Ming Empire

Chapter 44

"Cheng En, look at this Cao Yue. After arriving in Datong, there was such a big commotion, and 5000 soldiers were recruited at once," Emperor Chongzhen frowned, pointing to the memorial of Cao Yue on the case. , and said to Wang Chengen beside him in a strange voice: "It seems that this kid is quite courageous. He dares to do things like this at a young age. He has a lot of desires. I must be on guard!"

Wang Chengen glanced at Emperor Chongzhen cautiously, seeing that the emperor did not show any particularly angry expression, and knew that the emperor was not very dissatisfied with Cao Yue's actions, so he replied in a low voice: "Long live Lord, originally there were more than 3 soldiers in Datong Prefecture. , Cao Yue wants to recruit [-] people, and it is not too outrageous. Datong and Xuanfu are the two major gates of Beijing, and there must be many soldiers, otherwise there will be trouble when the slaves attack. The battle of Songshan, The soldiers and horses in Datong and Xuanfu towns have suffered huge losses, and there is no way to defend the city with only the current strength."

"It's true, Datong is not only the main way to build slaves to attack, but also the main way to defend against thieves!" Emperor Chongzhen nodded slightly, but he was still not at ease, "Cao Yue is from Datong, and Cao Wenzhao is in Datong. He also has a solid foundation, I am afraid that he will become the emperor of Datong by then."

"Long live Lord, actually don't worry too much. The slave feels that as long as one or two more deputy commanders and generals are appointed to restrain Cao Yue, Zhang An, the supervisor of Datong, is also loyal to Long live Lord. With them restraining Cao Yue, then Nothing will happen!" Wang Chengen continued to advise Emperor Chongzhen, "Isn't there still a Dai Wang in Datong? When necessary, the Dai Wang can suppress Cao Yue."

Hearing what Wang Chengen said, Emperor Chongzhen frowned, "It makes sense!"

The Dai Wang Zhu Chuan? (Left Fire Right Qi) fief is in Datong. As the clan king, although Zhu Chuan? cannot interfere with local military and political affairs, it is still a breeze to suppress a local official.Wang Chengen's reminder also made Chongzhen think of using this clan king to control Cao Yue. If he used it well, it would not only make Cao Yue miserable, but also make Zhu Chuanyu troublesome.

"Also, if Cao Yue trains an elite army, Long Live Lord can send another person to take over and become the elite force that His Majesty personally controls," Wang Chengen continued to advise Emperor Chongzhen, "Long Live Lord can find any reason to send Cao Yue to other places. place to go."

This proposal by Wang Chengen made Emperor Chongzhen's eyes light up, and the corners of his mouth twitched unconsciously.Wang Chengen's plan to draw salary from the bottom is really vicious.Chongzhen was already thinking about what Cao Yue would look like in pain when he found an opportunity to pick a pick.

"Long Live Lord, it's still okay," Wang Chengen said, whispering in Emperor Chongzhen's ear, "Long Live Lord can let Cao Yue's family members come to Beijing or go to Nanjing, so that he will lose his support. If you have an idea, you don’t dare to make a decision lightly.”

"It's not bad." Emperor Chongzhen's brows were completely stretched. After thinking about it, he said to Wang Chengen: "Isn't Cao Wenzhao's second son a hereditary guard in Jinyi? Let him go to Nanjing to serve, Cao Yue Other family members can also go to Nanjing!"

Emperor Chongzhen did not want Cao Chao to come to Beijing to serve. After all, Jinyiwei was a secret service agency of the Ming Dynasty. The emperor’s hawks and dogs, Jinyiwei’s affairs were not low. If he came to Beijing, he might make friends with many dignitaries in the court. It would not be good if Cao’s power increased greatly. , Let Cao Chao go to Nanjing to work.

If Cao Yue really trains an elite army in Datong, he will, according to Wang Chengen, find a reason to appoint Cao Yue to other positions, and send another person to take over as the commander-in-chief of Datong. Will not fight against the court, do not listen to the court's will.

Well, it’s not bad to let Cao Yue go to Nanjing. Let him go to Nanjing to continue his military training, and then give him a higher reward, or simply announce that he will marry Aunt Zhu. Then Cao Yue will not dare to complain, maybe he will have no choice. , completely obey the imperial court.

In an instant, Emperor Chongzhen had thought of several strategies to make Cao Yue obediently obey his orders.

Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen was overjoyed and couldn't help but smile.

"Your Majesty is wise!" Wang Chengen immediately flattered him.

With countermeasures in place, Emperor Chongzhen immediately issued an order, allowing Cao Yue's recruitment plan, and giving the Datong soldiers led by Cao Yue a limit of [-] soldiers.He also praised Cao Yue in the imperial decree, asking Cao Yue to train his troops well, and strive to train an elite army for the court as soon as possible.

The text of the Ministry of War was quickly delivered to Datong, and some symbolic money, food, armor and other supplies needed by the sergeants were also sent to Datong.

Emperor Chongzhen approved his recruitment plan without any censure. Cao Yue was quite surprised, and he faintly felt that there was something wrong with it.After all, after he reported the recruitment plan and the actual situation of the recruitment, it was very difficult for officials such as the governor of Shanxi and the chief envoy, because nearly 4 people were recruited at once, and the imperial court could not provide them with money, food or armor, and there were so many soldiers and horses. It is also easy to imagine.Unexpectedly, the court did not have any words to refute him, and gave him a quota of [-] soldiers, which made Cao Yue puzzled.

But Cao Yue couldn't figure out what was wrong.

Can't figure it out, Cao Yue didn't try to speculate on Chongzhen's thoughts, since the imperial court approved his recruitment plan and the current scale, he will train hard and train a team of elite soldiers who can recruit and fight well, so that everything will be happy.

The money and food allocated by the imperial court are only symbolic. The Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of War, the governor of Shanxi, the chief envoy, and the prefect of Datong will not, let alone solve the military salary. Cao Yue knows this very well.He didn't expect to get the money and food provided by the court, and everything was settled by himself.

Since the imperial court had given a quota of [-] soldiers, Cao Yue didn't waste it, and continued to recruit soldiers until the quota of [-] was full.

After the recruiting was over, Wu Ming, a deputy commander-in-chief appointed by the Cao court, and two deputy generals Gao Qing and Zhu Yang also arrived in Datong successively. Together with Zhang Tai, the deputy commander-in-chief who had stayed in Datong, the leading generals of the town troops in Datong Prefecture were also basically in place.

Zhang Tai was also from Datong. He had served as the deputy general of Datong for many years. After Wang Pu led his army to Liaodong, he stayed in Datong with an illness and escaped by accident.Zhang Tai was originally a subordinate of Cao Wenzhao, and he became the deputy general of Datong through Cao Wenzhao's support.

Because of Cao Wenzhao's relationship and Cao Yue's legendary experience during this period, Zhang Tai still listened to Cao Yue's words very much, and almost became Cao Yue's most capable assistant in the military camp.After all, Zhang Tai was more familiar with the situation in Datong than Cao Yue, and Cao Yue was in charge of all affairs in the barracks.

Fifty thousand soldiers, according to the military system of the Ming Dynasty, Cao Yue organized them into ten battalions, each battalion was full of [-] soldiers, and the generals of each battalion were appointed by Cao Yue.In addition to the deputy generals and deputy generals appointed by the imperial court, the other deputy generals, generals Qian, and generals of the town soldiers of Datong Mansion were all nominated and appointed by Cao Yue.

The first battalion is the firearms battalion, with Cao Jie, Cao Yue's most trusted general, serving as the general. The training of this battalion will be in charge of himself.Cao Yue plans to install firearms in the second and third battalions as well, but the number of firearms is insufficient now, and the number of qualified sergeants is not many, so we will plan later.

There are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under him. Although they are recruits just recruited, Cao Yue is already full of pride.The opportunity to change the world has quietly come to him, he must grasp it well, no matter what, he must hold this army in his own hands.

Cao Jie, Zhao Liang, Cao San, Cao Neng, Wu Xin and other cronies who have just been promoted, as well as the deputy general Zhao Tai, Cao Yue is confident that he can control them. , can also handle them.

But what Cao Yue didn't expect was that Wu Ming, another deputy general, and two deputy generals Gao Qing and Zhu Yang were tasked with supervising and restraining him. It is destined to be impossible to be monolithic.

But they had just arrived, and Cao Yue was ordered by the emperor to recruit soldiers for training. At the beginning, these few people would not brazenly sing against Cao Yue.

After the recruitment was over, the military training action that Cao Yue personally formulated also officially began.

(End of this chapter)