Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 143: Talents from all over the world gather together
"General Ma Chengzhao pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
"Hahaha~~ General Ma, please stand up. It's really unfair to let a guerrilla like you serve as the commander of Henghaiwei."
"I dare not. I am honored to serve His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"
Starting from October 1609, according to the transfer order of the Ministry of War, military generals drawn from all over the country arrived in Nanjing one after another.
According to the agreement reached between Wanli and Zhu Youdong in Beijing, the military officer of Henghaiwei this time must not include anyone from the Liaodong Li family. Therefore, the position of commander-in-chief naturally fell into the hands of the Datong Ma family, the "East Li and West Ma".
Since Zhu Youdong used a very tough attitude to prevent Li Chengliang from giving up the idea of Kuandian Liubao, Li Chengliang was not severely impeached by the censors at this time. Therefore, he continued to serve as the general of Liaodong steadily, and Ma Gui was not transferred from Datong to Liaodong to replace Li Chengliang as in the original history, but continued to serve as the general of Datong.
However, Dong Li and Xi Ma are both quite old now, and they will soon pass away one after another. The generational change of Ming generals should have begun at this time.
Specifically speaking, Ma Chengzhao was the eldest son of Ma Gui, and he was already over 40 years old. Unfortunately, he was too pure a military general: the Ming Dynasty had been established for more than 200 years, and civil officials had too much of an advantage. Therefore, in general, if military generals wanted to be promoted, they had to have some literary talent in addition to military achievements. But Ma Chengzhao was illiterate. As a result, at this time, one of his cousins was already a deputy general, and his two younger brothers were both lieutenant generals, but he was still just a guerrilla.
So this time when the Henghai Guard was rebuilt, after the Ma family received the conscription inquiry from the Ministry of War, Ma Gui made the final decision and sent Ma Chengzhao.
At this time, the military positions in the Ming Dynasty were in parallel with the military garrisons. The military officers in the garrisons were as follows: commander, thousand households, hundred households, general flag, small flag. The commander was also called the commander. The military officers in the military garrisons were as follows: general, deputy general, lieutenant general, guerrilla, commander, garrison, battalion commander, sentry officer, etc. Therefore, Ma Chengxun was transferred from Datong Town to Henghai Guard, which was a high-ranking position with a low position.
But it doesn't matter. Zhu Youdong just wants a name for training troops. Henghaiwei is definitely not an ordinary garrison in his hands. If Ma Chengzhao can really be used, Zhu Youdong will definitely not let him down.
Under Ma Chengzhao, there were five thousand households. Thanks to the numerous time-travel novels about the late Ming Dynasty on the Internet, Zhu Youdong had an impression of these five thousand households.
The first one is Du Hongyu. The Du family was originally from Kunshan, but later they settled in Yansui. Although this person is not well-known, his father Du Wenhuan is quite famous. If Du Wenhuan is not famous enough, then his great-uncle is basically known to everyone with a little knowledge of history: Du Song.
The second person really made Zhu Youdong feel entangled: Zu Dashou... Well, this ogre in the historical plane is only 29 years old at the moment, and his father Zu Chengxun is currently a lieutenant general under Li Chengliang. Zu Dashou was naughty in his youth, so he has not officially obtained an official position until now. After the Liaodong Li family consciously stopped sending people to Henghaiwei, it seemed natural for Old Li to send the useless son of his general to come in.
The first two were transferred from the Ministry of War, and Zhu Youdong had no choice but to say, "You have to give the people from the Ministry of War a chance to grow, so that they can do things more efficiently." Otherwise, the bureaucrats' laziness would kick in, and who knows how long the wrangling would last.
The remaining three thousand households were arranged by Zhu Youdong himself.
Liu Zhaosun is not to be mentioned. It is time to give him a formal official position. As for the fourth and fifth, they were talents that Zhu Youdong had to ask Wen Tihen to work hard in the Ministry of War.
The fourth thousand households, Cao Wenzhao. This young man, who was less than 20 years old at the moment, was still a small sentry officer in Liaodong. But Zhu Youdong gave Wen Tiren a death order: I want this person, and he must start with a thousand households.
