Chapter 78: The Emperor is Demoted
"Wang Chengen, change my clothes for me!" Zhu Changgan changed his clothes again with the help of Wang Chengen before riding in a carriage out of the city to meet Qin Liangyu.

Sun Chengzong, Li Banghua, Yang Sichang and others accompanied him.

The sound of horse hooves and wheel ruts echoed throughout Chang'an Avenue.

……

now,

A 63-year-old old lady was waiting outside the city on horseback.

She is the only heroine in all dynasties who was recorded as a famous general of the dynasty and included in the official history biographies of generals and ministers.

Qin Liangyu.

Although she is over sixty years old, her eyes are like stars, her posture is dashing and her demeanor is charming. Even though she has traveled thousands of miles, her face is still graceful and elegant. It is obvious that she must have been a beautiful woman when she was young.

More than 25 years ago, Qin Liangyu's husband Ma Qiancheng was killed by eunuchs and died in prison. Her son Ma Xianglin was young at the time, so he took over her husband's position.

But this generation of leadership has created a good story.

Seeing the emperor's carriage approaching, she quickly dismounted and bowed.

"Your Majesty, I, Qin Liangyu, pay my respects to you!"

"General Qin, please stand up quickly." Zhu Changgan looked at Qin Liangyu, the only female general recorded in official history, who was unprecedented and unparalleled, had made many military achievements for the Ming Dynasty, devoted her life to the cause, and created a legend, but now had gray hair on her temples, and his eyes couldn't help but become red.

"The reinforcements I've been longing for have finally arrived." He looked at General Qin in front of him with mixed feelings.

The most striking thing was her eyes, which shone brightly under her eyebrows like a ball of fire in a bush.

Wang Chengen suddenly supported the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, you..."

This sentence seems to be a support, but in fact it is more of a reminder and a stop.

Because in front of Zhu Changgan there was a rather unstable staircase.

According to regulations,
When ministers pay respect to the emperor, they should stand at the bottom of the steps, while the emperor should stand on the steps and enjoy the kneeling worship of his ministers. This is the etiquette between the monarch and his ministers.

But Zhu Changgan shook off Wang Chengen and walked quickly down the stairs.

"Your Majesty..." Wang Chengen's eyes suddenly widened.

He reminded again, and this time he did not call him "Your Majesty" but "Your Majesty", but it still did not stop the emperor from walking quickly down the stairs.

What is this called?
This is called demotion, the emperor was demoted.

"Your Majesty, you can't do this!" Qin Liangyu's eyes suddenly turned red and she shouted at the emperor.

"At a time of national crisis, General Qin was the only one who remained loyal!" Zhu Changgan had already run down the stairs and helped Qin Liangyu up. "The court is incompetent, so General Qin is rushing to the capital for the third time!"

The first time was in the first year of the Tianqi reign. The capital was in a state of emergency and the court had to issue an imperial edict to the whole country to help the king.

Qin Liangyu sent her brother Qin Bangping and her younger brother Qin Minping, with thousands of white-flag soldiers, to rush to the Liaodong battlefield. In this battle, Qin Liangyu lost a close relative, and her brother Qin Bangping died in Hunhe River.

The second time was in the third year of Chongzhen, when the Later Jin launched a massive attack, the four cities of Yongping were lost, and Huang Taiji besieged the capital.

At this time, many Ming Dynasty generals were no longer loyal to the emperor and patriotic, and they chose to stand by and watch. Only Qin Liangyu chose to raise food and supplies on her own and rush to the capital again.

Qin Liangyu, 56 years old, wielded a white spear, killing souls wherever the blade passed. She defeated the Later Jin army with one against ten. It was Qin Liangyu's desperate fighting that lifted the siege of the capital.

Zhu Changgan helped Qin Liangyu up, "During the Ming Dynasty, Xichuan was in trouble. A heavenly dog ​​flew from Qinzhong, poisoning the country and spreading war. A wonderful woman was born in Shizhu. The thieves were so scared that they fell at the first sign of trouble. She had already dealt with Kuiwu and pacified the country. I should think that the army had no generals, and I was afraid that Jingxiang would be destroyed. I am just a foolish man, so I can be your concubine.

Who will spread the portraits of the barbarians? I think of the battlefield, the bows and swords lined up, the commander on the high seat. A brocade robe soaked in blood, set off the graceful cloud hair. There is also a peach blossom on the flying horse, the heroic appearance of the scroll is more valiant, and the title is ashamed to kill Ning Nanzuo. The hatred of the army and the country still frowns. "

Zhu Changgan was reciting a poem by Qian Mei, a later scholar.

