Yongli Ming Dynasty

Chapter 226 Military Power
In the lobby, Shi Fu and others realized that advancing into Hangzhou would most likely lead to a decisive battle between the two sides, and their faces became solemn.
Shi Fu and the others looked at Jiao Lian, who had a serious expression on his face, and understood the attitude of His Royal Highness the Regent.
Su Guansheng and Jiao Lian, one a civil official and the other a military official, gave different reasons, but without exception they all opposed the advance. This also confirms the attitude of His Highness the Regent. I'm afraid His Highness the Regent is unwilling to advance at this time.

Everyone guessed the attitude of His Royal Highness the Regent, but they were also somewhat surprised. The reason why the officials of Fujian Province agreed to march was because everyone guessed that His Royal Highness the Regent should also be in favor of marching.

Which emperor doesn't want to conquer cities, recover old territories, and publicize his own military achievements!

In the previous dynasty, Emperor Longwu issued several imperial edicts, forcing the Fujian army to march east and north. At this time, the situation in Zhejiang Province was very good. It was obviously a good opportunity to recover the lost territory. However, Gui Regent was not moved at all, which was really puzzling.
If you say His Royal Highness the Regent is timid, it doesn't seem like that. This prince dared to lead his troops to fight a thousand miles to the Qing army. He is definitely not the kind of person who fears war.
The officials of Fujian Province were confused about Gui's intentions and remained silent.
The officials from Fujian Province were silent, while the officials from Guangdong Province had already agreed with Zhu Lang.

Lu Daqi glanced at the officials from Fujian Province in the hall and felt that the time was almost right. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"Mr. Zhang and the generals of Fujian Province are well aware of the situation in Fujian Province. Although we have won a great victory over the Qing invaders in Fujian Province, they are still powerful and should not be underestimated."

"Besides, we ministers in the country should not only look outward, but also look inward. Fujian Province has just been restored, and the people in the province are still unsettled. We need to send people to restore order in various places. If the army is sent out at this time, there is no guarantee that there will not be turmoil again."

"Moreover, the internal worries of the court are not limited to Fujian Province. Since Governor-General He Tengjiao took over Huguang, Huguang has lost contact with the court for a long time. Huguang is located in Hunan and Chu, and controls the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It is an important place in the world, and we must not let it wander around anymore."

At this point, Lu Daqi suddenly stood up, bowed to His Royal Highness the Regent, and said:

"I think that the imperial court should temporarily stop the war and return to Guangdong. Returning to the imperial court at this time can, on the one hand, allow the army to rest and recuperate, and on the other hand, take advantage of this great victory to resume the pastoral rule over Huguang."

Shi Fu, Huang Ting, Shi Lang and others below were all confused when they heard Lu Daqi suddenly mention Huguang. They didn't know the direction of the discussion and why it suddenly turned from Zhejiang Province to Huguang.
However, Zhang Kentang, Xu Fuyuan, Zheng Hongkui and other people who knew the situation in Huguang understood the intention of the court in an instant.
During the Longwu Dynasty, Huguang was already in a state of being too big to be controlled. Because it was thousands of miles away from Fujian Province and there were wars everywhere, the court had long lost the ability to control Huguang and could only let Governor He Tengjiao do what he wanted.

After He Tengjiao took office as the Governor-General of Huguang, he appointed all the governors, prefects, county magistrates, and local generals by himself. He was not a governor at all, but the emperor of Huguang Province.
It is clear that Gui Jianguo is not prepared to let Huguang continue like this. In the eyes of Gui Jianguo and others, instead of taking the risk of marching into Zhejiang Province and storing a large number of troops in Hangzhou to fight against the Qing invaders, it is better to hold the current front line and withdraw troops to pacify Huguang first. This will be more beneficial to the court.
In fact, this was indeed a more favorable choice for the court. Zhang Kentang and even Lu Daqi did not understand Zhu Lang's real purpose of withdrawing his troops at this time. However, even if it was just the reason Zhu Lang put on the table, that is, to conquer Huguang first, it was enough for Lu Daqi and others to agree.

