Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 141 Celebration Banquet

Late at night, in the Jingzhou prefectural government office, which had now become Zhu Cilang's temporary palace, the flickering candlelight illuminated the solemn expressions of Zhu Cilang, Du Yinxi, Wu Jinxi and others.

"Huguang has been plagued by natural and man-made disasters over the years. Hengzhou, Baoqing, Changde, and other prefectures alone can easily accommodate 200,000 to 300,000 households. Chongqing and other prefectures are also experiencing population declines. Resettling the families of Gao Yigong, Tian Hu, and Yang Yanchang's three battalions is no problem, but the nine battalions of the Chuang Army have over 30,000 armored soldiers."

Du Yinxi clasped his hands together, frowning, and his mind kept thinking about the situation of the troops under the command of Li Guo, Gao Yigong and other generals who broke into the camp.

"The various battalions of the Chuang army fled all the way from northern Shaanxi to Huguang, suffering heavy losses along the way. Many soldiers are exhausted, both physically and mentally. From my recent inspections, I have learned that after learning of Li Zicheng's death at Jiugong Mountain, these soldiers are extremely confused and uneasy about their future. If Your Majesty had not led the army to assist in the battle, captured Jingzhou, and repeatedly defeated the Qing army, the Chuang army would have had difficulty regaining its morale.

However, after the Battle of Shanhaiguan, the rebel army suffered heavy losses of elite troops. Many newly recruited soldiers lacked training and fled southward, suffering heavy losses of baggage and a shortage of food and fodder. Especially after the organization was disbanded, Li Guo, Gao Yigong and others brought a lot of elite soldiers along the way and filled the army, which made many battalions lose their strength in field battles.

Even if we only select 30,000 elite soldiers from these tens of thousands of strong men, it would be difficult to equip them all according to the standards of a border army. Especially the muskets and artillery, which would basically have to be completely replaced, including at least 5,000 new muskets, to meet Your Majesty's requirements."

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang nodded. He knew very well that it would be no easy task to reorganize this remnant army into an elite division that could compete with the Qing army.

This is not just about ensuring the army's food supply, but also about ensuring the army is free from work so that they have sufficient training time, and the equipment of weapons and firearms is also essential.

In other words, facing the troops of Zheng Siwei and Wang Tizhong, Zhu Cilang dared to launch an all-out attack and even only sent out the various camps of the Chuang army. When facing the elite troops of Aljin and Gao Di, he chose to "defend instead of attack" because although the current Ming army in Huguang had many soldiers and generals, it did not have the strength to fight a large-scale field battle with the elite Qing army.

Soon after, it was most likely that the main force of the Eight Banners Army would go south to Huguang, but their combat power was not comparable to that of the thousands of Eight Banners stationed in Aljin and Gao Di's troops.

"I know it's not easy to reorganize the current Chuangying into a disciplined and well-organized army. But now is the best time to reorganize the military discipline, especially to eliminate the old and weak. Zhong Yan, you can do it boldly.

If anyone pretends to obey, or even openly resists, I will personally deal with them. The Qing army will soon march south again, and the Ming Dynasty will no longer have time."

Zhu Cilang had actually understood the meaning of Du Yinxi's words a long time ago. He knew very well that the other party just couldn't figure out his thoughts, so he didn't dare to take any ruthless action.

"The weapons currently equipped by the Chuang army are of varying quality, and they lack muskets and artillery. The imperial court will allocate special funds for the purchase of weapons, armor, and muskets, but Huguang will need to raise food and fodder on its own.

However, it's probably too late now. Aside from the core elite troops under Li Guo, the rest of the battalions only need to replace their equipment to the minimum necessary to ensure the upcoming defensive battle."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Du Yinxi said with a bow.

"Now that Li Guo and Gao Yigong are cooperating with my plan to reorganize the army, the inventory and reorganization will not be difficult. As for the rest, just follow your own ideas. I will have Chen Fu cooperate with you. He trained the Fengyang Battalion into an elite force a year ago and is very capable in this area."

