Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Because of Yang Sichang's advice, Zhu Youjian did not approve the Privy Council's plan to relocate the garrisons in the capital.

On the 28th day of the first lunar month, he convened a joint meeting of the nine ministers of the cabinet, the Privy Council, the Ministry of War, and the Five Military Governorates to discuss the reform of the Beijing Barracks and the Beijing Garrisons.

Since Yang Sichang had already spoken the truth in front of the emperor, the emperor did not blame him too much for the corrupt state of the guards. After being reprimanded by the emperor, Li Banghua, who served as the military envoy of the Beijing camp, learned from his mistakes and boldly stated the situation of the guards in the capital. He also believed that many redundant staff who ate in the guards could be cut:

"There are 72 guards in the capital, each with 30 to 40 officials and servants, totaling more than 2,000 people."

"These people are a waste of food and money. I think we can keep two to four people in each guard, and the rest can be dismissed."

Zhu Youjian had no idea about this matter, so he asked him carefully:
"What do these officials do?"

“Why can it be cut?”

Li Banghua said:

"They are mainly responsible for things like transferring documents. The duties of each guard are not complicated and the number of documents transferred is very small. Keeping them is just a waste of money and food."

This is Li Banghua's opinion. After hearing this, Zhu Youjian frowned and said:
"With the transfer of officers and soldiers in the garrisons, and the military households serving and migrating, how can you say that the duties are not heavy?"

"Who is managing the roster of the guard post now?"

Li Banghua hesitated and said:

"It should still be managed by the various guards."

Considering the current situation where the rosters of various guards are in name only, it is really hard to talk about laying off officials.

Zhu Youjian thought of this, so he did not agree to Li Banghua's proposal to cut redundant staff. But he was also dissatisfied with these officials who only ate and did not work, and said seriously:

"The rosters of the various guards are in disarray, and it is really the officials' dereliction of duty."

"All of these people who cannot match the roster will be made into military households and sent to serve in the front line."

"The duties and organizations of the various guards in the capital must also be changed. We can't continue to be so confused."

All the ministers agreed with this point, because the garrisons in the capital had reached the point where they had to be reformed.

Especially after the restructuring of the garrisons in Shuntian Prefecture outside the city was completed, if the city was not reformed, there would be a danger of being strong on the outside and weak on the inside.

Yuan Keli, the Privy Councilor, said:

"The city's guard posts need to be changed, but they have no land. If we recruit soldiers based on the roster, what will the military households do for a living?"

"I think it would be most appropriate to allocate land to them on the outskirts of the city, and allow those military households who are willing to farm to go outside the city."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly and said:
"Military households who are willing to cultivate the land can indeed be relocated to the suburbs."

“But for those who don’t want to farm, we must respect their wishes and allow them to choose jobs in the city.”

"My opinion is to compile the list of all the guards in the capital and completely shuffle and re-arrange them."

"Those who are willing to farm will be given priority to select land according to their ancestors' merits and the land allocated to them, and they will be moved outside the city."

"Those who do not wish to farm and remain in the city will be managed as military and civilian households according to their location."

This was the solution he came up with after much thought.

In this plan, the guards that remained in the city were regarded by him as the People's Armed Forces Department, responsible for the recruitment and mobilization of soldiers in the area under their jurisdiction:
"There are thirty-six wards in the capital, and each ward is assigned a guard, who is responsible for recruiting soldiers from the military and civilian households living in the ward and sending them to the Beijing Camp, the Patrol Camp, etc. for training."

"In principle, one male is selected from every ten households, and each male serves for three years, after which he is replaced by someone else."

"If no one responds, the ten households must jointly finance the recruitment of someone to respond, or pay a fee for exemption from military service."

The officials had never imagined that the Wei-suo system could become like this.

After Yuan Keli tried hard to figure it out, he asked:
"What's the point of the guardhouse in this case?"

"The matter of recruiting soldiers can be completely handed over to the military preparation department and the garrison district."

Zhu Youjian looked at him in surprise. He didn't expect Yuan Keli to figure it out so quickly. Such a guard post was actually a substitute for the garrison area.

In theory, the capital city could indeed set up a garrison area and let them do the recruiting work.

However, Zhu Youjian was not at all reassured about letting civil servants or civilian officers have complete control of this power.

He would rather use corrupt officials than to ensure their loyalty. Moreover, in the capital, under the emperor's feet, there are civil officials such as the censors watching over them. After these officials lose the military households under their direct jurisdiction, they can't be domineering even if they want to.

Of course, this reason cannot be used openly, he said to Yuan Keli:

"The population of the capital is complex, numbering tens to millions."

"After the garrison is established, the garrison will send personnel to each district, which may require hundreds of people."

"Instead of doing that, it would be better to send the guards over."

"Move each guard office to the corresponding ward. Each thousand-household unit will be responsible for one signboard, and each hundred-household unit will be responsible for one shop or one alley. We will strive to ensure that each alley has a person in charge, and conduct grid management of the household registration within the jurisdiction."

