There is a reason why Gao Pragmatic thinks that after he made troubles in the Ministry of War, the reform of economics and practical studies has entered a new stage. The main reason is that the Beijing Camp was divided into the Imperial Guard and the Production and Construction Corps.
, the nature of the Fifth Military Governor's Mansion has changed, and to some extent it can even be said that even the "military status" system established by Zhu Yuanzhang was quietly shaken by him.
As we all know, the Ming Dynasty separated the military and civilians. The so-called military-civilian separation means that the common people are divided into two types. One is "military": each family must have one person as a soldier or officer from generation to generation. The other is "min": from generation to generation
All are exempt from military service unless they voluntarily surrender to the army.
Therefore, the imperial household registration also had two sets, one for military households and one for civilian households.
This is a unique system created by Yuanzhang. Generally speaking, it combines the Han Dynasty's farming, Tang's government soldiers, and Song's rulers. Zhu Yuanzhang himself is very proud of this separation of military and civilians. He said: "I raise soldiers
One million, without costing the country a penny."
Zhu Yuanzhang began to experiment with sergeants' farming as early as when he occupied Hezhou. After taking over Nanjing and its surrounding areas, he paid even more attention to this. His army never lacked food and pay, so he could do no harm to the people.
Welcome everywhere.
In the first year of Hongwu, the affairs of the world had been decided, and he began to consider how to arrange a large number of officers and soldiers after victory.
Downsizing, redeployment, and demobilization are not good options.
Who should be laid off? Who should not be laid off? Who should be laid off? Who should be reorganized? Who should be sent off? Demobilized, where will they go? Returning to the countryside will not be enough for them; "veterans" have no land, no cattle, no farm tools, no seeds, and will never return to the countryside! Really?
If you want to go, it's all due to local instability.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang came up with this method of separating the military and civilians, which not only settled the soldiers and paid the officers, but also preserved a huge military force for himself and his descendants, which was the national defense force that maintained long-term peace and stability for the Ming Empire.
Zhu Yuanzhang's method at that time was roughly as follows: each soldier was rewarded with fifty acres of official land. The condition was that he served as a soldier until he was old (sixty years old); after he grew old or died, his sons and grandsons would inherit it from generation to generation. Each generation
Only the eldest son is required to serve, and the second son and below will serve as "remnants", that is, soldiers to fill the vacancies. However, these fifty acres of land must also be taxed (called grain), at two dou and four liters per mu, but they are not transported to the central court.
Or the local government, but instead stored them centrally and reserved them for military rations and salaries in the event of a possible war.
Officers are each awarded a "official" title: the highest one is the commander, who is in charge of a guard, followed by "qianhu" and "hundred households", who are in charge of thousands and hundreds of households, and the youngest is the town governor, who is qualified
In charge of a general banner or a small banner. Thousand households have chiefs and deputy officers, and under a hundred households there are so-called "test hundred households". Between the commander and the chief thousand households, there are so-called commanding colleagues, commanding general affairs, and guarding, town and governor.
All in all, it is divided into nine levels.
As for senior military officers who have made great contributions and are not granted the title of commander, they can be granted the title of duke, marquis, uncle, son, or male. These five levels of titles do not belong to the "guardian system" (later they were not granted the title of "commander").
Son, male is the second level).
The officers and soldiers of the guard stations lived in designated areas throughout the country. In the thirteenth year of Hongwu's reign, there were a total of 493 guard stations across the country, and each had several thousand households under it.
Office, one hundred households. There are 359 independent households.
In addition, there are more than 400 border guard posts that are of a restrained nature. The total number of "officials" in the 23rd year of Hongwu was about 16,500. The total number of "soldiers" was 100
About 200,000 people.
At that time, the total population of the Ming Dynasty, according to the statistics of the 26th year of Hongwu, was 60,545,812 people (Note: It is not sure whether the "population" in this data only refers to Dingkou)
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Military status is listed separately from civilian status (in fact, there is also craftsman status, which is managed by the Ministry of Industry), which laid a solid foundation for the early strength of the "Grand Governor's Office-Fifth Army Governor's Office".
Due to space limitations, we will not go into the past of the Governor's Palace here. Let's just talk about the Governor's Palace of the Five Armies. The establishment of the Five Palaces began in the 13th year of Hongwu. Zhu Yuanzhang thought that the powers of the Governor's Palace were too heavy, so he divided the Governor's Palace into one.
For five. "In the 13th year, the Metropolitan Governor's Office was changed to the Central, Left, Front, and Front Five Military Governor's Offices, which were divided into the various guard posts in Beijing and the guard posts of the capital commanders outside."
Although the purpose of setting up the Five Prefectures is to divide military power, this is only an internal adjustment of the military system, and the Five Prefectures of the imperial court are still in charge of a strong and capable guard army.
