Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Zhu Youjian still attaches great importance to firearms as always, because it is the fastest way to improve military strength.

After his adjustments, the Ming Dynasty's military system became particularly suitable for the use of firearms.

Whether it is the training of soldiers under the compulsory military service system or letting civilian officers control military generals from the logistics perspective, firearms need to be the main force.

Therefore, after discovering the shortcomings of civilian management of equipment, he quickly made adjustments and ordered the Equipment Department to set up an Equipment Production Committee and an Equipment Technology Committee, bringing in managers from arsenals and technicians from equipment research institutes to take charge of these aspects.

The function of the Equipment Department has shifted more towards equipment planning and collaboration with the military and other departments. Professional matters such as production and technology are left to professionals.

Yuan Keli was in charge of the further improvement of the Privy Council. When he saw the order issued by the emperor himself, he realized that the emperor was still not satisfied with the current equipment department.

He himself also felt that there was a problem with the Privy Council, so after thinking about it, he summoned a group of Privy Council ministers and said:
"Some time ago, the Engineers Association held a Zhuge meeting, which was praised by the emperor and asked all government offices to learn from it."

"Today, I have called you all here to hold a meeting of our Privy Council to discuss internal affairs."

"It doesn't matter what you talk about. Let's exchange ideas and pool our wisdom."

When these officials heard this, they were a little surprised for a moment and even didn't know how to hold this meeting.

They are used to speaking in official language and have no idea what to say at such a meeting. They don't know if there will be any consequences.

So they could only bring up some unimportant things to deal with the meeting.

Seeing this, Yuan Keli had no choice but to continue:

"Since you are unwilling to say more, I will mention it."

"Our Privy Council was newly established by the current emperor. Although it has been two years, it is far from perfect."

"If you have any questions while performing your duties, please feel free to ask."

"This is an institutional setup issue, not your responsibility."

After these words were spoken, everyone began to understand why Yuan Keli held this meeting.

It turned out that the emperor personally adjusted the organization of the Equipment Department, which made Yuan Keli feel that they needed to improve it themselves.

Everyone had some opinions about the emperor personally setting up two committees in the Armament Department. The ministers did not want the emperor to intervene directly, as it would make them look like they had not done their job well.

If they can solve it, they still want to solve it themselves. Qin Shiwen, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of War, said:

"The division of labor between the General Staff, Border Defense Department, and Navy Department was coordinated by Yuan Shumi some time ago."

“But there are still some unclear points about the duties of the Ministry of War and other ministries.”

"Especially since we have to fight next year, the Privy Council has set up a war committee."

"We need to confirm the extent of the powers of this wartime committee and the authority of the front-line enemy committee to replace officers."

"I think Yuan Shumi should coordinate well to avoid any conflicts."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Keli nodded in agreement, knowing that Qin Shiwen was supporting him.

This matter should have been raised by the Minister of War. As the second-in-command of the Privy Council, the Minister of War could even coordinate related matters himself.

However, Xue Fengxiang was a man of little ability and irresponsibility. He would never do anything unless the emperor asked him to do so.

So it was not until now that Qin Shiwen raised this question.

Yuan Ke immediately said:
"As for the coordination between the Ministry of War and other departments, please refer to the General Staff."

"In the future, the Ministry of War will also focus on the big ones and let go of the small ones, taking charge of the appointment of mid- and senior-level officers, and handing over the power to appoint grassroots officers to the Border Defense Department and the Navy Department, just as each department can appoint its own clerks."

“From now on, for the appointment of team-level officers, each battalion can make a proposal and have it approved by the Border Defense Department and the Navy Department, without having to pass documents back and forth through troops.”

"If the Ministry of War is worried, you can ask the Military Selection Department to send two officials to serve in both ministries."

"You two assistant ministers of the Ministry of War are also in charge of the army and navy affairs, so make the corresponding arrangements."

This decision defined the responsibilities and powers of the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Border Defense, and the Ministry of Navy, and, under the principle of "everything for victory," further decentralized power and increased the autonomy of each military.

In order to prevent the Privy Council from procrastinating, Yuan Keli even cancelled some approval procedures and set a time limit for approval, requiring the Privy Council departments to respond to the local authorities within a time limit.

Especially in wartime, this is enforced even more strictly.

These actions are naturally in preparation for next year's Liaodong War.

The Privy Council ministers also knew how much importance Yuan Keli attached to this war, and their enthusiasm was finally aroused.

They raised several questions in succession, and they were quickly resolved in a relatively relaxed atmosphere.
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Then, Li Banghua, the Imperial Guard of the Beijing Camp, raised something that made everyone's expressions become solemn:

"The Emperor intends to transfer 10,000 soldiers from the Beijing camp to Liaodong as the general reserve force for the Liaodong war next year."

