Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"It's really hard to deal with all these things mixed up!"

After dealing with the Xiamen naval battle, Zhu Youjian looked at the intelligence about Suzhou and murmured.

If there had been no war in Fujian, he would have chosen to cooperate with Zhang Pu, treat the powerful families in Jiangnan with a tough attitude, and would not hesitate to use slaves to clean up Jiangnan.

But now Fujian was at war with the Dutch, and even had a grain ship hijacked by the Dutch. This made him have to consider the stability of grain prices in the capital and stabilize the source of grain from Jiangnan.

So he did not make a decision immediately, but asked the Jinyiwei to publish the news in the newspaper and inform the ministers in the court.

This incident quickly attracted the attention of the government and the public. Although they did not know about the robbery of the grain ship in Southeast Asia, it was common knowledge that Suzhou's grain transport amounted to nearly 700,000 dan.

So much so that when news of possible unrest in Suzhou spread, the price of grain in the capital even fluctuated.

Fortunately, Zhu Youjian had anticipated this and had the Sihai Grain Store release some grain. The price of rice in the capital remained stable at around seven cents, with no major changes.

This can be said to be one of the things he cares about most and also his greatest political achievement in the capital.

The price of grain at seven cents per stone was not low, but because it was stable, it greatly benefited the civilians in the capital.

With this, Sihai Grain Store became the largest grain merchant in the capital.

Many people in Beijing know that if they want to buy cheap food, they should go to Sihai Grain Store. Although the rice from Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan shipped there may not suit their taste, the price is affordable and definitely affordable.

Merchants in the capital who previously made profits by manipulating grain prices have switched to other businesses. The grain price controls set by the imperial court have also been implemented.

After the restructuring of the garrisons this year, Sihai Grain Store also cooperated with Sinongsi Grain Group and established a grain company with the garrison officers, further expanding the source of grain.

Therefore, although Zhu Youjian was somewhat worried about the news of possible unrest in Jiangnan, he was not that afraid. As long as the grain supply from Jiangnan was not completely cut off, the capital would not have to worry about a shortage of food.

However, this incident still reminded him that the imperial court still relied too much on the grain transport from Jiangnan. Once the grain transport was affected, it would affect the hearts of the people in the court and the country.

In the future, we must increase the food sources of the capital, and cannot rely solely on food from Jiangnan:

"If Nanyang can be developed, it can completely replace the grain transport from Jiangnan."

"But before the Ming Dynasty fully gained control of the sea, the shipping route from the South China Sea was not safe enough."

“We also need to open up grain-producing areas in the north.”

This made him turn his attention to the Northeast again.

In later generations, this place became China's largest commercial grain exporter, and almost everyone knew about the Beida Granary and the North Grain Transport to the South.

After opening up the entire Heilongjiang River, Zhu Youjian planned to advance to the Songhua River and Nenjiang River, recover the land in the area, and relocate the garrisons for reclamation.
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Thinking of Kong Zhenyun, whom he appointed as the inspector general of Heilongjiang, Zhu Youjian asked Wang Chengen, who was accompanying him:
"Has Kong Zhenyun taken office?"

"Have his officers and soldiers been recruited?"

The Heilongjiang Inspection Office was completely newly established. Except for a few high-ranking officials, Zhu Youjian allowed these high-ranking officials who also served as prefects to recruit officials on their own.

They were even given the power to recruit generals and soldiers, which was almost like establishing a government.

This attracted some frustrated officials to apply. Even some hereditary officials who had been demoted joined the Inspection Office after being promised that Heilongjiang belonged to the outer frontier and they would not be demoted if they served there.

Because of this, Kong Zhenyun, although appointed at the beginning of last month, has not set out yet. He only sent out an advance team to make preparations in advance.

Wang Chengen listened to the emperor's question, guessing that the emperor was dissatisfied with Kong Zhenyun's delay in taking office, and said:
"I heard that they will set off in the next few days. Do you want me to urge them to leave?"

Zhu Youjian glanced at him and said:

"There's no need to urge him, as long as he can take office this year."

"In two months, the Heilongjiang River will begin to freeze over. I think Kong Zhenyun will get there before then."

