With the emperor's instructions, Xu Guangqi and Bi Maokang naturally did not dare to slack off, first repairing the gunpowder store, investigating hidden dangers, and then screening internal personnel and formulating a strict entry and exit system. Of course, Qi Xingguo's Jinyiwei and Wei Jinzhong's Dongchang were not idle, and all those who had suspicious identities and strange deeds were arrested and tortured in the edict prison, and some traitors and traitors who had interests with Jianyu were really found.

When Wei Jinzhong came to the Qinzheng Hall with these confessions, Zuo Zhan couldn't help but gasp, glad that he had rectified the harem in advance, otherwise his life would not be guaranteed. Wang Gongchang can be mixed in such a secret place, so there is no need to mention other military camps.

Seeing that the little emperor Long Yan was furious, Wei Jinzhong was accustomed to seeing the wind and rudder, and took the opportunity to say:

"Long live the master, don't hurt the dragon body for these shameless villains. Qi Qianhu had captured a lot of spies outside the gate before, so it was better to hand them over to the servants for interrogation, and if necessary, they could interrogate Nurhachi and others. ”

Hearing this, Zuo Zhan looked up at Wei Jinzhong, thinking that you are really a genius, and can be called the greatest trick expert in the history of mankind, he immediately turned his anger into joy, and said with a smile:

"Good slave, it's really condescending to let you be the commander of a thousand households."

Wei Jinzhong was very happy when he saw the Sacred Heart, and he also laughed lewdly, kowtowed and said:

"As long as you can share the worries of the master long live the master, the slaves are willing to go to the soup and break their bones, and those false slaves don't care. It's just that the master has been working hard day and night, how good is it to go on like this for a long time. ”

After speaking, Wei Jinzhong actually cried with a handful of snot and tears, which surprised Zuo Zhan. To be honest, who doesn't want to be praised for their hard work and care for their health, he couldn't help but feel hot in his heart when he saw Wei Jinzhong like this, and said in a gentle tone:

"You get up and talk back."

Suddenly, there was silence in the Qinzheng Palace, only the Western pendulum clock ticked, Zuo Zhan thought for a while and said:

"I can't be busy even twenty-four hours a day, and you see there are so many things waiting for my instructions. This is a critical period for the Ming Dynasty, and although the new policy has been implemented, it will take at least two years to see results, so there can be no internal chaos. You immediately take over from Li Fengxiang as the commander of the East Factory, and let him go to the celebrant to be the third eunuch of Bingbi. In addition to continuing to monitor the remnants of Donglin, the focus in the near future is to eliminate the spies who collaborated with the enemy, and if Nurhachi really dares to disobey me, he will be brought to justice as long as the evidence is conclusive. ”

In all fairness, Li Fengxiang's methods were really not as ruthless and decisive as Wei Jinzhong, and Zuo Zhan had to let the tiger return to the mountain and give Wei Jinzhong another chance. In order to prevent this person from targeting Nurhachi's family too early, and to prevent Nurhachi from buying fine works in Beijing, Zuo Zhan decided to move them to Gaoyang County, Baoding Prefecture, Beizhili. When it comes to Gaoyang County, book lovers must understand the reason.

According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty" and the Republic of China edition of "Gaoyang County Chronicles", in November 1638, the Qing army attacked Gaoyang. At this time, Sun Chengzong, who was idle at home, led his clansmen and the people of the city to stick to the city gate, and was finally captured because he was outnumbered and the city was broken. In the face of Houlu, a high-ranking official of the Qing army, he resolutely chose to bow to the Beijing master three times and hanged himself at the age of 76. In addition, his five sons, six grandsons, two nephews, and eight nephews were all killed in battle, which can be described as a loyal martyr.

Zhu Youzhen lamented sadly after hearing the news, and his evaluation of him was, "Han is Kongming, Tang is Pei Du." The old auxiliary Sun Chengzong worked hard before the battle, and the righteousness of death was more intense", and then Zhu Yousong, the Hongguang Emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty, posthumously presented the Taishi, nicknamed "Wenzhong".

