Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 63 Sand in the Eyes
The more Zhu Changgan looked back, the more distressed he felt. "Why did it have to be like this? Why did it have to be like this?"

Because the letter said that Qin Liangyu would not only bring soldiers but also money, and was willing to use all her property as military pay to make up for the shortage of military supplies caused by years of wars by the court.

This made Zhu Changgan blush, "No matter how good a general is, he can only do this, right?"

He even wondered whether he should reduce the number of white-pole soldiers by 10,000, but after thinking it over, he finally gave up the idea.

The White Spear Soldiers are Tusi soldiers, all of whom come from mountainous areas. They have good quality, spend little time on agriculture, have a martial spirit, and spend a long time training. Therefore, they have strong collaborative combat capabilities and fierce fighting power.

The overall quality is better than that of the soldiers recruited from the northern Zhili region and refugees.

The white pole is equipped with a hook with a blade and a hard iron ring at the bottom, providing a more flexible and diverse combat method that can adapt to various battlefield environments and is particularly beneficial for mountain warfare.

The combat power of the White Spear Soldiers combined with artillery and muskets is much greater than that of single artillery or musket soldiers.

Zhu Changgan's eyes were red as he said, "Wang Chengen, write a letter for me and tell General Qin that I am very pleased that he is devoted to the country. However, I have already made arrangements for the food and salary issues. You don't need to use your family assets. You can also recruit more Tusi soldiers in the southwest, and I will pay for all expenses..."

Tusi armed forces similar to the White Spear Soldiers are common in the southwest region.

The training cost of Tusi soldiers is low and they are well trained, but the funds invested in them are not much and their equipment is far inferior to that of the Liao Army and the Guanning Army. However, in terms of combat effectiveness, they are not inferior to the Eight Banners Army of the Qing Dynasty. This is because they rely on their high fighting spirit.

After the battle between the Later Jin soldiers and the White Spear Soldiers, they all gave high praise, saying, "The Ming infantry are all elite soldiers, brave and good at fighting, and they will never retreat."

"I should treat these soldiers well!" Zhu Changgan sighed.

It is a pity that the Ming Dynasty had such good generals and such good soldiers, but it was destroyed in this way.

We can’t let them be betrayed by their own people and wiped out like they did in the bloody battle of Hunhe River.

"Twenty thousand Jinyiwei, fifteen thousand Yongweiying, and twenty thousand Baigan soldiers, less than sixty thousand... not enough!" Zhu Changgan murmured.

Political power comes from the barrel of a gun.

The Ming Dynasty is about to fall. Who do we hope can save it?
Should we rely on the Ministry of War controlled by the civilian group? Or should we put our hopes on the Liaodong warlords?

You can't rely on anyone, as they will only stab you in the back. You can only rely on yourself and build up an army directly under the leadership of the emperor.

Only when the army under his command is strong enough to crush the Liaodong warlords and the army controlled by civil officials, can the emperor establish absolute command over the Liaodong warlords.

This is also the reason why Zhu Changgan took action against the civil service group.

Only after the emperor had reorganized and established order in the court and seized the initiative from Zhang Lue could he truly implement the task of forming a direct central army.

Only then can the next series of integrations be carried out.

"Your Majesty, Li Ruo Lian requests to see you!"

"Let him in."

Soon, Li Ruolian walked in quickly from outside and saluted and replied: "Your Majesty, the second group of people have returned from Datong and have confirmed the evidence."

Zhu Changgan nodded, "Hold the troops for now, and wait until the court's affairs are settled before taking action!"

"Continue investigating these days. I hope that this time we won't do anything, but if we do, we'll strike with thunder and uproot it completely."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Ruolian suddenly thought of something, "Your Majesty, should we transfer the Jinyiwei and Yongweiying back from outside the city? There are so many letters in the capital that cannot be sent out, and it will take a long time..."

Zhu Changgan shook his head, "Not yet. The situation in the court is treacherous. Are the civil officials still not calm?"

"Your Majesty, the heads of the six ministries have gathered again today. I think... they may still be unwilling to give up!"

"Unwilling? How could they be willing?" Zhu Changgan said coldly.

As vested interests, it is never easy for them to give up the food they have eaten.

This was his first confrontation with the civil service group, but it was also a crucial one.

If you can go further, you will have a say in the court.

Only by having a say in the court can one start the next series of resource integration.

Zhu Changgan clenched his fist and said, "Now that I have a knife in my hand, I will definitely kill the fattest pig!"

In the 47th year of the Wanli reign, the Ming Dynasty launched the Battle of Sarhu, which lasted only two months and during which the Ming Dynasty lost 60,000 people. But from then on, the Ming Dynasty could no longer afford to fight because of its financial exhaustion and insufficient national strength.

Just for the nine border garrisons, one garrison, one commander, two deputy commanders, four commanders-in-chief, five chief centurions, ten deputy centurions, fifty centurions, eleven garrisons, and five thousand soldiers, the annual salary was 68000 shi of grain.

There were approximately 3000 military garrisons in the entire Ming Dynasty, which amounted to more than million dan of grain. By the Chongzhen period, the military settlement system had long since disappeared, and the army could not be supplied at all, so the court had to mobilize and transport grain.

