Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 191: A Hundred Years of Journey Is Halfway to Ninety (Part 2)
After in-depth discussions between the two, the preliminary agreement reached is as follows:
First of all, rewards were given to the civil officials and military generals who participated in the expedition to Jianzhou.
A general like Du Song could not be promoted in actual rank, but could only be given the title of commander-in-chief of the Five Military Commandery, and then an honorary title such as the Crown Prince's Guardian. Other deputy generals, lieutenant generals, etc. were basically promoted one level higher.
As for those who died for their country, such as Chai Guozhu and Zhang Chengyin, they were naturally promoted one level posthumously and given more generous pensions.
As new officers were promoted, old officers retired. In this year, Ma Gui, the general of Datong, and Liu Jing, the general of Sichuan, both retired due to age.
As for their successors, Li Rubai, former deputy general of Liaoyang, was promoted to general of Datong. Ma Chengzhao, former commander of Henghai Guard, took over as general of Sichuan. Xiao Bozhi, former commander of Kuandian Guard, was appointed as deputy general of Liaoyang. As for the two guards that His Royal Highness spent the most effort on, the two new commanders were both appointed by His Royal Highness: the commander of Kuandian Guard was Liu Zhaosun, the adopted son of Liu Jing, and the new commander of Henghai Guard was Cao Wenzhao.
Of the two civil officials who went to Liaodong, Yang Hao was appointed as the Minister of War and served as the Governor of Ji and Liao. Xiong Tingbi was transferred to Yunnan as the Governor-General. Chen Shiji was not as good as Sun Chengzong, and he alone could not cover the jade mining industries of Mubang and Mengyang. Moreover, Siam had already begun to exert its strength at this time, and the Ming Dynasty had to prepare in the south in advance.
For this reason, all the soldiers of Kuandian Guard were directly transferred to Yunnan: the climate in the southwest and northeast is completely different, and these Liaodong men have to adapt in advance.
The rewards for military officers and civil officials were relatively simple: a promotion in rank would satisfy many people. However, the rewards for ordinary soldiers were painful even for a local tyrant like Zhu Youdong.
The rule before the Ming Dynasty was that military merit only counted for heads. As an ordinary soldier, you had two choices after getting a head on the battlefield. First, you could be promoted to an officer (if there was a vacant position). Second, you could get a silver reward. According to the price in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, one head was generally worth fifty taels.
This system actually had a certain degree of rationality at the time.
Because of the long-term arrears of military pay, officers at all levels had to use limited resources to protect their retainers in order to maintain their combat effectiveness. Therefore, the military towns of the Ming Dynasty often claimed to have tens of thousands of soldiers, but the number of retainers who could really fight was only a few tenths or even one percent of the claimed number. Therefore, after a battle, it was a rare victory to get hundreds of heads. A head cost fifty taels, and a great victory only cost tens of millions of taels, which was not too expensive.
This time, the Ming army captured nearly 20,000 Jianzhou Jurchen heads...
Although Zhu Youdong had already agreed before the battle that heads would not be cut off during the battle and that they would be assessed uniformly after the battle, in any case, in the end, everyone collected 20,000 heads. So for this, Zhu Youdong directly paid one million taels of silver.
Add to that the two million taels he gave to Wanli, and the money he spent on refitting the entire army in the past few months. That meant he spent 3.2 million taels of silver in one battle. Even if Zhu Youdong was a wealthy man, it really hurt.
"Hey, we have to quickly implement currency reform, military merit calculation reform, and even the national fiscal and taxation system reform. Otherwise, I can't afford to fight a few wars just by making money from business! Cao Sanxi, after all this trouble, how much money do we have left in our pockets?"
"Your Highness, we currently have about three million taels of silver in our bank account that we can use."
"Well, I remember you told me before that after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty Maritime Trade, especially after Funing Town stepped up its anti-smuggling efforts, our Nanhua Palace had a surplus of at least three million every year?"
