Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 428: Gui'an Hou

On the third day of June, battle reports came from the southern Anhui front. The 46th Army led by Deng Shunxing and Qin Rong finally captured the entire Jiande Road on the first day of June.

They attacked eastwards along the Xin'an River, and after successively conquering the four cities of Chun'an, Su'an, Shouchang and Jiande, they were left with no soldiers or generals. The two counties of Fenshui and Tonglu were caught in the pincer attack by Deng Shunxing and the three-front army, so they simply opened the city and surrendered.

At this point, all six cities in Jiande Road were captured, and the Battle of Southern Anhui was also over. Deng Shunxing and his men also captured more than 10,000 Yuan army prisoners of war from Jiande Road. While reporting the victory to the commander's office, they also sent a letter asking Lu Jin how to deal with these prisoners of war.

Now the establishment of the five fronts is already full, and it is no longer the time to expand the army at will. The problem is how to deal with the captured soldiers and surrendered generals.

Lu Jin looked at Zhan Ding who came to deliver the report and asked, "How many Yuan army prisoners were captured in the Southern Anhui Campaign?"

Zhan Ding immediately said, "In She County on Huizhou Road, 15,000 people were arrested, in Jiande Road, 12,000 people were arrested, and in the area from Guichi to Hukou along the river, more than 10,000 people were arrested, a total of about 40,000 people."

Lu Jin thought for a moment and said, "Forty thousand people is just enough to form three divisions."

"Yes, then do we need to expand a few more divisions? But we don't have any organization now, so we can't continue to expand the front, right?" Zhan Ding asked curiously.

Lu Jin shook his head. "We don't lack soldiers for the time being, but aren't we planning to build five new cities on the Central Plains battlefield? Luzhou already has two garrison divisions, and now we need three more. So we can use these prisoners.

"Inform Chang Yuchun and the training officers of the Fifth Front Army to ask the captured prisoners how many of them have little or no land and want to be divided into fields. Those who are willing to continue to serve in the army will be given 50 mu of land each, but they will all be relocated to the Central Plains. Those who have land in Jiande Road or Huizhou Road will be sent home.

"If the final number of people is not enough to form three divisions, then let the local officials recruit the landless poor people from the local area to gather a total of three divisions of troops, and form three new garrison divisions and send them to Luzhou to prepare for the Central Plains Campaign. Let them move there to build cities and cultivate land. They will be tax-free for four years, but they will need to help the government defend the city and transport grain. Their numbers will be from the garrison troops."

"Yes, the surrendered officer?" Zhan Ding asked while taking notes.

"Throw it to the Tuntian Division and we'll see what to do with it later." Lu Jin said immediately.

"Yes, my lord, is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Hmm," Lu Jin thought for a moment and said again.

"Today is the third day of June. Send a message to Chang Yuchun and Yang Jing, giving them half a month to rest and prepare. The Jinqu Campaign must be launched on June 20th.

"Chang Yuchun must gather at least three armies to attack Quzhou, and Yang Jing must gather at least two armies to attack Wuzhou. Before the end of July, we must capture both Wuzhou and Quzhou to eliminate the worries of attacking Jiangxi. That's it."

"Yes." After drafting the order, Zhan Ding showed it to Lu Jin, then signed and stamped it. The order was immediately issued by the messenger.

However, what Lu Jin didn't know was that there was another thing sent out along with the order.

After Lu Jin was determined to become king, Feng Guoyong and Li Shanchang began to make secret arrangements. They each privately mobilized officials from both the civil and military systems, and told them to write a petition to persuade the general to ascend the throne.
Of course, this matter cannot be ordered in official documents, it can only be discussed verbally and privately, and it is the kind of thing that can only be understood but not expressed in words.

