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  Chapter 1213 The Geng Scroll’s Ingenious Strategy (Updated)

  Zhang Jingqiu couldn't help but touch his forehead when he stepped into the East Study Room.

The fluttering snowflakes fell, covering the entire square outside the palace with snow. Except for a few guards standing on both sides of the square like snowmen holding knives, only the servant stood with his neck curled up on the palace gate and stomped his feet. , and a little popular.

Zhang Jingqiu doesn't like this kind of private audience in the palace very much. He is also a scholar, and he knows that this kind of private audience in the palace is regarded by some people as a supreme honor, but it is for officials below the fourth rank. Above officials, this kind of private audience is sometimes a double-edged sword.

  Of course, it doesn’t matter if you have an audience alone once or twice, but being summoned by the emperor repeatedly will inevitably attract the attention of your colleagues in the scholarly circle, and then put yourself in a delicate situation.

  In fact, Zhang Jingqiu already has this feeling. He thinks that in the past few years from Nanjing to the capital city, he has done a good job in getting along with his colleagues and handling government and military affairs, but it has always been difficult to fully integrate into his colleagues.

Even the Northern Scholars headed by Qi Yongtai and the Jiangnan Scholars headed by Ye Xianggao and Fang Congzhe often had political disputes, and even Huguang Scholars such as Chai Ke and Guan Yingzhen were mixed in, but the relationship between them The tacit understanding made Zhang Jingqiu a little envious.

I was promoted by the emperor to the Ministry of War as Zuo Shilang and has been the Minister of the Ministry of War. Of course, this has a tendency to rise, but Zhang Jingqiu knows that this also leaves a great hidden danger. They don't like a scholar who is too close to the emperor, or completely obeys the emperor's orders. In their opinion, this seems to mean betraying the group of scholar-officials.

   This made Zhang Jingqiu very depressed.

The battle to join the cabinet is the most obvious example. Although the emperor tried his best to promote himself, since no one in the cabinet nominated and supported him, and even the Minister of the Six Departments had very few supporters, in the end the emperor could only The next best choice was Li Sancai to join the cabinet. In fact, Li Sancai, a scholar from the North, was excluded at all by Qi Yongtai, the leader of the North. If it weren't for the support of Ye Xianggao and Fang Congzhe, Li Sancai would Taking up the identity of being born in the north, he would not be able to join the current cabinet that already has three scholars from the south of the Yangtze River.

   Zhang Jingqiu can now accept this point calmly, but the sudden southward invasion of the Mongols still put him under a lot of pressure.

In particular, the raid from Xuanfu Town by the Waikha people led to the collapse of the entire front, and the entire Shuntian Prefecture fell into chaos. Especially the northern counties were almost looted by the Mongols and almost turned into a piece of white land. The direct consequence is that hundreds of thousands of refugees stayed in the Gyeonggi area, which also brought enormous pressure and chaos to Suncheon Prefecture and Jingshi City.

The problem is the culprit that led to this result—Xuan Da Governor Niu Jizong should have been directly held accountable by the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but the current bad situation and various internal instability made the imperial court take no action on this issue. This is also difficult for Zhang Jingqiu to accept.

The battle in the Southwest is in full swing, and it has also restrained the court's energy. Whether it is the Denglai Army, which is progressing slowly, the Jingxiang Army, which has not been able to form an army for a long time, or the Guyuan Army, which has come a long way and is still in a difficult stage of adaptation. , They all looked cumbersome and tired, and their performance was not even as good as the guard army formed by Sun Chengzong relying on the Syrian horse soldiers to prepare the way.

The delay in the situation in the southwest made the original idea of ​​the court that the war could be resolved within half a year to a year come to naught, and the situation in front of him might even drag on for more than two years, which also made Zhang Jingqiu very anxious, and this had to be based on There will be no major disturbances in other places.

Fortunately, Feng Tang's situation in Liaodong is still stable. Although there was an accident of Li Yongfang's rebellion in Fushunguan, he managed to win a round on the Haixi Jurchen issue, which made Jianzhou Jurchen's intention to annex the Ula tribe in one fell swoop. It can be fulfilled, but Zhang Jingqiu knows very well that Jianzhou Jurchen will continue to launch offensives in Liaodong in the next few years. If Liaodong cannot be given strong support in terms of manpower and material resources in the next few years, it may be difficult for Feng Tang to maintain the current situation in the future. However, as far as Zhang Jingqiu knows, it is difficult for the imperial court to support Liaodong as it did last year and this year.

  Full of thoughts, Zhang Jingqiu stepped into the East Study Room.

   "Zhang Qing is here?" Emperor Yonglong smiled when he saw Zhang Jingqiu's serious face, "Why, looking at Zhang Qing's expression, it seems that something is on his mind?"

   "Kowtow to Your Majesty." Zhang Jingqiu saluted.

   "No gift, but a seat." Emperor Yonglong waved his hand.

  The monarch and his ministers faced each other, and the servant quietly stepped aside.

  Emperor Yonglong briefly asked about the military situation in the Southwest and the situation in Liaodong, and Zhang Jingqiu also made reports one by one.

   "Jing Qiu, Chai Ke reported at the court meeting a few days ago that they went to Yongping to inspect the soldiers of the Beijing camp. What do you think?"