"Yes, but I have to say something offensive. With Your Highness's generous style , I may end up spending more than I earn one day."
"Ah~hahaha~~" Zhu Youdong scratched his head embarrassedly: "Manager Cao, don't worry, in the short term of two to three years, we should not have any major expenses. We have to prepare reserves for future currency reforms. I remember this."
"Ah, your Highness's virtue, well, I hope so."
Hearing that his God of Wealth was still dissatisfied with him, Zhu Youdong had no choice but to lower his head and continue begging for mercy. The two were discussing financial expenditures half jokingly and half seriously when Yuan Keli hurried over.
"Your Highness, the Ministry of Rites just sent a message saying that the Grand Master of the Imperial Clan died suddenly at home."
"...Hmm." After pondering for a while, Zhu Youdong sighed: "We still have to have a bottom line when doing things. As the saying goes, the disaster will not affect my wife and children. In order to prevent some officials from flattering me, we have to make some gestures."
"Yes, I understand. I will go to the Guo residence to express my condolences in your name later." After saying this, Yuan Keli said, "Your Highness, the position of Grand Master of the Imperial Clan is vacant. Who is the candidate?"
"Mr. Yuan, do you want to become an official now?"
"I don't have such an idea for the time being, and even if I want to serve as an official, I don't want to go to the Ministry of Rites."
"Forget it. Mr. Wen has just been promoted to the position of Vice Minister. If he is allowed to take over the position of Minister of Rites, many officials who have nothing to do with this matter may have a bad impression of us. In short, we will not participate in this matter."
"Yes, I understand. Your Highness is still able to restrain himself at this time, I admire you."
"No, I still need Mr. Yuan's advice from time to time."
"Your Highness." Yuan Keli brought up another topic: "Just now, Eunuch Wei sent someone to say that Li En was arresting people in Ciqing Palace, causing chaos in the palace. Eunuch Wei is going to Ciqing Palace to stop it personally."
"Nonsense! Someone, come and prepare the sedan chair. Forget it. I'll just run there myself."
Although Xinghua Palace was outside the palace city, it was not very far away. Zhu Youdong ran for about 20 minutes and arrived quickly. Then he saw Lao Wei pointing at Li En's nose and scolding him fiercely.
"Okay, you've made progress. Eunuch Li, you came to Ciqing Palace to cause trouble without even saying hello? Do you know who lives here? My father! My mother! My brothers and sisters! Are you bold or what? How dare you mess with me?"
"Hehehe, Eunuch Wei, that's impossible. No matter how bold I am, I dare not make the young master angry. Didn't Wang An, the head of Ciqing Palace, just confess in the East Factory? He said that several concubines and many eunuchs in Ciqing Palace were involved in alienating the relationship between the young master and his son. So, I just want to bring these people to the East Factory for questioning."
Seeing Wei Zhongxian treating the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department as his grandson, with quite the demeanor of a nine thousand year old man in the historical dimension, Zhu Youdong frowned even more tightly: this time he had won a great victory on the battlefield and in the political struggle, and it seemed that his subordinates had become a little inflated: first Yuan Keli wanted to help Wen Tihen get the position of Minister of Rites, and then Wei Zhongxian, who had pretended to be a grandson for so long, revealed his true nature!
A journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step. Even if I become an emperor in the future, I may be killed by others, let alone now that I am a crown prince?
"Wei Zhongxian!"
"Ah? Oh, you finally came, come and take a look..."
“Kneel down!”
"ah?"
"I told you to kneel down before Eunuch Li!"
After Old Wei knelt down with a puzzled look on his face, Zhu Youdong personally bowed to Li En and said, "My benefactor, my servant did not know the rules and committed an offense. Please rest assured, I will definitely give you an explanation for this matter."
"My Lord, you are too kind. Who am I? How dare I ask for your explanation? Eunuch Wei was just anxious at the moment and didn't take the matter seriously. Haha, he didn't take the matter seriously."
