Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

“If ten thousand people are of one mind, the mountains can be shaken.”

"Only loyalty and righteousness can make one's spirit so strong that it can fight against the bull."

"When soldiers are united, they are better than friends and family."

"If you violate military orders, you will not be free..."

The loud "Victory Song" sounded, and Zhu Youjian listened to the song and nodded with satisfaction.

It was July, and the reform of the capital's guards and battalions had been underway for nearly half a year. Zhu Youjian held a grand review in the northern suburbs to examine the results of the training.

In addition to the troops of the Beijing Camp and the various guards, the troops of the Great Wall Front Army, including the reserve forces led by Lu Xiangsheng, also participated in the review.

This is a preparation to deal with the increasingly tense situation on the grassland.

After taking Guihua and resting, the Jianlu moved westward to attack the Ordos tribes. The Shunyi King and many tribal leaders were defeated again and are now missing.

The Jianlu returned after looting livestock and people, and now they have arrived at Guihua, leading the conquered tribes of the southern steppes of the desert, with the intention of invading southward.

Although Zhu Youjian thought Huang Taiji would not be so unwise as to attack the Ming Dynasty when the grassland was unstable, he still gathered his troops and held a review ceremony when the war clouds were gathering at the border.

He wanted to check on the training of each army and at the same time reassure the people of the capital.

After years of whitewashing the situation, he already knew what the people of the capital liked the most. He then ordered the Royal Orchestra and the soldiers of the Eagle Army to sing the newly composed "Song of Comrades":
"Comrades and comrades are as close as brothers..."

The simple and straightforward singing voice makes the people of the capital city like it even more.

As for the soldiers in the Beijing camp who heard the singing, they were even more deeply moved.

In the past, the Beijing Army did not value comradeship. Although there was comradeship, it was more about superiors oppressing subordinates and rampant corruption. Many soldiers' food and wages were not paid in full, and even as soon as they received them, they would be plundered by officers through gambling and other means.

But after the restructuring of the Beijing Army, the situation was completely different from before.

The current training of the Beijing Camp is completely modeled after that of the Imperial Camp and the Eagle Army. The various regulations that Zhu Youjian had previously made to eliminate bad habits in the army were also thoroughly implemented.

Now, every soldier in the Beijing camp has an account in Shuntian Bank. The guards of each camp are responsible for directly transferring the monthly salary to their personal accounts.

Although the monthly rice was gone, the soldiers were able to eat their fill every day. At the same time, the court also issued them affordable food coupons from the Sihai Grain Store, with soldiers receiving one dan, sergeants receiving two dan, and officers receiving three to ten dan.

With this food coupon, one can buy rice shipped from Southeast Asia at the price of fifty cents per stone.

At a time when grain prices in the capital often fluctuate around seven cents, getting one stone of grain coupons is equivalent to earning two cents of silver.

Moreover, there is no need to worry about food price fluctuations leading to food shortages, which makes the soldiers in the Beijing camp feel at ease.

At the same time, the soldiers' congress and soldiers' committee set up according to the collective system allowed the soldiers to supervise the financial expenditure and food management of the troops. They generally ate better now, and could even save money on salt, vegetables and silver, leaving a small amount to be distributed equally to everyone.

The requirement that sergeants must be selected from among the soldiers' committee has also greatly improved the relationship between officers and soldiers.

NCOs who want to become sergeants must first become members of the committee elected by the soldiers. They must speak for the soldiers in order to be elected.

This made many sergeants no longer dare to bully new recruits by relying on their seniority. Officers also needed to seriously consider the opinions of soldiers under the supervision of the soldiers' committee and the vote of the sergeant major in the assembly.

The friendship between comrades-in-arms and brothers-in-arms naturally developed under such relationships. Some veterans even formed cliques and wanted to be elected as soldiers' committee members.

The officers had many opinions on this. Many people wrote articles in the "Strong Army Newspaper" demanding the abolition of the soldiers' committee and even the abolition of the long-standing sergeant system.

Zhu Youjian was of course unmoved, but he gave the nomination rights for the soldier committee to the guards of each team.

Only those who pass the review of the Guards can become candidates for soldier committee members.

At the same time, the term of office of sergeants at all levels was strictly stipulated. When the term expired, they had to enter military academies to study to become officers, in order to prevent the prestige of some sergeants from being too high and becoming subordinate soldiers who could manipulate the commander to depose or appoint a general.

Now, after several months of running-in, grassroots officers have gradually adapted to the existence of the sergeant major and the soldier committee. After understanding the new system, the soldiers put forward various demands and suggestions for improvement, which have given the army a new look, with obvious improvements almost every once in a while.

Zhu Youjian could hear their vigor and spirit from their singing. Compared with the previous two years, they were generally more energetic.

This made him say with great emotion:
"Two years of military preparation is not as good as half this year."

“We still have to believe in the power of the people and let them use their talents.”

