Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 72 Chongzhen: I actually held back?
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Wang Chengen accepted the order and prepared to go out.

"Wait!" Zhu Changgan looked at the document signed by Su Yuehong and suddenly stopped him, "Ask the Jinyiwei to arrange a better temple for this woman."

In this cannibalistic age, nothing is more important to a woman than chastity.

Su Yuehong was defiled twice by Fan Yongdou and Dong Shilai. She probably has nothing to ask for except death. This is all she can do.

"Pity"

Wang Chengen looked at the emperor, his eyes rolling, "Your Majesty, otherwise."

Zhu Changgan's forehead suddenly darkened. "Nonsense, what are you thinking about?"

As an emperor, there are all kinds of women he can have, so why would he need to look for one like this?

He just felt sorry for the woman's ending. An originally happy family was destroyed in an instant, and the woman herself had no choice but to become a nun.

Zhu Changgan waved his hand and said, "Call Cao Huachun over to me."

Not long after, Cao Huachun arrived.

"Eunuch Cao Huachun pays respect to Your Majesty."

"Get up!" Zhu Changgan asked him, "The Yongwei Battalion has been recruiting people from the refugees every day these days. How many people do you have?"

"Your Majesty, there are eighteen thousand of them."

"After recruiting for so long, why are there still so few people?"

"Your Majesty, most refugees are in poor health, and only a few are qualified."

Zhu Changgan nodded helplessly, "Since the Yongwei Camp is still not full, I allow you to select a group of people from Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingma Division to fill the Yongwei Camp and Jing Camp."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

With Shuntian Prefecture and Wucheng Bingmasi in his hands, Zhu Changgan's control over the capital was further strengthened.

But what he cared more about was the combat effectiveness of the Yongwei Camp and the Jing Camp.

All struggles ultimately come down to the barrel of a gun.

Shuntian Prefecture has been abolished, and the person who can replace him must be carefully considered. He cannot be a waste like Dong Shilai. He must be loyal to the Ming Dynasty and be able to take on the responsibility.

Zhu Changgan thought of a person.

Shi Kefa!
He became a Jinshi in the first year of Chongzhen's reign, and later served as a magistrate in Xi'an Prefecture. He later went around to quell rebellions in various places. Even after Chongzhen was hanged on a crooked tree, he supported the Southern Ming regime.

Now he is the Censor-in-Chief, and is the governor of An, Lu, Chi, Tai and Henan.

Although Shi Kefa did not succeed in the end, his talent and firm belief are beyond doubt.

Beijing Camp,

The Seventy-Two Guards, which originated after Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital, later developed into the three major camps in the capital, namely the Five Army Camp, the Three Thousand Camp, and the Shenji Camp.

Three thousand years later, it was renamed Shenshu Camp and stationed outside Anding Gate.

With the death of Duke Chengguo Zhu Chunchen and a large number of nobles, the Beijing Camp was handed over to Li Banghua.

Zhu Changgan, surrounded by Wang Chengen and the young eunuchs, came to the outside of the Beijing camp. Before he got close, he heard deafening shouts of killing coming from inside.

"It seems that appointing Li Banghua is the right person." Zhu Changgan couldn't help but admire.

"Your Majesty, I heard that Li Banghua dismissed three of the six deputy generals under the three major battalions as soon as he took office. He also dismissed more than 100 officers out of the 367 officers in the 36 battalions below." Wang Chengen said with a smile.

Zhu Changgan's eyes lit up, "I didn't expect that Li Banghua, who seems to be so gentle and polite, could be so ruthless!"

"The military stronghold ahead! Long live His Majesty!" Before they entered the territory where the Beijing Camp was located, they were intercepted by people patrolling the camp.

When the leading general flag saw Wang Chengen, he immediately realized that the person sitting in the sedan chair was the current emperor, and he knelt down quickly to salute.

"Get up! Where is Admiral Li?"

"Reporting to Eunuch Wang, Admiral Li is in the tent."

"Lead the way."

With the general flag leading the way, they soon arrived at the military tent where Li Banghua was.

Li Banghua and the deputy generals and lieutenant generals of the Beijing camp knelt down and saluted, "Your Majesty, Li Banghua pays respect to you."

"Your Majesty, I, Zhuo Mingjun, pay my respects to you."

"minister,."

"Everyone, get up! I find that such a large Beijing camp is sparsely populated with not many people!" Zhu Changgan asked.

"Your Majesty, I have issued an order to all the troops in the Beijing camp. Soldiers in each camp must take the exam. No one will be recruited unless they are young and strong."

"In addition, the Beijing Camp also selected 25 vanguard soldiers and elite cavalry. Their military pay is twice that of other soldiers. They must be under years old and have a strength of more than kilograms. They must be able to use bows and arrows, spears, cannons, and muskets. They will be selected once a month to fill the vanguard camp. Those who are unqualified will be eliminated, and the excellent ones will be selected to join."

"In this way, everyone in each camp worked hard and made progress."

