Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 2342: Fortunately in Nanjing (IX) Cooperation is nothing more than sharing the spoils

Tian Yi nodded and said, "I understand. Please continue, Mr. Gao."

Gao Qi said: "My uncle means that you have been the eunuch garrisoning Nanjing for thirteen years, and you have a solid foundation. If you can go one step further and become the seal holder of the Imperial Horse Administration, it will be a natural thing. Moreover, the seal holder of the Imperial Horse Administration has a high status in the inner court. Compared with the governor of the East Factory, his power is not much less, and..."

Seeing Gao Qi deliberately pause, Tian Yi had no choice but to cooperate and asked: "And what?"

Gao Qi then smiled mysteriously and said, "And my uncle said that the power of the Imperial Stables will continue to expand in the near future."

"Oh, is there such a thing?" This was an answer that Tian Yi had never expected. He couldn't help but ask, "I wonder how to expand it?"

In fact, Tian Yi was very clear about the power of the Imperial Stables, which was already very powerful. The reason why Tian Yi still thought that the governor of the East Depot was better than the governor of the Imperial Stables was not mainly because of the power, but simply because of the status. To put it more bluntly: the governor of the East Depot was closer to the emperor than the governor of the Imperial Stables.

Among the twenty-four eunuch offices in the Ming Dynasty, the Silijian and the Yumajian were the most important. The Silijian approved cabinet bills on behalf of the emperor and handled confidential matters with the cabinet, so it was actually the "internal minister"; the Yumajian, together with the Ministry of War and the governors-general, held military power, so it was actually the "hub" of the inner court.

In fact, in addition to this, the Imperial Stables also had to manage pastures and imperial farms, run imperial stores, and manage finances with the Ministry of Revenue. It was the "internal steward" of the Ming court, or the emperor. The Western Factory, which was set up twice, was also supervised by the Imperial Stables, and at that time it competed with the Eastern Factory supervised by the Ministry of Ceremonies - of course, there was no Western Factory in the Wanli dynasty.

Let me briefly introduce the two major powers of the Imperial Stables: military power and financial power.

Let's talk about military power first. Since the Imperial Horse Administration was in charge of the imperial horses, there were naturally people who raised and trained horses, which led to the formation of a group of imperial soldiers led by the Imperial Horse Administration - the Four Tengxiang Guards and the Four Guards and the Warrior Battalion.

  In October of the tenth year of the Hongzhi reign, Ma Wensheng, the Minister of War, reviewed the establishment of the imperial guards in the Ming Dynasty in a memorial, in which he mentioned the imperial guards led by the Imperial Horse Administration:

"When our Taizu Gaohuangdi ruled the country, he followed the ancient ways and had a very thorough military system. Therefore, he set up the Sixteen Guards Commanding General Office, which was not under the jurisdiction of the Five Prefectures and was a forbidden army. ... During the Yongle period, the Commanding General Office of the Twelve Guards was set up again. The young and strong officers and soldiers of the guards in the world and the escaped men from the captives were selected and recruited as warriors. There were usually several thousand of them, all of whom were under the Imperial Horse Administration. They took turns to serve on duty and were entrusted to the command of trusted internal and external officials. Their armor and equipment were different from those of other armies."

From this memorial, we know that the Imperial Stables began to lead the imperial guards during the Yongle period by supervising the horse breeders; the initial source of this imperial guards was the best and strongest men selected from the various garrisons, as well as the young and middle-aged men who escaped back from the Mongolian region; this imperial guards did not belong to the Twelve Guards (later the Twenty-Two Guards) under the command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards, but their status was obviously higher than that of the Twelve Guards, and they were the imperial guards among the imperial guards; the duty of this imperial guards was to "take turns on duty", that is, to serve as the night guards.

In the sixth year of Xuande (1431), this imperial guard had men and was formally named "Yulin Sanqianhusuo". Two years later, based on this, the horse-raising soldiers of the various guards of the Beijing Army and the original Shenwu Vanguard officers were supplemented to form the Tengxiang Left and Right Guards, Wuxiang Left and Right Guards, collectively known as the "Four Guards", also known as the "Four Guards Army".

