Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 124 Sixteen Guards and Twelve Arch Guards

"May Emperor Wen bless my younger brother to grow up safely, and bless Daming..."

The spring breeze gently blew the hills. On Tianshou Mountain, Zhu Youxiao led many ministers and workers, and began to pay homage to the imperial tombs under the guard of Tengxiang Zuowei.

Other emperors paid homage to their ancestors, telling their achievements and hoping to protect the court, but Zhu Youxiao first asked his ancestors to bless Zhu Youjian to grow up alive.

If Zhu Youjian saw this scene, he would probably have mixed feelings.

Perhaps for Zhu Youxiao, the death of five consecutive younger brothers has exhausted him.

Now he has only one younger brother left, and this younger brother has been working hard for his throne and the world, he is really afraid that God will even take this younger brother away.

While he was worshiping, the British Duke Zhang Weixian also walked into the Yan'en Hall of Zhu Di's Changling Mausoleum. Looking at the Yan'en Hall where Zhu Di's portrait was hung, Zhang Weixian also knelt on the futon and bowed his head.

At this time, Zhu Youxiao also raised his head, then glanced at Zhang Weixian, and waited for Zhang Weixian to get up before opening his mouth and saying:

"Old man, what did they say?"

"Hehe, what else can I say? Long live's soldiers and horses are beside them, and they dare not say anything even if they have something to say." Zhang Weixian smiled helplessly.

After he finished speaking, the hall fell into peace again. It was only after a while that Zhu Youxiao said:

"The guards of Shuntian Mansion and Yongping Mansion, as well as the other guards of Shangzhi Twenty-six Guards, I hope they can be abolished."

It is rare for him to use the self-proclaimed Zhen, which also shows that he is not discussing, but notifying Zhang Weixian.

Zhang Weixian also knew it well, so he bowed and said:

"The whole world is long live, and there is no need to tell the veterans what to do and how to do long live."

"Even if the Beijing camp is abolished together, it should be..."

It's unimaginable that Zhang Weixian, who is so open-minded, dares to say that the Beijing camp will be abolished.

Maybe he knew that Zhu Youxiao would not abolish the Beijing camp, so he said that, or maybe he was really loyal to Daming, even if he lost his interests, he would not be afraid at all.

In short, Zhu Youxiao listened to his words, but Zhu Youxiao knew that in the current situation, the abolition of Yongping Mansion and Shuntian Mansion Guards, as well as the replacement of Ji Town, is already the limit.

Yongping Mansion and Shuntian Mansion, together with [-] guards out of the [-] guards of Shangzhi, make a total of [-] guards and six guards.

These include the three guards of martial arts, the three guards of Yongqing, the eleven guards of Tianshoushan Imperial Mausoleum, the thirteen guards of Shuntian Mansion and the Sixth Guards of Yongping Mansion.

This involves a total of [-] military households, [-] million mu of military farmland, and a major change involving millions of people.

Zhu Youxiao himself didn't know how long it would take to digest them, he could only choose to trust his younger brother.

Thinking of this, he looked at the sky that was about to get dark, got up and sighed: "Okay, let's rest overnight in Tianshou Mountain Palace today."

"I will return to Yanshan Daying tomorrow, and I will make an order for the guards after I return to Beijing."

"The old minister takes orders..." Hearing these words, Zhang Weixian knew that the Beijing camp could still belong to the nobles for a while.

It's just that whether this period of time is long or short, no one has a definite number in mind.

Zhang Weixian withdrew, and Zhu Youxiao also got up and walked out of the Yan'en Hall after a while, and then returned to the Yanshan Camp the next day after resting in the palace on Tianshou Mountain.

Since there was no supervisor in the middle school, Zhu Youxiao couldn't stay in Yanshan Daying for a long time, so after he came to Yanshan Daying, he didn't enter the camp, but asked Zhu Youjian to go to the Xuanfeng Tower at the south gate.

patter patter . . .

The teapot of the official kiln pours out the tribute tea, and after tumbling in the teacup, it calms down and slowly wafts the fragrance.

Zhu Youjian, who was sitting at the table in the Xuanfeng Tower, looked at his elder brother with downcast eyes, a little restless.

After a few seconds, Zhu Youxiao came back to his senses, raised his head and smiled at Zhu Youjian:

"The guards of Shuntian and Yongping have been finalized."

"I will arrive in the capital in three days, and my brother can make a thunderous move within these three days to abolish all forty-eight guards and six schools."

