Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty
Chapter 145: Imperial Power
Chapter 145: Imperial Power
At the end of September, at the Yanziji Wharf of Guanyin Gate in Nanjing City, the triumphant Zhu Cilang met with the Nanjing officials who came to welcome him on the boat. After some greetings between the monarch and his subjects, he finally left only Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen, father and son.
Zhu Cilang sat at the imperial desk, flipping through the memorials in his hand. Zheng Zhilong, meanwhile, stood slightly stiffly before the desk, his back hunched and his hands clasped, his face etched with caution. Zheng Sen, dressed in military uniform, stood behind Zhu Cilang with a resolute expression. The boat's slight sway disturbed the father and son's minds.
"Mr. Zheng, you've kept me waiting for so long!" Zhu Cilang put down the memorial, smiled slightly, and then looked at Zheng Zhilong with a sharp gaze:
"Over the past two years, my decree has been sent to Fujian several times, and today I finally get to see Mr. Zheng!"
Zheng Zhilong was shocked when he heard this. He quickly bowed and replied nervously:
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I am old and frail, having been bedridden for years due to a serious illness. Furthermore, I am far away in Fujian, where the sea is unpredictable and the journey is long, which has delayed my journey. Whenever I receive your Majesty's edict, I cannot help but be moved to tears. I only regret that my disability prevents me from serving my country. I am loyal to your Majesty, and the sun and the moon can bear witness to my loyalty!"
After hearing this, Zhu Cilang smiled slightly, and said in a slightly softer tone:
"I know that Mr. Zheng has served the court in defending the southeastern sea borders, and has made great contributions. He is loyal to me, and I have no intention of neglecting him. I have summoned you to the capital again because I have important matters to discuss."
Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen, father and son, listened with extreme vigilance. Facing such a young and cunning emperor, they did not dare to slack off in the slightest.
Zhu Cilang paused, his tone suddenly becoming serious. He sighed and continued:
"The treasury is now empty, the Eastern Tartars occupy the north, and are eyeing the south. I wish to reorganize the government, build a strong army, and revitalize the Ming Dynasty. However, the transportation of money and grain, commercial taxes, and coinage are plagued by numerous problems. Overseas trade and the establishment of banks are urgent matters. Furthermore, there is no one available in the court, whether civil or military, so I must appoint your family."
After hearing this, Zheng Zhilong secretly groaned inwardly. Although he was extremely wealthy, he had always kept his distance from the imperial court's finances, which were a bottomless pit. The Zheng family's wealth was actually just a drop in the bucket compared to the imperial court's finances.
But now, Zhu Cilang suddenly brought it up, and even revealed his true intentions without hiding anything. Not only did he want to interfere in overseas trade, but he also wanted to set up a money house. It was clear that he wanted to confiscate the property!
"Your Majesty, I will..." Zheng Zhilong paused and spoke cautiously:
"I am only a soldier, crude and short-sighted, and I don't understand the ways of money and grain. I have only a vague understanding of trade. If Your Majesty needs me, I will do my best without any complaints. But regarding the bank, I am afraid..."
"You don't have to be so modest." Zhu Cilang interrupted him without any hesitation, his expression darkened, and he continued:
"I know the Zheng family controls most of the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade with Japan, Korea, and even Southeast Asia, and is incredibly powerful. If their business wasn't so large and they weren't short on manpower, why would they be working so hard day and night, to the point of becoming ill?"
"." Zheng Zhilong was speechless for a moment and did not dare to argue.
Zhu Cilang now has enough strength to deal with him, and he is completely at a disadvantage. Otherwise, he would not have waited obediently in Nanjing for more than two months and let his son assist Zhu Cilang with all his heart and soul.
Zhu Cilang looked at Zheng Zhilong's expression, paused, and said:
"Mr. Zheng, I understand your difficulties, and I will definitely not sit idly by. There are many merchants in Jiangnan who are engaged in overseas trade with Japan, Korea, and even Southeast Asia all year round. I have ordered the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of Revenue to gather them together. How to resolve Mr. Zheng's difficulties will be discussed in detail after everyone is gathered.
