At the end of August of the 14th year of Chongzhen, Liu Jun entered the palace to face the saint and reported to the Son of Heaven the serious problems of the soldiers and horses in Gyeonggi. Zhu Cihong was greatly surprised when he heard that there were 90,000 soldiers in the three towns of the Praetorian Guard camp, but there were only less than 30,000 horses. Although he is young, he knows the seriousness of the problem.

Immediately, Zhu Cihong sent people to summon Zhou Yanru, Wu Fu, and Liu Zong to take care of the ministers on Wednesday, and summoned Shang Chen Xinjia of the military department and several waiters into the palace.

Several people were hurriedly summoned into the palace, and they were secretly surprised to see Liu Jun sitting in the upper study and playing chess with the emperor. When the emperor put Wang Dehua's roster and account book in front of several people, they were even more surprised.

But none of these things in it surprised them even more.

"Your Majesty, don't listen to one-sided words." Chen Xinjia has no way back now, so he can only hold on.

Zhu Cihong saw that Chen Xinjia was still stiff-mouthed at this time, and he was very angry. "Summoning Wang Dehua to come."

As soon as these words came out, even Zhou Yanru and others were shocked, no one expected that Wang Dehua, the minister and commander of the Praetorian Guard Battalion, would actually take the lead.

Zhou Yanru's mind was spinning rapidly, Chen Xinjia seemed to be finished, now what he had to think about was how to abandon the pawn and protect the car, it didn't matter how many the Praetorian Guard Battalion took down, the most important thing was not to let Liu Jun take the opportunity to investigate deeply. Zhou Yanru was very worried that Liu Jun would take advantage of this to further intervene in the Beijing camp.

"Your Majesty, this matter is a failure of the ministers, please hand over this matter to the Prime Minister for thorough investigation."

Originally, Chongzhen set up a minister who took care of his life, so the emperor was young, and before he was in power, all major military affairs belonged to the prime minister. It can be said that way, but Zhu Cihong is the emperor after all, and the Ming Dynasty is his family. If he wants to intervene, what else can Zhou Yanru, the big housekeeper, say?

Wang Dehua entered and met the emperor.

"Wang Dehua, you tell the adults. The real situation in Jingying, as well as the plans of Xu Yongzhen and those people. ”

Wang Dehua should claim that it is, and then he will explain all the disadvantages of eating empty salaries in Beijing, deducting military salaries, occupying labor and buying leisure, and so on. In particular, it was pointed out that the three towns of the Praetorian Guard Battalion had 90,000 soldiers. But in fact, there are less than 30,000, and there are many old and weak people. What's more serious is that in order to cope with this inspection, they are also preparing to collude with the other two battalions and six towns, borrowing troops to fake the inspection and pass the test in confusion.

"Your Majesty, this is the crime of deceit!" Liu Jun threw out a big hat first.

Liu Zongzhou also stood up at the right time, "Your Majesty, the minister requests a thorough investigation!" ”

Zhou Yanru's brows furrowed. He is now more and more dissatisfied with Liu Zongzhou, who controls the Metropolitan Procuratorate and has the power to supervise impeachment, but he has an observant attitude. After Liu Jun entered the prime minister's office, Liu Zongzhou was quite supportive of him.

"Your Majesty, we will definitely investigate it thoroughly."

Liu Jun sneered, "Elder Zhou Ge, how do you plan to investigate thoroughly?" The three major battalions and nine towns are still the same as the original Beijing camp from top to bottom. It's rotten to the roots. With such soldiers, they are still expected to guard Gyeonggi. Guarding Your Majesty? As he spoke, he turned his head to face the emperor, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that those Beijing troops can't even protect themselves." For the sake of His Majesty's safety, the Beijing army should be immediately rectified. ”

"The king of the county, the matter involves the Beijing camp. Don't rush it, it's not good if it causes chaos. When Zhou Yanru said this, he already had a bit of a secret threat.