"But before I abolish, I need to ask my brother one more thing..." Zhu Youxiao looked directly at Zhu Youjian, and rarely showed a serious expression to him:
"How does my brother plan to abolish it? How do I plan to deal with more than [-] military households? Can Ji Town successfully change defenses? Will the northern captives or local barbarians take advantage of it?"

This appears to be four questions, but is actually three.

Regarding these three questions, Zhu Youjian already had a draft in his chest, took a deep breath and looked at the emperor's brother, and then said in a deep voice:
"Last night, I learned about the Yanshan Camp. There are currently more than [-] soldiers, of which [-] have joined the army for less than two months."

"Even if these people change their armor, they will not be deterred enough if they are transferred to the abolition of the guard."

"Therefore, there are only fifty-five thousand and one hundred people who can actually dispatch the guards and replace the soldiers and horses of Ji Town."

"What I want is to divide them into thousands of households, into forty-eight branches, and march to the forty-eight guards."

"As for the matter of the guards, my brother asked Lu Wenzhao to obtain information early on. There are only [-] officers and servants in the [-] guards and the six guards."

"Facing the dispatch of the forty-eight thousand households of the Yumajian, they are absolutely unstoppable."

What Zhu Youjian was talking about was whether the Forty-eight Guards and Six Institutes could be abolished smoothly, and this question is not difficult.

Now that he has finished speaking, he wants to answer the second question, which is how to deal with more than [-] military households.

To this question, Zhu Youjian simply replied:

"Military household officials such as nobles and commanders have occupied ordinary military households for a long time, and ordinary military households are regarded as their slaves. It is not a day or two to suffer from them."

"The forty-eight guards and the six guards definitely involved more than [-] million mu of army farmland. As long as the guards' fields in the five armies' governor's mansion are checked and the fields they invaded are checked back, there will be enough cultivated land for military household."

"Not only that, but after the arable land is distributed, all the officers above the general banner of the [-]th Guards and the Sixth Office must be relocated to the capital."

"When the time comes, the Yumajian will give them money, and they will be housed in the capital, but their official positions will be cancelled."

"However, in the previous official position, the military fields that belonged to them still belong to them, but the fields will be disrupted."

"For example, the commander of Yongpingwei has [-] mu of military farmland. This is an official farmland. After canceling his military registration, it still belongs to him, but the land has been changed to Miyunwei."

"In this way, they can unplug their local roots, but they will not make the guards of other provincial capitals think that the court is ruthless."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian also sighed inwardly.

As far as his style is concerned, what he hopes to do most is to kill all the criminals in this group of people and ransack their homes to supplement the Yumajian.

But he can't do this, because Daming still has countless guards, and his doing so will only make some guards officers vigilant.

Although he didn't think this group of people could do anything, Daming couldn't stand too much trouble.

He conceded a step, but it was not a big step. The officers of the Forty-eight Guards and the Sixth Office assigned them land according to their official positions, at most one million mu, but Zhu Youjian could get tens of millions of mu, which could make the officers exploited by the officers. The breathless military households own their own fields.

According to the model of Yumajian Nanchang, the more than [-] million mu of military farmland, after paying Liao's salary and land tax to the household department, can also collect more than [-] million shi of grain for Yumajian.

It's just that he still needs to take out the food to support the army, to raise a team of soldiers and horses to defend Shuntian and Yongping Mansion.

Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian continued to answer the third question:
"I only mobilized [-] people, and there are more than [-] people. What they want to do is to take over Shanhaiguan, Dongjiakou, Xifengkou, Shimen City, Ertou City, Yulinkou, and Jianchangying. Waiting for thirty-seven important passes."

"After they take over, the younger brother is going to divide the soldiers and horses of the Yumajian into the Shangzhigong Guard Battalion and the Outer Expedition Guard."

"Wai Zhengwei?" Hearing what Zhu Youjian said, Zhu Youxiao frowned slightly, and Zhu Youjian also explained:

"Shangzhi Gongwei camp is to use the battalion to defend Shuntian Mansion and Yongpingwei, while the guards for foreign expeditions are used to fight outside and counter rebellion."

"My brother's expectation is to set up the Shangzhi [-]th Guards and the Shangzhi [-]th Battalion."

"The name of the Shangzhi Sixteen Guards was chosen from the Shangzhi Twenty-six Guards in the north and south Zhili, and the Gongwei Battalion used the station as the name of the camp."

"As above, there are 5600 guards, each with 89600 men, a total of [-] men"

"Among them, the pure cavalry mobile guard has four guards, namely Xiao cavalry guard, Tiance guard, Habayashi guard, and Longxiang guard."

