"Once you ascend the throne, you will definitely have a lot to do.

Therefore, there are some important things that we need to pre-plan so that we don't lose sight of one or the other.

First of all, once I ascend the throne, I will no longer be able to directly command the entire Northwest Army as before.

In the future, who will lead the Northwest Army is a relatively crucial issue.

Li Dingbei and Xiao Zhijian are my confidants and generals, and now they have become your fathers-in-law, and I can rest assured that they will be in charge of the Northwest Army.

But in this way, the imperial court will not have a qualified and loyal enough future to be in charge of the military department, which is obviously inappropriate.

I thought about it carefully and decided to let the two of them take turns in charge of the Northwest Army and the Military Department.

Each person stayed in the Northwest and the Military Department for five years each, and then changed every five years.

In addition, you two brothers will also take turns to take charge of the army in the northwest as lieutenant generals.

What do you think of this method? After Ning Zhiyuan finished speaking, he looked up at his two sons and his little son-in-law.

Ning Yabai thought for a moment before saying, "I agree with my father's idea, and I also think it's a safer approach.

In the future, even if the two generals retire in their old age, we can completely replace them with other henchmen.

The Northwest Army is the spear and shield of our Ning family to rule the world, and it must be held tightly in our hands, and must not be allowed to be controlled by others.

I wonder how my father is going to seal General Li and General Xiao? ”

"Lao Li and Lao Xiao, I decided to crown them as the Duke of Wei Guo and the Duke of Hu Guo, and each gave them a mansion.

As for the other Northwest generals, they also have their own rewards, and it is not a problem to add officials to knighthood.

Our Ning family is not a villain who unloads the mill and kills donkeys, they have been born and died for us for many years, and now the Ning family has a great treasure, and they should be grateful. ”

Ning Yabai and Ning Yafeng looked at each other and smiled, quite satisfied with their father's arrangement.

At this time, Chi Fei suddenly asked: "Father-in-law, what are your plans regarding the troop deployment of the Northwest Army?" ”

Ning Zhiyuan said with a smile: "Good question, you asked the point, this is also the question I think about the most."

Now that we have firearms such as muskets and floor guns, the Hu people are no longer our opponents.

Unless the Hu people invaded on a large scale with the strength of the whole country, it was enough to deal with small fights and small fights by border soldiers alone.

In other words, there is no need to keep too many defenders in the northwest, as long as there are more than 100,000 men guarding the border passes.

Of the remaining 400,000 troops, I am ready to leave 200,000 people as a forbidden army to defend the Beijing Division.

I plan to send the other 200,000 people to various national guard posts, so that they can retrain and strictly supervise the local soldiers while they are in charge of the local guard posts.

You should know that except for the Northwest Army and the Xie family's Southwest Army, other local guard stations have hardly experienced any war.

The soldiers there were not only lax in discipline and low combat effectiveness, but some even set up checkpoints indiscriminately and collected a lot of money from passing merchants, all of whom were a group of military moths.

I would like to take this opportunity to take care of these local health centers.

In addition, in order to increase the combat effectiveness of the officers and men of the garrison in various localities, I plan to adopt a system of local rotation.

That is, every few years, officers and men of the guards in other places are sent to the northwest and southwest and other areas where wars are frequent, so that they can personally participate in the war.

Of course, I'm not trying to send them to die in vain.

Before I go into battle, I give them plenty of time to practice.

Ah Zhen, the practice of veterans bringing in new recruits that you mentioned before will also be applied to them.

Only by letting them really go to the battlefield and kill the enemy can they effectively improve the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, and will they not become a group of useless soldiers who will only wait for food and pay.

That's the benefit of the local rotation system. ”

"It's a good place rotation system, but I didn't expect my father-in-law to be so thoughtful and meticulous, and I didn't have a last resort, and my son-in-law admired it so much." Chi Fei praised with a dogged face.

"Stinky boy, don't pat Lao Tzu's ass." Ning Zhiyuan scolded with a smile.

said so, but he still couldn't help but show a smug look on his face.

"Dad, what are you going to do with that old man?" Ning Yafeng asked curiously.

"Lao Zhang is a talent for governing the country, and I intend to let him enter the cabinet to worship the prime minister.

But now that I have just ascended the throne, it is not appropriate to form a cabinet right away, and this matter will be discussed later.

I will temporarily arrange him to be in the Ministry of Officials, and he will take up the post of Secretary of the Ministry of Officials.

Since the remnants of the Xie clan and the grass on the walls of the court have been swept away after the great purge, but this has also made the court have a shortage of officials.

If Lao Zhang is the secretary of the ministry, he can help us promote some suitable talents and gradually fill this gap.

I can trust Lao Zhang's vision and character, and it is most suitable for him to do this.

Whether it is Lao Li, Lao Xiao or Lao Zhang, their arrangements are all issues in terms of candidates.

