"Your Majesty, the development of the Beijing camp has gone through four stages. The first stage is when it was established. There were originally 72 guards, plus some other personnel, totaling about 400,000. The combat strength is absolutely powerful.
The second stage was after the Tumubao Incident, Jingying suffered a devastating blow. Since then, the pattern of military families in charge of Jingying has completely changed.
Civil servants and eunuchs from the Ministry of War intervened in the capital camp and changed it into a regiment training system.
The third stage is to restore the group training into three major camps.
The fourth stage is the gradual reduction of internal and external wars, the rise of the recruitment system, and the peace period in Beijing. However, this peace pushed the Beijing camp into a bottomless abyss.
Three generations of British princes worked hard to support them, but unfortunately they could not match the nearly 100 nobles. In the end, they had no choice but to let it go.
As for me, Jingying has been completely corrupted and it is difficult to recover. If it were not for the efforts of the ancestors through the generations and the creation of a direct lineage, then Jingying would be completely finished. "
When the British Duke said this, his eyes were filled with complex expressions.
Chongzhen didn't urge him, he just looked at Zhang Weixian quietly.
After a while, Zhang Weixian continued: "There are 120,000 people in the military register of the Beijing camp and 26,000 war horses. There are currently 46,000 people and 15,000 war horses."
Hearing this, Chongzhen frowned: "Young Master, isn't that right? How come I heard that there are not even one person in the capital camp left in dozens, so there is a big discrepancy with yours."
"His Majesty!"
Zhang Weixian stood up and saluted Chongzhen: "There are too many occupations, pretensions, idleness, and bribery in the capital camp."
"There are 17,000 sergeants attached to the Beijing camp itself, and the remaining 19,000 are servants of the generals at all levels in the Beijing camp, posing as sergeants of the Beijing camp.
Otherwise, if there are only more than 10,000 people in the army of more than 100,000, it will be too easy to check from above.
Anyway, the Jingying camp is only responsible for defending Kyoto and does not go to the front line, and it is basically impossible for enemy troops to attack Kyoto.
Servants placed in the military camp can not only earn wages, but also fill vacancies, and can also cultivate their own strength, killing three birds with one stone. Why not? "
Chongzhen's face suddenly turned cold, and his eyes were filled with murderous intent.
When one's own servants are placed in the military camp, they are personal servants in terms of affiliation, but on the other hand, they are supporting a private army.
Raising a private army is a major crime against the nine clans. There are nearly 20,000 people in Beijing. If they collude to conspire, the palace can be breached in an instant.
After a while, Chongzhen suppressed the murderous intention in his heart and asked doubtfully: "According to what you said, is there a difference of ten thousand?"
"Your Majesty, these people are all old, weak, sick and disabled. The sergeants bought them with their own money. The Beijing camp pays between 15 and 20 taels a year, including food and accommodation, as well as grain and salt subsidies.
The old and the weak spend thirty or forty taels of silver to buy a place. Those who cannot afford cash can be compensated with the salary of the next few years.
It's like finding a retirement home for yourself and just living it up day by day. "
"What about the condition of the war horses?"
"Your Majesty, there are eleven thousand horses missing, and some of them were borrowed by officials in the name of doing business and cannot be returned.
Some people buy the horses at a discount.
Some of them were directly sold by the generals or kept by themselves.
Less than half of the remaining fifteen thousand can serve as war horses. "
Chongzhen secretly exclaimed, "Good guy, these few operations are simply 666 according to the language habits of later generations."
At this point, Chongzhen no longer had any expectations for the Beijing camp, and asked calmly: "Where is the combat power?"
"The infantry has no orders and does not know how to move. Their firearms are not fired uniformly and their hair is raised to the sky. The cavalry cannot wear armor or whip their horses."
Chongzhen wanted to call him a fucking thing.
If Chengzu knew that the Jingying camp he once swept through the northern part of Vietnam had become like this, would he be so angry that he climbed up from the ground and destroyed the Jingying camp himself?
From the battle in the second year of Chongzhen when Huang Taiji besieged the city of Beijing, we know that the Beijing camp was completely destroyed.
Looking at Chongzhen with a calm expression, the British Duke whispered: "Your Majesty, although the management is corrupt, the combat capabilities of these servants are still very good."
Listening to Zhang Weixian's meaningful words, Chongzhen was stunned for a moment, and then a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
Isn't this just to remind myself that since I'm on the military yellow roll, I'm a soldier in the Beijing camp.
If you say no, then let's just consider the matter of receiving military pay and raising private troops, and we can choose one between killing the nine tribes or releasing the people.
Even if the original 17,000 men were barely there, there should be 10,000 available. Adding these 19,000 servants, the Beijing camp could still fight 30,000 people.
If we add some of the squad troops who came to Beijing to practice together and practice them, the Beijing camp will not only be very capable of fighting, but will be more than adequate for city defense.
This is enough. With the Forbidden Army here, Beijing Camp will act as the gatekeeper of Beijing City.
"What can you do to correct it?"
"One is to replenish the army, the other is to refine and draw troops, the other is to clear out the troops, the other is to train horses, the other is to save the horse army, the other is to practice magic weapons, and the other is to learn to fly stones;
Be quick, accurate, and ruthless. Quick means acting quickly and identifying corrupt generals accurately. ruthless means killing and withdrawing. Only by killing some and withdrawing others can we be able to completely deter and reform. "
"feasible!"
Chongzhen said: "There is no rush in the reform of the Beijing Camp. We will wait until the 21st Guards are reorganized. During this period, you should act as if nothing has happened and wait for my orders."
"Go back first!"
"I resign!"
Zhang Weixian stood up, bowed to Chongzhen, and then slowly retreated towards the door of Dongnuan Pavilion.
He came here to completely stand up and show his loyalty. As for the rectification, he also knew not to rush it.
Looking at Zhang Weixian, Chongzhen sighed inwardly that the Zhang family was loyal to the royal family.
One generation of British Dukes assisted three generations of monarchs, but was later tricked to death by the Yingzong. The last British Duke was killed by Li Zicheng's army. The family can be regarded as loyal.
Zhang Weixian's ability may not be as good as that of Zhang Fu in the first generation, but he can definitely be ranked second.
It's a pity that he was a little too diplomatic and too cautious. He wanted to preserve the glory of the Zhang family and didn't want to become a victim of party strife.
In fact, the Zhang family has changed since the fifth and sixth generations of British fathers. The fifth and sixth generations were two brothers, not long ago.
Moreover, it happened to be a period of great change in Wanli's personality, and it was rare to see Wanli. He wanted to do something, but he couldn't do anything without the emperor's permission.
Zhang Weixian was granted the title in the 26th year of Wanli. Like the previous two, since he could not change, preserving his family was his top priority.
His son Zhang Zhiji was the eighth generation British duke. After becoming a general, he was supposed to go to the front line to lead troops in the war, but he didn't go.
The ninth generation British Duke Zhang Shize seized the throne in the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign. Unfortunately, the Ming Dynasty was on the verge of collapse and unable to recover. The only thing he could do was to accompany the emperor and die for the country.
Therefore, he refused to escape or surrender, and was eventually killed by Li Zicheng.
Looking at Zhang Weixian who was retreating to the door, Chongzhen suddenly said: "Mr. British, if my guess is correct, you must also have evidence of corruption and perversion of the law by many noble generals in the capital camp!"