Huguang is called one province, but in fact it includes the two provinces of Hunan and Hubei in later generations. Although the land of Hubei Province has been basically lost, the territory in the hands of He Tengjiao is still vast.
The entire Hunan Province is still basically in the hands of He Tengjiao. Compared with sending out a large army to capture half of Zhejiang Province and then confront the Qing army, it is obviously easier to march westward and deal with He Tengjiao, who is nominally a minister of the Ming Dynasty.

The imperial court could annihilate the main force of the Qing army at this time, let alone deal with the old Ming soldiers in Huguang.

Once He Tengjiao is dealt with, the imperial court will be able to control a province again, and can even connect Guizhou Province and Sichuan through Hunan Province. This is obviously of greater significance to the imperial court.
"To fight against foreign aggression, we must first stabilize the country. I think this suggestion from Lord Lu is very good. What do you think?"

"Your Highness is wise and wise, and we obey your orders."

Although Zhang Kentang was unwilling to do so, he realized that it would be more important for the court to restore control over Huguang than simply occupy Hangzhou, so he did not hesitate and accepted the order.

When Shi Fu and the others saw Zhang Kentang's agreement, they also thought about it, and then they all stood up and responded.
In fact, this was not their choice at all. With Zhu Lang's clear statement, who would dare to oppose the will of His Royal Highness the Regent and the central government officials?
Zhu Lang decided to maintain the Fujian front and return to the capital. A hint of satisfaction flashed in his eyes. He looked at the people below and said without hesitation.

"Now that this matter has been decided, the next thing to discuss is the defense of Fujian Province."

"The imperial court has previously sent people to inform the various armies in Fujian and count the actual number of troops in each army. How are your statistics going?"

Shi Fu and the others below immediately became nervous when they heard this. Previously, whether to fight or defend was still the general direction of the court and had little to do with them, but now the deployment of defense and the statistics of the number of soldiers were closely related to them.

Shi Fu, Huang Ting and others looked at each other below. After a moment of silence, each family finally reported their own statistics of the number of soldiers.

The Ming army has always had a tradition of falsely reporting the number of soldiers and collecting empty salaries. It was fine before, but now that these people have joined the court, Zhu Lang will naturally not let them collect empty salaries. This is all his money.

Shi Fu reported 18,000 men, but the actual number was 15,000. Zheng Hongkui and his family had 10,000 soldiers, but the actual number was 10,000. Huang Ting's navy had 8,000 soldiers, but the actual number was 5,000.

The Huang Ting Navy had the highest proportion of false reporting. Zhu Lang required that the soldiers counted must be combat-ready soldiers, and the navy also had the most cases of using family members to impersonate soldiers.

In fact, these family members not only assumed the quota of leading troops, but also often lived on the ship with the naval soldiers, eating and living together and even going to war together. This can be regarded as a major feature of the Fujian Navy at that time.
Zhu Lang listened to what everyone said, thought for a moment, and then spoke

"You are all heroes who restored Fujian Province, and you must be loyal ministers of the court. Now that you have been clearly counted, the court will pay you according to this number of soldiers."

Shi Fu and the others below were relieved to hear that His Royal Highness the Regent had not taken the opportunity to reduce their troops. But before they could relax, Zhu Lang spoke again.

"There are just two things I need to clarify with you all."

"First, the future military pay and food will be provided by the court, but the court also needs real soldiers and real pay. The court will pay one person for every one they have. The court's situation is different from before, and it can no longer afford the empty pay it once did."

"Secondly, in order to ensure the first point, each military supply in Fujian Province will send a military supervisor, and the imperial court's food and wages will be received by the military supervisor and then sent to the army. Do you have any opinions?"