As for future cooperation between the various families, the imperial court will reorganize the Maritime Customs Office and unify its management. Currently, the Maritime Customs Office is short-staffed, and desperate times call for desperate measures. If the Zheng family has any sons with rich experience in overseas trade, I will directly decree an official position and they will take up the post immediately without the need for an imperial examination."
Zhu Cilang meant to redistribute the benefits of maritime trade. Zheng Zhilong listened and beads of sweat kept oozing from his forehead. He understood that Zhu Cilang was going to take action against his Zheng family.
But it is difficult to disobey the emperor's order, and what's more, the young emperor is now in the ascendant, so he dare not refuse easily.
At the same time, Zhu Cilang wanted to enthrone the children of the Zheng family to serve in the Maritime Customs. This was also a bribe to him, and it was exactly what he wanted. He had always dreamed of having the children of the Zheng family serve as officials in the court. He was even more delighted to hear that Zheng Sen led the Zheng family's navy to form the backbone of Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake.
Of course, all these gifts were priced at a price. Zhu Cilang now summoned Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen, father and son, separately to settle accounts with them, so as to prevent them from pretending to be ignorant of the truth.
And the official position is actually the greatest asset that Zhu Cilang can currently have.
Of course, since one can become an official directly without taking any exam, he will naturally be discriminated against by the other scholars taking the imperial examinations. But even if he is discriminated against and not treated well, he is still a legitimate official of the Ming Dynasty!
Moreover, this was exactly what Zhu Cilang needed to see. Since they were being discriminated against by traditional scholars, they could only cling tightly to the emperor's thighs. He intended to support most of the officials of the Maritime Customs Office, including the various maritime trade groups along the southeast coast, thereby formally incorporating them into the Ming system.
He needed these merchants and their fleets to transport food and troops for him, earn silver, and help set up the imperial bank. At the same time, he also wanted these people to listen to his lectures.
And Zhu Cilang only needed to pay with empty titles, just like he gathered tens of thousands of strong soldiers to break into the camp!
Many times, he couldn't help but sigh that he was more terrifying than a robber. Under the Ming Dynasty's system, as long as he used it properly, the whole world would be his private property.
This is imperial power!
"Your Majesty is wise," Zheng Zhilong pondered for a moment before finally answering, "I will do my utmost to cooperate with the court in regulating overseas trade. The Zheng family's merchant ships will also be fully requisitioned by the court."
"Good!" Zhu Cilang nodded with satisfaction and praised:
"I believe your family will be able to handle this matter. As for the silver earned from overseas trade, in order to evenly distribute the risks of going out to sea, I will have the established banks under unified management to ensure the interests of all families. Zheng Qing, rest assured that the court will formulate regulations to ensure that the management of the banks is fair and reasonable, and there will be absolutely no problems."
"Your Majesty." Zheng Zhilong could not sit still when he heard this and said anxiously.
But when the words came to his lips, he saw the look in Zhu Cilang's eyes and didn't dare to continue. He originally thought that the bank only wanted him to give a little silver every year as a token of his filial piety, but he didn't expect that they wanted to manage his money for him.
If the silver earned from this maritime trade really passed through the hands of the imperial court, it would be hard to say whether there would be any leftovers when it finally reached him. How could he not know what kind of people the Zhu family was, and what kind of people the officials of the imperial court were?
Seeing this, Zhu Cilang immediately threw another killer move at Zheng Zhilong, the minister who arrived late. He turned his head and looked at Zheng Sen beside him and said:
"Zheng Sen, your father is really getting old. He can't even speak straight. The sea is dangerous. How about you take charge of all the affairs of the Zheng family from now on and share your worries with me?"
