On the fourth day of July, Prince Shaobao, Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of War, and Gao Pragmatic, Assistant Manager of the Military and Political Affairs of the Beijing Camp, came to the former Military Governor's Mansion as scheduled to meet with all the distinguished officials.
Although it has always been referred to as the "Five Armed Forces Governor's Mansion", only in terms of Yamen, the "Five Armed Forces" are separate and arranged from north to south on the west side of the main street between Chengtianmen and Damingmen.
Today's governor-general Jingying Rongzheng (previously called Prime Minister Jingying Rongzheng, but changed it during Zhao Zhenji's time in the cabinet) is held by a military minister. However, this military minister is neither Zhu Yingzhen, the Duke of Chengguo, nor Zhang Yuangong, the British Duke.
Xu Wenbi, the Duke of Dingguo, was an old minister: Zhangwu Bo Yang Bing.
The title of Count Zhangwu does not belong to the Jingnan line, nor is it the founding line, but was conferred after the restoration of the Yingzong. The status of the earls of this line is not prominent, and they do not have much say among the nobles of Shenjing. However,
What is ridiculous is that it was precisely for this reason that the great seal of Governor-General Jingying Rongzheng fell on his head - even he had been doing it for more than ten years.
There are probably two reasons for this: first, as the governor of the Jingying Rongzheng, a noble who has little say in the matter, is less likely to be suspected; secondly, even within the Xungui Group, the Jingying Rongzheng has already been
It is considered to be hopeless, so the higher the status of the nobles, the less they want to get involved in this unfortunate job.
But today's meeting made Gao pragmatic realize that perhaps a third point should be added: the governor-general of the Rongzheng of the Jingying camp himself has little say, so the status of the Minister of War Zuo Shilang as the assistant in charge of the Rongzheng of the Jingying camp in the Jingying camp
This was unusually outstanding - anyway, as soon as Gao Pragmatic entered the White Tiger Festival Hall of the Former Military Governor's Mansion, he found that all the nobles with official positions in the Beijing camp had arrived, and as soon as they saw him entering the door, they all stood up and took the initiative to salute.
According to the system, the rank of meritorious officials in the Ming Dynasty is different from that of the clan. All of these honorable officials are of "super rank". Strictly speaking, one should not take the initiative to salute a minister of the Ministry of War, even if the minister has a prince's younger brother.
The additional title is of no use - the Crown Prince Shaobao himself is only a second-grade official, and he still holds the position of a first-grade official. How can he have a higher status than a superior official?
However, this is just a theory. In fact, during the Jialongwan period, the military officials (shangshu and ministers) of the military department were superior to all military ministers and generals. Except for the pure army under the direct jurisdiction of the Yumajian, there were almost no military affairs that the military department could not intervene in.
Intervening.
To say "intervention" may be an understatement. In fact, it should be said that almost any military affairs except for the military affairs are under the management of the Ministry of War, and the nobles basically only need to name themselves.
If there is any special case, it is the household registration of military households. This thing was determined by Taizu. The hereditary noble governors in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion are each in charge of a group. The Ministry of War has not been able to interfere until now.
However, it may be precisely because of this reason that the Ministry of War has not been able to assist in the military affairs of the Beijing camp for so many years. It is unclear how many soldiers there are in the Beijing camp.
Gao pragmatic today was different from the past. He came to the meeting as an actual Shangguan, so his face was very serious. Even Zhu Yingzhen and Zhang Yuangong, who had always been friends with him, did not dare to be presumptuous. They gave up their plan to come forward with a smile and greeted them instead.
He honestly followed Zhangwu Bo Yang Bing and came forward to see him.
Gao Pingshi's face was indifferent, he bowed his head briefly and returned the gift, and then said directly: "Everyone is here, right? Well, we will have a meeting when you are all here."
Everyone did not expect that Gao Jingshi would even be so straightforward in his opening remarks. They looked at each other and asked Gao to take a seat.
According to Gao Pragmatic's past style, he must be humble at this time, but this time it was not the case. He actually became the chief seat without saying anything. The top nobles around Zhangwu Bo Yang Bingchao-mainly the Three Kingdoms
Mr. - took a look.
Zhu Yingzhen and Zhang Yuangong smiled, but did not respond at all, that is, there was no instruction. Xu Wenbi, the eldest Dingguo Duke, may have been softer and nodded slightly towards him.
Yang Bing breathed a sigh of relief, followed Gao Pangshi step by step, and sat on the second seat. The three princes followed the usual rules and divided the seats according to age, so Xu Wenbi was first, Zhu Yingzhen was second, and Zhang Yuangong was second.
After that, the marquis and earls also found their seats and sat down according to the traditional rules.
"Thank you for your patience." As expected, Gao Pragmatic has a unique style. He opened the meeting with just this sentence, and then went directly to the topic: "When I first took up the post of the Ministry of War, I was to assist in the military affairs of the Beijing camp. The major events of this country cannot be ignored.
