Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 142: Promotion to a higher position
"Good generals Li Jin, Gao Yigong, Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongdi, Zhang Nai, Hao Yongzhong, Liu Tichun, Wang Jincai, etc., originally guarded the northwest. They admired the righteous lord, repented of their crimes and surrendered. They fought for thousands of miles and killed more than ten thousand enemies. This is what we can see.

When I rode alone into the camp, there were no fewer than tens of thousands of fierce and powerful soldiers. Wu, Chu, Qin and Jin were eager to swallow them up with their spirit. This is truly a powerful army that has fought in hundreds of battles. It has been left by heaven to help Your Majesty. It is a powerful and wise army.

Your Majesty is benevolent and virtuous, not wasting a single treasury levy, not killing a single soul. This has saved millions of lives in Hunan, and provided tens of thousands of elite troops for use. The revival of the Ming Dynasty is within reach!"

Du Yinxi personally read out Zhu Cilang's enthronement of the various units of the Chuang Army on the stage. His eyes were sharp, his face was dignified, and his voice was extremely loud.

Li Guo and Gao Yigong were respectively granted the titles of Marquis of Xingguo and Earl of Yiguo, and Li Guo was given the seal of the Dragon and Tiger General. At the same time, Li Guo was given the name "Li Chixin" and Gao Yigong was given the name "Gao Bizheng". Their troops were given the name "Zhongzheng Camp" and divided into the Left and Right Armies.

Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongde, Zhang Nai and others of the Chuangying Western Army were also granted titles of earl and vicar. Among them, Tian Jianxiu was granted the title of Earl of Protectorate the Country and was given the name "Tian Zhongming".

In this way, the positions and power hierarchy of tens of thousands of soldiers in the eastern and western armies were re-established, and the three armies of Hao Yaoqi, Liu Tichun and Wang Jincai were incorporated into the Ming army system.

Each of the Chuangying factions had made contributions of varying degrees in the Battle of Jingzhou, which gave Zhu Cilang ample reason to reward them and silence the civil officials. Among them, Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Tian Jianxiu and others were even given special rewards.

Du Yinxi, the governor of Huguang, was promoted to the title of Grand Secretary of the Dongge and Vice Minister of the Ministry of War because of his merits in recruiting and pacifying the rebels. He still commanded the army of Huguang. Zhu Cilang also allocated Chongqing, which originally belonged to the rule of Wang Yingxiong, to Huguang.

Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Hao Yaoqi, Liu Tichun, as well as the original governor's camp and Yuezhou militia, were also under his command. Wu Jinxi was newly appointed as the right deputy censor-in-chief to serve as a monitor and check and balance, and gradually withdrew from military command.

At the celebration banquet, each imperial edict of enthronement was read out with great solemnity, which made Zhu Cilang more majestic in the hearts of local officials, which was the influence he had always sought.

In Zhu Cilang's enthronement and rewards, he would personally review both civil officials and military generals to ensure that the power of appointment and dismissal of major local officials was firmly in his hands.

However, the ancient ship of the Ming Dynasty was too huge, and he could not repair and modify it completely at once. Most of the systems in Huguang still continued the old order, unlike Jiangnan, where many places had already begun reforms in full swing.

After all, Jiangnan has basically stabilized now, but Huguang is far from having experienced the test of a decisive battle, especially since the Ming Dynasty lacks strength in these places. Now that it has suddenly absorbed so many external forces, it needs a mature system to manage them to ensure that no problems arise.

Not to mention Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongde, Hao Yaoqi, Liu Tichun and other soldiers who broke into the camp, even Zuo Menggeng, Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shenghuan, Xu Yong and other left-wing generals all had their own selfish motives.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang actually used the same approach in Jiangxi. He Tengjiao held great power, while Zhejiang, Guangdong and Guangxi were far away from the front line, so he could start to make changes.

Afterwards, he bestowed generous rewards on the soldiers of each camp of the rebel army according to the size of their merits and the level of their official rank before and after the "Battle of Jingzhou". Although the amount of gold, silver and silk was not much, the rewards in terms of land and mansions far exceeded the soldiers' expectations.

Although many of these lands had been abandoned for more than two years, they were easily irrigated. Zhu Cilang also promised that the government would allocate oxen and farm tools, distribute seeds, and restore water conservancy during the autumn plowing season.

