On September 19, the seventh year of the Great Tomorrow Apocalypse (1627 AD), the last "funeral" of Zhu Youxiao's "Jiuyu" ceremony was held in the several banquet halls, and the funeral was presided over by the British public Zhang Wei.

Zhu Youxiao's coffin stands quietly in the central hall, and the handsome and young black and white portrait is leaning on the big head of the coffin.

First by the Taishi, Taifu, Taibao to pay homage to the coffin, then the three orphans, the three dukes to worship, then the Zongren Mansion Zongren Order, the left and right Zongzheng, the left and right governors, the left and right Zongren to worship, then the six Shangshu, the left and right Shilang to worship, then the other officials of the Beijing Division to worship, and finally the representatives of the two Beijing and thirteen divisions sent to the Beijing Division to worship.

Zhu Youxiao did not have a male child, Zhu Youzhen returned the salute as a younger brother and Zhang Yan as a dependent, but their identities were too high, and they did not kneel at several feasts, but just stood behind the coffin and bowed through the curtain to return the salute.

After all the personnel paid homage, the officials of the Ministry of Rites fired fifteen cannons, indicating that Zhu Youxiao was the fifteenth emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

It was already time, Zhu Youxiao's coffin was carried onto the hearse, and in the sound of crying and send-off, the hearse slowly left the hall of several feasts, drove to the palace gate, and drove to the imperial tomb.

Zhang Yan cried so much that she fainted the moment the hearse left.

Even if Zhang Yan is sober, as a woman, she can't watch Zhu Youxiao be buried with her own eyes with the coffin. She could only stay in the hall of several feasts in a daze, and the moment the coffin left the hall was the farewell between her and her husband......

After the funeral, the whole country stopped the activities of worshiping Zhu Youxiao, and the country entered the normal track at the same time.

On 22 September, Zhu Youzhen summoned Cui Chengxiu, Li Chunye, and Wang Yongguang, the three major secretaries of the military department in Beijing, and the four of them had a secret talk for most of the day.

On 1 October, Zhu Youzhen convened his first formal court meeting.

Cui Chengxiu, Li Chunye, and Wang Yongguang jointly threw out a "Ming Army Reform Plan".

"Ming Army Reform Program" has been printed in many copies, distributed in the court to the main officials participating in the court, the main content of the "Ming Army Reform Program" are:

1. Abolish the three major battalions of the Beijing Division and reorganize the new army;

2. The new army takes the squad as the basic unit, with 10 people in each squad, a squad leader, and three squads forming a platoon and three platoon groups

into a company, three companies into a battalion, three battalions into a regiment, three regiments into a brigade, three brigades into a division, and three divisions into a corps.

Each army numbered between 33,000 and 38,000 men.

There shall be one commander, one deputy commander, and one staff officer above the battalion level.

The 3rd and 4th military battalions were reorganized into the First Army of the New Army, with the commander Yuan Chonghuan under the jurisdiction of the first division and the division commander Li Hongjun; Second Division, Division Commander Ning Xianlong; The third division, division commander Liu Yulu.

The Siyong Battalion was reorganized into the Second Army of the New Army, and the army commander was Du Wenhuan.

The Siwei Battalion was reorganized into the Third Army of the New Army, and the commander was Yu Chongxiao.

The Shenji Battalion was reorganized into the Fourth Army of the New Army (Army Commander Hong Chengchou), the Fifth Army (Army Commander Shen Xiyi), and the Sixth Army (Army Commander Chen Youjie).

All of the above armies are equipped with firearms, and from now on, they will learn how to use firearms for a period of five months.

Each army is equipped with an artillery regiment directly under the military headquarters.

The 3,000 battalions were reorganized into the Seventh and Eighth Armies of the New Army, and the commanders were Mangui and Chengbiyong respectively.

The Seventh Army and the Eighth Army, each under the jurisdiction of three cavalry divisions, basically not equipped with firearms, but equipped with the sharpest knives and the most elite horses of the Ming Dynasty, began to be rectified from now on for a period of three months.

Fourth, the 16 guards of the pro-army directly under the emperor, and the 15 guards except the Jinyi guard, were reorganized into the first royal army and the second royal army.

The commander of the Royal First Army is Wang Mujiu, the former captain of the Special Operations Team of the Fourth Martial Arts Battalion, and the commander of the Royal Second Army is Li Yuanting, the former commander of the Jinwu Right Guard.

5. After the firearms and soldiers of the various armies of the Beijing Division are reorganized, the troops of the local guard posts will be rectified in turn.

Sixth, the formation of the Ming Navy.

Immediately take Dengzhou as the home port and form the North Sea Fleet, which will be attached to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Marine Divisions.

Gradually, with Guangzhou as the home port, the South China Sea Fleet was formed.

7. The salaries of the new armies shall be directly allocated to the military department by the household department, and the military department shall pay the full amount according to the actual situation of the reorganized troops.

8. The military song of the Ming Dynasty is "Serving the Country with Loyalty", and the military flag is the sun and moon flag of the red sun and yellow moon on a blue background.

The reform of the army is tantamount to a bombshell in the imperial court, but Zhu Youzhen is the new monarch, and some big moves are inevitable.

The vast majority of the ministers have never served in the Ministry of Military Affairs, and they will not be able to see clearly the pros and cons of military reform for a while.

"Your Majesty, after the change, the new army of the Beijing division has reached more than 300,000, and the household department will not be able to provide sufficient military salaries no matter what." Li Qiyuan, the secretary of the household department, was the first to oppose it, he proceeded from the actual situation of the household department of the Ming Dynasty, and did not have the slightest personal opinion.