Zuo Zhan admired Sun Chengzong very much, which is why he worshipped him as a teacher from the beginning, and awarded him the title of young master, and ordered him to be the governor of Jiliao and the secretary of the military department during the extraordinary period. Imprisoning Nurhachi's family in Gaoyang invisibly has an extra talisman, even if Huang Taiji rebels again in the future, Zuo Zhan will not worry about the repetition of Sun Chengzong's family.

After Wei Jinzhong left, Zuo Zhan separately summoned Li Banghua, the right attendant of the military department, who was transferred to the military aircraft department last year to participate in the high-level military decision-making of the Ming Dynasty, and his first task was to cooperate with Sun Chengzong to reorganize the Beijing camp. At the beginning of his tenure, he reorganized the four guard battalions with the authority of the Son of Heaven, eliminated the disadvantages of the old and weak, occupied the service, and hypocrisy, rectified the armament, and trained strictly, and the Yongwei battalion formed for Cao Wenzhao and Huang Degong became two sharp knives on the battlefield in Liaodong.

Li Banghua, whose name is Meng Dark, is a native of Gu Village, Pangu Town, Jishui, Jiangxi, and his famous saying is "I would rather be a dry scholar than a repeated villain." ”

Speaking of this Li Banghua has a very interesting thing, in the thirty-first year of Wanli, he and his father Li Tingji won the lifting together, and the two of them fought each other, and Li Banghua was admitted to the Jinshi in the second year, of course, his father fell off the list. Because he was a fellow villager with Zou Yuanbiao, a member of the Donglin Party, he was labeled as the Donglin Party at the beginning of his tenure and was repeatedly excluded.

He was one of the first people to be enabled after Zuo Zhan ascended the throne, and he went to Tianjin as the governor after hanging the title of the right capital imperial history in the court. As the saying goes, gold shines everywhere, and after he arrived in Tianjin, he actively rectified military affairs, making the Jinmen army a model for all towns. Seeing this, Zuo Zhan immediately transferred him to the military department as the right squire, and together with Sun Chengzong, he became the backbone of military reform. Sun Chengzong was responsible for training and selecting young military generals, opening military academies, and forming the Guanning Iron Cavalry and the modern army. Li Banghua eliminated malpractices in the army, punished corruption, and ensured the purity and discipline of the soldiers.

The monarch and the ministers greeted each other for a while, and after a few idle words, Zuo Zhan asked straight to the point:

"How's the reorganization of the Beijing camp now?"

Li Banghua was in a hurry, and immediately replied:

"There has always been a situation of occupation and hypocrisy in the Beijing camp, and the minister has punished more than a dozen old treacherous and cunning people, and asked them to inspect twice a year, and this kind of thing has been basically eliminated. However, there were only 15,000 military horses, and officials often borrowed the horses, and even bought the horses at a discount. ”

Seeing that he was prescribing the right medicine, Zuo Zhan paid attention to cutting through the mess quickly, nodded and continued to ask:

"Li Aiqing, but it doesn't matter, as long as it is the truth, I will immediately make an order to handle it."

Li Banghua knew that the little emperor liked doers, so he decided not to go around in circles anymore, and replied directly:

"Jingying received 16,000 taels of silver from the servants every year, and 1,060 taels of silver from Tuntian seeds, but the generals at all levels demanded too much, and the ministers suggested that the assistant should withdraw 1,400 taels a year, and the governors, governors and other officials decreased in turn. The other three reserve battalions can be merged into the Fifth Army, the 3,000 Battalion, and the Shenji Battalion, and for the generals who need to be promoted, the results will be inspected on a daily basis, and a merit book will be prepared in each small battalion, and their achievements will be summarized and reported to the assistant manager every month, and the best will be selected and assigned. ”