Under effective governance, the lands in Huguang, which had been developed for hundreds of years, soon became high-quality fertile farmland, and were naturally more abundant than those in the northwest.

After the announcement of the military rewards, the civil officials of the various prefectures in Huguang were basically commended and promoted. The civil and military officials in the inner courtyard knelt down and saluted Zhu Cilang, saying loudly:
"The Emperor has bestowed His Majesty's grace upon us, and we, the ministers, are powerless to repay him. We swear to serve him till death, to drive out the Tartar invaders, to restore our country, and to revive the Ming Dynasty!"

The shouts echoed in the inner courtyard of the temporary palace, and the atmosphere of the "celebration banquet" immediately reached a climax, warm and cheerful, with a group of civil and military officials drinking and chatting happily.

As Zhu Cilang completely changes the direction of the wheel of history and leads the Ming Dynasty into a new era, their future will become brighter and more ambitious!

After the "celebration banquet", the originally chaotic bureaucratic system of Huguang formally clarified its respective functions and affiliations, and the efficiency of the Ming Dynasty bureaucratic system also rapidly improved.

A strong and tight organization has always been the key to the ultimate victory of political and military actions. This time, Zhu Cilang incorporated the Chuang army into the Ming system, gained a large number of troops and population, and also made a large amount of land in Huguang that was abandoned due to war become valuable again.

Through adjustments to the military and political systems and the appointment of talented people, he ensured the balance of power among all parties under his rule in Huguang. Under the strict institutional constraints of the Ming Dynasty, no generals or officials had the opportunity to rebel, seize power, or establish their own regime.

Although the reorganization of Chuangying was not thorough, with the gradual separation of military power, financial power and personnel power, Du Yinxi, a powerful governor-general, was fully capable of integrating them together to ensure the efficiency of the entire system.

In the more than half a month after the "celebration banquet", the entire Huguang area under the Ming Dynasty was busy and prosperous.

Du Yinxi had already spent the previous year cultivating his own team, which was the key to his control over Huguang. After more than a year of adjustments and adjustments, the various prefectures and government offices quickly adapted to the new arrangements and situation, especially those officials assigned to Changde, Jingzhou, and Chongqing to manage the newly established military garrisons.

However, the importance of the garrison is great, involving the transportation and connection of money and grain from several prefectures. The interests involved, especially the existing conflicts of interest between the various government offices, make it inevitable to pass the buck.

But this has always been inevitable in the bloated bureaucratic system of the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Cilang and Du Yinxi had thought of it long ago. The issues of military farming and military food and wages have always been handled on a special basis.

At this time, the advantages of the centralized system came into play. Under the requirement of special handling of special matters, although there were still losses in some links or it was difficult to ensure smooth progress, in the end no one dared to delay too long.

Du Yinxi, Wu Jinxi and other civil officials continued to be in charge of various affairs such as civil affairs and taxation. The construction of military settlements in northwestern Hunan and Chongqing, as well as the collection of taxes and conscription of corvée in various prefectures, were not easy. It was especially difficult to obtain money and grain from local gentry.

Conflicts broke out constantly, and local provincial officials were not always able to resolve them. Often, Du Yinxi had to step in personally to suppress these gentry and wealthy families who had complex networks of relationships in the court.

However, despite various difficulties, the construction of military garrisons in Huguang, the restoration of water conservancy facilities, the construction of major official roads, the training of the army, and the construction of weapons workshops were all carried out one after another. The silver that had just been collected from the treasuries of various places in Huguang was quickly spent like water.

Fortunately, after Du Yinxi's governance, Hunan Province basically had a bumper harvest of grain in the summer and autumn that year. The increase in taxes based on land output greatly enhanced the financial strength of Huguang.

Under Du Yinxi's personal governance, in the past year, in order to improve agricultural production efficiency, local prefectures and cities have specially organized craftsmen and farmers, vigorously manufactured and promoted agricultural production equipment, and repaired a large number of water conservancy facilities. These have greatly improved the agricultural production efficiency in the Xiangjiang River Basin.

