Chapter 542: Three or Two Things in the Capital

As the season quietly arrives.

The temperature in Yan area also gradually warmed up.

Although it was just the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the city of Beijing suddenly became busy.

With the ascension of the new emperor to the throne, the entire court also thoroughly entered into the central reform headed by Gao Gong.

With Gao Gong's vigorous promotion, various new government decrees were implemented with the support of the new emperor.

Naturally, the court and the people had different reactions to this.

It's just that some people are happy and some are sad.

But no one could stop the new emperor and his prime minister from wanting to reform the world.

Gao Gong even raised the banner of rectifying the administration of officials again, and countless officials were dismissed at one time.

Just before the Dragon Raising its Head on February 2, more than 150 officials at the central and local levels were convicted and dismissed from their posts. Some of them were even exiled or executed.

Similarly, Yan Shaoting is also very busy.

He did not take care of the new policies in the court for the time being. According to the plan that had been determined long ago, all the new policies in the early Longqing Dynasty were handed over to Gao Gong to handle.

The officials of the Yan family also temporarily disappeared from the court, trying their best to perform their duties according to the requirements of the central government and the prime minister without making any mistakes or fighting for power.

All I want is a safe and secure way to avoid mistakes.

Yan Shaoting moved directly from the Yan Mansion to the Beijing Army Camp, as if to solidify his reputation as the Great Devil of the Beijing Camp together with Qi Jiguang.

This day.

It happens to be the second day of February, when the dragon raises its head.

But it was not a special holiday, so the Beijing camp naturally did not let the soldiers in the camp take a break, and training went on as usual.

Early.

Yan Shaoting, who was already covered in sweat, accompanied all the soldiers in the central army camp and ran ten miles around the camp. He and Qi Jiguang, who always led the troops and ate, lived and trained with the soldiers, each held a large bowl full of mutton and mutton soup, and ate meat patties with mutton to satisfy their hunger.

The two men were obviously high-ranking officials of the second and third ranks in the court, but they did not act like officials at all. Just like the other soldiers on the parade ground, they found a clean place and sat on the ground.

Qi Jiguang drank the mutton soup and quickly ate the two meat patties, then ate the remaining mutton soup.

After the bowl was clean, Qi Jiguang looked at the figures on the parade ground with satisfaction.

"If all soldiers in the world can eat this every day, our Ming army will be invincible in the world."

The corners of Yan Shaoting's mouth twitched and he almost spit out the meat patty in his mouth.

Qi Jiguang seemed to have reacted, with a hint of embarrassment on his face. He looked at Yan Shaoting and said apologetically, "Thank you for your hard work. If it weren't for you going to the Ministry of Revenue and the Guanglu Temple, how could we have so much meat every day? If it weren't for this meat, I'm afraid that even if I had the best training methods, I would have mutinied long ago."

Yan Shaoting's expression then eased a little.

Even though the Beijing camp is training vigorously now, the soldiers are still persevering despite the hardships.

This is because three meals of meat a day are enough to fill you up.

For this, I have paid a lot, and it was all at my own expense.

Think of this.

With a vicious look on his face, Yan Shaoting stuffed the last half piece of meat pie in his mouth and swallowed it.

Qi Jiguang asked curiously, "I still don't know how Runwu managed to get so many things out of the Ministry of Revenue and the Guanglu Temple. I guess it took a lot of effort."

Hear the words.

Yan Shaoting snorted twice.

"Brother Yuan Jing, you worry too much."

Qi Jiguang instantly became more curious: "Are the Ministry of Revenue and the Guanglu Temple so easy to talk to?"

Yan Shaoting rolled his eyes and said, "It's just that Changping divided three breeding farms, a textile factory, and the workers in the factory, and gave them to the Ministry of Revenue and the Guanglu Temple."

When he talked about this, he felt as if his heart was broken.

Do you really think the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Household Department are so easy to talk to? Among the millions of Ming troops, only the officers and soldiers in the Beijing camp can have three meals of meat a day?
It was just that they gave some meat from Changping to the Ministry of Revenue and Guanglu Temple.