"What Elder Ge said also makes sense, these arrogant soldiers are really going to be urgent. They're probably going to mess around. As he spoke, Liu Jun's words suddenly changed.

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that it is time to immediately rebuild the guards and pro-army to protect the Forbidden City and the Imperial City. From today onwards, the Praetorian Guard Battalion is only responsible for guarding the inner and outer cities of the Kyoto Division. ”

The little emperor glanced at Liu Jun, "Are those Jing troops still credible?" ”

"Your Majesty, there are still 30,000 Beiyang elites stationed in Lugou Bridge and Xishan outside the city. Why doesn't Your Majesty select loyal and brave elites from among them, and then use the brave and brave sons of the lords to form a new guard army? "It was Wang Dehua who spoke, he finally saw the saint, of course, he had to behave as much as possible, in order to return to the palace.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the 12 guards of the pro-army were established, responsible for escorting the left and right, guarding the palace ban, and it was the guard forbidden army directly under the emperor.

In the Yongle Dynasty, ten more guards were added, and four more guards were added in the Xuande Dynasty, and finally they were collectively called twenty-six guards.

The purpose of the establishment of this army was to establish a Praetorian Guard that had always been controlled by the emperor himself, but as the emperor's power was gradually seized by civilian officials, especially by the cabinet, the 26 guards of the pro-army, except for one brocade guard, were gradually controlled by the military department.

When the Beijing camp was integrated and the nine towns were established, the three major battalions of the Beijing army and the guards were all integrated, and the current first town contains the original guards and the army.

However, the Beijing army has long been corrupted, and the guards are not much better.

And now, Wang Dehua proposed to transfer the elite from the Beiyang town soldiers outside the city to re-form a guard army directly under the emperor, which really made Zhu Cihong very tempted.

Since he was sensible since he was a child, he often heard that his father Chongzhen was trapped by the military. Therefore, now he is very interested in military affairs, and he is even more excited about the proposal to have a pro-army directly under him.

He looked at Liu Jun, "Brother Huang, what do you think?" ”

"It is their honor that the Beiyang Town soldiers can be selected to be included in the guards and pro-army. And from the point of view of His Majesty's safety, it is indeed necessary to establish a guard army, independent of the Beijing camp. In this way, there are guards in the imperial city of Miyagi, and there are guards in the inner and outer cities, and there are guards in the inner and outer cities, and they are mutually restrained and supervised, which is the right way. Liu Jun naturally agreed to this proposal, and Wang Dehua's proposal was actually instructed by him.

On the surface, it seems that the establishment of a new guard pro-army does not belong to the three major battalions of Gyeonggi, nor does it belong to the five prefectures of the military department, it seems that Liu Jun, the governor of Zhili, has reduced his power, but in fact, if he selects the guard pro-army from Beiyang Town, his actual control will be enhanced.

Besides, Liu Jun didn't care much about the right to guard the palace and the imperial city. When he didn't even control the Beijing army, there was no need to rush to fight for control of the palace city and the imperial city. Now it is appropriate to let go of the power, just to avoid everyone staring at him.

Wang Dehua proposed, the emperor agreed, and then Liu Jun supported, and the matter was almost decided.

Zhou Yanru also expressed his support, he felt that agreeing to build another guard army at this time could weaken some of Liu Jun's power, after all, Liu Jun, the governor of Zhili, was originally in command of all the Gyeonggi soldiers and horses, and now it is better to divide one. And. At this time, agreeing to establish a guard army would also divert the emperor's attention from the corruption of the capital camp, and he would be relieved of some responsibility.

Wu Fu and Liu Zongzhou also agreed.

Chen Xinjia didn't want to agree, the military department has become more and more powerful over the years, not only has the rights of the five military governors been usurped, but even the guards and pro-army have been included in the command. Except for one Jinyi guard, they can't control it, and the other twenty-five guards are actually no different from ordinary Beijing troops.

Even after the Beijing camp was sorted out and the ninth battalion was established, the entire Gyeonggi internal and external soldiers and horses were also subsumed under the military department.