"As long as their ancestors were registered as Wei, they will be managed as military and civilian households."

"They have a duty to serve, and every ten households must provide one soldier."

This was equivalent to abandoning the original Wei Suo system, retaining the hereditary officials of the Wei Suo only in the name of the Wei Suo, and using them to re-establish a new military system.

Yuan Keli and others felt that this was a serious matter, especially Liu Zunxian, the Minister of Border Defense who often dealt with the garrison. After thinking for a while, he said:

"If every ten households contribute one man, even if there are 100,000 military and civilian households in the capital, the maximum number of troops they can contribute is 10,000."

"Where will the rest of the Beijing camp's troops come from?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Youjian turned to Li Banghua and asked the Imperial Guard Envoy:

"How many people are there in the Beijing Camp now?"

"How many soldiers are allowed?"

Li Banghua replied after careful consideration:
"According to the regulations, the Beijing garrison has more than 100,000 soldiers, more than 20,000 horses, and more than 1 million in official salaries, military rations, and horse rations."

"I have selected victorious soldiers in the Beijing camp and have obtained 24,000 available troops."

This is the current situation, and it is also the greatest achievement Li Banghua has achieved in his two years of reorganizing the Beijing camp.

Of the 100,000-strong Beijing garrison, only 24,000 were available, and the rest were either fictitious or old, weak, sick or disabled.

Even though Zhu Youjian was prepared for this, he still couldn't help but look at the nobles of the Five Military Commandery. He wondered how much of the one million in money and grain had been embezzled by them.

When these nobles in the Five Military Commandery saw the emperor's gaze, they all looked away, as if what he was talking about had nothing to do with them and they had no responsibility.

Zhu Youjian was too lazy to bother with these people, as he thought that the civil officials and the new nobles would deal with them in the future. He said to Li Banghua:
"You have worked hard these past two years. Thank you for your hard work."

"Award him the second-rank medal for protecting the country and give him the additional title of Prime Minister." This was a reward for Li Banghua's hard work and he was not blamed for the previous problems.

This made Li Banghua's eyes warm and he almost shed tears.

During the two years that he was reorganizing the Beijing camp, he offended countless nobles and officials.

However, he was not afraid of these. What he feared most was that the emperor did not understand his difficulties and felt that 24,000 elite soldiers were too few.

He had never dared to report it before because he was afraid of being blamed by the emperor.

Now that the emperor praised him and awarded him honors, he felt that his hard work over the past two years was not in vain.

After praising him, Zhu Youjian asked Li Banghua:

"Among the elite soldiers selected by the Beijing Camp, how many of them were from the Beijing Guards?"

“What proportion does it occupy?”

Li Banghua had carefully selected these 24,000 men and had organized them into a separate unit under the command of Yang Jiamo, Cao Wenzhao, Yang Guozhu and others sent by the emperor. He knew all about this and said immediately:
"Most of the soldiers in the Beijing Camp were from the Beijing Guards, but half of the 24,000 soldiers who can fight come from all over the country."

"Some of them were transferred from the border troops, some were recruited to join the army, and some were replacements."

This confirmed Zhu Youjian's judgment that the garrisons stationed in the capital city no longer had much combat power.

Why couldn't the hundreds of thousands of Song Dynasty imperial guards defeat the Jin people? Because they lived in the city and their backs had long been bent by the high cost of living, such as high housing prices and commodity prices. There were even many dignitaries in the capital who treated them as slaves and worked them privately.

The Imperial Guards of the Ming Dynasty were slightly better, because the existence of the guard system could ensure that the officers had basic military qualities and could barely maintain some combat effectiveness. Even if they were unusable for field battles outside the city, they could still be used to defend the city.

Historically, they defended the capital against the attacks of the Jianlu until more than 200,000 people died of plague in the capital, and then they surrendered when Li Zicheng arrived.

Li Banghua was able to select one-fifth of the elite soldiers from the Beijing camp, half of whom came from the Beijing garrison, which also confirmed Zhu Youjian's judgment:
Among the soldiers in the Beijing garrison, only about one-tenth are capable of being used.

So he said to Liu Zunxian:
"Liu Qing also heard what Li Qing said just now."

"Since only one-tenth of the soldiers in the Beijing Camp Guard are useful, why not just leave 10,000?"

"From now on, the soldiers recruited from the Beijing Camp Guard will be placed in the Shenshu Camp to serve."

"If you are still useful after three years and are willing to continue to serve in the army, you will be granted the rank of sergeant and transferred to the Shenji Battalion as a professional sergeant."

"Those who do not wish to continue serving, or are not qualified to become sergeants, will be transferred to the reserve force, trained for a few days each year by the local guards, and called up in case of war."

"This way the court can not only obtain a group of elite soldiers, but also hide them among the people without having to bear the burden of money and food."

