Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 125: Military Envoys from the Three Northwest Provinces

"Is the Guard a civilian or a military official?"

"Can it only be held by military generals and civilian officers, or can it be held by civilian officials?"

Yuan Keli did not recommend candidates immediately, but raised this question.

Zhu Youjian thought for a while and felt that it would definitely not work to use military generals alone. When coordinating with local officials, civilian officials might ignore them.

However, purely using the words of civilian officials will expand the power of civilian officials, control the internal affairs of the military, and extend their power deep into the military.

So after weighing it, he said:
"The Captain of the Guard and the Captain of the Guard are civilian officers. They are served by military literati who are proficient in writing and manage the internal affairs of the military."

"Civil officials can serve as envoys to protect the army and lead the army as envoys of the emperor. They are responsible for coordinating the army and local areas, doing good military logistics, and protecting and supervising the army."

This is to divide the guard army into the guard army envoys who are civilian officials, and the guard army captains and guard school captains who are civilian officers. Both belong to the guard system, but each has its own focus and different division of labor.

Hearing that the emperor's arrangement of the guard army was not that simple, those civil servants who were unwilling to change already instinctively wanted to oppose it.

Zhu Youjian didn't wait for their objections, so he blocked them with words:
"All civil and military scholars who are proficient in writing can serve as guards in the army."

"Yinguan who graduated from Taixue and became a military officer can also serve as a guard and be responsible for the internal affairs of the army."

"As long as they are capable enough to serve as military guards, they can hold this position."

By tying Wenyin's children to this policy, it would be difficult for the ministers to object if they wanted to. After all, it is related to the interests of their descendants. The position of military guard is very likely to be the highest position in Wenyin's military position.

After all, the number of specially-gifted scholars is limited, and the ministers are not confident that their children will definitely be specially-gifted. In this way, if their descendants do not pass the Jinshi examination, the best option is to switch to military service.

However, the ceiling of military positions is obvious. The highest positions are the commander of the Jinyiwei and the minister of the Weiwei Temple. There are only a few positions, and they are limited to the Jinyiwei system.

Nowadays, the emperor establishes civilian military officers, and specifically sets up the post of military guard to be filled by civilian military officers. This system, which requires a large number of officials, became the best choice for Wenyin's children who transferred to military positions.

Guarding the Army Envoy, Guarding the Army Captain, Guarding the Army School Lieutenant, you will know that these are more than just a few official positions. In the future, it is possible for every border town to set up guard troops. Wenyin's children can hold these military positions, and the power of civilian officials can also be deepened in the military.

In particular, the status of the military guard is equivalent to that of the admiral, and in the future, he may even act as the governor-general like the admiral. After reaching this step, it has reached its peak for non-jinshi. Positions such as higher ministers and ministers that require court promotion are not something that officials who are not Jinshi can think of.

Considering that the guards are mainly responsible for the internal affairs of the army, they are less risky than generals who go to the battlefield to fight. Moreover, as a descendant of Wenyin, he can deal with civil servants better and does not have to worry about problems with local cooperation.

After some discussion, the ministers approved the establishment of the army protection system. It was decided to start from the northwest to suppress bandits and set up military envoys from three provinces.

No one opposed this policy, and it was difficult for Yuan Keli to object because his son Yuan Shu had already served as the governor of Northwest Town. After acquiescing to the adoption of this policy, he said:

"I believe that the military envoys of the three provinces should be selected from those who are qualified to serve as governors."

"Most of them have military responsibilities, so they don't know anything about military matters. And their status is sufficient to coordinate the army and local governments."

This is to determine the status of the military envoy and make it equivalent to the governor. Zhu Youjian thought it was acceptable and said:
"Then let's discuss it!"

"Who is qualified for the position of military commander of the three northwest provinces?"

Governors need court approval, and military guards have the same status as governors, so theoretically they also need court approval.

However, this position was newly established by Zhu Youjian, who designated it as Jiuqing Tingtui, and as a military position, it was presided over by the Ministry of War.

Naturally, Jiu Qing, who attended the standing meeting, had no objections. Yuan Keli, as the Minister of the Ministry of War, did his part and put forward several names for the ministers to choose from:

"Li Qiyuan, the former Minister of Household Affairs, served as the governor of the three sides."