Seeing Li En's face obviously relieved, Zhu Youdong also breathed a sigh of relief. Then he approached Li En and said softly: "This matter ends with Wang An, don't make a fuss anymore."
"Yes, Master, I understand."
…
On April 10, 1612, Zhu Youdong returned to Beijing and organized a military parade to be presented to the emperor. At that time, millions of soldiers and civilians in Yanjing shed tears for the brave warriors who died fighting for their country. They were also shocked by the military appearance of the Ming military garrisons.
On April 20, Minister of Rites Guo Zhengyu died suddenly at home. The next day, Wang An, the head of Ciqing Palace, accidentally fell into a well and died.
Soon after, the emperor issued an edict to reprimand the ministers who had written to the emperor's grandson to study hard. Two censors led by the Censorate continued to impeach him. As a result, the reprimanded ministers such as Yang Lian and Zuo Guangdou had to resign. At this point, the power of the Donglin Party in the court was almost wiped out.
On the first day of May, the crown prince Zhu Youdong left Beijing again and headed south. Before leaving, Zhu Youdong wrote seven words to each of his subordinates: A journey of a hundred miles begins with a single step!
…
Zhu Youdong left in a cool manner, but left Beijing in a mess.
The worst sufferer among them was Zhu Changluo of Ciqing Palace.
Since Guo Zhengyu committed suicide and Wang An was arrested, Zhu Changluo closed the door to visitors and refused to see anyone in Ciqing Palace. He also stopped his favorite activity of clapping with the concubines and rarely ate tea or food.
This situation lasted for more than half a month, and even Wanli couldn't stand it anymore: after all, he was his son.
Then Wanli called Zhu Changluo to his side.
After the father and son dismissed their attendants, Wanli asked, "Why, you haven't figured it out yet?"
"Ah... Father, I, your son, really am..."
"Alas." Looking at Zhu Changluo, who was in a listless state and had gray hair on his temples at the age of thirty, Wanli sighed and said, "I cared too little about you and taught you too little before. So I have changed my mindset about some things, but you haven't."
"Father?"
"Since ancient times, the relationship between the emperor and the crown prince has been extremely difficult to get along with. The most difficult one among them is the crown prince. I ascended the throne at the age of ten, and I didn't feel it very clearly. But Mr. Zhang and my mother gave me... Well, anyway, as for the crown prince, if you don't do anything, the emperor will think you are useless and can't bear the heavy responsibility of the country in the future. If you do something, the emperor will think you are ambitious and can't wait to take the throne... According to common sense, a grandson like Dong'er who is so troublesome should be slightly restrained. So, you think I will think of temporarily weakening Dong'er's power, and then do some bad things.
However, what you didn't expect is that this situation only occurs in those emperors who are able to hold power alone and are extremely powerful. For example, Emperor Taizong of Tang, Taizu and Chengzu of this dynasty. But I am not that kind of emperor.
Since Emperor Renzong, the emperor has been unable to hold power alone. Many times, I was bullied by the civil officials and was left alone in the palace to sulk. As an emperor, I have been subject to too many restrictions... I think my skills are pretty good, but it's still like this. If you succeed to the throne in the future, how will you deal with those officials?
Therefore, I am actually happy to see Dong'er seize power, especially military power. This is for the sake of my Zhu family for generations to come. I have never held power alone, and naturally I have no intention of taking control of everything. You guys are completely thinking the wrong way. "
Looking at Zhu Changluo who was still silent, Wanli shook his head secretly: "Relax and remember, Dong'er is now fully grown. If you suppress him forcefully and let him really fight back, the country may be in chaos. I have seen through this child. He is a stubborn person. You have to guide him and never force him to bow his head... After all, he still values filial piety and family affection. Therefore, as long as you watch his actions quietly in the future, after ten thousand years, you will be much more relaxed and happy as an emperor than I was in the first forty years!"
