Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 40 Recruitment
Next, Zhu Changgan asked Wang Chengen to write a letter to Qin Liangyu and stamp it with his own private seal.

"General Qin is a heroine, proficient in both civil and military strategies, and good at training and using troops. She often fights and wins by surprise, defeating the enemy with a smaller force..."

The first part is praise, while the second part talks about practical difficulties, hoping that she can lend 2 white-pole soldiers to the emperor.

If she could come in person, that would be the best. Even if she can't come, I hope she can help form an army of white-pole soldiers to equip the Beijing camp. All expenses will be borne by me.

Seeing Wang Chengen seal the letter and hand it to the eunuch, Zhu Changgan's heart leapt to a higher level again.

With 5 white-flag soldiers, plus the Jinyiwei and Yongweiying, he had an army of .

After training, you should have a certain level of combat effectiveness.

In addition, Zhu Changgan asked Wang Chengen to write a letter to Qi Jiguang's descendants and attached the imperial edict of "rehabilitation of Qi's army".

There are many descendants of Qi Jiguang living in Beijing today, most of whom are descendants of Qi Jiguang’s third and fourth sons.

Qi Changguo, the third son, passed the military examination in the year of Yiwei and was given the title of "Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, Associate Governor of the Metropolitan Governor's Office, and was given the title of General of the Cavalry, and a python jade pendant and an embroidered spring sword.

Qi Baoguo, a student of imperial academy, was the fourth son of Qi Jiguang. He was granted the title of "Hundred Households of the Embroidered Uniform Guard" and was posthumously awarded the title of General of Cavalry.

Qi Xingguo: A student of the imperial academy, he was appointed as the assistant commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and was posthumously awarded the title of General Zhaoyong.

The three sons of Qi Changguo, namely Qi Jiguang's Panzong, Xianzong and Zhenzong, were the first to receive the imperial edict, and they are all still alive today.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for remembering the Qi Family Army!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!" The Qi family members knelt on the ground, pounded the ground and cried loudly.

Although they were blessed by their ancestors and worked in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and lived a decent life, they had been pointed at for two generations, and they still did not believe that the Qi family army had committed treason.

They had been waiting for this day for too long. From the moment Wang Baoding labeled the Qi family's army as rebels, the backbone of the Qi family was pulled out.

Fifty-year-old Qi Zhenzong read the last sentence of the letter: "I feel deeply guilty. I only hope that one day I can see the flag of the Qi Family Army appear on the battlefield again, and reproduce the glory of your ancestors."

He suddenly knelt on the ground and said, "I am willing to return to my hometown and rebuild the Qi Family Army!"

"Uncle, I want to go back home with you!"

"Uncle San, I want to go back home with you!"

"Father, I am willing to go back home with you!"

"Uncle San, ..."

The eunuch who came to deliver the letter had red eyes. This was the famous Qi Family Army. His Majesty was right. They were brave and they were the heroes of the Ming Dynasty.

He wiped his eyes and said, "His Majesty said that if the Qi family is willing to rebuild the Qi family army, he will let me take you to the Qianqing Palace."

The eunuch stretched out his hand to indicate outside that his sedan chair was ready.

……

At this moment, Zhu Changgan was riding in a sedan chair and going to the Jinyiwei to supervise their military training.

Within one day, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War came up with a solution and supplied a new batch of matchlock rifles to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

Nowadays, most of the muskets used by the children of officials have been replaced with new ones, and the casualty rate is much lower. In the whole morning, only one person was seriously injured by the explosion of the barrel, and the rest were slightly injured.

Li Ruo Lian ran over and said, "Your Majesty, those hooligans have confessed everything, paid the fine, and voluntarily quit the Jinyiwei."

The goal was achieved. As there were many hooligans who suffered heavy casualties, there was no need for Zhu Changgan to kill them all. Therefore, he allowed them to hand in the "tangtie" and confess the illegal gains, and they could withdraw from the Jinyiwei and no longer needed to practice musket shooting.