"Go and tell him to recruit more people from the Ministry of Industry, especially those who are good at reclaiming swamps and creating farmland around lakes."

"There are many lakes and swamps in the northeast, and we need to put a lot of effort into reclaiming them."

"in addition……"

Thinking of something, Zhu Youjian instructed again:

"Let Mr. Xu's Agricultural Science Academy send people to take all the cold-resistant crops they collected to Heihe for trial planting."

"Especially for wheat, rice, corn, soybeans, and sorghum, we need to select cold-resistant varieties."

"We must hurry up and make sure we can immediately send people to reclaim the Songnen Plain after we recover it."

“If we can’t recruit people from the north who are willing to grow rice in the northeast, we can recruit some from North Korea.”

This is his experience based on history.

Although the Northeast is cold, rice can be grown there.

Since the Tang Dynasty, Xiangshui rice has been a tribute to the Bohai Kingdom.

In the early Qing Dynasty, the Northeast was banned and Shulan rice was also used as tribute.

After immigrants from the Central Plains and Korea entered the Northeast in the late Qing Dynasty, they promoted the cultivation of rice.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian specifically instructed that rice seeds could be collected from Korea and immigrants could be recruited to settle and cultivate the land.

He hoped to eat tribute rice from the Northeast so that the capital would not be completely dependent on the south for grain.
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Wang Chengen wrote these down and informed Kong Zhenyun after his shift was over.

When Kong Zhenyun heard that the emperor seemed somewhat dissatisfied with his procrastination, he almost broke out in a cold sweat in the hot weather and complained:

"It's not that I don't want to take up the post, but it's desolate and cold outside the Great Wall, and people don't want to go there."

"The Emperor intends to conquer Nen Korchin in the autumn. Can this be done without recruiting enough soldiers?"

"If it weren't for General Li's help in selecting and training soldiers, I'm afraid Kong would be even busier."

Wang Chengen listened to his complaints and said with a smile:

"The emperor has given you the power to open a government office, so of course you have to take on all of this responsibility."

"You can only become a minister after passing this test. Are you willing to be just an envoy?"

Kong Zhenyun also knew this, and knew that the emperor sent him away this time to train him and see how capable he was.

If he does well in Heilongjiang, he will surely become a minister or a university scholar in the future. If he does not do well, it may be like what Wang Chengen said, no matter how high his position is, he will still be an envoy.

So he pondered for a while, took out a memorial, and made up his mind:

"Please help me submit this memorial, Eunuch Wang. I want to go to Liaodong to recruit troops."

"There are more than 100,000 troops in Liaodong, which consumes more than 5 million military pay every year. Kong wants to recruit some people there."

This was an idea he had long ago, but he just didn't dare to bring it up.

After all, the importance of Liaodong is well known to everyone, and what the imperial court values ​​most is the Shanhaiguan defense line.

Therefore, in the past two years, no matter how Sun Chengzong requested, the court would not allow Liaodong troops to move rashly, in order to avoid loopholes in the Shanhaiguan defense line, which would cause panic in the capital.

However, after watching the grand review a few days ago, especially after seeing the Fifth Army Camp detaining 5,000 cavalrymen sent from Liaodong for the exercise, Kong Zhenyun felt that the court was not completely against transferring troops from Liaodong.

So he planned to make a request to go to Liaodong to recruit soldiers.

When Wang Chengen heard Kong Zhenyun's plan, he did not dare to respond at all.

He still knew his limits and knew that such military and national affairs were not something he could interfere in.

So he quickly returned to the palace and presented the memorial to the emperor, asking whether the emperor would agree to transfer troops from Liaodong.

Zhu Youjian thought for a moment and said:

"Send the memorial to the Ministry of Public Administration according to the procedures, and let the Grand Council and the Privy Council discuss it."

"It's time to reorganize the troops in Liaodong. We can't let them sit idle!"

More than five million silver coins per year can only support a defensive army.

Zhu Youjian had long been dissatisfied with this. After the initial training of the Beijing camp was completed, he planned to completely reorganize the Liaodong troops.