He also said to Li Banghua, the Imperial Guards of the Beijing Camp:
"The collective deliberation system of the Beijing camp, especially the soldiers' committee, was well implemented, and Li Qing played an indispensable role."

"Draft an imperial decree to upgrade Li Banghua's hereditary position to a higher rank, and promote him to the deputy commander of the Jinwu Guards. He can be transferred to the third-class baron title."

"The rest of the meritorious personnel will be rewarded at the discretion of the Ministry of War."

The generosity of this reward obviously took the ministers by surprise.

Xue Fengxiang, the Minister of War, said:

"Your Majesty, from a hundred households to a deputy thousand households is from a knight to a baron."

"If I am conferred the title without any great merit, I am afraid it will be difficult for me to convince the people."

"It would be better to wait until Li Duhu has made contributions before giving him the reward."

This is the general understanding of the officials now. The two hereditary posts of centurion and trial centurion can be relaxed a little, and it does not matter whether they are converted into knights or not.

However, above the rank of 100 households, the deputy 1,000 households could be promoted to baron, with a fief of 100 li, which was comparable to a county. In the past, they could be called 100 li marquis, and if they were well governed, they could have tens of thousands of households.

Such a generous reward made them attach great importance to this level of nobility, which was also the reason why they demoted many hereditary officials to trial centurions when the garrisons were restructured before.

These ministers did not want the hereditary positions of commanders and thousand households to become too prevalent, as their own titles would be devalued after they were converted into titles in the future.

Many people think that the more than 20,000 commanders and thousand-man commanders left today are too many!

The promotion from a centurion to a deputy centurion became a hurdle. Without sufficient merit, one could not be promoted at all.

Li Banghua thought the same and declined:
"Your Majesty, I do not deserve such a reward for my humble contributions."

"Your Majesty, please withdraw your order and wait for me to perform meritorious deeds on the battlefield."

Zhu Youjian glanced at him after hearing this, stopped other ministers who were about to speak, and said to the ministers:

"You guys! You don't have a deep enough understanding of this matter."

"With the collective system and the soldiers' committee, the various measures previously determined have taken root in the army and are truly supported by the soldiers."

"Li Qing is the founder of these systems and institutions. Doesn't this merit him not deserve a promotion?"

"You will find out later that Li Qing's achievements are even greater. With these achievements, he will be able to enter the Purple Pavilion in the future!"

Li Banghua was flattered by such high praise, because he really didn't expect that the emperor would have such a high opinion of him. Because in his opinion, the collective system and the soldiers' committee were not a big deal, they were just instructions from the emperor and he implemented them.

What he was most satisfied with was actually letting the guards at all levels publicize Wen Tianxiang's deeds, so that the soldiers would be loyal to the emperor and serve the country and fight bravely on the battlefield.

He believed that the soldiers in the Beijing camp were so energetic and vigorous now, thanks to the guards and priests. It was these people who preached loyalty and righteousness to the soldiers, making them believe that they could become martyrs or even be deified after their death.

However, the emperor now believed that it was the credit of the collective system and the soldiers' committee, and he could only say:

"It is your majesty's decision that is a good measure!"

"The soldiers all have a heart to serve their country."

Zhu Youjian laughed and asked Li Banghua to continue to implement and improve the collective discussion system in the army and sort out effective measures as military norms.

Then he asked the soldiers to hold shooting, archery and other competitions, and they did not return until the evening when they were exhausted.
-
Zhu Youjian was humming a song happily and was about to go to Concubine Tian to "compose" a few more songs. Suddenly, he received a secret report from the Jinyiwei, with two pieces of bad news coming from the south:
First, Zhang Pu was stirring up trouble in Suzhou, which put the country in danger of a slave rebellion in various parts of Jiangnan.

Second, the Dutch invaded Xiamen, but were repelled by Zheng Zhilong who was well prepared and burned three of their ships.

This was expected, as today's sailing warships were not capable of resisting fire attacks near the coast. Zhu Youjian had already based this on the fact and ordered Yu Zigao to send sulfur, kerosene and other supplies to Zheng Zhilong.

Unexpectedly, when the Dutch retreated, they plundered a grain ship returning from Southeast Asia at sea. This shocked and angered Zhu Youjian, who immediately slammed the table and said:

"How dare the Dutch?"

"Do they regard the ocean of the Ming Dynasty as their own?"

"Who else let the Dutch know about the grain ship robbery?"

Zheng Shiyi, the chief of the Imperial Guard, had a gloomy face and knew why the emperor was so angry.

The various armies in the capital now rely on rice shipped from Southeast Asia to support themselves. Otherwise, how could the reform of the food and salary of the Beijing army be so smooth?
The Dutch have hijacked the grain transport ship, which has touched the emperor's reverse scale. If the situation deteriorates, it will affect the morale of the Beijing camp and even affect the immigrants in Cangzhou.

This made Zheng Shiyi ask cautiously:
“Food from Southeast Asia is very important now.”

