The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 615 Reform
The 25,000 cavalrymen from the ten corps stationed in Nanjing had already eaten up all the grassland within a hundred miles around before the winter of the first year of Guangde.

Starting from September, horses died of disease and starvation every day. These war horses from Mongolia, Korea, Liaodong and other places were obviously not adapted to the warm and humid climate in the south. The later it was, the less fodder there was. Xie Yang and others obviously overestimated Nanjing's supply capabilities.

To make matters worse, the retired emperor found himself having to accept a large number of Southern Ming surrendered troops.

The Nanjing garrison alone consisted of 108 guards, which amounted to several hundred officers and tens of thousands of soldiers.

In addition to the surrendered troops of Zuo Liangyu and Zheng Sen's remnants, Liu Zhaosun and his officials had to provide food for nearly 300,000 surrendered Ming troops.

When the retired emperor first entered Nanjing, in order to appease the people and weaken the resistance, he decided to gather the surrendered Ming troops. The policy at that time was: gather all who should be gathered and not let anyone starve to death.

Qian Qianyi and others even suggested that the surrendered Ming army should be given the same treatment as the new recruits of the Great Qi Dynasty, with each person receiving two stone of grain and two taels of silver per month.

After this suggestion was submitted, it was immediately rejected by Liu Zhaosun. The emperor had been in the army for a long time and knew the concept of giving more than 200,000 people two stone of grain and two taels of silver each month.

It was later proved that even if each person was given one stone of food ration per month, the grain in Nanjing's inner treasury would only be enough to last for two months.

At this point, the only option left is to dismiss the surrendered soldiers. Otherwise, it won't be long before the main forces of each corps will face the dilemma of insufficient food and fodder.

However, Jiangnan had recently surrendered, and Da Qi still needed this force, so it let the Ming army be responsible for maintaining order in various places. Liu Zhaosun planned to wait until Jiangxi and Fujian were completely pacified before gradually disbanding these Ming troops.

In addition, there were too many officers in the surrendered Ming army, and many of them were good at falsely reporting the number of soldiers. In other words, they were good at collecting empty salaries. Therefore, the reported number of more than 200,000 soldiers and horses had to be discounted at least, and it would be good if there were 100,000 soldiers.

The retired emperor ordered the elite troops of the surrendered army to be drawn out to form a new army to serve as cannon fodder to deal with the next war.

The Qi army had a total of 120,000 troops on the southern expedition, and even with the accompanying auxiliary troops and civilian laborers, there were only a little over 200,000. It was obviously not enough to rely on this number of troops to spread across the nine provinces south of the Yangtze River.

The Ming troops in the southern provinces either surrendered or fled, and the Qi army was stretched thin and unable to occupy all the cities. Liu Zhaosun began to worry about "local thugs looting everywhere."

The so-called "stick thugs" are scoundrels like those who bully others. These forces usually endanger the local area, and once there is a power vacuum, they become even more unscrupulous and are no different from bandits.

The purpose of the retired emperor and his Great Qi army's southern expedition was certainly not to plunder and then return to the north, but to actually prepare to bring the provinces south of the Yangtze River into the rule of Great Qi and achieve firm control, at least like Henan and Shandong, to appoint officials and collect taxes.

Based on this, the rulers of the Great Qi must avoid simple military actions - such as burning, killing and looting the people like the surrendered generals Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong - Liu Zhaosun became increasingly aware that the Great Qi must quickly transform from a wartime system to a peaceful governance model. In other words, it is necessary to stop the rapid advance and use more political appeasement methods (most importantly economic means) to digest the amazing results achieved in the past two years.

This is also an inevitable requirement for the Mandate of Heaven (legitimacy of rule) of the Great Qi.

The retired emperor knew very well that no matter how brave and capable the Qi army was, no matter how brilliant the achievements of his army were, or how many enemy countries they destroyed.

The military always serves politics.

The only sword that is scary is the one hidden in its sheath.

Brandishing knives and guns all day long and killing anyone you catch is doomed to fail.

Conjecture is not long-term guarantee.

In short, in the first year of Guangde, when the Qi army occupied the south of the Yangtze River and was about to pacify the world, reform was once again put on the agenda.

Reform cannot be achieved overnight, but it cannot be delayed any longer.

In view of the bitter lessons of previous reforms, the retired emperor did not act arbitrarily this time. Instead, he handed over the reform task to Liu Kan and his eight cabinet ministers, empowering the young emperor and cabinet ministers to discuss reform matters.

This reform in the first year of Guangde was limited to Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

The two provinces will be used as pilot areas first, and after success, the program will be considered for nationwide expansion.

The content of the reform was nothing new, roughly speaking, Zhang Juzheng's reforms were:
It prohibits empty talk, the destruction of academies, the performance evaluation system, and land measurement.

Of course, according to the national conditions of the Great Qi, it is bound to include modern military training, school system, reform of the imperial examination system, foreign trade, supremacy of sea power, mercantilism and other contents.