I don’t care, but the military affairs in Beijing have been going back and forth over the years, and it’s still a mess to this day.
To be honest with you, I spent half a month in the Ministry of War and reviewed countless files. In the end, I couldn't even find out the actual number of combat-ready soldiers in the Beijing camp. It's really weird!
"
After these words were spoken, all the nobles from the three great princes onwards subconsciously lowered their heads.
Of course, they are not afraid of being pragmatic and pursuing accountability. After all, this bad thing did not start with them. If they were to be held accountable, which generation of ancestors would they have to go after?
Bowing your head is just acknowledging that this is indeed the case, and at the same time avoiding being shot in the head. Of course, the top nobles will not die in this kind of thing, but there is no need for everyone to anger Gao Pragmatic and be severely ordered by the emperor in the end, right?
Of course, being sternly ordered by the emperor is not the most serious thing. After all, the emperor will at most remove them from their posts in the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army and only receive a little less salary every year. It's no big deal.
But offending Gao Pragmatic is very serious. During the last wave of land inventory in the world, because the emperor took the lead in selling a large number of imperial estates to the tenants of the estate at a discount (the tenants approached Jinghua Bank for loans), in the end the honorable nobles had no choice but to be kind.
Reluctantly, I followed a few steps and then joined the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance.
This was a big deal, and the nobles soon discovered that sea trade was much more cost-effective than farming. In the past, military households relied on farming to make money. It would take an average of thirty years to pay back one acre of land, but sea trade is faster.
At least ten times - there is no company that has not repaid its capital in three years. In fact, most of them recovered their investment in two years, and almost all of them are net profits in the future.
Even some of the fastest businesses, such as the Japanese fan business, saw the price of Japanese fans drop in Ming Dynasty even within two years.
Gao Jingshi is the initiator and de facto leader of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance. Without his approval to hang the "Book and Sword" flag, he will not be able to go anywhere in the sea. Therefore, offending Gao Jingjing is equivalent to offending the God of Wealth. This is comparable to
Losing one's official position is much more serious.
Gao Pragmatic didn't care what they thought, but asked directly: "Uncle Zhangwu, you are the governor, can you give me a real number-how many soldiers are there in the Beijing camp now?"
"Um..." Zhangwu Bo Yang Bing said awkwardly: "Gao Gongbao asked how many soldiers there are on the list?"
Gao Pragmatic waved his hand: "There are 412,368 people registered - what's the use of asking this?"
Yang Bing coughed lightly and said again: "Gao Gongbao, the Beijing camp is divided into two categories. In addition to the three major battalions, there are also squad troops..."
"Let's leave the Ban Army aside for now, let's talk about the three major battalions first."
Yang Bing coughed again and hesitated: "Well, if we ignore the squadrons, the three major battalions will probably... probably have more than 40,000 people..."
Hearing this, Gao Pangshi sneered: "In the early years, there were 410,000 registered, and in the 14th year of Zhengde, there were still 170,000. After civil engineering, Yu Zhongsu (Yu Qian, posthumous title) selected an elite regiment of 100,000. In the early years of Zhengde, there were 100,000 more.
Editor, there were only 60,000 left, so we had no choice but to select the border troops to join the guard, known as the four outsiders... But now it's better, there are only 40,000 left - compared to the early days of the Kingdom, the number of personnel in the Beijing camp alone was already
Nine out of ten!"
He paused for a moment after saying this, and then asked: "These are just positions. I would like to ask one more question: Can these 40,000 people go into battle? Who can answer me?"
Of course, no one could answer, so they just fell silent. Suddenly, all the nobles realized that their boots were very beautiful, and they all lowered their heads and studied their toes.
Gao pragmatic looked around and stood up slowly. Everyone kept looking at him from the corners of their eyes. When they saw him standing up, they all stood up too, including Xu Wenbi, who was already old among the three great princes.
The appearance of meeting Shangguan.
Gao pragmatic walked down the center of the festival hall and said as he walked slowly: "You and I are not new acquaintances. You should know my habits. There are some things I can turn a blind eye to, but I have to do it."
Things...are never compromised."
Everyone was shocked by these words and raised their heads with high and pragmatic eyes.
Of course they knew that Gao Jingshi was not joking, but they were afraid that Gao Jingshi didn't know the root cause of the troubles in Jingying. If he suddenly said: "I want to check the military registers one by one and restore the forty-one
"Wan Dajun", then it will really kill you, even if Taizu is resurrected, it won't be possible!
After all, Yang Bing is the governor of the Jingying Rongzheng. He suddenly broke into a cold sweat on this July day and was about to speak. But he didn't expect Zhu Yingzhen to take advantage of his deepest friendship with Gao Pragmatic and speak first.
Got it.
