Zhu Yijun was not pretending to be surprised. In his impression, the Wanli Dynasty, which was able to carry out the three major conquests, should have strong military strength. Among them, Qi Jiguang and Li Chengliang are even more famous. However, he never expected that the Beijing camp, the core force used by the imperial court to "defend foreign forces with China," would actually reach such an unbearable state in Zhang Juzheng's words.
Zhu Yijun composed himself, sat down slowly, and said to Zhang Juzheng: "Old sir, please get up. We, you, the emperor and your ministers must communicate frequently in the future to avoid misunderstandings."
Zhang Juzheng nodded in agreement, wiping a cold sweat in his heart, and feeling a little regretful about Meng Lang being in the Duke's Mansion today. ——But this is only a little bit on the premise that Zhu Yijun has used his superb knowledge to show him that he is facing a wise master. Wanli, who was timid and cowardly in the original time and space, will not grow up, haha .
Zhu Yijun waited for him to sit down and asked, "Is the Beijing Camp so useless?"
Zhang Juzheng was secretly surprised that you knew whether he was saying goodbye or not, but you didn't know about this thing that everyone in the world knew before your eyes.
He slowly explained: "Your Majesty, the Beijing camp has been out of service since the Jingtai period, not in recent years. The Beijing camp was built by Taizu, starting from a total of 48 guards in the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army; Chengzu changed it to three camps and seven The Twelve Guards, the three major camps are the Fifth Army Camp, the Three Thousand Battalion and the Shenji Battalion.”
"After the battle of Tumubao, the entire army was wiped out, and there were no generals or soldiers in the army. Although Yu Shaobao built a regiment camp to regain some vigor, Xianzong later used eunuchs to control the camps, and now he was completely weak. - By Wuzong At that time, the dignified Beijing army was too timid to fight in the face of the army of rebels coerced by Liu Liu and Liu Qi!"
When Zhu Yijun heard this, he took a deep breath and completely understood what kind of bunch of people this Beijing army was. He raised his hand and asked Zhang Juzheng to take a sip of tea and continue.
Zhang Juzheng said: "Wuzong was so angry that he transferred tens of thousands of elite soldiers from nine sides to the capital, called the 'Four Outer Families'. Although there were more soldiers who dared to fight in the capital, the ministers, border generals, civil servants, and internal ministers were completely confused. Together, Beijing Army has never been able to figure things out again."
"During the reign of Emperor Shizong, civil servants were appointed to supervise the military affairs of the Beijing camp, but the result was still unsuccessful. In the 29th year of Jiajing, Ida's army besieged the capital, but the Beijing camp still collapsed when encountering the enemy and did not dare to fight."
"Later, when Yan Song came to power, he returned to the three camps from the regiment, camp, and government office system, and established the 'Governor-General Jingying Rongzheng' and the 'Assistant Rongzheng', and divided the chief and deputy positions, which were held by nobles and civil servants respectively, and the eunuchs were removed .”
There was a hint of mocking smile on Zhang Juzheng's lips, "Years before the year before last, Zhao Dazhou advised the late emperor, saying that it was harmful for military officials to monopolize power. The late emperor accepted it and changed it to three battalions, each with a general and a deputy general, and each battalion has a general. Add an assistant to manage the military affairs."
"The year before last, the late emperor thought that the six admirals were co-managing the military affairs of the capital and were not in charge of each other's affairs, so he resumed the old method of the governor and co-managers of the military affairs, which is still the case today."
Zhu Yijun was dazzled and had a strong perceptual understanding of Zhang Juzheng's political ability. The beginning and evolution of the Beijing camp, he narrated in a clear and coherent manner, was like unfolding a small historical picture full of conflicts, joys and sorrows. During this period, many thrilling past events are contained in this neither salty nor bland story. in his mouth.
Zhu Yijun felt sad for a moment, and then asked: "What is the reason for the weakness of this Beijing camp? Can it still cheer up?"