After Zhang Juzheng's death, his politics came to an end, and the gains from the ten years of reform were nothing more than a last gasp for the Ming Dynasty.

There will be no similar problem with Liu Kan. He is sixteen years old and there is still a lot of time. There are plenty of opportunities to carry out the reforms to the end.

One of the original intentions of the new law was to adjust the harsh policies from the first year of Wuding to the third year of Taichu, which is commonly known as restoring order (reversing history).

The radical utopian strategies previously implemented in Henan, Liaodong and other places, such as the abolition of private property and equalization of land rights, will be adjusted to a certain extent - if not, Da Qi will soon fall into civil strife again.

From this perspective, the intention of the retired emperor was very clear. He gave this opportunity to loosen the chariot of the empire to Emperor Guangde Liu Kan, so that his son could establish the image of a benevolent monarch in the court and the country before taking power, and win more people's hearts.

This is a common tactic used by many founding fathers in history. Of course, this is just a father's good wish. No one knows what Liu Kan's new law will eventually become.

All reforms in history are nothing more than redistributing the cake and rebuilding the interest distribution system.

This sounds easy, but it is actually very difficult to make the changes.

If reformers touch upon the interests of interest groups in the slightest, they will be dismissed from office and demoted at the very least, or beheaded at the worst.

As the saying goes, blocking someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents.

Reforming this business is not as simple as blocking the path to wealth; it will directly destroy your job.

So historically, reformers have never had a good ending.

Shang Yang committed suicide by magic and was eventually torn apart by five oxen. Wang Anshi's life was full of ups and downs like a roller coaster. After Zhang Juzheng's death, his property was confiscated and his body was almost mutilated by Emperor Wanli.
However, it is foreseeable that the resistance to this reform in the first year of Guangde will be very small, or even almost negligible.

The reason is self-evident. The retired emperor, with the power of annexing Jiangnan, led an army of 100,000 and was invincible, shocking Jiangnan. The forces in the court that firmly advocated the restoration of the former Ming system were cleared out after the civil strife in Shenyang.

At this moment, no matter how unhappy or unwilling the forces opposing the reform were, they had to curl up like a dragon or lie down like a tiger, and no one dared to say no.

The Guangde Emperor had an advantage over other reformers in that he could enforce orders and enforce his authority.

Of course, everything must be implemented in detail, depending on how Liu Kan and the cabinet officials handle it.

~~~~~
On November 15th, Emperor Guangde summoned the old minister Qiao Yiqi to the main hall of the Qianqing Palace.

As soon as the young emperor saw Qiao Yiqi, he offered him a seat. A palace maid came up to serve tea. The young emperor dismissed his attendants and said straight to the point:

"Lord Qiao, my father has entrusted me with the important task of reforming the country. I feel overwhelmed and don't know where to begin. I'm worried that I'll miss out on important national affairs. You are a veteran official of Kaiyuan and have experienced more important events than anyone else. I have invited you here today. Please feel free to give me some advice!"

Qiao Yiqi sank into the armchair, bowed to Liu Kan, put down the tea bowl, and his throat moved slightly, like an old god in a New Year picture.

Qiao Dazui is sixty-one years old this year. He has worked hard for Kaiyuan and Daqi for almost twenty years. It can be said that he has dedicated half of his life to the Liu father and son.

Because he did not take the secret medicine King Kong Powder for a long time, and was not as good at health preservation as Kang Yingqian, he looked particularly old.

After Kang Yinggan's death, Qiao Dazui was so sad that he suffered a stroke overnight and his hair and beard turned completely white.

Now he walks unsteadily and needs someone to support him. The worst thing is that he can no longer hear well.

"Your Majesty, what did you say?"

Liu Kan repeated it loudly, looking at this veteran minister of two dynasties with expectation.

"Your Majesty, what did you say?"

Lin Yu, who was standing at the palace gate, turned around and looked over here.

The little emperor came close to Qiao Yiqi, whispered in his ear, and said loudly:

"I ask you, how should we reform the law?"

Qiao Yiqi nodded, saliva overflowing from the corners of his mouth. Liu Kan quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe it for him.

"Your Majesty," Qiao Dazui gently pushed Liu Kan away and said loudly:

"Do you know how to persuade someone to open a window in their house?"

Liu Kan stared at the frail old man in front of him, scratched his head, and said in confusion:

"Give him money."

Qiao Yiqi didn't hear the little emperor's words and continued, "Your Majesty first said that the room was too dark and they wanted to take down the roof. Yes, they would definitely not agree to take down the roof. Then His Majesty said, let's open a window, and they agreed."

Qiao Dazui, leaning on his cane, said with a chuckle, "Your Majesty, first spread the word that you're going to implement the Qi Dynasty Land System in Jiangnan. Scare the hell out of those local tyrants and evil gentry! Then, implement Zhang Taiyue's new laws. That'll be all."

(End of this chapter)