What I want to talk about next is the question of where the capital of Daning should be located. ”

"Dad, don't you plan to use Xinjing as the national capital?" Ning Yafeng asked with some surprise.

Ning Zhiyuan said with a mysterious face: "Xinjing is also the national capital, but it can only be used as a companion capital, not as a regular capital.

The national capital of Daning must be the capital located in the north.

To get to the bottom of this, I'm going to tell you a secret that only the heads of the family know.

Originally, this secret could not be talked about, but now that the overall situation has been decided, this secret has lost the value of secrecy, so I might as well tell you now.

Ah Zhen, do you remember what I told me before, the three iron laws set by the first generation of the Ning family head? ”

Chi Fei thought for a while before saying: "My son-in-law remembers that they are the three iron laws of 'delegating power', 'not fighting', and 'consolidating the army'. ”

Ning Yabai and Ning Yafeng, as children of the Ning family, naturally kept these iron laws in mind, so they were not surprised at all.

Ning Zhiyuan said indifferently: "In addition to these three iron laws, there is actually another iron law that I haven't said.

The reason why I didn't tell you at that time was because this iron law could only be told by the previous head of the family by the person who became the head of the Ning family, and no one else could know it.

And this iron law is also the biggest secret of my Ning family.

This iron law is called 'dormancy', and its core intention is: take the northwest as the root, accumulate popular popularity, and slowly raise troops, just in case. ”

Hearing the last sentence, Ning Yabai, Ning Yafeng, and Chi Fei were suddenly shocked.

Ning Zhiyuan continued: "Although the first Zhenguo Duke of my Ning family was the first leading general to hand over his military power to Wei Taizu, he was actually on guard against the Zhao family's sooner or later day running out of bows and killing donkeys.

And my Ning family is a prince of the country, with brilliant military achievements, and the ministers are also one of the most famous families, which is really too conspicuous.

Once I meet a narrow-minded emperor, my Ning family is very likely to become a thorn in that person's side, a thorn in the flesh, and even want to get rid of him quickly.

In order to avoid the future suffering of my Ning family, the ancestors of the Ning family set the three iron laws of 'delegating power', 'not fighting', and 'consolidating the army', in order not to arouse the suspicion and jealousy of the monarch as much as possible.

However, no matter how cautious and cautious you are, as long as the knife is in someone else's hands, then the life and death of my Ning family will never be under my own control.

For this reason, in addition to the three iron laws, the ancestors of the Ning family secretly set this fourth iron law 'hibernating', as a way back for the Ning family when they had to do so in the future.

My Ning family has guarded the northwest for hundreds of years, which is not only an order during the period of Emperor Wu of Wei, but also the result of my Ning family's hard work.

For the princes and ministers of the imperial court, although the northwest has a vast area, the climate is harsh and the land is barren, and it is a bitter cold land with nothing.

In addition, it is also a frontier front line that often fights with the Hu people, which is extremely dangerous, so no one looks down on the northwest, let alone wants to serve there.

However, for my Ning family, although the northwest is poor and hard, it is an extremely rare treasure land for military training.

As the saying goes, poor mountains and bad waters come out of the people. Although this is an ugly statement, it is not rough.

In an area like Jiangnan, where the wind and rain are smooth and the life is comfortable, there is no way to raise soldiers who can fight and fight, at most they can only raise some waste that will only rely on the strength of the people to scare the people.

From ancient times to the present, almost all of the truly brave and good soldiers and strong generals have fought from the bitter cold places where life is difficult, and from the mountains of corpses and rivers of blood.

And the frontier in the northwest, which has been fighting with the Hu people for almost a long time, is undoubtedly such a treasure place for military training.

Therefore, the ancestors of the Ning family set this secret iron law, so that the descendants of the Ning family can guard the northwest for generations, manage well, accumulate popularity, and take the opportunity to train soldiers and raise generals.

Although my Ning family will not cling to military power like other stupid people, as long as my Ning family is in the Northwest Army and the people are endless, even if the Zhao family really wants to do something to my Ning family one day, with my Ning family's deep popularity among the military and civilians in the northwest, as long as I raise my arms and shout, there will be many people in the northwest who are willing to follow us.

Once it is vigorously supported by the military and civilians in the northwest, our Ning family is equivalent to a strong army in hand, and in addition to the Hu people, who else in the world can match? ”

After listening to this, Chi Fei and the others couldn't help but feel excited.

I didn't expect the first generation of the Ning family's Zhenguo Gong to be so far-sighted, and even thought about what would happen a hundred years later, and even made various preparations for future generations.

Such a wise man can indeed be called a wise man.

"Dad, what do you say have to do with the north of Dingdu?" After a while, Ning Yafeng, who was more anxious, couldn't help but ask.