Upon hearing this, Zheng Sen, as if prepared for it, immediately stepped forward to agree. He had long since grown tired of Zheng Zhilong's hesitant attitude. He deeply valued Zhu Cilang's trust in him and had also believed the promise he had made on his way back.
After hearing this, Zheng Zhilong became even more anxious. He immediately nodded and agreed to the money shop's matter.
The situation was pressing, his son had long since stopped standing on his side, and even his younger brother Zheng Hongkui had other ideas when he returned to Fujian after leading his troops north. Now he had no choice but to obey.
"Rest assured, Mr. Zheng. As long as you work diligently, the court will not mistreat you, nor will it mistreat the Zheng family." Zhu Cilang saw his concerns and said gently:
"The Zheng family's children are all talented. I really hope they can serve the court. The establishment of a money house, like the Maritime Customs Office, requires a lot of experienced talents. The court will naturally send officials to lead them, but they also need the support of the Zheng family.
However, I must also give other ambitious individuals more opportunities, whether it's the Maritime Customs Office or the Banks, otherwise people will accuse me of favoring the Zheng family."
After hearing this, Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen, father and son, immediately knelt down and expressed their gratitude in unison:
"Your Majesty, we thank you for your grace. Long live the Emperor!"
They understood that after Zhu Cilang wielded the big stick, he was giving them sweet rewards so that they could work for the court with peace of mind.
At the same time, the two of them were also very clear that whether it was overseas trade or the court's money house, if they wanted to set it up quickly, they actually couldn't do without the participation of the Zheng family. This was why they agreed so quickly after seeing the benefits.
Zhu Cilang does need them now, but he may not need them soon. The future status of the Zheng family depends on their choice.
After dealing with Zheng Zhilong, along with several imperial edicts coming from the dragon boat, the establishment of the Maritime Customs and the Imperial Money House was immediately put on the agenda.
Zhu Cilang quickly led his personal army and a group of civil and military officials who accompanied him off the ship. As soon as he returned to the Forbidden City in Nanjing, he immediately began to deal with the important matters that had accumulated over the past few months, especially his hungry harem.
He had to personally handle many things, not just the harem, but also the promotion of military commanders, the assessment of the imperial examinations, and the rewards that reflected the emperor's great favor and won people's hearts.
After returning to Nanjing, Zhu Cilang's work focus was still on the army, especially the Palace Front Central Army, Palace Front Left Army and Palace Front Right Army, which were being expanded and trained at this time, as well as the truly combat-capable "Wu"-branded Beijing Camp.
However, because he recruited a large number of remnants of the rebel army and even brought a large number of troops back to Nanjing, he not only employed these former rebels almost without restriction to form a personal army, but also formed a new camp in the Beijing camp mainly composed of the remnants of the rebel army. The court was already in an uproar.
At this time, not only ministers such as Shi Kefa and Ma Shiying, but also Li Banghua, Gao Hongtu, Lu Zhenfei, Lu Daqi and other self-proclaimed upright and honest ministers, and even He Tengjiao from Jiangxi, ignored the fact that the matter was already settled and wrote letters to persuade and remonstrate.
Zhu Cilang had previously taken the opportunity of inspecting Jiangxi and Huguang to avoid these old stubborn people. With the support of Du Yinxi and Wu Jinxi, he successfully completed the appeasement of the rebel army with almost no major obstacles.
If it were in Jiangnan, or even in Jiangxi, the food, wages and armaments of the armies of Li Guo, Gao Yigong, Hao Yongzhong, Liu Tichun and others would definitely not be distributed on time, and might even be delayed until the end and nothing would be done.
Zhu Cilang can keep an eye on them for a while, but he cannot do it all the time. If these bureaucrats communicate with each other and collude with each other, he will not even be able to find loopholes in the procedures.
But as the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cilang always had to face and resolve these so-called "disputes among traitors". He could delay such things for a while, but not forever.
However, during the time when he left Jiangnan and went to Jiangxi and Huguang, the political struggle in Nanjing did not stop at all, especially when the first imperial examination of the Dingwu Dynasty was launched, all parties tried their best.
