prosperous age

"Today, a Liaodong caravan came over and said they had brought two thousand-year-old wild ginseng. The younger one hurried over to see the goods, and forgot about it. Please punish me, master."

"When did they come here, did you say what it was for?"

Wei Guangde ignored Zhang Ji's explanation, but asked directly.

"Say later, it should be after dinner."

In the Ming Dynasty, it was Shen time for officials to disperse, that is, around four o'clock in the afternoon.

And their dinner time is usually at six o'clock in the afternoon, which is the time for family meals.

Of course, except for the banquet, after all, it is not a meal, but for entertainment, and the time of the host, especially the guests, needs to be considered.

Although the means of transportation in ancient times were backward, the size of the city was small, and it was almost impossible to have traffic jams. Therefore, the officials basically chatted with their colleagues after leaving the office, and then returned home, just washing their faces Just have dinner.

Life, in fact, is quite regular.

Wei Guangde returned to the backyard and had dinner with his family not long after.

After teasing the children in the yard for a while, I went to the study alone.

Not long after, Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang came hand in hand.

He was taken to the study by Zhang Ji, and after serving tea and pastries, he left the house.

"Brother Zili, Yuan Jing, is there something wrong with the Beijing camp when you come today?"

After exchanging pleasantries, Wei Guangde asked directly.

Tan Lun was from his hometown, he was much older, and he was a senior in the examination room, so Wei Guangde had to respect him a lot.

As for Qi Jiguang and Wu Fu, naturally, there is no need to pay too much attention to him, even if he is very famous in later generations, so he directly calls him to express his closeness.

"Shan Loan, at the beginning, I only heard that the Beijing camp was too tired to be used. During this period of time, I went to the three major battalions to take a closer look, and only then did I realize where the fatigue is. It can hardly be called an army."

Tan Lun opened his mouth to speak, but after he finished speaking, he seemed to feel something was wrong, so he added: "Now the three major battalions of the Beijing Normal University, only the Shenji Battalion looks a bit better, and the Shenshu Battalion and the Fifth Army Battalion are really rotten. up.

The Shenshu Battalion, that is, the First Battalion of the Red Helmets, can barely be seen, and the others are not decent. It may be difficult to gather tens of thousands of people to hold a grand parade. "

"There are more than one hundred thousand people on the book, and tens of thousands can't be selected?"

Wei Guangde asked in shock.

"First, let's talk about the Shenji Battalion, which can barely be called an army. It should have 5000 troops at full capacity, but the actual number is less than 4000. Among them, there should be 1000 cavalrymen, but there are actually only more than [-] people. There are also a few gunners and gunners. hundred difference.

However, the vacancies in the Shenji Battalion have already been allocated from the Fifth Army Battalion. Do you know how to make up for it?
Almost all the soldiers with combat power in the Fifth Army Battalion were selected in sevens and eighties. In the eyes of Yuan Jing, the so-called fierce soldiers in the Fifth Army Battalion had almost no combat power at all. Difficult to gain momentum. "

Tan Lun sighed.

"How could this be?"

Wei Guangde didn't believe it, "Your Majesty went on tour before, and I think the troops transferred from the Beijing camp are quite strong."

"They were all temporarily selected from the third battalion, not the first battalion."

Tan Lun replied.

"Then how many soldiers and horses are there in the Beijing camp? Ten thousand, or twenty thousand?"

Wei Guangde asked worriedly.

The grand reading was a matter of getting Emperor Longqing's nod, but if it was not done well and the emperor lost face, Wei Guangde dared not imagine how serious the consequences would be.

Moreover, in the eyes of outsiders, Wei Guangde actually snatched this job from Zhang Juzheng.

After all, when he proposed the parade in the capital to boost the morale of the Ming army, he did not mention it to the public at the time. He planned to wait for Tan Lun and Qi Jiguang to find out the family background of the Beijing camp before making it public.

Who would have thought that Zhang Juzheng would suddenly publish "Chen Liushi Shu", which also mentioned the resumption of the grand parade.

It is very simple for later generations to use military parades to boost morale, and the Soviet Union held military parades every year.

But at this time, although everyone knew this truth, no one refined it and summed it up. This is also Wei Guangde's confidence as an official.

Many things, everyone knows that it is beneficial to do it, but no theoretical concept has been formed.

Unlike later generations, many things have actually been studied thoroughly, and they are explained and explained from the aspects of psychology and sociology.

To Wei Guangde's question, Tan Lun did not answer this time, but looked at Qi Jiguang.

"Old Huige, there are more than 1 people in total. In addition to filling up the Shenji Battalion, the Shenshu Battalion is only enough for half of the soldiers."

The Shenshu Camp they talked about was actually the Three Thousand Camp during the time of Cheng Zu Zhu Di.

The [-] Battalion was originally a pure cavalry unit composed of Mongolian soldiers. Because the Mongols rode on horseback for a long time, their combat effectiveness was good.

But up to now, there are almost no Mongolian soldiers in the Ming army, and even if there are, they have been cut off by the frontier generals for military merit.

