Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 166 Military Training and New Policies

There are three Beijing camps, namely Wujun, Shenshu and Shenji, which are located in the northwest, northeast and southeast of the suburbs of Beijing respectively.

After half a year, they had only completed the indiscriminate layoffs and recruitment, and with the incorporation of a part of General Pingbo's soldiers, they had made up the number of 35,000 in the Five Military Camps, and 10,000 each in the Shenshu Camp and the Shenji Camp.

Compared with the more than 100,000 soldiers in the Beijing garrison previously claimed, it has shrunk too much.

However, the Ministry of Works has renovated the Beijing camp, and although it is not yet completed, it is now thriving.

At the gate of the Fifth Army Camp, Li Chengliang led the generals of the Beijing Camp to welcome the emperor.

The soldiers from the Yongwei Battalion led by Xiliang Bodayun came to escort the emperor.

It took Zhu Changluo more than an hour to get here from the city. He naturally couldn't travel to three places in one day.

Liu Jing came with the Shenshu Camp and Xiao Ruxun came with the Shenji Camp. They were mainly composed of soldiers above a hundred households, and there was another thousand elite soldiers who were to be inspected by the emperor.

Zhu Changluo was accompanied by Tian Le, He Shengrui, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Works, and the Censor of the Military Affairs Department who had participated in the excessive layoffs and cleanup of the Beijing camp.

When the imperial carriage arrived, Li Chengliang welcomed him with military salute.

"Go to the training ground first."

The dragon flag is fluttering and the general's flags are like clouds.

The fact that the emperor came in person to inspect the situation was a sign of his importance, but of course he couldn't really push all the soldiers from the Beijing camp away.

On the parade ground, after Zhu Changluo arrived at the platform to review the generals, the elite soldiers to be reviewed lined up below.

Mainly lectures.

"You have just been assigned to the Xinjing Camp. I came to see you today. In the future, when I come again, I will see how you train together, how your physique is, and how your spirit is."

His words were passed on to the back by those with loud voices so that everyone who came here could hear them.

"From now on, no meritorious officials or generals will be allowed to force you to work. Your mission is to train, train, and train again."

"The training requires food and military equipment, and the money comes from my treasury!"

"I have three requirements for you: train your troops to be elite soldiers, be able to fight when ordered, and be able to win when you fight!"

"Can you meet these three requirements?"

When the emperor asked, the people in the training ground responded with a roar: "Yes!"

Some shouted, “We can do it!”

"Commanders of each camp, if they have made contributions, I will reward them. Three marquises and five earls have been here before, and perhaps some of you will become lords in the future!"

When Zhu Changluo said this, the soldiers in the parade ground saw the emperor slowly turning his head, as if looking in every direction in front of him, looking for his future powerful general.

"In the military camp, you must hope to make meritorious deeds, but you must also obey orders! Don't think that you will not have the opportunity to make meritorious deeds in the Beijing Camp. I will give you opportunities in the future, but this opportunity will only be reserved for soldiers who are prepared. This preparation means training, training, and training again. Starting this year, every October, all soldiers in the Beijing Camp will compete. The top 100 winners will be rewarded in the Forbidden Palace! Among the 3,100 camps, the top three will receive double the salary of the entire camp, and the generals will receive additional promotions!"

"have you understood?"

Li Chengliang couldn't help but look at the emperor, who had a solemn face and seemed to attach great importance to the Beijing Camp. This was really going to encourage the Beijing Camp to train heavily.

"Don't let people laugh at the Beijing camp for being full of old and weak people, let people be afraid of the Beijing camp for being full of brave soldiers!" Zhu Changluo raised his fist and shouted loudly, "Brave!"

"Yong!"

This time the generals and soldiers knew to shout along.

Zhu Changluo waved his fists and shouted "brave" three times.

Inside the Beijing camp, shouts shook the sky.

Everyone knew the emperor's expectations for them and the treatment he would give them.

After the new Beijing camp was reorganized, the first thing to do was to compete among the entire army.

