For the current Zhu Youzhen, the current Li Hongji is just an insignificant little person, and there is no need to spend too much time on him.

The conversation quickly turned to the current affairs of Yan'an Mansion.

"According to the household register, the population of Yan'an Mansion is about 600,000, but there are still many hidden populations, which are not on the official household register, and most of the gentry in the whole province have been defeated, and those who hide and avoid taxes will soon be re-registered, and the population of Yan'an Mansion is initially estimated to be about 800,000." Hong Chengchou said.

"Each township allocates the number of recruits according to the number of people, and there should be no problem in recruiting 30,000 recruits in the entire Yan'an Prefecture, right?" Zhu Youzhen asked.

Hong Chengchou nodded and said: "800,000 people, about 150,000 or 60,000 households, five households and one soldier naturally have no problem." In this way, the toughest young and strong people in northern Shaanxi are all wrapped in the army, and the others can't mess up anymore. ”

Zhu Youzhen sighed: "This place in northern Shaanxi is very barren, but the folk customs are very fierce. I recruited soldiers here because of the strong customs of the people, and because I paid salaries, I could also change the lives of many families. ”

The minimum salary of the Praetorian Guard soldiers is two taels per month, benefiting more than 100,000 people from 30,000 families, and this additional income will greatly improve the lives of the people in northern Shaanxi. Of course, it will also make hundreds of thousands of people from northern Shaanxi become hardcore supporters of his emperor. Since then, northern Shaanxi has never been in chaos again.

If there is no chaos in northern Shaanxi, there will not be much chaos in Guanzhong, and even if there are occasional rebellions of displaced people in other places, they can be easily pacified.

"It's just 30,000 recruits, and the weapons and armor alone will cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver." Zhu You sighed.

Hong Chengchou smiled and did not answer, he knew that the emperor was just habitually complaining. Just the Qin King of Guanzhong and the Rui King of Hanzhong cleared the fields, and cleared more than 2 million acres of fields, some of which were forcibly occupied by the Qin Wangfu and returned to the original owners. There is also a large part of the Qin Wangfu clan received contributions, for those who surrendered their fields to the vassal king in order to avoid taxes, Zhu Youzhen was not polite, but set up the imperial village, and turned those fields into royal private fields, it turned out that those people became royal hired farmers, and the income from the fields did not have to pay taxes to the government, but the tenant rent had to be handed over to the imperial village, which became the source of money and food for the Praetorian Guard.

In Guanzhong alone, the newly established Huangzhuang has a land rent of hundreds of thousands of stone grain a year. In the past, part of this money and food belonged to the clan to provide them with luxury, and the rest was embezzled by officials who were responsible for collecting rent for the clan.

Of course, Zhu Youzhen could only do this in Guanzhong, and the reason he used was to comfort the people of northern Shaanxi who had been suffering disasters for many years. As for the fields cleared by the vassal kings of other provinces, part of it was returned to the people, and some of it became official land, and the income from land rent went to the local government.

Of course, with the current system of the Ming Dynasty, it is impossible to put an end to land annexation, and if the rural reform is not carried out, it will not take many years for those official fields to be annexed by the local gentry into private land.

"Then pass down my will, and the counties and townships will begin to recruit soldiers, and these newly recruited soldiers will be trained by the townships for the time being, and the townships will be in charge, and then they will be assembled in Fushi County after winter, and Lu Xiangsheng will be fully responsible for the drills. I issued an order to collect muskets and artillery from the Royal Arsenal, and then purchase military resources such as swords, guns, uniforms, and armor from the provinces. Zhu Youzhen instructed, and Wang Chengen on the side hurriedly wrote down Zhu Youzhen's words.

"In one winter, the new army can almost train to look like it. If you use it for more than half a year, you should be able to have a certain amount of combat power. Zhu Youzhen sighed.

Hong Chengchou has now understood Zhu Youzhen's plan, and affirmed: "One year is enough to train an elite division, and it should be able to fight with Jiannu." ”

The 30,000 new troops in northern Shaanxi, plus the 10,000 veterans recruited in Gyeonggi and Henan provinces, had 50,000 elite soldiers and horses a year later, and they were elite soldiers equipped with a large number of firearms and food that had been trained for a long time! With such strength, he can already fight with Jiannu! Thinking about the situation a year later, Hong Chengchou was also very excited.

As a high-ranking official like the feudal official, Hong Chengchou naturally knows the current situation of the Ming army. The battle of Salhu and Hunhe caused serious losses to the elite of the Ming army, and the most elite armies, such as the elite Qijia army of the Zhejiang soldiers, and the elite white pole soldiers of the Sichuan soldiers, were all lost in the Hunhe battlefield.

The Qi family army no longer exists now, although the white pole soldiers still have veterans like Qin Liangyu who are loyal to the imperial court, but in the battle of the Hunhe River, the white pole soldiers lost thousands at once, and for the small number of stone pillars and toasts, it is definitely a nerve-wracking, and it is very difficult to recruit the white pole soldiers on a large scale.

At present, there are not many elites in the guest soldiers, as for the Datong Xuanfu and the border soldiers in Liaoxi, there are generals, serious corruption, and the combat effectiveness is very suspicious. There are nearly 100,000 troops in the entire western Liaoning, and the elite who can take out the field battle with Jiannu is probably less than 10,000.

The Praetorian Guard created by Zhu Youzhen has a completely different system from the Nine-Border Army, with strict training, sophisticated equipment, and high morale.