"There are a total of nine guards in the mixed infantry and cavalry guards, namely the Jinwu Guard, the Tiger Ben Guard, the Shence Guard, the Leopard Tao Guard, the Ying Yang Guard, the Shenwu Guard, the Lu Long Guard, the Wu Xiang Guard, and the Teng Xiang Guard."

"In addition, the Tianjin Guard, which is the ferry of the Son of Heaven, stationed three water guards, namely the Water Guard, the Longjiang Guard, and the Henghai Guard."

Having said that, Zhu Youjian smiled awkwardly:
"But right now, brother, you haven't researched the big boat I drew for you, so these three guards are temporarily put on hold."

"Eh..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Zhu Youxiao was a little embarrassed.

Although he has been learning recently and has built a large ship of more than ten meters, he has not yet figured out the blueprint given to him by Zhu Youjian.

In addition, Siam has not yet sent teak to Guangdong, so the matter has been put on hold.

But looking at the appearance of his younger brother, it seems that he can only work hard to see if he can get back the lie.

Not wanting to lose face, he could only cough and say:
"Ahem, the Three Guards of the Navy is pretty good. I have thoroughly understood the blueprint my brother gave me, and even made its model myself."

"However, there is news from Siam that the teak wood can be shipped to Guangzhou at least in May, and the Guangzhou navy can be shipped to Tianjin at least in July and August, so there is no rush..."

"I'm not in a hurry." Zhu Youjian smiled when he heard Brother Huang's "guarantee", but Zhu Youxiao could only change the topic and said:
"By the way, you have finished talking about the Sixteenth Guards, what about the Arch Guards?"

Zhu Youjian, who was questioned, could only continue to explain:

"The full name of the Gongwei Battalion is the Twelve Battalion of Shangzhi. Each battalion has 3031 people, a total of 36372 people. Each battalion is mixed with infantry and cavalry. There is one sentry for cavalry, one for firecrackers, one for artillery, and two for long spears and knives."

"Chendi divided their camps into Shanhai camp, Yongping camp, Zunhua camp, Miyun camp, Huairou camp, Changping camp along the Great Wall..."

"As well as the Tongzhou Camp, Bazhou Camp, Zhuozhou Camp, Dagu Camp, Wanping Camp, and Daxing Camp that protect the capital..."

"As for the outer city inside the capital, it will be handed over to the Jingying. The imperial city will eliminate the Jinwu four guards, the five guards of the government army, the three guards of Yanshan, the left guard of Huben and others, and finally compile and train the dragon and tiger. Feixiong and Yiluan three guards"

"There are 16800 soldiers in the three guards. Not to mention guarding the imperial city, even when my brother is in danger, if he orders them to attack, they will be able to wipe out the capital in an hour."

Zhu Youjian's words are very confident. It's not that he looks down on Jingying and Wucheng Bingmasi, but that they are really not the opponents of the three guards.

However, although Zhu Youjian was very confident, Zhu Youxiao still hesitated:

"Even though my brother said so, if there are only three guards and two battalions guarding the big capital, wouldn't it be..."

"Hehe, don't worry, brother." Seeing that Brother Huang was worried about this, Zhu Youjian smiled and said:
"This is the soldiers and horses in the city. The Four Guards Cavalry Guards, Tian Ce Guards, Habayashi Guards, and Long Xiang Guards in Shangzhi Sixteen Guards will be stationed around the capital."

"As long as they are well trained, not many soldiers and horses in the world can defeat them."

Zhu Youjian is not joking, the four cavalry guards have a total of 22400 people, all cavalry.

Even if it is Hou Jin, the current cavalry is only more than [-], and if it is really time to dispatch them, it means that the other nine guards stationed in Suncheon and Yongping have all been wiped out.

Even if Nurhachi descended from the sky with [-] young golden soldiers and horses, it would be impossible to wipe out the Shangzhi Sixteen Guards.

Zhu Youjian's confident smile made Zhu Youxiao nodded, feeling safe in his heart, but also worried:
"Could there be too few guards Yongping and Shuntian in the [-]th Battalion?"

"A lot..." Zhu Youjian shook his head and said:
"Just like the capital city, the Nine Guards for Expedition are mainly deployed near the foot of the Yanshan Great Wall. In other words, there are actually nine guards and six battalions near the Yanbian Great Wall with nearly [-] soldiers and horses."