Zhu Cilang knew that Du Yinxi's abilities were not limited to this. In the original history, he even successfully counted the number of soldiers in the "Loyal Camp" by himself and determined the allocated food, fodder and wages.

However, at that time, the Longwu court was in danger, and He Tengjiao was in charge of Huguang. In fact, most of the money and food for the Zhongzheng Camp had to be raised by themselves. In the remote mountains and ridges of western Hubei and Kuidong, it was already a great ability for Li Guo and Gao Yigong to maintain tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.

He Tengjiao, on the other hand, colluded with his confidant Zhang Kuang. He first gathered military leaders in Hunan Province, such as Huang Chaoxuan, Cao Zhijian, Zhang Xianbi, and Liu Chengyin, who were harmful to the people and had no intention of resisting the Qing Dynasty. Later, he recruited soldiers at all costs to put together his own "direct line" in order to suppress and exclude the Dashun Army.

It can only be said that the various units of the Chuang Army are stronger in fighting, but they are far inferior to He Tengjiao and others in the open and secret struggles in the officialdom. Now He Tengjiao is facing Zuo Menggeng, Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shenghuan and others, and he cannot act arrogantly at all.

After all, we are all thousand-year-old foxes, so why would we perform Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio?
Of course, He Tengjiao, Zhang Kuang and others eventually suffered the consequences of their own actions. Those so-called "Southerners" took the opportunity to recruit soldiers and expand their own strength, but they were useless except for endangering the local area.

Zhang Kuang, who originally advocated using "southerners" to repel "bandits", saw that these "southerners" were about to secede and establish their own power, and even the governor and the governor could not command them, so he immediately suggested to He Tengjiao:
"It is better to use southerners than northerners, and it is better to use personal soldiers than external garrisons. Using personal soldiers strengthens oneself, and self-strengthening can suppress bandits and control external garrisons. This is the art of strengthening one's power and achieving victory."

He Tengjiao was actually just a armchair military advisor, and he appreciated Zhang Kuang's opinions very much. He immediately sent people to recruit soldiers from Guangxi, Guizhou and other places, and soon put together a "Du Biao" and "Fu Biao" personal army of more than 30,000 people. Its generals included Wu Chengzong, Yao Youxing, Long Jianming, Tan Yuchun, Man Dazhuang, Hu Yuelong, Xiang Dengwei and others.

However, this group of rabble could neither suppress the "bandits" nor control the "foreign towns". Not only did they fail to enhance Hunan's anti-Qing strength, but they also wasted money and food that could have supported tens of thousands of strong troops.

Zhu Cilang naturally would not let such a thing happen. A "strong soldier and good general" like Chuangying must be matched with a "virtuous minister" like Du Yinxi. He Tengjiao would fight with old foxes like Zuo Zhen.

In fact, Du Yinxi had already sorted out the issues of reorganizing the Chuangying camp one by one, and had a preliminary plan in mind. He even learned from the Palace Army and promoted the establishment of a teaching team in the army to educate the soldiers on loyalty to the emperor and love for the court. He had already made plans.

After experiencing the "Battle of Jingzhou" and seeing that the various camps of Zuozhen were obedient, and even the Qing troops such as Aljin and Gaodi acted completely according to Zhu Cilang's plan, Du Yinxi had already believed that as long as he had Zhu Cilang's support, he would be able to reorganize the Shun army into a powerful army.

When he inspected the camps and counted the troops these days, he clearly felt Zhu Cilang's position in the hearts of the soldiers who broke into the camp.

Originally, the emperor in this era possessed supreme authority. An emperor who personally led his troops to defeat a powerful enemy and ensured that his soldiers had enough food would be highly respected.

After following Zhu Cilang in winning a battle, these soldiers of the rebel army were already convinced. They not only admired the cannons that bombarded the city, but also were not simply afraid of them.