On the river banks of Changsha and Hengzhou prefectures, workshops are springing up one after another. Now that Du Yinxi has returned to the prefecture, he continues to deploy weapons workshops and mobilize local merchants to participate in the construction of cotton and linen textile workshops. Various water-powered machines are also being manufactured, waiting for the workshops to be officially completed.

In fact, all of these devices that increase productivity were manufactured by craftsmen from all over the Ming Dynasty. However, in the previous Ming Dynasty, the government was corrupt, and local officials not only did nothing but also imposed heavy taxes. As a result, the government never took actions that could increase productivity and combat natural disasters.

This tests the government's organizational ability. This is the key reason why Du Yinxi is a capable official.

According to Du Yinxi's plan, after the autumn harvest, both the new recruits and the farmers in the garrison would participate in the repair and restoration of the newly built water conservancy facilities to ensure that these huge projects were completed before the war began.

At the same time, new tax stations began to appear at key ferry crossings in Changsha, Xiangtan, Changde and other counties. They directly took over and incorporated the brokerage firms in various counties and began to collect commercial taxes in order to obtain the financial resources needed to support the army from the commercial trade in Huguang.

At this time, Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Helan, Liu Rukui, Ma Chongxi, Zhang Neng, Tian Hu, Yang Yanchang, Hao Yaoqi, Liu Tichun and other generals of each camp returned to their own camps.

Tian Jianxiu, Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zongde, Zhang Nai, Ma Jinzhong, Jin Shenghuan, Xu Yong, Li Guoying and others also began to pack up their troops and prepare to set off for northern Jiangxi.

The former will soon lead his army by boat to the south of the Yangtze River to replenish troops and train the army, while the latter will take over the army that has been trained for several months.

The attitudes and opinions of the generals in the Chuangying camp towards Zhu Cilang had undergone a drastic change at this time. Zhu Cilang's support and trust in the Chuangying camp were genuine. Apart from asking for the reorganization of the army, he did not play any tricks in private. All these won the trust of the generals in the Chuangying camp who were originally worried and concerned.

As the king of a country, Zhu Cilang simply disdained to play those conspiracies and tricks, nor did he think that relying on those conspiracies and tricks to weaken the Chuangying and form the so-called direct lineage could defeat the Qing army.

He Tengjiao has already walked this road and failed completely!
In fact, at this time, Zhu Cilang had his own personal army and had subdued Zuo Zhen. There was no need for him to engage in so-called conspiracies and intrigues and consume his political credibility.

Li Guo and Gao Yigong did not disappoint him. When Zhu Cilang was about to leave Jingzhou, they reported to Zhu Cilang in detail the defense deployment plan with Jingzhou as the core, from Nanzhang, Jingmenzhou to Jianli.

Not only that, the two also personally drew up several contingency plans to deal with the Qing army's surprise attacks and sieges, as well as plans to relocate the people in Chengtian Prefecture, Hanyang Prefecture, and the west of Jingzhou in the next few months.

After reporting to Zhu Cilang, Gao Yigong immediately led his troops to Chongqing, preparing to take over this strategic location that controls Sichuan and Huguang provinces.

He took away three battalions of the original Eastern Army, and after reorganization, the elite troops were close to 10,000. These elite soldiers were enough for him to subdue the local chieftains in Chongqing, and even eliminate those local chieftain forces that refused to cooperate and resisted stubbornly.

Of course, Gao Yigong would not immediately launch a comprehensive attack on those local chieftains who refused to cooperate. He would only punish the "typical" and "prime offenders" in order to gain the support of the lower classes. If those chieftain forts stubbornly resisted and the villagers did not wake up in time and welcome the imperial army, they would also be punished accordingly as a deterrent.

At such times, many problems cannot be solved without killing people and shedding blood. Once such a thing happens, all the chieftains will be exiled and will never be let off.

But judging from the original historical situation of Sun Kewang and others governing Yunnan and Guizhou, as long as Gao Yigong did not kill them all and even gave them food and silver, those chieftains and the lower-class people would not be willing to continue to be slaves.

To a certain extent, there was an irreconcilable contradiction between the Tusi people and the Tusi rulers. The Tusi's backward slave system was completely powerless against the Ming Dynasty's advanced feudal system.

Treating the people well and governing the local area are precisely Gao Yigong's strengths.