"The former governor of Yansui, Zhai Fengchong, was declassified as a civilian because he refused to rely on the eunuchs." "Yang He, who has been restored to power by Your Majesty, has a well-known name in both the government and the public, and has talked a lot about military matters, so he is qualified to serve as an army protector. "

These three candidates are all qualified to serve as the military envoys of the three provinces. But if the first candidate Li Qiyuan is appointed, it is estimated that the status of the military envoy will surpass that of the admiral and become the person in charge of suppressing bandits.

Considering the balance between the admiral and the military escort, Zhu Youjian took the lead in eliminating this person and said:
"Li Qiyuan returned to Beijing, and his position will be promoted later."

"Zhai Fengchong came back and was elected from among him and Yang He."

After some discussion, the ministers decided that Yang He would serve as the military envoy of the three provinces.

Yang He was so outspoken that none of the officials wanted him to return to the court. Or throw it into the local area and cause headaches to local officials.

Although Zhu Youjian didn't think Yang He had any military talents, he didn't expect him to lead troops in war. With General Yang Zhaoji serving as the admiral of the three provinces, Yang He only needed to coordinate the army and local governments and do logistical work well. If the two of them don't work well together, they can just switch it up when the time comes.

After confirming the candidates for the army protection envoys in the three provinces, Zhu Youjian asked Yuan Keli to nominate the army protection captain as soon as possible. They also agreed on the responsibilities of the military guard envoys and admirals, the responsibilities of the military guard captains and the guard school captains, and the cooperation with the governor envoys, etc. The matter of suppressing bandits in the northwest was arranged in every detail.

All the ministers saw the emperor's concern and felt a little slanderous in their hearts. I felt that the emperor took too much power and had to arrange even trivial things.

But he didn't know that in Zhu Youjian's heart, he had already regarded the bandits in the northwest as his number one enemy——

In history, it was Li Zicheng's peasant army that overthrew the Ming Dynasty.

The bandits in the northwest today are the predecessors of the peasant army. Of course Zhu Youjian is very concerned about them and hopes to destroy them.

In this way, even if there is another refugee uprising in the future, it will take a long time to form a fighting force.

Zhu Youjian even hoped to suppress the peasant army in its infancy and avoid a three-front battle:

The current situation of the Ming Dynasty is that the northeast is fighting Houjin and requires hundreds of thousands of horses; the southwest is fighting She'an and also needs hundreds of thousands of horses.

If chaos breaks out in the northwest, there will be another front.

A two-front war will be a great test for the great powers of later generations. Historically, the most important reason for Germany's defeat in World War I and World War II was fighting on the east and west fronts.

A certain big country in South Asia, which is usually extremely arrogant, only dares to talk about preparing for a "2.5-front war" and dare not talk about a third-front war.

Now Zhu Youjian has launched a campaign to suppress bandits in the northwest, which can be said to have opened half a front. Adding Houjin in the northeast and She'an in the southwest, it's a two-point-five-front war.

This naturally put great pressure on his heart——

Even the great powers of later generations cannot afford it. How can the Ming Dynasty afford it with its current mess?

So he hopes that there will be a front to solve the problem as soon as possible.

After all, the opening of every front means that the local area cannot provide taxes to the court, and even needs the court to allocate money and food.

Nowadays, the manpower and material resources of the five southwestern provinces are dealing with the She'an Rebellion. In order to deal with the Hou Jin Dynasty, the imperial court has imposed additional Liao pay throughout the country. Zhu Youjian never wanted the three northwest provinces to be completely chaotic and let Ming Dynasty open another front——

After all, there were only thirteen chief secretaries in the Ming Dynasty, and there were only fifteen provinces including the northern and southern Zhili. If chaos breaks out in the eight southwest and northwest provinces, it will be equivalent to losing half of the country.

This was something Zhu Youjian didn't want to see and the court couldn't bear it.

He hoped that these people elected by the court could wipe out the bandits in the northwest and put an end to the She'an rebellion in the southwest. Let Ming Dynasty concentrate on dealing with Houjin in the Northeast.

(End of this chapter)