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Chapter 436 General Staff 2

Zhou Daodeng's question just allowed the emperor to put forward and explain the idea of ​​establishing a general staff. However, Hong Tao was very bad. He was afraid that Wang Xianggan would not be able to swim deep enough into the water, so he put the staff's creativity on his head, which was regarded as revenge and warning for his evasive words and unsteady attitude.

"I believe that time waits for me and there is no need to delay! The sooner the new army is trained, the sooner the capital is safe, the sooner the court is stable, and the sooner the border troubles are quelled."

Now, regardless of whether Wang Xiangqian likes it or not, he can no longer sit back and enjoy the success. He must and can only stand in front of the emperor and wave the flag for the decision to build a new army and the general staff, because it was his idea!

The Secretary of the Ministry of War still had some courage. Seeing that he was pushed to the front and had no way to retreat, he simply stopped being a wallflower. Not only would he not be able to benefit from both sides, but he would also have to offend both sides.

"If His Majesty often engages in foreign wars, the people of the Ming Dynasty will be unable to bear it, and the court will not be able to afford it. I cannot agree with it!"

Some people are born to be troublemakers. With Wang Xiangqian's clear stance, everyone's attitude has softened. Unexpectedly, Gao Panlong suddenly popped up and raised a hypothesis that made everyone worry.

Yes, although under the constraints of the General Staff, the emperor could not mobilize the new army to attack domestic dissidents, but the price paid for the year-round military campaigns was also huge. In history, there were not a few kings who tore the country apart because of their great achievements. A bloody lesson learned from the past.

"What Gao Aiqing said makes sense... Why don't we add another premise as a constraint. If we fail twice in a row or fail to make ends meet in the external campaigns I initiate, we will lose our privileges."

This problem seemed unsolvable to everyone, but it did not cause the emperor to hesitate too much. He quickly came up with a solution, which sounded not only able to solve the problem, but also a bit too ambitious.

There are no generals in history who are always victorious, only heroes who become more courageous the more they are defeated. But Emperor Jingyang not only wanted to challenge this fact, he was also afraid that it would be too easy, and added a condition. Every battle must not only win but also make a profit. He did not take the heroes of the world seriously.

"Your Majesty, do you know that you are not joking!" Gao Panlong certainly did not want the emperor to hold military power, and he knew that he could not be stopped by force, and he did not believe that the emperor was the god of war. If restrictions can be used to force the emperor to give up automatically, it is obviously the most perfect ending at present.

"I want to tell the world! Ye Xianggao, come and draft the decree for me; Wang An, prepare to use the seal." I bet, then Hong Tao will not be sleepy anymore, for fear that someone will sit down again after pulling out the daddy, so he is busy making arrangements The manpower issued the order on the spot.

With the presence of the cabinet's grand master, the seal of the chief ceremonial officer, and the emperor himself, this imperial edict must be extremely fast and in line with the process. As long as the six subjects don't go crazy together and exercise the power of sealing off, it will take effect almost immediately.

"I have no objections. I hope that the new army will be invincible and your majesty will be famous throughout the country!" Seeing that the imperial edict was really issued, Gao Panlong could not continue to find faults. Anyone who dares to say no at this time is teasing the king, and no matter how many heads he has, he will not be able to chop off enough.

"Your Majesty, what should we do with the defeated troops of the three major battalions?" Seeing that the matter of the new army was a foregone conclusion, Zhou Daodeng, the Minister of Rites, raised a new question.

There are still more than 20,000 broken soldiers detained in the city. As time goes by, more and more broken soldiers will be collected by state and county officials. So many people cannot be ignored, let alone starve to death and freeze to death. However, the emperor must have a say on who will deal with them and how they will deal with them.

"Alas... One soldier is a raging enemy, and a den of generals is raging! This battle is not the fault of the soldiers. I don't intend to punish them, but I can't continue to join the army. Uncle Wu Qing, those who were killed in this battle can live in peace, and they will all be registered as soldiers. Execute them and hand them over to Army Governor Li Ruzhang together with the Jurchen prisoners."

Hong Tao had already thought about the aftermath of the defeated army before the war started. Continuing to serve as a soldier was definitely not possible. In addition to their weak bodies and weak willpower, these soldiers had been hanging around for too long and had already acquired bad habits. Even if It can be changed but it won't be too radical. Rather than letting them lead the new recruits into bad habits, it would be better to simply cancel their military status. But axing them alone cannot solve the problem. With so many people without food at once, it is a huge hidden danger no matter where they are placed, and they must be properly resettled.

There are tens of thousands of people, how can we keep them steady and not cause trouble to the place? The only way is to work, specifically to turn them from soldiers into workers.

Although these people are not suitable for fighting, they are absolutely young and strong when put into the factory, and they are even more suitable than the refugees recruited. After all, they have been trained for many years, are used to living in a group, and know how to follow orders and prohibitions. As long as they are properly guided and controlled, they can still be used.

As for what to do if there are a few soldiers and gangsters who cannot change their old habits and are unwilling to work hard. It's easy to handle. There are no labor laws at this time. Whoever dares to disobey orders will be waiting for him in the mines that never see the light of day and toxic and harmful hard labor. The treatment is the same as that of prisoners of war. He will work until death with no chance of success.

In February of the ninth year of Jingyang, the emperor ordered a new imperial army to be built in Beijing, called the Army. Li Ruzhang, the former commander of the Marine Guards, moved to the Army Governor-General's office, with 20 battalions under his jurisdiction, totaling people, and the Yaqian Army Governor's Office was built.

A new general staff was established, with several staff officers under it, six ministers and nine ministers, the chief minister of rites, the governor of the army, the governor of the navy, and the rank of imperial staff officer. During wartime, he discussed with the emperor the command and deployment of the army and established the governor's palace of the Yamenhou army.

Because the Beijing camp was depleted and the guards were weak, the Fifth Army Camp, the Three Thousand Battalions, the Shenji Camp, the Former Army Governor's Office, and the Rear Army Governor's Office were all abolished. The military affairs of the guard stations under their jurisdiction were divided between the left, middle and right governor's offices.

The establishment of these two new departments marked that Emperor Jingyang had successfully seized military power. However, unlike in the past when the emperor had great power, the command of the army was not in the hands of the emperor alone, but was vested in the General Staff.

Specifically, it was decided jointly by the twelve imperial staff ministers and the emperor. Without more than seven votes, no one had the right to mobilize the army within the Ming Dynasty, including the Ministry of War.

But the emperor enjoys special privileges. For example, the imperial staff meeting can only be initiated by the emperor and has a veto power. In other words, even if all twelve imperial staff officers agree, as long as the emperor disagrees, the army still cannot be mobilized.

Another example is that during foreign wars, the emperor enjoys special privileges and can directly mobilize the army to participate in the war without consulting the minister of military and military aircraft. However, there are restrictions. If you fail in two consecutive battles or cannot make ends meet, this privilege will immediately expire.

Most civil and military officials can understand why the emperor is given special privileges and why such weird restrictions are imposed. History has proven that excessive imperial power is not a good thing, and frequent foreign wars are not a good thing either.

But it is a fact that the military preparedness of the Ming Dynasty was depleted, and it seemed that only the emperor could change it. In order to prevent the emperor from monopolizing power and to develop a strong army, he had to create such a bunch of rules and regulations to check and balance.

(End of this chapter)