According to the nominal regular organization, the Ming Dynasty had 5,600 soldiers per guard, so the four guards should have more than 20,000 soldiers. During the Jingtai and Chenghua periods, the three camps of the Beijing Army were reorganized into regiment camps. The warriors and strong bannermen of the four guards were selected to form the Warrior Camp and the Four Guards Camp, and the camp officers were selected from the commanders of the four guards.

During the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods, the two camps had more than 40,000 soldiers. After several rounds of reorganization, the final number was more than 6,500. During this period, although the establishment changed frequently, it was always led by the Imperial Horse Administration.

Although the Imperial Stables had been in charge of the imperial guards since the Yongle and Xuande periods, it really came into play and attracted the attention of people at that time after the Tumu Incident in the 1449th year of the Zhengtong period (). At that time, the Tatar cavalry attacked the capital directly. The Battle of Beijing lasted for five days under the organization of Yu Qian, and the most intense fighting took place at Xizhimen and Zhangyimen.

As the three main camps of the Ming army's Beijing army were all captured, the one guarding Xizhimen was Liu Ju, the right army governor and nephew of Liu Yongcheng, the eunuch of the Imperial Stables. The ones who took the initiative to attack the Oirat army at Zhangyi Gate were the four guards and flag troops who stayed in Beijing and were under the command of the admiral of the Imperial Stables.

In February of the first year of the Tianshun reign (1457), Emperor Yingzong was restored to the throne and executed the eunuch Hao Yi of the Imperial Horse Administration because Hao Yi had planned to mobilize the warriors of the Four Guards to capture and kill the eunuch Cao Jixiang of the Imperial Household Department who supported Emperor Yingzong in seizing the throne. In the fifth year of the Tianshun reign (1461), when Cao Jixiang and his adopted son Cao Qin, the Earl of Zhaowu, launched a mutiny in Beijing, the main force to suppress the mutiny and kill the two Caos was still the warriors of the Four Guards and the Banner Army.

In the ninth year of the Zhengde reign (1514), Emperor Wuzong selected elite troops from the regiments of the Beijing Army and organized them into the front and rear battalions, which were trained together with the Warrior Battalion and the Four Guard Battalions in the Western Palace Hall as the "Selected Front". This shows that this was a very powerful force.

The position and role of the imperial guards led by the Imperial Horse Supervisor in the entire Beijing army were clearly seen by both the inner and outer courts. In the inner court, Ning Jin, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Supervisor during the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods, once declared: "The four guards of warriors, including Tengxiang, were established by our ancestors to serve as imperial guards. They were called horse-raising, but in fact they were used to prevent traitors and insults."

During the Zhengde reign, Xu Jin, the Minister of War, also believed that "Warriors are called horse breeders, but they are actually imperial guards. They are responsible for preventing traitors and defending against insults, which is of great importance."

The command of the imperial guards gave the Imperial Stables a special status among the various government offices in the inner court. It was not only the basis for eunuchs to participate in military and political affairs, but also enabled the Imperial Stables itself to gradually possess multiple military functions and be regarded as a military office in the inner court.

  Since it is regarded as a military office, it naturally has its own special tasks. These tasks can be summarized into five categories:

One is to accompany the troops to war and hold the military tokens and fire cards.

Since they were in charge of the imperial guards, the eunuchs of the Imperial Horse Administration naturally had the duty of accompanying the emperor on military campaigns. Since Yongle, there were four emperors in the Ming Dynasty who personally led the army on military campaigns, namely Chengzu, Xuanzong, Yingzong, and Wuzong.

Chengzu conquered Mongolia five times, and the eunuch Haishou accompanied him at least twice, and the eunuch Liu Yongcheng accompanied him three times. When Xuanzong conquered Han Wang Gao Xu, the eunuch Liu Shun accompanied him and was ordered to lead 20,000 troops as the vanguard with Xue Lu, Marquis of Yangwu, and Wu Cheng, Earl of Qingping.

