The second day.
"I'm ordering Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun to come to Beijing for an audience!"
In Qianqing Palace, Zhu Zaijing held the past border reports in his hand and said thoughtfully.
Historically, the border crisis in the Longqing Dynasty has never stopped since the beginning of the month.
In the first year of Longqing alone, Mongolia attacked the border five times in the first month, February, March, July, and September, which greatly threatened the capital and national defense security, costing countless money and food, and causing heavy casualties.
A country can develop stably and develop only if there are no neighboring countries. At the very least, it must live in peace with the neighboring countries and governments and cannot make enemies everywhere.
The high military expenditures of the Ming Dynasty were a direct reflection of the extremely poor international relations of the Ming Dynasty.
To develop the economy, population and technology with peace of mind, peace is a must!
But now the two biggest problems plaguing the Ming Dynasty are: Mongolia in the north and Japanese pirates in the south, both of which are at their most violent.
In history, the problem of Japanese pirates finally came to an end because of the opening of the sea in Longqing. They could trade overseas, and the Japanese pirates no longer had to smuggle to burn, kill, and loot.
Damn it! They are said to be Japanese pirates, but quite a few of them are locals from coastal areas! It is because the maritime trade in the Ming Dynasty was officially operated. To put it bluntly, all the money from maritime trade went into the palace, and private citizens were not allowed to go to sea privately.
Then there were many desperadoes who saw the huge profits from overseas trade and did not hesitate to join in with the Japanese pirates to make money through smuggling.
The problems in the south can be solved by opening the sea, and the problems in the north were also solved by Longqing in history through Longqing Yihe.
But in Zhu Zaijing's view, these are not perfect enough.
For example, although customs was opened, one-third of the world's silver flowed into the Chinese market, which provided a basis for the implementation of the One-Way Whip Law. However, the inflow of this silver made the domestic economy a mess.
There was also peace negotiation with Mongolia. Although the two sides opened mutual markets and obtained what each other needed through trade, the two sides were still hostile and isolated. The Ming Dynasty did not take the opportunity to win over and divide the forces of the grasslands, and gradually created the situation for the rise of Lao Nu. the general environment.
Zhu Zaijing put his energy first on the northern border defense line. It is not the time for Japanese pirates to cause trouble in the south, and they usually only attack in summer.
In Zhu Zaijing's view, there are only two ways to permanently solve the problem of the northern border defense line. The first is marriage, and the second is Maxim.
Because the harsh living environment of the grasslands determines that as long as this Mongolian plateau remains, it will continue to produce world-class cavalry.
Until Maxim came out.
But Zhu Zaijing didn't know how to make a flintlock gun, let alone machine guns. He couldn't count on Maxim, who would come out a few centuries later.
Firearms must be obtained. If you don’t understand, you can let others do it! China will never lack geniuses!
Moreover, you can also introduce technology from the West and then imitate it yourself.
However, peace maintained solely by military superiority is far from safe. Only marriage + firearms are the fundamental way to permanently solve the North's troubles.
Marriage is only the first step, and the economic and military control after it is the second step. The third step is to completely incorporate the Mongolian Plateau into the Ming Dynasty from all aspects of culture, ideology, economy, and politics, and completely become a part of the Ming Dynasty.
What? Isn’t it true that there will be no marriage in the Ming Dynasty?
It's true that they are not getting married, but that doesn't mean they can't get married.
For example, Zhu Yuanzhang's second son Zhu Xi, the first generation King of Qin, married Wang Baobao's daughter as his concubine. The reason was that Zhu Yuanzhang knew that Mongolia and the Ming Dynasty could not be in a state of hostility forever, so he wanted to marry through marriage at the beginning of the founding of the country. Come to win over Wang Baobao.
Another example is that King Zhu Di of Yan, who later usurped the throne and became emperor, also married the daughter of the Mongolian warlord Wu Yuncheng when he was a prince.
At that time, Zhu Laosi was guarding Beiping and was one of the first vassal kings to face Mongolia in the north.
After Zhu Di came to power, Wu was named Concubine Hui. In other words, this Mongolian woman became the concubine of the Ming Emperor.
