Taichang Ming Dynasty

Chapter 38 West Factory Executive Bureau
After receiving Zhu Changluo's handwritten plan for the establishment of the Western Factory, Wei Zhongxian began to reorganize, expand, and restructure Xu Guangqi's Tongzhou troops. Xu's Tongzhou troops totaled 942 men, including 672 combat personnel, 120 baggage and scout troops, and 150 unorganized personnel.

He first incorporated 150 of the 112 unincorporated personnel (a fully staffed standard bureau) into the battle sequence, and the remaining 38 were incorporated into the baggage scouts and troops.

As a result, the combat force of Xu's Tongzhou soldiers became 7 bureaus, 21 flags, and 63 squads, including 7 centurions, 21 flags, and 63 squads.

After the reorganization was completed, Wei Zhongxian took the emperor's handwritten letter to the Imperial Stables and asked the eunuch Shang Jingying to transfer 2,500 elite soldiers to him.

Shang Jingying, a veteran of the Wanli Emperor's reign, was known for his impartiality and loyalty. He took no part in the struggles over the foundation of the nation, the enthronement of the emperor, the consolidation of the three kings, the case of the demonic book, or the case of the assassination with a club. His unwavering belief was that the Imperial Stables were loyal only to the emperor on the throne.

After receiving the transfer order from Wei Zhongxian, Shang Jingying immediately sought an audience with Emperor Zhu Changluo. During this brief audience, Shang Jingying informed Zhu Changluo that the Imperial Horse Administration's combat forces consisted solely of the Warrior Battalion and the Four Guard Battalions. These two battalions, along with the logistics corps, numbered just over 7,000 men. Removing 2,500 combat troops in such a short period of time would be a serious problem.

Zhu Changluo agreed with what he had said, so he ordered Shang Jingying to select 500 elite soldiers for Wei Zhongxian to use. As for the remaining personnel, he ordered the Imperial Horse Administration to recruit 2,500 new soldiers from the public. After 2,000 of them arrived, he would transfer another 2,000 elite soldiers from the Imperial Horse Administration to Wei Zhongxian.

The reason why Zhu Changluo insisted on transferring people from the Imperial Stables instead of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to supplement the Western Factory was, firstly, to confuse the public, and secondly, because there were less than 6,000 Embroidered Uniform Guards in Beijing, and if 3,000 were withdrawn at once, even if we did not consider the possible cover-up during the future investigation of the Embroidered Uniform Guard system, we still had to consider the security issues in the capital.

As for the Beijing camp, forget it.

Because the Imperial Stables had very high recruitment standards, when Zuo Guangdou used a letter of impeachment to expose the "East Factory Corruption and Extortion Case", Wei Zhongxian had barely received 314 new recruits. Including the 500 people transferred in at one time, the West Factory had only expanded to 57 teams (the rest were baggage and scout troops), which was no more than 110 teams of 12 people in total.

After being reorganized according to the factory construction plan written by the emperor, the distinction between "bird gun" and "killer" was eliminated in the action unit, and the original name was removed and replaced with the word "execution".

All 12-man teams are collectively called the "execution team", consisting of 1 team leader, 3 sword and shield soldiers, 2 spearmen, 2 broadsword and crossbow soldiers, 3 broadsword and musket soldiers, and 1 fire soldier.

Three execution teams form an execution small flag, with one flag chief; three execution flags form an execution general flag, which is no longer called a bureau, with one general flag chief (the title of "hundred chief" is cancelled); three execution general flags form an execution squadron, with one captain chief; three execution squadrons form an execution brigade, with one thousand chief chief.

Therefore, the execution team consists of 12 people, the execution small flag consists of 37 people, the execution general flag consists of 112 people, the execution squadron consists of 337 people, and the execution brigade consists of 1012 people.