Old Wen also spent a lot of effort to complete Zhu Youdong's order: First, it took more than a month to pull Cao Wenzhao's name out of the list of officers in the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War. Secondly, when this person's name was taken out, the officials of the Ministry of War shook their heads again and again: Master, there are countless generals from various military towns who have slipped notes and money to ask for the position of a thousand households in Henghaiwei. Many of them are garrisons and captains. What are you, a small sentry officer?
At this time, Old Wen's tactful nature was reflected. He gave women red envelopes and even men gifts for drinking and dining! In short, Zhu Youdong's goal was achieved.
The last one is Zhao Lujiao. Zhao Lujiao had already passed the military examination and was appointed as the Dusi of Ganzhou (Zhangye, Gansu). But Zhu Youdong was not an expert in Ming history, so how could he know that Zhao Lujiao started in Gansu instead of Liaodong? He asked Wen Tiren to look for him among the officers of Liaodong Town, but Wen Tiren found nothing after nearly two months of hard work. Fortunately, Wen Tiren had been very wealthy with the money given by Zhu Youdong over the years, so he had a good relationship with various officials in the capital. So in the end, it was a clerk from the Military Selection Department of the Ministry of War who found Zhao Lujiao in the list of officers of Shaanxi Dusi.
As for Li Shizhong? He was already a member of the Imperial Guard, and was the permanent chief of Zhu Youdong's guards. Moreover, before Li Chengliang retired, the Li family had always been closely watched by civil officials, so no matter what, Li Shizhong could not join the army now.
Below the five thousand households were fifty hundred households. Zhu Youdong still intervened slightly at this level and personally appointed three people: Ma Shilong (15 years old), Man Gui (15 years old), and Huang Degong (16 years old). As for the other forty-seven hundred households, they would just go with the flow.
Wen Tiren, who worked for Zhu Youdong in Beijing, had a lot of trouble in the past few months: the first two of these three guys were better, after all, they were from military families. Huang Degong was just an ordinary military household, so finding him was like looking for a needle in a haystack!
However, Wen Tiren's advantage over Sun Chengzong and Xiong Tingbi is that he is flexible and humble. As long as it is something the Crown Prince tells him to do, he will do it without asking any questions. If Xiong Tingbi were here, he would probably say something like "How can a teenager be a centurion?"
In November, after Zhao Lushijiao, who was the farthest away, arrived, Zhu Youdong gathered these fifty-six people and added the oldest students in Fangshan School. This year there were twenty-four students who were seventeen years old (serving as general flag bearers), a total of eighty people, and they held a meeting.
Of course, the meeting must be first addressed by the Nanjing Garrison Honorable Officer, Nanjing Minister of War, and officials from the Five Military Commandery. However, these guys are a little nervous at this moment: the pirates in Chongmingsha are already strong enough, and the Admiral Caojiang has also been captured by the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince still thinks it is not enough, and wants to build another navy in such a key position as Jingjiang Island? Judging from this layout, the Crown Prince intends to monopolize the export of silk, tea, and porcelain in the Yangtze River Delta?
But the officials in Nanjing, as long as they were of a higher rank, either had their own caravans or had invested in them. They all made their fortunes through maritime trade and smuggling. If the crown prince wanted to eat alone, what would he do in the future?
Therefore, during this period, Zhu Youdong and others focused on the reconstruction of Henghaiwei. Meanwhile, officials at all levels in Nanjing surrounded Cao Sanxi and flattered him: "Master, what does the prince mean by foreign trade in the Yangtze River? Can we buy shares?"
Cao Sanxi sent out a signal: Your Highness will not eat alone, and Your Highness suggested that everyone unite, collect goods together, and unify the price. In this way, wouldn't everyone be more comfortable making money? As for who to let in and who to let go, it depends on who supports Your Highness's work to rebuild Henghai Guard. After all, it was the proposal of the Crown Prince to rebuild this guard. If it is not done well, the Crown Prince will not look good.
After this news spread, bigwigs with a little power in Nanjing officialdom all warned their subordinates and spokesmen: Be sure to cooperate with the Crown Prince's work and do not provoke him!
Therefore, on November 10, when Zhu Youdong called a meeting of military officers, officials at all levels in Nanjing were very tactful and all attended the meeting. After each of them spoke passionately, they left quickly and sensibly, leaving the stage completely to Zhu Youdong.
