Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

After deciding on the guards for the city gates and each district, Zhu Youjian asked Yuan Keli:
"How many guard posts are there in the Five Military Commandery now?"

Yuan Keli calculated and replied:

"The Central Army Commander's Office has not moved. There are four guards left behind: the Central Guard, the Shen Ce Guard, the Ying Tian Guard, and the He Yang Guard. There is also the Horse Herding Thousand Households Office and the Foreign Herding Thousand Households Office."

"Only the front guard was left behind by the governor-general's office of the front army, and only the right guard was left behind by the governor-general's office of the right army."

"The Left Army Commander-in-Chief's Office left behind the Left Guard and the Shenyang Left and Right Guard."

"The rear army governor's office has the most guards in the capital, and there are also guards who stay behind to guard the capital."

As he said this, he carefully considered:

"The imperial guards under the jurisdiction of the rear government originally had 20 guards."

"The Mongolian Left and Right Guards were abolished, and the Shenwu Guards were changed to Emperor Muzong's Zhaoling Guards."

"Xingwu Guards were transferred to guard Anding Gate, Fuyu Guards to guard Beilü Gate, Huizhou Guards to guard Xizhi Gate, and the Three Yiyong Guards and the Three Zhongyi Guards to guard Nancheng District."

"Now, in addition to the remaining guards, there are seven guards whose affiliations have yet to be determined: Daning Central Guard, Daning Vanguard, Yingyang Guard, Kuanhe Guard, Shenwu Left Guard, Wucheng Central Guard, and Weizhou Left Guard."

This is the adjustment of the Beijing Guard that Yuan Keli suggested.

Obviously, he did not want too many Beijing guards to be directly under the jurisdiction of the rear government, as this would become a hidden danger.

Zhu Youjian also had this idea, because in his mind, it would be best if each of the five prefectures governed a guard, and the nobles would just be mascots in it. After all, the nobles would be divided into different fiefs in the future, and each would have its own direct military force.

Military commanders promoted to the Five Military Commandery can take charge of the Five Military Camps, which are placed around the capital to protect it.

So he nodded and said:
"The four guards and two outposts of the Central Government will not be moved, and will remain in the vicinity of the capital to herd horses and cultivate the land."

"The officers and soldiers of the Left and Right Guards of Shenyang in the Zuofu can fill the vacancies of the other guards. They will be established in Shenyang after the Jianlu are pacified in the future."

"This way, the Left Mansion will be like the Right Mansion and the Front Mansion, each with a guard left behind."

"How will Yuan Qing arrange the seven guards in the rear palace?"

After thinking for a while, Yuan Keli said:

"The mausoleum guards for Emperor Shenzong, Emperor Guangzong, and Emperor Xizong have not yet been arranged. I think three guards can be arranged."

This is a legacy issue that I had not taken care of before. Zhu Youjian heard this and asked:

"How many of the Shenwu Guards are left now?"

Yuan Keli didn't know why the emperor asked this, but after thinking about it, he replied:

"The Shenwu Guard has been changed to the Zhaoling Guard."

"The Shenwu Vanguard has been changed to Tengxiang Right Guard."

"The Shenwu Central Guard is in Tongzhou, and has been assigned by His Majesty to guard the Tongzhou Arsenal."

"Shenwu Youwei belongs to Shaanxi Dusi. It was Huashanwei that was changed to Xi'an Zuohuwei, and then changed to this name."

"The Divine Martial Left Guard is now directly under the command of the rear government."

This series of stories went on almost without any hitches, and involved places such as Tongzhou and Shaanxi.

This made Zhu Youjian admire Yuan Keli greatly, knowing that this old minister had worked hard for the reform of the garrisons.

He praised Yuan Keli a few words and said:

"Shenwu is a good name. I plan to use it for the soldiers in the camp in the future."

"The Shenwu Left Guard of the Imperial Palace was changed to the Dingling Guard of Emperor Shenzong."

"Shenwu Youwei can restore its old name, which is Huashanwei."

"The Shenwu Central Guard is in Tongzhou. Does Tongzhou have five guards now?"

Yuan Keli lived up to the emperor's praise and said without hesitation: "Tongzhou now has the Tongzhou Guard, which belongs to the Beijing Guard. It was previously under the Shenshu Camp."

"There are also Tongzhou Left Guard, Tongzhou Right Guard, and Shenwu Central Guard, which are all affiliated to the Five Military Camps, and Dingbian Guard, which is affiliated to the Shenji Camp."

