing camp in the future. And by expanding the imperial camp, he forced the officials to pay attention to the 26 guards of Shangzhi.

If they don't work hard and still let the Shangzhi Army neglected as before, Zhu Youjian will not tolerate it, but will expand the imperial camp and rebuild the emperor's army.

After Li Banghua was suddenly punished and had to apologize, Yuan Keli had already figured out the trick. He knew that the emperor was not determined to expand the imperial guards, but to show his importance to the Shangzhi personal army and force them to reorganize the Shangzhi 26 guards.

This made him secretly groan in his heart, knowing that this was a big trouble.

Last year, the garrisons in Shuntian Prefecture were restructured, and garrisons in various places, like the Three Garrisons in Zhuolu, were merged into districts and counties to set up garrison areas, which had already kept him busy.

The restructuring of the capital's garrisons this year is an even more troublesome matter.

Unlike the garrisons outside the capital, the garrisons in the capital not only had no real land, but also insufficient military farms, and were unable to allocate land to all military households.

If the military households were allowed to be converted into civilian households as in the garrisons outside the capital, Yuan Keli estimated that many of the military households in the garrisons would have to flee. This is also the reason why the garrisons with garrison farms or even real land were chosen as the starting point for the reform.

Even if the land of these garrisons was occupied, it still existed. As long as the court made up its mind, it could be measured and distributed to the military households for cultivation.

Some of the officers who were too greedy were dealt with, and the military households with meritorious services were promoted to hereditary sergeants, and the garrison soon became stable. Some officers and sergeants even took the initiative to separate their households, so that the missing households in the garrison were also supplemented.

But the local garrisons could do this, but the garrisons in the capital did not have this condition. Because they did not have much land to begin with, the amount would definitely not be enough to distribute to the military households, and the military households in the capital were not necessarily willing to leave the capital to farm.

Even if they pull rickshaws in the capital, they can earn more money than being soldiers and eating rations.

Therefore, the Privy Council has been slow to start the reform of the guards in the capital. Now, the emperor has asked to reorganize the Shangzhi Army. This made Yuan Keli sigh and said:
"Your Majesty, the duties of the Banner Guards do overlap with those of the Imperial Guards, and the two need to cooperate with each other."

"If the expenses of the Banner Guards are to be borne by the inner court in the future, I think they can be incorporated into the Imperial Guards."

This made Zhu Youjian very happy, and he said:
"Yuan Qing is sensible and knows what is required for the job."

"Unlike some officials who can't do anything useful and just oppose and oppose."

"I would like to remind you again today that in the future, officials with seniority will be given priority in promotions."

"If you can't make achievements over the years, no matter how high-profile you are, it will be of no benefit to your career."

"Learn from the senior officials and see what they are doing!"

After reprimanding those ministers who were making a fuss, Zhu Youjian praised Yuan Keli again, believing that he was a capable minister who could get things done.

Regardless of what Yuan Keli and the ministers thought, after Han Yu heard it, he felt that the emperor was giving him some advice again.

After he submitted a memorial according to the emperor's wishes a few days ago, he did not say a word at the court meeting today.

This was nothing for an ordinary university scholar, but for him as the prime minister, it was indeed inappropriate.

So, after thinking that the emperor was giving him a warning, he stood up and said:

"I think the Banner Guard should indeed be incorporated into the Imperial Guard."

"And the Jinwu Left and Right Guards should also be included at the same time."

"The Jinyiwei is also known as the Jinwuwei. Your Majesty has also established the Jinwuwei and Jinwududufu as titles for the Jinyiwei's hereditary officials and military officers."

"It is inappropriate for Jinwu Zuowei and Jinwu Youwei to not be under the jurisdiction of Jinyiwei. I think they should be included together with the Qishouwei."

This gave the emperor two more guards, and Zhu Youjian was very happy. He felt that Han Yu was really sensible and it was worth it that he helped him out a few days ago.

Although the left and right Jinwu guards were not as numerous as the four Yulin guards, with the addition of the flag-bearer guards, Zhu Youjian managed to achieve his goal.

After hearing this, although there were some discussions among the ministers, their reaction was not as strong as when Zhu Youjian wanted to transfer the four Yulin guards to the Imperial Stables.

Because most of those who obtained the hereditary status of Jinwu Guard were the sons of scholars. It can even be said that the name Jinwu Guard was a nickname they gave themselves because they disliked the bad reputation of Jinyi Guard.

Now that the Jinwu Left and Right Guards have been transferred to the Jinyiwei, it is more appropriate to call them the Jinwu Guards, and they are actually very happy about this.

