Daming: Apocalypse of Longevity

Chapter 38 Acting Role

Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong didn't expect Zhu Tianqi to be so anxious, so they couldn't help but be a little surprised when they heard this, but even so, they both dared to tell the truth.

Sun Chengzong first saluted and said: "Your Majesty, it will probably take a long time to complete this matter, ranging from a few months to a year. After all, our Ming Dynasty now has nearly [-] military posts in various places, plus the important towns on the nine sides. , if you want to investigate one by one, it may be impossible in a short time!"

Xu Guangqi also opened his mouth and said: "Your Majesty, the same is true for the household department. In my Ming Dynasty, there are two capitals in the north and the south, thirteen ministers (provinces) and seven guards in Kansai. There are 140 subordinate prefectures, three prefectures and 190 subordinates. There are a total of 130 counties, and it would take a lot of time to check them out one by one!"

Zhu Tianqi listened to what the two of them said and nodded deeply. After all, the transportation and communication in this era are very primitive. Faced with such a large workload, it can only take a lot of time and manpower to grind, but really It is unrealistic to take a year to do this. By the time this is done, the day lilies will be cold!

After Zhu Tianqi thought for a while, he said: "You don't need to take this matter too seriously. This is our first inventory, and we will rectify those health centers and prefectures and counties with serious problems. If the problems are not outstanding, , let’s not worry about it now, and we will slowly investigate later, after all, now is not the time to do this, we still have to wait until there is peace!”

Zhu Tianqi's words were ambiguous, and Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong couldn't help but murmur, wondering what the emperor's purpose was this time and how far he wanted to accomplish things.

In fact, Zhu Tianqi's idea is very simple. He wants to make up for the arrears and the salaries of officials from various places, but he doesn't want to take advantage of those corrupt officials who falsely claim and stuff the money into dog holes, so he still I plan to check it out.

But now it is the end of the year, and there is not much time left for him. Moreover, due to practical conditions, there is no way to complete the inventory work in a short time, so he can only make the noise as big as possible and make those Scared out of the faint of heart.

Zhu Tianqi was thinking about a way to solve this problem, so he asked Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong to count the existing files. First, they had to see how big the gap in the imperial court was recorded in the accounts of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Ministry of War.

Wang Yuanbao brought two chairs to Xu Guangqi and Sun Chengzong, served refreshments, and ordered people to wait on the two adults to check the files, while he followed Zhu Tianqi to wait on them.

Zhu Tianqi thought about it for a while and felt that if he wanted to make this matter bigger, the most important thing was how to perform the play. The protagonist of the play could not be a small character, but a big shot that everyone knew. After thinking about it, Zhu Tianqi decided Tianqi finally set his sights on an old acquaintance-Zhang Weixian.

The British Duke Zhang Weixian is currently in charge of the Central Military Governor's Office and the Beijing Camp. He has a high enough status, great power, and good reputation. The most suitable thing is that the Beijing Camp under his command is a big problem that needs to be rectified urgently.

The Beijing camp at the end of the Ming Dynasty was in a state of decay and decay, but the emperor never knew the inside story. Even when Emperor Chongzhen inspected the Beijing camp, he was blinded by the glamorous appearance of the temporary arrangement of the Beijing camp. This is what Zhu Tianqi holds. He has a large number of historical records, otherwise he would have been kept in the dark.

The biggest drawbacks of the Beijing camp are "occupation" and "pretense".

The so-called occupation means that soldiers are forced to perform labor services by generals and become free labor for generals.

And falsehood means that the army does not have such a person. Generals, relatives, eunuchs, and powerful men use their own servants to pretend to be strong men in the army, and receive a generous salary every month. Some even directly make up some names and falsely report the number. So he ate the empty salary in a grandiose manner.

Today, the three major battalions of Beijing Camp are no longer what they were when they were founded. The existing troops are only about [-], and these [-] are on paper, and the actual number is only [-]. Among these [-], there are only [-] companies that can fight. There is not even one tenth of it. It can be said that the Beijing camp has existed in name only.

Does Zhang Weixian know about the tragic situation in the Beijing camp?Zhu Tianqi thought that he must know, but Zhang Weixian is old, and he probably neither wants to take care of things nor has the energy to take care of things. Although Zhang Weixian is loyal to the Zhu family, it is just loyalty. For those in the court, Zhang Weixian was unwilling to get involved in other matters and always acted wisely to protect himself.This Beijing camp is a big cake. Nearly [-]% of military pay has been embezzled. It is difficult to say that Zhang Weixian has not profited from it. However, in addition to Zhang Weixian, there are a large number of officials who make a living from this. Zhang Weixian does not have the energy to rectify the Beijing camp, and Even if he wanted to straighten things out and offend so many people at once, wouldn't he have to attract a lot of enemies to the Zhang family before he died?
Zhu Tianqi can see this clearly from the perspective of a bystander, and he also understands Zhang Weixian, so he does not need Zhang Weixian to take the initiative to offend others. He only needs to be the villain himself, and Zhang Weixian will play the role. One "victim" is enough!
After thinking about the matter, Zhu Tianqi said to Wang Yuanbao: "Go and invite the British Duke!"

When Wang Yuanbao heard this, he immediately bowed and accepted the order: "I obey the order, I will send someone to invite you now!"

In less than an hour, Zhang Weixian arrived. He walked into the palace with his head held high. Just as he was about to kowtow and salute, he was stopped by Zhu Tianqi, "You don't need to be polite, please sit down quickly!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Weixian raised his hand and saluted: "Thank you, Your Majesty!" and sat down on a chair on one side.

Until now, although Zhang Weixian still didn't know what the emperor was looking for, he didn't feel guilty at all, because the Zhang family had been trusted by the royal family for generations, and he had just helped the emperor eradicate the eunuchs. No matter how he thought about it, the emperor did too. It's impossible to cause trouble for him, so he has nothing to feel guilty about.

But things were so unexpected. As soon as Zhu Tianqi spoke his first words, Zhang Weixian's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

Zhu Tianqi did not follow him in circles and asked directly: "Mr. British, how many soldiers are there in the three major battalions of the capital now?"

Zhang Weixian is not a fool, and the emperor will not ask himself this for no reason. Since the emperor has asked this, it means that the emperor has discovered the current problems in the Beijing camp.

Zhang Weixian could cover his eyes to protect himself, but he couldn't tell lies to the emperor.

In just a short moment, Zhang Weixian was already breaking out in cold sweat. He seemed to be hesitating and struggling, but after all, he was still upright and loyal to the royal family, so he finally chose to tell the truth.

Zhang Weixian stood up slowly, fell to his knees with a plop, and burst into tears: "I am guilty!"

Zhu Tianqi thought that Zhang Weixian would at least argue a few words and use some data recorded in the Ministry of War files to explain himself. Unexpectedly, this old uncle was quite upright and wanted to plead guilty immediately, so he had to get up and come forward to help him: "The British Lord, Why are you doing this, hurry up!"

However, Zhang Weixian insisted on kneeling on the ground, and said: "I have owed the sacred grace, and moreover, I have committed the crime of dereliction of duty and negligence. Now there is no more than one out of ten in the Beijing camp. The amount of military salary reported before is all a false report..."

"Okay, okay, you don't have to say it, I already know it!" Zhu Tianqi interrupted him, helped him up, and said comfortingly: "Mr. British, I'm here to find you. It’s not that I want to raise an army to investigate, but I want to ask you to help me with a big thing!”

　I want to follow up on the new book, I want to collect it, please everyone!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)