The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 13 Preparing to Raid the House
As expected, Zhang Siwei didn't notice that there was no limit on the number of imperial edicts that could be revised.

This guy must have thought that the amount of food the court gave to the Beijing camp could only support that many people.

Wanli naturally had a way to get food and wages. What he needed were men and horses.

Around late afternoon, he heard that the cabinet had sent letters to the Ministry of War and the Five Military Commandery, and immediately summoned Liang Menglong and Qi Jiguang.

After the emperor and his subjects exchanged greetings, he solemnly asked, "Yuan Jing, you have three thousand elite soldiers under your command, right?"

He was referring to the Qi family army.

The Qi family army never had more than 10,000 soldiers, but they were a rare elite force and were particularly good at fighting. The thousands of Qi family soldiers killed more than 100,000 Japanese pirates.

Historically, in the Battle of Hunhe, 3,000 Qi's troops and 4,000 Sichuan soldiers fought a bloody battle with 50,000 to 60,000 elite Eight Banners troops for a day and a night. In the end, although the Qi's troops were completely wiped out and the Sichuan troops were also killed or wounded, the elite Eight Banners troops also suffered tens of thousands of casualties, and more than a dozen generals were killed in action.

You have to know that at that time the Later Jin had 40,000 cavalry.

This shows how terrifying the Qi family army's combat power was and how brave they were in battle.

However, there is nothing to brag about, at least not in front of the emperor.

It is called the Qi Family Army, which is almost like a private army. It is not a good thing for a general to have so many capable and battle-hardened private soldiers under his command.

Qi Jiguang said somewhat embarrassedly, "Yes, Your Majesty, I have three thousand personal soldiers under my command, and they are now in Jizhou Town."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "How is the current military strength of Jizhou Town?"

Qi Jiguang explained in detail, "I have trained 30,000 elite border troops in Jizhou. With my personal soldiers and 10,000 border troops guarding the Great Wall, Jizhou is safe. The other 20,000 can be deployed to support other border towns."

This guy is really good at training troops, and that's what he noticed.

Wanli nodded slightly and asked, "What does rotation training mean?"

Qi Jiguang explained in detail: "The meaning of rotation training is that the 30,000 troops are divided into three groups and trained in rotation, and each group only trains for four months.

This is equivalent to using the food and wages of 10,000 troops to train 30,000 troops, because when they are not training, they are all farming at home and do not need to be paid food and wages.

Originally, border troops all trained in this way, but it was too tiring for the commanders to train like this, as they had no rest for twelve months a year. Furthermore, there were many soldiers in the border troops who were not paid for their services, resulting in a shortage of soldiers. Therefore, few border commanders trained their troops in this way later on.

This is a good idea. As long as we can take back the farmland of the Beijing Garrison, we will only need three or four million taels a year to train more than 400,000 elite soldiers of the Beijing Garrison.

However, the military farms of the Beijing Garrison have almost been swallowed up, and to take them back they must also rely on force. Now is not the time to consider this.

Wanli thought about it carefully, and then said decisively: "Then you will transfer all 3,000 personal soldiers to the Beijing Camp to serve as squad leaders, sergeants and other low-level officers. First, you will train and select the existing soldiers in the Beijing Camp and see how many elite soldiers you can select.

After the existing Beijing garrison soldiers have finished their training and selection, you will transfer the Shandong Dusi's garrison guards to come for training and selection in turns. Don't make a big fuss, just paralyze them first."

All the Qi family soldiers served as low-level officers, and they also transferred Shandong Dusi Tunwei to supplement the troops?
I came from the Shandong Regional Military Commission, and His Majesty has great trust in me.

Qi Jiguang was deeply moved when he heard this and bowed repeatedly, saying, "I understand."

Wanli then asked solemnly, "This year we will conduct drills to select the best troops of the Beijing Camp to set up the four Shenji Camps and the four Shenshu Camps. Next year we will conduct drills to select the best troops of the Shandong Dusi Tuanwei to expand the Beijing Camp to 50,000. Is that a problem?"

There is so much time, so there is naturally no problem.

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem."

Wanli nodded slightly, then gave detailed instructions, "You must ensure the formation of the Fourth Battalion of the Divine Machine and the Fourth Battalion of the Divine Shu. After next year, the pace of training and selection will be accelerated. At least 10,000 elite garrison troops must be selected each month. We will strive to complete the eight regiments and battalions, and all the troops of the forty-eight garrisons within three years."

what?
You still have to complete eight regiments and forty-eight garrisons!
Upon hearing this, Liang Menglong cautiously reminded, "Your Majesty, the cabinet has only allocated food and wages for 50,000 troops. What should we do with the remaining 200,000 troops?"

How to do?
Confiscate the house!
These corrupt officials have plenty of money.

