The Holy Emperor of Ming

Chapter 137: Abolition of the Guards and Establishment of the Military System

The Jinyiwei organization has limited positions, so there is only one job for each person.

It is impossible to arrange these talents perfectly.

Perhaps we should improve the overall quality and stop allowing less-than-excellent people to be promoted due to rapid expansion.

Guo Bujing, Weng Taibei and others had to think about this.

I decided to discuss it with Zhang Fengfu after I returned.

The main force of the factory guards moved very slowly. After all, there were too many of them, several thousand in number, and they had to escort even more prisoners, more than six thousand in total.

These prisoners were either high-ranking officials or experts selected from the more than 100,000 martial artists.

There are still more than 60 million taels of gold and silver left, so we must not be careless at all.

Even several great masters were extremely cautious and kept an eye on the movements in all directions at all times.

After the main force of the factory guards withdrew, the remaining martial arts forces and people from all walks of life in Jin all breathed a sigh of relief.

Finally gone!

Although the purge ended long ago, the two major purges in the past six months really scared people from all walks of life in Jin.

As long as the main force of the factory guards is still in Jin, it will be like a butcher's knife hanging over everyone's head.

Even if it doesn't move, it's still too horrifying.

Even the newly arrived officials were terrified.

It’s better to leave. It’s better to leave.

Of course, now that the main force of the factory guards had left, people from all walks of life in Jin did not dare to act recklessly.

Jin was already the private territory of the Ming Dynasty court and a country within a country. Who would dare to act presumptuously?
There are too many spies and forces of the Ming Dynasty in Jin.

For example, General Wang, who is still in Jin to reorganize the army.

Over the past six months, one of the areas that has seen the biggest changes in Jin has definitely been the army.

The army in Jin, which nominally had a total of more than 300,000 troops, underwent a gradual and earth-shaking change.

First, more than one hundred high- and middle-level military officers and about three hundred low-level military officers were either beheaded, sentenced, or replaced.

The middle and high-level generals, centered around five hundred dragon riders, firmly controlled the entire Jin army.

That is why, despite the second large-scale purge, no major unrest occurred.

On that occasion, Jin dispatched an army of more than 100,000.

After the second major purge, Wang Shouren began to change the military system of Jin and train elite troops.

As for the latter, Wang Shouren was too busy to handle it alone and continued to believe that Dragon Rider was the best choice.

The former is the truly difficult thing to do, and it is also what Wang Shouren has been preparing for for half a year.

After being taken over, the Jin army was reduced from more than 300,000 to about 180,000, a direct reduction of nearly half.

This is normal. It is too common for soldiers to eat military pay, drink military blood, and for military households in garrisons to escape.

Nominal quantities are just that, nominal.

Then, Wang Shouren did something that caused a sensation in the Jin army.

He directly abolished the Weisuo system.

All military households were converted into civilian households.

All soldiers will be recruited.

Once the recruitment is successful, the whole family can be exempted from corvee labor and given military pay.

This naturally greatly increased the burden on the court.

But after repeated discussions, Zhu Houzhao and Wang Shouren finally made this decision.

The life of military households is too hard, and it is too easy to breed corruption and exploit the soldiers.

Another point is that it is almost impossible to unify the world by relying on the Wei Suo system.

The Ming Dynasty needs a million elite troops who are well-trained and willing to sacrifice their lives.

The Weisuo system must be abolished.

Of course, we cannot abolish them all at once, we have to do it bit by bit.

No matter how many drawbacks the garrison system had, at that time, the more than 500 garrisons spread across the territory of the Ming Dynasty were the cornerstones of the Ming Dynasty, guarding various parts of the Ming Dynasty like a mainstay.

This is also the basic foundation of the Ming Dynasty court. It cannot be abolished immediately, otherwise there will be chaos.

It can only be implemented in Jin first, and it is also an experiment.

After the abolition of the Wei Suo system, civil officials were very busy. They had to take over hundreds of thousands of military households, as well as the corresponding land statistics and divisions.

The military was equally busy.

This kind of treatment is unimaginable for the former military households and border troops.

Suddenly, more and more soldiers wanted to join the army or stay in the army.

However, 180,000 troops were too many for Jin and were too heavy a burden for the imperial court.

So the selection of soldiers began.

There are still more than 100,000 martial artists and bandits. Although there are no masters anymore, it is still very difficult to deal with so many people. We can only take it slowly and disperse them little by little.

There are too many things to do, and in the past two months, only the beginning of the process has been completed. Wang Shouren and Gu Xichao simply cannot leave.

In short, the Jin area continued to change after the main forces of the factory guards left.

Civilian governance and military reform.

Looks like he's in full swing.

However, Mu Kun had already led two hundred dragon riders and set out on the journey back to Yunnan.

An imperial edict also fell into his hands.

He was ordered to take charge of the Yunnan Commandery and reorganize all the troops in Yunnan.

Following him was a team of Jinyiwei to help him. The leader of these Jinyiwei was the deputy commander, Ye Gucheng.

Time passed little by little, and by early October, the main force of the factory guards were about to return to the capital.

On this day, Zhu Houzhao was having a conversation with Li Jing, who had just completed two months of training.