There were several similar royal intermarriages, but they were all Han princes marrying Mongolian women, which was not the mainstream in the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, the Ming Dynasty officials never said that marriage cannot be achieved!
It's a bit far-fetched.
Zhu Zaijing ordered Qi Jiguang, Tan Lun and others to enter the capital and had several plans of his own.
These people are the backbone of the anti-Japanese force in the southeast. Before the Japanese pirates on the southeast coast have gone to sea, I want to meet them.
Because Zhu Zaijing wants to inspect the nine sides!
Go and see for yourself the real situation in Jiubian Town, otherwise you won’t be able to feel at ease.
And this requires Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun's soldiers and horses to follow him to patrol the northern defense line.
Historically, Emperor Longqing couldn't stand the situation of the army in Jiubian Town and the capital, so he recalled Qi Jiguang to train troops on the northern defense line.
Yu Dayou and Liu Xian should stay in the southeast. Although it is not the season for Japanese pirates to go to sea, it is just in case.
It would take at least a month for Qi Jiguang and the others to set off to the capital after receiving the imperial edict.
By that time, the policy of canceling taxation on military fields in Jiubian Town had been implemented. I just happened to go to see how the implementation was going, and by the way, I selected a few capable young people from the border army to train.
After all, the knowledge of Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun, who trained the army and fought like this, cannot be inherited by anyone, because the army's techniques, tactics and beliefs need to be passed on continuously.
This is also the reason why the army must be professional. Only a professional army can continue to pass on beliefs and technical and tactical experience.
Without a professional army, combat effectiveness cannot be guaranteed in most cases. Only a few talented generals can flourish for a while. After the death of these generals, they return to their original weaklings.
This was also what Zhu Zaijing considered. Taking advantage of the fact that there were still many military talents in the Ming Dynasty, he put the professionalization of the army on the agenda as soon as possible.
As for promoting a few young people in the important town of Jiubian, it is because he also needs a few loyal confidants in the army.
In the next month, take a good look at the three major camps in the capital: the Fifth Army Camp, the Shenji Camp, and the Three Thousand Battalion!
Of course, these battalions don't have much combat effectiveness now, and they haven't been on the battlefield for how many years. If they expect them to go to the battlefield and kill people, they will become the second Zhu Qizhen.
He wanted to put the reorganization of the three major battalions in the capital on the agenda, and finally regain the command of the three major battalions back into his own hands.
Why do you say re-?
Because the three battalions founded by Zhu Laosi were at first directly subordinate to the emperor's private armed forces, but because...
Hey, let’s talk about Zhu Qizhen again who makes people’s blood pressure soar...
Because of a well-known incident, the command of these three battalions was in the hands of the Ministry of War.
And the TM Ministry of War is all damn civil servants!
If you want to reform the military, you must start by getting back the controllers of the three major battalions!
"Let Qi Jiguang lead the Zhejiang Army with a thousand troops, and Tan Lun lead two thousand soldiers and horses!"
Feng Bao on the other side became alert, what is the emperor going to do?
"Long live Lord, does the decree have to go through the cabinet?" Feng Bao asked.
"Is it convenient for Tan Lun, Qi Jiguang and others to bring thousands of people to Beijing without going through the cabinet and relying on the decree?" Zhu Zaijing glanced at him and asked.
The central edict is an edict issued privately by the emperor, bypassing the cabinet directly.
Generally speaking, an imperial edict needs to be approved by the cabinet before it becomes a formal document. However, if the cabinet does not approve it, the emperor can also choose to pass the edict and the edict will be directly delegated by the Chief of Ceremonies. However, this is not considered an official government document, but a private envelope of the emperor.
Of course, a major event like mobilizing the military requires the approval of the cabinet.
After arranging these tasks, Zhu Zaijing closed his eyes and took a rest. He had been reading the memorial for a long time, and his eyes hurt from looking at it.
After a while, Feng Bao, who went to the cabinet to deliver the order, ran back in a panic.
"Long live the Lord!"
Zhu Zaijing was startled, squinted his eyes and said, "What's the matter? You're yelling!"
"The cabinet room is surrounded by officials!"