Therefore, Feng Guoyong and Li Shanchang arranged for several clerks. Whenever someone came to deliver official documents to the Marshal's Mansion, they would always rest in Jiankang. Then they would let the clerks in the Marshal's Mansion entertain them, brief them, tell them that Lu Jin was going to be promoted to the king, and ask them to tell their superiors when they returned and write a letter of persuasion.
Then the news spread to the ears of county magistrates, prefects, and generals stationed in various places at an outrageous speed. Then these people began to scratch their heads and write petitions to persuade the emperor to ascend the throne. It was really out of the ordinary.

However, after this news spread, generals and local officials from all over the country were also very happy. Their commander-in-chief had finally made another step forward. Then when he ascended the throne in the future, they would all be meritorious officials of the new dynasty. How could they not be happy?

In addition, the betrothal gifts that Lu Jin was going to give to the families of the two concubines were also sent out, and the candidates had already been decided: Ma Xiuying and Fan Qiuchan.

The betrothal gifts were sent directly to Lao Guo's wife, Zhang, in Jiankang City. This time, there was no need to travel far. They only needed to send a letter to Guo Zixing at the front line in Wuzhou to tell him about it.

Ever since Guo Zixing came to Lu Jin, he had the plan of forming an alliance with her by marriage. However, Lu Jin had just gotten married at that time, so he was too embarrassed to say it. However, he sent his two daughters to Lu Jin early on, waiting for Lu Jin to choose one. If that didn't work out, he could just take both.

When the letter was delivered to Guo Zixing, he was surprised and happy at once, because when fighting in Anqing before, Guo Zixing was not active enough, and then was ignored by Lu Jin, who almost hid Guo. He had been very worried since then.

Fortunately, when crossing the river later, because the army expanded too quickly and there were not enough generals, Lu Jin re-employed Guo Zixing and promoted him to participate in the Eastern Expedition. This time, Guo Zixing did not dare to slack off and fought well. However, Lu Jin did not make any move as to the two girls who stayed with him, and no one knew what it meant.

In fact, Lu Jin just thought at that time that it would be best to have another child with Zhang Yunxiu first. After having two legitimate sons and making the status of the wife and legitimate sons completely stable, he could then allow the birth of illegitimate sons to be avoided, so as to avoid trouble in the future due to the fight for the throne.

But Guo Zixing didn't know this and thought that Lu Jin didn't like it. He was struggling over whether to let his two daughters marry other generals when Lu Jin's betrothal gift arrived.

What he didn't expect was that Lu Jin actually chose his adopted daughter Ma Xiuying instead of his biological daughter Guo Huirong. This made Old Guo a little disappointed, but it was okay. After all, he was married to Lu Jin, and they would be a family from now on. He no longer had to worry all day long, fearing that Lu Jin would hide the Guo brothers.

Coincidentally, at this time, news came that Lu Jin was going to become king. Old Guo was immediately happier. This adopted daughter was not raised in vain. Now she was a concubine. When Lu Jin ascended the throne in the future, she would at least be a noble concubine.

But after being happy, Guo Zixing calmed down. In fact, Guo Zixing was a shrewd man. He felt that Lu Jin had been suppressing and guarding against them because the Guo family was too powerful in the army and did not dare to use them freely.

This was indeed the case. Guo Zixing was the commander of the 8th regiment of the Shengwu Army, and his number was very high. In addition, there were five generals in their group, including Guo Zixing, his three sons Guo Tianyou, Guo Tianxu, Guo Tianjue, and his brother-in-law Zhang Tianyou. Although they were placed in different fronts by Lu Jin, there were still too many of them, more than the Liao and Yu families of Chaohu, and they had become a big mountain in the army.

So after receiving the news that Lu Jin was about to become king and was going to marry an adopted daughter, Guo Zixing immediately made a bold decision. He resigned from Lu Jin on the grounds of old age and begged to be allowed to resign from his military post and go to Jiankang to retire.

Only after he, the person with the highest position in the Guo family, retires, can Lu Jin use the younger generations with confidence. If he retires early, his sons can get better development.