Ning Zhiyuan glared at him, "What are you anxious about, I haven't finished talking yet."

Although since the full promotion of potato cultivation, life in the northwest has been much better.

But after all, it is a border with the Hu people outside the Guanwai, and even if there is no big war in the future, there will definitely be small wars.

Coupled with the arid climate and natural disasters, it is still a bitter cold land with a difficult life.

It's still an excellent place to train soldiers, so we can't get too far away from the Ning family, and we have to include it in our ability to master it at any time.

And there is a way that the Son of Heaven guards the country, and the king dies.

Since the northwest and even the entire north are the most vulnerable areas for the Hu people to invade, then our Ning family should set the capital in the north and fight to defend it.

How can you learn from those dead kings in history who are greedy for life and afraid of death, staying in a prosperous place far away from the war all day long, busy with pleasure, drunk and dreaming of death. ”

"Father-in-law, do you want to move the capital back to the original capital?"

"That's right, that's what I intended.

The location of the original capital was carefully selected by Wei Taizu and played an extremely important strategic role.

In addition, both the imperial palace and the city walls are intact, saving the trouble of rebuilding the capital.

There is no better place than there, so I decided to take the original capital as the capital and move back in a big way, and use Jinling Mansion as the accompanying capital, echoing each other from afar. ”

"Dad, since you have decided to use the original capital as the national capital, why bother to accompany you so much."

"You know, it's a trick of trickery.

The capital was nominally served as a reserve capital for the state, but for the emperor, it was actually more of a retirement place for those obtrusive officials. ”

"What does that mean?"

"I'll give you a relatively shallow example, if there is an official who is very good at superficial work, but he is too slippery and always wants not to offend people at both ends, and is used to being muddy.

Such a person may be popular, but he will definitely not be able to do errands, and he is not a person who can do big things.

However, this kind of person is often very good at drilling, and is good at slapping horses, and may rise faster in the officialdom than those officials who are immersed in practical work, and even have the opportunity to sit in a high position.

This kind of person who occupies the pit and does not, because he has not made mistakes and has a certain reputation in the court, it is really difficult for the emperor to deal with him directly.

If he is released, there may not be a suitable official position for him to be released.

At this time, the best way is to rise and fall.

superficially promoted his official, and then sent him directly to the capital to retire, so that he could never come back.

In this way, not only will an official with a corpse meal be taken away, but the emperor will not have a bad reputation, this is the benefit of setting up a companion capital, understand? ”

Ning Yafeng said suddenly: "So that's the case, it seems that this companion is still somewhat useful." ”

Ning Zhiyuan snorted coldly: "For some emperors with weak temperaments, accompanying the capital is still a good place to go in a corner of peace when foreign invasions.

But our Ning family must not produce this kind of king who has lost the country, and in the future, when your children reach a certain age, they will all go to the border to join the army and join the army, and they must not be the kind of gentlemen who can only have fun and enjoy.

I will set up this matter as an ancestral precept, and as for whether the descendants of the Ning family can follow it from generation to generation in the future, it depends on you. ”

"Please rest assured, Dad, I will strictly discipline the cubs and never let them mess around." Ning Yafeng patted her chest and said.

Although Ning Yabai didn't make a sound, he had already expressed the same idea with his eyes.

Ning Zhiyuan sighed and said: "Human lives are counted, even if it is you, there are only three generations that can be managed."

What will happen to the Ning family in the future, then it can only depend on the will of heaven.

Let's get down to business.

As soon as I ascend the throne, I will issue an order to move the capital, and it is estimated that it will take a year at the earliest to complete the entire process of moving the capital.

During this period, I would like to temporarily hand over the military and government affairs of Jiangnan to the three of you to manage, which is also a good experience for you.

Ah Bai, when the time comes, you and Ah Zhen will both sit in charge of the overall situation, and Ah Feng will be responsible for rectifying the health offices in the south of the Yangtze River.

As I said before, you have to have our men stationed and in charge of the local guards, and then you have to retrain and strictly supervise the local soldiers, and you must firmly control the military power of all the local guards.

I will leave some of my staff and generals to the three of you, so that they can assist you in your work.

Do you have any questions? ”

Ning Yafeng and Chi Fei didn't say anything, they just looked at Ning Yabai, who was the elder brother, and waited for him to make a statement.

Ning Yabai looked at them for a moment, and then said with a firm face: "Please rest assured, father, the three of us brothers will definitely finish this matter well." ”

Ning Zhiyuan was relieved: "Okay, then I'll leave it to you."

If there are still undead Jiangnan wealthy families who want to make trouble behind their backs, you can cut them first and then play them, and you don't have to be polite to them.

Our Ning family has a strong army in hand, so we don't need to look at the eyes of these people at all.

In short, you just let it go, and I'll take care of everything. ”

"Yes, father (father-in-law)." The three of them responded in unison.