Qin Liangyu's eyes immediately turned red when she heard this, "Your Majesty, I... am unworthy of this position!"

"I only wish to serve and die for the country!"

Not only her, but also the 20,000 white-pole soldiers she brought with her had red eyes and roared, "I only wish to fight to the death and make meritorious deeds!"

Sun Chengzong, Li Banghua and other veterans felt a lump in their throats for no reason when they saw this scene.

Zhu Changgan looked at the 20,000 white-pole soldiers, and then thought of the dead 'Yebushou' during the morning court today, "It is because of you that the Ming Dynasty can still be saved, and I must save it too."

"General Qin, follow me into the city!"

……

When they returned to the Qianqing Palace, Cao Huachun, Sun Yingyuan and Huang Degong had already arrived outside the hall.

Zhu Changgan asked Wang Chengen to call them in.

"I'm sure you all know that Huang Taiji has entered the pass again. For this battle, except for the 20,000 white-pole soldiers that I had borrowed from General Qin earlier, I refused all other troops to come to Beijing to defend the king."

"The only ones we can rely on are the Yongwei Battalion, the Jing Battalion, and the White Spear Soldiers."

As soon as these words came out, the atmosphere suddenly became a little cold.

Everyone's reaction is different.

Sun Chengzong and Yang Sichang looked worried, Li Banghua was hesitant, but Sun Yingyuan and Huang Degong had shining eyes and were full of anticipation.

"Your Majesty, the total number of Manchu troops entering the pass this time is over 100,000. We only used the Yongwei Battalion, the Beijing Battalion and the White Spear Soldiers... It's too few. I'm afraid it will be difficult to tie down the Qing troops." Yang Sichang, as the Minister of War, answered realistically.

Why were the Manchus so unscrupulous in entering the Great Wall? Because the Ming army could not defeat the Qing army in a field battle.

Starting from Fushun, Qinghe and Sarhu, all strategic field battles were almost failures.

Not only did they fail, but they almost always failed miserably.

The only field battle that was barely considered a major defeat was the "Zunyong Victory". Because of Amin's stupidity, more than 400 Later Jin troops in Laizhou City faced off against more than 10,000 Ming troops. More than half of them were killed or wounded during the breakout. However, Amin massacred the city of Yongping before retreating.

As for the victories in Ningyuan and Ningjin, they were city defense battles, not field battles.

In the past few decades, the Ming Dynasty's army was defeated in every field battle, and the more people there were, the more miserable the defeat.

Zhu Changgan slammed his hand on the table and asked, "Who told you there were more than 100,000 people?"

"As far as I know, the Manchu Eight Banners have about 50,000 to 60,000 people, the Mongolian and Chahar Eight Banners have about 20,000 or so people, the Han Army Eight Banners have less than 30,000 people, the Three Shun Kings and One Shun Gong have less than 10,000 people, and the Outer Mongolians have tens of thousands of people."

As far as he knew, even in the year when Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, the Qing Dynasty could only mobilize about 150,000 troops to enter the pass.

And this is the total, the maximum number that can be reached. Among them, there are also a considerable number of old, weak, sick and disabled people - because the Manchu, Mongolian Eight Banners and Outer Mongolia make all adult males of all ages of the entire nation bear military obligations.

"Even if there are not more than 100,000 people, there must be at least 70,000 or 80,000!" Sun Chengzong said bluntly: "Your Majesty, let's not talk about the huge gap in field combat capabilities, just talk about the functional capabilities."

"The speed of the Later Jin army's march is 40 miles per hour, 120 miles per three hours. In a forced march, they can march miles in two days and nights."

"And the best condition of our Ming army was before the death of Yuan Chonghuan and Man Gui. The Guanning Army could only travel 300 miles in a day and night. Whether it was pursuit, interception or rescue in the field battle, the Ming army was led by the nose by the Later Jin soldiers."

"So, air crash wins!"

In fact, Sun Chengzong still gave face to the Ming Dynasty's army, because he was talking about the time when Yuan Chonghuan and Man Gui were still alive. At that time, the Guanning Army could march 300 miles in two days and nights. But after his death, the Ming army no longer had that ability.

In the Battle of Dalinghe, 40,000 Guanning Cavalry were annihilated by the Later Jin and 10,000 were incorporated into the army.

The backbone of the Ming cavalry was broken, and it completely lost its strategic counterattack capability.

This is also why Huang Taiji dared to enter the pass to plunder several times, and the Later Jin army entered the pass as easily as shopping in a supermarket.

