After the Battle of Yangzhou, the Qing army turned to strategic defense on all fronts, and the army retreated to the north of the Huai River.

The Ming army and the Qing army fought against each other in the north and south, and the previous wars were fought in the south, but if there is another war in the future, the battlefield is the north, the terrain changes, and the structure of the Ming army also needs to change.

Under such circumstances, the Ming army itself needed to make an adjustment, and the Jin State broke the treaty, which undoubtedly prompted and accelerated the great change in the strategic focus of the Ming Dynasty.

The most obvious of these is that Jianghuai and Huguang, which used to be the most important of the heavy, have weakened their forces and put on a defensive posture, and the Ming Dynasty has drawn men and horses from all over the country and marched into Guizhou, and the strategic center of gravity has obviously shifted to the southwest.

At the end of December, the snow was fluttering in Nanjing, and in the warm pavilion, Wang Yan and several university scholars sat together, with pastries and tea on their small tables, and even melons and fruits from Nanyang.

Wang Yan took a sip of the teacup, put down the cup and said to everyone: "Today is the twenty-eighth, and it is also the last time we have a meeting a year ago, I will focus on it, and then everyone will go home, and we will continue to negotiate next year." ”

When the scarlet-robed adults in the room heard the sound, they all straightened up, and Zhun Ben accepted Wang Yan's questioning.

"Have all the bachelors on duty during the New Year decided?" Wang Yan asked the simplest question.

Su Guansheng stood up and arched his hand: "Your Highness, rest assured, the shifts of several of our university scholars during the New Year have been arranged. In addition, the six ministries also have officials on duty, and they will not all be on vacation. If there is no major event in the court, the personnel on duty can keep the court running. ”

Wang Yan bowed slightly, and then said: "It has been a few days since the recital sent by the He Pavilion Department, and everyone knows about the situation in the southwest. This time we suffered a lot of losses, folding Yuan Zongdi and others, and losing 20,000 soldiers. The Ministry of Rites for Yuan Zongdi and others, the reward of the heirs, it is best to complete it before the year, when the New Year is sacrificed to the martyrs, the soldiers who sacrificed in Hezhou must be able to enter the martyrs' shrine! ”

Gu Yuanjing hurriedly got up, "The Ministry of Rites has drawn up a nickname, Yuan Zong's first nickname is Loyalty, chasing Shaobao, and the others are also listed, please take a look!" ”

As he spoke, Gu Yuanjing took out an excerpt and took a few steps forward to present it to Wang Yan.

After Wang Yan took it, he took a quick tour, then returned the excerpt to Gu Yuanjing, and then said softly: "I have no opinion, if there is no problem with the cabinet, this matter will be handled according to the will of the Ministry of Rites." ”

Now Wang Yan is discussing matters, basically calling all the cabinet scholars, and many things are not communicated with Tang Wang and Lu Wang, but directly with the bachelors of the two factions.

"This time, Zhongyi Town has suffered heavy losses in Sichuan, and the imperial court will inevitably replenish it, but the Fifth Army of Shence and Houyong Town have already replenished Zhongzhi Town before, and then transferring people and horses will affect the combat power of Shence and Houyong, so I and the Ministry of War want to draw people and horses from the Wuwei Army and Zhejiang soldiers to replenish, what do several cabinet members think?"

Wang Yan followed the topic of the southwest and continued to talk, but everyone did not expect that he would raise such an issue.

The five loyal troops are Wang Yan's people, and Zhongyi Town has suffered heavy losses, so it is not a joke to supplement the Zhejiang Party and the army of the pro-Tang faction?

"Your Highness, I'm afraid this matter will have to be discussed again, after the Great Victory in the First Battle of Guan, the strength of the Wuwei Army has not been restored, and it may not be appropriate to transfer the Wuwei Army." Su Guansheng immediately spoke out against it.

"Your Highness, the Zhejiang soldiers want to defend the front line of the Huai River and take on heavy responsibilities, I'm afraid it is not appropriate to transfer elites!" Zhang Kentang also immediately objected.

Wang Yan knew that they would say this, he saw that the hall was lively, suddenly coughed lightly, and then said in a deep voice: "You are quiet first, Lone knows your thoughts, it is nothing more than that the Five Loyal Army is like Lone's private army, so he is unwilling to accept it, this is understandable, but you have to listen to Lone's words." ”

Everyone didn't expect Wang Yan to be so honest, and he hit their minds at once, and directly broke the matter, and couldn't help but feel embarrassed, but they still sat down one after another.

