"The guilty minister Zhang Xianzhong, please bow to my emperor. Long live my emperor!"
"The guilty ministers Liu Zongmin, Li Guo, Li Dingguo, and Liu Wenxiu bow to my emperor. Long live my emperor!"
After the five people were brought to the platform, they all knelt down and worshiped. They were all very nervous and did not dare to express their anger.
The five of them were all nominally generals of the imperial court, especially Zhang Xianzhong, who was still a prince, so they all claimed to be guilty ministers.
"Everyone get up!"
Zhu Cixiang glanced at the five people kneeling on the ground and said softly, making it impossible to tell what his mentality was.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The five people got up one after another. When they got up again, they only dared to peek at the emperor on the dragon throne.
Seeing that the emperor was indeed just a young man in his twenties, the five of them felt extremely complicated, seeming to be unwilling but also admiring.
Zhang Xianzhong is the oldest among the five, already in his early fifties. After years of wandering around, he looks particularly old, with his hair and beard half white, like an old man in his sixties.
Liu Zongmin is slightly younger, but he is still in his forties, and he looks like an old man in his fifties.
Obviously, the anti-thief industry is extremely pro-aging.
Next is Li Guo, who looks to be in his thirties and can be considered in his prime.
Although his uncle Li Zicheng was killed by the Red Lady, Li Guo really had no resentment towards the Red Lady at all. Instead, he hated Liu Zongmin, Liu Wenxiu, Sun Kewang and others.
The remaining Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu are only in their twenties.
After carefully looking at the five people, Zhu Cixiang made up his mind.
Zhang Xianzhong obviously didn't have much time left to live, so he could just give him a house and let him retire in the capital, and Liu Zongmin could be his companion next door.
The other three are in their prime, and they are all generals who can lead an army on their own, especially Li Dingguo. It would be a pity to let them retire now.
After all, there are really very few talented people in the Ming Dynasty who can take charge of the army on their own.
After all, it was just him and Hong Niangzi, so they wanted to train Wu Sangui. Who knew that this guy's performance this time really disappointed him.
As for Huang Degong, Zhou Yuji, Li Dakai, Ying Gong and others, they all lack some ability to coordinate the overall situation.
Zuo Liangyu and Qin Lihua can barely take charge of their own affairs, but one is a female general and one of them will die at some point. Although the Ming Dynasty is unified, the war will never stop in the future. Naturally, the more generals who are good at fighting, the better.
Therefore, Zhu Cixiang planned to send the three of them to the training class of the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy to study for a period of time, and then directly become lieutenant generals.
After telling the five people what to do, Zhu Cihong encouraged Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu, and Li Guo, and then asked the five people to resign.
The three of them were very excited to study in the martial arts hall and were full of hope for the future.
Zhang Xianzhong's reaction was indifferent. The little emperor would have burned high incense without killing himself. Now he and his wives and concubines can enjoy their old age in the capital. He is really satisfied.
Only Liu Zongmin was a little reluctant, but he could only accept to be Zhang Xianzhong's companion.
The next day, Zhu Cixi formally issued a decree to pardon Zhang Xianzhong and other surrendered generals, and then made corresponding arrangements according to the list handed over by the red lady.
More than 200 generals among them went to the Military Academy with Li Dingguo and the others to further their studies. The remaining 300 or so generals were randomly given the status of a thousand households and made a living on their own.
Liu Zongmin gave him a third-grade commander, while Zhang Xianzhong was given the false title of right governor. As for the title of King of Shu, it's a waste!
After settling all the rebels, big and small, Zhu Cixiang finally put his mind and energy into governing the southwest and northwest, and also planned to make a thorough adjustment to the country's military.
First of all, all the more than 300,000 soldiers captured were naturally discharged and returned to their hometowns to work in farming. After all, the Ming Dynasty no longer needed so many soldiers and horses. Moreover, even if it was needed, Zhu Cixiang would rather recruit and train again.
