The Ming Empire was too vast, even so vast that other countries could not imagine it. Although this endowed the Ming Empire with almost unlimited resources and strong national strength, it also buried the hidden dangers of poor management and difficult to reconcile internal contradictions.

For example, on some issues, it is always difficult to meet the ideas of some people, resulting in difficulties in adjusting opinions and low decision-making efficiency. This is a problem that all large countries will have, and it is very exaggerated and a headache for the big countries to waver in their decision to change their decisions.

Just when Wang Jue was working hard in the Northeast and wanted to show his strength, in the center of the Ming Empire, the Gyeonggi Center, the Renzhi Hall in the Forbidden City, could be regarded as the imperial study of His Majesty the Emperor, in fact, it was the office where His Majesty the Emperor usually sits.

In this hall, there are seven private secretaries dedicated to serving the emperor, including secretaries who plan the emperor's daily life, and secretaries who arrange meetings and other matters. Of course, these secretaries are salaried staff, and their existence is to help His Majesty the Emperor make reasonable use of every minute of his time.

There are also more than 30 technical advisers from all walks of life, all of whom work here, so that His Majesty the Emperor can ask technical questions when he listens to the advice of the ministers. Advisors and ministers are not mutually restrictive institutions, and they have the right to be exempt from liability for speech, and the meaning of their existence is to check and fill in the gaps, consult and speculate.

It is more appropriate to say that this is the private office of His Majesty the Emperor than that it is the Imperial Study, and the Imperial Hall is more like a place to hold meetings and discuss issues, and the Jianji Hall is the military command headquarters.

Zhu Mu was sitting behind the desk engraved with a dragon pattern in his office at this time, looking at the two senior officials from the military department who were standing there bent down not far from the opposite side - Ge Tianzhang, the secretary of the military department, and Cheng Zhixin, the second-in-command of the military department.

Obviously, the topics brought by these two people did not make the new emperor Zhu Mu comfortable, but on the contrary, it reached the point where Zhu Mu was very impatient. However, looking at the posture in front of him, the military department should be unwilling to give in, and Emperor Zhu Mu also has his own ideas.

"Your Majesty, the matter of arming the Jinyi Guard is a very dangerous move, Your Majesty, you have not consulted with the ministers and others in advance, you really shouldn't ......" Cheng Zhixin, the squire of the military department, bent down and bowed his head, and persuaded him with various reasons: "There is no precedent for this matter, and it is impossible to supervise the operation in all aspects......"

"Cheng Shilang! I am the Ninety-Five, is it also a matter of negotiation to find a way to select an army loyal to me? When Zhu Mu heard Cheng Zhixin say this, he was full of annoyance, because this matter was obviously not something he and Wang Jue discussed, but a trick made up by him Zhu Mu himself. So he interrupted Cheng Zhixin's words and responded impatiently.

As a result, on the issue of the Praetorian Guard, which he advocated on his own, the military department had made countless twists and turns, making it difficult for him, the new emperor who had just ascended the throne, in all aspects. This made Zhu Mu very unable to get off the stage, and even wanted to scold the ministers of the Ministry of War, so as to vent his dissatisfaction.

What he originally wanted to build was an elite army that was absolutely subordinate to his personal command. However, now the military department hardly knows how to compromise on this matter, and yesterday because of the formation of troops other than the army, there was a lot of noise and the party Zhu Mu was entangled in the court meeting for two full hours.

"The Ming Empire cannot have troops independent of the army's command circle, the new army is already a special case, and it is enough to have a unit with an experimental nature, so it should not continue to form new Praetorian Guard troops." Cheng Zhixin, on behalf of the wishes of many old army generals in the Ministry of War, slowly spoke: "If Your Majesty must form a Praetorian Guard, it is enough to transfer the new army and change its name to the Praetorian Guard." ”

In the final analysis, the new army has been a thorn in the throat of the military department until now, and this army was troubled by the military department when it was formed, and if it were not for the support of the royal family and the royal family, it would not have been formed at all. As a result, the New Army won the battle in Liaodong, and the management and control of the Ministry of War became more difficult, which also made the Ministry of War even more reluctant to see the appearance of similar troops outside the scope of the Ministry of War.

Zhu Mu looked at Cheng Zhixin, and secretly bit the roots of his teeth together: I have been forced to install the Praetorian Guard in the new army, and this is not forced by you bastards? Now I mention this matter again, I just want to bargain with me, the emperor, somewhere else!

Thinking of this, Zhu Mu secretly sneered, and then said: "The matter of the Praetorian Guard, I am also on a whim, and regarding the arrangement of this army, I promise not to cause trouble to the military department." After all, I heard that the Praetorian Guard had won a battle in Liaodong, and I was very pleased. ”

Cheng Zhixin raised his eyebrows, he knew that when the Praetorian Guards arrived at the front line, the Battle of Dawa and the Battle of Panjin had actually ended, and the so-called Praetorian Guards had won the battle, which was nothing more than the new army putting gold on the faces of His Majesty's cronies of the Emperor.

But this kind of thing, everyone has no way to say it in person, so they can only pinch their noses and admit it, and then think about it in other places. Hearing this, Ge Tianzhang, who was silent on the side, finally spoke, he coughed, and Zhu Mu's heart was a little frightened. He knew that compared to the trivial matter of Cheng Zhixin's Praetorian Guard just now, the real problem had arrived.

"Your Majesty! Compared with the small things of the 18,000 people of the Praetorian Guard, the old minister is more concerned about the transfer of arms and warships...... "Compared with Cheng Zhixin, Ge Tianzhang gave Zhu Mu a headache even more, because this veteran secretary of the military department was simply a tumbler in the military of the Ming Empire, and he survived three emperors, but he stood tall in the military department for decades.

And this Ge Tianzhang controlled the military department for a day, and the established strategic policy of the Ming Empire first in the south and then in the north was unshakable. Even Zhu Mu's father, Zhu Changle, followed this strategic policy when he was in power, and did not make the slightest change.

Compared with Cheng Zhixin and other military officials competing for the command of several troops, Ge Tianzhang, the secretary of the military department, competing for the strategic center of gravity of the Ming Empire gave Zhu Mu a headache. Everyone can see that he and Wang Jue hope to take the lead in breaking the deadlock in the northeast of the Ming Empire, and the military department still has countless military generals, but they want to make war achievements in Southeast Asia.