What's more, the number of this Praetorian Guard will reach as many as 50,000, and the combat strength of each soldier can be compared with the family members around the main general of the border army, and the total population of Jiannu is only hundreds of thousands, and the elite of the Eight Banners that can be taken out is not much more than this Praetorian Guard. 50,000 Praetorian Guards placed on the battlefield in Liaodong are definitely a powerful existence that can determine the outcome of the battlefield!

"Your Majesty, no matter what, the Praetorian Guard must be trained, as long as you can win the Jiannu, Your Majesty's plan can be carried out smoothly." Hong Chengchou said in high spirits.

What kind of plan is naturally to attack the gentry and change the status quo of the imperial power not going to the countryside. In Hong Chengchou's view, this is much more difficult than defeating Jiannu.

"Recruitment training must be carried out, the rural restructuring must be completed as soon as possible, and this winter, those township leaders should not be idle, let them organize the people in the townships to organize self-help, take advantage of the early winter to freeze, dig irrigation canals, build ponds and reservoirs, and then find carpenters to make irrigation waterwheels and overturns. Although the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi is full of ravines, there are also many rivers, make full use of the rivers for irrigation, increase grain production in the coming year, and strive to be self-sufficient. Zhu Youzhen commanded.

In fact, the loess is not too barren, and the grain produced in the fields is enough to feed the people of northern Shaanxi, but the government does not act, the gentry have seriously annexed the land, and the drought has suffered for several years, so that the displaced people are everywhere.

As long as we actively organize the fight against drought and disasters and help ourselves through production, there will be no problem in feeding the people of northern Shaanxi in the land of northern Shaanxi.

"Your Majesty, what about those county commanders? It's not a problem to keep them in the city of Fushi. Hong Chengchou asked suddenly.

There are nearly 100 high-level officials in the sixteen counties of the three prefectures of Yan'an Prefecture, the prefect, the Tongzhi, the county order, the county commander, the chief book, etc., and of course it is impossible to kill all of them all, so the officials in the world must be driven crazy. Killing hundreds of civil officials at once is really too crazy, and it will inevitably make the death of the officials in the world sad, which is not conducive to the great cause that Zhu Youzhen will carry out next.

The measures taken by Zhu Youzhen were that in the prefectures and counties under his jurisdiction where there were rebels by displaced people, the magistrates and county officials were all interrogated by Jinyiwei, and their words and deeds forced them to show evidence of corruption and bribery, and then, according to the laws of the Ming Dynasty, they should be executed and exiled. As for those prefectures and counties where there were no rebels against the displaced people in their territories, they opened the net and sent a decree ordering these officials to come to Fushi City to meet their drivers, and then they were detained in Fushi City to facilitate the rural restructuring of the prefectures and counties. As for the squires in the states and counties and the evil officials in the states and counties, what should be done, if they are not defeated, how can the countryside be reformed and divided into fields?

"What does Aiqing suggest?" Zhu Youzhen asked, Zhu Youzhen also had a headache for these officials who could not be killed.

"From the minister's point of view, Your Majesty might as well issue an order, in the name of preventing the rise of displaced people, to change Yan'an Mansion to Yansui Town, and turn it into a military town like Yulin Datong, and the people in Yan'an Mansion will all change from civilian households to military households, so that there is no need for civilian officials sent by the imperial court to control it. In the future, Yansui Town can be used as the garrison of the Praetorian Guard, and the Praetorian Guard is responsible for garrisoning. Hong Chengchou suggested.

Zhu Youzhen's eyes lit up: "This is a good idea, you can justifiably get these officials in Yan'an away, and let those people in the court have nothing to say." It's just that the cabinet may not agree easily. ”

Hong Chengchou smiled slightly: "What if you don't agree, Your Majesty will make a big deal." Anyway, now that the entire northern Shaanxi is controlled by the Praetorian Guard, what can those bigwigs in the DPRK and China do? ”

Zhu Youzhen also smiled, yes, anyway, northern Shaanxi is controlled by me, and those courtiers who love his mother and agree or not can't change this fact.

"It's just that Your Majesty has made such a big move this time, and those bigwigs in the court are afraid that they will feel uncomfortable, and they will try their best to urge Your Majesty to return to Beijing, and Your Majesty must be prepared." Hong Chengchou said with a smile.

Zhu Youzhen said with a smile: "Those people are afraid that it will not be enough for me to harm northern Shaanxi, and they will also do it in Guanzhong, or even in Shanxi, Henan, right?" ”

Hong Chengchou smiled and said, "Your Majesty Shengming." ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Hong Chengchou, and secretly said that in order to let me leave northern Shaanxi, didn't you also make a disaster to divert the exiled army to cross the Yellow River? I have long known what virtues you civil servants have.

"Your Majesty, is this candidate for the governor of Yansui Town?" Hong Chengchou asked with some expectation.

Zhu Youzhen said lightly: "Let Lu Xiangsheng take the role." As for Aiqing, it is better to stay by my side and give advice, and when I return to Beijing, I will promote Aiqing to the position of political envoy. ”

Hong Chengchou's face darkened, and he became excited again. The political envoy, the third product, the cashier's order, the understanding of the situation, the investigation of the official documents, the report of the Quartet subjects of the real feudal language, the appeal of the situation, the military situation, the disaster and other things. He is a high and powerful position, and belongs to one of the Great Nine Secretaries, and has always been only held by people who are deeply trusted by the emperor.

Hong Chengchou used to participate in politics from Sanpinzuo, and then as the governor of Yansui, which is equivalent to a deputy provincial official, but now although he has only been promoted by one level, he has jumped from the deputy provincial level to a senior official, which is definitely a flying promotion!