Since Zhu Yunwen came to the throne, he has begun drastic reforms, and the first ax is the strategy of the new army.
Counting it down, the New Army Policy has been in existence for seven years. Facts have proved the effectiveness and great success of the New Army Policy, which has strengthened the fighting will and combat ability of sergeants.
But it is regrettable that the New Army policy has been promoted for seven years and has still not been extended to all health centers. Most of the health centers in Sichuan, Yunnan, Guangdong, Huguang, Shandong and other places have not enjoyed the New Army policy.
Some guards had opinions and sergeants had conflicts. The court could only appease and appease them, but could take few practical actions. Although some guards did not enjoy the new army policy, the basic treatment has been improved by nearly 30% compared to the Hongwu period, which eased the relationship between the local guards and the imperial court.
But Zhu Yunwen knew that if the new army's strategy could not be popularized throughout the army, the problem would not be eradicated.
The promotion of the new army strategy needs to be supported by money and food.
But in recent years, the court's money and food have been spent on too many places, especially dredging the river, building a new capital, concrete road infrastructure and conquering the Western Regions, which cost more than tens of millions of money and food!
Although the imperial court has a printing press, it is impossible to issue banknotes excessively. The lesson of the sharp depreciation of Hongwu banknotes is at hand. Zhu Yunwen must ensure the stability of the credibility and value of the new Hongwu banknotes to prevent silver and copper from once again dominating the transaction, causing more problems. Big disaster.
The court's lack of money and food was the biggest reason for the slow implementation of the new army policy.
Zhu Yunwen once hoped that Peiping would sell military farmland to solve the problem of money and food for the New Army. However, the successful experience of Peking is difficult to replicate. For example, in Suzhou, Ningxia, Lanzhou and other places, if you tell businessmen to buy farmland, they will also I may not buy it.
With an army of 1.7 million, Zhu Yunwen would not have been able to support so many sergeants without the support of farms. A sergeant would need 17 million yuan a year, but in the sixth year of Jianwen's reign, the whole army The annual tax revenue is only 28 million yuan, 30% of which is distributed to the local government, and less than 20 million yuan goes to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Among the 20 million yuan, it is necessary to put aside the official salary, the royal family salary, and the palace expenses, and then the navy needs 2 million, the infrastructure needs 2 million, and the horse farm needs 500,000. The construction of the new city is huge and involves There are so many, it costs no less than three million a year.
The Western Expedition started with 150,000 sergeants, which was 2 million taels. Logistics mobilized people, requisitioned camels and mares, and raised grain and grass. The long transportation lines and long time cost more than 3 million.
Lin Lin finally calculated that the money he could spend to support the new army strategy was only more than 5 million taels, which was evenly distributed among 1.7 million sergeants. One sergeant a year was worth only three taels!
It is unrealistic to rely solely on the imperial government's finances to support the New Army. The key to truly supporting the New Army and ensuring the normal operation of the garrison is the military garrison.
Zhu Yuanzhang thought highly of Juntun, while Zhu Yunwen looked down upon Juntun.
Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the military camp could feed millions of soldiers without consuming a single grain of civilian food. However, Lao Zhu exaggerated. Kaizhongfa was a trick he came up with to make up for the lack of food in the military camp.
Zhu Yunwen believed that the Weisuo military settlements were backward and would collapse sooner or later and needed to be abolished. However, in fact, the military settlement system played an extremely important role in the early Ming Dynasty. The military settlements reclaimed a large amount of land, and the grain they produced was not only It supported the guardhouse and even became an important source of food for the imperial court.
The income from farming saved at least 50% of the cost for the local promotion of the New Army strategy. But even so, due to successive years of major projects and battles, the Ministry of Household Affairs of the Ming Dynasty could not spend more money to support the further expansion of the scope of the new army's policy.
Now the thorny problem is in front of Zhu Yunwen. The new army strategy cannot be pushed forward, but there are not enough sergeants...
There are three hundred internal and external guard posts, and more than 80,000 people need to be mobilized to go to the Western Regions, which involves ten guards and twenty-six sergeants.
Deploying so much power at once would put pressure on local control, but now Zhu Yunwen must also consider building more new guard posts in the Northeast to ensure actual control over the Northeast.
The Northeast is a bit difficult. If you want to attract the guardsmen and their families to move to the Northeast, the court must give them strategies for forming a new army, and this is a huge expense.
Zhu Yunwen believes that the problem of money is not a big problem this year. There should be no major wars in the seventh year of Jianwen, which can save a lot of money. But the question is whether the imperial court will move the inland garrison to the Northeast, or recruit new sergeants in the Northeast. A new health center was built.
Zhu Yunwen was unsure and summoned Xie Jin, Yu Xin, Ru Yu, Yang Shiqi, Tie Xuan and Li Jian to discuss.
Yu Xin opposed Zhu Yunwen's idea of expanding the army and said bluntly: "At present, the imperial court is internally stable and there are no strong enemies on the border. Recruiting new soldiers and adding new guard posts at this time will not only waste the country's children, but also cause unrest in the surrounding vassal countries."
Zhu Yunwen pointed to the northeast: "Having said that, it is imperative to establish a new garrison in the northeast. We cannot always mobilize Liaodong troops. If the Liaodong garrison is free, who will defend and control Duoyan Guard and defend the north of Beiping?"
Rujun also believed that it was inappropriate to expand the army and suggested: "Your Majesty, I would like to request that we move our guard posts northward from Shandong, Henan and other places to control the Northeast."
Xie Jin supported: "There are three hundred internal and external guard posts. Even if they are allocated to more than 80,000 soldiers in the Western Region, some of the guard posts should be moved to the northeastern boundary. I second the words of Ru and Yu Ge."