During this process, Ma Shiying almost succeeded in sidelining Shi Kefa, but he was a man of sharp vision and immediately colluded with He Tengjiao, a commander-in-chief who was also a cabinet minister. He even wanted to contact Du Yinxi, but eventually discovered that they were not on the same page.
In addition to Shi Kefa, Gao Hongtu was also attacked by Ma Shiying. Seeing that the situation was not good, Lu Daqi defected to Li Banghua, which made Ma Shiying stop.
Of course, Ma Shiying's struggle for power and profit was not just for the sake of prestige, but also to take advantage of the opportunity of the imperial examination and the reorganization of various ministries and government offices to win over more of his own people.
Zhu Cilang actually did not have much hope for the first imperial examination of the new dynasty. Naturally, he wanted to win over talented people, but most of the people who passed the examination were not the talents he wanted.
To some extent, his goal was to win over the gentry and powerful families of various provinces to his side. While Ming control over the grassroots was still weak, he wanted to stabilize these bases so that he could better collect food and fodder to supply the army. To this end, he also opened up the "Cao Ju" system. However, if one failed the imperial examination, in order to take the "Cao Ju" route, it was necessary to directly donate silver for military pay. The financial crisis of the Dingwu court was also greatly alleviated in this process.
At the same time, all the ministers in the court also got their share of the profits. They turned a blind eye and even made efforts at critical moments by arranging their own trusted subordinates.
In this way, they could naturally continue to oppose Zhu Cilang's series of reforms in the army and even in civil and military affairs, but Zhu Cilang could also make different choices in personnel appointments and dismissals, causing the so-called power and prestige that any minister had worked hard to build to collapse in an instant.
Zhu Cilang has only been on the throne for over a year now. If nothing unexpected happens, he still has several decades of imperial career ahead of him. Many people want to be the sword in his hand, to take the blame for him, to suffer for him, and they are scrambling to pay their tribute.
This is the true imperial power!
But for Zhu Cilang, he did not just want to be an emperor who played power games. A considerable number of these old bureaucrats were to be eliminated by him in the future.
However, these drastic reforms can only be implemented after he has further consolidated his rule and gained greater prestige, otherwise it is very likely to backfire.
As Zhu Cilang criticized the officials who submitted memorials to advise him, the ministers who had originally strongly opposed him also stopped talking about the so-called "traitors".
Ma Shiying did not speak out at the beginning. When he saw that the situation was not good, he immediately turned around and began to praise "Your Majesty's Divine Power". This made those upright people who would never compromise for the sake of their so-called reputation feel very angry.
After getting rid of the entanglement of court officials, Zhu Cilang immediately devoted himself to preparations for the anti-Qing war. Intelligence from Central Plains, Shaanxi and other places continued to flow onto his desk.
At the same time, the construction of military garrisons and civil affairs in Jiangbei and other places, and the construction of weapons workshops in Jiangnan, have also achieved considerable results. The weapons workshops in Nanjing City, and the cotton clothing workshops in Suzhou, Songjiang and other provincial capitals, after the early production capacity ramp-up, produced military cotton clothing, which soon equipped nearly 50,000 elite troops of the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp.
The Ming Dynasty currently has huge investments in the civil affairs of the garrisons and weapons workshops. The Ministry of Households, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of War are all involved, especially in the construction of the garrisons.
The entire Jianghuai region is now densely populated with hundreds of military garrisons. The military garrison system established by Zhu Cilang to accommodate the families of the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp, as well as the people who migrated from all over the Central Plains, will effectively block the Qing army.
The Eight Banners' harassment and sabotage tactics, and the strategies derived from them, were actually, to a certain extent, only effective against the so-called "classical centralized empire."
After all, apart from the border troops in various places, the Ming Dynasty either did not retain any military forces in the local areas, or only retained very limited self-defense forces. In the 17th century, facing the Eight Banners Army, it had no ability to fight back at all.
