The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 158: Twelve Chapters of the Ming Dynasty Military Classics

Wanli couldn't help but frown when he thought of the horrific food and salary.

I guess even one million taels a month wouldn’t be enough!

If this happened during the Longqing and Jiajing dynasties, his adoptive father and grandfather would probably be terrified.

No wonder neither Emperor Hongwu nor Emperor Yongle dared to maintain an army of millions.

This amount of food and salary is too terrible.

He only recruited 500,000 soldiers, not millions.

This is probably one of the reasons why the feudal dynasty was bound to decline.

Because the taxes collected from the little grain produced in the land are not enough to feed tens of millions of troops.

If there was no business to make money, which emperor could afford so much food and wages?

He dared to recruit so many people because he could make money from business.

The question is, can the money he earns from his business now support so many people?
To put it bluntly, he now relies on two businesses, one is selling iron and the other is selling glass.

Huaiyuan Hou Chang Yinxu and Ningyang Hou Chen Yingzhao have just taken over the business of Changlu Salt Field and Hedong Salt Field, and it is unknown when the salt tax can be paid.

How much money can you make from selling iron and glass now?

Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi and father-in-law Zhang Zhen seemed to have forged all the pig iron produced into wrought iron, which was 60 million catties a month, with the total cost and profit being 1.5 million taels.

Duke Chengguo Zhu Yingzhen and Zhou Danquan had already pushed their business in the capital to the limit, and could only earn about 500,000 taels a month.

These two things added up to two million taels, which seemed like a lot, but it was also a lot of money he needed to spend.

Not to mention anything else, just talk about the wages of craftsmen. Iron smelting, forging, making weapons and equipment, making glass, etc., all require a lot of craftsmen.

Now he has recruited more than 100,000 craftsmen, and most of them are working very hard. Their wages can reach about five taels a month, which is more than 500,000 taels.

There are also the garrison soldiers who are digging iron and coal. They are also digging very hard. Their wages can basically reach five taels a month. They also have to rent naval warships and grain transport ships to transport wrought iron to various places for sale, and the freight is not small.

There is also the investment in building water wheels and workshops. The materials and labor for a water wheel and a workshop require at least dozens of taels. One hundred sets require several thousand taels, and one thousand sets require tens of thousands of taels. There is also a water-powered spinning machine. Such a big thing, with three linked together, also requires at least dozens of taels.

The ice and snow were about to melt, so he had to invest money quickly, recruit craftsmen, build water wheels, build workshops, and build water-powered spinning machines. The Wenyu River and the Yongding River were so long that he didn't know how much money he would need to invest to build water wheels and workshops on both sides.

The spinning workshop must be built quickly, otherwise the meritorious soldiers will not be able to earn enough money to support their personal soldiers and working slaves.

In other words, he will have to start investing money to build water wheels and workshops next month. Taking the expenses into account, it is not certain whether he can save one million taels in a month.

It seems that we have to quickly expand the glass business to the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

As he was speaking, he suddenly frowned and stood there motionless, which scared Qi Jiguang.

Is His Majesty considering whether to punish those hereditary garrison officers?

Qi Jiguang waited for a long time before cautiously saying, "Your Majesty, I am not speaking for them. I am merely expressing my own opinion."

what?
Wanli came back to his senses and asked, "What did you just say?"

This one.

Qi Jiguang could only bite the bullet and say, "I am saying that those hereditary garrison officers come from decent families, and most of them have learned both civil and military skills."

Oh.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "That's right, then stay. If you are capable, then become an officer. They probably came here for this. We have to be fair."

Uh?
What was His Majesty thinking about just now?

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay, I understand."

Wanli thought about it and simply raised his hand and said, "Let's go in and see how the Military Academy is being renovated."

The Nanyuan Palace is not just big, it is much bigger than the Yangxin Palace.

After all, this was the palace where the emperor stayed when he traveled.

When the emperor traveled, he would be escorted by at least tens of thousands of guards, and there would also be palace maids, eunuchs, and so on, numbering at least several thousand.

Therefore, the scale of this palace is quite large, with densely packed houses all around it. There are as many as four side halls, which surround the main hall in the middle, making it look very safe.

The surrounding houses are for the imperial guards, Jinyiwei, palace maids and eunuchs to live in. Most of them have large kangs that can easily accommodate tens of thousands of people.

There was no need to bother renovating the enclosure. At most, a meritorious soldier who had been granted a title of nobility could sleep alone on a large kang, where he could roll around as he pleased. This wasn't even possible during the marches and battles. The four side halls surrounding the main hall were each 200 to 300 square meters, so it seemed like they could easily seat a hundred people for lectures.

This doesn't require any major changes. Just remove the railings on the platform opposite the dragon throne, and then neatly place small tables for listening underneath.

