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

"This name is quite good. It's not like the random name of your warhorse." Chongzhen said, then thought for a moment and said:

"Aren't you going to reorganize the Five Military Commands? If these soldiers are under the Ministry of War, what will they be in charge of?"

Emperor Chongzhen asked the questions of the cabinet ministers present. Li Banghua and others now liked Zhang Shikang more and more and looked at him with burning eyes.

"Your Majesty, the border troops will be under the command of the Military Governor's Office. Similarly, the Military Governor's Office will be directly responsible to Your Majesty and will no longer be constrained by the Ministry of War.

I intend to increase the number of troops on the border to 400,000 to specifically deal with the threat from the north."

Of course, the threats Zhang Shikang mentioned were not only the Jianlu, but also the Mongolian tribes and enemies further west.

If the Jianlu were the only enemy, Zhang Shikang would not have needed to go to war.

According to the calculation of time, the Russians in Europe have probably begun to accelerate their colonization eastward.

One day, the Russians will border the Ming Dynasty, and Zhang Shikang does not intend to wait for the Russians to take the initiative to establish a border with the Ming Dynasty.

Because that means the Russians have occupied most of the Far East. Although these places are vast and sparsely populated, there is no ruling interest to speak of at present.

But Zhang Shikang knew that the Far East was full of various mineral deposits, and Sakhalin Island alone had large amounts of resources such as gold mines and oil.

The reason why Russia can survive well under the United States' all-round blockade for many years is because its vast territory has the resources needed for the entire industrial chain.

In fact, when Zhang Shikang was receiving nine years of compulsory education, he was always concerned about the vast area in the north.

The Moscow Principality, the predecessor of the Russian Empire, is tens of thousands of miles away from the Far East, and this vast area is right above Begonia.

However, this area was taken away so easily by the Russians, which is really unbearable.

No, the region names are all wrong. The Far East is named after the location of the Russians.

If we could seize this land before the Russians come, or simply snatch it from them in the future and make it part of the Ming Dynasty, it would naturally not be called the Far East.

It should be called Near West, Central West, and Far West.

“The Governor’s Office will be completely reorganized, with only one Governor, and the commander must have extensive combat and command experience. All military positions in the Governor’s Office will no longer be hereditary, and only command ability will be respected.

Your Majesty, when you give rewards in the future, you can’t just randomly place useless people in the Governor’s Office. The Governor’s Office doesn’t want useless people.” Zhang Shikang joked.

But this news was not good news for civil officials such as Li Banghua.

This is actually another form of centralization. Zhang Shikang also said that the treatment of the 600,000 soldiers in the mainland will not be as good as that of the other two armies.

The other one is undoubtedly the border army, and the last one is probably the Beijing camp army.

The border troops are directly under the emperor, and the Beijing troops are the emperor's personal troops. As a result, the best treated and most powerful troops will belong to the emperor.

Li Banghua actually guessed it right. This was exactly what Zhang Shikang was thinking.

This is a necessary step as the era of authoritarianism continues to deepen.

When the Ming Dynasty fell and the Qing Dynasty was established, authoritarianism reached its peak.

Zhang Shikang merely brought this step forward, but in fact it could not be considered as being advanced, as Europeans were also centralizing power at that time.

Only centralization can improve administrative efficiency as much as possible. Autocracy has its drawbacks, but in this era, no one can deny that this is the best solution.

Emperor Chongzhen nodded with satisfaction.

"I have also thought of a name for the border army, it will be the Tiger Guards.

I plan to take some time after the New Year to patrol the border on behalf of Your Majesty. In addition to announcing this decision to the generals in the border towns, I will also confirm the situation over there." Zhang Shikang said.

The current total strength of the Ming border army is 270,000, but Zhang Shikang does not know the actual number of troops. However, he estimates that it will be even less, perhaps even less than 200,000.

As for those vacant positions, of course they are the military generals who are drawing empty salaries.

In view of the chaos that the Ming Dynasty was in before, Zhang Shikang had always adopted a conciliatory attitude towards them in order to stabilize the nine borders and allow them to defend against the northern threat with peace of mind.

But as time passed, he finally had the ability to put things in order.

"The Yongning Army and the Huben Army, one side maintains domestic peace, the other side defends against northern enemies, both names are very good.

Regarding the reform of the Governor's Office, I think your changes are very much in line with my wishes. The Ming Dynasty needs a strong army, not an empty Governor's Office.

But no matter what, you must not hand over the military power to others without authorization." Emperor Chongzhen said meaningfully.

For now, he felt that the Ming Dynasty was thriving, but when it came to the military, he still only trusted Zhang Shikang.

Therefore, he was specifically reminded that no matter whether it was the Huben Army or the Yongning Army, Zhang Shikang could not give up power without his order.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. This transition period will take at least three years, and I still need to consider the selection criteria for the officials of the Governor’s Office.

In addition, the armaments and training frequencies of each army are different, and I will discuss this with Marquis Huaining, Governor Lu, and Governor Sun. "

According to his plan, the salary and benefits of the Yongning Army were lower than those of the Huben Army, so the frequency of training would naturally be lower. However, Zhang Shikang was not particularly good at the specific details.

In this regard, generals such as Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting, and Sun Weifan were much more proficient.

"Well, I'll leave the military affairs to you. I'm at ease.

But since you like giving names so much, I guess the Beijing Camp has also been given a name?" Emperor Chongzhen looked at Zhang Shikang with interest.

"Of course, the name Jingying is too vulgar. It is also a product of the Weisuo system and has no originality at all.

I intend to change the Beijing Camp into the Imperial Guards, which means to protect the imperial city and Your Majesty closely, which is also the duty of the Beijing Camp. "Zhang Shikang replied.

In Chinese history, the names of the emperor's personal army varied in different dynasties. Some were called the Imperial Guards, some were called the Feathered Guards, some were called the Imperial Guards, and some were called the Forbidden Army.

Although there is only one word difference between the Imperial Guards and the Royal Guards, Zhang Shikang just feels that the Royal Guards are more domineering.

"The commander of the Yongning Army is the Minister of War, and the commander of the Huben Army is the Grand Commander.

After the Beijing Camp is renamed the Imperial Guards, it would be a bit petty to call him the admiral. I would like to change the admiral of the Beijing Camp to the marshal of the Imperial Guards, and set the number of troops at 300,000. The shortfall will be made up in the next two years.

As the emperor's personal army, the Imperial Guards have the responsibility to intimidate the Tiger Guards, the Yongning Army, and all other forces that refuse to submit to your majesty."

"I don't care what the name is. If the Imperial Guards want to intimidate the other two armies, are their forces too few?" said Emperor Chongzhen.

For a long period of time in the Ming Dynasty, the standing army was around two million. According to this plan, the Yongning Army had 600,000 soldiers, the Huben Army had 400,000 soldiers, and the Guards Army had 300,000 soldiers, totaling no more than 1.3 million people.

Can three hundred thousand people intimidate the other one million?

"Your Majesty, I have said it many times: it is not the quantity of soldiers that matters, but their quality.

I haven't finished talking about this package of reform plans yet. You will understand when I finish. "

Upon learning that Zhang Shikang had someone else to rely on, Emperor Chongzhen no longer felt worried and said no more.

"If you have no other opinions, I will continue." After Zhang Shikang said this, he was about to continue flipping through the small notebook.

……