Because of the Battle of Jingnan, the Xungui Group in the Ming Dynasty was divided into northern and southern factions. The core of the Northern faction were the heroes of Jingnan, and they were mainly concentrated in Beijing after Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing. The core of the Southern faction is of course the remaining old officials of Jianwen who stayed in Nanjing after Zhu Di moved north. This group of people was headed by the Xu family, Duke of Wei, and lived their own small lives guarding the territory in the southeast. They were quite content for more than two hundred years.
Of course, the so-called noble group is a very large group, not just a group of nobles with titles.
It was relatively difficult to be granted a title in the Ming Dynasty. It was basically impossible for someone with a different surname to be crowned a king. Even if someone was granted a title, it would be a posthumous title. There are three levels of title: Duke, Marquis, and Uncle. Within the three levels, there are hereditary and hereditary titles - hereditary means hereditary succession, and hereditary title means descending to a lower rank. The former is awarded to meritorious officials, and the latter is awarded to relatives and nobles.
However, the difficulty of being ennobled does not mean that Zhu Yuanzhang treated his heroes poorly. Later generations often have the impression that Zhu Yuanzhang was too petty, treated his heroes badly, killed them, and bombarded the hero building.
And this impression is opposite to the actual situation! In fact, the Ming Dynasty was probably the most generous dynasty to its heroes in the history of China. The preferential treatment of heroes in the Ming Dynasty is not reflected in a few high-level heroes, such as the founding six princes and twenty-eight princes, but in the preferential treatment of the vast number of middle and low-level heroes.
Zhu Yuanzhang's army numbered hundreds of thousands! The six Dukes and twenty-eight marquises together amount to thirty-four people. No one can use the experiences of the thirty-four families to deny Zhu Yuanzhang's preferential treatment to tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of meritorious soldiers, right?
And Zhu Yuanzhang's method of giving preferential treatment to meritorious soldiers was actually the military household system!
Is the military household system preferential treatment? Isn’t the military household system a disguised form of serfdom? In fact, the military household system is both preferential treatment and serfdom in disguise!
Because the meritorious soldiers who followed Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the world were not the lowest serfs, but the guards officers!
There were more than 300 guards in the Ming Dynasty! How many commanders, co-presidents, ministers, governors, thousands of households, hundreds of households, general banners, and small banners are needed? These official positions in the health center are hereditary from generation to generation!
In other words, most of the descendants of the meritorious soldiers who followed Zhu Yuanzhang in founding the country still had guards to serve as officers by the end of the Ming Dynasty. At least some of the many descendants could still serve as officials.
What can be compared with Zhu Yuanzhang's military household system is probably the Eight Banners system of the Qing Dynasty.
Like the Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's garrison officers also tended to become decadent after more than two hundred years of inheritance. Not only did they lose their combat effectiveness, but they also divided up the garrison land.
While losing their combat effectiveness, the children of military households read well and were quite proud of themselves in the Ming Dynasty's examinations. The average number of military Jinshi could reach 30% of the total number of Jinshi. Their influence in the officialdom was It is also very powerful.
For example, Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying, who are currently discussing how to deal with Zhu Cihong, both have military backgrounds.
Therefore, Zhu Cihong's actions to rectify the garrison in Denglai were equivalent to abolishing hardcore crops in the Qing Dynasty! This matter violates the bottom line of southern nobles and hereditary military attachés!
"Of course we can't let them stay out of the matter!" Ma Shiying said with a frown: "The nobles who stay in the capital will not get too involved in the court affairs, but since the prince wants to move the guardhouse, they will not turn a blind eye. There are more than a hundred people in the southeast Aren't the guards just their meal? The prince wants to dig out their roots! Without these guards, how can they still be nobles? They must be allowed to contribute, and they must be asked to jointly report to the court. !”
The unity of the military and civilians in the guard station controls a large amount of land and population, which is also the foundation of the nobles! Once the guard station is lost, the nobles who stayed in the capital will become rootless and fluttering, at the mercy of Zhu Cihong.
"Will they stand on our side?" Shi Kefa turned to look at Zhu Guobi and asked.
Zhu Guobi himself was not a nobleman who stayed in the capital, but he had already participated in King Qin and brought a small number of troops (the elite of the grain transport army). He also spent the 200,000 taels of silver that should have been transported to Dengzhou in the name of King Qin's military expenses. , so I can’t get off the pirate ship.
"Shibutang, I will go and stay in the capital!" Admiral Funing Hou told Zhu Guobi, "I will tell you personally, they will definitely work with us, at least they can write a joint memorial to invite the prince to return to the throne. .”
Shi Kefa asked: "Uncle Xincheng will also be with us?"
Xinchengbo Zhao Zhilong, who is now in charge of Nanjing's garrison, is also not a nobleman who stayed in the capital. They are all nobles of Beijing. Now they have lost most of their family property and the population and land they controlled, and have become nobles without roots... With their roots gone, of course they have to hold on to Zhu Cixiang's thigh. . And digging the roots of Southeast nobles is also beneficial and harmless to them. Because in the process of digging up other people's roots, you can definitely make a lot of money! Otherwise, how will we live in the future? Begging for food and the noble scholar-bureaucrats from the southeast?
So Shi Kefa was a little worried about the positions of Zhu Guobi and Zhao Zhilong.