The one hundred military kings who went to the palace to receive rewards and the nine thousand generals and soldiers who received two salaries only needed to rely on their own martial arts to get them first.

Zhu Changluo then visited several barracks and personally paid attention to the accommodation, food, and military preparations in the Beijing camp.

It was extremely rare for the emperor to walk up to ordinary soldiers in the Beijing camp.

Li Chengliang silently watched the emperor's behavior all the way and knew that he was not just handing over the Beijing Camp to a few important generals, but was personally working to win the loyalty of all the soldiers in the Beijing Camp.

He didn't have to come often, but he was the emperor. He only needed to come once, do some caring things, and be willing to give them full pay and incentives, and he would be able to gain enough loyalty.

Only when they arrived at the official hall in the Beijing camp would the emperor talk to these important generals alone, and the emperor would also have lunch here.

During the meal, Zhu Changluo also conveyed his request.

"Start with sergeants and above. Everyone must be able to read. Captains and above must study military books. Exercises should be conducted every three days or every few days according to the circumstances. But there must be routine exercises that are easy to organize, such as a six-mile long-distance run and early morning training every day." Zhu Changluo did not interfere much in the details of how the soldiers were trained.

There was no need for him to tell everyone everything he knew, but he could let Li Chengliang and the others know that he was also "expert in military affairs."

What is required in the army is obedience, and obedience needs to be cultivated through daily habits.

The emperor discussed his understanding of military training and also arranged the first military competition in the capital next month.

We are now unable to organize any "exercises", but we can at least focus on the quality of individual soldiers during the training phase.

There are many test items in traditional martial arts examinations, such as strength, archery, spearmanship and swordsmanship, which can be compared.

It's not complicated, it just costs more.

"I am willing to pay for all the training costs of the Beijing Camp." Zhu Changluo looked at Li Chengliang, Liu Jing, Xiao Ruxun, Zhang Weixian and others, "The Beijing Camp does not need to expand for the time being. If we can train these 55,000 soldiers, we will already be a strong enough force. You train the soldiers for me, and I will enrich the country and do my best to guarantee your logistics. The Beijing Camp must become a strong army with the strongest generals and soldiers, the best equipment, and the most sophisticated tactics!"

"Yes!" Liu Jing's blood boiled.

How can we put so much effort into training soldiers and not use them?

Although it is still unclear who will be killed in the future, the emperor has indeed shown enough determination today.

Everyone in the capital city knew that the emperor was going to inspect the Beijing camp today.

In the court, Wang Xijue, who had always supported the new policy in the past, had a clear attitude this time: financial power must be decentralized, and the local tax items must be determined first, and then implemented strictly in accordance with the preferential exemption policy.

The most controversial issue is the issue of Inda Indo.

"Yuan Yu, let's take it step by step." Shen Shixing was frowning during today's meeting. "It's not easy to find out the truth about these things."

"If you don't know what the local authorities are doing, it's just a change of name but the substance remains the same. In order to collect more public funds, they will eventually pass the buck to the poor people." Wang Xijue insisted on his opinion. "Nowadays, commercial taxes are strictly levied. Which business that is a little bigger doesn't have a local gentry behind it?"

Chen Qi was the most difficult one, he was solemn and silent.

Li Dai stood on Wang Xijue's side, because the core of this time was to give local governments more financial power and then find ways to clarify the administration of officials. The power of the Ministry of Personnel was very important.

The power to approve the evaluation results of the universal diligence and integrity award is very important.

Shen Yi Guan said, "Everyone knows the real situation in the local area. Yuan Yu, if the court does not make great efforts to investigate the land and population, how can the local officials have the ability to strictly implement preferential treatment? I am afraid that in the end, the cards will be exposed on the poor people. I don't know how many letters we have received now? The turmoil in Jiangnan has stopped temporarily, but if the public funds are really taken out from the preferential treatment, it will be very dangerous."