Zhu Changgan glanced at the list and the stolen money, "Wow, as expected, even the ruffians are richer than me."

The amount of stolen money confessed by more than 150 ruffians was no more than million taels.

"Your Majesty, then...what about them?" Li Ruolian looked at the sons of officials who were still firing muskets on the field with some embarrassment.

"Let them continue!" Zhu Changgan had no intention of letting them go. What a good group of people they were.

"Next time, if there is a problem with the firearms in the Military Equipment Bureau, I will take this group of people to fight against the firearms." Zhu Changgan thought for a moment and said to Wang Chengen, "Write down whose sons and nephews are serving in the Jinyiwei."

"Starting tomorrow, send two court officials to the Military Equipment Bureau every day to supervise, and the Jinyiwei will use their sons and nephews to test-fire the muskets."

"I just don't believe that the quality of the muskets produced by the Arms Bureau could be so unstable!"

Zhu Changgan remembered, "Porridge has been distributed outside the city for several days. Commander Li, how many people did the Jinyiwei select from the refugees this time?"

"Your Majesty, after screening, I have recruited 5300 people."

Zhu Changgan nodded and decided to carry out the rectification work in the next few days and then start the real large-scale military training in a few days.

Coming out from Jinyiwei,

Zhu Changgan went to the Yongwei Camp again.

"Your Majesty, the Yongwei Camp has recruited 3200 people this time..." Huang Degong replied.

Zhu Changgan was stunned for a moment. "The Jinyiwei has recruited more than 5,000 people, how come you only have more than 3,000?"

"Your Majesty, the quality of soldiers is more important than their quantity. Those who do not meet the standards will not be accepted. I would rather have fewer soldiers than too few."

"..." Zhu Changgan nodded. The Yongwei Battalion was so powerful, and a big reason for that was because it was a truly elite force.

You can control the general direction yourself, but the practical operations still need to be done by generals. You must learn from Chongzhen's lessons and leave professional matters to professionals.

“How many horses are still missing?”

"Your Majesty, there are now 10,800 people in the Yongwei Battalion, including new recruits, but less than one-third of them are horses," replied General Sun Yingyuan.

"Buy! Ask Eunuch Cao to report the money and food needed to me. Be sure to choose good horses." Zhu Changgan hesitated for a moment and continued, "If there are any difficulties with the soldiers' food and wages, ask Eunuch Cao to talk to me."

"Wang Chengen, ask the Imperial Stables to transfer all the imperial horses here."

Wang Chengen's face suddenly turned bitter, and he whispered in the emperor's ear, "Your Majesty, right now there are only less than 2,000 military horses in the Imperial Horse Administration, 800 stallions, and 1,300 mares."

"So few?" Zhu Changgan frowned, "Where did all the troops and horses go?"

"This one……"

"Say!"

Wang Chengen then told the truth, "Your Majesty, he was taken away by the Beijing Army."

"But when I asked Eunuch Cao to go to the Beijing camp to select horses, I didn't see many good horses."

"Beijing Camp? Zhu Chunchen?" Zhu Changgan read out a name and suddenly laughed angrily, "Chongzhen, this is the Chunchen you chose!"

Zhu Chunchen was the last Duke of Chengguo in the Ming Dynasty.

His ancestor was Zhu Neng, a minister who contributed greatly to the Jingnan Campaign of Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty.

In the 39th year of Wanli's reign, Zhu Chunchen inherited the title of Duke of Chengguo, and in November of the 3rd year of Chongzhen's reign, he was promoted to Grand Tutor.

Chunchen's name is resounding, but his final outcome is far from his name. In May of the ninth year of Chongzhen, that is, last year, Emperor Chongzhen ordered Zhu Chunchen to be the governor of the Beijing camp. From this point, it can be seen that Emperor Chongzhen trusted Zhu Chunchen very much.