These twists and turns were made popular by Zuo Zhan, and Li Banghua was overjoyed, and he couldn't think of anything else for a while, so he stood there in a daze. Seeing this, Zuo Zhan laughed and said teasingly:

"I can't imagine that Meng Dark, who can speak outright, also has times when he can't speak, so I'll say it for you! Nan Juyi, the governor of Cangchang, said that the military rations in the past two years have increased by nearly 60,000 stone compared with the 46th year of Wanli, but you have already eliminated a large number of occupations and false establishments, so it stands to reason that it should be reduced a lot. You can find out about this as soon as possible, and more importantly, hurry up and come up with a standard! ”

Li Banghua didn't expect the little emperor to know so many details, and his ears turned red for a while, and he replied with some words:

"The saint is wise, and let the ministers be ashamed of themselves. The actual establishment of the camp in Beijing was 120,000 people, and the amount of food and salary should be 1,440,000 stone. However, at present, only 97,000 people have been recruited, and it will take another year to complete. ”

Zuo Zhan saw that he was honest and knew everything, and he immediately had a good impression, and ruthlessly ordered Wang An to take the Chengying Sword, and said solemnly:

"Although this sword is as sharp as clay, it is no different from rotten wood in my hands, and I will give it to you today. I will carry out all your suggestions as soon as I return, and if anyone stands in the way, you will draw your sword and ask me if he is a traitor or an evil person. ”

The Son of Heaven gave the sword is the highest honor of the ancient generals, Li Banghua knew that this Chengying sword was the flesh of the little emperor's heart, which showed that he attached great importance to military reform, and after taking the sword, he kowtowed and thanked him, vowing not to eradicate the evil and use this sword to apologize for his crimes.

Seeing that he was too excited, Zuo Zhan was afraid that he would use too much force to rectify military discipline, and added:

"Meng Yan is a little restless, it is the corruption that power breeds, so your focus is to establish a perfect system, and the various divisions supervise each other so that there is no room for traitors to exert themselves.

On the surface, this military reform is to supplement new firearms, train excellent cavalry, and change the previous tactical style of play, but in essence it is a readjustment of the national strategy, changing from passive defense to active attack. In my eyes, the Great Wall is no longer a defensive fortress, but a drawn bow that can shoot my will anywhere in the grassland.

In the past wars, the expedition of our army and division required a huge amount of baggage, the imperial court could not make ends meet, and the people were poor and weak. We decided to change this mode of warfare and achieve the strategic goal of feeding the war by plundering the enemy's livestock, grain and grass, reducing the pressure on logistics and increasing the flexibility of the front-line troops. ”

After coming out of Wang Gongchang, Zuo Zhan had this idea, and the current military strength of the Ming Dynasty could fully support foreign plundering and expansion, so he decided to let the Khalkha Harbala continue to advance eastward, wanting to test the feasibility of the new strategy through this contest.

This kind of strategic adjustment was not a reckless effort in the Left War, but a full lesson learned from the Southern Song Dynasty. The equipment level and combat ability of the Southern Song Dynasty army were very strong, but the long-term defense consumed the will of the soldiers and dragged down the finances of the imperial court.

The three major expeditions of Wanli are also corroborative, although the rebellion of the Mongols, Tusi, and Wakou has a certain degree of concealment or is thousands of miles away, but with the powerful secret service agencies and post station system of the Ming Dynasty, these signs of rebellion can definitely be reported to the imperial court as soon as possible. So the question is, why did Emperor Shenzong wait for the rebellion to be confirmed before sending troops to fight?

In fact, not only him, but also the kings of all dynasties and dynasties were unwilling to talk about war lightly, and tried not to use their hands when they could move. The reason for this was that the cost of war was too great, not only did it not benefit the enemy, but it also consumed the finances of the imperial court, increased the taxes and forced labor of the peasants, and at least led to the poverty of the country and the weakness of the people, and at worst shook the foundation of the rule.