Time is like an arrow, the sun and the moon are like a shuttle, in a blink of an eye, it has been October, Ming Xizong has been dead for more than a month, Zhu Cijiong has been forbearance according to Sun Chengzong's strategy, regardless of the government, except for the funeral of the first emperor led a hundred officials to worship for a day, and at other times they shrank in the Qianqing Palace and developed a drilling machine with the emperor Xu Guangqi and other cronies.

Before this drilling machine was made, Sun Chengzong secretly reported that Yuan Keli and Qin Liangyu had come to Beijing by secret order, and were waiting for the holy oracle at the five military camps and Shenji battalions in the suburbs.

The oracle is also the emperor's oracle, during this time he has not asked about the government, and all the things to deal with Wei Zhongxian were handed over to Sun Chengzong and Zhu Youzhen, the king of letters, to arrange, and he suddenly asked him to issue a holy oracle, and he really didn't know how to give it.

No, then there was only a question, he immediately summoned Sun Chengzong, Zhu Youzhen, and Xu Guangqi to the Qianqing Palace to discuss, saying that it was to discuss, but in fact, it was to ask them what to do.

When everyone came to the imperial study and sat down, he asked Sun Chengzong directly: "Taifu, isn't the holy decree issued, why do you still have to speak?" ”

Old Sun Chengzong's face flushed, and he said embarrassedly: "Well, this, the holy decree is just to let them command the five military camps and the Shenji battalion, and the specific number of people to gather has not yet been decided, so the emperor's edict is needed." ”

When Zhu Cijiong heard this, he was even more confused, and asked puzzledly: "Gather as many as you want, isn't it better to have more?" ”

Sun Chengzong was dumbfounded when he heard this, is this a joke? He asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, do you know how many soldiers and horses there are in the Fifth Army Battalion and the Shenji Battalion?" ”

Zhu Cijiong really didn't know how many people there were in these two forbidden army camps, and no one told him! He has only been on the throne for less than a month, and he was a pure child before he ascended the throne, and he hasn't even finished learning Mengxue, who would be bored to tell him this; After ascending the throne, he was even more busy pretending to be a magic stick, fooling a group of cronies to make machine tools, how could he have time to learn these things.

It seems that he wants to take time to understand the structure of the imperial court, but this is not a system reward, he can be stuffed into his head at once, and it takes time to understand the structure of the imperial court.

Therefore, he shook his head in embarrassment and looked at Sun Chengzong stupidly.

Sun Chengzong only reacted at this time, this emperor is only five years old, how can he know everything! So, he patiently explained: "There are only more than 5,000 soldiers and horses in the Shenji Battalion, and it is nothing to gather them all. But the five military camps are not good, there are more than 300,000 soldiers in the five military camps, and they can't afford the food and salary when they are all gathered! ”

Now it was Zhu Cijiong's turn to be dumbfounded, more than 300,000, is there any mistake, he subconsciously asked: "How many soldiers and horses does Daming have?" ”

Sun Chengzong replied: "According to the records of the Ministry of War, the Ming Dynasty has a total of 21 capital divisions, 329 internal and external guard offices, 65 guard thousand households, and more than 2.7 million military households. Among them, there are more than 150,000 households in the 26th Guard of the Praetorian Guard, more than 5,000 households in the Shenji Battalion, more than 5,000 households in the 3,000 Battalion, and more than 320,000 households in the Fifth Army Battalion. ”

Zhu Cijiong was taken aback and lost his voice: "2.7 million!" There are 500,000 Praetorian Guards alone! How much does this cost? ”

Sun Chengzong said with a wry smile: "Where do I raise so many soldiers and horses in the Ming Dynasty now, when I don't draw Ding, the military households are in the vicinity of the guard station to Tuntian, the imperial court can also not give food, once the Ding goes out to fight, you must give food, at least one stone of grain per person in January, and the salary is set separately, now it is a little overwhelmed with more than 200,000 border troops and soldiers, where do you dare to gather other soldiers and horses!" ”

Zhu Cijiong was already prepared for the mess left by Ming Xizong, but he didn't expect it to be so rotten that the army's food and salary couldn't be paid, so how could he fight! Of course, now is not the time to consider this issue, if the eunuchs are not removed, the decree will not be passed, and the Ming Dynasty was made like this by them, can you expect this gang of traitors to help you govern the country well? Therefore, the eunuchs must be eliminated before other issues can be considered.