Therefore, Sanqianying existed in name only during the Jiajing Dynasty, so it was directly renamed Shenshuying at the end of Jiajing.

After the chariots played an important role in several border battles, the Beijing camp also began to organize the chariot battalion. Thus, the 500 battalion transformed into the Shenshu battalion. In the third battalion, the red-helmed generals with more than [-] people and the Mingjia generals with [-] people can only be downsized because of insufficient horses.

Because the Shenshu Camp had mobilized a large number of troops from the Fifth Army Battalion, there should have been 7 people on the books, but in reality it was only more than [-] people.

After Qi Jiguang explained in detail, Wei Guangde realized that if the old and the weak were eliminated, it would probably be the size of the Shenji Camp, with only [-] people.

Before, Qi Jiguang, as the deputy general of Shenji Camp, didn't know much about Shenshu Camp, so he was full of confidence when Wei Guangde said Dayue.

But now, after following Tan Lun to understand the Beijing camp in detail, he became at a loss.

Wei Guangde understands that the biggest trouble in rebuilding the Beijing camp now is the lack of good soldiers, and the old, weak and disabled soldiers in the original Beijing camp should not be counted on.

"Yuan Jing, I remember you trained recruits in Zhejiang, known as the 'Qi Family Army', what's the situation now."

The local soldiers were not good enough, so Wei Guangde naturally thought of transferring Qi's army from the south.

These people were trained by Qi Jiguang, and after they came to the capital, no matter whether they entered the Shenji Camp or the Shenshu Camp, they should be able to complete the adaptation easily.

As for the Fifth Army Battalion, it's better to forget it, and count as much as there are at that time. If it doesn't work, we will increase the frontier army and Jizhen soldiers to make up for it.

Wei Guangde was thinking about how to fool him, while Qi Jiguang had an embarrassing look on his face.

Soon, Wei Guangde noticed, and immediately asked: "Is there something hidden?"

"Old Wei Ge, the so-called Qi family's army has always appeared in the name of volunteer soldiers, because they don't get paid, and they all rely on the battlefield to get rewards.

At the beginning and end of the transfer to the north, I had the intention to bring people here, but the rewards and combat environment in the north are different from those in the south, and it is difficult to gather and annihilate the Tartars in the north, and it is difficult to obtain their heads, so most of them are unwilling to come to the north. "

Qi Jiguang replied.

"If you don't take the military pay to get rewards, then how much money does your Qi's army get compared to the Beijing camp's military pay?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

He had never studied the Qi Family Army, only heard that they were an established mercenary army, and some people even bluntly said that the so-called Qi Family Army was Qi Jiguang's private soldiers, and their income was far higher than that of the highest-paid battalion soldiers in the Ming Army.

Such a model caused dissatisfaction among other Ming troops during the campaign to aid Korea, and also led to the occurrence of the "Jizhou Mutiny" because of the "arrears" of huge military salaries.

The so-called last Qi family army in the bloody battle of Hunhe was nothing more than thousands of troops temporarily recruited from Zhejiang by Qi Jiguang's nephew. After half a year of training, they rushed into the battlefield.

You know, at that time, the Ming Dynasty had just won a huge victory against the Japanese in North Korea, and the pirates along the coast were almost extinct. Zhejiang no longer needed to keep a strong military force to guard against enemies at sea.

But even the newly formed army, after being trained according to the training method of Qi's army, still exploded with strong combat power.

"It's more than twice as high as the full salary of Beijing Camp."

Qi Jiguang said with some embarrassment that the reason why he stated that he was fully paid was because he was worried that Wei Guangde would misunderstand, thinking that only the full salary of the Beijing camp could be used to recruit Zhejiang soldiers to go north.

In fact, if it wasn't for his explanation, Wei Guangde might really think that the full salary of the Beijing camp is enough.

One must know that the military pay of the Beijing Camp and the Nine Sides is the highest among all the troops of the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, the soldiers are dissatisfied with the achievement. Generally, the three or four achievements are already very high, and most of them are only two or three percent.

The highest salary rate in the Beijing camp may also be due to the lack of a layer of local exploitation.

However, the military expenditure of the Qi family army is more than double that of the Beijing camp, which still makes Wei Guangde speechless.

The Ming court really couldn't afford to support such an army.

That is to say, temporary recruitment is okay, and it will be disbanded after the battle.

"Shan Loan, you know that the imperial court clearly marked the price for the heads of Japanese pirates. The highest level of real Japanese heads used to exceed one hundred taels. Even after being suppressed, if you kill a real Japanese now, you can get 30 taels of silver from the government.

As far as I know, the heads of the Japanese pirates killed by Yuan Jing and the others usually cost 50 taels of silver, while the fake ones cost around ten taels of silver.

The soldiers of the Qi family army, the lucky squad, easily earned hundreds of taels of silver a year, so they worked so hard to suppress the Japanese, and they were basically robbing money. "

Tan Lun interjected at this moment.

There are ten people in the Qi family army team, hundreds of taels of silver, and dozens of taels per person.

