Jiajing Chengming

Chapter 69 I want to eat fish, so I go fishing first

June 25th, the 16th year of Zhengde.

Zhu Houcong asked the cabinet to issue an imperial decree, ordering Zhou Shangwen to be summoned to the platform tomorrow to understand the situation on the border.

There are no restrictions on the Emperor Platform summons.

Military generals could naturally be summoned for questioning. Historically, Chongzhen had summoned military generals such as Man Gui and Qin Liangyu for questioning.

The civil officials were not sensitive to the emperor summoning military generals. They were only sensitive to the emperor trusting the military generals to the point of bypassing the civil officials and letting them directly take charge of the military power, or letting them lead their troops directly into the capital to become the emperor's assistants.

Many civil officials were even happy for the emperor to understand the situation on the border, hoping that the emperor would be frugal and pay more attention to border defense.

Therefore, when the court officials learned that Zhu Houcong had summoned Zhou Shangwen to the court, they only praised the emperor for his diligence and emphasis on border defense.

"I accept the decree!"

When Zhou Shangwen heard that the emperor wanted to summon him, he was dumbfounded and did not sleep well that night.

He really didn't expect that the emperor would summon him.

This made him feel the emperor's importance to him, and also made him feel that a better future was beckoning him.

Zhou Shangwen had long been curious about the emperor, especially after seeing the training of the militiamen of the Gyeonggi Province Patrol Team and learning that the emperor had cleared the farmland and properly resettled a large number of disbanded military academies, and now even allowed these military academies to train militiamen in Gyeonggi Province, he admired the emperor's foresight and was moved by the fact that he cared about the military officers.

Therefore, he was extremely excited. Even though he had not slept well the night before, he was still full of energy the next day.

"Your Majesty, I, Zhou Shangwen, pay my respects to you!"

When Zhou Shangwen saw Zhu Houcong on the platform, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed.

At the same time, he also saw the emperor whom he had long admired.

He secretly sighed that this emperor was indeed a saintly and virtuous person, upright and wise. Zhou Shangwen, who had been inspecting soldiers on the battlefield for many years, could also see that this emperor obviously paid attention to exercise. Therefore, although he was young and thin, he had a strong physique and even breathing.

This made Zhou Shangwen even happier, and he believed that this would be a blessing for the people of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houcong accepted his greeting and asked Zhou Shangwen to stand up, then asked, "What is the situation of the enemy in the border town?"

"Your Majesty, although the Tartars often harass the border, thanks to your Majesty's protection and the careful defense of the people, there is no major threat."

Zhou Shangwen bowed in reply.

Zhu Houcong nodded and asked, "How are the soldiers and civilians in the border garrisons?"

"Your Majesty, most of the soldiers and civilians in the border towns are in dire straits. In many places, the military has not been paid for many years. The border residents are also under heavy labor service, and many of them have fled."

Seeing that Zhu Houcong was a ruler who was determined to govern the country, Zhou Shangwen did not intend to gloss over the situation, but spoke frankly about the true situation in the border town.

Due to the large-scale escape of military households, a large amount of land in border towns was annexed and military settlements were severely damaged. Therefore, the Ming Dynasty has begun to recruit soldiers to guard the border in the north. The salary of those recruited is five taels per year. Historically, it would rise to six taels per year by the middle of the Jiajing period.

Zhu Houcong nodded after hearing this.

He knew that although the central court had spent a large amount of silver on the nine frontiers, most of this silver would not fall into the hands of ordinary soldiers and civilians, but would only circulate among bureaucrats and wealthy businessmen.

Basically, most of this silver will be lost once it leaves the capital, and then half of it will be lost again once it passes through the hands of the governors and generals. If this continues, naturally very little will reach the hands of the lowest-level soldiers and civilians.

Therefore, Zhu Houcong was not surprised, nor did he question Zhou Shangwen.

After all, this is a chronic disease that emerged after the Ming Dynasty's central financial power weakened and its military power also weakened. It is not something that can be changed overnight.

Zhou Shangwen was surprised at Zhu Houcong's calmness. He thought the emperor would be angry after he told the truth.

But now the emperor was not angry, which made him even more afraid to underestimate the emperor in front of him. He just stood aside more respectfully, ready to listen to the holy teachings.

"If the major problems are not resolved, the lives of soldiers and civilians in border towns will not be easy."

"I summoned you to the capital to first strengthen the interior and then to rectify the exterior. What I want you to do now is to select the best and most capable men from the Gyeonggi Province Patrol Team to form an elite force with cavalry, infantry, and firearms, and then prepare for the rectification of the Beijing camp."

