"General Liu has three contributions! First, he safely escorted the prince to Tianjin to board a ship and go to sea; second, he followed the emperor's order to eliminate Liu Zeqing who refused to come to the capital to defend the king; third, he defeated the bandits in Tongzhou and lifted the siege of the capital. His contribution is extremely great!"
"Moreover, Governor Liu is the nephew of Empress Xiaochun (the mother of Chongzhen) and the brother of Xinle Marquis Liu Wenbing. Although he does not have a title, he is also among the nobles."
"Therefore, I propose that the Left Commander Liu Wenyao be appointed as the Governor of the Beijing Camp."
"I second the motion!"
"I second this motion!"
Under the leadership of the cabinet, all civil and military officials in the court passed it almost unanimously.
But there are exceptions.
Right Censor-in-Chief Fang Kezhuang, Right Vice Minister of Punishments Zhang Xin, Imperial Censor of Military Affairs Zeng Yinglin, Imperial Censor of Military Affairs Chen Mingxia and others stood where they were, neither expressing their agreement nor their opposition.
Chongzhen looked at them quietly and guessed what these people were thinking.
Presumably these people were afraid of being punished, so they just sat there doing their job in the court.
Chongzhen sneered in his heart, knowing that the fox would reveal its tail sooner or later, and he just had to wait.
"Then let's do as you wish. Left Commander Liu Wenyao will concurrently serve as the Governor of the Beijing Camp."
Liu Wenyao did not refuse and immediately knelt down to accept the order: "Your Highness Liu Wenyao accepts the order and thanks you!"
"No need to bow! The job of the Governor of the Beijing Camp is not easy. We need to make sure that the soldiers of the Beijing Camp have the ability to fight against the elite of the enemy in the shortest possible time."
"I will obey your Majesty's will!"
"Since we have chosen a candidate for the governor of the Beijing camp, then Lord Li, please go ahead!" Chongzhen said with a calm expression.
Li Banghua came out again, clasped his hands and said: "The court has lost eight of the nine borders, and only Jizhou can be defended! The most urgent task is to deploy heavy troops in Jizhou to resist the bandits and the Jiannu."
As soon as Li Banghua finished speaking, Zeng Yinglin, the military official, could not help but ask, "Lord Li, we understand what you said, but where does the money come from? Where do the soldiers come from?"
"Although the Ministry of Revenue has received a lot of silver in the past few days, the frontier troops have not yet been paid, and the military pay in various places is also in deficit. Once all this money is spent, the money in the national treasury may not be enough, right?"
"Besides, there have been repeated mutinies in Jizhou, so we shouldn't station troops here!"
Zeng Yinglin thought what he said was well-founded, so his tone was very unfriendly.
In his opinion, the court now has only 10 million taels of silver. Among them, 2 million taels were dug out from behind the Yangxin Palace, several million taels were confiscated from the mansion of Duke Chengguo, and several million taels were robbed from the nobles who left Beijing. That's all!
Moreover, there had been two mutinies in Jizhou, so there were indeed reasons why it was not appropriate to continue stationing troops there.
Li Banghua sneered in his heart.
Although he didn't know how much money was in the treasury, the national treasury had more than 10 million taels of silver.
This money will definitely be enough.
In fact...the total amount of silver in the national treasury and the internal treasury has exceeded 20 million taels. If other property is converted into silver, the total amount is close to 30 million taels.
Moreover, the army of the Nine Frontiers had already lost eight of them. Unless those soldiers surrendered, the previously overdue salaries would not have to be paid.
Wu Sangui owed less than 1.5 million taels of silver, which was a lot, but not much either.
And how much does it cost to recruit new soldiers?
The money the court gave to soldiers mainly included two items: monthly rations and travel rations.
Monthly ration\u003dsalary.
Travel allowance = travel allowance.
The frontier troops were given rations only when they were 40 miles away from the city, while the officers and soldiers in the hinterland of the military garrison were not given rations because the officers and soldiers in the hinterland were not on a business trip, so they would not be given travel rations.