Historically, during the Chongzhen reign, the Little Ice Age had been raging for decades, and the Ming Dynasty had also been at war for decades. The land was barren and the people were living in dire straits. Yet, when Li Zicheng entered Beijing, he was able to seize property worth more than 70 million taels of silver from corrupt officials.

Now the Ming Dynasty is on the road to revival, and there is plenty of money. The corrupt officials must have embezzled more. Not to mention a lot, double it is no problem. That's 150 million taels.

They embezzled five or six million taels a year to serve as food and wages for more than 200,000 troops in the Beijing garrison, which could last for 20 to 30 years.

Even if he could only confiscate more than 70 million taels, it would take him more than ten years to confiscate. More than ten years would be enough for him to take everything back.

Wanli said loudly to the door directly: "Big companion."

Feng Bao entered, bowed, and asked, "What do you want, Your Majesty?" Wanli replied without hesitation, "Close the door."

what?
Feng Bao was stunned for a moment, then turned around and closed the door, then stood respectfully by the door with his hands hanging down.

Why is this guy so rigid?
Seeing this, Wanli waved helplessly and said, "Come over and talk."

Oh, you want to discuss something in secret.

Upon hearing this, Feng Bao hurriedly bent down and moved closer to the imperial desk.

Wanli then whispered, "Daban, arrange for your trusted confidants to dress in plain clothes and secretly investigate all the officials in the capital to see which officials are the most corrupt.

Remember, whether you're in office or retired, you must investigate. This year, you must uncover at least six million taels of dirty silver. Next year, I'll recruit some trusted censors for the Imperial and Palace Examinations. Once the 50,000 troops in the Beijing Army are nearly trained, we'll be ready to take action."

Does this mean they want to confiscate the house?
Feng Bao was stunned when he heard this.

Liang Menglong and Qi Jiguang were surprised to hear this.

Although this move is a bit cruel, it is also a good idea.

There are too many corrupt officials in the court now. To put it bluntly, as long as they have a little power, there is no need to investigate them. Nine out of ten times they are corrupt, it’s just a matter of how much.

Once this kind of atmosphere is formed in the officialdom, the dynasty will be close to destruction.

Everyone is greedy. They are greedy for money to build bridges and roads, greedy for money to maintain the canal, greedy for food and wages for border troops, greedy for money and food for disaster relief, greedy for everything. If they continue to be greedy like this, it would be strange if the dynasty did not perish.

Therefore, this trend must be stopped and corrupt officials must be severely punished. It is indeed a good idea to confiscate the money and grain from the homes of corrupt officials and use them as food and wages for the Beijing army.

Feng Bao naturally knew that this was a good idea.

The problem is that those corrupt officials will not sit still and wait for death. They will deal with anyone who wants to deal with them!
Zhang Juzheng was ready to take ruthless action to deal with corrupt officials.

As a result, he died!
They won’t do that to me too, will they?
No, I can't use my own confidants to check.

I have to let those guys know that this is the little emperor's idea, not mine.

Feng Bao was stunned for a long time before he said carefully, "Your Majesty, how about we send the secret guards to investigate?"

Secret guard?

Did the Ming Dynasty have secret guards?
Of course there were secret guards involved in all three major expeditions of Emperor Wanli.

It's just that there is no record in official history, it can only be seen in personal biographies

Luo Sigong participated in the three major expeditions of the Wanli Emperor with his secret guards and made great contributions, which led to his promotion step by step to the commander-in-chief of the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

This secret guard is actually more useful than the public Jinyiwei. After all, the Jinyiwei wearing flying fish uniforms are too conspicuous, making many things difficult to handle.

Wanli thought for a moment, then asked, "How many secret guards does the Jinyiwei have now, and who is in charge?"

Feng Bao said cautiously, "Your Majesty, we don't have much money or grain to recruit secret guards. Currently, the Jinyiwei secret guards only have about a thousand men, led by Captain Luo Sigong."

At this time, Luo Sigong was in charge of the secret guards?

However, this is not surprising. After all, the first of Wanli's three major expeditions, the Battle of Ningxia, would break out in a few years.

What can I say about Luo Sigong?

Wanli nodded slowly, then asked, "What is Luo Sigong's background?"

Feng Bao introduced in detail: "Luo Sigong is the great-nephew of Luo An, the commander of the Jinyiwei in the early Jiajing period. Because Luo An had no children, his father Luo Bingliang was demoted and inherited the title of Jinyiwei Qianhu.

In the fifth year of the Longqing reign, Luo Sigong passed the military examination and was selected as a regular captain, commanding the Jinyiwei secret guards. His wife, Zhao, was the eldest daughter of Zhao Mengyou, the commander-in-chief of the Jinyiwei.

This guy has such a strong background. He must have some ability to pass the martial arts exam. I just don't know if he can be used.

There are both good and bad evaluations of him in history, and there is no consensus. You have to meet this person in person.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "Okay, pass on my oral order and let Luo Sigong come to see me."

(End of this chapter)