Rebirth of Zhu Di's son

Chapter 316 Think about Zhao Song’s fate

"Prince is here!"

Just when the officials of the Ministry of War listened to Qi Tai's instructions and resigned one after another, and before they left the duty room, the eunuch Changsheng's voice sounded outside the door.

"I pay my respects to His Highness the Crown Prince. His Highness is a thousand years old."

The officials of the Ministry of War, headed by Qi Tai, quickly arranged their official uniforms, took the initiative to line up in two lines according to rank, and bowed in salute.

"The Ministry of War obeys the order."

Prince Zhu Zhanyu walked into the duty room, looked down at the officials of the Ministry of War and said.

The eunuchs Changsheng and Liu Jingzhong had quick eyesight and quick hands. They bowed to the left and right and slowly unfolded the imperial edict.

Zhu Zhanyu's left hand was placed on his lower back, and his right hand was pressing lightly on the edict in front of him, and he said loudly: "The emperor is destined to be carried by heaven, and he said: Today, the Military Selection Department, the Staff Division, the Chariot and Driving Department, and the Arsenal Department of the Ministry of War will be abolished, and an Arms Department will be added. The Police Security Department is in charge of the left and right ministers respectively."

"The Arms and Armaments Administration has the Post Office and the Militia Bureau, and the Police and Security Administration has the Police Security Bureau, the Immigration and Entry Bureau, the Maritime Anti-Smuggling Bureau, and the Police Qualification Bureau. The former Veterans Affairs Bureau was moved to the Arms and Arms Administration of the Ministry of War."

"Each bureau has two doctors, one doctor, and three principals to handle the affairs of the bureau. The ranks of the doctors, Yuanwailang, and principals remain unchanged."

"The Postal Service Bureau is in charge of post stations, delivery offices and express delivery shops all over the world. Each provincial government office has a branch director. The functions and powers of the Retired Military Retirement Bureau remain unchanged and is responsible for the placement of retired soldiers. Each provincial government office has a branch director."

"The governors-general selects sergeants from each garrison. All the unselected garrison soldiers are classified as militiamen and are managed by the militia bureau. The militiamen plow during the farming season and practice during leisure time. If there is a military situation, they will use it; in peacetime, those who have meritorious service will do so. Promote one body, and return the people without merit. Set up branch directors in every province and government in the world."

"The Police Security Bureau is responsible for the pursuit of suspects and thefts in the former Ministry of Criminal Justice and local governments. Police and Security Bureaus are set up in government offices in all provinces, prefectures and counties across the country."

"The Immigration and Entry Bureau is in charge of the migration of people of the Ming Dynasty to overseas vassal states or vassal states, tributary countries, and foreign people to the Ming Dynasty. Each coastal county and frontier county has a branch director."

"The Maritime Anti-Smuggling Bureau is responsible for the arrest of smuggling by officials and civilians in Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other municipal shipping departments, and has set up branch directors in various municipal shipping departments."

"The Police Qualification Bureau is responsible for the recruitment, review, identification, retirement, and appointment of police officers, and has set up branch directors in each provincial government office."

"The detailed functions and powers of each bureau and relevant laws and regulations can be found in the "Regulations on the Management of the Military Deployment Bureau in the Second Year of Qianxi." Hereby."

"The minister is waiting to accept the order."

Qi Tai, Chen Qia, Yang Rong and other military officials bowed and said in unison.

"Shang Shu Qi, this is the "Regulations on the Management of the Military Deployment Bureau."

Zhu Zhanyu took out a thread-bound book that was not too thick from his left sleeve pocket, handed it to Qi Tai, and said at the same time: "My father specifically ordered me to tell you that you must ask the officials of the Ministry of War's various bureaus to keep the "Regulations" in mind. Everything must be done in accordance with the "Regulations", and no one should shirk each other and fail to do practical things on the grounds that he is not clear about the responsibilities of his department."

Qi Tai bowed and accepted: "Wei Chen accepts the order."

Zhu Zhanyu nodded, then turned and walked out the door.

"I will send you off to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Qitai and others bowed and saluted again.

After Zhu Zhanyu's honor guard completely disappeared from the sight of the officials of the Ministry of War, they no longer concealed their inner joy, and all showed smiles on their faces.

The chauffeur-driver cupped his hands towards Qi Tai and couldn't help but compliment him: "Qi Gong really knows what's going on. Your Majesty's decree is here now."

Qi Tai smiled in return but did not answer.

He, along with a few other people in the six ministries and nine ministers, had long known that Zhu Gaoxu wanted to reform the military system, but now they were just implementing it step by step.

Many of the contents of the "Regulations" that Prince Zhu Zhanyu handed over to him just now were written by Qi Tai.

The reason why no news was leaked during this period is because Zhu Gaoxu repeatedly emphasized to his confidants that nothing should be revealed to the outside world.

Neither Xie Jin nor Fang Xiaoru knew about it, let alone other officials such as doctors and principals of the six departments.

If nothing else, let's talk about the abolition of the four departments of the Ministry of War. If the news had been leaked beforehand, Qi Tai believed that the officials of these four departments would dare to jointly protest.

Now that the deal is done, it's too late for these people to object.

What's more, the old four departments are gone, but seven new bureaus have been established, including the Post Office, Militia Bureau, Veterans Affairs Bureau, Police Security Bureau, Immigration Bureau, Maritime Anti-Smuggling Bureau, and Police Qualification Bureau.

