The Holy Emperor of Ming

Chapter 235 The year is coming to an end

It is not easy to establish a new army, and it requires appropriate manpower.

Not to mention the military commanders, there are also problems with the mid-level officers and civilian staff. We can only take it step by step.

Keeping things running as usual and maintaining the status quo is the best option now.

Except for the Beijing garrison, all the garrisons in northern Zhili have been reorganized and are intensively training troops.

At this point, among the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, the garrisons in five places, namely Northern Zhili, Southern Zhili, Shanxi, Shandong, and Yunnan, had been reorganized.

Together with the border troops, it can be said that most of the military power of the Ming Dynasty was actually controlled by Zhu Houzhao.

The garrison troops in the remaining seven provinces, not to mention the corruption problem among them, were far less in number than the troops in the five provinces plus the border troops even at their peak.

After all, the three places with the largest military forces in the Ming Dynasty are Northern Zhili, Southern Zhili, and the border troops.

Relying on the five places and border troops, the imperial court also formed thirteen new armies and a navy.

The number of troops reached more than 500,000.

These are all full-time professional soldiers, and with all kinds of conditions and treatment, their combat effectiveness has been constantly improving.

More than half of them have become true elites.

The strength of this army, even without counting Emperor Wu's Dragon Cavalry, is second only to that of the Taizu and Taizong periods, and is still catching up.

Of course, the consumption of these more than 500,000 new troops was also extremely terrifying.

Military pay, rations, weapons, armor, war horses, etc. would have been difficult for the Ming Dynasty to support if they had not been supplied by thousands of officials, tens of thousands of minor officials, and people from all walks of life in Jin and wealthy families like the Kong family in the past two or three years.

Now, speaking only of the military, it can only be said that the pressure on the court is not that great.

In mid-October, Zhu Houzhao went to the Military Council and after learning more details, he decided to reorganize the remaining seven garrisons in the Ming Dynasty within the next year.

In the next three years, at least ten new troops will be trained.

It doesn't matter if it's difficult to gather military commanders. Just train the army roughly first, and then when there is a suitable military commander, he can take office directly, so that the real combat power of the new army can be formed more quickly.

In late October, Yan Nantian, who came to Longhu Mountain, finally searched the entire mountain thoroughly.

Over a month, we must have experienced many ups and downs.

After all, no matter how proactively Longhu Mountain surrenders to and joins the imperial court, its own strength is there, and its own strength is the greatest confidence in the world.

Longhu Mountain has strength and took the initiative to surrender, but it was still thoroughly investigated.

Even if you have a good temper, you can't stand it.

The top management will endure it, but those below them are bound to have some bad tempers.

Sometimes it can even cause temper tantrums among top management.

Especially when some people were arrested, their relatives and friends could no longer tolerate it.

During this period, the middle-level leaders of Longhushan and Jinyiwei had several quarrels and confrontations, and almost fought.

If Yan Nantian, Zhang Daoqi and others had not realized the seriousness of the matter and suppressed it, the situation would have gotten out of control.

But despite this, the relationship between the two sides has become increasingly cold and even hostile.

When Yan Nantian personally led people to capture the first innate realm person in Longhu Mountain, even Zhang Daoqi found it difficult to put on a good face.

The Xiantian realm is the backbone no matter where it is. Longhu Mountain is a big family with only nine people, and each of them is a high-level person.

By the end of October, Yan Nantian had captured two innate masters from Longhu Mountain, one innate master with whom he had a good relationship, and a total of 138 others.

Officially announced the end of the thorough investigation and returned to the capital.

When he arrived, Zhang Daoqi and other senior leaders of Longhu Mountain personally welcomed him.

When they left this time, no one saw Yan Nantian and his friends off.

The looks in their eyes were mostly filled with undisguised hostility.

"Sir, we have completely offended Longhu Mountain this time.

After all, Longhu Mountain took the initiative to join the imperial court. We are so strict, right? "On the way out of Longhu Mountain, the Jiangxi Jinyiwei Qianhu hesitated.

"We are the Jinyiwei. Sometimes we can tolerate some irregular means, but we will never tolerate the crime of harming the people. This is the bottom line.

No matter if it was Longhu Mountain? No matter if Longhu Mountain took the initiative to surrender to the imperial court? No matter how strong Longhu Mountain was?
Once this bottom line is touched, we must not bend the law for personal gain or turn a blind eye, understand?" Yan Nantian said firmly without hesitation, and glanced at the Jiangxi Jinyiwei Qianhu.

The Jiangxi Jinyiwei captain was startled and immediately responded, "I understand."

"Yeah." Yan Nantian nodded, not angry, but understandingly said: "You are in Jiangxi, Longhu Mountain has a huge influence in Jiangxi, it is inevitable to be worried.

But don't be afraid, you must remember that behind you is the entire Jinyiwei and His Majesty.

As long as you don't bend the law for personal gain, what can Longhu Mountain do?"

"Yes, I will follow your instructions." The captain of the Jiangxi Jinyiwei was shocked and immediately said seriously.

"There is no time to lose. I will take them back to the capital and await His Majesty's decision." Yan Nantian said nothing more and took his men back to the capital.

After Yan Nantian left, on Longhu Mountain.

Zhang Daoqi and other senior leaders of Longhushan were all present.

