Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 658: Classification of Guard Stations
Upon hearing the emperor reveal his intention to expand the garrisons, a number of civil officials expressed their disapproval.

They also want to reduce the size of the garrisons to suppress military officers, so how can they allow the garrisons to expand?

Facing these people's opposition, Zhu Youjian said:
"What types of guards are there in the current Ming Dynasty?"

Yuan Keli was in charge of the reform of the garrison and said immediately:
"There are three main types: real soil guard stations, quasi-real soil guard stations, and non-real soil guard stations."

"The garrisons were mostly located in frontier areas, without prefectures or counties. The garrisons not only had to govern military households, but also civilian households and were responsible for government affairs."

"According to your majesty's arrangement, these guards will be changed into military and civilian guards in the future and governed as military-controlled counties."

"The Zhunshi Tuwei was like the three guards of Zhuolu, in charge of the military households and the civil affairs of a part of the land, but within the local prefecture and county."

"The civil affairs of these garrisons have gradually been transferred to the local prefectures and counties since the Jiajing period."

"Your Majesty has also clearly stipulated that the land and civil affairs under their jurisdiction should be transferred to the local area, and the guards only own the land for reclamation."

"The last non-real land guards were like the Beijing guards, with only some military farms and no civil power at all."

"The reform of the capital's garrisons is to determine how these garrisons should be reformed."

The three types of garrisons were different, so the methods of reform were naturally different. This was why Yuan Keli still found it difficult to reform the garrisons in the capital, despite his experience with the military-civilian garrison system and the Zhuolu garrison.

It would be fine if these garrisons had enough land to be distributed like the three garrisons in Zhuolu, but the key is that most of the garrisons in the capital only have more than 1,000 hectares of garrison land, which cannot be distributed at all.

However, in Zhu Youjian's opinion, this matter is not difficult to handle. He said:
"The border guardhouses can be called the Military and Civilian Guards from now on. Three offices will be set up in the same way as the Military Guard Office to be responsible for civil affairs."

"After the quasi-real earth guards transferred their land and civil affairs to the local government, they became non-real earth guards. Because they owned a lot of land, their subordinate soldiers and military households mostly exceeded 5,000 households, so they can be called full-staff guards."

"Since there is not enough land for the guards in the capital, we will follow the method we agreed upon before and only have officers and one or two thousand non-commissioned officers and military households, and recruit soldiers from the people."

"Compared to the full-strength guards, they can be called simplified guards."

"The guard post I want to add is this kind of simple guard post."

"A Jianbianwei can house more than a hundred officers, one or two thousand sergeants and military households, be responsible for conscription work in various places, and assist in public security."

This is the direction of the reform of the Capital City Guards. Zhu Youjian and his ministers had discussed so much before, just to change the Capital City Guards in this direction.

The same will apply to the garrisons in various places in the future. In addition to the fully-staffed garrisons, simplified garrisons will also be established in provincial capitals, county towns, and other places.

They will recruit soldiers from all over the country to provide manpower for the Ming army.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said to his ministers:

"Weren't you worried before that there wouldn't be enough soldiers from the Nine Frontiers?"

"I have decided to set up guard posts in all parts of Ming Dynasty."

"A prefecture must have at least one guard, which will assign thousand-household units and hundred-household units to the districts and counties under its jurisdiction, responsible for recruiting military and civilian households, as well as militia reserves."

"Each prefecture will have a garrison area, and a guard lieutenant will be appointed to guard the prefecture. A garrison battalion will also be formed to be responsible for local defense."

"Half of the soldiers in the garrison battalion are responsible for the local area, and the other half are responsible for guarding the border."

"This way, the Beijing Camp and the Nine Frontiers will have more troops."

Upon hearing that the emperor was going to set up a simplified guard post similar to the Beijing Guards and also appoint a military commander to guard the palace, the civil servants immediately relaxed.

This position, held by a civilian military officer, allows civilians to further extend their military power to the local level.

Yuan Keli was the first to express his support:

"I think each prefecture can set up a garrison area, and several neighboring prefectures can form a military defense road as a subordinate of the provincial governor's office."

