I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 365 Army Expansion
"What's the matter?" Zhu Houxuan looked at Zhu Houzhao strangely.

"That's right." Zhu Houzhao suddenly couldn't speak.
"Hahaha, why are you suddenly hesitant, brother? But I also have something I want to discuss with you, brother," Zhu Houxun said suddenly.

"What's the matter?" Zhu Houzhao's curiosity was aroused.
"Maybe we want to discuss the same thing. How about we write it all down?" Zhu Houxuan said with a smile.

"That's great!" Zhu Houzhao was in high spirits.

The palace servant quickly brought over paper and pen. The two men wrote down what they wanted to discuss, and when the ink was slightly dry, they folded the paper and handed it to each other.

Zhu Houzhao couldn't wait to open the paper, and was stunned when he saw the content on it.
There were only four words written on it: Expand the new army.

He looked at Zhu Houxuan suddenly, "You"

Zhu Houxuan also opened the paper written by Zhu Houzhao, and saw that it said: Expand the army.

At this time, Zhu Houzhao finally came back to his senses from the shock, "Brother, are you the little bug in my stomach? How do you know what I'm thinking?"

Zhu Houxuan smiled but said nothing.
"Hurry up and tell me!" Zhu Houzhao hugged Zhu Houxun's neck, "How did you guess that? Was my performance that obvious?"

Zhu Houxuan was strangled to the point of being unable to breathe, and quickly begged for mercy: "Alright, I'll tell you, I'll tell you."

Only then did Zhu Houzhao let him go.

Zhu Houxuan took a deep breath before speaking: "I actually only saw one thing, the rest is just a coincidence. I have been thinking about expanding the army for some time."

"How did you figure it out? Didn't you always use the reasons like logistical transportation capability and the inability to deliver to Mobei to reject me?" Zhu Houzhao immediately became alert when the idea of ​​expanding the army was mentioned.

"People's ideas always change." Zhu Houxuan said slowly.

"Especially after I served as regent for a period of time, I had new ideas about expanding the army. Coupled with the performance of the new army in the battle of Yingzhou, I made up my mind," Zhu Houxuan said with emotion.

"What new ideas have you come up with?" Zhu Houzhao looked as if he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"I suddenly feel that it would be good to have more new troops. If there are 100,000 new troops near the capital, then I would dare to mobilize the Beijing camp. If there are 150,000 new troops, then I would dare to mobilize the border troops. If there are 200,000 new troops, then I would dare to mobilize the garrisons all over the world," Zhu Houxuan said lightly.

It is not right for Zhu Houxun, a prince who has already surrendered his power as regent, to say this, but there is a tacit understanding between the two, and Zhu Houxun also feels that there is nothing to hide.
Although Zhu Houzhao returned to the capital, his life at the border had made him somewhat slack in government affairs. Within a few days of his return, memorials piled up like a mountain, so he simply ordered people to send all the memorials to the Nan Palace.
Although Zhu Houxuan did not hold the title of regent, he was the regent in reality, so he said those words so directly.
"Good! Good! That's great!" Zhu Houzhao patted Zhu Houxun's shoulders twice, looking very excited.

"I heard you clearly this time! We agreed on it! Two hundred thousand new troops!" Zhu Houzhao wanted to pull Zhu Houxun to sign a document
"Royal brother, don't be anxious! We have to take this matter slowly, otherwise we won't be able to get enough money and food. I think we should expand the army by 50,000 people this time," Zhu Houxun said hurriedly.

"Is that so?" Zhu Houzhao said somewhat disappointedly, then he immediately cheered up, "That's fine, but I want all the 5 troops to be cavalry this time."

Zhu Houxuan looked at Zhu Houzhao helplessly and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say."

The cost of forming and maintaining cavalry is much higher than that of infantry, which is not a small expense.
However, the hundreds of thousands of Mongolian horses captured in the Yingzhou battle could be put to use now, and it is estimated that a large amount of expenses could be saved.
Even so, cavalry is still very expensive, mainly because horses usually eat too much, and the daily feed alone costs a lot of money. "It's a deal! Don't go back on your word!" Zhu Houzhao said immediately.

"It's a deal!" Zhu Houxuan also said with a smile. He certainly understood what Zhu Houzhao meant. The direction of the troops in the next few years would be the north, and they would not be able to do without cavalry. Moreover, with the new type of troops such as pistol cavalry, which required much lower riding skills, it was not too late to train cavalry from scratch.
The reason why Zhu Houxuan took the initiative to expand the new army was because he saw more problems in the Beijing Army when he was the Prince Regent, which made Zhu Houxuan unable to tolerate it.
However, he could only hold his nose and dare not take any drastic measures, fearing that the Beijing camp would mutiny.
So he came up with this idea. With 100,000 new army soldiers stationed near the capital, the soldiers in the Beijing camp would not be able to cause any trouble.
If the problem of the Beijing Army is solved, the imperial court will certainly be able to save a lot of money and grain. With the money and grain saved, it may be possible to continue to expand the new army.
After such a conversation, the atmosphere between the two people became even better.
"Since we are training a new army, the current new army is no longer suitable to be called the new army. Moreover, the current new army has made such great military achievements that they need to be given a new name," said Zhu Houzhao.

"Brother, don't look at me. I must have something in mind," Zhu Houxuan said immediately.

"Just name it the Imperial Guards!" Zhu Houzhao said.

"The Imperial Guard is a good name. It's a really good name!" Zhu Houxuan exclaimed.

After talking about all this, Zhu Houzhao remembered one more thing, "Brother, it has been almost three years since you came to the capital for the second time, right?"

Zhu Houxuan was stunned and said, "Yes, I left Qizhou at the end of the eighth year of Zhengde, and now it is almost the twelfth year of Zhengde."

"You've worked a lot in the past three years! You're only in your early twenties, but you can already see white hair on your head." Zhu Houzhao sighed.

"You are too polite, my brother. It is my duty."

"I still remember that in the eighth year of Zhengde, your sister-in-law was already pregnant. Not long after you left, she gave birth to your eldest son. He should be almost three years old now," Zhu Houzhao continued.

Zhu Houxuan stopped talking and just nodded silently.

"And Concubine Zhang and Qin Yuelan, we haven't seen them for a long time, right?" Zhu Houzhao continued.

Zhu Houxuan continued to nod.

"In that case, I will issue an order to bring them all to the capital so that your whole family can be reunited in the capital," Zhu Houzhao made the decision directly.

"Thank you, my brother!" Zhu Houxuan was not pretentious at all.

"Your legitimate son is almost three years old. I need to think carefully about what name to give him." Zhu Houzhao stood up.

"Thank you, my brother!" This is all Zhu Houxuan could say.
"Please clean up your Nangong. I will also give you the house and land next to Nangong. Make your living place more comfortable."

"Thank you, my brother."

My mind is active at night, but I feel more and more sleepy the more I write.

I feel more energetic the more I write in the early morning, but it takes me too long to get into the state.
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(End of this chapter)