"If the Nine Guards are transferred away, then they must have gone out of the customs and razed the northern captives. Brother, don't worry about that."

Speaking of this, Zhu Youjian grabbed Zhu Youxiao's hand and said, "For me, my brother's safety is the most important..."

Zhu Youjian did not tell lies, he is neither wood nor clay sculpture, even if it is a cat, he will have feelings after raising it for half a year, let alone the emperor brother who has been protecting him for more than half a year?
"My brother solved another problem for me..."

Zhu Youxiao looked at Zhu Youjian, smiled and held his hand with the other hand and said:
"It's just sixteen guards plus twelve battalions. With so many soldiers and horses, can the Imperial Horse Supervisor support them?"

"Naturally!" Hearing this, Zhu Youjian said with a smile:

"At present, the three guards of the navy have not yet been settled, which means that only the 10th guard and the 8800th battalion need to be supported, a total of [-] people."

"The military salary that my ministers give them is [-] taels per person per year on weekdays, and if they are transferred outside, they will be paid [-] taels of silver per person."

"Similarly, if the Sixteenth Guards want to go out to fight, or go to Liaodong to fight, the military salary will be increased to [-] taels, and the first-level beheading will be [-] taels, and the beheading will be [-] taels."

The gap between the Mongols and the Jurchens is twice as big. It's not that Zhu Youjian looked down on the Mongols, but that the Mongols at the moment have been targeted by Ming to such an embarrassing situation that they can't even make an iron pot.

For example, Neikalkha may not even be able to pull out [-] cavalry wearing double armor, and the Sixteenth Guards is simply a blow to them.

On the contrary, Houjin's Jurchens can't do it. According to the fact that there are many blacksmith shops in Hetuala, and there are open-pit iron mines in the Liaodong Mountains, Houjin's armor rate is constantly increasing.

One day they will be as strong as Huang Taiji, and what Zhu Youjian has to do is to contain them and defeat them.

"According to what you said, isn't the annual military salary at least [-] million taels?" Zhu Youxiao said suddenly, and Zhu Youjian explained after recovering:

"It's [-] taels of silver. In addition, I need to eat [-] million shi of grain every year, as well as a lot of meat, oil, salt, and vegetables."

"But don't worry, Brother Huang. After the forty-eight and six guards are abolished, the Royal Horse Supervisor will also be able to earn five or six million taels. Then I will get some private salt, and it will be very easy to support the army."

As soon as Zhu Youjian mentioned the matter of private salt, Zhu Youxiao was speechless. His face was expressionless, and he even said with a little disgust:

"Others are always sneaky in this private salt business, but you, brother, are not ashamed but proud."

"Hey... what am I afraid of..." Zhu Youjian grinned and said:

"How much is face worth? If it is worth money, my brother is willing to exchange face for several million taels of silver back."

"You dare to think about it." Zhu Youxiao shook his head with a smile, and at this time there was also a knock on the door of Xuanfeng Building:

"Long live, the old man said it's time to go." Wei Zhongxian's voice sounded.

"Well, I see, Zhongxian, please bring in the imperial decree." Zhu Youxiao spoke to the door, and Wei Zhongxian pushed open the door when he heard the words, and then motioned for several eunuchs to come in.

In the hands of these eunuchs, they all carried trays of imperial edicts, more than sixty copies in total.

Zhu Youxiao looked at the imperial edict, turned his head and said to Zhu Youjian:
"These are all decrees that have not been approved by the cabinet and six departments. Although they are decrees, I think my younger brother will not be afraid to use them."

"Zhongzhi is pretty good, as long as it is famous." Zhu Youjian said with a smile, and then said to Wang Chengen who was standing at the door:
"Cheng En, take over the imperial decree. According to what I said last night, send the imperial decree to the officials of thousands of households. We will set off at Mao tomorrow, and start at Mao three days later."

"The maidservant takes orders..." Hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Wang Chengen walked in, took the imperial edict with someone, and then retreated. .

"Okay, my brother will probably be very busy these days, so I won't urge you to go back to the palace."

Zhu Youxiao stood up, and finally explained:

"Don't work too hard in the Yumajian, let the people below do some things, don't tire yourself."

Having said that, he stretched out his hands and patted Zhu Youjian's arms on both sides, and said with a smile:
"I hope that when we meet next time, my brother can eat a little fatter."

After finishing speaking, he didn't wait for Zhu Youjian to say anything, turned his head to look at Wei Zhongxian and said:

"Let's go..."