After all, when they followed Li Guo and Gao Yigong, they besieged the city for more than a month, not only could they not win, but they also didn't have enough to eat. But after His Majesty came, they were able to win, eat well, and even receive rewards. This was something they had never dared to think about in the past year!

In fact, Li Guo, Gao Yigong, and the commanders of each camp cooperated in counting the number of troops because they had noticed the changes in military morale to a large extent.

Du Yinxi continued to report military intelligence. After some thought, he quickly recommended to Zhu Cilang several generals in the Chuang camp who had rich experience in leading troops in battles. They were responsible for the training of the Chuang army after reorganization.

Zhu Cilang did not ask too much about this, he just wanted to stop Yin Xiduo from discussing with Li Guo and Gao Yigong. When it was time to delegate power, he would naturally not be stingy.

As the celebration banquet approached, the city of Jingzhou soon became bustling with activity.

The craftsmen of the rebel army were working overtime in the newly built workshops to repair and manufacture the captured weapons and armor. Transport ships were heading north along the Xiangjiang River. This was the food and military supplies raised by the local officials of Huguang.
Although the war had just ended, people from all walks of life in Huguang were already preparing for the upcoming war.

After getting the confirmed information from Zhu Cilang, Du Yinxi quickly counted the troops in each camp. In the end, he divided out more than 40,000 strong civilians and more than 10,000 old, young and weak people. Most of them were arranged into garrison troops and peasant soldiers who combined farming and fighting.

At this point, the much-anticipated celebration banquet also began.

There were guards standing in front of the gate of the temporary palace in Jingzhou Prefecture, and the nearby streets had been completely blocked. Only the civil officials and military generals summoned from Huguang were allowed to enter and exit.

These garrison soldiers all came from the imperial camp led by Lin Changfu. Each of them was wearing shiny iron armor, a thick-backed sword on his waist, and an iron helmet with a long white tassel on his head, looking extremely majestic.

The courtyard of the temporary palace was now filled with civil servants from various prefectures in southern Huguang, as well as generals from Chuangying and Zuozhen. They almost all rushed to the courtyard to wait at dawn. The first few who arrived had been waiting for almost two hours.

Now, these civil servants and military generals were each working in their own camps, gathering in groups of three or five, exchanging news that they didn't even know whether it was true or false. Noisy conversations could be heard constantly in the courtyard.

Under Du Yinxi's rule, the civil servants in Huguang were less likely to fight for power, and those incompetent military generals were basically not reused. On the whole, the officials were in a harmonious state.

This was naturally influenced by Zhu Cilang's decentralization of power, especially during the extraordinary period of fighting between the two armies. Local governors and ministers not only held the power to appoint, dismiss and dispatch local officials, but also held the power of life and death.

Of course, these powers cannot be used casually. Under the Ming Dynasty system, powerful officials have no room to survive. But now, seeing that Du Yinxi is highly valued, a group of civil and military officials are eager to try, hoping to catch this opportunity and rise to prominence.

Li Guo and Gao Yigong also arrived at the courtyard of the temporary palace early. At this time, they were standing at the front of the team of generals, talking in low voices.

After all, they were previously the marquises of Dashun and the actual commanders of tens of thousands of soldiers of the Western Route Army. Now they are highly valued by Emperor Ming and cared for by Du Yinxi, so they can naturally represent the current military generals of Huguang.

However, the two of them felt very uncomfortable when they looked at Hao Yaoqi, Wang Jincai and others. In their eyes, these generals who rose to power during the chaos were tantamount to treason and were difficult to forgive.

Liu Tichun was of the same generation as Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and he was tactful and considerate in his actions, so he had a relatively harmonious relationship with the two of them. However, Hao Yaoqi and Wang Jincai were wholeheartedly loyal to the Ming Dynasty, so Li Guo and Gao Yigong dared not speak out.

However, the two of them could only not give them a good face!