Zhu Yunwen sighed: "Although there are many guard posts, how many guard sergeants can be transferred after they are transferred to the Western Regions? Not to mention that the guard sergeants are rooted in one place and letting them go north requires a lot of work. It is better to recruit sergeants directly and lead to If he and his family go north, they can reclaim land, reopen military camps, and solve the problem of setting up garrison posts."
The silent Tie Xuan stood up and said seriously: "Your Majesty, I thought that I could mobilize 56,000 Beijing troops to go to the Northeast."
"Deploy the Beijing army?!"
Xie Jin, Yu Xin, Ru Yu and Li Jian were all taken aback.
The Beijing Army is the most elite force in the Ming Dynasty. After years of weeding out the weak and retaining the strong, there are now only 356,000 sergeants, divided into three major battalions and three deputy battalions. Once the 56,000 sergeants are taken out, only 356,000 sergeants will be left. 300,000 Beijing troops were captured.
Three hundred thousand troops from the capital may seem like a lot, but considering the scope of the capital and the number of city gates, if something unexpected happens and the city is besieged, a single city gate cannot support 20,000 men.
If there is a war outside and the Beijing army dispatches 100,000 soldiers, then there will be only 200,000 sergeants left in the capital. Whether the 200,000 sergeants can defend the capital is aside for the time being. Can one hundred thousand sergeants still be able to suppress it?
Two to one, there is no big advantage at all.
As the foundation of the world, the capital has always been the place where the most military strength is concentrated. To weaken the capital's military strength is equivalent to weakening the trunk and strengthening the branches, which is the opposite of strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches.
Li Jian disagreed with Tie Xuan's point of view: "Your Majesty, the Beijing army can only increase, not decrease! Especially as the new capital is being built, after the capital is moved, the military pressure on the capital increases sharply. If the number of Beijing troops is reduced at this time, there will be disaster in the future. Big trouble!"
Yu Xin, Jie Jin and Ru Jin also disagreed with Tie Xuan. It was okay for you to ask Zhu Yunwen to transfer the local guard station to the northeast, but it was really difficult to move the Beijing army.
The Beijing army is the main force built by Zhu Yunwen with all his efforts. It is an army with strong combat effectiveness that has been tested on the battlefield. If you put them somewhere, isn't this just cutting Zhu Yunwen's flesh?
Zhu Yunwen looked deeply at Tie Xuan, and instead of scolding him, he said calmly: "Tell me your basis."
Tie Xuan solemnly said: "The capital is the foundation of the world. It really needs to be stable, and concentration of troops is the best. But does the defense of the capital really require thirty-five to six thousand troops? From my perspective, it is not the case. Stick to the capital and conquer foreign invaders. Three One hundred thousand Beijing troops are enough."
Li Jian shook his head: "Three hundred thousand, considering the nine gates of the new capital, each gate has only more than 30,000 troops. If the enemy reaches the city and concentrates the main force to attack one gate alone, how can the capital be safe?"
Tie Xuan looked at Li Jian and said sternly: "Isn't thirty thousand troops enough to defend one city gate? In my opinion, fifteen thousand troops are enough to defend one gate! Don't forget that the Beijing army is no longer what it used to be. There will be more and more firearms in the army, and there will be more and more applications of firearms. If the enemy can still attack the capital under such circumstances, what is the use of having three hundred thousand more soldiers?"
Zhu Yunwen understood what Tie Xuan meant. He believed that the number of the Beijing army was still too large, and that the Beijing army would inevitably use firearms in the future. Facing an enemy with mainly cold weapons, the number of the Beijing army was tens of thousands more and tens of thousands less. It will affect the overall situation.
Deploy the Beijing army to invade Guandong?
Zhu Yunwen fell into deep thought. The importance of the Northeast is self-evident, not to mention that there is still a large area of black land waiting to be reclaimed. The Northeast granary cannot sleep forever. It needs to wake up to provide food for the Ming Dynasty.
If the Beijing army is deployed into the Northeast, it will not only help stabilize the situation in the Northeast, but also be beneficial to the future layout of the East China Sea. This force can even be used to move south from Sakhalin Island.
"Don't argue. This matter will be discussed after the army is ready. However, the hole in Liaodong must be filled. I sent a document to Ping'an and ordered him to keep an eye on the situation in Liaodong, Daning and Northeast China. If there is danger, troops can be sent out of the Great Wall to support Then report it."
Zhu Yunwen said seriously.
Tie Xuan and Li Jian took orders.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Ru Yu: "You must have seen the Western Region Chief Envoy and the county officials. What do you think?"
When Ru Yun saw Zhu Yunwen mentioning this matter, he did not make any pretense and said directly: "Your Majesty, the Western Region Chief Envoy and his officials have all met, but some officials are too young. I am not worried about their ability, but worried about their character." . The hardships in the Western Regions are different from those in the Mainland. If they cannot bear the bitter cold in the Western Regions, they may abandon their official positions and flee."
Zhu Yunwen understood.
Some officials couldn't stand the job and couldn't bear the hardship, so they either resigned and left, or they simply gave up their posts and fled to the mountains and forests to quit their jobs. This kind of thing happened more than once in Yunnan and Guangxi, where there are many toasts.
The road to the Western Region is long, the place is barren, and the winter is long. It is difficult to say whether these young officials can endure it. When fervent desires and dreams collide with cold and boring reality, a huge gap is likely to destroy a person.
However, Zhu Yunwen believed in this group of people and said to Ru Yu with a smile: "Many of them are from the Imperial College, so you have to believe in them."