Gao Yigong's strength far exceeds that of Zeng Ying and others, and he also has the real support of Du Yinxi. Although Wang Yingxiong got the title of commander-in-chief, Zhu Cilang gave him almost nothing except this. Even his standard camp was organized by himself by spending all his family wealth and gathering villagers.

Although Zeng Ying was brave and daring in battle, he had to withdraw his troops and garrison in Qijiang in the face of the imperial edict and Gao Yigong, who was far stronger than himself. This even eased his relationship with Wang Yingxiong.

The troops under Wang Yingxiong's command were too mixed, and his authority came largely from Zhu Cilang. Naturally, there were many conflicts among his subordinates, such as Zeng Ying, Wang Xiang and other military leaders in Sichuan and Guizhou. There were even overt or covert conflicts between them and him, the governor of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.

Zhu Cilang sent Gao Yigong to guard Chongqing this time, in fact, he also wanted to help Wang Yingxiong solve this problem. As long as he could lead his generals to get promoted, make money, and achieve great achievements, these contradictions could be suppressed to a large extent, or even solved.

With Gao Yigong officially taking over Chongqing, Wang Yingxiong, after reorganizing the troops that had gathered in Zunyi, was ordered to rush to Changsha to meet Zhu Cilang.

As soon as Wang Yingxiong met Zhu Cilang, he immediately submitted a plan to recover and manage Sichuan. He had a large number of generals under his command who had been active in the local area for a long time, and Zhang Xianzhong had been defeated many times before. All these made Wang Yingxiong quite confident in recovering Sichuan.

Of course, the most crucial thing is his resistance to Gao Yigong taking away his credit. Sichuan was clearly under his jurisdiction, but now he was going to give up Chongqing, which he had recovered with great difficulty.

You must know that Zhang Xianzhong attacked everywhere and was defeated repeatedly, and he also offended most of the gentry in Sichuan. Now he is almost hiding in Chengdu and Baoning Prefectures.

It's not easy to find such a traitor who is on the decline!
Wang Yingxiong was also clear about the whole story of the "An She Rebellion". The place where he was gathering troops was facing difficulties in supplying food and grass, and many towns were almost deserted because of this rebellion.

Therefore, in Wang Yingxiong's view, Zhu Cilang's plan to transfer him to Yunnan to quell the chieftain rebellion was definitely a more thankless task than fighting Zhang Xianzhong.

Those chieftain soldiers are probably not easy to deal with!

At the same time, Wang Yingxiong was also very wary of the generals who broke into the camp. After he took office as the commander-in-chief, he had been fighting with Zhang Xianzhong. He hated the peasant army to the core. In his eyes, those soldiers who broke into the camp were also traitors.

Zhu Cilang was naturally very clear about this and understood the other party's feelings. As soon as he saw the so-called "Recovery Plan", he realized that Wang Yingxiong was expressing his dissatisfaction.

However, Zhu Cilang did not immediately reject this plan. He knew that Wang Yingxiong was eager to make a contribution and wanted to prove his strength by defeating Zhang Xianzhong and winning over the people.

But the Ming Dynasty's main enemy now is still the Qing Dynasty. Zhu Cilang is very clear about the strength of the troops under Wang Yingxiong. Even if Sichuan is recovered, it will not be able to stop the Qing army from advancing southward. In the process of recovering Sichuan, both sides will suffer losses, and the Qing army will take advantage of them in the end.

In fact, at this time, the Western Army, under the command of Zhang Xianzhong, had not fully utilized its strength. Except for Sun Kewang, who still had some victories, talented generals like Li Dingguo and Liu Wenxiu were defeated by a group of local Ming troops.

You know, in the original history, when Zhang Xianzhong led his troops north to Baoding and encountered the elite Eight Banners led by Hauge, Li Dingguo, Liu Wenxiu and others performed very well.

After the Dashi Army entered Yunnan and rested for a few years, under the deployment of Sun Kewang, the group of Ming army generals in Sichuan who had once defeated the Western Camp were no match for them. The same was true for several military leaders in Guizhou.

However, this is not surprising. Zhang Xianzhong's behavior at this time was completely unlike that of a normal person. The bizarre collapse of the Dashi Army was actually not surprising.

