Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Logically speaking, Zhang Shikang held military power and supervisory authority, so he should have avoided domestic affairs as much as possible.

But for Brother Chongzhen, it seems that there is no reason to talk.

Zhang Shikang was generally not very confident in Chongzhen's ability to judge people, so he just asked casually.

"Li Banghua, Ni Yuanlu, and Fan Jingwen, these three have been idle in Beijing for quite some time since they were dismissed from their posts. I plan to promote these three to the cabinet.

Plus you.”

After dismissing Zheng Sanjun and others, Emperor Chongzhen had already drawn up the candidates for cabinet ministers.

According to normal procedures, cabinet ministers are recommended by officials, a shortlist is drawn up, and finally the emperor makes the selection.

But now all the civil and military officials in the court are against him because of the tax reform. It doesn't take much to know that the civil servants will definitely not agree, and perhaps officials will continue to resign during this period.

This actually saved a lot of trouble. If they didn't recommend anyone, Emperor Chongzhen would promote him himself.

When Zhang Shikang heard that he would also join the cabinet, he was too lazy to refute. He could not clear himself of the label of a powerful official, so he might as well give up.

Just take the position if your brother asks you to. After the matter is done, he can resign from all positions.

"Your Majesty will take your orders, but Eunuch Fang, time is running out, and the Eastern Investigation Bureau must recruit personnel as soon as possible to get things on track.

You may only have half a month, or even less, to recruit people with clean family backgrounds."

"I obey your command. The East Factory's foundation is still there, and many of its old veterans are still alive. In half a month, I can organize 10,000 East Factory men." Fang Zhenghua promised.

As long as we can contact the original middle-level key personnel, with these people around, the basic training work will be much easier to carry out.

As for the most basic militiamen, they are even easier to recruit. Nowadays, the entire Shuntian Prefecture and even the entire Ming Dynasty are full of people who are not getting enough food.

In short, as long as you have money, many problems will no longer be problems.

After discussing the matter, the emperor and his minister chatted for a while, and then Zhang Shikang said goodbye and left the Qianqing Palace.

It was still early, so he first went back to the Xishan camp and informed Sun Weifan about the expansion of the Beijing camp.

The entire conscription task was also given to him. The expansion from 40,000 to 80,000 soldiers required barracks, food, uniforms, weapons and armor. Zhang Shikang got a headache just thinking about it.

Sun Weifan also had a headache, but fortunately he had Wen Bangguo as his deputy, so Zhang Shikang naturally agreed to this proposal.

As long as he was not asked to come in person, Zhang Shikang would agree wholeheartedly.

Zhang Shikang simply instructed that the ratio of the firearms battalion in the entire army must not be less than 30%, and then hurriedly left the Xishan camp.

By mid-afternoon, the emperor's edict had already reached the Jinyiwei Yamen, and Zhang Shikang, as the new commander, had to go there.

At this time, the Jinyiwei Yamen had basically lost its glory, and the plaque on the yamen was covered with dust.

Zhang Shikang first checked the roster of all the Jinyiwei members. Including officials, there were more than 4,600 people on the roster of Jinyiwei.

Nearly half of them are scattered across the country, and the remaining more than 2,000 are in the capital. However, among these more than 2,000 people, more than 1,000 are not involved in supervision.

This group of people all have very cool titles, such as General Da Han, General Mingjia, Strongman, Colonel, etc. In fact, they are palace guards who serve as the guard of honor when the emperor leaves the palace.

In other words, apart from this group of people, Zhang Shikang can only directly mobilize a thousand people in the capital, which is obviously not enough.

But as I said, as long as you have money, many problems will no longer be problems.

He summoned the main officials of the Jinyiwei in Beijing, and in front of everyone, dismissed two deputy commanders and one deputy commander from their posts on the grounds that they had committed many illegal acts during their tenure.

The Commander-in-Chief and the Commander-in-Chief were almost equivalent to the second and third in command of the Jinyiwei.

There were two main reasons why Zhang Shikang was so decisive. First, the previous commander was close to the Donglin Party, and the senior officials designated were not much better, so there was a lack of basis for trust.

Secondly, the vacancy of so many senior positions is good news for the people below, as it can increase the enthusiasm of the officials to do their work.

“I think you have all heard about what kind of person I am.

As supervisory personnel, you must have heard about what happened in the court today.

Apart from these few people, if there are others who have different opinions and resign voluntarily, I will not punish them.

But if I find out that he is disloyal in the future, I will kill all his clans." Zhang Shikang said, looking around at this group of unfamiliar new subordinates.

The Jinyiwei were responsible for supervision, and they were aware of any disturbances in the capital. No one knew Zhang Shikang's military achievements, power, and the important task of the emperor better than them.

These officials all knew that Zhang Shikang was not exaggerating. If the emperor really wanted to kill their three clans, he would never object.

After three breaths, no one stood up to resign.

"Well, in that case, I will just trust you all and you are all on His Majesty's side.

But this alone is not enough, you also need to prove your ability and your loyalty through practical actions.

Let's just practice with them, oh, and Luo Yangxing."

Zhang Shikang said that more than a dozen middle and low-level officials were confused.

"How much money did Luo Yangxing embezzle? Are these Tongzhi and Qianshi all good citizens?

I want solid evidence of their crimes. The laws of the Ming Dynasty are clear, right?

"I don't need to say more about how to deal with the evidence of guilt, right?"

Luo Yangxing was greedy by nature, and the Tongzhi and Qianshi he promoted would definitely not be honest people.

Of course, Zhang Shikang wanted to use this incident to identify the loyalty and treachery of his subordinates, and at the same time test their work efficiency.

"Sir, there is no need to investigate. I have evidence of these people's crimes, and they have all testified." Xing Fangjun, the pacification envoy of the Southern Pacification Division, stepped forward and said.

The Southern Pacification Division was in charge of the military discipline, punishments, and military craftsman files within the Jinyiwei. Due to its duties, it had the best understanding of the situation of the officials within the Jinyiwei.

"Then why are you still standing there?" Zhang Shikang said casually.

"But sir, I also know a lot of evidence of other people's illegal crimes. Do you need to deal with them together?" Xing Fangjun frowned.

This stunned Zhang Shikang, and he wondered if this guy was a little fierce.

He glanced at the other Jinyiwei officials and found that they had different expressions, but most of them were glaring at Xing Fangjun.

So Zhang Shikang called this guy into a room alone and asked him about it. He found out that this guy knew everything about his deeds in the past six months.

He was very emotional when talking about the great victory over the Qing army, and was filled with indignation when mentioning the Donglin Party. He couldn't hide the admiration in his eyes.

It turns out that this guy is actually his fan, and a fanatical one at that.

No wonder he didn't even care about the friendship between colleagues in order to show off in front of him.

"Sir, the Donglin Party has total control over the capital, and it is only thanks to your efforts that the court has a chance to catch its breath.

To be honest with you, sir, all members of our Jinyiwei are not clean, from top to bottom. Before this, Luo Yangxing was in power, and I could only keep myself out of it.

Now that Your Excellency is in charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, how dare I lie to you?

As long as you give the order, I will check the files immediately." Xing Fangjun said with a beaming look on his face.

With such a fanatical fan, it would be much easier to find out who to use within the Jinyiwei. Zhang Shikang couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Are there many officials who have done illegal things?" Zhang Shikang asked casually.

Xing Fangjun did not answer immediately after hearing this, but muttered to himself, and after thinking for a while, he said:

"A lot. I roughly calculated it. If we include the oppression of the common people, we are probably the only two left in the Jinyiwei Yamen."

……