Zhu Changgan looked at Li Banghua with a cold gaze, "Meng An, your Beijing camp is now on a rapid march, to what extent can it achieve?"

"Your Majesty, the training time of the Beijing Camp Cavalry is still short. I... can only travel 300 miles in two days and nights at most." Li Banghua said bitterly.

"No, I'm asking about an hour!"

"Can it reach 40 miles?"

"If we just chase after it for a short distance, we can achieve it."

Zhu Changgan clenched his fingers fiercely, "That's enough!"

"But..." Li Banghua wanted to say something, but Zhu Changgan looked at everyone and said, "I know you think that the Yongwei Camp and the Beijing Camp have not been trained for a long time and may not be able to cope with the next war." "But have you ever thought that the Later Jin also thinks that we can't cope with the next war? This is both our danger and our opportunity."

Qin Liangyu said with a stern expression: "Your Majesty, if you want to fight a tough battle, you need to have a strong character."

"If we want to defeat the tens of thousands of troops of the Later Jin, we must have tens of thousands of elite soldiers like the Tang army of Xiangji Temple to hold off the retreat cut off by the Later Jin offensive. And don't have any illusions. Everyone should exchange their lives for lives. My white-pole soldiers can take on this important task, but the number of people is..."

In the Battle of Xiangji Temple, the thoughts of tens of thousands of troops from both sides were highly unified. If you want others to die, then you can't live either. It was a fight to the death, to decide who would win in life or death. However, the Ming Dynasty did not have so many death squads.

Zhu Changgan shook his head, "No, I am sending the White Spear Soldiers to Beijing, not to ask you to exchange your lives with the Tartars."

He was not doubting the White Spear Soldiers' determination to die, but he was unwilling to let this group of White Spear Soldiers, which had been reorganized, be worn down by the Tartar cavalry like in the Battle of Hunhe.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty has always had a few scattered troops like this. The Qi family army was defeated in its own desert, the Zhejiang soldiers died in Sarhu, and the White Spear soldiers were destroyed in Hunhe. Until the collapse of Liaozhen, there were still many small-scale soldiers who dared to fight.

Lu Xiangsheng's Tianxiong Army, Sun Chuanting's Shaanxi Army, and so on.

What the Ming Dynasty lacked was not soldiers, but how to integrate these soldiers and corps commanders, and gather tens of thousands of such daring and hard-working elites to fight against the Later Jin.

But the commander can only be the emperor himself. Only the emperor can make the thoughts of tens of thousands of people highly unified, because others cannot afford the money to buy their lives.

Even if they can afford it, others don't dare to believe it.

On the other hand, the Later Jin Dynasty did much better than the Ming Dynasty in this regard.

The highest military commander of the Later Jin Dynasty has always been Huang Taiji, but the Ming Dynasty always had to send a eunuch to supervise many soldiers, and the number and pay were insufficient.

Why win?

Zhu Changgan looked at the map of the Miyun area and said in a voice that only he could hear: "The first shot at the beginning must be a good start."

This battle is not just a matter of victory or defeat, but also a matter of restoring the confidence of the Ming Dynasty.

A Ming official at the end of the Ming Dynasty once recorded: The northern troops invaded and captured dozens of cities in succession, and no one dared to resist.

Sun Chuanting also said: The soldiers under my command who have fought in hundreds of battles, those who are frightened by the sight of the bandits, will surrender when they meet the northern troops.

The Ming Dynasty's army was like a sheep encountering a tiger or a wolf when facing the Later Jin army, and they did not dare to fight at all.

"A tiger among a flock of sheep? I just want to cripple this tiger!" The size of the victory in this battle was secondary to Zhu Changgan. He had to restore the confidence of the Ming Dynasty first.

Although Sun Chengzong, Yang Sichang and others still had doubts, the emperor insisted and they could only do their best.

……

Zhu Changgan then dropped another bombshell, "I want to set up a military council to assist me in handling military affairs."

"Your Majesty, we already have a cabinet, why do we need to set up a military council?" Yang Sichang couldn't help but look up at the emperor, "Aren't there conflicts between the two?"

Sun Chengzong and Li Banghua also looked at the emperor in surprise, their eyes flickering.

This is the civil official.

Even though they were promoted by the emperor as an exception, they were still scholar-officials at heart, and each of them had spent twenty to thirty years to pass the exam.

In the eyes of most civil servants in the Ming Dynasty, my status was achieved more through my own hard work and the support of my family.

It has little to do with the Zhu family, and the books of sages he read since childhood also taught that the literati and officials wanted the emperor to rule the world together.