"Compared to the current military system, which one do you think is better?"

The ministers pondered the emperor's words and felt that this would at least ensure the combat effectiveness of the Shenji Camp.

Even if only one thousand of the ten thousand soldiers recruited every three years are willing to become professional soldiers, assuming they can serve for twenty years, the Shenji Camp will have about seven thousand elite soldiers.

If the army is more disciplined and punishments and rewards are fairer, many civilians will see joining the army as a way to change their fate, and more people will be willing to become professional soldiers.

In addition to the soldiers recruited from the suburban garrisons and those transferred from other places, the number of combat soldiers in the Beijing camp would not be less than 24,000.

The imperial court only needed to support these people and did not need to bear the burden of those soldiers who had no fighting power. When encountering war, the reserve forces would be recruited to expand the army.

It can be said that the emperor took into account the military's combat effectiveness, military pay, and soldier expansion.

But one thing that has not been taken into consideration is the people's hearts.

Yuan Keli thought about the current situation in the world and advised:
"Your Majesty, although the Beijing Camp has only 20,000 combat-capable soldiers, the Beijing Camp's 100,000-man establishment cannot be reduced."

"Otherwise, ambitious people in the world will regard the capital as weak. As long as they have tens of thousands of soldiers, they will dare to attack the capital directly."

"The three guards of the princes have 15,000 men. Your Majesty must have at least 100,000 troops in the capital to ensure safety."

It points out very bluntly that the capital must have 100,000 soldiers to deter ambitious people.

Even if their fighting power is not good, or even many of them are false, they still have to maintain the name of 100,000 troops.

Otherwise, people's hearts will be unstable and ambitious people will be eager to try.

This made Zhu Youjian frown and think about the problem pointed out by Yuan Keli.

In his heart, he did not want to maintain too many troops in the capital, as that would consume too much money and food, and the soldiers' combat effectiveness would not be improved.

According to the current military expenditure of one million, even if all of it is used for the 100,000 soldiers in the Beijing camp, the military expenditure for each soldier in the Beijing camp would only be ten taels of silver.

In the past, when swords, guns, and armor could be used forever as long as they were not damaged, this military expenditure was barely enough to maintain the army, and soldiers could also be given silver for salt, vegetables, and fur coats.

However, nowadays, when weapons are updated very quickly and ammunition also requires military funds, a million military funds are far from enough for 100,000 soldiers.

Especially with his advanced development, the price of firearms in the Ming Dynasty is now very high, and ten taels of silver is just the cost of a musket.

So he planned to cut down the number of soldiers, so that each soldier would have more military funds and train a group of elite soldiers with strong combat power.

But what Yuan Keli said did make sense. Outsiders did not know whether the soldiers of the Beijing Camp were strong, but the number of them was clear at a glance.

Ten or twenty thousand elite soldiers may be able to defeat a hundred thousand ordinary troops on the battlefield. But their deterrent power in normal times may not be comparable to that of a hundred thousand troops.

After all, whether an army is strong or not can only be known after fighting. Before fighting, people are used to measuring combat power by the number of people.

So Zhu Youjian thought about it and said:

"The soldiers of the Shenshu Camp must not only be recruited from the garrisons within the city, but also from the garrisons outside the capital and Shuntian Prefecture."

"Each household of the hereditary officers, sergeants, and military households in the suburban garrisons must have at least one person serving in the army. Others who are willing to join the army can also join the Beijing camp as long as their background is clean."

"You should divide the number of guards that will stay in the capital and those that will move to the suburbs, and ensure that the Shenshu Camp recruits at least 10,000 soldiers every year."

"Each soldier serves for three years, that's 30,000 troops."

This is more than twice the previous recruitment of 10,000 people from the city’s guard posts in three years. The number of professional soldiers selected from them in the Shenji Camp will naturally increase as well, and it will be able to maintain about 20,000 elite troops.

The two together add up to 50,000 people, and the ministers are still worried about this number.

Li Banghua then said:
"Your Majesty only mentioned the Shenji Camp and the Shenshu Camp. What about the troops in the Fifth Army Camp?"

Zhu Youjian laughed and said to the ministers, especially the nobles of the Five Military Commandery:
"The soldiers of the Five Army Camps are of course selected from the guards under the jurisdiction of the Five Army Commander-in-Chief."

"According to the garrisons under the jurisdiction of the Five Military Commanderies, each commanderies will recruit 10,000 troops and station them around the capital."

"The five military camps are divided into the Central Military Camp, the Front Military Camp and other camps, with the left and right governors or the vice governors as generals of the five armies, who take turns to lead the army."

"This will not only allow the capital to have battle-hardened frontier troops, but also ensure that the Five Military Commandery will not be completely empty."

This finally made the nobles working in the Five Military Commandery see things clearly, and they felt that today's meeting had something to do with them. (End of this chapter)