"The restructuring of the Beijing Camp has not been completed yet. If 10,000 men are transferred out, the defense of the capital will be empty."

"Should we transfer some troops from other places?"

This topic is somewhat sensitive because it involves transferring foreign troops into Beijing, which involves some risks.

After considering it, Yuan Keli did not agree to transfer the troops from other places directly, but said:
"It is not impossible to transfer troops from other places, but we must first replenish the troops in the Beijing camp."

"The Shenji Camp originally retained the elite troops of the Jing Camp, so there is no problem."

"The Shenshu Camp also recruited enough troops after the reform of the capital's guard post."

"The remaining five military camps are under the jurisdiction of the generals selected from the Five Military Command Office. What is the current situation?"

Li Banghua said:

"The Left Army Camp has transferred troops from Liaodong, Shandong, and Zhejiang. Superintendent Sun, Governor Sun, and Governor Wu are all very supportive, and the camp has already been fully staffed with 10,000 troops."

"The front camp has transferred troops from Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong, 2,000 from each province, and that's basically it."

"The Houjun Camp didn't send many troops from Shanxi due to banditry, but Hebei Governor Lu transferred troops from the Tianxiong Army to make up for the missing vacancies. This time, the Beijing Camp requested to fight, and the Houjun Camp was the most active besides the Zuojun Camp, so its combat power is trustworthy."

"The remaining Central Army Battalions in Nanzhili and Henan, as well as the Right Army Battalions in Shaanxi, Sichuan and the southwestern provinces, have not yet been transferred here."

"There are currently 30,000 soldiers in the Fifth Army Battalion, and it's not even fully staffed yet."

"The entire Beijing Camp has 80,000 soldiers now, and sending out 10,000 is a bit too much. Moreover, the combat strength of the Shenshu Camp and the Five Army Camp is uneven."

Yuan Keli listened to the situation, considered it carefully, and said to everyone:
"The 10,000 men sent by the Beijing Camp to Liaodong must be transferred there."

"We are in the capital and don't know the situation in Liaodong. Who knows how many soldiers and horses are left after Liaodong sends out 50,000 elite troops and how much combat power they have."

"So these 10,000 people must be sent out to ensure the safety of Shanhaiguan."

This statement made everyone think deeply. Even Li Banghua, who had been to Liaodong some time ago, thought it made sense.

Although he had confidence in Sun Chengzong's integrity and did not think he would deliberately take empty salaries, it was inevitable that the Guanning Army, as an old army, had accumulated problems.

Sun Chengzong was just a commander-in-chief and could not manage all the people under him.

If the Beijing camp did not send troops, who knew how many troops would be left? Would they be able to defend Shanhaiguan? So these 10,000 people had to be sent out.

People in the capital will also worry less when they know that the Beijing troops are in Liaodong.

Min Mengde, the Minister of Logistics, has been concerned about the war in the southwest. Looking at the situation, he said:
"After Shuixi in the southwest surrendered, the war was completely over."

"We can transfer troops from the southwest to form the right army camp."

"With an additional 10,000 men, the Beijing camp will have 80,000 troops again."

This statement made everyone's eyes light up and they felt it was very feasible.

Due to the pressure of the Liaodong War, the emperor finally agreed to the surrender of the Shuixi An clan, and the She'an Rebellion ended this year.

In this way, the troops fighting in the southwest can naturally be transferred here, which will be more than enough to form the right army camp.

They had previously transferred troops from the southwest, so they were familiar with this task.

Zhu Xieyuan, the commander-in-chief of the Great Wall Army who attended the meeting, also agreed with this suggestion and believed that elite troops from the southwest could be transferred here.

Yuan Keli agreed to build the temple:

"The Right Army Camp will be formed as soon as possible with the meritorious soldiers who quelled the She'an Rebellion as the core, and some people will be transferred from Shaanxi."

"And what about the Central Army Camp? Why hasn't it been built yet?"

"Nanzhili and Henan are not far from the capital, why haven't you sent anyone here yet?"

Chief of Staff Yang Sichang said:

"Don't even mention Henan. Like Shaanxi and Shanxi, it's plagued by banditry and we can't mobilize any troops there."

"Nanzhili is under the charge of the Nanjing Five Military Commandery, and they haven't recruited any soldiers yet."

"And His Majesty sent Minister Lu to set up the Nanjing Privy Council and reorganize Nanjing's defense. I guess Nanjing is worried about this!"

"The Central Army Battalion cannot be formed in a short time. Let's build the other four battalions first."