The seven bureaus of the Ministry of War only listen to their rough powers, but they also know that they all hold real power.

Moreover, each bureau has two doctors, one wailang, and three principals to handle the affairs of the bureau. The seven bureaus add up to six more doctors, three wailangs, and nine principals than the original four divisions.

In contrast, although the Ministry of War lost the power to mobilize troops and four divisions, it added two new departments and seven bureaus, and its overall powers were expanded. "Let's discuss who should be the doctor, the outside doctor, and the chief of these seven bureaus."

Qi Taixing went to the main hall and sat down, picked up the tea cup and took a sip of water, and said loudly.

the other side.

After Prince Zhu Zhanyu announced the decree, he planned to return to Wuying Palace to report to Zhu Gaoxu, but in front of the palace he met Zhang Fu, the Marquis of Xincheng, who had just left the palace.

Zhang Fu naturally saluted Zhu Zhanyu respectfully.

Zhu Zhanyu exchanged a few words with Zhang Fu, then watched the other party leave, and then walked into Wuying Hall.

"The Marquis of Xincheng came here because he wanted to ask me for a job as the military counselor-general of the Yunnan-Guizhou Governor's Office."

Zhu Gaoxu saw Zhu Zhanyu saying a few words to Zhang Fu outside the palace, and knew that Zhu Zhanyu was probably wondering why Zhang Fu came.

Therefore, he took the initiative to tell the matter without waiting for Zhu Zhanyu to ask questions.

"Father agreed?"

Zhu Zhanyu asked tentatively.

Zhu Gaoxu asked, "Do you want me to agree or not?"

"In accordance with the decree of my father, each governor's office has a first-grade military staff governor and a military and political governor, who are jointly in charge of the headquarters' military affairs."

Zhu Zhanyu said: "Among them, the Military Staff Governor has the power of combat command, which is the power to mobilize troops. He controls the strength of the four armies. Each army has no less than 3 troops. The Marquis of Xincheng has never had such a scale of combat command. With experience, he should be qualified for the job. Therefore, I thought that I could appoint him as the military commander-in-chief of Yunnan and Guizhou."

Before Jiaozhi was established as a province, Sheng Yong, the chief general of the Southern Expedition, also served as the commander-in-chief of Jiaozhi Dusi.

In the fifth year of Yongle, Zhu Di issued an edict to Annan, the county, and established the Third Division of Jiaozhi. Zhang Fu was the first commander-in-chief of the Jiaozhi Division, so he had experience in commanding tens of thousands of troops in battle.

The commander-in-chief of the capital is a military attaché of the second rank, and the military counselor-general of the Yunnan-Guizhou Dudu Mansion is a rank-[-] military attache, which is equivalent to a promotion.

"Yes, it is indeed appropriate for the Marquis of Xincheng to be the Military Staff Governor of Yunnan and Guizhou."

Zhu Gaoxu nodded.

"Father, I have some doubts in my heart."

Zhu Zhanyu said suddenly.

"Say." Zhu Gaoxu said.

"Before my father reformed the military system, in addition to controlling military orders, the Ministry of War also intended to let civil servants control the army."

Zhu Zhanyu said: "Emperor Taizu divided the governor's palace into five parts in order to limit the military power held by military generals. During the Yongle period, local guards or generals were ordered to go on expeditions. In addition to military ministers being the chief military officers, the emperor's grandfather was also Send civil servants and admirals to supervise military affairs."

"Now that my father has transferred the power of military command to the Military Staff Department of the Metropolitan Governor's Office, does this break the emperor's standing system of 'controlling military force with civility'?"

Historically, it was very common for officials of the Ministry of War to go out as civil servants to supervise military affairs. From the Yongle Dynasty until the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was a regular system.

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the five-army governor's office lost its political participation and deliberation power. It was transformed from a central organization that "generalized all internal and external military affairs" into an agency that was solely subject to the execution of orders. After the division into five, the actual power of the governor's office was completely weakened. fact.

The weakening of the power of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies and the increase of the power of the Ministry of War show that the military leadership system of the Ming Dynasty has been changing along the direction of using ministries to control the government and civil society to control the military. It also shows that the military leadership system of the Ming Dynasty is gradually becoming unified. Unified under the Civil Service Ministry of War.

In Zhu Gaoxu's view, the army should be a highly centralized and unified armed group, because only a high degree of centralization and unity can have strong combat effectiveness.

From this perspective, the weakening of the power of the five military governors and the strengthening of the power of the Ministry of War in the late Ming Dynasty was a progress, which was beneficial to enhancing the combat effectiveness of the army, and the Ministry of War, which was unified with civilian officials, would not pose a threat to the imperial power.

Of course, this leadership system is not perfect, and one of them is that the Ministry of War interferes too much in frontline command.

Moreover, the combat effectiveness of the army has not increased much under the leadership of civilian officials, and the status of generals has declined day by day, even to the point of kneeling down to worship civilian officials of the same rank.

"Think about Zhao Song's fate, and you will know the terrible consequences of civilian officials taking over military power."

Zhu Gaoxu explained patiently: "The Governor's Office is just a name. The left and right governors in charge of the Military Staff Department and the Military Administration Department have no real power. After all, the Governor's Office is not decided by the left and right governors. There are five other people. The governor and the commanders and envoys of various departments.”

"Although the Military Staff Headquarters enjoys the highest command authority during wartime, its command authority will be automatically delegated to each governor's office during wartime."

(End of this chapter)