In their minds, the relationship with the royal family is more of a partnership.

People like Hai Rui, even if they went against the emperor, could still sit as high as the fourth rank. Sometimes, the harsher the civil officials cursed, the more stable their position would be. Even if they were beaten with a stick in the court and forced to retire and return to their hometown to farm, they would definitely bring honor to the family and be a model for the court.

Zhu Changgan looked at everyone, "I know what you think, but I want to tell you that this Military Affairs Office has no special officials, no special office, but it must have a combat duty room, right next to my Qianqing Palace."

"I appoint Sun Chengzong and Yang Sichang as the chief and deputy military ministers, who will take turns to serve in the combat duty room and report directly to me. They can draft military documents, and imperial edicts can be issued directly to the relevant officers and soldiers without going through the cabinet."

Sun Chengzong, Yang Sichang and Li Banghua then breathed a sigh of relief.

Because according to what the emperor said, the so-called military affairs council and the military ministers were only responsible for conveying imperial orders and being on duty during wartime, and they did not pose much of a constraint on the cabinet's decision-making.

"The minister obeys the order!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

Zhu Changgan looked at them with a gleam in his eyes.

……

After Sun Chengzong and others left, Zhu Changgan kept Cao Huachun and Qin Liangyu, "Lord Cao, you have to figure out the problem of Qin's station and residence. I will pay for it."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, when I came here, I brought my assets with me..."

Qin Liangyu was about to speak, but was stopped by Zhu Changgan, "I understand General Qin's intention, but the Sichuan Army is serving the country, so I should provide food and wages."

"In the Battle of Hunhe, the White Spear Soldiers were almost wiped out. General Qin reorganized the White Spear Soldiers with great effort. I am very grateful to him."

Qin Liangyu's eyes moistened, "I will support you with all my strength."

"I only have one thing to say, that is, don't let the brothers charge too hard, and try to keep them alive..."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Fortunately, Zhu Changgan had 30 million taels of silver and hundreds of thousands of shi of grain in his hands, so he did not have to worry too much about supplies.

Afterwards, Zhu Changgan talked to Qin Liangyu for a while before letting her go back to rest.

……

It was almost noon.

The eunuch outside ran in, "Your Majesty, Jinyiwei Commander Li Ruolian is back."

"Quick, let him in."

The commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard came in from outside, exhausted. It only took him three days and four nights to get there.

He would not have come back so soon, but when he heard that the Qing Dynasty was preparing to enter the country again, he asked his men to search for stolen money and supplies, and he led a team back first. "I am Li Ruolian, the commander of the Jinyiwei, and I pay my respects to Your Majesty."

"how?"

Li Ruo Lian raised his head and replied, "Your Majesty, I have led people to search the families of Fan Yongdou and others. The seized fields, houses, shops, gold, silver, treasures, ginseng, deer antlers and other real objects are worth millions of taels for each family, totaling more than 2700 million taels.

"In addition, from the confiscated land deeds and house deeds, I found that the businesses they were involved in included silver and money, silk, cloth, inns, foreign goods, wine, pawnshops, furs, etc. The businesses were also spread across Nan, Xuzhou, Lanzhou, Nanzhili, Huguang, Taiyuan, Baotou, Tianjin, Beijing, Shenyang, Jinzhou, Siping, Zhangjiakou and other places."

"They own more than 670 businesses, employ nearly 30000 people, and have estimated assets of more than 1 million taels... These officials have already sent people to seal them up."

Zhu Changgan nodded, "Thank you for your hard work. I have something more important for you to do right now!"

Li Ruo Lian almost stopped breathing, "Your Majesty, please give your orders."

coming!

He rushed back just for this matter.

"I appoint you as the first Minister of Intelligence of the Intelligence and Military Affairs Department. Except for leaving one-fifth of the Jinyiwei to guard the government office, the main responsibilities of all the remaining people will be fully transferred to external warfare, spying on intelligence, transmitting information, and even directly participating in combat."

In Zhu Changgan's view, intelligence reconnaissance capabilities are the first thing to be improved. Whoever is one step ahead in intelligence will have the opportunity to lead the other by the nose.

He had been preparing for this since he took over the Ming Dynasty.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Ruolian replied impatiently, breathing heavily.

From this moment on, the nature of the Jinyiwei changed completely!

From the moment he came to power, I felt that His Majesty had changed, so I have been secretly looking forward to this day.

Originally, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard was already at the top of his game, but now his future is promising. He is eager to make great achievements and bless his descendants. The time has come!
……

ps: There will be another update later!
(End of this chapter)