When Emperor Yingzong fought against the Oirat, he had the eunuch Boergan of the Imperial Horse Guard with him. When Emperor Wuzong went to Xuanda in the north and Huaiyang in the south, he was accompanied by the eunuch Zhang Zong of the Imperial Horse Guard, who supervised the military affairs.

As for the fact that the Imperial Horse Guards were in charge of military talismans and fire cards, we can see the clues from the fact that when Emperor Chengzu died in Yumuchuan in July of the 22nd year of Yongle, the Junior Supervisor of the Imperial Horse Guards, Haishou, and Yang Rong of the Cabinet reported it to the Crown Prince (Emperor Renzong). A year later, when Emperor Renzong died, Haishou again reported the death of the Crown Prince (Emperor Xuanzong) in Nanjing. During the Zhengde period, whenever Emperor Wuzong mobilized troops, the eunuchs of the Imperial Horse Guards carried out the talismans.

The second is to supervise the Beijing camp and the camp and monitor the guns.

During the Yongle period, three major camps of the Beijing Army were established. Among them, the Five Army Camp had one admiral of the eunuchs, the Three Thousand Camp had two admirals of the eunuchs, and the Shenji Camp not only had two admirals of the eunuchs, but also had five armies under it. Each army had one eunuch sitting in the camp and one eunuch supervising the guns.

At that time, there were five permanent eunuchs in the three camps of the Beijing Army, six eunuchs in the camp, and twenty eunuchs in charge of guns, a total of 31 people, all of whom were eunuchs of high status, junior eunuchs or eunuchs. Among them, the more famous ones were Wang Yan, Wang An, Zhang Tai, Zhao Jun, etc. The government offices of Zhang Tai and Zhao Jun are unknown, while Wang Yan and Wang An were eunuchs in the Imperial Horse Administration.

In December of the third year of Jingtai's reign, the regiment was established, and was controlled by Yu Qian, the Minister of War, Shi Heng, Marquis of Wuqing, and eunuchs Liu Yongcheng and Cao Jixiang. Cao Jixiang was the eunuch of the Internal Affairs Bureau, and the Internal Affairs Bureau was ranked before the Imperial Horse Bureau, while Cao Jixiang was ranked after Liu Yongcheng, the eunuch of the Imperial Horse Bureau. This was because Liu Yongcheng had been famous for a long time and had more experience, and also because the Imperial Horse Bureau had a special status in the camp.

In April of the eighth year of the Tianshun reign, the regiment camp was re-established, with Sun Jizong, Marquis of Huichang, and eunuch Liu Yongcheng as the "general supervisors". This was the beginning of the eunuchs of the Imperial Horse Administration supervising the Beijing Camp alone with the meritorious officials. After that, Wang Zhi, Fu Gong, Li Liang, Miao Kui, Gu Dayong, Zhang Zhong and others all served as eunuchs of the Imperial Horse Administration to supervise or oversee the Beijing Camp. Although during this period, Zhang Yong and others from the Imperial Household Administration also supervised the Beijing Camp, it became a convention that the supervisor of the Beijing Camp, the camp commander, and the supervisor of the guns were generally appointed by the eunuchs of the Imperial Horse Administration.

The decline of the status of the Imperial Horse Supervisor in the Beijing Camp can only be seen after Gao Youshi reformed the military system of the Beijing Camp. Gao Youshi reformed the Beijing Camp twice, and the result was that the main force of the Beijing Camp's field battles became the Imperial Guards, and the Imperial Guards were led by military generals (commanders, etc.) and supervised by civilian officials (i.e. "Xuan Zheng", a castrated version of the political commissar).

As a result, the status of military commanders and civil officials improved, and a world was achieved in which only eunuchs suffered. However, Gao Youshi did not follow a dead end. He left a back door: the imperial guards could be deployed in wartime, and the emperor would temporarily send eunuchs to supervise the troops.

The reason he gave at the time was: too many military commanders would affect the combat effectiveness, so in peacetime, there would be no eunuchs to supervise the army, and civil officials could announce the government. However, when sending troops to war, one cannot just listen to one-sided reports, and military generals, civil officials, and eunuchs are required to report the battle situation to the court and the emperor respectively. In this way, the worries of concealment and misreporting can be avoided.