"Your Majesty indeed intends to establish military farms in Changde, southern Jingzhou, and Chongqing. Du Yinxi should still be in charge of the military garrisons. However, the military garrison commanders and the officers of the peasant army are all our brothers. We just need to survey the land and determine the taxes."

Gao Yigong was standing on the right side of Li Guo and whispered:

"Also, from what Du Yinxi said, by then, there will be several government offices keeping an eye on those garrisons. Near Changde, they should also establish one or two large garrisons with over ten thousand people, and three or five medium-sized garrisons with several thousand people, in suitable terrain to ensure they have the strength to fight back if the Qing army attacks."

Li Guo seemed to have guessed this result long ago. After listening to Gao Yigong's words, he smiled slightly and said:

"Chongqing, Changde, and southern Jingzhou have been plagued by constant wars, and their farmland has long been severely damaged. Du Yinxi has also relocated a large number of people from there. There is no other solution except to fill in the families of our army and fully implement the garrison system.

His Majesty still trusts us. Although Du Yinxi is in charge of all aspects of civil affairs and has nothing to do with us on the surface, he actually uses our people."

Gao Yigong nodded and agreed:
"Right now, the most important matter for us is the construction of military garrisons. Without them, our army's families, food, civilians, and manpower for future campaigns will be affected, and our army will only become smaller and smaller. I'm afraid the imperial court won't be able to support us much in the short term."

Li Guo and Gao Yigong had no intention of becoming king or dominating the world. They and their generals had basically convinced themselves and were willing to become subjects of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Cilang treated these loyal ministers with both kindness and force, and demonstrated his absolute strength. Not to mention generals like Li Guo and Gao Yigong who had no intention of rebelling, even those who had rebellious intentions would not dare to act rashly.

Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongde and Liu Fangliang, several powerful figures who belonged to the Chuang Army camp, were also communicating closely at this time. They all wanted to be transferred to Jiangnan to form a new army.

However, seeing how Zhu Cilang was currently placing Li Guo, Gao Yigong and other troops, they were not worried about the future of their own troops and their families.

In fact, after inquiring for a period of time, they have basically figured out the status of the Palace Army, the Beijing Camp, the Left Army and other military units in the Ming Dynasty court.

Although the troops under the command of Li Guo, Gao Yigong and others were settled locally and had greater autonomy, they actually only belonged to the category of local border troops, which was the same as the status of Zuo Zhen.

Zuo Menggeng and Wang Jincai, who were assigned to the Beijing Camp, were at a higher level, but Tian Jianxiu keenly realized that the two would soon be sidelined. Their strength, especially the officers and veterans under them, were not worthy of the positions and troops given to them by Zhu Cilang.

But the Palace Army was different. This was Zhu Cilang's personal army. The newly established left and right armies were commanded by Chen Fu and Tian Jianxiu respectively. They had enough officers and veterans to quickly expand the army.

In fact, Chen Fu and Tian Jianxiu had already received orders from Zhu Cilang. The former began to prepare to promote officers, and Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongde, Liu Fangliang and others had also reorganized their troops. Some of their troops had even begun to withdraw to Changsha, preparing to transfer from the Liling-Pingxiang line to northern Jiangxi, and then take a boat into Jiangnan.

However, Hao Yaoqi, who now stayed in Huguang, was feeling much more depressed. He was complaining to Wu Jinxi about the unfair distribution of money and grain, and wanted the other party to say a few good words for him in front of Du Yinxi.

Although Hao Yaoqi was given a name, he quickly realized the situation during the "Battle of Jingzhou" and realized that his strength was no match for Zhu Cilang's appreciation.

In the original history, Hao Yaoqi was considered a capable fighter among the various Ming armies in Huguang, but in fact, it was still difficult for him to fight against the Eight Banners Army. Of course, he was more than enough to fight against the Ming army!
Now, Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Tian Jianxiu and others have regained their former status under the promotion of Zhu Cilang, while he and Liu Tichun, Wang Jincai and others have fallen back to the middle level.

