I'm really not the carpenter emperor

One and a half months later, Zhu Youxiao, who was wandering around Shanxi, Henan and other places, came to the most important first place of the trip.

Nanjing!

Nanjing, referred to as "Ning", is the capital of the Ming Dynasty in the south of the Yangtze River.

At that time, most people called it Jinling. In the written form of the government, it was also called "Nanjing".

The area surrounding Nanjing is Nanzhili.

Arriving mightily at the foot of a mountain about [-] miles away from Nanjing City, Zhu Youxiao rode on his horse. As soon as he stepped into the shadows, he suddenly felt the coolness and refreshment, which made him very happy.

Looking back, he found that the army of the Yongwei Battalion behind him was marching on the winding mountain road. Zhu Youxiao said with a smile:

"Order to repair here for half an hour, and wait for the team behind."

"According to the order."

Huang Degong clasped his fists in response and rode his horse to Juechen.

"Your Majesty, surrounded by green trees and gurgling streams, it is very quiet and spacious. The Yongwei Battalion has walked for an hour under the scorching sun. It is time for them to rest."

Wang Chaofu took out the tea set from the basket carried by the eunuch, placed it on the stone table in front of Zhu Youxiao, filled a small cup of water, and handed it over.

"His Majesty--"

Zhu Youxiao happened to be a little thirsty, so he drank it all in one gulp, laughed, and said with reproach and amusement in his words:

"I'm tired, just say I'm tired, just say I want to take a break, what's the point?"

"Yes..." Wang Chaofu also smiled slightly.

"Sit all of you, don't stand stupidly, if you don't have enough space, sit on the ground. This time, I'm going to take a break and then go to Nanjing."

Zhu Youxiao waved and said.

The few people around looked at each other, Chen Ce took the lead and sat down on the hard stone floor at Zhu Youxiao's feet.

As soon as he sat down, Qi Jin also sat on the other side.

The two coaches sat down, without saying anything, the generals of Yu Yongwei Battalion, such as Tong Zhongkui, Zhou Dunji, Liu Yuanbin, Zhou Yuji and others, all sat around Zhu Youxiao.

The generals were laughing and joking, you punched me with a hammer, it was very lively.

Huang Degong, who had just rushed back, ordered Huang Degong to get off his horse in a hurry, pushed Liu Yuanbin to the other side, and scolded him with a smile:

"You kid, you don't know where to leave me!"

Liu Yuanbin gave him a blank look, and squeezed back with his butt.

Compared with the "family carnival" of generals, the civil servants looked at each other but did not move. For them, sitting cross-legged on the ground was really degrading.

"Where are you..."

Zhu Youxiao shook his head with a smile, suddenly remembered something, and asked again: "You have seen the armaments of the guards along the way, tell me, how is it?"

"Are you telling the truth..." Qi Jin seemed a little hesitant.

"Nonsense, am I the kind who likes to be flattered?" Zhu Youxiao drank another glass of water, put down the teacup with a slightly heavier hand, and said firmly:

"This time, I want to change the situation and say what I have."

After so long, Qi Jin also understood the emperor's character, so he also shook his head, gritted his teeth and said, "Not good!"

"What's wrong?"

"too messy!"

Qi Jin sighed: "It is said that the soldiers in the guards in various places are combined with the army, but in fact they have not known about the war for a long time. Most of the officers in the guards are hereditary. When I came down this time, I found that they recruited young men to supplement the shortage of recruits. It's very common."

"Although His Majesty's trip to the south this time can make the situation slightly better, but this will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause. Under the long-term vicious circle, what kind of fighting power can a group of youngsters who have just grown up to hold weapons and a group of old and weak soldiers have?"

Chapter 275 Replace the guard system with the battalion system!

The accompanying civil servants suddenly felt that they were a bit out of place in the scene in front of them, and some of them were sweating, and gently wiped their faces with their shirt sleeves gracefully.

At this time, an eunuch carrying a bamboo basket ran to the people who were discussing in full swing, opened the bamboo basket, but found that it was full of hot rice dumplings.

Wang Chaofu took out one, handed it to Zhu Youxiao first, and said with a smile:

"The goods made according to the seasonal specifications of the Dragon Boat Festival are specially made by the monks in the temple. They are very clean and better than those sold on the street. Your Majesty, try them."

Zhu Youxiao took it from his hands, peeled off the leaves of the zongzi, chewed them, took two more out of the basket, threw them to Qi Jin and Chen Ce respectively, and said:

"It's very fragrant and sweet, share it and tell everyone to taste it."