Secondly, the numbers and locations of each army were re-changed. The Imperial Army was officially changed to the First Army, the Central Army was changed to the Second Army, and the Left Army was changed to the Third Army.
The First Army is also responsible for defending the imperial city and the palace city, and does not have a corps commander.
The Second Army and the Third Army are stationed near the capital. The commander of the Second Army is also served by the Red Lady. The commander of the Third Army remains unchanged and is still the British Duke.
Wu Sangui's former army was changed into the Fourth Army, stationed in the northwest.
Zhou Yuji's rear army was changed to the Fifth Army, which was still stationed at Shanhaiguan.
Huang Degong changed the right army into the Sixth Army and garrisoned the grassland.
Qin Lihua's Eighth Town was upgraded to the Seventh Army Corps. Qin Liangyu also served as the commander of the Seventh Army Corps. Qin Lihua and Li Dakai served as deputies. The Seventh Army Corps was stationed in the southwest.
Li Dakai's Ninth Town and Nanjing's Tenth Town were merged into the Eighth Army. Zuo Liangyu served as the commander of the Eighth Army and was promoted to general and stationed in Nanjing.
The numbers of the remaining towns remained unchanged, but the locations were adjusted. Liu Zeqing's first town was transferred to Xuanfu Datong, Gao Jie's second town was transferred to Huguang, and Liu Liangzuo's third town was transferred to Shandong.
Liu Fangliang's fourth town was transferred to Henan, Wu Sanfu's fifth town was transferred to Fujian, Tang Tong's seventh town was transferred to Guizhou, and Zuo Menggeng's eighth town was transferred to Guangdong and Guangxi.
This time, Zhu Cihong finally did not forget Duke Mu, and awarded him the rank of general, gave him the designation of the Ninth Town, and ordered him to station in Yunnan.
The strength of the eight legions remained unchanged at 60,000, but the strength of each town was reduced to 20,000, and all the extra veterans were transferred to the garrison.
These veterans will serve as generals in the garrisons of prefectures and counties in the north, southwest, and northwest, and soldiers will still be recruited again.
In this way, the Ming Dynasty's field army had eight armies and nine towns, with a strength of approximately 660,000.
This time, Zhu Cixi finally completely abolished the hereditary system of guard posts. All guard cities were changed to prefectures and counties, thousands of households were changed to townships, hundreds of forts were changed to villages, and all military and craftsmen households were changed to civilian households.
All military attaches with more than 100 households must either retain their official status, give up their land, and go to the capital, or they can abolish their official status and stay in the local area.
This time, Zhu Cixiang imposed restrictions on the land of the military attachés. Each household could only retain a maximum of two hundred acres of private land, and the rest was confiscated.
Because he plans to take advantage of the opportunity to implement the ultimate land reform plan in the southwest and northwest.
That is, from now on, each household can only own a maximum of two hundred acres of private land. All other land will be nationalized and then distributed to ordinary people for rent based on population.
As a result, in order to retain more private land, those large landlords will definitely separate their families and establish new households. However, there are conditions for independent households, that is, they must be married men.
In other words, there will no longer be big landowners in the two places in the future. At most, they will be small landowners of two hundred acres, who will manage the farming by themselves and temporarily hire some manpower during harvesting.
It is absolutely impossible to just ignore everything and wait for the good things to happen like before.
Such a radical land policy is no different from attacking local tyrants to allocate land. They want it with all their asses. Once implemented, the gentry all over the world will definitely explode, because this is digging up their roots.
That's why Zhu Cixiang planned to implement it in the southwest and northwest first, because the big landlords in the two places were basically tortured by the two rebel kings.
After the implementation in the two places, it will be implemented in the four northern provinces. After the implementation in the four northern provinces, it will be gradually implemented in the southern provinces.
Such a step-by-step approach, with each region being managed separately, will not only allow everyone to be mentally prepared, but also minimize obstacles as much as possible.