I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 84 Soldiers and Taxes

Quanzhou Prefecture, Daming Palace.

Naturally, this palace is still the original magistrate's office, but it has been simply repaired to prevent it from being too shabby.

Zhu Yijiong didn't build a new palace because it was unnecessary. After all, he came from time travel and didn't have much desire to live in a big palace, and he didn't have that much spare money.

With the money and food to build a big palace, wouldn't it be better to recruit more soldiers and horses later?

If it weren't for the fact that the original Yamen was too dilapidated and shabby, Wang Li bluntly said that if the prison government insisted on holding on to this shabby place, it would only damage the Ming Dynasty's image in the eyes of the people of the world, and it would not save much money. Zhu Yijiong estimated that even repairs Too lazy to fix it.

Zhu Yijiong only briefly repaired the palace. Wang Li and other ministers naturally did not dare to make any extravagance. They simply built a few houses outside the palace, and with a little decoration, they became the political hall of the cabinet and the six administrative offices. etc.

This house was naturally an unowned mansion that was confiscated by the Ming army when Zhu Yijiong first broke into the city.

It was really ownerless, because the owners of the big houses either ran away or died at the hands of the rebels and bandits.

And even if you come back and ask for the rest, Ming will not give it to you. At best, you will be given some money to get rid of the problem. Who told you to run away as soon as you saw the Ming army.

This place is now within the confines of the Supervisor's palace. Could it be that you are planning to do something wrong when you come back now?

At this time, in the imperial study room of the palace, several of the most powerful bosses in the Ming Dynasty were gathering here to await Zhu Jianguo's summons.

Zhu Yijiong closed the notebook on the progress of the promotion of the new taxation laws and said to Wang Li with great satisfaction: "Wang Aiqing has done a good job this time. The cabinet is indispensable for the promotion and implementation of the new taxation laws in such a short period of time! "

Wang Li quickly raised his hands and said, "I don't dare. This is all due to the good governance of the country and the people's support."

Zhu Yijiong was not polite at all and accepted it directly.

"In this memorial, you also mention the merits of the local soldiers. So, are these soldiers worthy of use?"

When he asked this question, Zhu Yijiong looked at Yang Gong, the new commander of the First Army of the Ming Dynasty's New Army.

Yang Gong conquered northern Fujian this time, allowing the Ming Dynasty to unify Fujian from a situation perspective, which was a great achievement.

Zhu Yijiong took advantage of the situation and appointed him as the commander of the First Army of the Ming Dynasty's New Army. Except for the first town, the other four towns of the North Route Army were assigned to him to form the First Army, and the Privy Council would supplement it with a supply camp.

At the same time, in order to show his merits, he was awarded the title of Count Funing.

As for the position of commander of the Second Army, it was awarded to Zheng Dingrui. As deputy commander, Zheng Dingrui's contribution was also not small. In addition, his title was already a marquis, so his title was not changed and he was only promoted to commander of the Second Army. Someone objected.

Yang Gong had already put on the official uniform of the army commander at this time and said: "Reporting to the prison country, although the training and obedience of these soldiers are far inferior to our Ming Dynasty's new army, they are after all an army with actual combat experience. Perhaps they can deal with The Qing army is not enough, but if it is only used to maintain stability in the rear, it is barely competent."

Zhu Yijiong nodded slightly and stretched out his hand to smooth the stubble that Wu Alan had just trimmed this morning.

Although Wu Alan is now a queen, she was born in the countryside after all. She is still more used to doing things like serving her husband's daily life with her own hands.

Although Wang Li and other civil servants said something that was inconsistent with etiquette since she was the mother of a country, Zhu Yijiong just laughed it off. Anyway, he thought it was good.

At least it's lively.

By the way, speaking of which, Zhu Yijiong also had something he couldn't figure out. Didn't he agree that ancient kings would marry each other, and then they would have three palaces and six courtyards?

Why is there nothing in my turn?
Not that he thought about it, could it be that the current territory is not big enough and the gentry families think that he is not suitable for investment?

Zhu Yijiong looked at Privy Council envoy Zhu Ding and asked, "Qing Zhu, how is the first phase of the Privy Council's recruitment plan going now?"