Not only that, with the incorporation of Hao Yaoqi and Liu Tichun into the Huguang Ming army, more than 10,000 trained soldiers are being trained according to the requirements of the border army. More than 100 "officers" of the Palace Army who are responsible for guiding the training of new recruits have also been assigned to several major training camps in Changsha and Yuezhou.

Although these officers and newly stationed military law soldiers were nominally under the management of him, the general, they actually took orders from Zhu Cilang.

However, Zhu Cilang's original intention was not to use this to control the armies of Hao Yaoqi and Liu Tichun. He would withdraw these people immediately afterward.

The Qing army was about to arrive, and all his actions were just to improve the army's combat effectiveness. Under the current system of the Ming Dynasty, any army incorporated into the system actually had no possibility of rebellion.

"Your Majesty sent veterans to assist you in training, all in accordance with the requirements of the border troops. Your money and food supplies are also higher than those of the standard camps. What else is there to be dissatisfied with?"

Wu Jinxi was a little impatient. Liu Tichun was the general under his command, and he even had some conflicts with Hao Yaoqi. This changed his attitude towards Hao Yaoqi.

"Everything is subject to the overall situation. Your Majesty wants to train your troops to form a border force, but the court's finances are tight right now, so we can only focus on the front lines first. If the Qing army moves south, Jingzhou will bear the brunt of the attack, so Your Majesty has no choice but to strengthen the garrison there."

"Can"

Just as Hao Yaoqi was about to say something, a horn suddenly rang out from the inner courtyard of the temporary palace. In an instant, the previously bustling courtyard suddenly became quiet.

Immediately afterwards, Du Yinxi, Chen Fu, and Zhou Shixian came out and led the civil and military officials into the inner courtyard of the temporary palace. The atmosphere was unexpectedly not overly serious.

This is a celebration banquet after all. Although Zhu Cilang has to demonstrate the absolute authority of the emperor on ordinary days, now he has to show his lenient side and win people's hearts.

Many times, only by maintaining a balance between relaxation and tension, and combining kindness and strictness, can the best results be achieved!

The inner courtyard had been decorated by now, and the tables were filled with sumptuous food and wine, with an aroma that filled the air. The civil and military officials, who had been standing outside for half a day and whose stomachs were already rumbling, were drooling at the sight.

Zhu Cilang was wearing a dragon robe and sitting in the main seat. Behind him stood several majestic Jinyiwei, all of whom were tall and strong men. Dozens of fully armed imperial guards were guarding the inner courtyard.

Under the leadership of Du Yinxi, Chen Fu and Zhou Shixian, Wu Jinxi, Li Guo and other civil and military officials were on both sides. There were also many guards in the venue who were guiding the officials and generals who came in to find their respective seats. They were all arranged according to their official positions in a strict and orderly manner.

After these officials entered the inner courtyard of the temporary palace, they all shut their mouths. No one was talking to each other or whispering. The civil servants stood as straight as the generals. At this time, they all wanted to maintain their image in front of Zhu Cilang.

Although Zhu Cilang wanted to ease the atmosphere of the celebration banquet and show that he had an approachable side, his previous handling of Fu Shangrui and Hao Xiaozhong in northern Jiangxi, his ruthless style in the "Battle of Jingzhou", and his thundering methods in cracking down on the rebels, all made the ministers always nervous.

Looking at the ministers, Zhu Cilang slowly stood up, and the atmosphere below seemed to be stagnant for a moment. No one spoke, and no one moved. They were all waiting for the young emperor in front of them to speak.

As Zhou Shixian returned to Zhu Cilang's side, he stepped forward and shouted loudly. The officials below saluted Zhu Cilang at the same time. Zhu Cilang then said loudly:
"You are all loyal ministers and brave generals of the Ming Dynasty. I am hosting a banquet today to reward you for your heroic performance in resisting the Qing invaders over the past year. I believe that with the assistance of all these wise ministers and brave generals, the Ming Dynasty will surely be revived!"

(End of this chapter)