There seemed to be quite a few bedrooms in the main hall, enough for the instructors who gave lectures.

Wanli led everyone to the main hall and gave them a general explanation, and it seemed that was about it.

He stood on the steps of the main hall and thought for a moment, then asked, "Yuan Jing, where are the military books? How are your preparations going?"

This is a bit much.

Qi Jiguang simply raised his hand and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, how about we go to the study and take a look?"

Wanli nodded slightly, turned around and followed him into the study in the main hall.

This study is actually a bit similar to the imperial study in the palace, and it is also very large.

Qi Jiguang directly invited Wanli to sit behind the desk, and then he took out piles of books from the bookshelf.

He explained in detail: "Your Majesty, if we follow the rules set by the Northern Song Dynasty court, military commanders must learn the Seven Military Classics.

The so-called Seven Military Classics are "The Art of War", "The Art of War by Wu Zi", "Six Strategies", "The Art of War by Sima", "Three Strategies", "Wei Liaozi", and "Questions and Answers of Li Weigong".

However, I feel that the Seven Military Classics focus too much on military tactics and do not pay enough attention to actual training, deployment of troops, or even food supplies, weapons and equipment.

Moreover, our current weapons and equipment are very different from those in the Northern Song Dynasty, especially firearms and warships, which are not mentioned in the Seven Military Classics.

Therefore, I would like to add five more books, namely "New Book of Effectiveness", "Records of Training Soldiers", "Continuation of the Essentials of the Military Classic", "Wu Bian" and "Chou Hai Tu Bian".

"Jixiao Xinshu" and "Lianbing Shiji" were compiled by Qi Jiguang, and their focus is on training soldiers and deploying troops.

"Continuation of Wujing Zongyao" was compiled by Yu Dayou, with the focus on the deployment of troops in actual combat.

"Wubian" was compiled by Mr. Tang Shunzhi of Jingchuan. It contains a lot of content, including the way of commanding soldiers, the advantages of time and place, the methods of attack, war and defense, the forms of strength and weakness, the degree of advance and retreat, the power of espionage, the order of camps and ranks, the needs of boats, vehicles and firearms, etc.

It contains a detailed description of the boats, vehicles and firearms used in the Ming Dynasty.

"Chou Hai Tu Bian" was compiled by Zheng Ruozeng at the request of Hu Zongxian, and it mainly talks about coastal defense and naval warfare.

These books are all very good, but there are a lot of problems.

Wanli took a quick look at it, thought about it carefully, and then asked, "How long will it take to learn so many military books?"

Qi Jiguang explained in detail: "Your Majesty, if you want to memorize all these military books, it will take more than a lifetime. However, it doesn't take too long to learn to understand them.

I plan to lecture on one book a month. I don’t think many people can remember the previous seven military classics. To truly understand the art of war, one must ponder and apply it more in actual combat.

However, the last five books are more practical, and I plan to take them to practice with them, see the real objects and so on, these should be easy to remember."

Oh, it’s only been a year.

Wanli nodded slightly and said, "Okay, let's do as you think."

This is not something that can be done just by thinking about it.

Qi Jiguang said cautiously, "Your Majesty, some of these books are not available for purchase and have to be printed by ourselves."

Do I have to print it myself?

Wanli looked at the unified cover of the Seven Military Classics and the introduction from the Northern Song Dynasty, and suddenly had an idea.

He pointed to the unified style of the Seven Military Classics and said, "Let's change the Seven Military Classics into the Twelve Chapters of the Great Ming Military Classics, and also print them with a unified cover and a unified preface. Yuan Jing, you will write this preface."

This is a great honor, and the generals who come after him will all see the preface he wrote.

Qi Jiguang quickly bowed and said, "Thank you very much, Your Majesty. Your Majesty, how many copies of the Twelve Chapters of the Great Ming Military Classics should we print?"

Of course, we have to print more, and it is not easy to typeset the pages.

Wanli estimated, "Then let's print 100,000 copies at a time. We want all the officers and all those who aspire to become officers to have one."

One hundred thousand sets!
How many people are needed and how much money is needed?
Qi Jiguang was stunned for a moment, then he asked carefully: "Your Majesty, who will be responsible for printing this, and where will it be printed?"

Wanli thought for a moment and then decisively said, "Let Er Zhang take charge of this. Er Zhang, convert all the enclosures in the Yangxin Palace into printing workshops. Recruit more craftsmen and have them print as much as they can. We will print more books in the future, and when we run out of books, we can also print court bulletins."

It just so happens that in the next issue of the Imperial Gazette you can focus on introducing the Twelve Chapters of the Great Ming Military Classics, as this will be a required test for the military examinations in the future."

(End of this chapter)