This is the most important matter that Emperor Yonglong is most concerned about. After thinking about the 60,000 soldiers, he still feels that the vast majority must be retained. The main force of the battalion, this time to let the 80,000 Beijing battalion go out of Beijing. Apart from a bunch of waste from the Shenji battalion, Chen Jixian even sent all the non-direct descendants of the five military battalions out of Beijing, and the remaining main force of his confidantes at that time, it is difficult for Emperor Yonglong rest assured.

It's not that Emperor Yonglong didn't spend his time trying to win over Chen Jixian's heart, but he still couldn't confide in Chen Jixian. The news from Captain Long Jin also proved that Chen Jixian still had no connection with his father, but he had nothing to do with the boss. It was difficult for Emperor Yonglong to let go.

"Your Majesty, if the 60,000 soldiers of the Beijing camp are eliminated all of a sudden, it will definitely cause shocks in the capital, and their families and relatives may not be less than 200,000 in the capital..." Zhang Jingqiu shook his head, "Even if it is an embarrassing task, we should take it slowly. "

  Emperor Yonglong pondered slightly, "Jingqiu, what you said is gradually drawing out, do you have a detailed plan?"

  Zhang Jingqiu thought for a while, "We can temporarily retain some elites, select loyal and brave people to manage the rate, and move the rest to Tianjin for reorganization. After the reorganization is completed, we can return to Beijing."

   "How to reorganize?" Emperor Yonglong felt a little relieved.

Zhang Jingqiu's suggestion is in line with his intentions. He is not at ease with the fragile balance of only the Fifth Army Battalion and the Second Division of the Shenshu Battalion in the capital city, which is difficult to control. The battalion was restored to its original state, and it was difficult to select military officers who were more in line with his wishes in such a short period of time, and he was bound to be infiltrated and controlled by Wu Xun, who had a huge network of connections and influence in Beijing and China, so this was also unacceptable to him.

Zhang Jingqiu placed these Beijing soldiers in Tianjin Wei, not far or near, connected by canals, and convenient transportation, and left them with the hope that they could return to Beijing after the reorganization, so as not to arouse the soldiers who accepted the reorganization The violent reaction can be described as appropriate.

  As for how to reorganize, when to reorganize, how much to retain and eliminate, these can change with time and situation.

"Comprehensively mixed with Tianjin Sanwei, Shenwu Zhongwei, Yingzhou Qiantunwei, Zhuolu Sanwei, Xingzhou Zuotunwei, and Xingzhou Qiantunwei, and selected those who performed well in stages to re-enter Beijing Those who perform poorly will continue to undergo training until they are satisfied with the training." Zhang Jingqiu said flatly.

  Emperor Yonglong hesitated: "For such a large-scale reorganization, the total number of soldiers may exceed 100,000. What are the follow-up considerations?"

Zhang Jingqiu understands Emperor Yonglong's worry. Not to mention the huge cost of such a big move, the key lies in how to arrange the soldiers who have been trained. The so-called outstanding soldiers who meet the standards can re-enter the Beijing camp, but the rest, such a large number, are not given. A way out is difficult to convince the public, and may even lead to future troubles.

"Your Majesty, my minister's intention is that after this batch of training is completed, the various units of the current Fifth Army Battalion can be gradually pulled to Tianjin for mixed training, and even Yingzhou Youtunwei, Yingzhou Zhongtunwei, Dongsheng Youwei, The Zhongyi Zhongwei and other guards also joined in for a mixed reorganization, so as to form a training mode, and the length of time can be extended, three to five years,..."

  Zhang Jingqiu's suggestion made Emperor Yonglong's eyes shine.

  The land of Gyeonggi, that is, the territory of Shuntianfu, continued the general structure of the previous Ming Dynasty. Dozens of guards were set up around the capital, but these guards were varied.

For example, those prefixed with Tun are all Tunwei, that is, the main business is reclamation. Later, it gradually evolved into reclamation and handicrafts. The proportion of real professional soldiers is less than 30%. After decades, some It has already been abolished, some exist in name only, some do not match the name, and although the scale of establishment is still there, many of them have completely separated from the main business aimed at combat.

But Tianjin Sanwei, Zhuolu Sanwei, Shenwu Zhongwei, Dingbianwei, Zhenshuowei, Dongsheng Youwei, and Zhongyi Zhongwei are mainly soldiers, but they all bear the responsibility of being the border town of Jizhen. Reservist replenishment and reserve responsibilities.

According to the custom, the strength of a guard or garrison guard is 5,600 people, and the ratio of soldiers to garrison troops is uncertain. If the land of Gyeonggi is to be cleaned up, even if it is abolished, the strength of the remaining guards will not be low. For one hundred thousand people, of course, how many troops are really usable, even the Ministry of War can't figure it out, this is simply a muddled account.

For so many years, the Ministry of War has almost let Jizhen go, but Jizhen only firmly grasped the three guards of Tianjin, Miyun Guard, Dongsheng Right Guard, Zhongyi Zhongwei, Zhenshuo Guard, Dingbian Guard, Shanhaiwei, and Shenwu Zhongwei. A few more core and elite guards were trained as direct descendants, while others such as Zhuolu Sanwei, Dongsheng Zuowei, and Funingwei were not too concerned. As for Tunwei, they were basically freed.

  Of course the most important thing is that Ji Town simply doesn't have the energy and food to secure all the guards, and these places have become the best places to be exiled and left idle.

   Start making up changes and repaying the debt.

  (end of this chapter)