When Li Zicheng attacked the imperial palace, the Beijing camp led by Zhu Chunchen was defeated like a piece of paper. The Duke of Chengguo immediately surrendered the Qihua Gate and welcomed the rebel king into the capital.

"..." When Wang Chengen heard the emperor calling him Chongzhen directly, his eyes widened and he quickly knelt down, pretending that he didn't hear it.

Originally I thought that the Jinyiwei and Yongweiying had just been formed, and I would reorganize the Beijing camp after a while, but since Zhu Chunchen was eager to join up.

Then we have to cut the Gordian knot quickly. Besides, Li Banghua has already come to Beijing, and the task of reorganizing the military and political affairs of the Beijing camp is left to him.

"Train the soldiers, train them well for me, provide them with sufficient food and wages, and not a penny should be delayed." Zhu Changgan said to all the soldiers of the Yongwei Camp: "Sweat more in peacetime, and bleed less in war."

"I will allocate 50 taels of silver to you right now." He spoke generously from the beginning. The soldiers of the Yongwei Camp received 18 taels of silver in salary per year, and Zhu Changgan directly gave them for three years.

"In addition, we must continue to recruit brave warriors into the Brave Guard Camp, not only from refugees, but also from Northern Zhili, Shandong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan."

"The Ming Dynasty has a population of 75 million. I don't believe that I can't recruit tens of thousands of elite soldiers."

He was no longer satisfied with the 10,000 Brave Guards; he wanted 50,000.

……

The beaten Zhang Sizhi was carried back to his mansion. He was seriously injured and almost died, but no one went to see him. This shows how cold-hearted the Ming Dynasty officialdom was.

But just when all the civil servants were gearing up, thinking they could compete for a place in the cabinet, a piece of news stunned everyone.

"Sun Chengzong entered the capital? When did it happen?"

"He just arrived in the capital today. His Majesty went to meet him personally."

"Not only did Sun Chengzong come to Beijing, but Li Banghua also came to Beijing..."

"what?"

Among them, the one with the ugliest expression was Xue Guoguan, the Shaoqing of Taichang and Zuodu Yushi. The muscles on his face twitched. He thought that the place to enter the cabinet was his, and he had also received private guarantee from Wen Tihen.

The other person, Liu Yuliang, murmured in a low voice: "This is not right. Your Majesty has chosen me."

This fellow was as good at scheming as Wen Tiren. When he was a Hanlin, he often enjoyed competing with servants.

He didn't like reading and couldn't even get a position as an editor in the Hanlin Academy. People in the Hanlin Academy laughed at him. Later, Qian Shisheng advocated for him and fought against his fellow countryman Wang Yingxiong. His reputation gradually grew and he was noticed by Chongzhen and was given an important position.

But during this period, the emperor no longer summoned him and no longer watched him practice swordsmanship, which made Liu Yuliang extremely worried.

"How can this be done?"

A group of senior ministers, feeling uneasy, went to find Wen Tiren.

Wen Tihen's face changed drastically when he heard that. Everything in the court now was built up by him step by step, starting with pulling down Qian Qianyi, then pulling down Wang Yongguang, and then pulling down Zhou Yanru from the position of Prime Minister and taking the position himself. Naturally, he would not allow such a change to happen.

"You go first, I'll be there soon."

However, he did not choose to stand up at the first time, but instead asked ministers such as Liu Yuliang, Xue Guoguan, and Fan Fucui to go with him to meet the emperor.

Let these ministers speak first, and then I will come in and second the proposal.

This was Wen Tihen's way of being a minister. He had been actively cultivating his own power and cracking down on dissidents, but he was well aware of the emperor's suspicion and self-willedness, so he adopted a tactic of combining the real and the fake and suppressing before promoting.