The zongzi that everyone got was not as delicate as Zhu Youxiao's, and they were all stuffed into their mouths. Qi Jin continued to gesticulate while eating:

"Your Majesty, I don't know if I should say something or not."

After getting Zhu Youxiao's approval, he threw the zong leaves into the basket prepared by the little eunuch, and said seriously:

"A few days ago, I passed through Jining, Wuchang and other places. These are important towns. Compared with some places, the guards' military equipment is slightly usable, but the disadvantages are obvious."

"First of all, as I said just now, almost all the guards have not been trained for many years. Even your Majesty's southern tour this time will only treat the symptoms but not the root cause."

"Most of the military registers in various places were submitted to the Ministry of War in the 48th year of Wanli. At that time, the number of people was concealed and exaggerated. Your Majesty made a southern tour, and each guard selected strong men to make up for the number. But after a circle, the number of people in most places is still the same as the imperial court. The numbers vary greatly.”

After Chen Ce finished eating the rice dumplings, he also nodded and said in a deep voice:

"One prefecture has offices, and several prefectures have guards. There are 600 soldiers in the guard. There are 120 households under the guard, and 110 soldiers under the jurisdiction. There are [-] households under the thousand households, and there are [-] soldiers."

"Take Xuanwuwei in Kaifeng as an example. When His Majesty arrived in Kaifeng, the commander of Xuanwuwei, Chen Guowei, reported 870 people, but the real number was less than 600..."

"This is still an important town in Kaifeng Prefecture. The guards in other places must be more serious!"

Zhu Youxiao's expression became heavy, silently put the zongzi aside, and said:

"Okay, it's almost time to rest. Send an order to continue marching and camp in the outskirts of Nanjing. I want to see who will come to see you first!"

Hearing the words, everyone quickly put down their work, got up seriously, patted their buttocks, went back to lead their subordinates, and lined up again.

Zhu Youxiao thought a lot during the thirty-mile journey.

From the Ming Dynasty to the present, the guard system has indeed existed in name only.

Taking a look at the place, the current guards are actually no longer functioning as military strongholds, and the army of the guards almost means that their combat effectiveness is low.

It is only the early days of the apocalypse, and most of the guards still have a considerable number of young and strong officers and soldiers who can be transformed into elites, which is a good thing.

But from now until the Chongzhen period in history, the rate of corruption and disbandment of the guard army is staggering!

Judging from the peasant riots that occurred later, most of the elite military forces of the imperial court flowed to the rogues.

In order to avoid the rapid loss of elite military forces during this period, the abolition of the guard system is imperative within three years of the next apocalypse!

But here comes the problem. The guards are the basic military system established by the Ming Dynasty and have continued to this day. If such a military system wants to be abolished, a replacement must be found.

What is this substitute?

Battalion system!

In fact, the guard is not a military camp in the modern sense, nor is it a wartime organization. The soldiers in the guard live in one place for generations, and they farm and guard. In wartime, the imperial court temporarily dispatches troops.

Zhu Yuanzhang's doing so was indeed very suitable for the situation when the country was just founded in the early Ming Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty was surrounded by powerful enemies and used troops everywhere, but now, this system has fallen behind.

The battalion system is the military system closest to the modern barracks!

The form of the guard station directly led to the separation of soldiers and generals.

The consequence is that the soldiers don't know the general, the general doesn't know the soldier, and the general loses his prestige in the army. That's why there is a mutiny in a certain place.

The blueprint for this kind of military construction in the early Ming Dynasty was soon changed due to the increasing border troubles, especially in the areas of the nine border towns, temporary deployment of troops was commonplace.

During the Xuande period, there were tentative reforms to the guard system, but they were all to the point, and few Taiping emperors were willing to touch such things.

It was not until the Jiajing period that the guard system received its first shock.

First, Shanxi and Shaanxi commanders became permanent, and then the original two commanders in Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Huguang were increased to four commanders, and the deputy commanders in Fujian and Baoding were changed to commanders.

During the Wanli period, additional general troops were established in Lintao and Shanhaiguan.

In the first year of Tianqi, Zhu Youxiao also added the governor of Denglai to provide material support for Dongjiang Town. Correspondingly, the post of Denglai General Soldier also appeared a few months later. Change.

In fact, up to now, through the efforts of several generations of emperors in Xuande and Jiajing, the military system of the guards in the Ming Dynasty has quietly changed.

The commander-in-chief has replaced the original position of the commander of the capital and has become the highest military official in the region.