"But it is not necessary to have one guard in each prefecture. An ordinary prefecture can have one thousand households, and each county can have one hundred households."

"If a prefecture governs more than ten counties, more hundred households can be appointed, and guards can also be set up as appropriate."

"We can't let every prefecture support more than a hundred hereditary officials. That would be too much of a burden on the local government."

This is the current system of the Ming Dynasty. For example, Henan Prefecture, which is also a prefecture, has Henan Guard, while Weihui Prefecture only has a Guarding Thousand Households.

Yuan Keli's solution was to make a minor change to the current system, allowing these guards to separate the hundred households and take charge of the districts and counties under their jurisdiction.

Zhu Youjian thought that the prefects of each prefecture were only of the fifth rank, and after consideration, he agreed and praised:

"Mr. Yuan is right. There is really no need to set up guards in all the prefectures."

"One centurion, one trial centurion, ten sergeants, and dozens of military households can be responsible for the recruitment of soldiers for a county, as well as basic defense."

"The local government only needs to provide 2,000 acres of land to support them."

"We will set up garrisons in this way. In every prefecture in the Ming Dynasty, we will set up at least one garrison to be responsible for conscription and defense."

Such a flexible change made the ministers feel happy.

They highly praised the current emperor for correcting his mistakes.

This is also the reason why the ministers, after adapting, became more and more accustomed to discussing with the emperor.

But Zhu Youjian didn't think he was completely wrong. He just gave Yuan Keli face and showed that he valued his opinion.

After deciding on a county and a hundred households, he continued:

"Prosperous towns, such as Jingdezhen, Foshan Town, Nanxun Town and other towns with large populations and prosperous economies."

"Similarly, a hundred-household unit should be set up to be responsible for conscription and assisting in public security."

"Even the counties to which they belong should appoint a county magistrate or chief clerk to be responsible for local governance."

“Local towns should also be set up to allow councillors to make suggestions and build better towns.”

"In the future, the Ming Dynasty will select the top 100 towns based on taxation, population, and other aspects to see which local officials are the best at governance."

"These officials should be promoted first, and their achievements should be recorded by the Ministry of Personnel."

When Wen Tiren heard the emperor mention his hometown Nanxun, his beard almost stood up with joy. He immediately agreed:
"I think the taxes in a town like Nanxun are as high as those in some prefectures and counties."

"It is indeed necessary to dispatch a hundred households and assign officials to govern."

"I request that Nanxun Town be used as a pilot for the Southern Parliament."

Obviously, as the parliamentary system became more and more perfect, some southern scholars could not wait to propose parliament in the South.

However, Zhu Youjian had already made up his mind about this, and he smiled and delayed the matter, saying:
"We'll talk about the parliament later. First, send the guards there to recruit the escaped military households and the untouchables who have been converted into good people into the military and civilian households for conscription."

"There is also the need to count the household registration, stabilize public security, and prevent certain people from using violence to coerce elections. This aspect is mainly the responsibility of the Weiwei Temple, which will set up public security offices in each county and police stations or patrol inspection offices in important towns."

"This is the only way to properly count the number of people who are scholars, farmers, merchants, and soldiers, and elect members of parliament in proportion."

This matter was briefly mentioned. Zhu Youjian's main purpose was to set up government offices in prosperous towns and cities to strengthen the governance of these places and make it more convenient to collect taxes.

Then he brought the subject back to the subject:
"A region under the jurisdiction of a military preparatory department must have at least one fully staffed guard."

"The total number of soldiers and households in this guard must exceed 5,000, with more than 1,000 standing troops, and the ability to expand to 3,000 at any time, forming a camp directly under the jurisdiction of the military preparation department." "If a military preparation department does not even have a fully staffed guard, then merge and abolish them, and directly put the provincial governor in charge of the garrison area."

"But each province must retain at least one military preparatory department, which is only supervised by the local Duhusi and directly managed by the court."

This was an institution established by Zhu Youjian based on the military sub-districts and garrison areas of later generations.