Zhu Ding, the Privy Councilor who had been standing silent all the time, finally got the question and quickly stepped forward and said: "Reporting to the Supervisory State, two-thirds of the [-] new troops pre-recruited in the first phase have been raised. As a prerequisite, the Ming Dynasty’s army received generous military pay and land grants as a prerequisite, so the enthusiasm of young people in various states to join the army was very high.”

"Well, the salary and settling-in allowance must be fully provided, and there must be no delay or shortage." Zhu Yijiong nodded and did not forget to warn.

Zhu Ding handed over his hand and said: "I will obey the edict of the supervising country." This Privy Council was established by Zhu Yijiong before Yang Gong launched the Fujian Unification War.

The purpose is naturally to separate the military and political affairs.

The territory of the Ming Dynasty was so small that even though the military and political institutions were in chaos, they could still maintain internal operations.

However, as the territory of the Ming Dynasty became larger and larger, until it was completely controlled by Fujian and had a province of land, the original institutional chaos and the model of military and political integration were not suitable for the times.

After all, the Ming Dynasty is still dominated by the military. All political systems serve the military, but they cannot be completely controlled by the military and become a puppet of the military.

Fortunately, while the six cabinet departments were being established, the Privy Council was also established.

Yes, in addition to the Privy Council, the Ming Dynasty also had the Ministry of War, and the two did not interfere.

The Ministry of War is only responsible for the daily dispatch of the local army, that is, the Xiang barracks, as well as some trivial matters involving the deployment of Xiang soldiers.

For example, the current implementation of the new taxation and tax laws, among which the mobilization of soldiers, strictly speaking, requires the coordination of the Ministry of War.

In contrast, the Privy Council has basically no power to intervene in the mobilization of soldiers.

The Privy Council is only responsible for recruiting and training troops, raising food and fodder, and formulating strategic plans.

This strategic plan refers to where the Ming Dynasty should attack next, how much territory it should win, etc. This needs to consider all aspects, including economic, cultural and even political impacts. Therefore, the officials in the Privy Council are still civil servants, and the Privy Council is led by Zhu Yijiong. Chief Secretary Zhu Ding and Zhu Chengxun are in charge.

Of course, unlike the Song Dynasty, apart from these matters, how and how to fight are all the affairs of the military commanders themselves, and the Privy Council will not and has no right to interfere.

Even if the war situation changes, military commanders also have the power to temporarily change strategic plans due to emergencies, as long as they provide a reasonable reason afterwards.

In general, in terms of power, the Privy Council of the Ming Dynasty was much smaller than that of the Song Dynasty, and even inferior to the Ministry of War.

At least the Ministry of War still has the power to mobilize troops, but the Privy Council has none.

The Privy Council itself is only equivalent to the level of six ministries, but it is not affiliated with the cabinet, but directly under the supervision of Zhu Yijiong.

It is independent of the civil servant group, but does not completely belong to the military general group.

The first phase of recruiting troops mentioned by Zhu Yijiong is to prepare for subsequent military expansion.

The so-called imperial power is nothing more than two words, soldiers and taxes.

Now that the tax is there, the rest will naturally be soldiers.

To be honest, just relying on the [-] soldiers and horses that are patchworked here and there with varying combat capabilities, let alone regaining the Ming Dynasty, even if they conquer the river, it will be difficult.

Therefore, Zhu Yijiong must seize the rare time and money now available to madly expand Ming's military strength.

The first phase of the recruitment plan is [-] troops. When the first phase of recruitment is full, there will be second, third and fourth troops... It doesn't matter whether Fujian can support so many troops. If it can't support it, it will be attacked.

In addition to recruiting troops, Zhu Yijiong also made adjustments to the Privy Council's military training plan, and the original basic discipline training remained unchanged.

No, it has changed. Now the basic discipline training for recruits is more onerous than before. During the training process, they have to take time out every day to have ideological classes with the soldiers. The main thing is to talk about the Ming Dynasty. Under the leadership of King Zhu, we can now enjoy the good days of being well fed, clothed and well-off.

In short, it is a big practice of worship, and we must keep the soldiers' thoughts in our own hands.

　Goodbye this morning

　　
　
(End of this chapter)