Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1126 Request
Zhu Mincheng and Sun Hao chatted for a long time, and talked about the issue of going to sea to serve as a fiefdom until late at night, and then they ended the conversation reluctantly.

After this conversation, many of Zhu Mincheng's problems were solved one by one by the suggestions made by Sun Hao. From this point alone, although Sun Hao was not a good student, his ability was not bad. This made him more determined to bring Sun Hao under his command.

Unfortunately, Sun Hao had to observe mourning for three years and could not follow Zhu Mincheng to the New World six months later. This was a pity. However, Zhu Mincheng had promised Sun Hao that as long as Sun Hao was willing to come, his position as the Left Chief Secretary would always belong to Sun Hao.

The next day, Zhu Mincheng left Gaoyang. Before leaving, he held Sun Hao's hand and gave him a few instructions before saying goodbye reluctantly.

It took two days to return to Beijing from Gaoyang. After arriving in the capital, Zhu Mincheng first went to the Qianqing Palace to report and informed Zhu Shenzhu of the situation in Gaoyang.

After the matter was settled, Zhu Mincheng left the Qianqing Palace and hurried to find the prince who was on an internship in the General Senate. At his request, the prince helped him to check Li Dingguo's information. However, Zhu Mincheng was even happier when he learned that Li Dingguo did not participate in the Liaodong battle this time, and that he had been transferred to Jiangxi long before Gao Jie took over as the general of Jizhou.

A few days later, in the side hall of the Qianqing Palace.

Zhu Shenzhu looked at the two memorials (letters) in his hand and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He didn't expect that the world was so coincidental. His own son Zhu Mincheng submitted a memorial to his father himself, requesting that some elite white-armored soldiers from the captured Eight Banners be selected for him to serve as guards for King Song, and that he would take them to his overseas fiefdom.

Zhu Mincheng made it clear in his memorial that now that the war in Liaodong has ended, a large number of Eight Banners soldiers have been captured and surrendered, and the so-called Qing Dynasty is over. The court is about to begin the follow-up disposal of Liaodong. In the next few years, these Eight Banners soldiers, including the Jurchens, will gradually move out of Liaodong and be resettled in various parts of the Ming Dynasty after being disbanded.

Among them, ordinary Jurchens were not so bad. After all, their resettlement was just to let them keep their hair and dress differently, change their names, and then disperse to various places under the responsibility of local government. In addition, the Ming Dynasty did not lack land except for Jiangnan. Due to the previous bandits, the northwest, including a large area of ​​the Central Plains, had a large amount of land that became ownerless because of the population decline. After the court quelled the civil strife, it re-registered these lands. Except for some that were distributed to the people who returned to their hometowns or immigrated, most of them had become official land.

The government took some of the land and distributed it to the resettled Jurchens, who were then arranged in villages and towns by family, with a few families here and a few families there. It was easy to disperse a few hundred thousand people in this way. But the elite Eight Banners were different. They were the most capable army of Jiannu. And because of the policy of the Eight Banners, these Eight Banners soldiers were no longer engaged in production from the day they joined the army. They only knew how to fight and kill, and knew nothing else.

If these Eight Banners soldiers were incorporated into the army, it would certainly enhance the combat effectiveness of the Ming army. You must know that the bravery of the Eight Banners is well known. The reason why the new army can directly confront the Eight Banners and not lose, or even win, is due to strict training and elite firearms rather than personal bravery. If we only talk about bravery, it is no exaggeration to say that the Eight Banners soldiers are the best in the world. If these Eight Banners soldiers were transformed into the Ming army, Zhu Shenzhu was really worried that one day in the future, a figure similar to Nurhaci would emerge from these people.

This must be prevented, even if the Eight Banners were more capable of fighting Zhu Shencui, it would not be possible to arrange it this way. So, like ordinary Jurchens, it was necessary to separate and relocate these Eight Banners soldiers after they kept their hair and changed their clothes. Even if they were not relocated to the local area considering their actual situation, they would need to be reorganized before being relocated to various armies.

However, there are tens of thousands of Eight Banner soldiers. If all of them are placed in the army, the proportion would be too large for the current Ming army, and it would also increase the burden of maintaining the army for the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Shenzhui considered it again and again and decided to proceed in several steps. The first step was to disperse the Eight Banners soldiers with production capacity and ordinary Jurchens and place them in the local area. The second step was to select some people from the Eight Banners and disperse them to join the Ming army, but they could not be used in a concentrated manner but needed to be dispersed for reorganization. The third step was to hand over some of the Eight Banners to the Solon tribe and Mongolia. The Solon tribe had suffered huge losses under the continuous attacks of Nurhaci and Huang Taiji, and was in urgent need of people.

The Solon tribe made a great contribution in the Liaodong war this time, but the reward for the Solon tribe was not that simple. After all, the emperor had given the Solon tribe the title of a prince before, so if he was to give it again, he couldn't give it to a prince, right? Moreover, the title was not something that could be used, and the leaders of the Solon tribe were not interested in becoming officials in the Ming Dynasty. All they wanted was supplies and people.