Han Yu dared to raise this point because he understood their psychology.

Han Yu, who was well versed in the thoughts of civil officials, cleverly got the emperor to increase the number of guards and obtained the consent of all the ministers.

After this adjustment, the Jinyiwei actually managed four guards. Together with the Tengxiang Four Guards and the Zhuolu Left and Right Guards, the inner court directly managed ten guards.

This has reached Zhu Youjian's bottom line, and he does not intend to manage too many guards. Because after these guards are incorporated into the inner court, they will need to be supported by the inner court in the future. With the current income of the inner court, it cannot support too many guards.

Zhu Youjian also had another consideration, that is, if there were too many guards in the inner court, their specialness would not be apparent. It is very likely that their jurisdiction would be usurped by officials because they could not manage them all.

Just like the Ming emperor in the past, who nominally had 26 guards, he actually only cared about the Jinyi Guard and the four Tengxiang Guards. The other guards that he could not take care of could only be managed by officials.

Zhu Youjian was unwilling to have only nominal jurisdiction, so he did not intend to allow the inner court to have too many guards. The ideal number in his mind was to have twelve guards like during the reign of Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Youjian took out his last bargaining chip and continued to expand his personal guards:

"The Palace Army Vanguard is in charge of the young army. It was specially established when Chengzu established Xuanzong as the crown prince."

"According to the inheritance etiquette, the establishment of the Ming Dynasty's Crown Prince will become normalized in the future."

"If the Crown Prince wants to succeed to the throne smoothly, a young army is indispensable."

"I think the Palace Army Vanguard can re-select young soldiers for training in preparation for the future enthronement of the Crown Prince."

"I also intend to assign the four guard posts of the Imperial Guard, the Imperial Guard Left Guard, the Imperial Guard Right Guard, and the Imperial Guard Rear Guard to the Crown Prince as his personal guards."

This showed care for the Crown Prince, and taking Xuanzong, the Crown Prince who successfully succeeded to the throne, as an example, the ministers looked at each other in bewilderment when they heard it.

In fact, when they were formulating the inheritance rites, there was still a lot of controversy over whether or not to establish a crown prince.

Because of the first crown prince of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yunwen, they still feel frightened when they think about it now.

If someone as young and naive as Zhu Yunwen appears again, they don't want to be regarded as a treacherous minister by the emperor and be punished.

Therefore, the emperor followed Chengzu's example and selected young soldiers for the crown prince to ensure that he would succeed to the throne smoothly in the future. This made them feel surprised but also very reasonable.

Liu Zongzhou stood up and said:
"The Crown Prince has six guards, and the Crown Prince has five. This system is very appropriate."

"But I think that the Crown Prince only needs to have the Palace Army Vanguard in the capital, and the other four guards should be in their fiefdoms like the Crown Prince."

This surprised Zhu Youjian a little. He didn't expect Liu Zongzhou to propose to give the crown prince a fief.

After thinking about the places around Daming, he couldn't think of any good place to give to the grandson, so he said:
"We'll talk about the fiefdom later. There's no need to rush now."

"But the reorganization of the government army's vanguard must start now."

"When we have a grandson in the future, they will be responsible for guarding him."

No mention was made of the other four guards of the palace army, only that the vanguard of the palace army should belong to the crown prince.

Although this guard is just one guard, it actually has five commanders and twenty-five thousand households, which is equivalent to five ordinary guards.

As long as this is handed over to the Imperial Stables for custody, it will be equivalent to having five more guards in the inner court.

However, this was a system at the beginning of the country. Later, the vanguard of the prefectural army declined, and many soldiers fled. This guard was abolished long ago, and not many people know this. Even many officials serving in the Ministry of War and the Privy Council are not very clear about this.

Even if there were a few people who knew about it, they wisely did not bring it up when they saw the emperor sitting on the dragon throne and clearly intending to expand the imperial army.

Eventually, the vanguard of the palace army was designated as the crown prince's personal guard and handed over to the Imperial Stables for custody.

The actual number of troops under Zhu Youjian's control suddenly increased by 25,000.

Of course, the staffing is like this, and whether it can be fully staffed depends on how much money the inner court has.

After all, the soldiers and horses of the imperial camp have to be supported by the inner court, and the officials of the outer court will not allocate a penny.

What Zhu Youjian needs to do next is to increase the income of the inner court and strengthen his control.

We must not relax our control over the Beijing Camp and must strictly rectify it.

After making sure that the Jianlu could not attack the capital, he decided to make a major change to the Beijing Army, so that this army directly under the imperial court would once again have the fighting power to suppress the world.

(End of this chapter)