Zhu Changgan's eyes suddenly lit up, "Yes, competition can create vitality and quickly improve the combat effectiveness of soldiers."

"I knew that Meng An is a man of great talent. If you have any ideas, feel free to do them. I will support you."

Zhu Changgan immediately asked, "How is the training of artillery and muskets going?"

"Your Majesty, I have followed your instructions and listed artillery and muskets as top priorities, and they must be practiced every day." Li Banghua continued, "The flintlock rifles sent by the Arms Department are not only easier to use than before, but also more stable and will not explode. Soldiers are now willing to use them."

Following Li Banghua to the training ground of the Beijing camp, he watched the soldiers step forward and fire in unison, apparently they were already very skilled.

Zhu Changgan nodded and asked, "How many steps can the range reach now?"

"Your Majesty, the original flintlock rifle had a range of 60 steps, but the flintlock rifle sample just delivered can reach 120 steps."

"One hundred and twenty steps?" Zhu Changgan finally nodded, "We can go into battle now."

Yesterday, Song Yingxing sent a memorial, stating that the stable output of granular gunpowder by the Armory had further improved the range of the flintlock rifle.

After trying many times, they found that the front part of the projectile was not round enough, so they found a method of roller grinding and polishing, and the effect was quite good.

The introduction of granular gunpowder has doubled the combustion efficiency; coupled with the introduction of projectile molds, the projectiles have become more regular.

The one-plus-one effect directly increases the effective range to nearly 200 meters.

The sample flintlock rifle obtained by the Beijing Camp can reach more than 180 meters, it seems to be true!

It is just a sample right now and is still some distance away from mass production.

In addition, in terms of artillery, the Arms Department is also trying breech-loading cannons, and everything is moving in a better direction.

After the deputy generals and lieutenant generals left, Li Banghua finally told the emperor about his current difficulties, "Your Majesty, the original number of horses in the Beijing Camp was 26,000, but now there are only more than 1,500 left."

"Although I have organized a cavalry battalion, most of the soldiers have no horses, and a good cook cannot cook without rice."

Zhu Changgan narrowed his eyes, "Where are the horses?"

"Your Majesty, they have all been taken away. In the past, all officials could come to the Beijing Camp to borrow horses for official business. The governor, assistants, and inspectors all borrowed horses from the Beijing Camp. Some even bought them directly at a discount."

"Give me a list." Zhu Changgan said calmly, "I'll tell them to return the horses they borrowed from the Beijing camp."

"You must keep your eyes open and don't let them pass off inferior goods as good ones." Li Banghua's eyes suddenly lit up. He understood what the emperor meant. "Your Majesty, rest assured. I will have someone carefully identify them."

After inspecting the area, Zhu Changgan asked, "I heard that there are tens of thousands of hectares of farmland under the Beijing camp. Who is cultivating it now?"

"Your Majesty, I have taken back all the farmland and left only the young and strong in the barracks. I couldn't bear to abandon the old, weak, sick and disabled, so I let them go to the barracks to farm." Li Banghua continued: "The salary of these old, weak, sick and disabled is less than half of that of the young and strong in the regular camp, but they can still get enough food and clothing."

"how many people?"

"More than 3,600 people."

Zhu Changgan's eyes flickered. "I asked the Jinyiwei to go to Fujian to find a sweet potato crop. The news they sent back is that they are on the way. This year, don't let them sow the tens of thousands of hectares of land in your Beijing camp. Plant sweet potatoes instead."

"Ah? Your Majesty, the people in the capital can count on these lands for expenditures."

In Li Banghua's view, the national treasury had been empty for years, and the salaries of both the Beijing Camp and the soldiers in the Nine Frontiers had been delayed again and again, so the first priority for him when taking over the Beijing Camp was to cultivate the land himself.

Now, when he suddenly heard that the emperor was planning to set up military farms for him, he became anxious and angry.

"Don't worry, I will make sure that your soldiers in the Beijing camp will not only have enough to eat this year, but also have a surplus." Zhu Changgan whispered in his ear: "The yield of that thing is more than 1500 catties per mu."

"How much?" Li Banghua looked up suddenly and his tone became higher.

Then he suddenly realized that he had been rude, and quickly knelt down again, "Please forgive me, Your Majesty."

More than 1500 pounds? How is that possible?

Zhu Changgan could see the disbelief in his eyes, "How about I make a bet with you? If I lose, I will give you 500,000 taels of silver, but if you lose, you give up 50,000 acres of land in your family, how about that?"

Li Banghua's whole body trembled violently.
How does Your Majesty know that there are 50,000 acres of land in your hometown?

in the afternoon,

The horses' hooves of the Embroidered Uniform Guards once again stomped on the streets of the capital, but the people seemed to have gradually gotten used to it. They were no longer so surprised, but instead became more curious.

"Which corrupt official is your Majesty going to punish?"

"Of course, someone is not doing their job."

"Please help me watch the stall for a while, I'll go over to take a look." Old Liu, the vegetable seller, stood on tiptoe and couldn't help but look into the mansion of an official.

