Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The civil officials are unwilling to have the hereditary officials of the guards transferred to the Jinwu Guard. So what should be done with the hereditary officials of the guards who are unwilling to join the army?
This difficult matter for Zhu Youjian seemed very simple to the ministers. Yuan Keli said:

"The hereditary officials of the guards who are unwilling to join the army mean that they are unwilling to serve the court."

"In that case, their hereditary positions can be abolished."

"Your Majesty, please do not be too soft-hearted and let them occupy the positions for nothing."

The civil servants all agreed, while the nobles mostly opposed it.

Because many of their relatives had hereditary positions in the Wei army, but had never served.

Those who were previously hereditary officials of the Jinyiwei and were transferred to the Jinwuwei were fine, but those who were listed in other guards in name only would have their hereditary positions stripped if this method was followed.

Therefore, these people spoke out against it, citing reasons such as the merits of their ancestors, and believed that hereditary positions should not be arbitrarily abolished.

The civil officials strongly condemned this and even proposed strict assessment, strict punishment of military officers who had committed crimes, and elimination of abusive military officers.

Zhu Youjian listened to the debate between the two groups and was inclined to the civil officials because he did not want those unscrupulous officials to occupy hereditary positions and consume the national strength of the Ming Dynasty.

However, the attitude of the nobles must also be considered. After thinking about it, he said:
"The court should give opportunities to military officers with hereditary positions."

"Some people may not have made enough contributions, but as long as they are willing to serve in the frontiers, including the coastal areas, and serve in accordance with regulations in the future, their hereditary titles will be retained and they will be allowed to serve as officials in frontier garrisons."

"For those hereditary officials who are unwilling to guard the border or even join the army, their hereditary positions will be abolished."

"They can keep their private property, but they are not allowed to occupy the houses or farmland of the garrison."

This would leave too many military officers to be retained. Zhu Youjian added:
"If anyone voluntarily gives up his hereditary position, we will show them special mercy this time and allow them to become ordinary civilians and no longer have to serve in the military."

"This time, the reform of the garrisons will start with the garrisons in the capital, and then be tried out in places like northern Zhili, with modifications made one place at a time."

"The Privy Council and the Five Ministries should jointly issue a document to make it clear to the hereditary officials that the court has no intention of arbitrarily abolishing their hereditary positions. As long as they are willing to serve in the army, even if they donated money during the Tianqi period, they can retain their official positions."

Such an explanation made the nobles feel mixed emotions, knowing that their relatives could retain their hereditary positions as long as they were willing to join the army.

But this simple request is actually not easy for them.

Especially for the servants and retainers in their houses who have hereditary positions, if their future generations have to go to the frontier to serve in the army, how can they still serve them?
Some people have already thought about how to transfer their relatives to become hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard and let their servants give up their positions.

The civil officials were somewhat disappointed, especially those who wanted to remove the insolent Yuan Keli, and continued to argue with the emperor:
"Your Majesty, how can those corrupt officials retain their positions?"

"According to the new military merit system established by your majesty, only those who have taken five heads can obtain the hereditary sergeant position, and after that, every five heads will be promoted to a higher rank."

"Fifty heads are needed to become a hereditary trial centurion, and one hundred heads are needed to obtain the hereditary centurion position."

"When the military households were evaluated as sergeants, their merits were calculated according to this method."

"I believe that military officers should also be evaluated according to this standard. Those who fail to achieve the corresponding merits should all be demoted."

These remarks caused an uproar among the ministers.

Most civil officials agreed, but nobles and military generals strongly disagreed.

Because according to the previous merit system, it was particularly easy for military officers in the Ming Dynasty to be promoted. As long as they obtained three heads or even one head, they could be promoted one level.

Moreover, most of the promotions were hereditary, and many people were promoted to hereditary commanders with only a few dozen heads. This was the drawback of the court replacing rewards with promotions, and it was also the reason why Yuan Keli mentioned this policy before.

He had originally planned to take action against them at the risk of offending these people, but he did not expect that the emperor would make arrangements to retain most of them.

Zhu Youjian was indeed a little undetermined in this matter, because he knew that one of the reasons for the fall of the Ming Dynasty in history was that the border troops fled and joined the peasant army of Li Zicheng and others. Even Li Zicheng himself was an unemployed court postman.

If he had made this mistake when reforming the garrisons, perhaps some military officers would have rebelled out of desperation, giving birth to a new Li Zicheng.

This was something he absolutely did not want to see, so he relaxed the conditions many times in retaining the hereditary positions of military officers.

But now that Yuan Keli had repeatedly requested and mentioned the merits according to his own system, he had to respond:

"The new military merit system does not involve the previous one. Using it to calculate the merits of military households is just to facilitate the distribution of land, give meritorious military households hereditary military positions, and praise their merits."

"It is better not to follow this for military officers, and to retain their current hereditary ranks."

The nobles welcomed this kind of compromise approach, but most civil officials disagreed.

They said that if they were to count, they should count them all together, and not just count the military households without ignoring the officers.

Zhu Youjian was now a little at a loss, because he knew that the new military merit system was clearer than before, but the standards were also greatly improved.

If this method is used for calculation, the positions of many hereditary military officers will be downgraded by several levels.

For example, some people who were promoted to commanders by taking dozens of heads could only become the lowest rank of trial centurion according to the new military merit system.

If their descendants were suddenly demoted to hereditary positions, it might lead to chaos in the army and the officers would lose their will to fight.

So he repeatedly signaled to the nobles to argue with the civil officials.

However, the combat effectiveness of these people can be said to be very poor. In particular, Yuan Keli had made careful preparations before, and asked Li Banghua to use his position as the military envoy of the Beijing Camp to collect the crimes of some nobles.

When it was used at this time, the voices of resistance from the nobles suddenly weakened.

Even Zhu Youjian had to say that he sent the Left Censor-in-Chief Wang Zaijin and the General Military Supervision Office to conduct a thorough investigation and demand that the nobles return all the money and grain that they had embezzled from the Beijing camp and the expenses of the privately employed soldiers.

Then, he said to Yuan Keli, who was determined to reduce the number of hereditary military officers:
"I know that Yuan Qing is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the country."

"But I cannot let you, an old minister, bear such a heavy responsibility."

"Besides, many military officers have made great contributions, and their positions cannot be reduced at will."

After a heart-to-heart talk, Zhu Youjian set the tone for the matter and said:
"For the sake of military stability, all those who currently hold positions above the rank of Assistant General in Liaodong, Nine Frontiers, and Beijing Camp will retain their hereditary titles."

“If their merits are calculated, their contributions will be greater, and their hereditary official positions will be upgraded.”

"Even if their achievements are a little lacking, their hereditary rank should be retained in consideration of their years of hard work."

This made all the ministers nod their heads, thinking that it was indeed a prudent view.

These generals are the military commanders of the current Ming Dynasty. Of course, their hereditary positions cannot be reduced, which will disturb the hearts of the soldiers. (End of this chapter)