Now he wants to build a guard army that is independent of the military department and the five military palaces, and is directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor, of course he is not willing. But at this time, how dare he object, he still has a pot of on his head.

Originally, the guards were divided into two parts, one part was the escort guards. Part of it is to guard the pro-army. Liu Jun proposed that the guards should be divided into three parts, the Imperial City Guards and the Imperial City Guards, the Miyagi Guards and the Guards, and the Guards and Guards, and set up a guard of honor for the Golden Drum Banner used in the Imperial Palace.

The Imperial City Guards the Army, the Miyagi Guards the Army, the Escort Guards the Army, plus a Royal Guard of Honor. There is no commander of the pro-army, but a commander of each of the three guards and pro-army. All were directly under the direct command of the emperor.

The Imperial City Guards are responsible for guarding the Imperial City, and at the same time are responsible for preventing theft and fire from thieves. The palace guards guarded the Forbidden Palace. Responsible for inspecting the palace city, guarding the palace gate, miscellaneous servants and other duties, guarding the absolute tranquility of the palace ban.

The escort pro-army was responsible for escorting the left and right guards to protect the emperor's safety.

As for the number, there were 3,000 people in each pro-army and 1,000 honor guards, for a total of 10,000 horses.

"Brother Huang. Can these 10,000 guards be personally selected? Zhu Cihong asked.

"Of course, Your Majesty, it is their honor to be personally selected by Your Majesty to join the Guards."

"I'm going to pick from the Beiyang soldiers and horses on the outskirts of Beijing." Zhu Cihong said excitedly.

At this time, Zhou Yanru suddenly played and asked to guard the Beijing army outside the inner city. It was also separated from the Governor of Zhili and became an independent army. His reason was that the governor of Zhili had too many soldiers and horses, which was not conducive to mutual supervision.

After speaking, Zhou Yanru looked at Liu Jun with some pride.

"Your Majesty, the minister agrees with Elder Zhou Ge's proposal. You can integrate the soldiers and horses of the three towns of the Praetorian Guard battalion, cut off the old and weak, clear the vacancies, and then add some elites, replenish equipment, and form an army on its own. The minister thought that this department could be named the Praetorian Guard, and its commander could be called the Admiral, and the full name was the Admiral of the Nine Gates of the Inner City of the Beijing Division and the Seven Gates of the Outer City Guards. ”

"Its duties are to guard inside and outside the Beijing Division, inspect, gatekeeper, night patrol, ban, armor protection, arrest, etc."

Hearing that Liu Jun actually handed over the guards of the capital to this Praetorian Guard so happily, Zhou Yanru was a little surprised.

However, in this way, there will be nine towns in Gyeonggi, and there will be only six towns left in the future.

The guards were responsible for defending the inner and outer cities of the Beijing Division, and they were no longer under the command of the governor of Zhili, and the guards were directly under the command of the emperor, while the Janissaries belonged to the military department.

However, what Zhou Yanru didn't expect was that Liu Jun seemed to be a little crazy today.

After the defense of the Beijing division was drawn out, Liu Jun once again asked the emperor to see that the Beijing army was seriously empty, so he reorganized and cleaned up the two battalions of garrison and garrison, and the three towns of Changping, Tongzhou and Miyun were garrisoned, and each division was compressed and reorganized into 15,000 people from the three associations, and the three towns of Shanhai, Tianjin, and Baoding were also reformed from towns to divisions, with 15,000 people under their jurisdiction. ”

Even the Praetorian Guard only has the size of a town left, with a quota of 30,000.

As a result, in the entire Gyeonggi region, there were 10,000 guards and 30,000 Janissaries, and the garrison battalion was renamed the garrison with 45,000 men, and the garrison battalion was renamed the garrison army, with only 45,000 men in the three divisions.

The entire Gyeonggi region has only 130,000 soldiers and horses, and it is divided into three parts.

There were 10,000 guards directly under the emperor, 30,000 Praetorian Guards directly under the military department, and 60,000 garrisons and garrisons under the governor of Zhili.