In other words, the Qing army only needed to wait for the Ming Dynasty to mobilize its main national forces for a decisive battle, and then mobilize a more powerful mobile troop group to carry out a strategic encirclement and annihilation, so that they could destroy the Ming Dynasty's national defense forces in one fell swoop, and even shake the Ming Dynasty's ruling structure.
However, because the local military power of the "classical centralized empire" is often quite limited, destroying its border troops is equivalent to destroying its ruling structure, and it will be difficult for the local area to form any effective resistance afterwards.
During the six times that the Qing Dynasty entered the Great Wall, the Ming Dynasty actually did fight back. For example, in Datong, Shanxi, the Ming Dynasty relied on the terrain and fortresses to successfully inflict a considerable blow to the Eight Banners Army and achieved gratifying results.
However, the extremely intelligent Emperor Chongzhen and his ministers had no ability to summarize strategies and tactics, and even scoffed at the correct strategy of active defense.
After all, they believed the Ming army was unrivaled in combat power and could definitely defeat the Qing in a field battle. However, the result of every actual battle was always the same: defeat in a field battle, and even the battles to defend the cities in North China had unpredictable outcomes.
Zhu Cilang still has insufficient troops now. Due to the loss of Wuchang, a huge gap has appeared in the Yangtze River defense line. He must concentrate more than twice the superior force, including at least 50,000 to 60,000 elite field troops, to seek a real local counterattack.
Dorgon is not Dodo and is not that easy to deal with. Even if Ajige was also in the battle sequence to attack Huguang, he would face greater pressure.
Therefore, if Jiangbei was no longer the main battlefield, he would have to rely on these garrisons, the Yangtze River navy, and more than 10,000 field troops to achieve defense. The Qing army would then inevitably use small-scale forces to continuously invade and plunder Jiangbei, thus tying down his troops.
The fortified cities of each prefecture and the dispersed armed forces under centralized command in the garrisons are the key to restraining the Eight Banners.
You know, the small-scale, highly mobile elite cavalry can not only hardly gain a speed advantage over the equally small-scale, quick-responding, on-the-spot fortified peasant soldiers, but also lack the ability to quickly capture these fortresses.
The Eight Banners Army could certainly capture some of the fortresses, but the damage they would suffer would also be considerable, a price the Qing Dynasty could never afford.
In the West, the small-lord-style social structure of Western Europe and the tactics derived from it were able to severely torture the Ottoman Empire, which had a stronger offensive force than the Qing Dynasty at its peak.
Zhu Cilang's deployment was entirely prepared for the war in Huguang. His strategic foresight far exceeded that of others of that era.
At the same time, Li Banghua, Gao Hongtu and others took advantage of the adjustments made to various ministries and government offices to vigorously rectify the increasingly rampant corruption in Dingwu. In particular, the payment of taxes owed by local gentry and the establishment of new commercial tax collection stations at the ports of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal greatly increased the financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty.
After getting rid of the huge burden in the north, although the Dingwu court also expanded its army, Zhu Cilang was very frugal. After he ascended the throne, he did not repair the palace and kept all affairs, big or small, simple. Most of the royal family in the south were swept away by Zhang Xianzhong, and the financial burden was no longer as heavy as before.
After large-scale natural disasters ended one after another, the southern provinces began to recover. Workshop construction was carried out in various parts of Jiangnan, and government-run workshops were gradually reformed. Craftsmen were no longer requisitioned for free, and the income of many people increased as a result.
Not only that, the troops in training in various departments have implemented a monthly rotation of rest in batches, and the markets near the military camps have stockpiled a large amount of goods, waiting for these customers with the strongest purchasing power to patronize them.
This not only ensures the normal operation of the military, political and commercial systems in various places, but also prevents the military, the largest consumer group, from flooding into the market all at once, leading to large-scale supply shortages of goods in a short period of time, or even disorderly looting.