"Lord Li, the new army of the Beijing division is just an adaptation of the original army, just a change of title, and the number of people has not increased, why can the original household department issue military salaries, but now it can't be issued?" Li Chunye has long been a staunch supporter of Zhu Youzhen.

"This ......" Li Qiyuan was beaten on seven inches, the original army of the Beijing division claimed to be 300,000, but the empty salary was strict, and it was actually less than sixty percent on paper, and now it is in the court, how can Li Qiyuan say it?

Cui Chengxiu couldn't help but gloat when he saw Li Qiyuan deflated: "The reform of the army is the result of the painstaking efforts of His Majesty and the Ministry of War to rectify the armament and improve the combat effectiveness of the army. ”

Cui Chengxiu buttoned down a hat against His Majesty so early, no one spoke, and the court fell silent for a while.

"Zhong Aiqing, let's do it, I will read it with you one by one to see if there is anything that needs to be improved." Zhu Youzhen began to secretly change the concept, and the "Ming Army Reform Plan" is a whole, a single article, and has nothing to do with the ministers.

Zhu Youzhen saw that the ministers were silent, so he said to Cui Chengxiu: "Cui Aiqing, you can interpret it!" ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." When the dynasty was reused by Zhu Youzhen, Cui Chengxiu felt the glory of Wushang, "This first article, abolishing the three major battalions of the Beijing Division and reorganizing the new army, do you have any objections?" ”

The ministers all knew that after Zhu Youzhen went to the Fenwu Battalion and the Fourth Martial Arts Battalion, the combat effectiveness of the army was greatly improved without increasing military salaries.

"Okay, since there is no objection, this first article, pass." Cui Chengxiu didn't give the ministers more time to think, "Second, let's take a look, is there anything wrong?" ”

The second is that the military has changed its structure, and it has no relationship with other ministers.

"Second, over, third?" There was only Choi Chengxiu's voice in the court.

The third is the commander of the army, except for the three division commanders of the first division who are Zhu Youzhen's people, the rest of the officers are basically Donglin Party members, which is also in line with the original military pattern of the Ming Dynasty.

The Donglin Party will not expel their own people from the army, and the Eunuch Party can accept such a result, and there is also a Cui Chengxiu jumping up and down.

"The third, the fourth?"

It can be said that this is Zhu Youzhen's private matter, and the two army commanders are Zhu Youzhen's cronies, and they have nothing to do with the two parties, and neither party will touch Zhu Youzhen's brow.

"Fourth, over, fifth?"

"Your Majesty, the local health center also needs to be rectified?" Although Guo Yunhou, the secretary of the household department, is a member of the eunuch party and is unwilling to sweep Cui Chengxiu's face, the current finances of the household department have dried up, and once the emperor wants to rectify the local health center, the household department must allocate military salaries.

"Lord Guo is worried about military salaries?" Wang Yongguang, who had not spoken, took over the conversation: "Lord Guo can rest assured that under the condition that the household department cannot increase its income, and the household department is unable to pay the military salaries of the guards, the army of the local guards will not be rectified for the time being. ”

"Your Majesty, so the minister is relieved." Guo Yunhou retreated to his position.

Cui Chengxiu didn't wait for others to ask, and hurriedly announced loudly: "Article 5, pass, Article 6? ”

"Your Majesty, why did the Ming Dynasty want to form a navy?" Xue Fengxiang knew that the cost of the navy was huge, during the Chengzu period, the navy of the Ming Dynasty was Yang Wei Nanyang, but at that time, it was piled up with silver, and now the Ming Dynasty is already declining, and even the army's salary cannot be opened, let alone support a huge fleet.

"This ......" Cui Chengxiu and Wang Yongguang were both summoned by Zhu Youzhen before they heard Zhu Youzhen say that they wanted to form a navy, and they reluctantly agreed because of Zhu Youzhen's imperial authority, and as for why they wanted to waste silver, they couldn't say why.

"As you colleagues, you can know that the Ming Dynasty has four major naval divisions, which are stationed in Tianjin, Dengzhou, Fujian, and Guangdong, and the North Sea Fleet is just a merger of the Tianjin Naval Division and the Dengzhou Naval Division." Li Chunye also learned to fool, "The South China Sea Fleet to be formed in the future will only merge the Fujian Navy Division and the Guangdong Navy Division to facilitate unified management." ”

"I see." The ministers all thought that Zhu Youzhen was taking the opportunity to monopolize the military power, anyway, the country was his, and he had no intention of rebelling.

Seeing that the ministers were talking in a whisper, and no one raised the lead to oppose it, Cui Chengxiu hurriedly announced that Article 6 had been approved, and then Article 7 would be discussed.

Article 7 is the issue of the allocation of military salaries.

It turned out that the military salary of the Ming Dynasty was directly issued to the army by the household department, and now the household department has exhausted its financial resources, and the military salary is strictly insufficient.

If the military salary is directly distributed to the various armies by the military department, then when the military salary is insufficient, the household department can still have a dispute with the military department, and at least when the responsibility is investigated, the military department and the household department will jointly bear the burden.

Several scholars of the household department rarely agreed in opinion and praised the benefits of military reform in unison.

Zhu Youzhen secretly breathed a sigh of relief, whoever pays the military salary will obtain direct control of the army, and he was originally worried that the situation of the household department and the military department competing for the control of the army did not appear.

The last one is only symbolic.

As a military song, "Jing Loyal to the Country" has long been promoted in the Siwu Battalion and the Military Academy, and now it is only determined in the form of a law.

As for the military flag, no one has ever seen it, and it will definitely not harm the actual interests of any of the ministers in the court now.