How can one be Emperor Chongzhen without money?

Chapter 91 The Beijing Garrison Soldiers Are Laid Off (Eleventh Update)
February 7th, the first year of the Chongzhen reign (1644), Yihai Hall, Tsinghua Garden.

The room was warm from the underfloor heating, but Grand Secretary Huang Liji was sweating. He was with several other ministers, as well as Zhang Zhiji, the heir of the Duke of Yingguo who was in charge of the Beijing Garrison, and Li Banghua, the Vice Minister of War who was also in charge of the Beijing Garrison, earnestly persuading the Emperor to return to the palace.

“Your Majesty,” Huang Liji bowed, his voice cautious, “outside the Xuanda border wall, the Chahan tribe has fled far away, and the Kharachin and Jiannu are relatively well-behaved in Kuanhe and Daning. Sun Zushou reported that the first batch of funds for the construction of the Lianghekou city has arrived, and construction will begin soon. At present… the border situation is temporarily stable, and Your Majesty has been stationed outside the city for nearly two months, achieving the purpose of your personal expedition. Furthermore, the imperial examination is imminent, and thousands of candidates will gather in the capital. If Your Majesty continues to reside in the garden, it may be inconvenient for the palace examination ceremony…”

He went on and on about a lot of principles, but the central idea was just one thing: Your Majesty, you should go back to the Forbidden City.

Emperor Chongzhen listened silently, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the rosewood armrest.

After Huang Lijie finished speaking, he stole a glance at the emperor's expression, his heart pounding. This emperor's thoughts were becoming increasingly difficult to fathom.

Suddenly, Chongzhen stopped knocking and looked past the Grand Secretaries, landing on Zhang Zhiji and Li Banghua.

"Zhang Qing, Li Qing."

Zhang Zhiji was startled and quickly stepped forward, bowing: "Your subject is here!"

Li Banghua followed suit, saying, "Your subject is here."

"How is the reorganization of the Beijing Garrison going?" Chongzhen's voice was not loud, but it sent a chill down Zhang Zhiji's spine.

Zhang Zhiji forced a smile and replied, "Your Majesty, the initial count of the Beijing Garrison's personnel has been completed, and there are... there are over 40,000 combat-ready soldiers." Even as he reported this number, he was unsure of his own strength. This 40,000 figure included all those who could be brought in to make up the numbers.

Li Banghua added from the side, "Your Majesty, we are currently intensifying training, weeding out the weak and keeping the strong, in order to form an army as soon as possible."

Chongzhen seemed not to have heard the second half of Li Banghua's sentence, and only grasped the first half, asking, "Intensify the training? Then I suppose... they are all training in the camp right now?"

Sweat immediately broke out on Zhang Zhiji's forehead, trickling down his temples. "Yes...yes..." he stammered, his voice dry, almost forced out of his throat.

"Good!" Chongzhen suddenly stood up. "Hearing is believing, seeing is believing. I want to see my elite troops with my own eyes! Prepare the Five Armies Camp!"

He paused, then said in an unquestionable tone, "Issue an imperial decree ordering all troops of the Three Thousand Battalion and the Divine Machine Battalion, as well as the guards at all the city gates of the capital, to immediately proceed to the Five Armies Camp's Grand Parade Ground! I want to review the troops!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhiji's head went blank, and he thought to himself, "It's all over!"

As the governor-general of the Beijing garrison, he went to great lengths, making advance notice and offering incentives several days in advance, just to barely muster 40,000 men. To expect these pampered old men to spend every day training in the southern camp? Pure fantasy!
Eight or nine out of ten soldiers in the Beijing garrison had other jobs. Serving as a soldier and receiving a salary was a side job; carrying loads, serving as waiters, and doing small business were their main occupations. Only the few thousand personal guards and soldiers under the command of each general were there to make a show of things.

