Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 51 Redundant Staff in the Beijing Camp
The first thing Chongzhen did when he returned to the Qianqing Palace was to ask Wang Chengen to bring him pen, ink, paper and inkstone.

"Your Majesty, everything is ready!" Wang Chengen stepped forward to help the emperor spread out the paper and grind the ink.

Watching the emperor start writing his article meticulously.

I couldn't help but scratch my head.

I thought to myself: Your Majesty's illness has relapsed. He is not as irritable as he was a few days ago, but he has started studying eight-legged essays again!

"Your Majesty, which palace are we going to tonight?" Wang Chengen was responsible for the emperor's food, clothing, and daily life. These days, Chongzhen frequently went in and out of the harem, and Wang Chengen had formed a habit.

Every evening, two red lanterns were hung at the entrance of the palace where the concubines lived.

When the emperor visited a certain palace, the lanterns at the entrance of that palace would be taken down first. Then the people patrolling the streets east and west would notify the nine palaces in turn to take down the lanterns and rest, and there was no need to wait any longer.

"Today I will study hard under the lamp and will not enter the harem." Chongzhen said, and suddenly raised his head, "How is the selection of concubines going?"

"Your Majesty, I have already chosen it, but I haven't had time to show it to you yet."

Chongzhen frowned and said, "I won't watch it anymore. It won't be too late to watch it tomorrow."

He pondered for a moment, then asked, "Which of the twelve eastern and western palaces are still empty?"

The front and back palaces of the Ming Dynasty Forbidden City are separated by the Qianqing Gate.

The area north of Qianqing Gate is the harem, where the emperor and his concubines live. The concubines live mainly in the twelve palaces on the east and west sides.

"Your Majesty, the Qixiang Palace, Ciqing Palace and Yonghe Palace are all empty." Wang Chengen reported truthfully.

Chongzhen nodded. Qixiang Palace was where Emperor Wanli and his wife lived for a long time, so it was naturally empty.

Ciqing Palace was empty and was prepared to be used by the crown prince to live there.

Yonghe Palace, where Queen Zhou invited herself to admire the flowers and reconcile with Concubine Tian, ​​is now empty.

Chongzhen tapped the table with his fingers, "What's the surname of the new concubine?"

"Your Majesty, our surnames are Chen!"

"After Concubine Chen enters the palace, she will not be allowed to enter any of the twelve palaces. She can... just be allowed to stay in Chenghua Palace."

"Uh..." Wang Chengen was suddenly stunned. The twelve east and west palaces were not fully occupied, so they were not arranged here, but in Chenghua Palace?

This place is located inside Huiyin Gate, behind Ciqing Palace, and is an annex building of the East Palace.

There are four palaces in total, including Chenghua Palace and the familiar Xuqin Palace, which was where Emperor Chongzhen lived before he left the palace.

"Your Majesty, this is against regulations." Wang Chengen knelt on the ground, looking embarrassed.

"Why are you talking so much? Just do as I say!" Chongzhen scolded impatiently, "Close the door when you leave."

……

The next morning,

When Zhu Changgan appeared in the Qianqing Palace again, he was already attending the court meeting again.

Zhu Changgan was speechless about Chongzhen's insistence on holding court meetings.

However, due to Wen Tiren's resignation, not only was there no one absent from today's court meeting, but the court was packed with people.

But today, none of them spoke much, whether it was about Liaodong affairs or matters within the imperial court, very few people stood up to speak.

Even those censors of the Censorate who had stood up passionately to impeach everyone fell silent today.

Because Qian Qianyi died.

These censors were not concerned with impeaching other people today; they just wanted to go to pay their respects after the court session.

It's not that they don't want to make trouble, but they asked people from the Ministry of Justice to check, but they didn't find any injuries.

In the end, he could only travel from Changshu to Kyoto. He was exhausted and terribly tired, and the cold invaded him, so he fell ill and died.

The Minister of Rites Huang Shijun and others showed their worries. The imperial power was further growing, and the situation of the ruler being strong and the ministers being weak continued... This was not a good sign for the ministers.

However, Wen Tihen was dismissed from office, Duke Cheng was killed, and Qian Qianyi died, which suddenly divided the power in the court from the original three or four forces into the current many small forces.

Huang Shijun felt that something was very wrong. It seemed that every step of the court affairs fell into the trap prepared by the emperor, and the ominous premonition was intensifying.