The garrison area can be regarded as a military sub-district, and the military preparation road can be regarded as a security area. In the future, they will only be set up in important places and have a relatively independent status.

For example, Chongqing in Sichuan and Xiangyang in Hubei could set up military preparation roads directly under the jurisdiction of the imperial court to prevent the Duhusi from completely taking charge of the military affairs of a province and bringing about unexpected disasters.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian not only set up defense posts according to local administrative divisions, but also set up additional guard posts directly under the imperial court along important traffic routes:

“Along the rivers and canals, river guards need to be set up to be responsible for navigation and dredging of the rivers, as well as flood prevention and other tasks.”

"At the same time, they should be directly under the command of the river and water transport offices in various places, and dispatch troops at the first time when local unrest occurs."

"The role of railways will be no less important than that of shipping. We need to integrate the postmen on the post roads, cultivate the land along the roads, and set up railway guards along the route."

"For example, I transferred the three imperial guards from the capital to be in charge of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway and Beijing-Tianjin Highway, and they can be regarded as railway guards."

"In the future, there will be more such guard posts, spread all over the country along the railways and post roads."

"The Railway Guards were directly managed by the Taipusi and local Taipusi, responsible for the construction and maintenance of roads, and served as engineers during wartime."

This obviously greatly enhanced the strength of Taipu Temple.

Chen Qiuyu excitedly accepted the order, feeling that his power as the Minister of the Imperial Household was getting closer and closer to that of a Shangshu.

The more railroads he built, the more power he would have.

The ministers had no opinion on the Hecao Guard, because shipping dredging, towing and other tasks were all hard work that required the use of soldiers from the guard.

But they did not quite understand why a special guard post was set up for the railway. Xiong Mingyu, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War, said:

"The postmen have their own system for managing the postmen, so why do we need to set up railway guards?"

"Letting Taipusi lead the troops, isn't that a waste of his job?"

I really don’t see the necessity of Railway Guards and think there is no need to set them up.

Seeing that most of the ministers held the same opinion, Zhu Youjian did not argue and said:
"You will understand the necessity of establishing the Railway Guard later."

"Chen Siqing first built the Beijing-Tianjin Railway to demonstrate why the railway needed to have a guard post."

"As for the postmen at the post stations, they must be managed in a standardized manner in the future and used as guards."

"And the communications soldiers stationed on the signal tower will also be brought under the management of the garrison."

The role of the railway guards is not obvious now, but it will be very important in the future. The Ming court can follow these arteries and firmly control all places.

If the local garrisons were "blocks", then they could be said to be "lines", which were under the vertical management of the imperial court agencies, increasing the court's control over the local areas.

The establishment of these garrisons was an effort made by Zhu Youjian to place hereditary officials.

In addition, in the future, overseas and out-of-the-way development can set up garrisons, just like the five garrisons in Xingzhou and Yingzhou around the capital.

Factory and mine guards can be set up to build and protect factories and mines. Just as Zhu Youjian arranged the guards in Zhuolu and Tongzhou to be responsible for the arsenal, in the future, important factories and mines can also have guards.

It is also necessary to set up forest guards to be responsible for felling and planting trees, preventing forest fires, etc.
……

In Zhu Youjian's opinion, there was a huge demand for various types of garrisons, just like the armed police force, which once had eight major categories: gold, forest, transportation, water and electricity, internal security, guard, border defense, and fire fighting.

In the future, the Ming Dynasty's guards will become more professional and divided into eight categories: military and civilian guards, full-staff guards, simplified guards, reclamation guards, mountain and forest guards, river and canal guards, railway guards, and factory and mine guards.

It’s not that it’s impossible to accommodate the 100,000 hereditary officials, it’s just that we need to put them in the right places.

The four hundred and ninety-three guards will be expanded to five hundred and six hundred guards in the future to accommodate more hereditary officials and recruit more soldiers.

According to this division, Zhu Youjian asked Yuan Keli:
"How many guard posts are still unfinished in the capital, and what types are they?"

