It is said that the Five Cities Terracotta Division in the north and south of Beijing were all responsible for such functions when they were originally designed.

However, the system of social governance designed in the early years of the Ming Dynasty had long been abandoned by the time of the Chongzhen period.

Even if the system is still there, because of the collapse of the guard system and the financial strain of the imperial court, no one will do these public affairs.

Even if the situation of Jingshi is a little better, it is not much better.

The composition of the Terracotta Division was composed of compulsory soldiers from the guard post when it was first established, and the military households of the Beijing Division served as the soldiers and shops of each military patrol shop.

After the abolition of the guard system, the personnel of the Soldiers and Horses Division, like the armies in other places, were still filled by military households, and the insufficient part was recruited by the government.

Of course, most of the recruited soldiers were idle vagrants and local ruffians who served as soldiers.

In this way, the social governance of the imperial court was even worse.

After Emperor Chongzhen recruited displaced people in the land of Gyeonggi and sent them to the border of Jizhen, North Korea or Yingzhou Town Shoufu to open up wasteland for farming, the unemployed vagrants and local ruffians and beggars inside and outside the capital division became increasingly scarce.

The problem of the Terracotta Division is even more serious.

It was against this background that Liu Wenbing, who was deeply trusted by the emperor and led the Shenji Battalion and commanded the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division on the other hand, asked for an order to rectify the affairs of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses.

And Emperor Chongzhen soon sent Yan Yingyuan to take on the important task of rectifying the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses.

In less than two months, a series of changes took place in the Nancheng Terracotta Division, which was commanded by Yan Yingyuan.

Not only did they set up two patrol battalions on the left and right, and all the old and weak personnel of the original Terracotta Division were assigned to it, but they also set up a detective team directly under themselves in addition to the two patrol battalions.

The two patrol battalions on the left and right of the Nancheng Terracotta Division are bounded by Yongding Gate, and under each patrol battalion are divided into districts according to the number of household registrations in the jurisdictional area, and there are three to five patrol teams under it.

These patrol teams are responsible for patrolling neighborhoods day and night, and guarding against fires, floods, and people's conditions.

Therefore, these two patrol battalions are basically equivalent to taking over all the responsibilities and personnel of the original Terracotta Division.

However, in addition, Yan Yingyuan was under the Terracotta Division, different from the patrol battalion, and transferred capable personnel from the soldiers who originally belonged to the Nancheng Terracotta Division, and set up a separate detective team.

Under the detective team, also according to the situation of the zoning area, a number of patrol and arrest rooms were set up, which were specially designed to accept the first accusations, reports, and revelations from the people in the area in accordance with the orders of the Shuntian Prefecture, and then arrest and arrest all kinds of people who committed adultery and criminals under the jurisdiction of the Nancheng Terracotta Division.

In the two months since Yan Yingyuan served as the commander of the Nancheng Terracotta Division, although he did not establish a police system in one step within the Nancheng Terracotta Division of the Beijing Division, he finally separated prevention from detection, and this can be regarded as a good start for the establishment of a police system in the future.

On the twenty-third day of the lunar month, Yan Yingyuan took the deputy commander of the Nancheng Soldiers and Horses Division and several team officers under his command to inspect around the Yongdingmen area, just to see if the patrol battalion officers and soldiers on duty under his command were lazy and left their posts without permission.

Just when Yan Yingyuan was inspecting the bustling street market and listening to the entourage laughing and talking about the new things in the streets and alleys, he suddenly heard a sound of horses' hooves coming from the direction of Yongding Gate.

Yan Yingyuan, Dong Da and the others were immediately attracted by the rapid sound of horses' hooves.

Because riding a horse and galloping in the capital city is under the jurisdiction of the Terracotta Division's patrol team.

If it is a high-ranking official and dignitary, it is fine, and if it is an ordinary person, there is a chance that he will be held and questioned by the patrol battalion.

Yan Yingyuan, the commander of the Nancheng Terracotta Division, is just a seven-rank official, or a seven-rank officer of the martial arts, and in the official rank sequence of the Ming Dynasty, he is a small official with a sesame mung bean.

But such a petty official is a great official for the patrol battalion and patrol team under the jurisdiction of the Soldiers and Horses Division who are under his control.

Today, Yan Yingyuan came to inspect the Yongding Gate area, and met such an eyeless person galloping in the city, isn't this deliberately blocking everyone in the patrol camp?

Dong Da, who was in charge of patrolling this area, was unhappy, and soon came out of the crowd to avoid dodging, and shouted at the horses galloping not far away:

"Where did the buns come from? Do you understand what it is to gallop a horse in the city? ”

Before Dong Da finished speaking, he saw more than a dozen horsemen galloping past him, and Dong Da also said "ahhh

When Yan Yingyuan and the others arrived in three steps and two steps, Dong Dayu covered his left face and said, "The people of Dongchang! The first person has a token! ”

The person in front showed the token, and although Dong Da didn't see it clearly, he also knew that it was the token of the East Factory.

Since he is a person from the East Editing Factory, then Dong Da's whip can be regarded as in vain.

When Dong Da and the others were still complaining about the arrogance and hatred of Dongchang Fanzi, Yan Yingyuan's eyes were still staring at the dozens of fast horses that were far away.

Because of one of them, he knew.

And that person is Shen Tingyang, who was ordered to go to the Southeast Overseas Fanbang to buy a big ship of Xiyi a few months ago!

