plumnovel Chapter 2: We must hold onto the gun tightly.
Chapter 2: We must hold onto the gun tightly.
"Your Majesty, the matter has been settled. Now, the Duke of Cheng and the others have returned to their residences to prepare horses, armor, provisions, and military funds. As soon as the Duke of Ying spoke up to hand over the horses first, the remaining meritorious officials rushed to hand over their horses and armor, fearing that if they were a step behind, they would be punished by Your Majesty for leading troops into battle."
Cao Huachun, beaming with joy, jogged back to the warm pavilion on the platform to report the good news to Emperor Chongzhen. Chongzhen, however, merely nodded, showing no surprise at all, and casually asked:
"Huang Degong and Zhou Yuji have already received their orders and led their troops into the new military camp, right? How are my great Han generals and battle-ready Beijing garrison soldiers performing? How many have been eliminated so far?"
Having made ample preparations, Cao Huachun quickly replied when Emperor Chongzhen inquired about military affairs again.
"This servant went to the new army camp at dawn today. The two generals were already lining up to examine the troops. General Huang said that he estimated that more men could be retained from this group of Han generals. Although the Han generals are not like the border troops who fight on the front lines, they usually train their strength and practice ceremonial guards. However, they are still strong and powerful, far surpassing ordinary soldiers. Many heavily armored soldiers can be selected from them."
General Huang felt that of the six thousand men in the Beijing garrison, only slightly more than two thousand could be kept. The rest, though some were brave and strong, were either extremely greedy and cunning or cowardly in battle. Even so, the Emperor's new army could still muster five thousand men, which would be sufficient for their needs.
The number given by Cao Huachun was not much different from Chongzhen's own estimate. In fact, Chongzhen was quite satisfied that he was able to gather three thousand usable "royal guards" from the Beijing Garrison and the Great Han Generals in one day with the help of the old Duke of Ying.
Despite the fact that the number of troops remaining in the capital exceeded 100,000 on the roster, the military pay had long been divided up by the military officers. When it came to training, it was considered good if they could gather a third of the troops, and many of them were just filling in the numbers.
If Emperor Chongzhen hadn't first frightened Zhu Chunchen and his incompetent fools with the righteous pretext of forcing the military officers to lead troops into battle, and then forced them to hand over the roster of their actual combat-ready troops by promising not to hold them accountable later, he wouldn't have been able to complete the initial reorganization in just one day.
In the end, he had to use the name of the old Duke of England to recruit people from the Beijing garrison, and only then was he able to barely find 6,000 able-bodied soldiers.
Huang Degong's selection means that of the more than 100,000 soldiers in the Beijing Garrison on the roster, only 2,000 are good candidates for training. As for the rest, let's not even talk about them; they are already rotten to the core.
Fortunately, Huang Degong and Zhou Yuji were skilled in training troops in Beijing, and each of them could muster a thousand men to serve as the backbone of the new army, which relieved Chongzhen's urgent crisis.
Knowing the loyalty and courage of these two generals, Emperor Chongzhen was generous with silver and official positions, directly transferring them to the New Army as commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief, and each receiving a reward of one thousand taels of silver and three hundred acres of fertile land from the imperial estate.
As for their elite troops, they all received their rewards immediately, with each person receiving at least five taels of silver. Everyone was overjoyed, and they repeatedly expressed their "loyalty" to His Majesty the Emperor who had suddenly treated them so well!
The dramatic changes in Chongzhen were witnessed by his ministers, and his enthusiasm for personally seizing military power prompted many upright officials to submit memorials criticizing him.
But now, why would Emperor Chongzhen be bothered by the dissatisfaction of these pretentious Donglin scholars with his actions?
If you really piss him off, he'll inevitably use the righteous cause to pressure those upright officials to take up arms and defend the city!
Are there no enemies surrounding Beijing?
There are plenty of cities in Zhucheng, Henan, and various places in Shandong that are currently under the Jurchen's blade, for them to defend!
No longer the helpless, nuclear-powered beast of burden, Chongzhen, now possessing the power to decide his own destiny, no longer wanted to kneel, especially not to the Jurchens, these humanoid beings!
Therefore, if anyone dares to cause him any trouble regarding the gun barrel, he will make sure that person's entire family is unhappy!
"Daban, tell Wang Dehua to expedite the inspection of the troops and the available weapons in the various warehouses. Time is of the essence. The new army is established today and must set out from the capital to march south first thing tomorrow morning. The longer we delay, the more dangerous the situation will become for Governor Lu. The Jurchens can afford to delay, but we cannot."
Emperor Chongzhen shook his head, and the solemnity in his tone made Cao Huachun's heart tighten.
However, shortly after he left the warm pavilion, he returned to report to Emperor Chongzhen:
Grand Secretary Yang Sichang was granted an audience.
Emperor Chongzhen's face darkened upon hearing this.
After he regained consciousness yesterday, Yang Sichang and Cao Huachun were already by his side, looking very anxious.
But just as he expressed his firm stance against the Jurchens who had entered the pass, Yang Sichang's expression changed drastically, and he pleaded with him not to "change his mind frequently" and ruin the overall situation of the country.
It seems that the issues that the emperor and his minister couldn't reach an agreement on yesterday will be debated again today.
As expected, Yang Sichang, who was summoned to the warm pavilion by Chongzhen, was no different from yesterday. He immediately burst into tears and repeatedly kowtowed, begging Chongzhen not to change the military and political strategies they had previously agreed upon.
Moreover, it was Chongzhen himself who hesitated, wanting to first negotiate peace with the Jurchens and end the war, and then turn around to deal with the bandits in Shanxi and Shaanxi in the Central Plains.
Yang Sichang, following the emperor's wishes, oversaw the overall situation and coordinated various parties, barely managing to salvage the situation.
As a result, Chongzhen is now playing the same old trick of changing his orders every day, suddenly saying that he wants to fight the Jurchens to the death!
Wouldn't all their previous planning, schemes, and tax increases have become a joke?!
Yang Sichang could not accept that his painstaking efforts and plans for the country had all come to naught, so he could only withstand the pressure of imperial power and repeatedly plead with Emperor Chongzhen to withdraw his order to form a new army for the southern expedition.
However, Emperor Chongzhen was also facing a difficult situation and had to form a new army. He could only refuse Yang Sichang with a tough attitude.
Seeing that the emperor had made up his mind, and knowing his stubborn and headstrong nature, Yang Sichang was also disheartened.
A flicker of despair crossed his eyes, as if he could already see himself being used as a scapegoat by Emperor Chongzhen, just like those ministers before him, to quell the court disputes and public anger.
Even if they themselves had many shortcomings, such an ending was truly too tragic.
Perhaps this was the destined fate of those who served as military and political ministers during the Chongzhen reign?
His brilliant strategies were ultimately wasted on an emperor who changed his mind constantly. After him, others would rise to power and experience the same thing, and the fate of the Ming Dynasty was exhausted amidst these repeated revisions of the government and natural and man-made disasters...
He took his leave, his posture suddenly hunching over, as if he had accepted his fate—the fate of being briefly trusted by the emperor before being ruthlessly abandoned.
However, he misunderstood the "new Chongzhen" in front of him.
Emperor Chongzhen's toughness stemmed from his firm commitment to personally controlling the military, but he still highly regarded Yang Sichang's talent.
Some misunderstandings don't need to wait until later to be resolved. Chongzhen doesn't have that much time now; he needs to settle everything before leading his army on the southern expedition.