The third is to go to various borders and provinces to guard the borders. After Chengzu ascended the throne, he ordered Gu Cheng, the Marquis of Zhenyuan, and the governors Han Guan, Liu Zhen, and He Fu to go to Guizhou, Guangxi, Liaodong, and Ningxia to guard the borders. He also ordered eunuchs with strategies to accompany them, and gave them the clothes of dukes and marquises, and ranked them above the generals. After that, Yunnan, Datong, Gansu, Xuanfu Yongping and other border towns and provincial governments all had eunuchs sent to guard the borders, and they were called "garrison eunuchs" or "garrison internal officials."

After the Chenghua and Hongzhi periods, except for the eunuchs guarding Nanjing and other places who were "external errands" of the Silijian, the rest of the eunuchs in charge of garrisoning and supervising guns mostly came from the Imperial Horse Administration.

  [Note: I would like to correct the previous article. I said before that there was only one "garrison eunuch" in Nanjing. This is wrong. There were also garrison eunuchs in Fengyang, Tianshoushan, and Chengtian. Together with Nanjing, there were four in total. However, the Nanjing garrison eunuch still had the highest status and the most real power.]

Four are military supervisors.

The military supervisor mentioned here is the evolution or extension of the eunuchs' powers of specializing in military campaigns, military deployment, supervising the Beijing camp, sitting in the camp, and supervising the guns. The "Preface to the Biography of Eunuchs in the History of Ming Dynasty" says: "In the Ming Dynasty, the eunuchs had the power to send envoys, specialize in military campaigns, supervise the army, set up military deployments, and spy on the secrets of the subjects. All of these powers began during the Yongle period."

In fact, the eunuchs’ exclusive military campaigns in the Ming Dynasty did not only “start during the Yongle period”, but were actually limited to the Yongle and Xuande periods. There were only two or three eunuchs “exclusively engaged in military campaigns” recorded in historical records, such as Zheng He and Yishiha. Since the Zhengtong period, the eunuchs’ exclusive military campaigns were no longer seen, and military supervision became an institutional system.

Zheng Xiao's "Jin Yan" talked about the situation of the Beijing camp going to war: "When there is something to go to war, there is no need to pick and choose, just assign a certain camp to go to war, and then the general of that camp will lead the soldiers of that camp to set off." So when the Beijing camp went to war, the meritorious officials and camp commanders of the Beijing camp would be the generals, deputy generals, lieutenant generals, etc., while the commander-in-chief and the eunuchs who sat in the camp and supervised the guns would be the military supervisors. The Minister of War or the Chief Censor of the Beijing camp would be the supervisor of military affairs, thus forming a situation where meritorious officials or military officials were generals, eunuchs were military supervisors, and civil officials were commanders.

Take the several major military operations during the Chenghua period as examples: In the first month of the first year, troops were deployed in Datongxia, Guangxi. Zhao Fu, a military official and deputy governor, was appointed as the general commander of the expeditionary army. Eunuchs Lu Geng and Chen Xuan supervised the army. Han Yong, a civil official, was in charge of military affairs. In December of the same year, troops were deployed in Jingxiang. Zhu Yong, a meritorious official, was appointed as the general commander of the pacification army. Eunuchs Tang Shen and Lin Guifeng supervised the army. Bai Gui, a civil official, was in charge of military affairs. In the first month of the sixteenth year, Zhu Yong, a meritorious official, was appointed as the general commander of the pacification army. Eunuchs Tang Shen and Lin Guifeng supervised the army. Bai Gui, a civil official, was in charge of military affairs. In the first month of the sixteenth year, Zhu Yong, a meritorious official, was appointed as the duke of Baoguo (the same person as Zhu Yong mentioned above, who was promoted to the duke of Baoguo for his meritorious service). He was appointed as the general commander. Eunuch Wang Zhi supervised the army. Wang Yue, a civil official, was in charge of military affairs.