After all, he took Wei Zhongxian away, and Zhu Youjian waited for a while after he left before walking to the back of the rammed earth female wall and looking down.

He watched Zhu Youxiao get into the big body, and then said to Wang Chengen:

"Ask Sun Yingyuan to take the three guards of Yulin to escort the emperor's brother south, and abolish the three guards of Tianjin, the guards of Tongzhou, and the other guards of the twenty-six guards of Shangzhi."

"Tell him to follow what I said yesterday. After the abolition of the guards, the Jinwu Four Guards, the Fujun Five Guards, the Yanshan Three Guards, the Huben Zuo Guards and other troops will be eliminated and formed into the Three Guards."

"Don't worry, Your Highness, Commander Sun has already brought people to wait on the road ten miles to the south." Wang Chengen bowed and replied, and Zhu Youjian also walked down the Xuanfeng Tower after listening.

At this time, Man Gui rode his horse and bowed to Zhu Youjian:
"Your Highness, the officers of the new army have been making noise, saying that they want to take over Ji Town and the guards with the brothers of the old army."

When Zuo Yi said this, Man Gui got off his horse, and Zhu Youjian also took a deep breath and said:
"Brother Huang also agreed to the compilation. It is estimated that the imperial decree will come down soon."

"You first organize the new and old soldiers from the seven guards and the first battalion together to form a guard. Those guards with more old guards can participate, but the guards that are all new guards don't even think about it."

"After the other guards abolish the guards, ask them to take over and measure the land. The teaching at Yanshan Institute will be suspended for three days, and we will go to measure the land together."

"After three days, half of the teachers will come back first, and the other teachers will continue to measure."

"The soldiers and horses of the guards have been abolished. Without delay, go to the passes of the Great Wall to take over the Great Wall."

"The last general takes orders!" Hearing this, Man Gui heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that after he had an errand, the soldiers of the new army would not make trouble anymore.

As for Zhu Youjian, he continued to explain:
"When dismantling the guards, you can also choose to recruit some good men to join the army, and tell the people that each family who joins the army will get an extra ten acres of land."

"Including the former soldiers of the veteran army, in addition to the previous acres, this time they can also replace the fields to other places, and divide the fields by ten acres."

"The last general takes orders!" Hearing these words, Man Gui was excited, and he had the utmost respect for Zhu Youjian in his heart.

In the late dynasties of all dynasties, there were few princes like Zhu Youjian who regarded them as human beings.

As long as they are backed by Zhu Youjian and have the support of the emperor, the soldiers of Yumajian are the most nourishing group in the world.

"You back down, remember to explain clearly to all the military households when you send troops to withdraw, they are no longer military households, but my ordinary people."

"The fields in the guards are told to cultivate them well. After measuring the acres within a month, they will definitely distribute the fields to them."

"Three transactions per mu of land are rented to the Yumajian, and the land tax, additional payment, and miscellaneous items are paid by the Yumajian for them."

"Don't worry, Your Highness, the general has repeatedly informed the officers under his command." Man Gui nodded with a heavy heart, but Zhu Youjian was still worried:
"Also beware of some people cheating for personal gain and embezzling fields."

"Yes!" Man Gui nodded again, and Zhu Youjian waved his hand and said, "Go and do your work."

"The last general will retire!" Hearing this, Man Gui got on his horse and rode away from the city.

Only after he left, Zhu Youjian said to Wang Chengen:
"Tell all the instructors at the Yanshan Institute to take good care of those military officers. If anyone commits malpractices and embezzles acres of land, if they report it, they will be rewarded with a hundred acres of fields!"

"The maidservant takes orders..." Wang Chengen responded honestly.

"Ha..." Seeing this, Zhu Youjian took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and walked towards the Yumajian yamen.

When walking, his heart was very heavy, and he knew what he needed to face after doing so.

The impeachment of the civil servants, the dismissal of the officers of the guard, the dissatisfaction of the nobles in the south...

He doesn't have to face all these difficulties, but Brother Huang.

What he needs to face is how to rectify the guards in Shuntian and Yongping, how to weed out the old and weak in Jizhen, and train the new recruits in Jizhen.

But for all of this, he and his brother Huang were mentally prepared.

If the Ming Dynasty wants to rejuvenate, and if it wants to solve the backlog of resentment in the hearts of the people, it must innovate and reform!
　The sprained foot swelled into a pig's trotter. I couldn't sit up, and it hurt even when I lay down.

　　Fortunately, my hands are fine, and I wrote a chapter in one night while lying on the bed, so I only have this chapter today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)