If one stone of rice in the capital city costs five taels of silver, the money he has is less than one-tenth of it.

Of course, during the Chongzhen period, the full strength of a guard was 5,000, but the actual number of people was less than 1,000, and some guards even had less than 100 people.

However, the officers of the garrisons demanded money from the court according to the full quota, which made the court even more unwilling to allocate food and wages, and the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty became less and less capable of fighting. This was just the garrisons in various places. Now, the officials inside and outside the court have not been paid for two years.

Where does the money come from?
Under the control of the civil service group, the Ming Dynasty extorted money from the people, which led to the additional Liao salary, suppression salary and training salary.

What’s even more disgusting is that the increase in burden is not as simple as increasing it by 1.4 times.

No corrupt official at any level will miss this great opportunity to take advantage of others and will definitely make a fortune.

After being exploited by landlords of all sizes and levied additional taxes by bureaucrats and local officials, the burden on the common people may have exceeded 70%, or even %.

How can we suppress the rebels when we are so cruel and drive the people to become bandits?
But on the contrary, the civil servants and gentry were very rich, and all the money went into their pockets.

For example, there was a good official in the Jiajing period who had a good reputation, Xu Jie.

It was he who brought down Yan Song. He seemed to be incorruptible, but he owned 400,000 acres of land in his hometown of Nanzhili. Basically, more than 70% of the land in the county belonged to him.

This is just Xu Jie's family. What about his relatives, friends, and servants? Basically 90% of the county is owned by his family.

Even a good official like Xu Jie is like this, so those officials with bad reputations really don't let people survive.

Moreover, the bureaucrats and gentry in the civil service group do not have to pay any tax on their land and have certain judicial immunities.

The country wants to fight in Liaodong, and needs to raise food and money to suppress the bandits. Where will it get the money?
The burden can only be passed on to the self-cultivating farmers and poor peasants. When natural disasters and man-made calamities strike, the self-cultivating farmers go bankrupt and can no longer survive, so they can only revolt.

If Zhu Changgan wanted to break the "Three Taxes" that were a series of ropes around the neck of the Ming Dynasty, he naturally had to face the civil service group that wove these ropes.

……

At this moment, at the Prince Xiang's Palace, there were carriages and horses heading towards the county examination site.

In fact, Prince Xiang's mansion was not far from the county examination site, and there was no need to go to so much trouble. However, the parents' orders could not be disobeyed, and Prince Xiang insisted, so Chongzhen had to give up.

"My Qilin, please take a nap. The long journey is not conducive to reading or writing. It is a good opportunity to rest for a while."

"Father, I... I'm really not tired!" Chongzhen said this but yawned.

He studied hard all night in the Qianqing Palace last night. Although he could exchange bodies, his mental distress could not be exchanged.

"Look, you said you're not sleepy. You must get enough rest before the exam. Your father believes in you." Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming forcibly covered him with a blanket. "Go to sleep. Your father is watching you here."

The wheel tracks rolled forward, and although Chongzhen said he was not sleepy, he soon could not lift his eyelids.

When he woke up again, he stretched unconsciously, "It's so comfortable!"

He slept particularly soundly this time. His mental state was better than ever before, and he had never felt so sound since he could remember. He fell into deep thought for a moment.

Why is this happening?
He thought for a long time before he opened the curtain and found that it was already past noon. He couldn't help but said anxiously: "Hong Tao...why didn't you call me? I still have some books to read!"

"The prince didn't let me call you!" Hong Tao was about to say something, but quickly lowered her head. It was Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming who came over first, and said with a delighted look on his face:
"My son, you are awake. Come, I will ask the cook to heat up the food for you. I am waiting for you to wake up!"

Chongzhen's face turned red, and he saw Prince Xiang also sitting down, ready to eat. He was surprised and asked, "Father, you...you haven't eaten yet?"

"No, I'm not waiting for you!"

Chongzhen stared at Prince Xiang in a daze, his eyes suddenly felt sore and red for no reason.

"My son, what happened?"

"No, it's just... there's sand in my eyes." Chongzhen raised his sleeves to cover his face, but was held back by Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming. "Don't rub the sand. Father will blow it out for you."

"Need not!"

"do not move……"

Chongzhen stood there in a daze, allowing Prince Xiang to open his eyes and look for sand seriously...but Chongzhen's tightly clenched hands betrayed his inner unrest.

Although Chongzhen usually expressed his impatience with Prince Xiang, at this moment, he suddenly found that he had already integrated into the life of Prince Xiang's mansion without knowing when.

"Okay, I didn't find any sand!" King Xiang smiled and stood further away. "My son is a modest gentleman, and he is outstanding. He will definitely pass the exam this time!"

Looking at Prince Xiang, Chongzhen was in a trance for a moment and couldn't help but shout, "Father!"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

"It's okay, I want to eat two more bowls!" Chongzhen quickly found an excuse to cover up his embarrassment.

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming's eyes widened and he said happily: "That's easy, father will serve you a few more bowls..."

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(End of this chapter)