The same was true for the use of troops in various places. From the Zhengtong to the Zhengde period, each border had a general, a garrison eunuch, and a governor, a civil official, known as the "Three Halls". In case of war, the military officials commanded the army, the eunuchs supervised the army, and the civil officials supervised military affairs. Since the eunuchs of the Imperial Horse Administration were mostly responsible for supervising the army, sitting in the camp, supervising the guns, and garrisoning the eunuchs after Chenghua and Hongzhi, military supervision also became an important responsibility of the Imperial Horse Administration.

The fifth is the governor of the Western Factory. As I just mentioned, this position did not exist during the Wanli reign, so it is better not to mention it.

After talking about military power, let's talk about financial power. However, because Zhu Yijun, under the persuasion of Gao Youshi, had already slowly redeemed the imperial farms from the tenants, and the imperial stores were too scattered and fragmented, so we will not talk about the imperial farms and stores here, but only another seemingly insignificant business - the ranch.

Uh… never mind, I won’t go into detail about the ranch, otherwise it would take thousands of words. A simple summary is: the early system was chaotic, and the pastures that were supposed to be managed by the Imperial Stables were wantonly occupied by various forces. During the Zhengde period, the power of the eunuchs increased greatly, so they began to overcorrect, not only taking back the pastures that had been occupied, but also occupying the land of various forces, so that the pastures controlled by the Imperial Stables exceeded 10,000 hectares.

  Some people may say that Gao Youshi gave the emperor 80,000 hectares of arable land in Southeast Asia in one go, and the Imperial Stables only managed to get 10,000 hectares of grassland after all the seizures and robberies, which doesn't seem like much?

If we must compare 80,000 hectares with more than 10,000 hectares, then of course the 80,000 hectares is the most outrageous, but let's be reasonable - can we really simply compare the 10,000 hectares of land near the capital with the 80,000 hectares of land in Nanyang that is so underdeveloped? This is like a three-story building in the center of Shanghai in the future, and a three-story building built by oneself in the countryside, both of which are for living, but are the prices comparable?

Therefore, the more than 10,000 hectares of land in the hands of the Imperial Horse Administration are actually a huge asset. However, since they are called assets, it can be seen that they are not actually used for growing grass and grazing. In fact, these lands are almost all farmland, but the Imperial Horse Administration uses the output of farmland to exchange for money, and then uses the money to purchase fodder. With this transformation, the Imperial Horse Administration can not only complete the fodder task required by the court, but also make a fortune every year.

Tian Yi was not surprised that Gao Youshi knew that the authority of the Imperial Horse Administration was going to be expanded. He was undoubtedly the most favored and important minister of the Wanli Dynasty. If the emperor wanted to do something, Gao Youshi would definitely be the first to know. Even more exaggeratedly, even if the emperor had not thought about it, Gao Youshi had the ability to make the emperor think about it, and then he could guarantee that the emperor would agree.

Tian Yi just wanted to know how the authority of the Imperial Horse Administration could be expanded, so after he asked this question, he kept staring at Gao Qi. He not only wanted to hear Gao Qi's answer, but also hoped to see some other inside information from Gao Qi's expression.

"The Imperial Stables' job is to raise horses, and now the imperial court is about to take over Hetao. Doesn't the Imperial Stables want to build a real pasture in Hetao so that they don't have to rely on buying horses and grass, and even do some horse trading in the future?"

Tian Yi slapped his thigh when he heard this, and suddenly realized what was going on. He thought to himself: I have been in Nanjing for too long, and I have lost my sensitivity to things happening in the north.

Since Liu Jing recovered the Western Regions, the Ordos tribe has been determined to be "relocated to the Seven Rivers" by the court, and the leader of the tribe, "Mongol Jinong", will also "serve as the deputy governor for generations", becoming the second most important person in the Western Regions of the Ming Dynasty. In this way, the entire tribe moved to the Western Regions, and the Tumed tribe, because they also expanded westward to the northern part of the Western Regions, have now been persuaded by Gao Youshi not to take an inch of Hetao land.