He looked around and opened his mouth several times, but in the end he didn't stand up. It's hard to do it alone, if you want to make trouble, you have to contact more people to stand up.

There were many people who had the same idea as him. Among them, several nobles had shining eyes and were thinking in their hearts, as the weather is getting warmer, can His Majesty take a boat trip on the lake?
Wang Chengen looked at everyone and said, "If nothing else, we can leave the court!"

……

Huang Shijun came out of the court and walked home worriedly. He happened to meet a group of people passing by in front of him, and his eyes suddenly narrowed.

The driver hurried to catch up, and it turned out that one of the people being escorted was Wen Tiren.

"Lord Wen!"

Wen Tiren raised his head, his eyes suddenly brightened, "Brother Liangtan!"

He wanted to rush over, but was whipped back by the soldiers. It was only after Huang Shijun had someone give the soldiers ten taels of silver that he was given some time to talk.

Wen Tiren crawled to Huang Shijun's side and said, "Brother Liangtan, did His Majesty mention me during the court meeting today?"

His eyes were filled with infinite hope, but when he saw Huang Shijun shaking his head, all the luster suddenly disappeared.

The color drained from his cheeks, and his mouth was filled with bitterness. "I should have listened to you earlier. Neither of us could see clearly that His Majesty is no longer the same His Majesty as before."

Huang Shijun told Wen Tiren about what happened in the court today, but Wen Tiren suddenly raised his head and said, "Hurry up, hurry up. Your Majesty is moving the chess pieces too fast. If the ministers in the court cannot unite, it will be too late to regret it!"

"I only hate that I did..."

The soldiers rushed over and shouted, "The time has come. We can't afford to miss the opportunity!"

"Take care, Brother Changqing!" Huang Shijun looked at Wen Tiren who was being dragged away, and a sudden enlightenment came to his heart.

"We have to move faster. The imperial power is growing too fast."

……

In the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Changgan summoned Li Banghua again.

"Meng An, did the Beijing Camp take over smoothly?"

"Your Majesty, with the Jinyiwei and Yongwei Battalion beside us, I have taken over smoothly." Li Banghua saluted and said, "But after sorting it out, I found that the Beijing Battalion has more problems than when I was the commander of the Beijing Battalion."

"Oh, how much worse than before?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, more than half of the soldiers are in service, and six or seven out of ten are fake. The three camps have more than 100,000 soldiers, more than half of whom are old, weak, sick and disabled. In addition, there are also idle soldiers and hired soldiers..."

Soldiers were required to perform labor for the generals. In a small camp, more than half of the soldiers were such soldiers.

Impersonation means that there is no such person in the army, so the generals, nobles, eunuchs, and powerful people use their own servants to impersonate able-bodied men in the army and receive a high salary every month.

Zhu Changgan's eyes narrowed suddenly. "Excluding those who have occupied military service, those who have made false claims, and the old, weak, sick and disabled, how many young and strong people are there?"

"Your Majesty, less than 30,000!"

Zhu Changgan laughed angrily, "Well, out of the more than 100,000 Beijing troops, less than 30,000 can fight. What kind of combat effectiveness can we talk about?"

But it’s a good thing this way. With 30,000 soldiers, we can save military expenses.

"What do you need me to provide you with?" Zhu Changgan asked with a sharp gaze.

"Your Majesty, I need food and money, and besides..."

Li Banghua then proposed nine things, including changing the training method, carefully selecting officers, modifying chariots, refining gunpowder, concentrating weapons, assigning responsibilities to defense officers, saving money, exchanging horses as appropriate, and practicing artillery.

"Approved!" Zhu Changgan thought for a moment, "I can give you food and money, but the Beijing Army does not need 30,000 straw men. Train them well for me. I don't care what method you use to train these 30,000 Beijing Army soldiers. After a month, I want you to keep only half of the elite soldiers."

It is true that he has 10 million taels of silver in his hand, but every penny must be used wisely. In the Beijing camp, there are many nobles, but many who just want to get by, so the first thing is to eliminate these people.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Wait for Li Banghua to leave,

Zhu Changgan tapped his fingers, thinking about how to place Sun Chengzong. Although he was "specially appointed" to the cabinet and granted the title of Wenyuan Pavilion Grand Secretary, his actual position had not yet been determined...

　The previous chapter was blocked a bit, so it may not be so smooth. After the revision, I dare not change it easily again. I hope you can forgive me.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)