The ministers in the court debated endlessly over the establishment of the Advisory Office and related charters.
How much power should the Advisory Office have? Who should enter the Advisory Office and who cannot enter...
Although the final decision rests with the emperor, it is still possible for the ministers to discuss it.
They also used this to create pressure from public opinion and force the emperor to agree with their opinions.
Zhu Yunxuan has been watching with cold eyes.
Historically, the civil servant group of the Ming Dynasty was very powerful.
So much so that later emperors had to remove factory guards and suppress civil servants.
The relationship between the Donglin Party Struggle and the fall of the Ming Dynasty is profound.
However, even he did not expect that they would be so arrogant when the country was founded and Lao Zhu personally took power.
But soon, Zhu Yunzhen also understood.
This has a lot to do with Lao Zhu's emphasis on civil servants.
Because in Lao Zhu's heart, what he really wants to guard against is the noble group of military generals who once followed him to conquer the country and made great achievements in battle.
Instead of being a civil servant who spends all day in the court talking about the words of saints and half of the Analects of Confucius to govern the country.
Lao Zhu's idea cannot be said to be wrong. At least at this time, the real threat to the imperial power is undoubtedly the military commander.
They hold heavy troops and have high prestige in the army. They are the ones who can really raise the banner of rebellion.
As for the civil servants, no matter how much they fought at court, they could never escape the emperor's grasp.
It is obvious at a glance who to guard against and whom not to guard against.
But Lao Zhu never imagined that after his death, the civil servants would have such great power that they would lose their power, party disputes would continue, and the country would be in ruins, which ultimately led to the decline of the Ming Dynasty.
What Zhu Yunzhen has to do now is to crack all this from the root.
It is by no means simply for centralization of power.
While the eyes of the court officials were all focused on the Counseling Office, Jinling Military Academy had officially opened.
Train new troops and cultivate military talents.
If it were in the past, it would definitely attract the attention of the whole court.
But now, everyone's eyes are fixed on the affairs of the Counselor's Office and the Military Academy, but no one cares about it.
This also reduces a lot of unnecessary trouble.
Among civilians and lower-level sergeants, the establishment of military schools caused a great disturbance.
It is different from everyone in later generations who thinks it is glorious to be a soldier.
At this time, in the Ming Dynasty, unless they entered a high-ranking guard such as Jinyiwei, the common people adhered to the idea that "a good man should not be a soldier, and a good man should not hammer nails."
Expulsion into the army was still a very severe punishment in this era.
During the Hongwu period, there was also a case where a certain county disobeyed discipline and committed collective crimes. In the end, everyone in the county was punished as a military household, the entire county was expelled from the army, and a guard station was built.
Lao Zhu has never been one to promote laws without blaming the public.
But it can also be seen from this that the status of a soldier at this time was very low, so there was such a punishment.
But as soon as the admission regulations of Jinling Military Academy were posted, not only the military households, but also many farmers who had never thought about becoming soldiers were ready to take action.
Nothing else.
The treatment given by the military academy is really too high.
Anyone admitted to the military academy will be given fifty taels of silver at a time.
Weapons are issued by the school and you do not need to carry them yourself.
After entering the school, you will receive a monthly salary of two taels of silver. If you have merit, you will be rewarded. It is also promised that the school trains officers according to the model, and they will have the opportunity to be promoted in the future.
It is not impossible to become a general, lead an army, and be awarded a title for meritorious service.
Ever since Zhu Yunxuan proposed increasing commercial taxes and implemented them, the taxes collected were much higher than expected.
With the money, the Ministry of Revenue was also very happy to allocate funds to the Jinling Military Academy and the New Army.
If you are not short of money, you will naturally be able to offer generous rewards.
This kind of treatment is very attractive to the people at the bottom.
Therefore, as soon as the enrollment notice was posted, the number of applicants was overwhelming.