Shi Fu and the others were shocked when they heard this. It was a good thing that the court could promise to supply food and wages, but they could not stand the idea of ​​sending military supervisors, who were also responsible for the food and wages. Although it was common sense for the court to send military supervisors, how could they control the soldiers if they could not handle the money and wages?
Everyone in Fujian Province remained silent, but Jiao Lian and Li Mingzhong looked at each other, then suddenly stood up and spoke.

"The Longxiong and Wuxiong armies have been without military supervisors for a long time. This is not the official rule of the court. Your Highness, please send military supervisors to the two armies to supervise the food and wages."

Zhu Lang was a little surprised when he saw the two people bowing and asking for orders, but he was relieved.
The military supervisor system of the Tengxiang Army has been implemented for some time. These two people know the true situation of Zhu Lang's military supervisor system. Apart from other aspects, once the military supervisor enters the army, most of the financial power of the two will be taken away instantly.
But at this time, Jiao Lian and the others knew this, but they still took the initiative to ask for orders to help him facilitate the dispatch of military supervisors to Fujian Province. How could this not satisfy Zhu Lang?
"You two are so thoughtful. If so, we will send military supervisors together this time. General Shi, General Zheng, General Huang, do you have any objections?"

Zhu Lang looked at Shi Fu and the other two below, while the officials on the left also looked at Shi Fu and the others opposite.
Shi Fu and the others' faces changed slightly. The imperial court sent military supervisors to the city as a matter of course. Although Shi Fu and the others were dissatisfied, they could not bring their dissatisfaction to the table.

What should they say? They said that the imperial court's supply of money and food was good, but it would be better to let them distribute the money and food, so that they wouldn't have to bother the imperial court to send other people. If they dared to say these things, then they wouldn't have to sit in the hall, and it would be easier to just start a rebellion.

At this time, both imperial guards set an example by actively requesting to send military supervisors. Shi Fu and others had no way out and could only obey the order in unison.

After deciding on the number of troops to be stationed in Fujian Province and the matter of dispatching military supervisors, Zhu Lang immediately began to arrange the defense of Fujian Province.

At this time, there were nearly 70,000 to 80,000 Ming troops in Fujian Province. It was obviously impossible for so many people to stay in Fujian Province.

Yesterday, Zhu Lang discussed the deployment of defense in Fujian Province with Jiao Lian, Li Mingzhong and others.

Li Mingzhong led 17,000 Tengxiang troops to stay in Fujian Province to defend Xianxia Pass and Quzhou. At the same time, he suppressed Fujian Province to ensure that there would be no chaos in Fujian Province.

Fujian Province was newly annexed, and Zhu Lang would not just hand it over to Shi Fu and others. If he handed Fujian Province over to Shi Fu and others to guard, if Shi Fu and others came one day, who would Zhu Lang go to for justice?
Shi Fu led 15,000 men, Shi Lang led 5,000 men to follow the court back to Guangdong Province, while Shi Fu led the remaining 10,000 men to garrison Shanguan to defend against the Qing army in the direction of Ganzhou.

The Zheng family had 10,000 men, of which Zheng Hongkui led 7,000 men to follow the imperial court back to Guangdong Province, and the remaining 3,000 men were led by Zheng Zhibao to stay in Fujian Province.
Zheng Zhibao was appointed as the general of Zhejiang Province, and together with Zhang Kentang's Ru Yingyuan's 3,000-man battalion and Wuxiang's Yizhi's 3,000-man army, a total of 9,000 people were reorganized into the Zhejiang Camp and sent to Wenzhou and Taizhou for defense.

The navy became independent and the Navy Commandery was established. Huang Ting was appointed as the Left Commander of the Navy and established Dinghai Camp with 5,000 naval troops under his command.
Zhou Hezhi was appointed as the Right Commander of the Navy. He integrated the remaining small groups of Zheng Navy officers who surrendered this time and reorganized another 5,000 people to form the Jinghai Camp.
The Fujian army that surrendered this time had a total of 38,000 soldiers, of which 12,000 from the Shi and Zheng families followed the court back to Guangdong, and the rest all stayed in Fujian.