"I have always known your loyalty and righteousness, so I have already written your name on the screen, hoping that you will soon become my magic sword. I hope you will work hard and not slack off."

Zhu Houcong spoke in a deep voice. Zhou Shangwen was so excited when he learned that he had been favored by the emperor. He bowed to the ground and said, "I dare not fail your grace. I am willing to go through fire and water for your majesty!"

For Zhou Shangwen, who was deeply educated in loyalty to the emperor, since the emperor valued him so much, he was really willing to sacrifice his life for him. It would even be an honor for him to sacrifice his life for the emperor.

Therefore, even though the platform summons had ended for a long time, Zhou Shangwen's mood was still not able to calm down, especially when he thought that he was the first general to be summoned by the platform after the emperor ascended the throne, his heart that had been dormant for many years and wanted to make achievements became active again. He fanatically wanted to shed his blood on the battlefield to charge and kill the enemy for the emperor immediately, if the emperor asked him to kill an enemy now.

After meeting Zhou Shangwen, Zhu Houcong took advantage of the fact that Qin Wen was the eunuch on duty today and went to the Armory Bureau.

That's right. Ever since Zhu Houcong knew that Qiu Ju was not loyal to him, he deliberately did not participate in any government affairs that needed to be kept confidential when Qiu Ju was on duty. This was to avoid letting Qiu Ju know more and causing errors in his information collection.

Even Emperor Zhu Houcong had to deliberately avoid Qiu Ju.

All this happened because Zhu Houcong wanted to use Qiu Ju to fish.

Fishing is a very interesting thing.

Just like eating fish is also a very interesting thing.

If Zhu Houcong wanted to rectify the civil servants in the future, he needed to rectify the nobles first. Those who should be eaten by him would naturally be eaten by him, and those who should continue to be supported would naturally continue to be supported.

And now, Zhu Houcong came to the Armory Bureau for no other reason than regarding firearms and gunpowder.

During this era, matchlock guns had not yet appeared in the Ming Dynasty, and the most common firearms were matchlock guns with much lower accuracy and range.

When Zhu Houcong was in Prince Xing's Palace, he had already started asking the guards in his palace to make matchlock guns.

Because the structure of the matchlock gun is not difficult, it is nothing more than a powder pool, a powder pool cover, a locking plate, a snake rod and a match. The difficulty requirement is not high, unlike the flintlock gun which also has a spring structure. So Zhu Houcong asked the military craftsmen in the palace to try to develop it. Because he had been secretly paying attention to it over the years, the technology has become much more sophisticated and he has also trained some new firearms military craftsmen.

After Zhu Houcong came to Beijing, he asked Zhao Jun, the deputy captain of the royal guard, to bring all of these people to the capital. Now they are all arranged in the Armour Bureau. Zhao Jun, who is in charge of managing these people, was also promoted to captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and is responsible for managing this place together with the eunuch Zhang Rui, who is in charge of the Armour Bureau.

Zhang Rui was also an old acquaintance of Zhu Houcong in the palace, but he was older and used to serve his father, King Xingxian, so he was only in charge of the Military Equipment Bureau and no longer took care of other matters.

"How many firearms are being made now?"

When Zhu Houcong arrived at the Armory, he asked about Zhao Jun and Zhang Rui.

Zhao Jun replied, "We have already made more than a thousand poles. Once the original palace military craftsmen have been trained, we will have to speed up the process."

Zhu Houcong nodded: "Where is the mother-and-child gun?"

Like the matchlock gun, the musket was a smoothbore cannon developed by Zhu Houcong's military craftsmen in the royal palace. It was the Portuguese cannon in history.

"Fifty-six gates have been built."

Zhao Jun replied immediately.

Zhu Houcong then asked: "How many kilograms of granular gunpowder are produced?"

"More than three thousand kilograms."

Zhao Jun replied.

"Keep working on it. The craftsmen's food, clothing, shelter and transportation must be well protected. At the same time, we must keep it secret. The things that Hu Wei has for China are all here. We must be careful."

After Zhu Houcong said this, he walked out.

Zhao Jun bowed and said yes, looking excited. The fact that the emperor would come here in person was a great encouragement to him and the people in the Armoury Bureau. Moreover, the emperor attached so much importance to the Armoury Bureau in his words.

When Zhu Houcong returned from the Armory, Qin Wen, a eunuch from the Imperial Household Department, came to report, "Your Majesty, the Marquis of Shouning and the Marquis of Jianchang have submitted a petition to see you."

Zhu Houcong chuckled after hearing this, he knew that these two people came regarding the matter of the imperial store.

"Send it to me!"

Zhu Houcong immediately gave an order.

Thank the captain for the reward to Emperor Jiajing


(End of this chapter)