The result was exactly as Guo Zixing had expected. After his letter of resignation was delivered to the commander's mansion, Lu Jin agreed almost immediately and conferred the title of Marquis of Gui'an on Guo Zixing. After receiving the reply and the dismissal order, Guo Zixing immediately understood what Lu Jin meant.

Gui'an is a county in Huzhou Prefecture. It was also a city captured by the Southern Army during the Eastern Expedition. Guo Zixing happened to participate in that battle, so he was named Marquis of Gui'an, which was well deserved.

The most crucial point is that Huzhou Prefecture has two counties under its jurisdiction, Wucheng and Gui'an. Since they are both Huzhou, why was Lu Jin granted the title of Gui'an instead of Wucheng?
Because Gui'an County was established in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, when the Northern Song Dynasty had not yet unified the south, the King of Wuyue, Qian Liu, took the initiative to submit to the Northern Song Dynasty, which made Zhao Kuangyin very happy. In addition, Wucheng County in Huzhou was too large at that time, and the local transport envoy said it was inconvenient to manage and it would be best to split it into a county. So Zhao Kuangyin was grateful to Qian Liu for his initiative to submit, and named the new county separated from Wucheng Gui'an.

After understanding this allusion, the significance of the title of Gui'an Marquis conferred upon Lu Jin becomes self-evident.

This compares Guo Zixing to Qian Liu. Since you can take the initiative to surrender, I can ensure your safety. Gui'an, Gui'an, this is exactly what it means, Guo Zixing thought to himself. Lu Jin was still worried about him.

But now it's good, I have long been awarded the title of the first marquis of the Shengwu Army, and can return to Jiankang to retire.
As for the other concubine, Fan Qiuchan, she was the cousin of Fang Guozhen's wife, Dai. Her hometown was in Taizhou, which was the territory of the Yuan court, so there was no way to send a betrothal gift directly to her family. So Lu Jin asked someone to send the betrothal gift to Zhoushan and asked Fang Guozhen to hand it over to Fan from Taizhou. If Fan wanted to come to Jiankang, she could just let Fang Guozhen arrange it. If she didn't want to come, that was fine too. Lu Jin didn't care anyway. When the time came to get married, Fang Guozhen's wife Dai could come forward to be the bride's family.

This operation was also to appease Fang Guozhen. Lu Jin took his wife's cousin as a concubine. Now he and Lu Jin were half brothers-in-law.
There were intentions of marriage alliances between the two concubines, but there was no way around it. When it came to Lu Jin's position, it was like the emperor had no family affairs, and marrying or not marrying someone had political significance.

After arranging the matters of the two concubines, the Marshal's Mansion was also preparing for Lu Jin to become king. Of course, becoming king was actually the simplest thing. Although the sacrifices were a bit troublesome, one day was enough. Lu Jin did not have to worry about the preparations and could just hand it over to Tao An from the Etiquette Department.

The thing that Lu Jin really needs to worry about, and the most important thing, is actually institutional reform.

Lu Jin abolished the system of three provinces and six ministries and replaced it with a cabinet and two houses. How should the powers be divided in the future? How much power should the prime minister have? What should the rank of officials be?

The Ministry of War was split into five headquarters of the Privy Council. The original six ministries are now reduced to five. What should be done with them? Everyone needs to hold a meeting to discuss.

On June 15, Lu Jin personally summoned all the heads of various departments in Jiankang to hold this institutional reform meeting.

In the central hall of the Marshal's Mansion, the meeting started, and Lu Jin spoke first, "The Secretariat will be changed to the Cabinet, the Military Academy will be changed to the Privy Council, the Civil Academy will be changed to the Administrative Council, the original departments of the Civil and Military Academy will be changed to ministries, and the heads of the departments will all be changed to ministers of the respective ministries. This has been decided long ago.

"Let's talk about the Privy Council first. The Privy Council's affairs are relatively simple, so Mr. Feng will speak first."

