Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Previously, hereditary officials were allowed to be converted into titles of nobility, and no ministers had yet stood up to oppose it, because the emperor's policy had always been to treat hereditary officials as hereditary titles of nobility.

However, when the emperor proposed to allow the hereditary officials of the Wei Suo to become hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard, the civil servants were immediately furious and opposed it.

Xiong Mingyu, the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War, said:
"Your Majesty, the court established hereditary military officers so that they could settle and guard the border."

"How can we allow them to leave their posts and become hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard?"

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

"At the beginning of the country, military officials who had fought in hundreds of battles and survived hundreds of deaths were given the hereditary command of thousands of households. Now, if you report three heads, you will be promoted and have your position inherited."

"At the beginning of the country, military officials were subject to regular examinations, but now all the examinations are just empty talk."

"At the beginning of the country, military officials who committed crimes were punished according to the law, but now everything is tolerated and all laws and regulations are abolished."

"How can such a hereditary official be compared with the meritorious officials who have gone through untold hardships to obtain the favor?"

"I beg Your Majesty to take back this order and not look down on me!"

After the emperor's favor to ministers was transferred from the Jinyiwei to the fictitious Jinwuwei, most of the hereditary officials of the Jinwuwei today are children of literary talents and descendants of meritorious officials, as well as the original hereditary officials of the Jinyiwei.

The civil officials could barely tolerate the latter, but now that the emperor was preparing to allow hereditary officials of ordinary guards to become hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard, they suddenly felt that they could no longer tolerate it.

Because in their opinion, how could those vulgar military officers be compared with themselves?

They were all opposed to the idea of ​​changing the Jinwu Guard into a hereditary position.

It was believed that these military officers should serve in the garrisons, and if they wanted to leave the garrisons, they would be demoted to their official positions.

Zhu Youjian did not expect that so many people would oppose the transfer of hereditary officials of the garrison to hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard, because in his opinion, the hereditary officials of the garrison had soldiers and power, and it would be easy for them to lead the children of the garrison to achieve great things, and their status was higher than that of the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard, which was completely empty.

Unexpectedly, in the eyes of civil officials, Jinwuwei hereditary officials are more noble. Not only can they serve in Jinyiwei, but they can also concentrate on the imperial examinations and other careers with the support of hereditary salaries.

With such a mentality, they naturally believed that the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard had a higher status and could not be compared with the hereditary officials of ordinary guards.

Especially the civil officials who hold power in the court today, most of them are granted the hereditary title of Jinwu Guard by the emperor. He is also planning to further improve the status of the hereditary officials of Jinwu Guard in the future, so how can he allow the crude military officers to come in and enjoy the same status?
After vaguely guessing that the civil officials might formulate various preferential treatments for the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard in the future, Zhu Youjian certainly could not let it go.

After thinking about it, he said:
"From now on, hereditary officials will use land instead of salary, and the same applies to the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard."

"But the Jinwu Guard is empty and has no land at all."

"So they need to purchase their own ancestral land."

"And like the hereditary officials of the guards, they cannot exceed the limit, and the hereditary land must pay a tenth tax to the inner treasury."

"If a hereditary officer of the Jinwu Guard wants to serve as a civilian officer, he must also graduate from the military academy."

This was a weakening of the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard, from having a little salary before to having none at all.

One also needs to purchase hereditary land by oneself, and it is subject to the same restrictions as hereditary officials in the garrison.

After hearing this, the ministers fell silent, realizing that the emperor was warning them.

The hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard only have a status and enjoy less treatment than the hereditary officials of the garrison.

The reason was very legitimate, that is, the hereditary officials of the guards used hereditary land instead of salaries, and the Jinwu Guards did the same.

However, can this stop the ministers from expressing their opinions on the Jinwu Guards?
Obviously it is impossible.

Wang Zaijin, the Left Censor-in-Chief:

"Can the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guards purchase their own land in various places?" "Will they have to attend military school and serve in the army in the future?"

After considering this, Zhu Youjian responded:

"The hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard can only own hereditary land, and cannot own other land."

"And in order to prevent anyone from concealing the number of acres of land, it must be supervised by the local garrison and the parliament."

"The hereditary land you own can only be within one county and cannot cross counties or prefectures."

"Military schools are voluntary and they don't have to serve in the military all the time."

How could Zhu Youjian encourage the children of the imperial family to attend military academies when he couldn't even arrange for military officers? It would be better to let them choose their own careers without the court's arrangement.

This was exactly what the civil officials wanted, because if the emperor stipulated that the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard must also serve in the army, they might give up their hereditary positions rather than let their descendants bear this burden.

Now the emperor did not impose any obligations on the Jinwu Guards, but only treated them with favors. They immediately felt that it was worthwhile to have Jinwu Guards, so that their descendants would not fall completely into the status of commoners.

You can continue the family tradition of farming and studying, or concentrate on your studies. Even if you are not good enough in the imperial examinations, you can go to a military academy and serve as a civilian officer.

They had never considered the possibility of not being able to graduate from the military academy. They did not think that their offspring would be inferior to those military officers.

Therefore, these people calmly accepted the emperor's restrictions on the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard, but they were still unwilling to give in on the issue of converting the military officers of the garrisons into hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard.

Seeing that the emperor's brows were slightly furrowed, as if he had not yet understood the crux of the problem, Chief of Staff Yang Sichang said:

"My ancestors were once exiled to Wuling. Now, thanks to your majesty's grace, I have been granted the title of hereditary baron and deputy commander of the Jinwu Guard."

"I beg Your Majesty to show mercy and transfer my family's place of origin to the Jinwu Guard, so that I can choose my ancestral land in Wuling County."

"Don't let the Wuling guards urge me to serve from time to time."

While discussing official business in the court, Yang Sichang suddenly mentioned his own private affairs.

Zhu Youjian was a little unhappy at first, but he soon understood:

This was Yang Sichang reminding himself that even though the Jinwu Guard hereditary officials were not directly allocated land like the hereditary officials of the guards, they were still treated preferentially because they did not have to serve in the military.

Even because one can purchase hereditary land in fertile territory, the long-term benefits can be even greater.

Civil officials certainly don't want military officers to enjoy this kind of good thing which only provides preferential treatment but no obligations.

What's more, the purpose of the imperial court in establishing hereditary military officers was to force them to join the army.

Zhu Youjian, who had thought this through, immediately planned to add some duties to the hereditary officers of the Jinwu Guard. However, thinking of the current situation where the military officers of the guards could not be accommodated, and that his own policies needed the support of ministers to implement, he could only sigh and follow the steps handed over by Yang Sichang:

"Your place of origin can be transferred to the Jinwu Guard."

"The Jinyiwei Southern Office will manage the Jinwuwei's hometown on behalf of the Jinwuwei."

"Your ancestral land is in Wuling, so you can take the exam there in the future. You can also register as a Jinwu Guard and come to Shuntian Prefecture to take the imperial examination after approval by the Beijing Jinyi Guard."

"This way, you don't have to travel back and forth, and it can be regarded as my preferential treatment for my meritorious officials."

This made the ministers in the court even more delighted.

Ministers in the south, in particular, knew that the difficulty of the Shuntian Prefecture's provincial examination was far less than that in their local areas.

His face was full of joy, and he firmly believed that the Jinwu Guards' hereditary officials should not be given lightly, and their status was higher than that of ordinary guards' hereditary officials. (End of this chapter)