Zhu Cilang naturally hoped that the soldiers in each camp would spend all their military pay to help the market prosper and develop, and also make it easier for him to recover funds through the tax checkpoints spread across various ports.
Shops across the country naturally saw the changes in market demand and took the opportunity to raise prices.
Among them, the government-run trading companies, the main merchants near the military camp, were the most well-informed. Their stock of goods was much more abundant than that of private shops, and they took advantage of this opportunity to gain a firm foothold in the prime location outside the military camp.
Zhu Cilang also took this opportunity to send people to investigate the operational capabilities of these state-run "trading companies". These new institutions still need to be constantly adjusted in order to improve rules and regulations and patch up system loopholes during actual operation.
Although Li Banghua and the officials he trained were experienced and careful in their work, they still could not take everything into consideration, especially since the system of trading companies and shops in various places that had been built in a short period of time was huge and handled tens of thousands of dollars in goods every day. The temptation was too great.
No matter how they take precautions, many people can find ways to resell supplies, make a profit from the price difference, or even create accidents and embezzle money directly.
After all, accidents are inevitable when a boat is sailing on the river. In the past, this was called sinking, but it is a very normal thing!
Zhu Cilang did not have time to supervise and inspect these minor matters. He could only demand results and constantly put pressure on officials in the court to ensure that the finances were on the right track.
During this period, he was still busy with military affairs, not only the training and scheduling of the Palace Army and the Beijing Camp, but also the external situation.
Military intelligence from the Embroidered Uniform Guard continued to arrive. Zhu Cilang, along with his generals and the newly formed Five Military Commandery, based on this intelligence, continuously conducted battle simulations and formulated contingency plans for various situations.
Since the "Battle of Jingzhou", the Qing army has accelerated the speed of troop deployment. Not only Wuchang City, but also Xiangyang City had an Eight Banner Army stationed there in early September.
You must know that once Xiangyang is lost, the Qing army in Huguang will be very passive, and it will even be difficult to support Wuchang, and thus lose the strategic initiative on the Huguang battlefield.
However, because Zhu Cilang is now stationed in Jingzhou Prefecture, Yuezhou Prefecture and Jiujiang Prefecture, threatening both Wuchang and Xiangyang, and the main force of the Qing army is still resting in the north, Aljin, Tong Yanghe and others do not dare to act rashly at the moment.
Although they had a large number of cavalry, the few troops they had were not enough to control the entire Huguang battlefield. Once the strong troops stationed in Wuchang, Xiangyang and other places were gone, the city defenses would be useless.
In addition to the situation in Huguang, the Five Military Commandery invested the most energy in Jiangbei, especially the bridgehead Xuzhou, which was related to Zhu Cilang's next military action.
The Jinyiwei were deployed in more places such as Henan and Shandong, and their penetration was stronger. The Qing army's military deployment in these places and the commanders of each unit were basically under the control of the Ming army.
The generals of the Five Military Commanderies were all very clear about the Ming Dynasty's own strength in Jiangbei and the troops it could mobilize, which made it possible for them to deduce the situation.
At the same time, as the main officials of the Five Army Commandery, the generals of each army and camp also participated in situation simulation and discussion in batches at Zhu Cilang's request. Their military command and battlefield judgment capabilities still need to be improved, especially their ability to maneuver in the field.
Practice on the battlefield is undoubtedly the most important, but the cost is too high. Zhu Cilang hopes that the generals under his command can gain the necessary growth through sharing experiences with each other, which will reduce mistakes on the battlefield and save the lives of countless soldiers.
Moreover, the experience they accumulated through life-and-death battles on the battlefield should have been recorded in a systematic way, continuously improved and adjusted to form a system, and finally compiled into the military teaching materials of the "Military Academy" to prepare for the future mass training of officers.
The Five Military Commandery now only has a structure. Zhu Cilang needs them to make greater contributions on the battlefield in the future in order to further enhance the status and power of these generals in the court.
(End of this chapter)
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