"Your Majesty, as long as I ask you to do some practical things, it doesn't matter what you do."
"good!"
Chongzhen was very pleased: "The main task of my bringing you back is to reorganize the military equipment. Your character is too upright. The Minister of War is not suitable for you, and it will also affect your energy. I hope you can understand that after you have reorganized it, I will come back." Give you a new assignment."
"I understand!"
Li Banghua said solemnly: "My Ming Dynasty has an army of more than two million, but it has become extremely rotten. If I can rectify it, the combat power of the Ming army will be rejuvenated. The sun and moon will shine, and wherever the cavalry goes, everyone will surrender. I will die." No regrets.”
"Don't talk about death all the time. I want to create a prosperous Ming Dynasty, and reorganizing the military is only the first step to realize my dream.
I hope you can join me in seeing the coming of this prosperous Ming Dynasty. "
Chongzhen was very pleased, thought for a while and said: "Have you done well in the measures to rectify the military affairs that I asked you to do last time?"
"Your Majesty, we have a draft!"
"tell me the story!"
"Your Majesty, I have been conducting a secret investigation during this period. The situation is more serious than I imagined."
Li Banghua's face was extremely serious, and anger flashed in his eyes.
"Whether it is the 21st Guards or the Beijing Camp, there are shortcomings such as occupation, pretense, selling out of work, extortion, back door, old, weak, sick and disabled."
"A few days ago, I saw with my own eyes dozens of soldiers wearing Beijing military uniforms pulling carts of wall bricks. I secretly asked some people, saying that a house was built in the home of a certain noble nobleman. If he didn't want to pay, he would build it from his own house. A batch was transferred to the camp, and this kind of thing seems to be common.”
"If I start to reorganize, the first step is to verify the actual number of people, the second is to take back the occupied soldiers, the third is to identify the old, weak, sick and disabled, the fourth is to assess the soldiers, the fifth is to recruit new recruits, the sixth is training..."
Li Banghua spoke for half a quarter of an hour. After listening to this, Chongzhen waved his hand and said, "You will be fully responsible for this matter. As long as I dare to fight with a team that is good at fighting, I will start with the 21st Guards. The 21st Guards have been reorganized. Let’s start the Beijing camp again.”
"I will inform Marquis Zhongzhen and ask her to cooperate with you. No matter who it is, who dares not to cooperate, I will give you the right to take advantage."
"Don't have any worries, just go ahead and do it. I will always stand behind you."
Chongzhen stood up and patted Li Banghua on the shoulder: "Twenty-one Guards, I'm leaving it to you. Pay attention to safety and go!"
Feeling the strength of Chongzhen's hand, Li Banghua's eyes turned red.
He felt Chongzhen's great trust in him. He was fifty-three years old this year and had only a few years to live. But if he could put the Ming army in order, he would definitely leave his name in history.
It is said that a scholar dies for a confidant, but this is not the case at this moment.
After Li Banghua left, Chongzhen looked at the list of candidates in his hand and sighed softly.
Who are the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Yushi of Zuodu, the Supervisory Yuan, looking for?
Chongzhen frowned and searched his mind for the list he had read.
Li Banghua was undoubtedly the most suitable censor of Zuodu, but Chongzhen had his own plans.
After Li Banghua finished rectifying the 21st Guards, he set up a department specifically responsible for inspecting the discipline and assessment of the army. This department had a much greater role than the Zuodu Yushi.
After a while, Chongzhen said softly: "Sir, where is Zhang Tingdeng taking office now?"
Wang Chengen thought for a moment after hearing this: "Your Majesty, Zhang Tingdeng came back to power in May and was ordered to pacify the two Zhejiang provinces. He should have just taken office now."
"Ask Li Ruolian to send someone to notify him of his return. I have other purposes."
Although Zhang Tingdeng was not very famous, Chongzhen remembered that during the Wanli period, he was ordered to inspect the capital camp and compile a volume called "Inspection Matters", which almost made the generals in the capital camp cry.
If the Beijing camp was used strictly according to the records of "Inspection Matters" back then, then the current combat power of the Beijing camp would definitely be no less than that of Jiubian.
It may not be suitable to be the Minister of the Ministry of War, but it is okay to be the Yushi of Zuodu.
As for the candidates for the Ministry of War, he did have several candidates, such as Sun Chuanting and Hong Chengchou, but it was not easy to convince the courtiers.
The former had been idle at home for three years, and his position was not high before leaving office.
The latter's official position, merits and abilities can be tried, but this one was defeated and captured in the Battle of Songjin in the 15th year of Chongzhen and was demoted to Jiannu.
Chongzhen believed that Hong Chengchou could not bear the main responsibility for the defeat. Songshan was besieged for half a year. The food in the city was exhausted, there were no reinforcements from outside, and his subordinates secretly communicated with Jiannu.
Although the defeat was not his fault, Chongzhen still felt a little uncomfortable with this thorn.
"Forget it, let's wait and see. With Sun Chengzong here, there will be no problem for the time being."
In Dongnuan Pavilion, Chongzhen murmured to himself.
After a while, Chongzhen returned to Long's case and wrote a letter: "Big companion, ask Li Ruolian to send someone 300 miles to rush to Xi'an to Yuan Keli."
After writing the letter, Chongzhen leaned back on the dragon chair, closed his eyes and meditated.
The left and right wings of the Jinning Line of Defense already have countermeasures, but it is not enough to push the Jiannu back to their original state, let alone Siam, Burma, Tubo, etc.
Then the only way to improve his combat power is to develop firearms, which is what he wanted to do when he came back from time travel.
Nowadays, the civil servants and military generals of the Ming Dynasty seem to be a little disdainful of the power of firearms, but from later generations, he has seen the terror of firearms, and a large killer weapon can wipe out all the slaves.
Although it is impossible to produce such a powerful weapon under the current conditions, it is still possible to produce flintlock guns and gunpowder shells.
The current Hongyi cannon shells are all solid shells, and their lethality is not bad, but if the Hongyi cannon is improved, the shells will be replaced by gunpowder.
Just a hundred red cannons and dozens of volleys can cripple the Jiannu cavalry.
PS: Some people say that there are three types of Hongyi cannon shells: solid, shotshells, and blooming shells. This statement is wrong. The Hongyi cannon is a front-loading smoothbore cannon with extremely high pressure in the barrel. At this time, blooming shells are used. This is not to look for explosions. ?
The time for this research and development is difficult to control, maybe one year, maybe ten years, but this direction is definitely in the right direction.
Whether it is to establish slaves, to fight against Siam or Burma, or to reopen the sea ban and join the world's great voyages, firearms are a must.
There is no point in being aggressive in one's own territory. What really matters is frightening neighboring countries. The Ming Dynasty is the dynasty.
Therefore, the research on firearms must be accelerated, and even put on top of defeating the Jiannu.
Thinking of this, Chongzhen suddenly opened his eyes.
"Big companion, ask Li Ruolian to send someone to notify Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua, and Xu Guangqi to come to Beijing immediately."