When Yuan Keli and the others heard this, they immediately shook their heads and smiled. Obviously, they could all guess that Nanjing had a lot of problems, otherwise they would not delay even the things that the court had clearly requested.

However, the formation of the Central Army Camp could not be abandoned. Yuan Keli thought about the situation in Suzhou and said:
"Didn't they set up an engineering camp in Susong New District? It is said that there are tens of thousands of people."

"You can definitely select a few thousand of these tens of thousands of people, right? Let them go to Beijing and form the Central Army Camp."

"Or we can recruit soldiers from all over the Ming Dynasty and build a central army camp."

This idea enlightened many privy councilors, who thought it was worth a try.

The central army camp cannot be formed relying on Nanzhili and Henan for the time being. It would be better to let only these two places contribute a little and recruit soldiers from all over the country.

Their suggestion was quickly written into a memorial and presented to Emperor Zhu Youjian.
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Zhu Youjian looked at the proposal in the memorial and agreed:

"The war in the southwest is over, and the meritorious soldiers do need to be rewarded. Let them select 10,000 people to send over."

"As for the soldiers transferred from the southwest two years ago, we also need to do a good job of rotation. After three years next year, we will replace some of them."

"In Guizhou, the Privy Council and the Censorate should send more people to inspect and ensure that the rewards for the soldiers are implemented."

After determining the source of troops for the Right Army Camp, Zhu Youjian said to the Central Army Camp:
"For the Central Army Camp, Nanzhili and Henan will each send 2,000 men, and the remaining 6,000 will be recruited from all over the country."

"All soldiers are volunteers. No one can be forced to come here."

"It doesn't matter even if there is a temporary shortage. We cannot place unreliable troops in the capital."

"We can also recruit some contestants from the martial arts tournament."

As he spoke, he had another idea and said to Yuan Keli:
"Next year will be the year of the imperial examinations, and there will also be a martial arts tournament."

"Not only will students and warriors from all over the Ming Dynasty come to Beijing, but vassal states will also be allowed to come."

"Let each fiefdom send troops according to the number of square miles to protect them."

"At that time, the Beijing Camp will hold joint exercises with the troops of these vassal states to test their combat effectiveness."

"The Privy Council and the Lifanyuan will work together to arrange this matter and organize a military exercise."

Yuan Keli's eyes lit up, knowing that the emperor wanted to transfer troops from the vassal states.

This was a very common thing under the feudal system, as the princes had the responsibility to send troops to fight.

However, he had doubts about whether the troops of these vassal states were reliable.

If anything happens, he can't afford to be blamed.

So he said carefully:

"Should we set rules for foreign troops entering the capital?"

"In the future, there will be more and more vassal states, and if they send more troops to participate in the exercise, there will be hidden dangers."

Zhu Youjian nodded slightly and said:
"Mr. Yuan is right. The Privy Council can work with the Lifanyuan to establish rules."

"Also, we will build barracks in Tianjin, Tongzhou and other places to accommodate them."

"There must be limits on the number of soldiers and weapons that nobles of all levels can bring into the city."

"In short, the imperial court should establish rules openly and honestly, and not let the vassal states feel discriminated against."

"No matter if they are from the inner or outer vassal states, they must all be treated equally."

Obviously, he was thinking of Korea. Hong Chengchou planned to mobilize the military forces of Korea and Japan.

It is now necessary to establish rules on how to treat the troops of the vassal states.

Zhu Youjian hoped to establish a perfect system and mobilize the strength of the vassal states.

Assisting the emperor in wars is also the duty of these vassal states, and they need to contribute to the Ming Dynasty.
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Soon, the court's decision was spread.

Not to mention places like Korea, the people in Suzhou were also in an uproar when they learned that the court was going to recruit soldiers to join the central military camp.

After it became clear that the employees were citizens and they understood their rights as citizens, the love that the Suzhou employees had for the emperor was beyond words, not to mention that many of them were employed in the inner court enterprises.

Therefore, although Gu Yanwu, the captain of the Susong New District, repeatedly emphasized that the court would not force them to serve in other places, many hired workers still chose to apply to go to Beijing.

They planned to serve in the capital and defend the emperor who had changed their destiny.

Gu Yanwu looked at this situation and, while he was amazed at how popular the emperor was in Suzhou, he was also somewhat worried because the new order in Suzhou had not yet been completely established and it was impossible to continue to manage these people using the same method as for the military.

The Suzhou workers can tolerate it now because they have just escaped from their slave status and regained their human dignity. However, if the new order cannot be established in time, these people will be forced to join their employers due to reality.

Now, he hoped that the provincial examination in Nanjing would end soon and Liu Lishun, Zhang Pu and others would return soon. (End of this chapter)