Supplies are not difficult to obtain. With the capture of Liaodong, the Nurgan Metropolitan Government will return to the rule of the Ming Dynasty in the future, and the Suolong tribe will also become the people of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Shenzhu has instructed Sun Chuanting to maintain good relations with the Suolong tribe when he is in charge of Liaodong in the future. Although the Suolong tribe is small in number, they are brave and good at fighting. With them in the north, they can serve as the best barrier for the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, it is also necessary to ensure that the Suolong tribe can obtain supplies from the Ming Dynasty and strengthen trade and exchanges between the two sides.

As for the population, the Ming Dynasty had no other options. But the resettlement of the Eight Banners this time gave Zhu Shenzhui the idea of ​​giving some of the Eight Banners to the Suolon tribe. This would satisfy the Suolon tribe's population needs and solve the resettlement problem of some of the Eight Banners. Moreover, the Suolon tribe and the Jiannu had a deep hatred for each other. Giving them one or two thousand Eight Banner soldiers and some Jurchens would not only not lead to any consequences, but also allow the Suolon tribe to solve the future troubles of these people. As long as these people go to the Suolon tribe, they will be no different from ordinary Suolon people in a few decades.

The same method is to send some of the Eight Banners to Mongolia, arrange some with Tenger and some with Agudamu, and in this way most of the problems can be solved.

But even so, given the current number of Eight Banners, it is still impossible to complete it all at once. This requires a long process. According to Zhu Shenzhu's idea, it will take three to five years to complete. But now Zhu Mincheng has made a request. He needs these elite Eight Banners, and wants to select the most elite white-armored soldiers as the guards for his King Song to go to overseas fiefdoms. This is a new option.

Zhu Mincheng's trip to the New World has been decided, and the ship that had previously explored the route has also returned to Ming Dynasty. It can be said that everything is ready, and they will set sail only when the most suitable time for sailing arrives in half a year.

According to the current strength of the Ming Dynasty on the ocean, although there is no worry about the near sea, the ships cannot carry too much cargo for long-distance voyages due to technical problems. In addition, Zhu Mincheng has to bring a large amount of necessary supplies and necessary technical personnel to the New World, including his subordinates and clerks, etc., so the guard force equipped with him is only a few thousand people.

Even if they think of ways to equip more troops, the maximum number will not exceed 1,500. These troops may not be a big deal in Ming Dynasty, but they are a military force that cannot be ignored in the New World.

After all, the Western countries now only occupied the east coast of the New World and South America, and had not yet touched the west coast, where there were still a large number of Indian tribes. These Indian tribes had dozens of people at least, hundreds of people at most, and thousands of people at most. A 1,500-man army armed to the teeth was enough for Zhu Mincheng to gain a foothold there as long as there were no accidents.

However, Zhu Shenzhui had not yet considered how to organize this army and plan it for Zhu Mincheng. The new army would never be given to him. The new army of the Ming Dynasty was the sharpest spear and the strongest shield in Zhu Shenzhui's hands. If he was to be given, he could only be given a reorganized army based on the Ming Dynasty's border army.

Moreover, would these soldiers be willing to be sent all the way to the New World? This was also a problem. If it was not properly solved, it would even cause unrest in the army. This was no small matter.

Now Zhu Mincheng proposed to recruit and use the elite Eight Banners, which made Zhu Shenzhui think it was a solution after careful consideration. Originally, these Eight Banners soldiers were the problem to be dealt with, and from the heart, arranging these brave and combative Eight Banners elites in the way mentioned above would certainly solve the problem, but at the same time it was a bit of a pity.

In addition, using those methods to deal with the large number of Eight Banners would not be able to be solved in a short time. If Zhu Mincheng were to take some of the elite troops overseas in this way, it would be a good choice. It would not only solve the problem of the Eight Banners, but also solve the problem of insufficient combat effectiveness of Zhu Mincheng's troops and morale when going overseas.

In addition, Zhu Mincheng made a request at the end, which was to ask his father for a person. This person was none other than Li Dingguo.

As for Li Dingguo, Zhu Shenzhu certainly knew who he was. It can be said that the main reason why he agreed to Zhang Xianzhong's surrender and not only did not kill Zhang Xianzhong but instead gave him a military rank and an honorary position and settled him in the capital was because Zhang Xianzhong had four adopted sons, the most outstanding of whom was Li Dingguo.

Although Li Dingguo was young and of a poor background, his achievements in history far surpassed those of the other three, and he was even called the last hope of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Shenzhu naturally looked at such an outstanding general differently, so although he did not use Li Dingguo on the surface over the years, he incorporated Li Dingguo into the Ming army as an ordinary general like the others, and did not take special care of him. His main purpose was to see Li Dingguo's temperament and to hone him in this way.

But before Zhu Shenzhui could even think of using Li Dingguo, his own son had already taken a fancy to him and directly asked for him. It must be said that Zhu Mincheng had a good eye. He didn't want anyone else but specifically asked for Li Dingguo. How did this brat know about Li Dingguo? And who gave him this idea?

(End of this chapter)