"Yes." Feng Guoyong immediately stood up and said with an organizational chart.

"The Military Academy will be renamed the Privy Council from now on, and the former Military and Political Department will be renamed the General Political Department from now on, which will be responsible for the military registration, conscription, retirement, establishment, transfer of officers, local mobilization, and military training of young people of appropriate age;
"The former Military Command Department will be renamed the General Staff Headquarters in the future, responsible for the training of the entire army, the compilation of training outlines and teaching materials, military education, intelligence collection, campaign planning, and the updating of tactics.
"The former Logistics Department will be renamed the General Logistics Department in the future, which will be responsible for the military's material reserves, military pay distribution, warehouse management, material transportation and other matters;
“The former Armaments Department will be renamed the General Armaments Department in the future, which will be responsible for the military’s armament manufacturing, equipment research and development, and military technology research institutes;

“The former Military Education Department will be renamed the General Propaganda Department, which will be in charge of the military art troupes, political education, and military newspapers;
“The original Office of the Attendants remains unchanged, serving as the secretariat of the Privy Council, receiving and sending various military documents of the Privy Council to Your Highness, who will then approve them and forward them to the various departments of the Privy Council for execution.

"The former heads of the various departments of the Military Academy will all be renamed as ministers of the Privy Council from now on. Currently, only the General Armament Department remains vacant."

After Feng Guoyong finished introducing the situation, Lu Jin took the initiative to explain.

"There is no suitable candidate for the general assembly at the moment. I will wait until I find a suitable candidate. If anyone has any questions about other aspects, please ask them now."

Qin Conglong immediately raised his hand and said, "Your Highness, I understand the General Political Department, military registration, organization, conscription, retirement, and officer transfers, but what do local mobilization and military training for young people of appropriate age mean?"

Lu Jin heard this and explained, "Local mobilization means that while the country maintains its standing troops, it must also establish a local mobilization mechanism. In normal times, it only maintains a certain number of standing troops to save military expenditures. But when it comes time to use troops to fight a major war or a national war, it must be able to quickly mobilize hundreds or even thousands of divisions."

hiss--

Everyone gasped when they heard this. My goodness, a division has 13500 people. Hundreds of divisions, that would be millions of troops? Who would they use them to fight?
Without waiting for anyone to ask, Lu Jin took the initiative to explain, "We may not need hundreds of divisions, but the country must have this capability to ensure national security. Even if hostile forces like Liao, Jin, and Yuan come together, we can handle it and win!

“The specific mobilization methods include maintaining the organizational structure and training of the internal security forces in various places, and in the future, all students enrolled in the country will also have to participate in military training.

"Scholars must participate in agricultural training. Those who have never done farm work, those who do not know the difference between the five kinds of grains and those who are lazy, and those who look at the leaves growing on the trees and say there is no drought, will all fail. The Internal Guard will organize and assess them. Those who fail the assessment once will not be allowed to participate in the provincial examination. Those who fail the assessment three times will be directly expelled from the school.

"Juniors must participate in military training and master the most basic military skills. They must be able to write articles and kill enemies with a musket. At the very least, they should know a lot about military affairs. In the future, when a war breaks out, they cannot expect civil officials to help them, but at least they should not cause trouble for military generals. The organization and assessment of military training will also be organized by the local internal guards. If you fail once, you will not be allowed to take the Jinshi examination. If you fail twice, your student status will be revoked.

"Jinshi candidates must participate in industrial training, choosing between carpentry and ironwork. The court will then organize them to go to designated factories for internship. At least these Jinshi candidates should know the hard work of craftsmen and how things are made. They should not be ignorant of new things that will appear in the future. How can they be officials and do things if they are ignorant?"

Wow! Everyone looked at each other when they heard this. Now the power of the Privy Council is extremely great. In the past, the Song Dynasty used civil officials to control military officials, but now military officials can also manage the academic records of civil officials.
(End of this chapter)