The first wind and rain drifted away

At the beginning of September, Ni Jiansheng, the household servant who was responsible for inspecting the empty salary on the front line of Jiliao Guanning, returned to the capital.

At noon the next day, he would meet with Emperor Chongzhen with Bi Ziyan, the secretary of the household department, and Sun Chengzong, the secretary of the military department, to report on the actual personnel of the towns on the nine sides.

With the vigorous military reform, Sun Chengzong led the military department, the household department and the governor's office of the five armies to conduct a comprehensive inventory of the actual personnel and soldiers on the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty.

The nine borders of the Ming Dynasty refer to the nine important military towns located on the northern border of Liaodong, Jizhou, Xuanfu, Datong, Taiyuan, Guyuan, Yansui, Ningxia and Gansu.

Each town has a general military officer to command the military forces in the area, and there is a governor to assist him, in addition to the eunuch of the imperial horse prison as the supervisor of the army.

Later, with the rise of Jiannu, Shanhai Town was separated from Jizhou Town, and Lintao Town was separated from Guyuan Town, in addition to some towns that were established for a period of time and then revoked.

In short, when it came to the actual border towns in the Chongzhen period, there were eleven in total.

But the name of the nine sides has continued and has not changed.

The soldiers of the towns on the nine sides, with the abolition of the guards, basically recruited soldiers, and there were also a small number of guards, but most of them were useless.

Especially more than two months ago, Emperor Chongzhen abolished the national guard system and changed all of them to a conscription system, and the guard system completely stepped out of the historical stage.

It should be said that this is a win-win result for the Ming court and the guards.

The guard system founded by Taizu Zhu Boss when he founded the country, and the guards were not paid silver at the beginning.

Because they were given land, they were hereditary military households, and it was their duty to be soldiers and fight.

Therefore, there is Boss Zhu's bold remark that he will raise millions of soldiers without spending a single grain or salary.

It's just that any system, with the passage of time, always has its shortcomings.

If you become a soldier, you can't leave the country, and you have been in the army for generations, and Boss Zhu has arranged the fate of those who have not yet been born for a lifetime.

This is very inhumane, and of course many people disagree.

Thus, deserters appeared.

Especially after Wanli, the guard post became increasingly abandoned, and the combat effectiveness of the guard soldiers also seriously declined.

In particular, the border passes are in difficulty, and military households are constantly fleeing.

As a result, there was a serious shortage of soldiers in the border towns, and they had to pay military salaries to encourage military households to join the army, and at the same time recruit strong soldiers who dared to fight.

It's just that although the guards are paid, they are much lower than those recruited.

According to the system, the guards have one or five cents of silver per month, but everyone understands that less than one or two of what they get in their hands are deducted from each other.

And this is not guaranteed to be paid on time every month.

It is very common to be in arrears for half a year, a year, or even three or five years.

There's no way to live.

If you can't live life, you have to stay up first, and if you can't stay up, you will run, this is human nature.

Those who can run are happy, and there is also the bitterness of running even if they want to.

What to do?

Cold!

I can only linger and wait for death!

Therefore, when Emperor Chongzhen ordered the abolition of the guard system, all the guards in the world were overjoyed and sincerely thanked the emperor for his grace.

In a popular phrase, they can choose their own careers.

And the imperial court also saved a lot of expenses.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty was too big and too wide, some of the guards fled, some became peasants, and some got used to holding the hilt.

The first two types of people don't have to be ignored, and the third kind of people can be turned into recruiting troops under the will of Emperor Chongzhen.

In this way, everyone is happy.

Eliminate the guards, that is, to count the number of actual soldiers at the border passes, so that Emperor Chongzhen can understand the power in his hands and carry out military reform in a targeted manner.

According to the statistics of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Households, as well as Ni Jiansheng's on-site cleanup, they handed in a detailed note.

Among them, Liaodong Town has the most people, with 85,000 people reported, Shanhai Town 55,000 people, and Jizhen 40,000 people......

The total number of people in the nine sides of the Ming Dynasty is 360,000, which is a full 210,000 fewer than the original household roster.

Regarding this number, Emperor Chongzhen had mixed feelings and did not know how to describe it.

It should be said that the work of Ni Jiansheng and the Ministry of War, Emperor Chongzhen expressed his affirmation, squeezing out almost half of the water, which is worthy of praise.

But he also believes that the people and horses in the towns of the Nine Sides are like sponges soaking in water, even if they squeeze hard, there is still some moisture.

The governors and general soldiers of the border towns are used to eating empty salaries, and they will definitely not report it completely and truthfully.

Once you are used to eating meat, it is difficult to be vegetarian.

Of course, there is no way around it.

To tell the truth, Emperor Chongzhen can tolerate a moderate amount of empty salary, as long as they dare to kill the enemy desperately.

But that's not realistic.

360,000 horses seem to be a lot, but there are not only the number of people but also the water, and Emperor Chongzhen can be sure that there are many people who cannot fight for various reasons.

Coupled with other factors such as the lack of armaments and low morale, Emperor Chongzhen shook his head sadly.

It is no wonder that in history, the Ming Dynasty has always lost more than the victory against Shangjiannu, and it is difficult to have a big victory.

Later, the generals were even more afraid of the battle, and they were about to collapse at the first touch.

It is really these generals who lead the troops, who know their own family affairs, and take the troops on paper or those who have no combat effectiveness to face a well-trained enemy, how can they have the confidence?

"A few Aiqing have worked hard, and I am both happy and worried when I look at these numbers."

Emperor Chongzhen put down the music in his hand, shook his head and smiled bitterly at Sun Chengzong, Bi Ziyan and Ni Jiansheng, and said lonely:

"Happily, this report has finally squeezed out a lot of empty salary, which can save some silver for the imperial court, and can also be used to re-recruit new troops.

The worry is that my Daming border pass is known as a million army, but now it is rotten to the bones, with less than 400,000 people, how to defend thousands of miles of defense line?

Against the Tartars, against the Jiannu, how can I ensure victory?

It's no wonder that the Tartars can easily tear open the border pass of the Ming Dynasty, and they have won the Ming Dynasty many times, and there is a reason for it! ”

From these figures, Emperor Chongzhen finally understood the reason for Liaodong's repeated defeats.

"Your Majesty, Liaodong has entered winter, and the New Year is approaching, and the minister feels that some arrears are really not suitable for a long time.

Today, the number of soldiers reported by the nine sides is much better than in the past.

According to what the ministers knew during the investigation of Jiliao, at least the situation in Liaodong Town was basically true. There may be differences during the period, but they are all within a tolerable range.

If there is chaos today, it is not appropriate to pursue some small sections too much, and I hope that the emperor will be clear.

Another minister observed that the winter clothes of the soldiers in Liaodong were obviously insufficient, and he hoped that the emperor could make proper arrangements! ”

Ni Jiansheng peeked at Emperor Chongzhen's sad face, but he still gritted his teeth and said.

There is really no way, it is not easy to know the emperor, but it is not easy for the Liaodong soldiers, especially the soldiers below.

Liaodong is a bitter cold place, in winter, heavy snow falls, extremely cold.

Many soldiers do not have winter clothes to protect themselves from the cold, and many die of frostbite every year.

This time he passed, and the soldiers below reported the matter to him, and he promised the court to try to find a way.

But he is a waiter in the household department, and he knows the situation of the household department, so in desperation, he can only keep an eye on the inner library.

I only hope that the emperor can have a way to solve the problem of the soldiers in Liaodong.

In fact, is there only the bitter cold of Liaodong?

PS: Thank you for the sad Ergouzi and Zhongli for the cold night reward, and I am grateful for your kindness!