"Don't worry," Zhu Guobi assured, "Uncle Xincheng is the Holy Emperor's confidant, and he is also in charge of Nanjing's garrison and the affairs of the Nanjing Governor's Office. If he cannot support the Holy Emperor and regain power now, when the prince takes control of Nanjing, he can There is nothing left! Besides, many of the rebels under the Gebu are Nanjing soldiers he transferred."
Zhao Zhilong's current official position is equivalent to Nanjing's admiral and commander-in-chief of the capital camp. Once Zhu Cixi arrives in Nanjing, one of Zhu Chunchen, Zhang Shize, and Li Guozhen will definitely be appointed as commander-in-chief. It is absolutely impossible to let Zhao Zhilong, a man who has never fought with him in the revolution and is also a close confidant of Chongzhen, be the commander-in-chief. Besides, Zhao Zhilong is still implicated by Shi Kefa!
By then, he will have nothing...
Zhu Guobi's own situation is similar, and he does not have to wait for Zhu Cihong to arrive in Nanjing, as long as he waits for Zhu Cihong to arrive in Huai'an, he will have to step down!
Of course, the important positions of admiral in charge of water transportation and guarding Huai'an must be filled by Zhu Cixiang's confidants!
By then, Zhu Guobi would also have to live in Jinling, relying on the savings he had embezzled during his previous appointment in Huai'an. If Zhu Cihong still pursues his corruption and involvement in "King Qin", then he will be even worse. So even though he is a distinguished nobleman from Beijing, he is now firmly on the opposite side of Zhu Cihong!
"Okay!" Shi Kefa nodded, "Then I will help Ninghou... As long as the nobles in the capital are the southeastern landlords, and as long as they can be of one mind with the Holy Father, His Highness the Prince will have no choice but to return to power."
...
Every move in Yanzhou is of course under the control of Jinyiwei commander Zhu Chunjie. Compared with the current Dengzhou Xingzai, Marshal Shi Kefa's Mansion in Yanzhou is like a leaky sieve. Detailed reports are sent to Marshal Zhu David's desk every day.
And the news Zhu Chunjie got today was a bit shocking - after learning about the crown prince's rectification of the Denglai Guards, Shi Kefa finally made up his mind to confront the crown prince!
So after getting the news, Zhu Chunjie did not dare to neglect, and immediately rode out of the city and went straight to Penglai Pavilion.
Penglai Pavilion is now Zhu Cixiang's palace!
In mid-June, Wu Sanmei was finally confirmed to be pregnant! In order to provide Wu Sanmei with a comfortable living environment, Zhu Cixiang moved his residence from the noisy Dengzhou City to Penglai Pavilion on Danya Mountain.
When Zhu Chunjie arrived, Zhu Cixiang had just returned from inspecting the military camp and was watching the sea with Wu Sanmei and Fei Zhen'e in the Guanlan Pavilion of Penglai Pavilion.
After listening to Zhu Chunjie's report, Zhu Cixiang didn't feel angry at all, but laughed out loud: "People say that it takes three years for a scholar to rebel... Shi Kefa, a Jinshi, is about the same! He spent so many days. , I still can’t make up my mind to send troops to go to war. I want to win over those useless nobles in Nanjing, this is really great!”
When he said this, the smile on his face became even brighter, as if what Shi Kefa and Zhu Guobi did was exactly what he wanted.
"Master Qiansui, then let's..." Zhu Chunjie frowned slightly, seeming to be worried about Zhu Cihong.
Now Zhu Cixiang has many elites in his hands. The New Army has expanded into five divisions, each with more than 7,000 people. In addition to the 10,000 Denglai guards, plus the troops directly under the New Army Command Department and the Generalissimo's Mansion, the total strength is It can be said to be 60,000!
But the problem is that there are many people on Shi Kefa's side, and the Ming Dynasty is currently in trouble, and there are still Donglu and rogue bandits watching eagerly. Once chaos breaks out, it will be out of control!
Zhu Cixiang smiled: "Our team is about to expand again! Li Yan just sent someone to report that Chen Yingyuan, the bandit leader, agreed to surrender, and he also got a reduction of the list!"
Li Yan and Lady Hong recently went on a business trip to win over the remaining bandits and heroes on the ground in Shandong.
After Li Zicheng captured Beijing, he sent General Guo Sheng to lead thousands of troops to capture Shandong. Guo Sheng had few people and could not control the entire territory of Shandong. He could only focus on occupying Jinan and Jining, and later sent troops to capture Qingzhou. , and this Chen Yingyuan was sent by Guo Sheng to fight Qingzhou. He was also unlucky. He brought 2,000 talents to Yidu (the first county of Qingzhou). The news that Li Zicheng had lost Beijing reached Jinan. Guo Sheng had to evacuate in a hurry, ignoring Chen Yingyuan and another rogue general named Yao Fengying. The two of them had no choice but to join forces and go up to the Taiyi Mountains. However, because the terrain was unfamiliar, he was ambushed by Li Shiyuan, a Qingzhou guerrilla from the Ming Dynasty, and Yao Fengying died in the battle!
Of course, Zhu Cixiang would not give up this opportunity, so he asked Li Yan and Hong Niangzi to come forward to win over the desperate Chen Yingyuan.