There were no changes during the period of the Metropolitan Governor's Palace, so the Five Prefectures still inherited some of the powers of the Metropolitan Governor's Palace, but the specific powers at the hands of senior generals were divided accordingly.
However, the decentralization of power among the five prefectures did not completely dispel Zhu Yuanzhang's concerns about excessive military power. In addition to the mutual control of military ministers such as the system of five prefectures and five armies, the most important method used to divide military power is to use the civil service system.
The Ministry of War went to check and balance the five governments.
In fact, before the abolition of the Zhongshu Province and the Metropolitan Governor's Office, this method of system had already begun to be implemented. At that time, the Ministry of War of the Zhongshu Province designated the system of imperial edicts for military attachés. In terms of procedures, not only the Imperial Governor's Office
The military attache's information is transferred to the Ministry of War, and their qualifications are reviewed by the merit examination supervisor, and then handed over to the Hanlin Academy for writing, the secretary's literary supervisor collates, the Zhongshusheren writes it, and then it is handed over to the Chengchi, the second merit examination supervisor, etc., a series of complicated processes
Only after the transfer procedures have been completed can the Ministry of War grant promotions. During the entire process, neither the Ministry of War nor the Governor's Office can specialize in the selection of military attachés.
The most important thing is that after the establishment of the Ministry of War, it has the power to mobilize troops according to orders but not to command them. The five government offices have the power to command troops but not to deploy troops. "Whenever the military system maintains internal and external relations, military attachés are not allowed to go to the imperial court to recruit troops."
When a war breaks out, the emperor will order the general to be in command, and the Ministry of War will dispatch troops according to the order, and the soldiers from the guard posts under the jurisdiction of the five prefectures will be sent out to wear seals. When the army returns, the seals will be returned to the court, and the soldiers will return to the guard posts.
Under this model, the court avoided the possibility of military commanders' monopoly to the greatest extent, and also established the principle of the system of civil and military affairs at the level of the national system and court.
Generally speaking, the Five Prefectures still had a certain degree of power and status during the Hongwu period. Since the officials of the Five Prefectures were all elected by the princes, and the main officials who controlled the operation of the Five Prefectures' institutions were all military ministers, to a certain extent, the Five Prefectures had
It is the representative of the military power in the center.
The Five Prefectures represent the status of the military ministers in the country. Their rank is higher than that of the Six Ministries. They have political participation and can command the main military forces of the Ming Dynasty at that time. This was also recognized by Zhu Yuanzhang and established as a system.
However, after the well-known mass killing of heroes, the power of the five prefectures was greatly weakened. For example, the Marquis of Yan'an Tang Shengzong, the Marquis of Pingliang Fei Ju and the Marquis of Ji'an Lu Zhongheng who were executed in Hu Weiyong's prison were all former governors of the capital.
, Qian Shi. As well as Lan Yu himself who was killed in the Lan Yu Party case, as well as Zhang Yi, the Marquis of Heshou, Zhu Shou, the Marquis of Bolu, and Wang Bi, the Marquis of Dingyuan, all served as senior officers of the Metropolitan Governor's Office (Tongzhi, Qian Shi).
Therefore, it can also be said that one of the reasons behind Zhu Yuanzhang's mass killing of military officials was his control of the military power of the Five Prefectures.
Then, during the Yingzong civil war, with the death of Zhang Fu, the power of the Five Prefectures was almost wiped out in the center of the imperial court. At the same time, the military department under the control of civilian officials in the center began with the establishment of regiments and camps by Yu Qian.
Sexuality began to make a leap, which further weakened the status of the Five Houses. These two points have been discussed earlier in this book, so I won’t go into details.
However, the decline of the Five Prefectures is not just due to the suppression or death of their leaders, there are also more profound internal factors, and this internal factor is the focus of Gao Pragmatic's current attention.
What are the internal factors? It is the decline of the guard station, the flight of military households, and the inability to fight.
According to Gao's pragmatic understanding, although the Ming Dynasty's policy of using civil society to control military forces restricted and weakened the status and power of the Five Prefectures to a great extent, for the military system of the guards represented by the Five Prefectures, it could only be regarded as a relative
external effects, and its internal factors also have a profound impact.
In the early Ming Dynasty, the "Five Prefectures - Dusi - Guards" military system was established, which assumed the most important military functions from the Hongwu to the Zhengtong period. From the beginning of Zhu Yuanzhang's unification war to the numerous military operations during the Zhengtong period, all military operations were
The garrison troops were the main force.
Until the 14th year of Zhengtong, when Wang Zhen led Yingzong to attack the 500,000-strong Beijing army commanded by Oala, it was still based on the garrison military system. Therefore, under such circumstances, as the main leading organization of the garrison army, the Five
The power of the government cannot be underestimated.
However, after the Civil War, the central decision-making core was completely concentrated on the cabinet, which was dominated by civilian officials, and the ministers, who were the chief ministers, and the military officials no longer interfered with national policies.