"Sichuan is certainly important, but what the court lacks most right now is money and food. Without silver, even if I want to build a strong army and provide relief to the people, it will be difficult to cook without rice!"

Zhu Cilang said this, then stood up, walked to Wang Yingxiong, helped him up and said solemnly:

"Fei Xiong, compared to Sichuan, compared to that Zhang Xianzhong who tied his own hands and feet and could no longer make any waves, Yunnan is the top priority for the future revival of our dynasty!"

But Wang Yingxiong had already inquired about it the moment he saw the imperial edict. The annual output of Yunnan copper was only tens of thousands of catties. Even if he could multiply it several times to one million catties, it would probably still be far from enough for the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, he did not think he had the ability to do so, otherwise the Ming Dynasty would have grown countless times in the past three hundred years. He was probably able to double the copper production in Yunnan within three years, which was probably the limit.

"But Gao Yigong is a bandit himself, and he's even familiar with Zhang Xianzhong. If I ask him to deal with Zhang Xianzhong, I'm afraid the two will secretly collude. If these two bandits become accomplices, the southwest will be in danger!"

"Gao Yigong is loyal, there's no need to worry about that." Zhu Cilang shook his head after hearing this, then added, "Chuang Xi and Zhang Xianzhong were never on good terms, so collusion is impossible. Even if Gao Yigong established himself, he would definitely not defect to Zhang Xianzhong."

"Your Majesty, don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be prepared for the worst!"

Wang Yingxiong still didn't want to go to Yunnan. In his opinion, this was clearly a promotion in name only and a demotion in reality, no different from being exiled to the frontier. Yunnan was a wild and desolate land where chieftains were rampant, and it was said that miasma was rampant. He never thought that this was a lucrative job given to him by Zhu Cilang.

"I think Your Majesty should send Gao Yigong to pacify the chieftains of Yunnan, using the bandits to control the barbarians. Even if Gao Yigong has rebellious intentions, he will definitely not be able to gain local support in Yunnan.

By then, the Tusi rebellion in Yunnan will be quelled, and the hidden danger of the bandits will be eliminated. That so-called Li Guo and Tian Jianxiu will no longer dare to harbor rebellious thoughts."

"Not Xiong." Zhu Cilang was about to say something else when he heard it, but was immediately interrupted by the excited Wang Yingxiong.

"Your Majesty, I have finally gathered a group of brave and patriotic men from Sichuan and Guizhou. They are all loyal to the Ming Dynasty. They are willing to fight against the rebels and serve the court, and they are not afraid of death."

Wang Yingxiong's tone was very excited, his neck stiffened, his face flushed, and he clasped his hands together and said:

"Now, they have fought bloody battles and finally repelled the Western bandits and stabilized the situation. But His Majesty suddenly wants to transfer them to Yunnan to encircle and suppress the Tusi. Many soldiers are saying, this..."

"What is this?" Zhu Cilang knew that was what Wang Yingxiong wanted to say, and his brows were tightly furrowed.

"They all say that Your Majesty is wasting his talents. They would rather die at the hands of the Western bandits than go to Yunnan!"

"A waste of talent?" Zhu Cilang looked at Wang Yingxiong and asked slowly, word by word.

Wang Yingxiong was a little surprised when he heard this. He originally thought that Zhu Cilang would give in if he used his soldiers to pressure him, but now it seems that it has no effect.

"Yes, the soldiers are angry. Yunnan is a wasteland with venomous snakes, ants and beasts everywhere. The soldiers are originally from Sichuan and Guizhou. They came to Yunnan as foreign troops. Naturally..."

"I understand!" Zhu Cilang sighed slightly, which made Wang Yingxiong shocked. When he came to Changsha, he had greeted Du Yinxi and knew that the young emperor in front of him was very opinionated and his methods were very cruel.

"The Ming soldiers thought I was going to banish them to a poor and barbaric land to suffer!"

"Your Majesty, I have not been strict in governing my subordinates." Wang Yingxiong understood the meaning of Zhu Cilang's words and was about to continue to quibble when Zhu Cilang waved his hand to stop him.

"Not only the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, but even you, Lord Wang, think so, right or not?" Zhu Cilang looked at Wang Yingxiong coldly and asked meaningfully.

(End of this chapter)