"Your Majesty is now reforming the Beijing Camp system. The Shenji Camp will use professional soldiers only, and the Five Military Camps will dispatch elite soldiers from the local areas."

"The guards originally assigned to the three camps will all be assigned to the Divine Hub Camp in the future, providing soldiers for the Divine Hub Camp."

The military camp and garrison system in the capital was extremely complex. The four garrisons in Tongzhou, namely the Tongzhou Left and Right Guards, the Shenwu Central Guards, and the Dingbian Guards, were not included in the list of the capital's garrisons, but they were still divided into three camps and governed by the officials of the Beijing camp.

Zhu Youjian had long been dissatisfied with this complex system that was difficult for him to control, so he took advantage of the reform of the capital's guards to clearly define the imperial guards and the capital's guards, and divided the capital's guards into the Wucheng Bingmasi. Only the soldiers they provided belonged to the Shenshu Camp.

There should be both cooperation and clear boundaries between the camp system and the garrison system.

There were also guards interspersed to supervise and maintain the new system.

With these thoughts in mind, Zhu Youjian said to Yuan Keli:
"My plan is to change the name of Shenwu Central Guard to Tongzhou Guard, to guard the Tongzhou Arsenal and be responsible for equipment production."

"The Dingbian Guard was changed to the Tongzhou Vanguard, and the Tongzhou Guard can be regarded as the Tongzhou Central Guard, together they are called the Tongzhou Five Guards. The Tongzhou Garrison District is responsible for guarding the east gate of the capital."

"This way, the Five Guards of Shenwu will all be gone. From now on, the name of Shenwu will be given to strong troops depending on the situation."

It was just a matter of changing the name, Yuan Keli had no objection, and most of the ministers didn't care much about it either.

Now that the garrisons are being adjusted, what does it matter if a few names are changed? Anyway, these garrisons still need to adjust their defense areas.

Following the emperor's intention, Yuan Keli continued:

"The Wucheng Left and Right Guards and the Wucheng Front Guard have all been changed to Mausoleum Guards. Only the Wucheng Central Guard is in the rear palace."

"Should we change the Wucheng Central Guard, which is still in the rear palace, to the Qingling Guard, and vacate the Wucheng camp name?"

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly and said approvingly:
"We can arrange it this way!"

"There is also the Yingyang Guard, which will be changed to my brother's Deling Guard."

"The name Yingyang can be given to the Patrol Battalion. The Patrol Battalion and the Patrol Corps can be completely separated, and the new army can be renamed the Yingyang Army."

When the ministers heard the emperor's change, some of them laughed in their hearts.

I thought, isn’t the name Yingyang suitable for a hawk dog of the Imperial Guard?
Xizong did like to use hawks and dogs, so it was appropriate to change the Yingyang Guard to his Deling Guard.

After this arrangement was made, the rear government still had to adjust the Daning Central Guard, Daning Front Guard, Kuanhe Guard, and Yuzhou Left Guard. Chief of Staff Yang Sichang said:
"Kuanhewei was formerly the rear guard of Daning. I think the old name can be restored."

"Your Majesty intends to build a city and a palace in the Chengde area, which was the former Daningdusi area."

"I think we can change the Yuzhou Left Guard to the Daning Left Guard, then form the Daning Right Guard, and transfer the five Daning Guards to the Chengde area to cultivate and graze."

This proposal is very good, and it also adds another guard to the Beijing Guard. Zhu Youjian nodded in approval and said:
"Yang Qing took a trip to the grassland and gained a lot of knowledge."

"Weizhou Zuowei was renamed like this, and based on the hereditary official position of Shenyang Youwei, it will form Daning Youwei in the future."

"The five guards of Daning will be stationed on the grassland in the future and will continue to provide troops to the Beijing camp."

The garrisons directly under the rear government became guarded only by the rear guards.

Except for the Central Government which still has four guards and two offices, the other four military governor's offices each have one guard.

It can be said that after this change, the nominal jurisdiction of the Five Military Commanderies was greatly weakened.

There are only eight guards that can intervene directly.

If they want to intervene in other guards in the capital, they have to go through the Five Cities Military Commander.

The local areas need to go through the Protectorate General and get them to cooperate with them.

The nobles thought about the attitude of the civil officials towards the Five Military Commandery and had no hope at all. They knew that the Five Military Commandery had basically become a nominal position, with only the last facade left. (End of this chapter)