"Do you want to negotiate with the Dutch and agree to some of their conditions?"

When Zhu Youjian heard about the peace talks, he immediately became interested. After learning that the Dutch had put forward five conditions, he inquired carefully.

They hoped to reach a peace agreement with the Dutch to divide up Southeast Asia, just as they had done with Ligdan Khan to divide up the northern desert.

However, after hearing the peace talks relayed by Zheng Shiyi, he was already extremely angry and said hatefully:

"Instead of being a good sea coachman, you want to monopolize the trade."

"I do not agree to any of these conditions. Let Zheng Zhilong continue to fight them."

He ordered Zheng Shiyi to send a message immediately, asking Zheng Zhilong to continue fighting with them. The Dutch must be frightened and a peace agreement on the division of Southeast Asia must be reached.

As for the Dutch conditions, free trade is acceptable and the Ming Dynasty also pursues free trade.

But the Dutch demanded to control an area like the Portuguese, and the Ming Dynasty would never agree to this.

The looted ships and materials must also be compensated according to the price. Otherwise, Zheng Zhilong's Dongning Insurance Company will pay the insurance to those who paid for it.

The third requirement is not to allow Ming Dynasty ships to trade in Southeast Asia, which is even more impossible.

Article 4 does not allow the Spanish and Portuguese to trade with the Ming Dynasty, which is even more nonsense...

In the end, Zhu Youjian refuted all five conditions put forward by the Dutch.

He asked Zheng Zhilong to formulate better conditions based on the situation, at least to allow the Ming Dynasty to achieve equal status with the Dutch in Southeast Asia.

In order to force the Dutch to surrender, he also issued an order prohibiting trade with the Dutch. All ports and free trade zones in the Ming Dynasty were ordered not to accept the Dutch.

The Ming Dynasty would not have any trade with the Dutch until they surrendered. Any Ming Dynasty merchant or foreign official who violated this order would be punished according to the law and stripped of his lordship.

He also required vassal states such as Korea and Japan to comply with this order.

The Ming Dynasty must mobilize all its forces to punish the Dutch who invaded the Ming Dynasty.
-
After receiving this reply, Zheng Zhilong, who was far away in Xiamen, happily said to Li Guozhu and others:

"This is such a big deal!"

"Your Majesty is indeed wise and decisive. He knows the weakness of the Dutch."

"Within a month, the Dutch warships will surely attack again, and we will make sure they never return."

The order banning trade undoubtedly hit the Dutch, especially the East India Company, in the sore spot.

For them who rely on trade, their main purpose is trade.

Among all kinds of trade, monopoly is the most lucrative. So the Dutch wanted to monopolize the trade along the coast of Ming Dynasty, prohibiting Ming Dynasty ships from going to Southeast Asia, and prohibiting the Spanish and Portuguese from trading with Ming Dynasty.

If the Ming Dynasty is not strong enough, they will even colonize and plunder and control the production areas of goods.

Zheng Zhilong knew this before, so when he was planning to compete with the Dutch for supremacy in Southeast Asia, he sent a fleet to expel the Dutch merchant ships and cut off their trade with the Ming Dynasty.

The Dutch were extremely angry about this, but now that Dongning had been taken back by the Ming Dynasty, they had no foothold on the coast of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade was now prosperous, and many wealthy merchants had joined in. Many ship owners ignored Zheng Zhilong's ban and still went to Southeast Asia to trade with the Dutch.

This allowed the Dutch to still have the opportunity to obtain Ming Dynasty goods, and they were not very willing to take the risk of coming to the Ming Dynasty coast to attack Zheng Zhilong.

It was not until Zheng Zhilong, Yu Risheng, Hai Shuzu and other people who wanted to go to Southeast Asia to establish a vassal state joined forces and issued a stronger ban that the Dutch finally could not sit still and sent more than a dozen warships to fight thousands of miles away.

Zheng Zhilong wanted to capture them all at once, so he lured the Dutch warships into Xiamen. However, the Dutch, who had come from afar, were very alert, and when they found that the situation was not right, they immediately abandoned three ships and fled.

Zheng Zhilong's ship was not as fast as the Dutch and he was unable to catch up with them.

This forced him to adopt Li Guozhu's strategy and let Liu Xiang "surrender" to the Dutch and reveal the news of the grain ship.

The Dutch did indeed rob the grain ship, which angered the emperor and he issued a stricter ban.

Now, they were going to spread the news widely, forcing the Dutch to fight, and to have a naval battle at the place they had planned.

Pointing to Liaoluo Bay in the southern part of Kinmen Island, Zheng Zhilong said:

"I want to fight the Dutch here. Brother Li, can you ask Liu Xiang to lead the Dutch here?"

"Then we will work together inside and outside to take down these Dutch people!"

Li Guozhu nodded vigorously and said that he would definitely pass on this message.

A bigger naval battle is brewing on the southeastern coast, where a battle has just taken place. (End of this chapter)