In addition to the emperor's policy of using civil society to control military force, a major internal reason for this phenomenon was the continuous disintegration of the guard system. Guard officers and soldiers were gradually unable to serve as the main force of the country's operations, and were replaced by the recruitment system.
As a result, the five governments lost their power base in the process.
Why did the Ming Dynasty never stop reforming the capital camp, but never achieved any results? This is the reason.
The guards directly under the control of your five prefectures are themselves in a state of decay. How can you expect the Beijing camp selected from these guards to have combat effectiveness?
Moreover, the imperial court has long used the military households and craftsmen of the commander-in-chief of the Five Prefectures to do work. Especially for any projects near the Gyeonggi Province, military households are almost always used. This makes the combat attributes of the Gyeonggi Guard Station less obvious and more like
It's a team of slaves.
But that's different now.
The first difference is that the Imperial Guard does not have military households at all, but directly recruits soldiers from the private sector. Its approach is no different from that of various border generals recruiting armed servants - the only difference is that the soldiers and horses recruited by the Imperial Guard do not belong to the generals themselves.
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The second difference is that the "Old Beijing Camp" with military status no longer cares about the war and concentrates on land reclamation and other work, effectively becoming the "Logistics Department".
The Fifth Army Governor's Office became a mere "Logistics Department". Doesn't this essentially shake the system established by Zhu Yuanzhang?
However, Gao Pragmatic knew very well that he had only just made preliminary changes to the military system, and this was by no means complete.
In fact, he did not have a great dislike for these nobles in the capital. His main feeling was that he was "angry at their inability to fight" and at the same time a certain amount of "sorrow for their misfortune".
There is no need to explain why we are angry because we do not fight; we are sad because it is indeed the trend of the times to use civil society to control military affairs, even in the era before Gao pragmatic time travel.
But this does not mean that the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion deserves to be just a decoration. It still needs to play some role - logistics also plays a role. It is better than accomplishing nothing, right?
What's more, with the advent of the era of hot weapons, the role of logistics will only increase day by day. Even if the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion can only provide one Imperial Guard after "waste recycling", its role will still be obvious.
Gao pragmatism has always believed that the Ming Dynasty suppressed the military officials too harshly, but he alone could not improve the status of the military officials by talking nonsense. Only by gradually restoring the role of the military officials, their status would be improved accordingly.
Just imagine, when a Imperial Guard capable of conquering and fighting relies on the Five Army Governor's Mansion, can the Five Army Governor's Mansion still be regarded as a mere decoration?
Of course, the reform of the Fifth Army Governor's Office is only at the current stage, and there will be corresponding changes in the frontier army in the future, but that is all in the future. Gao Pragmatic's current authority is limited to the Beijing camp, so of course he must first do a good job
Let’s talk about the work at hand.
The Jingying Production and Construction Corps began to cooperate with Jinghua to mine various minerals, and the money earned began to be supplied to the Imperial Guards in accordance with the ratio previously agreed between Gao Pragmatic and Zhu Yingzhen and others. As a result, the Imperial Guards gradually stabilized. Under the auspices of Qi Jiguang
Recruit training began.
Two months later, at the end of the year, Qi Jiguang reported to Gao Pragmatic that the current Imperial Guard finally looked like an army.
The implication is not that the Praetorian Guards are "worthy of fighting", but it probably means "able to be seen".
This news made Gao Pragmatic somewhat gratified. After spending so much effort and stepping on a tightrope to carry out these reforms, it finally had some effect. He and Qi Jiguang discussed that since the queue, discipline and other issues have been basically solved, they should start as soon as possible
Enter combat training, and strive to be able to pull out the Imperial Guards to fight when the final blow is launched against Tumen.
Qi Jiguang asked Gao Pragmatic, when did the imperial court plan to send troops to Tumen? He needed a clearer time so that he could make targeted adjustments to the training plan of the Imperial Guard.
But this question cannot be answered pragmatically.
Gao Pragmatic smiled bitterly and said: "Nantang Gong, let me tell you the truth. As for when we can go out to conquer Chahar, the real problem at the moment is not the strength of the troops or combat power, but when the Ministry of Revenue can come up with the money.
"
Qi Jiguang frowned and asked: "I heard that Taicang is about to bottom out. If we expect the Ministry of Revenue to save enough money before starting the war...it seems a bit difficult."
Gao pragmatic sighed, nodded and said, "Who says it's not the case, but there's nothing we can do about it."
Qi Jiguang was a little surprised and asked: "Young Sima turns stone into gold, and you actually say there is no way?"
"I do..." Gao pragmatic opened his mouth, shook his head, and sighed: "After all, I am a minister of the Ministry of War, not the Ministry of Household Affairs. Besides, the biggest problem at the moment is the court's relief for civilian disasters.
They started to pay attention. Not only were they exempting and reducing taxes, but they were also transferring money at every turn, which put a lot of pressure on the household department; secondly, King Lu..."
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