Of course Yan Yingyuan knew Shen Tingyang, both of them had served in the imperial front before, although they had not intersected for a long time, but one was a member of the Zhongshu She, and the other was a military attaché, both of whom were valued by the emperor's side, and of course they would pay more attention to each other.

At this time, Yan Yingyuan stood in the crowd, watching Shen Tingyang gallop away under the escort of the Dongchang fans, but Shen Tingyang didn't notice Yan Yingyuan on the corner of the street at all.

This trip, Shen Tingyang followed the Dutch missionary Van der Reich and others to go overseas, which lasted for half a year.

Not only did he sail across the sea with Vanderlie and others to Batavia City, the largest stronghold of the Dutch in Southeast Asia at this time, but on the way back, he also went to Orange City, the southernmost stronghold of the Dutch on Dongfan Island.

Shen Tingyang followed the Dutch missionary Vanderlie, met with the governors of the Dutch East India Company stationed in the two places, and also conditionally purchased a large Dutch plywood ship that was about to be retired from the Batavia headquarters of the Dutch East India Company.

This large plywood ship is 30 zhang long and 6 zhang wide, with three upper and lower decks, five giant masts at the front and rear, and huge cannons on the bow and both sides of the deck.

In addition to the mercenaries who belonged to the Dutch East India Company on this ship, most of the sailors and technicians on this ship were also hired by Shen Tingyang and his party at a salary much higher than that of the Dutch East India Company.

And the reason why Shen Tingyang entered the city in such a hurry to meet him was not only because he was in a hurry to report the news to Emperor Chongzhen, but because he had other urgent matters that needed to be reported as soon as possible.

Around the time of Shen Shi that afternoon, Shen Tingyang and Zhang Xiang, who accompanied him all the way, came to the Qianqing Palace in the Forbidden City under the guidance of Fang Zhenghua.

Seeing Emperor Chongzhen, Shen Tingyang and Zhang Xiang hurriedly knelt down and saluted, and said in unison: "Weichen knocks to see Your Majesty!" Congratulations to Your Majesty on your victory! ”

Emperor Chongzhen knew that Shen Tingyang was back, and he was also happy in his heart, he got up from the seat in the study, walked in front of the two, helped the two of them up one by one, and said:

"You two went south a long time ago, followed the Dutch missionary to go overseas, and now you have returned safely, which is also gratifying!"

The emperor personally lifted thousands of people, which is a rare honor as a courtier.

The two of them were excited to win this honor, and after they didn't even dare to say it, when the emperor turned around and sat down, Shen Tingyang bowed down and said:

"Weichen and others were ordered to go to sea before, and went to the South China Sea to go on a business trip, and they were blessed by God, and fortunately they were not dishonored!

"The ministers took a boat from Tianjin to the south in mid-June, and the journey was smooth, and they arrived in Fuzhou before half a month.

At that time, the department of Zheng Zhilong, the governor's office of Fujian and Zhejiang, was in a confrontation with Taixi Holland Yi in the Dayuan area in the south of Dongfan Island, and a confrontation with Taixi Fulang Jiren in Jilong Mountain in the north of Dongfan Island. The ministers conveyed His Majesty's instructions, and the governors of Fuzhou and the ministers all thought so.

"Afterwards, the ministers and others continued to sail south to the coastal area of Guangdong, where Jieshiwei landed and went ashore to Guangzhou, and according to His Majesty's will, set up a Nanyang Company in Guangzhou to collect silk, porcelain, tea and other materials.

"At the beginning of August, after the completion of the Guangzhou incident, the ministers and others went to Haojing from Guangzhou, and the Dutch Yi Vanderje came forward to charter the Haojing Yi merchant ship to go south, passing through several small states such as Annam, Champa and Manraka, and arrived at the city of Batavia in Java (later Jakarta, Indonesia) at the end of August.

On the recommendation of the Dutch missionary Vanderlie, the ministers met with Wes, the governor of Dutch, who was stationed on the island of Java.

"The Governor of Java of Dutch Yi agreed to settle the dispute in the Dayuan area peacefully, and on the condition that His Majesty would open Penghu and other places to trade with the Netherlands, he would sell an ocean-going plywood ship Galion, which was used for both commercial and war purposes, and demanded that the equivalent value of Chinese goods such as silk, tea, and porcelain be traded with him in Penghu, including the hired sailors and shipwrights, for a total price of about 100,000 taels of silver.

"Because the country of Java is too far away from my Ming Dynasty, the ministers decided to trade with it at a value of 100,000 taels of silver, and ask Your Majesty to atone for their sins!"

Shen Tingyang said this in one breath, and took advantage of the opportunity for the emperor to nod his head frequently, and hurriedly smoothed out some of the places that might be convicted.

Sure enough, Emperor Chongzhen waved his hand and said: "Qing and others went overseas, lived up to their mission, and had no merit, what is the crime?!" ”

After the emperor said this, Shen Tingyang, Zhang Xiang and others were all relieved.

But then, Shen Tingyang knelt down again and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!" However, in addition, before the minister could ask for the order, he took the initiative to bring back the envoys of Tessy Holland, Portugal, and Annam Mo's request to enter the Hajj! Please atone for your sins! ”

After Shen Tingyang finished speaking, he kowtowed again, and Zhang Xiang, who was in charge of the Dongchang Punishment Thousand Households behind him, also knelt down and said: "Weichen has not had time to ask for a decree, please punish Your Majesty!" ”