Now the emperor wants to inspect 40,000 people immediately. Even if you put a knife to his throat, he can't conjure them up!
Zhang Zhiji was extremely anxious when Li Banghua suddenly spoke up: "Your Majesty, it might be inconvenient to summon all the soldiers of the Beijing Garrison to the Five Armies Camp at this moment."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhiji grasped at a straw and quickly echoed, "Yes, Your Majesty, in such haste, it may be difficult to complete everything..."

He was still grateful to Li Banghua for helping him out of the predicament, but unexpectedly Li Banghua changed the subject and said, "There are sixteen city gates in the capital, nine inside and seven outside, and they are all currently guarded by soldiers from the Five Armies. If they are all transferred to the south city, the city gates will be undefended, and if something happens, it could lead to a major disaster."

Zhang Zhiji shuddered upon hearing this and abruptly looked up at Li Banghua.

Li Banghua wasn't trying to defuse the situation at all; he was offering himself up! He wanted to be Li Xianzhong! These words clearly exposed the true nature of the Beijing garrison!
Sure enough, Chongzhen immediately followed up on his words, saying, "Minister Li's concerns are absolutely correct. This is easy to handle!"

He swept his gaze across the area and said, "Li Banghua, Xu Qinian, this matter is entrusted to you two. Deploy the Imperial Guards to immediately take over the defense of all the city gates of the capital! The soldiers guarding the gates of the Five Armies Camp, assemble at the Five Armies Camp's parade ground immediately!"

"Your subject obeys the decree!" Li Banghua and the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Guards beside him immediately bowed and accepted the order.

Zhang Zhiji's vision went black, and his heart sank completely.

The defense of Beijing's sixteen gates was handed over so easily! From then on, the Beijing Garrison lost even its last bit of real power—guarding the city gates.

His Majesty is about to take serious action against the Beijing Garrison!

At midday, the sun hung high in the sky, but it wasn't very hot.

The Fifth Army Battalion's drill ground in southern Beijing was a scene of utter desolation. The flags at the gate were faded and hung crookedly. Many of the barracks along the drill ground were damaged, and the ground itself was uneven and full of potholes.

At this moment, the dilapidated training ground was in complete chaos, like a pot of boiling porridge.

Zhang Zhiji rushed back ahead of time, his voice hoarse from shouting. His retainers and servants ran around, kicking and punching, desperately trying to gather the scattered soldiers who had arrived.

"Quick! Line up!"

"You! Put on your prison uniform! What kind of appearance is this!"

"Hey you over there! Stop dawdling! The Emperor is almost here!"

No matter how much he shouted, the number of people gathered on the training ground remained sparse. He couldn't even muster 10,000, let alone 40,000.

Moreover, these fewer than ten thousand people looked barely better off than beggars. Only half of them were dressed in tattered, worn-out battle jackets or uniforms; the other half were practically a scene from a painting of all trades in the capital.
Some were dressed in short-sleeved shirts, some wore greasy aprons like cooks, some were dressed in long gowns like accountants, some were dressed in coarse cloth like porters, and there were even a few with slicked-back hair and carrying birdcages, looking exactly like street thugs. These people had just been urgently summoned from all corners of Beijing's outer city, and each of them looked unwilling, asking each other what had happened. The scene was as noisy as a market.

Zhang Zhiji was so anxious that he was jumping up and down, and he was directing his servants to quickly distribute clothes to those who were not wearing uniforms, trying to make them look presentable.

Just then, a series of deep, rhythmic footsteps and the clanging of armor plates came from outside the gate.

Everyone instinctively looked up.

A troop of soldiers, their armor gleaming and their bearing impeccable, escorting a bright yellow dragon flag, had arrived at the gate of the camp!

The lead knight held aloft a ivory plaque and shouted in a loud voice, "The Emperor has arrived! Welcome!"

Zhang Zhiji's mind went blank for a moment, and his face turned deathly pale.

His Majesty... has arrived!
Under the strict protection of two thousand imperial guards and two thousand elite elite guards, Emperor Chongzhen rode a tall horse and slowly entered the Great Parade Ground of the Five Armies Camp.