Zhang Juzheng shook his head and said: "Difficult! Let me tell the emperor first about the shortcomings of the weak Beijing camp. There are many factions and many clues. The Beijing camp is the home of the nobles of the capital. Officers at all levels are served by nobles of different sizes. This There are seven or eight major factions and dozens of smaller factions. They compete for pay and make trouble every day, and they fight with each other. If there is a war, they will only hold each other back."
"Secondly, the honorable nobles occupy the service, but they have official status but no soldiers. The emperor thinks that the servants of this noble family are hired by himself? They are all soldiers from the Beijing camp! Those who are strong and strong are extremely weak in the home of the ministers. Yes, at the gate of thousands or hundreds of households. Officials all over the capital regard it as normal - even a civil servant like me has dozens of soldiers from the capital camp as servants at home!"
"The three major camps have no money and no fighting power. This year, the three major battalions have consumed nearly one million taels of silver, including food and weapons. They should have provided 150,000 soldiers for the Beijing camp, but 90,000 are on the account. Is this the pay? , top-down carve-up.”
"There are actually 60,000 soldiers - half of them eat at the minister's house and claim to be getting half pay. In fact, I heard that they only get one-third of it. The remaining 30,000 are just showing off in the camp, and they really get half of it." Pay - but you must also be filial to your superior. I haven’t seen the food in person, but it is said to be like pig food. Can soldiers like this still fight? As long as the other side can bring out steamed buns, they will have to mutiny!"
After hearing this, Zhu Yijun was stunned by the corruption in the Beijing camp and even the Ming government. This fucking is the Central Forbidden Army. It was once the most powerful army in the world. At its peak, this army once had half the firearms. Five expeditions into the desert, turning the arrogant Golden Family into guerrillas!
Now it has become a shabby nest and a big rotten root! No wonder, no wonder this big tree was attacked and killed by Li Zicheng and the Manchus a few decades later. The Central Army was corrupted into this grandma and bear. It makes no sense for the country not to perish!
Only one thing is that most of the servants of the minister's family in Beijing are actually paid by the imperial court! And everyone is accustomed to it. Zhu Yijun can't think of any other words to describe it except the ridiculousness of the world. His face turned red and white, and he had the urge to destroy everything! This piece of crap is worse than scrapping the account and practicing again!
Why did Zhang Juzheng dare to tell the emperor this? In fact, since Wuzong, every emperor has known that there is no good way. If they start a big war, this noble man will have to risk his life with the royal family first! As a last resort, successive emperors were like ostriches burying their heads in the sand, closing their eyes and pretending not to see!
As for the payment of military personnel, each ministry shared profits from the central allocation, which was also a major malpractice of the imperial court. Zhang Juzheng was determined to get rid of it and first gave the emperor some drizzle.
Zhu Yijun took a few deep breaths and said in a deep voice, "This is a cancer! Sir, I want to get rid of it!"
Zhang Juzheng said: "I have suggested to the emperor before that he should review them frequently. Why is Duke Cheng Guo so tired and sick this time? Doesn't it mean that the emperor wants to review the capital camp?"
He laughed again and said: "I heard that on the day of the emperor's school review, those who show up to count the numbers will be given one tael of silver; those who can run and exercise will be given two taels of silver, and those who can ride and shoot will be given five taels of silver! The Jingshi Athletes Pass is a sensation and people are eager to sign up."
Zhu Yijun sneered and said: "The one hundred thousand taels in Chengguo Gong's house is a good deal. Not only did I buy a prince, I also bought an amulet!"
Zhang Juzheng nodded in agreement and replied: "Gong Chengguo is the head of the honours. He is the only one who can hold down the position of the capital camp."
"If the emperor hadn't said that he was going to inspect the capital this time, no one would have trained troops in these years. The Duke was so worried that he couldn't help but scare himself. Most of the time he got sick because of this."