Even if the soldiers recruited by Jizhou were paid two taels of silver per person per month, 30,000 soldiers would only cost 720,000 taels of silver per year.
Compared with Liaodong, this money is nothing.
Li Banghua narrowed his eyes and said leisurely, "Don't worry about the money, Master Zeng. The treasury not only has a lot of silver in it. I have also considered the issue of military resources. There are three sources!"
"First, recruit the local people of Jizhou! Second, transfer the garrison troops of Gao Di, the general of Shanhaiguan; third, the Guanning Army of Wang Yongji, the governor of Ji and Liao."
"As for the repeated mutinies in Jizhou that you mentioned, those were all man-made disasters and had nothing to do with Jizhou."
The court was so quiet that it was eerie.
Li Banghua was too bold. Not to mention his strategy for recruiting soldiers, his remarks about the Jizhou mutiny touched the sore spot of the imperial court and the emperor.
How dare he?
After everyone looked at each other, their eyes finally fell on Chongzhen.
Chongzhen sat on the dragon throne with a calm expression and began to recall history.
Jizhou Mutiny...
This is an event that history books are reluctant to record. From then on, the Ming army began to decline.
The Jizhou Rebellion had a profound impact on the Ming Dynasty!
The first Jizhou mutiny was in the 23rd year of Wanli's reign. The Ming History records that more than 2,000 Qi's soldiers were dissatisfied with their food and wages and were killed in the mutiny. The second was during the Jisi Rebellion, when 100,000 troops stationed on the Ji-Mi-Yong defense line surrendered to the Jiannu as a whole.
The first mutiny was not caused by Qi's army being dissatisfied with food and wages, but was actually a continuation of the internal struggle within the court.
In the 20th year of the Wanli reign, Wu Weizhong, then commander of the Qi family army, was ordered to lead his troops into Korea to fight against the Japanese invaders. During the siege of Pyongyang, the imperial court promised a reward of 5,000 taels of silver to the first person to capture the city wall of Pyongyang, which is recorded in the annals of Korean history and the history of Ming Dynasty.
However, the Qi family army, which was the first to enter the city, not only did not receive the reward silver, but was also owed wages. When the Qi family army failed to collect the wages, they were lured and killed by Wang Bao, who accused them of "mutiny". Wu Weizhong was then dismissed and the Qi family army was sent back to their hometown.
Did Qi's army really mutiniate?
Of course not!
The root cause is the evil consequences brought about by party struggles.
Because Qi Jiguang was trusted by Emperor Wanli and Zhang Juzheng, and because the Qi Family Army was victorious in every battle, its status continued to rise and it became a model army for the Ming Army. This caused dissatisfaction among other armies, especially the Liaodong Army.
After Zhang Juzheng fell, Qi Jiguang, who was attached to Zhang Juzheng, was also liquidated. The factional struggles during the Wanli period had neither restraint nor bottom line. As a follower of Zhang Juzheng, Qi Jiguang had to be liquidated regardless of his ability. The southern soldiers forged by Qi Jiguang also suffered the same fate.
So...Qi's army was forced to end.
The Qi Family Army, famous for its strict military discipline and undefeated record, was brutally massacred by friendly forces, which chilled the hearts of many people!
As for the second Jizhou mutiny, it was because the imperial court was short of money. Chongzhen insisted on cutting down the new troops in Jizhou, Miyun and Yongzhen (those who are interested can check it out, this was one of Chongzhen's classic operations to dig his own grave). Some of the eliminated soldiers plotted rebellion and took the opportunity to surrender to the enemy when the Eight Banners invaded Jizhou.
Li Banghua attributed both incidents to man-made disasters, which shows how bold he is.
"Your Majesty, the Chief Minister of the Cabinet, Li Banghua, spoke nonsense and insinuated Your Majesty in the court. He should be punished!" Seeing Chongzhen remain silent, Zhang Xin, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, jumped out immediately.
Kill him when he is ill! This is Zhang Xin's experience as an official over the years!
Even if Li Banghua cannot be defeated, a seed of hatred must be planted in the emperor's heart.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