Shi Fu and Zheng Hongkui below heard Lu Daqi's announcement of the Fujian Province's handwritten order, and their expressions changed.

Although the imperial court did not deprive them of their military quota, it transferred the soldiers under their command away, which greatly reduced their strength.
Shi Fu and Zheng Hongkui wanted to refuse, but they looked at each other and then suddenly looked away. The court's move just hit their bottom line, making it difficult for them to refuse or not.

Although the imperial court had transferred their soldiers, these soldiers were still in the hands of their own people. Whether it was Shi Fu and Zheng Zhibao who stayed in Fujian Province, or Shi Lang and Zheng Hongkui who were transferred away, the armies on both sides were still led by their own people, and the military power was not completely taken away.

They naturally understood the intention of the court at this time. At this time, the court was not only dispersing and weakening their military power, but also asking for hostages from the two families in disguise, so that those who stayed in Fujian Province would not dare to rebel at will.
Zhu Lang looked at the two people below whose expressions changed and said softly
"The court had already made a plan to take over Huguang first, but the situation in Huguang is complicated. If we want to pacify Huguang again, we may still need a large army to suppress it. Therefore, the court wants to withdraw the army back to the court."

"Duke Guguo, Duke Dingguo, you two may understand the difficulties of the court."

"The court has made a complete plan, and your Highness has made a precise arrangement. We have no objection."

When Shi Fu and Zheng Hongkui heard this, their expressions changed. His Majesty the Regent had already expressed his understanding, so there was no room for them to refuse. So they had no choice but to stand up and agree.
At this point, they finally understood why the imperial court had gone to so much trouble to publicly decide to take over Huguang first.

Since everyone unanimously agreed that the direction of the court in the future is to maintain Fujian Province and take over Huguang, there is no need to leave too many soldiers in Fujian Province, and it is natural to withdraw the army back to the court to suppress Huguang.

This was clearly planned by the imperial court long ago. They first decided on the strategy in public and then mobilized the soldiers. They couldn't even find a reason to object at this time.

If Shi Fu and Zheng Hongkui could still stick together, they might be able to negotiate terms with the court. However, after Shi Lang watched Zheng Zhilong being killed, there was no possibility of the Shi and Zheng families joining forces.
With the three imperial guards at their side, the two families in Fujian Province were at loggerheads. Under such circumstances, neither the Shi family nor the Zheng family dared to take the lead in resisting the imperial order.
They had no idea that if they raised any objections at this time, the other side would take advantage of the situation and use the power of the court to put them to death.

If one family raises an objection at this time, and the other family directly expresses obedience, then the party raising the objection will inevitably be suspected by the court, and the Shi family and the Zheng family will no longer have a basis for mutual trust.

But in the final analysis, it is the imperial guards who are strong and powerful enough to suppress the two families from making any rash moves. Otherwise, no matter how reasonable the imperial court's reasons for mobilizing troops are, the two families would probably turn against them immediately.
In troubled times, how can military power be transferred so easily?

When Zhu Lang heard the two men accept the order, he looked at Lu Daqi and others below, and their expressions were relieved. If nearly half of the troops of these two families were transferred away, Li Mingzhong's Wuxiang Army would be enough to suppress Fujian Province.

After Shi Lang and Zheng Hongkui led their troops into Guangdong Province, the imperial court could start to recruit these Fujian troops. After the imperial court reorganized the Fujian troops entering Guangdong, Shi Fu and others who stayed in Fujian Province would no longer be able to cause any trouble.

In this way, the surrendered Fujian Army can be fully used by the court, and the situation of the Fujian Army holding its own troops and being difficult to mobilize during the Longwu Dynasty will no longer occur.

(End of this chapter)