In addition to the ancestor who had reached the ultimate level of grandmaster, the two grandmasters Zhang Daoqi and Zhang Minglin, and the remaining seven innate grandmasters gathered together.

Everyone's face looked solemn and unhappy.

"Brother, is there really no hope?" An innate master looked at Zhang Daoqi pleadingly with an expression of pity.

Others also felt unwilling and even angry.

Because among those arrested were their fellow disciples and their descendants.

"From Jin to the royal family to the Kong family, has Your Majesty ever spared anyone who has harmed the people?" Zhang Daoji's face looked unhappy.

It's not just the people Yan Nantian took away, but more importantly, he had clearly issued strict orders to conduct a thorough investigation of Longhu Mountain.

I didn't expect that so many people would do such a thing. Two people in the Xiantian realm were implicated.

When everyone present heard this, they fell silent, feeling helpless. They all knew it very well.

Not one was spared.

Including the Ming royal family, even uncles.

Although I was still angry, I couldn't say anything else.

The emperor is strong and fair.

What can be said?
You have to keep your resentment in your heart.

"Now we can only hope that His Majesty can spare their lives and atone for their sins." Zhang Daoqi sighed.

Everyone was silent. They could only hope so.

"There is no way to deal with this matter, but next..." Zhang Daoqi's expression became serious, and he swept his eyes over everyone one by one, and said seriously: "We are already people of the court, no matter who we are, we cannot violate the laws of the Ming Dynasty.

I hope everyone can learn from this incident and never let it happen again.

Otherwise, Longhu Mountain would be ruined in your Majesty's heart."

Everyone was solemn and nodded.

"Okay, get ready. We will go to the capital in five days to officially take office."

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On November 6, Yan Nantian and his group arrived in the capital at about the same time as Long Hushan and his group.

Zhu Houzhao also met them at the same time.

Without any scruples, Yan Nantian frankly reported the details of the case in front of Zhang Daoqi and others.

Zhu Houzhao listened very seriously, with murderous intent growing in his eyes.

When Yan Nantian's voice fell, Zhang Daoqi immediately apologized: "I am not strict in the discipline of Longhu Mountain. Please punish me, Your Majesty."

"Are you sure it has nothing to do with other people?" Zhu Houzhao looked at Yan Nantian and asked directly.

"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter." Yan Nantian shook his head.

"Since it has nothing to do with other people, I will not punish you. But remember, don't let it happen again in the future." Zhu Houzhao turned to Zhang Daoqi and said solemnly.

"Yes, I will never let this happen again." Zhang Daoqi said firmly.

"Those people should be dealt with according to the law. Those who deserve to be killed should be killed. If it is not necessary to kill them, just cripple their martial arts and let them do their work." Zhu Houzhao said without hesitation.

"Yes." Yan Nantian replied.

Zhang Daoqi sighed in his heart but didn't say much.

Afterwards, Zhu Houzhao officially promoted Yan Nantian to the position of co-director of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

The positions of everyone in Longhu Mountain were also arranged as originally agreed.

Zhang Daoqi became the director of the Imperial Observatory, another grandmaster joined the Martial Arts Hall, and three people at the innate level joined the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

After everything was settled, the situation in Longhu Mountain spread quickly.

As the first major force to officially join the imperial court, the situation in Longhu Mountain has always been watched by all the forces in the Ming Dynasty's martial arts world.

When they saw two people in the innate realm being captured, one being killed and one having his martial arts abolished, and more than a hundred people suffering the same fate, many people were terrified.

He was very resistant to joining the court.

Including the righteous forces in the martial arts world, including Wudang and Shaolin, some dissatisfied and worried discussions have arisen.

Regardless of whether or not it was the people from Longhu Mountain who committed a serious crime, some people thought that the imperial court was too disappointing.

It makes many people feel unacceptable.

Especially those who already have problems.

But no matter what they think, if the top people don't move, they can't do much.

This is a world where power belongs to the individual.

Moreover, with the joining of Longhu Mountain, the strength of the imperial court has been significantly strengthened, and its power has been raised to a higher level.

No matter who it is, no one dared to move rashly.

Time flies and December is here.

Guo Bujing finally returned to the capital by sea, bringing Yang Gong's treasure house and those talents.

Zhu Houzhao was overjoyed and immediately met Guo Bujing. He also went to meet those talents as soon as possible, comforted them with a few words, and asked them to settle down well.

“Your Majesty, this time we have obtained a total of 10.27 million taels of silver from Lord Yang’s treasury.

The armor and weapons are all of high quality, enough to equip 20,000 people." Guo Bujing began to report.

"It's not much silver, but there are a lot of weapons and armor." Zhu Houzhao nodded, not disappointed.

The top leaders of the Ming Dynasty were all aware of the situation of Yang Gong’s treasury.

No matter how rich and powerful Yang Su was back then, Yang Jian was still there.

The treasure trove built up by Yang Su could not possibly be so large, otherwise it would have been impossible to hide it from Yang Jian.

Of course, this number is already quite a lot, enough for the court to take bigger actions next year.

Guo Bujing continued to report on the situation of those talents.

There are twenty generals at the peak level of acquired abilities, and eighty highly skilled doctors and craftsmen.

Zhu Houzhao was also casually flipping through the list in his hand.

(Chapter 1.)
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(End of this chapter)