On the contrary, the proposals he wanted to pass and the people he wanted to recommend were always proposed by others, and he would then come forward. On the contrary, when it came to the people he wanted to get rid of, he would always deliberately show leniency to them first, and then find points that would arouse the emperor's suspicion and make the emperor angry himself. This is how Zhou Yanru got rid of them.

……

When Wen Tiren arrived at the Qianqing Palace, he found a large group of people kneeling in front of the palace gate.

The emperor's privileges not only harmed the interests of the Wen Party, but also the interests of the Donglin Party, so these censors also went to the palace together.

"Your Majesty, this is not in compliance with the etiquette and laws of our ancestors for hundreds of years. Disregarding the rights that court officials should have is not only damaging the reputation of the court, but also what will the officials of the world think?" Xue Guoguan knelt on the ground, crying.

Liu Zongzhou, a great philosopher of the Donglin Party, also stood up and said, "Your Majesty appoints ministers without any consultation and repeatedly appoints them. This way, the cliques will prevail..."

Zhu Changgan, who had just returned from the Yongwei Camp, looked down at the ministers and said, "Before I answer your questions, I would like to ask you a question first: Why did a blind man throw away his crutches as the first thing he did after he could see the light?"

He turned his head and looked at Wen Tiren who had just arrived.

"Lord Wen, I remember that Zhou Yanru and you were also promoted by me to participate in the maintenance work, right?"

"They just said that the assistant ministers were very simple and their cliques were even worse. I think they have something in mind. Are they talking about you?"

"Have you formed a party?"

Wen Tiren's head buzzed.
The emperor's first words implied that Wen Tiren was ungrateful.

When his eyesight was poor, the cane helped him! After his eyesight recovered, the cane was no longer useful to him, and he threw it away without mercy.

That's exactly what he was saying, he was promoted by Special Jian before, and now he's opposing it?

The second sentence directly brought himself to the surface and put himself in confrontation with the Donglin Party.

This completely shattered his idea of ​​secretly supporting the ministers behind their backs.

He knelt down immediately and said: "Your Majesty, this thief is lying. Where is the clique in the court? Your Majesty's special selection is not in accordance with the law of our ancestors. During the reign of Emperor Chengzu, Xie Jin, Hu Guang, Yang Rong and others were specially selected to serve in Wenyuan Pavilion and participate in the work."

"Please give an order, Your Majesty. I will draft one right away to severely reprimand Liu Zongzhou."

Liu Zongzhou was the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture, which meant he was the chief official of the capital. This was an extremely important position and one that ranked highly among the Donglin Party.

Zhu Changgan narrowed his eyes, and another tooth of the Donglin Party was pulled out.

He snorted coldly, "I remember there was a couplet hanging in the lobby of the Ministry of Personnel: Fame and status are beyond one's life, so what if they are big or small; wealth and honor are like flowers in front of one's eyes, they can bloom early or late."

"But in my eyes, all of you are vying for official positions!"

Zhu Changgan turned around and walked towards the harem after cursing, "Wang Chengen, the flowers in my back garden should be blooming, right?"

The ministers were left looking at each other in bewilderment.

These insults were so harsh that the scholars blushed and felt ashamed.

Among them were several ministers who were specially promoted, including He Ruchong, the former Minister of Rites, and Qian Xiangkun of the Zhanshi Mansion.

They stood up one by one.

"Your Majesty has changed!" Wen Zhenmeng, a core member of the Donglin Party, murmured as he looked at the emperor's back.

Qian Xiangkun's mouth twitched a few times and he sighed, "Yes, he has changed. Your Majesty speaks so harshly. He is no longer the "holy king" who respected the laws of his ancestors and followed the ways of the saints!"

Everyone had a different expression. The emperor no longer had as good a reputation as before, and they suddenly felt a little at a loss.

But what they could not imagine was that this was just the beginning. Next, the emperor would let them know what a terrible nightmare it would be for them to be a "shameless" emperor.

　It's hard to separate them, so I'll post a big chapter.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)