"There are many dangers and difficulties. If we want to make the finances more abundant, what is not a danger?" Wang Xijue looked at him, "We will discuss it together first. If there are any disputes, we can discuss them. But when the strategy is presented to Your Majesty, how can we answer Your Majesty's questions? If the court does not compile the local tax rules, and lets them compile them at their own discretion, that is a policy that harms the people!"

This is where the controversy lies today.

Although the emperor only gave a direction in principle to add more officials and full-time clerks to the local areas and to improve their treatment and increase public expenditures, it was still difficult to avoid encountering these practical problems when discussing specific strategies, and it was necessary to consider using some of the methods demonstrated by the emperor that day.

This is actually tantamount to discussing a new policy agenda.

The composition of local land tax was mainly government-owned land leased by the gentry. In the area of ​​Suzhou and Changzhou, the proportion of government-owned land was as high as 60% to 70%.

On the one hand, the gentry relied on preferential treatment and exemptions to gain benefits, while on the other hand they actually bore the most unshakable land tax in the Ming Dynasty.

After all, there must be enough food.

Chen Qi raised this difficulty.

"If the local government wants to increase the number of officials and clerks, can't it appoint someone to manage the government land? Why do we have to always rely on the gentry?" Wang Xijue disagreed, "The people who cultivate the government land are tenants found by the gentry. Can't the local government find these tenants and manage them themselves?"

"…Why should the government compete with the people for profits?" Shen Yi Guan said helplessly, "Brother Yuan Yu, it's not a question of how to do it, but a question of the will of the gentry and the people, and the discussion of the scholars. Now the court seems to have calmed down, but if the new policy is implemented, and local officials must suppress the gentry and collect money openly, will the money collected secretly be saved? Or the government will still be difficult to govern, and the poor people will still be extorted. In the end, it will cause the wrath of heaven and the resentment of the people, and the people will lose their hearts. You and I will be sinners."

Shen Shixing also sighed: "In all dynasties, the difficulty of new policies lies in people's hearts. If a problem occurs in a prefecture or a county, the court will naturally have a way to suppress it. But if problems occur everywhere and they become a trend, can the court suppress them all at once? When it comes to personal interests, there are people who are not afraid of death!"

The three cabinet ministers are two to one, and the two tend to be more stable. After delegating the financial power to the local governments, they should be allowed to exert their initiative and increase revenue from commercial taxes, and should not break the current interest structure in a clear and rough way. Otherwise, "there will be chaos."

Wang Xijue was inclined to continue Zhang Juzheng's unfinished work of surveying the land and population, and at the same time to manage the official land specifically, so as to ensure that the official land tax could also get an additional share of land rent - as long as the collection was not more than that of the gentry, how could the tenants not be unwilling? In addition, the preferential exemption policy was implemented, so that the gentry could still enjoy preferential exemptions but not be given additional preferential exemptions, so as to ensure that there was enough retention in the local area.

"Human beings...are greedy and never satisfied." Wang Xijue looked at them. "If we just keep doing this, won't that just indulge them to continue to be greedy? Won't the financial difficulties never improve? If this continues, there will be chaos! When the burden on the people is getting heavier and heavier, and there is no place to stand, won't the officials and gentry be afraid of being trampled on by the streets?"

On that day in the Yangxin Palace, the two of them actually knew exactly what the emperor wanted to do. Why were they being conservative now?

"Brother Yuan Yu, be careful with your words!" Shen Shixing was shocked when he thought about the previous sentence about the inner treasury being burned to ashes.

"Since there is so much dispute at the beginning, let's ask His Majesty for a judgment!" Wang Xijue's face darkened. "If I give in out of fear, the public bank will be used to harm the people. I will be ashamed to be in the court. It is better for me to return home and be greedy!"

Before Zhu Changluo returned to the city, the quarrel during the meeting was known to other officials.

Your Majesty really wants to clarify the local administration first and then implement new policies in the future. The court officials are all aware of this.

The quarrel among the important officials has clearly put the new policy in front of them: Should a new policy program be determined this time?

People from far and near are now beginning to hear the news: How many of these officials have family businesses in their hometowns or places of employment?

This time, the real party struggle begins!
(End of this chapter)