In principle, the Execution Brigade was the largest enforcement unit. If a special situation required additional personnel, the Western Depot's governor, with the emperor's approval, could establish a special execution team based on the Execution Brigade. Once a special execution team was established, the Western Depot captain had the authority to mobilize an equal number of Jinyiwei (Emperor's Uniform Guard) or the entire force of a garrison to collaborate on the case.

After the Special Execution Brigade completes its mission, its mission report will be reviewed by a temporary joint review team composed of the Criminal Department, the Imperial Household Department, and the Western Factory's internal supervisory agencies.

Since the Imperial Stables only allocated soldiers but not officers in accordance with the emperor's order, this small-scale expansion alone allowed nearly a quarter of the Xu family's Tongzhou soldiers to be promoted to a higher level.

辽东开原人陆中秋就是其中的一个。陆中秋原是徐氏通州兵中没有品秩的队总，月结年俸共21两（18两+3两），扩编后升为旗总，月结年俸共25两（18两+3两+4两）。

Due to the special status of the Western Factory, the flag chief in charge of 36 people was granted an unprecedented small flag by the emperor, and his rank was comparable to that of the small flag of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and he was a seventh-rank official.

This seventh-rank official, bestowed with a rare imperial flag, possessed no special privileges other than the freedom to kneel before officials. Its only benefit was a monthly lifelong imperial stipend of half a tael of silver. As long as the official completed his term of service and was not dismissed for misconduct, he would receive this stipend until his death. This was the so-called "remaining salary upon leaving office, receiving a lifelong pension."

这样一来，陆中秋的在职月结年俸就变成了31两银（18两+3两+4两+6两）
When Lu Zhongqiu learned he had suddenly received a promotion, a salary increase, and a rank and pension, he felt as if struck by lightning. He stood there speechless for a long time, unable to utter a word until the person who had delivered his official uniform and badge coughed a few times before he finally reacted.

The official uniform of the rare imperially bestowed small flag was still the blue-green embroidered tunic. However, Lu Zhongqiu received two waist badges: one inscribed with "Lu Zhongqiu, Chief of the Western Investigation Bureau Flag Office," and one with his rank, "Lu Zhongqiu, the rare imperially bestowed small flag." If he looked more closely, he could spot the character "校" (schoolmaster) in a very inconspicuous spot on the rank badge.

Because the rank and corresponding waist badge of the Imperial Flag were bestowed upon him by the Emperor, when he accepted his official uniform and waist badge, he was instructed by the escort to perform a profound five-bow and three-kowtow ceremony toward the rank badge. After the others had left, Lu Zhongqiu still felt this was insufficient, so, when he was alone, he performed another profound five-bow and three-kowtow ceremony toward the Forbidden City. While kowtowed, he cried out, "Long live the Emperor!"

The reason why Lu Zhongqiu burst into tears was, on the one hand, because of God's great grace, which allowed him, a farmer of nine generations who only knew his own name, to become an official; on the other hand, it was because such glory and joy could not be shared with his relatives.

Whenever Lu Zhongqiu thought of his hometown being occupied and his parents, wife and daughter having no news, he felt heartbroken.

~~! ~~!

A shrill whistle rang out from the drill ground in the center of the camp. This was the signal for everyone to assemble and prepare for action!

Lu Zhongqiu quickly took off his casual clothes and put on chain mail, then put on his official uniform over the mail, and clipped on his sword. When the secret service was on duty, soldiers wore outer armor and officers wore inner armor.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, the fully staffed First Execution Brigade, the First Squadron of the Second Execution Brigade, and the remaining two independent teams completed their assembly.

Immediately afterwards, Wei Zhongxian, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the commander of the Western Factory, who was wearing a bright red dragon robe, came to the reviewing platform accompanied by his trusted eunuchs and direct guards.

After standing still, thousands of people, led by the new Qianzong Ye Ye, knelt on one knee in unison, holding their swords and bowing, and shouted in unison: "Greetings, Lord Governor!"

(End of this chapter)