Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 140: Separation of military and politics, the civil servants are worse than dogs!
The Western Garden is not only the royal garden, but also the most tranquil place for the present emperor to take pictures.

Except for the cabinet ministers on duty in Zhilu, no one, whether royal relatives or internal and external officials, were allowed to set foot into the West Garden Gate without the emperor's summons.

At three quarters past ten in the evening, under the starlight of late autumn, Hu Zongxian entered the West Garden Gate and held his first dialogue between the emperor and his ministers since becoming a cabinet minister.

In Yuxi Palace, the emperor was still as elegant as ever, sitting on the throne, gazing at the person who was coming to see him with sparkling eyes.

Hu Zongxian cheered up and stepped forward to kowtow.

"Be flat!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"Give me a embroidery cushion!"

There was no flawless etiquette between the emperor and his subjects. Hu Zongxian did not want to sit on the embroidered cushion brought by Huang Jin, the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department. However, after hearing Huang Jin's persuasion that "all ministers have this courtesy", he half-squatted and half-sat down and sat down after thanking the emperor.

"Mr. Hu, I watched the Southeastern War to Eliminate the Japanese again."

Upon seeing Hu Zongxian, Zhu Houcong whispered in a gentle tone, "You want to die for your country, why do you have to do this?"

Hu Zongxian was able to leave his close followers behind and fight against three real Japanese alone. While he was on the island, he never thought of returning to the court alive.

"I am stupid." Hu Zongxian admitted his mistake.

He was not used to the emperor's kind and gentle tone of voice today, nor could he figure out what the emperor was thinking, so he admitted his mistake frankly.

This foolishly loyal and filial person lost his parents and his mentor in his early years. The only people he can be loyal and filial to are the emperor and father of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Houcong sighed, "That's all."

Seeing that Hu Zongxian was able to wake up and no longer have the intention of deliberately committing suicide, and was able to continue working for the country and the people, those annoying things are no longer mentioned.

Zhu Houcong took out the memorial submitted by Hu Zongxian on his way to Beijing and said, "I have thought about it again and again and agree to what you requested."

"Your Majesty is saying that separation of military and politics is feasible?" Hu Zongxian couldn't believe his ears and asked deliberately, as if to verify, and as if to express his surprise and excitement.

Zhu Houcong did not answer, but asked Huang Jin to take the memorial and pass it to Hu Zongxian.

Opening the memorial, the words "照准" written in red by the emperor and the imperial seal were clearly seen on it.

China has a long history of thousands of years.

The boundary between the imperial court and the military had never been clearly defined, and it was common for civil officials to command troops and military generals to ride in sedan chairs.

Especially in the Song Dynasty and the current Ming Dynasty, there were too many cases of civil officials suppressing military generals and interfering in military power.

Although the Ming Dynasty had a noble class before, with many hereditary dukes, marquises, and earls, they were similar to the mascots of the dynasty.

The military generals were overwhelmed by the civil officials and censors whose ranks were far below their own.

But there is no way to do this. The Tang Dynasty had good cooperation between civil and military officials. In the last years, there were many warlords and local separatist regimes. The situation that the literati were worse than dogs scared the literati of later generations.

The Song Dynasty was established by threatening orphans and widows with force, so the emperor was very wary of those who held heavy military power and was always worried about the possibility of self-proclaimed emperorship. In the Ming Dynasty, there was also Emperor Chengzu Wen, who seized the throne from his nephew as a prince, and the number of personal guards of the princes was strictly limited.

It can be said that the Ming Dynasty eliminated the possibility of anyone rebelling or succeeding except the common people.

Using culture to control military power is a typical example of an amateur guiding an expert. Over the past one or two hundred years, the Ming Dynasty's military power had declined, and it had reached a point where it had to be resolved.

In his memorial, Hu Zongxian described in detail the various chaos that occurred in the southeastern army. There was no need to talk about matters such as marching and deployment, as they could always be trained after having a full stomach.

However, the extent of empty pay in the Ming Dynasty army had reached a terrifying level.

According to the military register of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty, the army in the entire southeast had a strength of up to 300,000.

In fact, there are 100,000 people who do not exist, there are 100,000 old, weak, sick and disabled people, and there are only about 100,000 people who can truly become combat forces.

In an army, more than 60% of its troops cannot be converted into combat power, and even become a burden.

This is not the worst thing. The problem with armaments is simply beyond words.

In order to prevent mutinies and camp bombings, the Ming Dynasty's military equipment was strictly controlled. It can almost be said that before the real battle came, the soldiers had no chance to touch real swords or guns, let alone muskets and artillery, which were highly lethal.

Many soldiers, going to the battlefield for the first time, didn't even know how to use a musket or load a cannon. They tried to learn on the spot, but it was no use as good as two fire sticks.

Moreover, the people who manage the arsenal are not military officers, but civil officials who lead their cronies and relatives who have no knowledge of military equipment maintenance and use backdoors to manage it.

It is perfectly normal for gunpowder to become ineffective due to moisture, for old and new muskets to be stacked on top of each other, and for swords, spears, and halberds to rust.

The most hateful thing is that the civil servants in charge of the armory, facing the surging military situation, actually pointed at the rusty swords and said that rusty weapons were more likely to kill people.

Hu Zongxian wanted to kill that civil servant. Everyone knows that once rust has entered the body, even gods cannot save it. But you have to use a knife that can hit people. How can you use a rusty and blunt knife to hit people?
Besides, the battlefield is a place where effective killing is pursued. If you can't kill me with one knife, I can knock you down with one gun.

If you can’t kill any enemies on the battlefield, what’s the point of killing many enemies after the war?
With such military and political chaos, this is definitely not the path for the Ming Dynasty to prosper, but will only lead to its destruction.

Hu Zongxian never thought that the emperor would agree to the separation of military and politics so easily. Didn't he worry at all that the border generals would become independent?
Although Zhu Houcong could say such lofty words as "If the king does not doubt his subjects, the subjects will not betray the king", he just shook his head.

If it weren't for the three great divine titles and the Thirty-Six Heavenly Powers, he might not have made up his mind to implement such a risky method of separating the military and politics to strengthen the army.

But it was because of his divine title and supernatural powers that he was able to let the Ming Dynasty generals display their military talents, and when a warlord appeared, he could strike down the damn rebel with lightning in one day.

There is no need to tell Hu Zongxian about this, and Hu Zongxian does not need to know about it.

Hu Zongxian, who had no idea of ​​the emperor's confidence, was moved beyond words.

Zhu Houcong had already thought it over and said slowly: "The separation of military and politics is by no means a simple withdrawal of civilian officials from the army. The army must have its own system. Who will be in charge of whom in infantry, cavalry, and naval warfare, or will they be in charge of their own affairs? Who will command the integrated army, and how will they cooperate with each other? If the military is separated from the court, who will be responsible for the military's logistics and weapons? What should the relationship between the military and the local government be like?

I agree to the separation of the military and the government, but I do not agree to the separation without any consideration. When you return to the cabinet, discuss with Zhang Juzheng and others a reasonable separation method and then present it to me. "

"Let me make proper preparations." Hu Zongxian agreed immediately.

(End of this chapter)