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

Chapter 948 Military Generals Enter the Cabinet
Sun Chengzong's days in the capital have entered the countdown. This old minister has dedicated his entire life to the Ming Dynasty and should enjoy his old age in these last few days.

The Ming Dynasty Cabinet was generally composed of one to seven people. When the cabinet was first set up, there were seven people. However, the number of people in the cabinets of later dynasties varied. Except for special reasons during the Wanli period, when there was only one prime minister in the cabinet, the cabinets of other emperors generally remained at around five to seven people.

The current cabinet of the Yongming Dynasty is composed of five people. It is reasonable to add two more people to form a seven-member cabinet structure. However, Zhu Shenzhu has always maintained the five-member system in consideration of the current government structure and actual situation. Therefore, once Liu Yuliang withdraws from the cabinet, the cabinet will only add one person for the time being, and no more.

Zhu Shenzui had already considered who would be the additional cabinet member, and that person was none other than Wang Jinwu.

Zhu Shenzui's decision to have Wang Jinwu join the cabinet was not a whim, but was the result of careful consideration. Although he currently set up the General Senate Office in the intention to replace the Five Military Governor's Office in the future, the powers of the General Senate Office and the Five Military Governor's Office largely overlap, but are still quite different.

Even if the General Council truly replaced the Five Military Governorates in the future, it would not be possible for the General Council to become as powerful as when Zhu Yuanzhang set up the Five Military Governorates. The civil service group would absolutely not allow such a situation. The independent existence of an institution that was separated from the various departments of the court but had full control over military power was not a good thing for either the court structure or the struggle between civil and military officials.

Even Zhu Shenzhui could not do so. The excessive power of the Five Military Commanderies would also affect the imperial power. Moreover, according to the political structure of various countries in later generations, it has become a common practice for civilians to control the military. Military power is directly controlled by soldiers, which will have a great impact on national stability. Some countries have undergone major changes from time to time, and a key point is that the military power of the soldiers is too great.

However, the fact that all military power is controlled by civilian officials like in the Ming Dynasty also has its drawbacks, which has been proven in the Ming Dynasty's more than 200 years of history. Therefore, for military power, the balance and containment of both sides are extremely important, and it is also necessary to slightly weaken the authority of the existing Ministry of War and strengthen the authority of the Five Military Commandery.

The establishment of the General Council was only to take back some of the powers that originally belonged to the Five Military Governors' Office, rather than to use it to forcibly suppress the Ministry of War. In other words, the General Council exercised the powers of the General Staff, serving as a functional department used by the emperor to strengthen control and command of the army, and to enhance the status of military generals in the court to a certain extent.

The real power of the army was directly controlled by the emperor through the General Council, the cabinet, and the Ministry of War. Therefore, after completing the establishment of the General Council, Zhu Shenzhu had to ensure that the military had a certain say in the cabinet, rather than being isolated from the cabinet. In this case, the organization of the cabinet had to be adjusted.

In the future, the Ming Dynasty cabinet will be maintained at a five-member cabinet, among which one is the chief minister, one is the second chief minister, and the other three are cabinet elders.

There must be a military member in the five-member cabinet as a representative of the military. This military cabinet member can be a cabinet elder or a deputy assistant, but not the chief assistant, who must be a civilian. This formed a new cabinet system, which was extremely necessary to adjust the status and voice of the military in the court of the Ming Dynasty.

Furthermore, Wang Jinwu was competent in terms of loyalty and ability, and as the top man in the army, it would not be a good thing for him to control the new army for a long time. Next, Zhu Shenzhu would reorganize the new army through military reform, and completely replace the original Ming army on its basis, thereby strengthening the military strength of the Ming Dynasty.

Under such circumstances, Wang Jinwu is no longer suitable to lead the new army. The future new army will be divided into various units and reorganized into "divisions". A division of the new army will be commanded by a General of Cavalry or a General of Dingguo, and an army (general town) will be formed above the division. At the same time, the existing towns in the nine borders will be adjusted and redivided into six towns according to the new military system. These six towns are Liaodong Town, Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town, Datong Town, Shaanxi Town, and Gansu Town.