Now let the Privy Council evaluate whether the Liaodong troops can be mobilized.
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The memorial was passed to the Privy Council, which immediately caused a huge uproar. Zhu Youjian was not the only one who was dissatisfied with Liaodong. The Privy Council also had a lot of complaints about the money Liaodong was spending.

Min Mengde, Minister of Logistics, said:

"There are more than 100,000 soldiers and horses in Liaodong, and the annual fixed salary is 4.8 million."

"And he still felt it was not enough, so he asked for money to buy horses and build cities from time to time."

"This is really too expensive. We should follow the example of the Beijing camp."

How was the Beijing Camp changed?
It is a combination of professional soldiers and conscripts.

Apart from the salaries of the officers in charge, soldiers who fulfilled their service obligations were paid in the form of the land they cultivated, and received no other pay.

Only those who join the Shenjiying and become professional sergeants will be paid according to their rank.

The total number of people in the entire Beijing camp who need to be paid is less than 30,000.

Others only needed to receive allowances such as salt and vegetable silver, fur coat silver, and food coupons, but no salary.

This greatly reduced the expenses of the Beijing Camp after the reform. Even though the emperor set a high salary for professional soldiers, the salary and allowances for 100,000 people were just over one million taels. The Beijing Camp's previous military expenses were fully affordable, and its combat effectiveness had more than doubled.

Compared with the more than 5 million taels of military pay in Liaodong, this more than 1 million taels was really worth it.

Min Mengde proposed to restructure the Liaodong troops into the same structure as the Beijing garrison troops, retaining only 20,000 to 30,000 professional soldiers.

Yuan Keli and Liaodong Governor Sun Chengzong were old friends, so he naturally defended him and said:

"The situation in Liaodong is different from that in the capital."

"The defense pressure of the capital is not that great. We only need to maintain an elite force of the Shenji Camp."

"Liaodong has always had to face the Jianlu, so it can be said that all the soldiers are elite."

"From this perspective, it is not excessive to consume more than five million silver taels every year."

"After all, the entire Liaodong army has five times as many troops as the Shenjiying."

Min Mengde did not speak. Chief of Staff Yang Sichang said:

"Having said that, more than five million silver is still too much."

"Besides, the combat capability of Liaodong's troops is not worth the expense."

"Since they are mainly defending the city now, they should establish a three-level mobilization system that mobilizes everyone as a soldier, as His Majesty said."

"This way, we can cut half of the existing troops and transfer them to the reserve, only to be called up when the enemy attacks."

"This will save more than two million dollars, which can be used to manufacture new muskets."

This proposal made the Privy Council nod their heads. Xu Guangqi from the Military Affairs Council also said:
"One hundred thousand taels of silver can make one thousand rifled muskets and four thousand smoothbore muskets, enough to equip five thousand men."

"Two million taels of silver can make enough firearms to equip an army of 100,000 men."

"If we manufacture 100,000 new muskets and equip them to the active and reserve forces in Liaodong, their combat capability will definitely be far superior to what it is now."

"Xu also thought that military expenditures should be reduced and more military funds should be used to manufacture firearms."

His words were extremely important, because he was the one who trained the Ming Dynasty's new firearms army.

Now that the army has been officially formed, the Eagle Army's powerful combat capability has been recognized by everyone.

In this year's exercise, the Yingyang Army, equipped with new muskets, took the lead.

Even the elite troops sent from Liaodong failed to gain any advantage over them.

Therefore, when Xu Guangqi said that the 100,000 active and reserve troops equipped with the new muskets would be stronger than the current army of more than 100,000, everyone could only believe it and could not question it.

This led to more privy ministers supporting the reorganization of the Liaodong army, and Yuan Keli could only say:

"This is a serious matter, let's ask for the Holy Judgement!"

"If your majesty wants to reorganize the Liaodong army, the Privy Council should come up with a plan and send a capable minister to preside over it."
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Zhu Youjian certainly wanted to reorganize the Liaodong army.

He didn't dare to move before because Liaodong was too important. He was worried that if he moved too much, someone might open Shanhaiguan and let the Jianlu in.