"After Hongyong, the border suffered from thorns day by day, and the appointment of a general became a regular member. The guards are light in weight, and the guards are elite, and they are all selected by lottery. Therefore, Zhengqi is the official establishment of the guards, and the guards are only in the name of their hometown. .”

This kind of system is called Zhenshuzhen in some historical records, but Zhu Youxiao believes that this is the battalion system that can replace the guard system after nearly a hundred years of experimentation.

It's just a pity in history.

In the Ming Dynasty, the battalion soldiers were often dismissed as soon as they were used up. The elite battalion soldiers were transferred for self-defense and returned to the guard after the war.

What Zhu Youxiao wanted to do was to improve the battalion system that appeared in the Jiajing Dynasty, and combine it with the green battalion system of the Qing Dynasty later to form a brand new military system.

Finally, turn this kind of battalion into permanent military strongholds across the country like guards, instead of killing them immediately.

This brand-new battalion system will replace the existing guard system and push Ming's military strength to its peak.

Of course, now Zhu Youxiao only has an idea, which has not yet become a reality.

There are too many guards all over the country, this is a giant, and it is necessary to find all kinds of talented civil servants and generals to make suggestions for themselves.

Once you move lightly and encounter setbacks, the consequences will be disastrous!

This tour to the south is firstly to break the existing local system and prepare for future natural and man-made disasters, and secondly, it is also to build momentum for the massive nationwide reforms that will follow!

Public opinion builds momentum!

The emperor personally patrols, beheads corrupt officials, and reshuffles the cards in the local area, and the resistance to reform will be greatly reduced!

For the major reform of the guard system, Zhu Youxiao must do it. Of course, this will definitely cause fluctuations across the country, because the abolition of the guard will affect too many people.

It may even cause riots in many places!

But these are nothing, if we don’t break the old disadvantages, how can we talk about new life?

To put it bluntly, this southern tour is because Zhu Youxiao has used the eunuch party to "say one thing" in the court, and a large number of people will call the emperor Shengming no matter what they do.

The next thing to do, of course, is to shape the personality and reform.

Chapter 276

Gusts of spring breeze swept across the green moat water below Jinling City, wrinkling layers of fish scale-like ripples, making the figures reflected in the water tremble slightly.

Xu Hongji, Duke of Wei, Zhu Guobi, Marquis of Funing, Du Sheng, eunuch in charge, Wang Yongguang, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Wang Yongguang, Minister of the Ministry of War, are looking forward to it with different thoughts.

Early this morning, everyone got the news that Yujia was about to arrive in Nanjing, and they were asked to prepare a Luanjia to welcome Emperor Tianqi's tour.

But right now, the sun is already three poles high, but the bright yellow flag of the Yongwei Battalion has not yet been seen.

In December of the second year of the Apocalypse in Nanjing, although the weather was a little cooler, it was still unbearably sweltering between noon and afternoon.

After waiting for half an hour, everyone was quite critical and kept wiping off their sweat.

As the most trusted internal defense officer according to legend, Du Sheng naturally couldn't avoid being stared at by everyone at this time.

There is no other reason, he is the godson of Quan Eun in the current dynasty, if the emperor changes the route or time, how could he not know?

Du Sheng is very innocent, he really doesn't know.

Facing everyone's pointing and pointing, Du Sheng had no choice but to continue to bite the bullet and wait.

I don't know how long it took, everyone was a little impatient, and some people who planned to watch the excitement also left in groups, and the impatient yelling among the officials became more and more loud.

Xu Hongji glanced coldly and said:

"Shut up."

As soon as the words fell to the ground, the Wu Xun team suddenly became silent.

The civil servants didn't respond, but at the end of the team, someone sneered. Although Wei Guogong Xu Hongji was the leader of martial arts, he had no deterrent effect on their foreign ministers at all.

What's more, in the 20th year of Wanli, Xu Hongji had already voluntarily given up their post of Nanjing Collaborative Defense for Wei Guogong's lineage, and he had no real power in his hands.

At this time, a flag slowly appeared on the distant horizon.

Du Sheng picked up the binoculars, and then slowly breathed a sigh of relief, looking at the banner, this is the direct-line army formed and trained by Emperor Tianqi himself, the Yongwei Battalion.

Unless ordered to go out, this army will almost always be by the emperor's side to protect the emperor. The arrival of the brave guard battalion also means that the emperor has really come.

All of a sudden, the people were boiling, and the ranks of officials became silent.