He remained expressionless, his gaze sweeping over the chaotic scene before him, a landscape resembling a disaster relief evacuation.

He saw the sparse "soldiers" on the drill ground, their varied clothing, their panicked and pathetic state, and how they couldn't even stand in neat formation.

The imperial guards protecting the emperor all had stern faces, their hands on their sword hilts, their eyes filled with disdain. In comparison, the capital garrison was simply a rabble.

Emperor Chongzhen reined in his horse and watched quietly for a long time.

The entire drill ground gradually quieted down, leaving only the sound of the cold wind whistling through the tattered flags and the heavy breathing of some soldiers due to tension.

Zhang Zhiji scrambled to the emperor's carriage, knelt down with a thud, buried his head deep in his hands, and trembled like a leaf in the wind.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... I deserve ten thousand deaths..."

Emperor Chongzhen shifted his gaze from Zhang Zhiji to the terrified soldiers on the drill ground, showing no sign of anger.

He already knew what kind of people the Beijing Garrison was. Last time, when he was Emperor Chongzhen, wasn't he tricked into "climbing a tree" by these book soldiers?

So after returning to the role of Emperor Chongzhen, he made up his mind to let these old men of the Beijing garrison know what it meant to be "laid off"!

With 1.6 to 1.7 million taels of silver and 600,000 to 700,000 shi of grain a year, it would be enough to support 50,000 "household servants".

If he had 50,000 "household servants," he would never have needed to "climb a tree"!
Thinking of this, Chongzhen said in a gentle and low voice, "Get up, all of you. I know that many of you have your own livelihoods, and this salary is just a subsidy from the court."

Upon hearing this, many soldiers below were stunned, secretly raising their heads to look at the emperor in disbelief.

Chongzhen continued, "I can overlook what happened in the past. But now, the Jurchens are eyeing us covetously in the east, and the Chahar are spying on our borders in the north. Soldiers are here to serve and earn their living, to defend our country, and to fight for our lives with real swords and spears! I don't think you look like you're capable of fighting for your lives!"

He paused, then raised his voice slightly: "Today, I will give you two paths."

"Those who want to stay, stand on the left! From now on, focus on being a soldier. I will provide you with ample food and pay, but you must train like your lives depend on it! If you train well, you must be prepared to sacrifice your lives for your country in the event of war!"

"Those who don't want to do it, or those who think they can't endure this hardship or bear this fate, I won't blame you! Stand on the right! Each of you will receive a severance payment of five taels of silver, to be distributed on the spot today! After receiving the silver, go back and do your business in peace. The court is now even with you!"

There is no N+1. There are at least 40,000 soldiers in the Beijing garrison that we can actually muster. If we were to issue N+1, even a million wouldn't be enough to cover the cost of five taels per person, and we would have to spend more than 200,000.

Of course, Chongzhen wasn't afraid that his subordinates wouldn't resign—if they didn't resign, then they would go to the battlefield!

"Whether you stay or leave, the choice is yours! Let's begin!"

After saying this, Chongzhen remained silent, sitting upright on his horse, observing the situation.

The drill ground was initially deathly silent, then erupted into a cacophony of noise.

The soldiers looked at each other, whispering among themselves, their faces filled with surprise and uncertainty.

Five taels of silver! That's not too little; enough for a small family to eat for several months!
Almost without hesitation, the vast majority of people began to stagger and scramble to the right. Cooks, waiters, accountants, porters, thugs... they hadn't come to be soldiers in the first place, and now that they had the chance to take the money and leave, almost no one wanted to stay.

Only a few scattered individuals, originally servants of military officers or those with no other options, hesitated and stood sparsely on the left, their numbers appearing to be less than three thousand.

Zhang Zhiji knelt on the ground, stealing glances at the scene that was clearly divided and almost one-sided. His face burned, but he felt inexplicably relieved.

He was finally relieved of the blame for the Beijing garrison's actions.
(End of this chapter)