"Seeking truth... Well, Gao Gongbao, the issue of staff numbers in these three major battalions has been around for a long time. The so-called freezing of three feet does not happen in a day. This matter has been accumulated for almost two hundred years. If you want to sort it out at once,
I think it’s really troublesome…”
"Sixty thousand people." Gao Pragmatic stretched out his hand to interrupt Zhu Yingzhen's words, and said expressionlessly: "I will give you five months, whether you are raising funds or selecting from military households, in short, before the end of this year,
I want to see 60,000 young people in Beijing, but I have one thing to declare in advance: I don’t want those scoundrels from the market."
"This..." Zhu Yingzhen looked bitter and didn't know what to say for a moment. The other nobles also looked like they were being forced to eat shit.
The nobles all looked unhappy but did not dare to joke about such a big business. It was like a scene of collective constipation.
The power of money is as great as this.
In the end, it was Xu Wenbi, the well-informed old prince, who spoke slowly: "I think it is difficult to select young men as soldiers among the military households. The only way is to recruit soldiers, which has been the case for dozens of years."
It has been used for years. The only thing I can worry about is, where does the money for recruiting soldiers come from?"
Gao pragmatic seemed to have already guessed this question, and asked Xu Wenbi in turn: "What can my husband teach me?"
"Don't dare, don't dare." Xu Wenbi had already experienced the power of being pragmatic as early as the Longqing period. Now more than ten years later, Xiaoge Laodu has become a real minister. How dare he take on the word "teaching", so he naturally hurriedly committed suicide.
Modesty.
"In previous years, when checking military registers and personnel, and if soldiers needed to be recruited, the imperial court would allocate extra money. This time, since Gao Gongbao needs to increase the quota by 20,000 people, Gao Gongbao will be asked to submit the required expenses to the cabinet.
The votes are drawn up, the emperor approves them, and then the Ministry of Household Affairs allocates the silver coins. Naturally, our Fifth Army Governor's Mansion will follow suit and must strictly select and recruit, so as not to miss the important task of protecting the palace."
Gao pragmatic thought to himself: Xu Wenbi, this bad old man, is really bad. He dug a few pits for me to jump into.
This old guy first said that the "amount increase" was my personal request, and then asked me to go to the office to ask for the money. This is putting me aside from other related yamen.
Now the chief assistant has been replaced by Shen Shixing. Although I still call him "Mr. Shen" in name, we obviously can't urinate in the same pot. "Mr. Shen" will happily vote for me to make up a "such as
"This member's discussion"?
Okay, even if other cabinet elders help, such as Brother Wu Duiwu, who is now in charge of the Ministry of War, he helped submit the manuscript and expressed his approval on the draft, so what? Zhu Yijun can still draw such a sum of money from the Ministry of Household Affairs this year
? Even if he is willing, the prerequisite is that the Ministry of Household Affairs must have it!
The Ministry of Revenue itself is already in the red this year. If I hadn't come up with the Yunnan War treasure banknotes and helped in various ways to win Burma, I'm afraid the Ministry of Revenue would have been scolded by now.
But even though the Yunnan War Baobao has shared a large part of the pressure on the Ministry of Revenue, the income from this treasure banknote is not of much concern to the Ministry of Accounts - the Ministry of Accounts can only receive an annual compensation of 80,000 taels, but that
We have to start counting from next year, because Myanmar itself has emptied its treasury this year. Should we let them pay back with their heads?
What's more, the Ministry of Household Affairs was originally the stronghold of the Practical School. The former Shangshu Zhang Xueyan was a little better. Now a newbie in finance, Shen Li, has taken up the post. It is estimated that he has just figured out the basic situation in more than half a month. I hope he will be like this.
Under the tight financial situation, spending an extra sum of money to recruit troops for the Beijing camp would be almost the same as forcing him to hang himself.
But... Gao Pingshi sneered in his heart, you want to use money to kill me, I'm afraid you are overthinking. Although I definitely can't give Jingying flowers with my own money, but Jingying still can't find anything in my hands
As a way to make money, you gave away the money you spent recruiting soldiers?
"I heard that one of the major disadvantages of the Beijing camp is that people from the Beijing camp are always used for the imperial court's projects. Yongding River water control, the construction of the imperial tombs, the maintenance of the Great Wall in Shuntian, the construction of hollow enemy towers, etc. all have to be carried out from the Jingying camp.
Transferring people from Beijing camp?"
When Gao Pragmatic mentioned this matter, the nobles became energetic, and each of them seemed filled with righteous indignation - mainly because when the Beijing camp undertakes these tasks, the project volume is often large, and the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of War and other yamen give
The wages are extremely low. Although the military households in the Beijing Camp have long become their private property, the key point is that this "business" is not cost-effective and the profit is meager.
Gao Pragmatic smiled slightly: "Let's see, I am here to find something to do for the Beijing camp, earn some money on the way, and handle the recruitment of soldiers myself, without bothering the court... What do you think?"
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friend "System Crash" for your monthly ticket support, thank you!