Wang Yan and the others sat down, and then said: "For the imperial court, the most important thing is to master the army, and the army must obey the imperial court, not a certain person or a certain general, so the barriers between the five loyal troops, the armed guard army and the Zhejiang soldiers must be broken." I believe that none of you here want to see the generals and mercenaries below blackmail the imperial court! ”

The army should obey the imperial court, not a certain general or a certain person, which is the cornerstone of the stability of the dynasty, and the last thing the ruling class, especially the civilian class, wants to see is the army mutiny.

Because at that time, the gentry not only had to suffer from military disasters, the social order was completely disrupted, the assets were precarious, and the status of the literati themselves would also decline sharply, so the control of the army was almost one of the themes of all dynasties.

When everyone heard Wang Yan say this, they couldn't help but quiet down, many people actually became interested, Su Guansheng raised his eyebrows, "I don't know how His Highness is going to break down the barriers, how to make the army only obey the orders of the imperial court?" ”

Wang Yan smiled slightly, "Elder Su Ge can ask this, which means that Elder Su Ge acquiesces to the current operation law of the imperial court, and does not think that the imperial court is a lonely court, but everyone's court." Then let's talk about the army next, and there will be a consensus and foundation! ”

Wang Yan's words made Su Guansheng slightly stunned, and after thinking about it carefully, although it is the Chu Party that controls the government now, they are also involved, and they do not agree with many things, and they can indeed block and stop them, and many of the things they propose are not impossible to pass, although the Chu Party is dominant, it is a little unreasonable to say that it is the court of the Chu Party, because the court also represents their interests.

Wang Yan saw Su Guansheng nodded, and then continued: "Since everyone thinks that the imperial court belongs to everyone, then the army obeys the orders of the imperial court, and you can't feel that you are listening to King Gu's personal affairs. It is very simple to break the barriers of the armies, that is, to rebuild the governor's palace of the five armies, and the generals of each army must be rotated according to the time, and the officers of the five loyal armies can command the Wuwei army, and the officers of the Wuwei army can serve in the five loyal armies, so as to avoid the generals from mastering an army for a long time and bringing hidden dangers to the imperial court. Of course, considering that the frequent change of generals will inevitably lead to a decline in the combat strength of the army, the period for the transfer of generals should not be too short, and should be controlled between three and five years. ”

Wang Yan's suggestion is actually similar to the practice of previous dynasties, and is a means of nationalizing the army, although it is conditional on the loss of a certain combat strength of the army, but it is not possible to have both fish and bear's paws, and in the long run, it is indeed a good means to prevent warlords and rebellions.

In fact, although Wang Yan seems to have given up control of the Five Loyal Army and let others in, but in fact it is not, because the total number of troops of the Five Loyal Army and the Chu Party faction is much larger than that of the other two factions, and he mixed the army of the Ming Dynasty in this way, Wang Yan still had the advantage, and resolved the threat of Jin Shenghuan, Zheng Chenggong, Zhang Mingzhen and others, and integrated the army system of the Ming Dynasty.

One of the biggest advantages of this is to eliminate the possibility of armed struggle between various factions, and control the political struggle on the civil fight, who controls the court and who controls the army.

Today is the last meeting in the first year of co-governance, and everyone originally thought that it was just drinking tea, and it was over after a casual chat, but they didn't expect Wang Yan to throw a bomb.

Wang Yan saw that everyone was talking about it, and knew that this matter was extremely complicated and implicated, and it was not something that could be decided at once, so he said: "This matter, Lone first gave everyone a breath, and the military department will send a bill after the year, and everyone is discussing it in detail." Well, it's not too early, let's disperse today! Lone wishes a few elders a safe New Year in advance! ”

Several people in the hall listened, but they were all a little unsatisfied, but Wang Yan stood up and said goodbye, they had to stand up, and also give Wang Yan an early greeting, and then dispersed after the discussion.

The reason why Wang Yan proposed this proposal today is because of the current political rules of the Ming Dynasty, and such a major event must be passed by the council, so he first told the matter to let the entire civil official group know and give them a briefing, after all, this bill is in line with the interests of the Ming Dynasty and the civil officials, so that he can discuss it during the New Year, so that it is convenient to pass this proposal at the New Year's pre-meeting after the New Year.

Near the end of the year, Wang Yan released such a bomb, which did cause a lot of discussion, and many people agreed with this proposal, but it also brought together the two rival princes of Tang and Lu.