Wei Guangde nodded slightly. Back then when the Jiujiang Guards encircled and attacked the Japanese pirates who attacked Nanjing, the head was 100 taels of silver. At that time, Zhejiang was the most affected by the Japanese pirates. Some local government offered a price of 150 taels of silver for each head.

"I heard that many places recruited soldiers in Zhejiang, how did they pay?"

Wei Guangde asked curiously.

Zhejiang soldiers are the best source of soldiers in the Ming Dynasty in this era. He has heard for a long time that there are news of recruitment from all over Zhejiang, so it is really easy to ask now.

"These are mostly the general's personal soldiers, who are kept by his side for protection, so there will not be many people.

As far as I know, the military salary of these people is in addition to their own rations, ranging from one tael to five taels of silver per month. The annual military salary is 18 taels, which are all real numbers. "

Qi Jiguang replied.

Wei Guangde nodded, the officers and soldiers of the Beijing camp received a lot of money, only about five taels a year, but this was not the case on the court's books.

Because the Arima infantry is different, the military salary of each service is also different. Generally speaking, it is about 12 taels.

According to Qi Jiguang, if the Qi family's army is transferred to the north, the annual salary of each person may not be more than 20 taels.

This is definitely not possible, and based on the current situation in Zhejiang, it is estimated that the life of the remaining Qi family army will not be easy.

After all, the Japanese pirates are no longer going to Zhejiang, and they are all scared of being beaten.

"How many soldiers and horses did you leave in Zhejiang?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"About 6000 people, no more can afford it."

Qi Jiguang used tens of thousands of soldiers in Zhejiang to suppress the Japanese. However, there were also casualties and weeding out, but the proportion of casualties has always been small, and he has maintained an undefeated record, so later generations boasted a lot.

Most people think that the ratio of the battle losses between the Qi family army and the Japanese pirates is one to hundreds, which is actually not objective.

You must know that although the real Japanese pirate warriors are good at long knives, bamboo spears, and bamboo bows, there are still a large number of Han Chinese in the Japanese pirate team, and some of them also use firearms, so there should be many injured people.

In addition, not everyone is suitable for the Qi's army's tactics. After recruitment, there are eliminations and cuts during training. Therefore, the size of the Qi's army has always been relatively low.

The peak is about 6000 people. Compared with the hundreds of thousands of troops along the coast, the size of Qi's army is really not enough.

Just like this, it has already formed a crushing advantage over the Japanese pirates.

Coupled with the mandarin duck formation created by Qi Jiguang, the Ming army had a strong advantage against Japanese pirates.

Knowing that Qi Jiguang had left [-] Qi's troops in Zhejiang, he immediately made up his mind.

Although most of the Japanese pirates have been wiped out now, there are still a small group of Japanese pirates fleeing, most of them came from Guangdong, Zeng Yiben's subordinates.

Therefore, the Zhejiang government is also willing to continue to provide military rations for the Qi family army. Anyway, as long as there are no Japanese pirates, there is no need to pay, just a little food.

"Brother Zili, if the Beijing camp cuts down a few thousand soldiers and fills up half with Zhejiang soldiers, can the Ministry of War guarantee the payment of military salaries?"

Wei Guangde ignored Qi Jiguang, but turned to Tan Lun and asked.

Tan Lun was not stupid, so he could understand what Wei Guangde said. The Qi family army who wanted to recruit Qi Jiguang to stay in Zhejiang would supplement the Beijing camp.

"Shan Loan, I understand what you mean. On the side of the Ministry of War and the Beijing Camp, I can make the decision, and I will distribute it myself, but on the side of the Ministry of Households"

Tan Lun has already figured it out that it is impossible for all Qi's army to be transferred to the north, after all, they have to be fed with money, and given the current situation, the Zhejiang capital may not be willing to let them go.

However, half of the troops, 3000 people, should still be possible.

The food and grass will be allocated from the food and grass of the guest army, and this right lies with the Ministry of War.

It is the military salary. According to what Qi Jiguang said earlier, if they are allowed to go to the north, they must be paid, otherwise they will not come.

"According to 15 taels, can you recruit people to the north?"

Wei Guangde asked Qi Jiguang.

"Real numbers?"

Qi Jiguang asked rhetorically.

Wei Guangde nodded, and the money came out from the household department, looking for Ma Sen, and told them not to withhold it so harshly.

According to Wei Guangde's idea, the account will be 18 taels per person, and the real payment will be 15 taels, giving them nearly [-]% of the drift.

"Old Wei Ge, I need to contact Zhejiang on this matter to see what they want. I think it should be possible."

Qi Jiguang replied, "As far as I know, in the past year, because of my transfer to the north, I have nowhere to ask for the rewards promised by the capital of Zhejiang, and because they are not military households, the local people don't like their existence very much. Someone wants to go home."

Wei Guangde nodded, "Then get in touch as soon as possible, 3000 people would be best."

After sending the two away, Wei Guangde only realized later when he sat down to rest. It seemed that after entering the cabinet, his job was to bargain with the six ministries and the local government.