"You have learned about the situation of Emperor Wu's Dragon Cavalry. What do you think? What kind of army do you want to lead?" Zhu Houzhao asked directly with great anticipation.

Li Jing did not hesitate and directly expressed all his thoughts over the past two months.

Compared to before joining Emperor Wu's Dragon Riders, his ideas about the army have changed significantly.

“Your Majesty, your Wudi Dragon Riders are centered around defending the country and establishing the minds of the soldiers.

I think this is very good.

An army with ideas is the most terrifying army.

However, this requires good treatment guarantees and a relatively fair and just military environment.

If I want to train an army of 20,000 people, I can basically copy Emperor Wu's Dragon Cavalry.

However, all members of the Wu Emperor's Dragon Cavalry practice martial arts, and even an ordinary soldier is of the eighth rank. This cannot be implemented in other armies.

We can only weaken it in various aspects..."

Li Jing spoke for nearly an hour in one breath, but Zhu Houzhao listened with great interest, and from time to time, his clear eyes showed signs of sudden enlightenment.

So this is what I thought!

It turns out that this rule has such a purpose!

That’s right, that’s exactly what I thought.

After listening to it, Zhu Houzhao felt that his understanding of all aspects of Emperor Wu's Dragon Cavalry seemed to be clearer.

Originally, all the rules of the Emperor Wu Dragon Riders were discussed and established by him and Lao Wang.

Now, he felt that Li Jing's views were actually clearer and more complete than Lao Wang's.

This is definitely a great talent.

Zhu Houzhao suddenly reacted and looked at Li Jing with bright eyes, as if he were a treasure.

"Hahaha, I have a new great general. Li Jing, you will definitely become my great general in the future." Zhu Houzhao suddenly laughed.

Li Jing's heart warmed up, and he bowed respectfully and said solemnly: "Your Majesty is too kind, I will never let your majesty down."

"Okay, Li Jing, I don't want you to train an army of 20,000 people." Zhu Houzhao said expectantly.

Li Jing was stunned. Did I hear it wrong?

"I want you to train the Ming Dynasty's 001st Army, which is also the Ming Dynasty's first army." Zhu Houzhao said firmly.

Li Jing immediately felt relieved, but he looked at His Majesty with some confusion and even more anxiety.

The 001st Army!
First Army!
It sounds great. Could it be that Your Majesty is going to use me even more?

"I have discussed a lot with the old prince about the new military construction of the Ming Dynasty. Now the old prince has abolished the garrison system in Jin and recruited all soldiers. This is the implementation of the new military system I have decided on." Seeing that Li Jing was puzzled, Zhu Houzhao immediately began to explain with great interest.

“When a soldier joins the army, all corvée labor of his family is exempted, and he is also paid a salary.

In the army, there are small flags of ten people, general flags of fifty people, hundred generals of one hundred people, a battalion of three hundred people is called a battalion commander, and a regiment of one thousand two hundred people is called a regiment commander.

Five regiments form a guard, called the guard commander.

Five guards form an army, and the commander is called the military commander, also called the commander-in-chief, who commands an army of nearly 30,000 people and is of the second rank.

“All armies in the Ming Dynasty will be organized into military systems and named after numbers.

The troops guarding the capital city began with the 001st Army, also known as the First Army.

Li Jing, what do you think? "

After saying this, Zhu Houzhao looked at Li Jing expectantly, wanting to hear his opinion.

Although it was not very detailed, it was enough for Li Jing.

A feeling of boiling blood arose.

The crowds are excited for this army that will be recruited and trained into a powerful force.

I was even more excited by the three words "First Army".

His thoughts raced, and Li Jing quickly expressed his opinion.

Zhu Houzhao nodded repeatedly, and the two began a heated discussion.

Zhu Houzhao thought that the military system, which was already perfect, was further improved and became better.

He was very happy and said seriously: "Okay, let's do this. The old king will establish five armies in Jin: the 10th Army, the 11th Army, the 12th Army, the 13th Army, and the 14th Army.

Li Jing, you stay in the capital and build up the First Army first.

I will give you three hundred dragon riders. You can select soldiers from the garrisons and the Beijing camp, or you can recruit new ones.

What else do you want? Just ask. "

“Your Majesty, the middle and high-level leaders of the Wudi Dragon Riders are arrogant and will never submit.

Therefore, I only want low-level officers among the Dragon Cavalry, and no sons of noble families are allowed.

In addition, I also want Han Shizhong, Lu Da, Lin Chong, and Wang Jin to help me." Li Jing was not polite, and said directly and frankly.

"Okay, I'll give them all to you." Zhu Houzhao said very happily without any hesitation.

He could understand this.

Li Jing came from the Sui Dynasty. He had not accomplished anything and was still at the acquired realm. The middle-level officials and sons of nobles in Emperor Wu's Dragon Riders would definitely not obey him.

Then give him the lower level, and add Han Shizhong and other people coming from the Song State, which will be helpful for Li Jing to lead the troops.

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty. I swear to never let Your Majesty down even if I die." Li Jing couldn't help but take a deep breath and bowed solemnly and firmly.

He could only repay this trust and kindness with his life.

(Chapter 1.)
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(End of this chapter)