Yuan Keli calculated and said:

"Among the thirty-six guards of the imperial army, nine are responsible for the nine districts of the central city, and three are responsible for the city gates. Their categories shall be determined by Your Majesty."

"There are another fifteen guards, commanded by the Five Cities Military Command, responsible for the four city gates and recruiting soldiers in various districts of the capital. They should belong to the simplified guards that Your Majesty mentioned, retaining only hereditary officials and one or two thousand soldiers and military households, and settling near the Third Ring Road."

"There are eight guards directly under the Five Military Commandery. I think they should be fully staffed and stationed outside the Third Ring Road."

"There are also twelve mausoleum guards stationed in the Tianshou Mountain mausoleum area."

"Finally, there are the Wugong Central Guard, Wugong Left Guard, and Wugong Right Guard, three artisan guards affiliated with the Ministry of Works."

"As well as the Yongqing Left Guard, Yongqing Right Guard, and Pengcheng Guard, we are preparing to move the Daning Five Guards outside the Great Wall."

"There are eighty-two Beijing guards in total."

"If we include the left and right guards of Shenyang, there will be eighty-four guards."

This number made Zhu Youjian frown, and after thinking about it, he said:
"Yongqing Left Guard, Yongqing Right Guard, and Pengcheng Guard were assigned to the Equipment Department, and organized into three Artisan Guards like the Ministry of Works. They belong to the Factory and Mine Guards, and they mainly guard factories and mines in units of 1,000 or 100 households."

"During the reform of the garrisons, the artisans of each garrison were given priority to be assigned to these six garrisons. The children of the garrisons were given priority to be workers, and conscripts were treated as military and civilian households. They were also given priority to be engineers, who were mainly responsible for logistics and ordnance."

"The Shenyang Left and Right Guards were rebuilt after Shenyang was recovered, and the military households of the guards were distributed to each guard for replenishment."

"The hereditary officials of Shenyang Right Guard will serve as the main body of the newly established Daning Right Guard. As for the hereditary officials of Shenyang Left Guard, I intend to use them as the main body and dispatch a group of soldiers from the coastal guards to form the Tianjin Front Guard in Dagu and Tanggu."

"The Tianjin Front Guard, together with the existing Tianjin Central Guard, Tianjin Left Guard, Tianjin Right Guard, and the Wuqing Guard in the rear of Tianjin, are collectively known as the Tianjin Six Guards, providing manpower for the Tianjin Garrison Battalion."

"Now that shipping is becoming more and more important, the defense of Tianjin must also be considered. A garrison and fort should be set up in the Dagukou area to be responsible for local defense."

"The six guards of Tianjin will be incorporated into the guards of Beijing, so that the guards of Beijing will form eighty-eight guards."

This is not only to make the numbers sound good, but also to strengthen the defense of the capital.

As firearms technology improves, the pressure from the grassland will decrease. The importance of coastal defense will become higher and higher. In the future, the importance of Tianjin defense may even be higher than that of the Great Wall in the north of Beijing.

Zhu Youjian must prepare in advance and take control of the military forces in this area.

The Six Guards of Tianjin, the Tongzhou Guards, and the Three Yulin Guards deployed on the road between Beijing and Tianjin were all preparing for this.

Some officials thought that the emperor wanted to make the numbers pleasing, while others thought of the three imperial guards in the Beijing-Tianjin area. They thought that the emperor's inclusion of the six guards in Tianjin into the Beijing guards might be a precaution against the three imperial guards belonging to the crown prince.

In addition, the inclusion of Tianjin's garrison into the Beijing Garrison would not increase the capital's military strength, so they wisely did not say much on this matter and chose to acquiesce.

The number of the capital's eighty-eight guards was also determined. Compared with the previous seventy-odd guards, there were more than a dozen more guards.

However, because the six guards of Tianjin and the five guards of Dongning were not in the capital, and even the three guards of Yulin and the five guards of Daning were transferred out of the capital, the number of guards in the capital did not increase, but decreased.

This made it easier for the garrisons that remained in the capital to allocate land for reclamation.

(End of this chapter)