The fall of the Shuntian prefect was exposed in the Ming Times on the same day, and the people were all indignant.

We agreed that when Dong Shilai was beheaded in the autumn, we would go together to throw away the rotten eggs and cabbage stalks.

After a while, the vegetable seller Old Liu came out and said, "I heard that these officials borrowed horses from the Beijing camp, and now the Jinyiwei is here to collect them."

"Hey, these bastards, they have cars and horses at home, but they are borrowing horses from the Beijing camp. Isn't this using public horses for personal purposes?"

"Who will use the stallion for private use? Let his concubine use it?"

"Haha~~"

As soon as these words were spoken, there was a burst of laughter.

Inside the county examination hall of Xiangyang Prefecture.

Chongzhen had already finished writing by this time. In this place where he couldn't lift his head or stretch his legs, he really wanted to hand in the paper.

But in the end he resisted the urge to hand in the paper early.

Because before entering the examination room, Mr. Dugu repeatedly reminded: "Even if you have finished the exam, do not hand in your paper in advance. Do not be arrogant because of your talent. This is the rule of the examination room.

"If I hand in the paper early, wouldn't that imply that the questions given by County Magistrate Wang were too easy? Wouldn't that be a way to seduce County Magistrate Wang?"

What's more, today is only the first day, and there are four sessions in total. The first session is the main session, the second session is the initial review, the third session is the re-review, and the fourth session is the re-review.

Each exam lasts for one day. Roll call is required before dawn and the papers must be submitted on the same day.

But when he turned his head, he suddenly discovered that the Young Master Liu who had not been searched before was actually rummaging through his clothes, flipping them once, and then writing something.

Not only him, there was also a fat guy in the Tianzihao who was rolling up his sleeves, taking out a cheat sheet from it, and copying something with sweat all over his forehead.

He immediately realized what the other party was doing and shouted loudly: "Someone is cheating, sir, someone is cheating."

The guy named Liu Gongzi's face suddenly changed when he heard this, and he cursed at Chongzhen: "Good boy, you don't want to live anymore, right?"

The fat man also glared at him, wishing he could eat him, "Boy, just wait for me."

Soon, the lawyer came with the officials, but after he came, he did not search that Master Liu. Instead, he came directly to Chongzhen, picked up his pen, dipped it in ink, and pressed it on the test paper he had already written.

"It's dirty, so you don't need to be registered. Do you want to get out on your own? Or do you want me to ask you to get out?"

"You" Chongzhen's face turned green.

The master looked at him, narrowing his green eyes, "Once you enter the exam, you must abide by the rules, one of which is not to make noise."

"Get out of here!"

Several officers suddenly grabbed him and tried to drag him out. County Magistrate Wang, who was lying in the room, heard the commotion outside and couldn't help asking, "What's going on?"

"Your Excellency, there is a student outside." An officer quickly explained the whole story.

County Magistrate Wang stood up and took a look outside. "It's quite interesting. Who would have thought that the prince of this palace would be so hateful of evil?"

"Shall we help him?"

"What's the point of helping such a frivolous guy? Why is there any clever tricks for a person who can't leave his fiefdom for his entire life?" County Magistrate Wang shook his head and prepared to lie down again to sleep.

Suddenly, I remembered something. "Tell Master Zhang to keep the person here. We still have to give face to Mr. Dugu."

Although he was only a county magistrate, he was not really afraid of the Prince of Xiang's Mansion. In fact, the Prince of Xiang's Mansion was afraid that the local officials would make trouble for him. If they stuffed a dragon robe into his house or submitted a memorial to the emperor, the palace would be finished.

But Mr. Dugu has a student who is a second-rank official in the court. If Mr. Dugu offends him, what if Mr. Dugu sends a letter to that student? Wouldn’t he have one more enemy in the court?
Upon hearing this, the officer trotted out, came to Chongzhen who was about to be kicked out, and whispered a few words in the ear of the lawyer.

Master Zhang glanced at him and said, "Since the county magistrate pleaded for you, you can go back. But if you don't know what's good for you, don't blame me for being rude."

Chongzhen stared at him with fiery eyes, clenched his fingers, and the blue veins on his forehead throbbed.

after all,

He silently said in his heart: "He who lacks strong will cannot achieve wisdom, and he who does not keep his word cannot achieve success."

"My primary goal is to go to the capital. You can't give up easily. Wait until I return to Kyoto."

Chongzhen gritted his teeth and returned to his seat angrily. At this time, the sky had begun to darken and the time to collect the papers was approaching. All he had to do now was to quickly write another article.

Just as Chongzhen finished writing, the person who collected the papers came over, glanced at him, and then took the paper away.

He exhaled lightly, "That was a close call!"

Watching the examination room slowly quiet down,

Chongzhen was suddenly stunned. "Faced with such a situation today, how could I hold back?"

Looking at his hands, in the past he would have lost his mind in anger.

"What's the problem?" Chongzhen asked himself blankly, "I don't seem to be so impatient and angry anymore, and I don't want to kill people at will?!"

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(End of this chapter)