In this way, the entire Hetao would be empty and would be completely taken over by the court. The Hetao is not small, and it can support the Ordos tribe, which is not weak. How much grassland should it have? Such a piece of fat meat, who in the court would not be jealous if they have something to do with it? As an inner court agency whose main job is to "raise horses", shouldn't the Imperial Horse Administration have a share of it?

Tian Yi suddenly realized something and then quickly became silent, as if he was weighing the pros and cons. Gao Qi was not in a hurry either, but just quietly waited for his answer.

After a while, Tian Yi finally said, "Mr. Gao, we are willing to consider this proposal. However, before that, we need to see some sincerity."

Gao Qi smiled and said, "Of course. My uncle has already told us that as long as the inner guards are willing to cooperate, our Gao family will naturally show enough sincerity first. How about this, tomorrow morning, my uncle will submit a petition proposing to divide the Hetao grassland into three parts, and the one closest to the capital will be allocated to the Imperial Horse Administration. What do you think?"

"Good! Mr. Gao is really straightforward!" Tian Yimeng clapped his hands, nodded, and said, "Since Mr. Gao is so straightforward, we can't be left behind, so we will provide the first batch of inside information first...

Master Gao, in addition to Cheng Shanbo's allocation of personnel for the renovation of the palace, Duke Wei and other nobles were responsible for providing various building materials. They replaced more than 90% of the buildings and beams in the Nanjing Palace, and the price of materials such as huge wood was inflated by several times.

In addition, there are some building materials such as building cement and underground pipes. For convenience, they almost all buy them from Jinghua Trading Company. However, they use inferior products as good ones everywhere. For example, their application form says that they use Jinghua's new waterproof cement, but in fact they only use ordinary cement... I forgot what the grade is called, but Mr. Gao can check it. This is the Gao family's own account, and you will know it once you check it."

Gao Qi heard this, his eyes gleamed, and he said, "Okay, okay, the inner guard is indeed sincere. Please rest assured, since it is Jinghua Commercial Company's account, I will check it thoroughly tonight! In addition, my Gao family will also fulfill its promise and promote the cooperation between you and Liu Ping as soon as possible."

Tian Yi smiled and said, "Duke Jingguo has always kept his word. He had a good reputation of 'keeping a promise of 300,000 taels' before he came of age. We can trust him. However, Master Liu is far away in the capital, so it will take some effort to contact him... Master Gao may have some things to deal with tonight, so we won't keep you any longer."

Gao Qi stood up and bowed, saying, "I am busy with internal garrison affairs, so I will not disturb you any more. Goodbye."

Tian Yi also stood up and said, "Mr. Gao, please take care. I don't know if there are any smart people in Nanjing who are eyeing my humble home today. I won't see you off in person. Please forgive me, Mr. Gao."

"Of course." Gao Qi bowed and left the study. Tian Yi's housekeeper invited Gao Yu to come, and Gao Qi still pretended to be Gao Yu's housekeeper. The housekeeper of the Tian Mansion sent the two of them outside the house. The two got on the carriage, and Gao Qi immediately ordered the driver to go to the Nanjing branch of Jinghua Commercial Company.

After returning to the branch, Gao Qi's previous order had taken effect, and the main subordinates he wanted to summon were all present. Gao Qi told them the news provided by Tian Yi and ordered them to act immediately to collect more evidence about the illegal acts of Duke Wei and other nobles in the construction of the imperial palace.

Gao Qi knew very well that although Tian Yi only mentioned the Duke of Wei and Cheng Shanbo this time, things could not be so simple. Although they were of high status, they could not take such a large kickback alone. There must be many people involved, and definitely not just nobles, there must be many officials as well.

Although the nobles held high positions, the power to handle many specific matters was in the hands of officials, so they had no choice but to be dragged into the water together. Isn't the so-called complex interest alliance formed in this way through the division of spoils?

  At the same time, Gao Qi also wrote a letter to inform Gao Youshi of the progress of the matter in detail and asked him to contact Liu Ping as soon as possible to discuss tripartite cooperation.
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PS: I revised the manuscript twice, and deleted at least 2,000 words of content related to the financial power of the Imperial Horse Administration...