But now Huang Taiji led the elite troops of Jianlu to the west, and several city defenses were built along the Daling River. This made him finally determined to take this opportunity to reorganize the Liaodong army:

"The reorganization plan will be formulated by the Privy Council."

"After the plan is approved, Yuan Qing or Li Qing will go to Liaodong to personally preside over it."

"We must complete the training this year and not give the Jianlu any chance to take advantage."

When Yuan Keli heard that the emperor intended to send himself or Li Banghua to preside over the meeting, he was immediately relieved.

Since both of them are old friends of Sun Chengzong, they will probably not get too ugly during the training.

But thinking about the situation in Liaodong, he asked:
"Although the conscripts in the Beijing camp did not receive military pay, they were all allocated land."

"The land in Liaodong is far from enough to distribute to 100,000 people. How can we reduce the salary?"

"There are also 5,000 Liaodong cavalrymen assigned to the Fifth Army Camp. How should their salaries be calculated?"

“Some soldiers have started to make trouble after learning that the Fifth Army Battalion would not pay them.”

Zhu Youjian frowned upon hearing this, feeling that the Liaodong army had been fattened up by the Liao salary, and was already "too fat to be used". This made him look at the map of Liaodong and give the order:
"Now the Daling River defense line is basically complete, and the land from Shanhaiguan to Jinzhou has been stabilized."

"We will set up the Liaoxi Military and Civilian Office in this area, with Bi Zisu, the Liaodong Protector, concurrently serving as the prefect, and set up guard posts and distribute land as appropriate."

"Soldiers who are allocated land will serve as conscripts. If they are not selected by the first-class battalion or the elite vanguard army, which are the main force in the field, they will not be paid."

"The 5,000 soldiers from Liaodong are cavalry. Like the artillery, they will be included in the field combat system as a special branch of the military. For the time being, their salaries will be paid from the Liao military pay."

Holding his nose, Zhu Youjian continued to pay the troops, and said harshly:

"The number of field troops in Liaodong must be controlled within 70,000. About 30,000 are in Shanhaiguan, and more than 30,000 are outside the pass."

"These people must be under 40 years old or have made meritorious contributions and dared to fight outside the city."

"The rest have all been transferred to the reserve force and will only be called up when it comes time to defend the city."

This reduced the number of Liaodong troops by nearly half. The number of troops in Shanhaiguan was not much reduced, but the number outside the pass was definitely reduced by half.

Yuan Keli said worriedly:
"If we cut so much at once, I'm afraid there will be changes in Liaodong."

"It is better to take it slow and reduce the troops outside the Great Wall first."

Zhu Youjian nodded slowly, feeling that Shanhaiguan could not be moved for the time being, because there was too little land around Shanhaiguan and it was impossible to distribute it.

However, he was not polite to the troops outside the Great Wall, and he was not even worried about a mutiny in Liaodong.

After the new-style firearms army was trained and the Beijing garrison troops were initially reorganized, he had enough confidence to suppress the Liaodong army.

So he said to Yuan Keli:
"The 40,000 soldiers and horses in Shanhai Town will not be moved for the time being."

"There are more than 70,000 troops outside the Great Wall, and we will cut them in half this time."

In order to make the people of Liaodong realize the situation, he continued:

"I will send Sun Yingyuan to lead the Shesheng Battalion to protect the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of War, and the Military Supervision Office to jointly investigate the land and give priority to the families of martyrs, disabled soldiers, and meritorious soldiers who have retired from active service."

"Let Kong Zhenyun, Mao Wenlong, Man Gui and others send generals to recruit soldiers who are unwilling to retire to fight under their command, and distribute land to these people."

"Because Heilongjiang is bitterly cold, I allow Liaodong soldiers who go to Heilongjiang to at least obtain the first-class hereditary sergeant. The land allocation can be doubled or even quadrupled, from one square li to four square li, that is, 1,500 acres of land."

"In short, the imperial court will never mistreat meritorious soldiers. Send people to Liaodong to spread the word and make sure the soldiers feel at ease."

"If anyone dares to cause trouble, do not show mercy. Those who are greedy and insatiable should realize the majesty of the court." (End of this chapter)