It turned out to be 270,000 Gyeonggi soldiers and horses, but after the reorganization, there will be only 130,000 left, and this still includes Liu Jun's 30,000 Beiyang soldiers. This is equivalent to the original 270,000 soldiers and horses in the nine towns of Gyeonggi, and in the end only 100,000 can be retained.

Moreover, they must be recruited on the basis of merit, and if the conditions are not suitable, they will all be eliminated and recruited.

Even Chen Xinjia was shocked by Liu Jun's plan, other generals were afraid that they had few soldiers, and they would never dislike too many soldiers. Only Liu Jun, who originally had 270,000 soldiers in nine towns, plus 30,000 Beiyang soldiers, he had 300,000 horses. But he wanted to come with such a hammer, and as a result, only 130,000 were left from 300,000.

When everyone was amazed, Liu Zongzhou was the first to stand up and once again the first to support Liu Jun.

For this stubborn old man, he is not right for people, Liu Jun's plan, he feels that it is beneficial to the Ming court, so he naturally fully supports it.

If this plan is passed, then the imperial court's food and salary expenditure will be reduced a lot, and the number of soldiers will be sufficient. Especially after the Gyeonggi soldiers and horses were divided into these three parts, there was no need to worry about important ministers like Liu Jun controlling the Gyeonggi soldiers and horses.

The king of Liaodong is a real person, Liu Zongzhou sighed in his heart.

And Liu Jun also stated again that as long as the Gyeonggi soldiers and horses are rectified according to this plan, he is willing to be responsible for raising the military salaries of these 130,000 people and being responsible for the replacement of equipment for these 130,000 people.

On the same day, the order for the re-reorganization of the Beijing army had already passed through the entire set of procedures of the Ministry of War, the Cabinet and the Prime Minister's Office, the Department of Ceremonies and the Department of General Administration, and the Six Sections, and finally became a formal and effective order, which was issued to the three major battalions and nine town barracks in Gyeonggi.

As a result of this order, countless officials were dismissed, transferred, and demoted. The six internal and external governors, six governors, and six governors all received transfer orders.

At present, in the entire Beijing military system, only one governor of Zhili, one admiral of Jiumen, and three deputy generals are retained. In addition, the garrison and garrison armies have two general troops.

The original seven governors, now except for Liu Jun, who is also the governor of Shuntian, the other six governors have all been abolished, and the corresponding six governors have also been abolished.

At present, Zhili is a province, with only one governor and governor, and another governor, and the rest of the governors and governors are all abolished, reducing the overlap of powers.

The general army of the garrison and garrison towns was replaced by the original governor and the general army of the civil minister, but the command of the officers was highlighted.

It was also at this meeting that the governors and governors were formally established as official local officials, and no longer merely temporary officials. The governor is from the first product, and the governor is the second product.

Each undertaking announced the political envoy department, and the name was officially changed to the province.

Each province has a governor, and one or more provinces have a governor, for example, although an important province has only one province with a single governor, but the governor is also the governor, and there is no longer another governor.

Nanzhili is also formally set up as a province, divided into two, north of the Yangtze River set up Jiangbei Province, south of the Yangtze River set up Jiangnan Province, Jiangnan Jiangbei Province two provinces and Jiangxi Province three provinces set up three Jiang governors, each of the three provinces set up a governor.

Daming is officially divided into 21 provinces, Zhili, Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Liaodong, Liaoxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Jiangbei, Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and Guizhou.

On the basis of the original two capitals and thirteen provinces, Hubei Province was separated from Huguang Province, Taiwan Province was separated from Fujian Province, and Shaanxi Province was separated from Gansu Province.

Governors of Zhili, Shandong, Liaoxi, Liaodong, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sanjiang, Sichuan, Yunnan, Henan, Southeast, and Liangguang, and the twenty-one provinces were divided into twelve governors.

Under the 12 governors, each of the 21 provinces has only one governor and governor, and only one governor and governor have been set up in one province. (To be continued.) )