These six towns were reorganized from the current nine frontiers of the Ming Dynasty. The original Sanguan Town and Datong Town were merged. Yulin Town and Shaanxi Town were merged, and Ningxia Town and Gansu Town were merged. A new nine-front pattern was formed, and the nine frontiers and nine towns were transformed into six frontiers and six towns.

In addition to the border troops, the new army in the capital area also had one town and three divisions, replacing the previous Beijing camp stationed near the capital. In addition, Zhu Shenzhu also planned to successively set up one town or one to two divisions in Shandong, Nanzhili, Fujian and Zhejiang, Guangdong and Guangxi, Huguang, Henan, Sichuan, and Yunnan provinces as military town organizations directly under the central government.

This military garrison organization will be reconfigured according to regional divisions, gradually replacing the previous Ming Dynasty Wei Suo system, and the Ming Dynasty Wei Suo system will also be transformed into local security or reserve forces and will no longer serve as the basic structure of the Ming Dynasty military system.

Moreover, in these changes to the military system, the previous hereditary military system of the Ming Dynasty will be gradually abolished and replaced by a recruitment system. In the future, the recruitment system will completely become the new military system of the Ming Dynasty.

But this change is not so easy to do. Although the recruitment system has great advantages over the hereditary system and can maintain the strong combat effectiveness of the army, the financial support required for the recruitment system is huge compared to the hereditary system. Although the current economic situation of the Ming Dynasty has improved significantly, it still cannot support the change of the entire military system. Therefore, it is impossible to completely replace the hereditary system with the recruitment system in a short period of time, and it will affect the whole body. The guard system has been deeply rooted in the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years. Once the guard system is abolished and replaced by other systems, it will take a lot of time and energy. Considering the political turmoil, the placement of guards, and the opposition of vested interests, Zhu Shenzhu can only take it step by step and must not rush. But the whole framework has been gradually formed in Zhu Shenzhu's mind. Now, some reforms based on the new army are also being carried out one after another. The nine borders can be slightly slowed down and start from the capital. Wang Jinwu has been doing this for the past two years. Judging from the current situation of the new army in the capital, the general town of the capital has been initially formed. The next ones are the three towns closest to the capital, namely Jizhou Town, Xuanfu Town and Datong Town. Only after the structural adjustment of these three towns is completed, Zhu Shenzhui will be able to take action on other areas one after another.

"What? Let me go to the cabinet? Your Majesty, are you kidding me?" Wang Jinwu received the imperial edict from the palace and hurried back to the capital from the military camp. He entered the palace without stopping. When he saw Zhu Shenzhui, he had no time to catch his breath when he heard the news that he was allowed to join the cabinet. He was immediately speechless.

"Do you think I can make such a joke?" Zhu Shenzhui glared at Wang Jinwu.

Wang Jinwu smiled awkwardly and said, "How could that be possible? You certainly wouldn't joke with me, but this matter really makes me feel inexplicably surprised. I am just a military man, and the cabinet is the central institution of the court. How can I be qualified to be a cabinet elder?"

"If I say you can't do it, it doesn't matter even if you can! If I say you can do it, it doesn't matter even if you can't! What? My words are not counted? You, General Wang, are a first-rank official with outstanding contributions. Why can't it be wrong for you to join the cabinet?" Zhu Shenzhui said lightly.

Wang Jinwu didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this. Isn't this cheating? What does it mean to say that you can do it even if you can't? This is like forcing a duck to do something!
He led his troops well, trained and organized them in the barracks every day, drank some wine with his subordinates and boasted on his free time, and went back to the capital to see his wife and children on his days off. He lived a very comfortable life. Moreover, Wang Jinwu had always planned to lead his troops to fight the Jiannu again. He had not been on the battlefield since the last battle of the Great Wall. Although he trained and practiced martial arts every day, he had not been able to go to the battlefield. After a long time, he was itching to do so.