Hearing Sun Chengzong say this, he didn't know how many soldiers and horses to gather, so he could only ask: "Then Taifu thinks how many soldiers and horses are appropriate?" ”

Sun Chengzong sighed and said: "Alas, the Ministry of War really has no money, so it can only let Yuan Keli smoke one ding from ten households, and the monthly salary of more than 30,000 people is already the limit that the Ministry of War can bear." ”

Only more than 30,000 people can be gathered, and there is only one month's salary, that is to say, after cleaning up the eunuchs, they have to be disarmed and return to the field!

The dignified Ming army could only squeeze out more than 10,000 taels of silver, and there were more than 2 million troops but no money to summon them, Zhu Cijiong only felt a burst of sadness, and he said happily: "Then spread my message, let Yuan Keli gather 30,000 soldiers and horses to stand by, and let Qin Liangyu lead his family to the palace tomorrow, I want to meet this loyal martyr." ”

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Qin Liangyu received the holy decree after it can be said that she had mixed feelings, she followed her husband to fight for the country from the twenty-seventh year of Wanli (1599 AD), during which she went to Korea to fight against the Japanese, and then returned to Sichuan to quell the rebellion of Tusi Yang Yinglong, and repeatedly made military exploits.

In the forty-first year of Wanli (1613 AD), her husband, Ma Qiancheng, the envoy of Shizhu Xuanfu, was falsely accused by the eunuch of illness and died in the prison of Yunyang.

In the first year of the Apocalypse (1621 AD), his eldest brother Qin Bangping, second brother Qin Banghan, and fourth brother Qin Minping fought a bloody battle with the Qing army in the Hunhe River, and in the end, only Qin Minping broke through.

In the fourth year of the Apocalypse (1624 AD), Qin Minping suppressed thieves in Luguang and fought to the death.

Now almost all the people of the Ma family and the Qin family have sacrificed their lives for the country, and only she, an old bone, is left, leading a group of children and nephews to continue to fight for the country. The situation in the Ming Dynasty has been eroded to this point, and there are constant beacons everywhere, and she is already ready to die on the battlefield and follow her husband and brother Yu Jiuquan.

She has a handful of old bones, and she has long looked down on life and death, but she has suffered from these nephews, and she has repeatedly fallen into death at a young age.

His son Ma Qian guarded the Shanhaiguan and fought the Hunhe River. Shot by the enemy's stray arrows, he pulled out the arrows and rode his horses to defend bravely, slashing hundreds of enemies, repelling the enemy army, and narrowly escaped his life.

His two nephews, Qin Yiming and Qin Gongming, were even besieged when Lu Guang was suppressing thieves, and they were able to escape from the battle, and they almost died of their injuries.

She often thought that the Ma family and the Qin family would die in battle and be loyal to the country, but she never thought that as soon as the new emperor ascended the throne, she would be named the commander of the Shenji Battalion! Moreover, in addition to the holy decree, the little emperor also asked the eunuch who passed the decree to bring an edict and asked her to bring all the Qin family's sons and nephews into Beijing!

Why did the little emperor reuse her, she didn't know, but she knew that this was an opportunity, a chance to let the Qin family's nephew live. The Praetorian Guards are the emperor's pro-army, and they are generally guarded around the emperor, and there is basically no danger, unlike them, who are fighting everywhere, and they don't know if they can come back alive every time they go out.

With this turning point, she naturally gladly responded to the order, and as soon as she received the holy decree, she took the Qin family's nephews to Beijing.

The new emperor's attention to her was beyond her imagination, as soon as she arrived in Beijing, she took over the position of the commander of the Shenji Battalion, and the new emperor immediately ordered her to bring her family into the palace to face the saint!

Such a grace, she didn't know why, but she knew that she had to be grateful, and if people respected me, I would respect people, since the new emperor was so good to the Qin family, her Qin family naturally had to reciprocate, just like that, a family member she didn't plan to bring to face the saint was also brought along.