In this regard, the officials in charge of the Ministry of War were very critical. They believed that if the imperial court set up a military academy and intended to train officers, it should be recommended by generals and officials at all levels to ensure that the people recruited had both excellent character and academics.
But Zhu Yunxuan directly vetoed this proposal.
The generals in the army recommend them, and the outstanding ones selected must be soldiers who are skilled in bow and horse.
But what he wants to train is a new army, with new ideas, new equipment, and even combat tactics. It will also be a brand new army.
And Zhu Yunzhen knew very well that it was very difficult for a person to break the previous rules.
It would be more uncomfortable than killing him to let an expert archer who has practiced bow and arrow for more than ten years throw away his bow and arrow and learn to shoot a gun again.
Because he was watching his efforts, all the investment, all the sweat in the past ten years, disappear into nothing.
From the perspective of human weakness, it would be very difficult for anyone to accept this.
Historically, the people who most actively prevented the army from switching from cold weapons to hot weapons were precisely the best generals and soldiers in the cold weapon era.
For example, from the perspective of the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, Seng Gelinqin could not but be said to be a very outstanding general.
Then, when he "bravely" led the army and tried to charge against the guns and artillery with mounted archery, it can only be said to be a tragedy.
As for officials recommending talents, Zhu Yunxuan could already imagine how they would find connections, how they would work hard to recruit their relatives, children, or people who had given heavy gifts.
He is a scholar, but he doesn't know how to read. If you are filial and honest, your father will leave.
This has been the case since ancient times.
If you expect those officials to recommend outstanding talents, you might as well stand on the city wall of Jinling City and throw anything at random, and whoever hits you will be better than the people they recommend.
Therefore, Zhu Yunxuan used the simplest method, recruiting directly and selecting those with excellent physical fitness.
If you can recognize a few words, you will of course be given priority.
Although the people in the Ministry of War were dissatisfied with this, they could only tolerate it when facing the emperor's grandson.
What's more, the establishment of a military academy was originally approved by Manchu officials.
As part of the deal to open the Council, he also tacitly agreed that the army would be under his sole control.
Originally, Zhu Yunzhen's idea was that all the people he wanted to recruit should have a certain level of education.
But he soon discovered that this idea was basically a pipe dream.
Because in this era, knowing a few words is already pretty good.
Although there are not many real scholars, they don't come to the military academy.
What's more, most scholars are powerless. They don't usually work, and their physical strength is not good.
At least in the short term, he has no way to recruit the talents of his dreams, so he can only settle for the next best thing.
Fortunately, they don’t read much, but there are quite a few semi-literate people who can recognize a few words and can write their own names.
Although ordinary people in this era do not have the ability to provide for their descendants to study full-time, they can pass the exam to become a scholar.
But many people will also try their best to let their children go to private schools for a year and a half to learn how to read and open their eyes.
Although he is still semi-literate, he still knows a few words.
After compiling various training standard manuals for later generations of armies, he handed over the recruitment work to Zheng He.
He worked very hard and the progress was very smooth.
Soon, the first batch of students recruited 1,500 people.
This number cannot be said to be very large, but in Zhu Yunxuan's opinion, it is enough.
After all, the admissions standards for military academies are very high.
It often takes twenty or thirty applicants to select one who is qualified.
Next, comes strict cultivation and training.
In addition to physical training every day, there is also cultural study and literacy!
Read and read, learn military theory...
The first batch of flintlock muskets has been issued. Although there are only one hundred, it is enough for rotation training.
The follow-up is still being manufactured continuously.
By the time this group of students officially graduates, everyone should be equipped with guns.
The military academy is gradually getting on the right track.
New training mode, new tactics, new equipment and weapons...
While almost all officials are paying attention to the battles in the court, paying attention to the upcoming advisory office, and wondering who will become the counselor, a brand-new, cross-era army is gradually taking shape and slowly revealing itself. Fangs.
(End of chapter)