Not long ago, the imperial court had just changed the military positions and ranks. As the first person in the army, Wang Jinwu was naturally ranked first. Especially after the news came, Wang Jinwu was even more excited and eager to fight, wondering if the Ming Dynasty was planning to use troops? And the target of the troops was Liaodong.

Huang Taiji of Liaodong is dead, and the so-called successor to the Qing Dynasty is just a child. It is said that there was a fierce fight within the Qing Dynasty for the throne. After Huang Taiji's death, the Qing Dynasty was divided into several factions and the fighting was extremely fierce. Even though the throne now belongs to Shunzhi, there are still many contradictions.

This situation is the best opportunity for the Ming Dynasty. If it can be controlled well, it is not impossible to defeat the Qing Dynasty and completely recover Liaodong. Moreover, Wang Jinwu is quite confident in his new army. As long as the court can support him, he believes that he has a great chance of counterattacking Liaodong with the combat effectiveness of his new army. Once Liaodong can be pacified, it will be an unprecedented achievement! Who among the military generals does not have the dream of Fenglangjuxu?

However, the emperor had no intention of sending the new army to Liaodong. Not only that, he also brought Wu Xiang back from Liaodong, letting Zu Dashou and Wu Sangui control the Liao army, and continued to maintain a blockade and confront the Qing Dynasty. This approach puzzled Wang Jinwu. He had always wanted to ask Zhu Shenzhu why he made such an arrangement, but he never found a chance. He originally planned to ask about this matter when he entered the palace today, but he didn't expect to hear the news that Zhu Shenzhu asked him to join the cabinet before he asked.

"Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to, but I'm afraid it's inconvenient for me to join the cabinet with my status." Wang Jinwu didn't want to join the cabinet from the bottom of his heart. He smiled bitterly and said, "I am a military man, not a civil official. There is no precedent for military men to join the cabinet in our dynasty. Moreover, Your Majesty and I are related, so we are also relatives by marriage. If I join the cabinet, everyone in the court and the public will spit on me..."

Before he could finish his words, Zhu Shenzhui said with a smile, "Since the establishment of the cabinet, there has indeed been no precedent for military officers to join the cabinet, but aren't conventions meant to be broken? When our dynasty was first established, there was no saying that civil officials were superior to military officials. Back then, Taizu appointed Prince Kaiping as the right prime minister, and later Prince Zhongshan took over. It is not without precedent for military officers to hold civil positions."

"Besides, the cabinet was just established, and its power was only to be the emperor's advisor and assist the emperor in handling government affairs. How could it have the power it has now? In this case, why can't I let you join the cabinet? As for the question of being a foreign relative, there is no need to worry. You are not Xu Xiancheng, you are just my cousin. If this is also considered a foreign relative, then there are countless people in the court who are related to me. How can I use anyone?"

"This..." Wang Jinwu was speechless. Zhu Shenzhui's words made sense. Chang Yuchun and Xu Da had both served as right prime ministers. The position of prime minister was the head of civil officials. The power of the right prime minister was greater than that of the chief minister of the cabinet. Since a military general could reach this position, then what was the point of being a mere cabinet elder?
Moreover, the cabinet was originally the emperor's secretariat, and later gradually became the center. Even now, the cabinet still retains its original secretarial powers. The cabinet is not one of the six ministries, and the cabinet elders are appointed by the emperor himself without the approval of the court. Therefore, the emperor can let anyone he wants into the cabinet, and there is nothing wrong with this.

As for the last theory of relatives by marriage, the Ming Dynasty had been founded for more than 200 years, and countless descendants of the Zhu family had married into the family. Many officials in the court were more or less related to the Zhu family by marriage. If this was the case, everyone was a relative by marriage, and Wang Jinwu was only the emperor's cousin, which was different from Xu Xiancheng. It was not a problem for the emperor to let him join the cabinet.

(End of this chapter)