In fact, he could also directly let Changping supply meat to the Beijing camp, but this would be suspected of usurpation, and it might even be accused of buying the hearts of the soldiers, which might even be extended to mean that the Yan family had ulterior motives in winning over soldiers.

But it would be a different story if the breeding farms and textile factories in Changping were divided between the Ministry of Revenue and the Guanglu Temple.

The matter was then handled by the imperial court.

The meat for the Beijing troops was also paid for by the Ministry of Revenue and the Imperial Household Department, so others could not find any trouble with it. Even if they wanted to say it was unfair, they would have to first take out a few farms and textile factories from the smuggled funds like Yan Shaoting did.

However, even though he was cutting flesh from his own body to feed the Beijing troops, it was not without benefits.

At least Zhu Zaigui, the former president of Changping Academy, exempted Changping from taxes for five years after learning the details. He even felt that this was not enough to compensate Changping for its contribution to the court and the Beijing Army, so he went through the procedures of the Ministry of War and placed an order for a batch of new artillery for the newly built Changping Arsenal.

This laid the foundation for the new Changping Arsenal's absolute dominance over new artillery.

Although the General Administration of Construction and the Firearms Bureau had some criticisms about this.

But the emperor was clearly leaning towards Changping, and any discerning person could see that.

Since the emperor is happy with this, the people below can only keep their opinions to themselves even if they have any.

But Qi Jiguang didn't know the details.

He even felt that this time Yan Shaoting had really made a huge investment for the country.

So, Qi Jiguang whispered, "The day before yesterday, I was ordered to enter the palace to make a report. During that time, His Majesty had already made the decision to let us go out to kill the bandits. The cabinet should also know about this matter, and they didn't say anything about the selection of generals. In my opinion, after three months of training, the imperial court's order will probably come down, and by then, Runwu will be able to take charge of the army as he wishes, go out to drive out the bandits, recover Hetao, and accomplish this unprecedented feat!"

In Qi Jiguang's view.

Once Hetao is recovered by Yan Shaoting and the homeland that the Ming Dynasty had lost for more than a hundred years is taken back, the title of Earl of Changping in the Yan family will probably be changed to Marquis.

This way.

Now that the Yan family has donated some of their income from Changping to the imperial court to supply the Beijing Army, the loss can naturally be made up.

Yan Shaoting glanced sideways at Qi Jiguang.

This is what Zhu Zaigui said to himself when he was sending the old Taoist priest back to the Qianqing Palace after the old Taoist priest passed away.

He could conclude that he would basically not miss this opportunity to lead the troops into battle.

But when the army goes out to fight, all aspects have to be taken care of.

He also had a headache about how to arrange people like Qi Jiguang and where to put them.

Don't forget to ask Yang Bo for Wang Chonggu, a Jin man who is familiar with the affairs of the Nine Borders. By then, he will need to be arranged a stable position and task for him.

Moreover, according to the rules, when the army goes out to war, the palace must send eunuchs to supervise the army.

A good general does not focus on being good at fighting, but on strategizing and coordinating all aspects of personnel.

That end.

On the parade ground, the craftsman from the Shan Camp had already blown the whistle, and began to assemble the troops from the Beijing Camp and re-engage in today's training.

Qi Jiguang also stood up, patted his butt, and prepared to join the training.

He was just like that. He would train himself the same way as he trained his officers and soldiers, and even did more every day than his officers and soldiers, and sweated more.

Yan Shaoting originally wanted to follow and practice together.

Although he and Qi Jiguang have now become the big demons of the Beijing camp, causing tens of thousands of soldiers to groan and complain, they actually train together in front of everyone every day, which makes everyone admire them.

only.

When Yan Shaoting just stood up, he saw Xu Wei walking up to him, escorted by two soldiers from the Beijing camp.

Yan Shaoting looked curious.

Generally speaking, if there is nothing important happening in the court, Xu Wei would not come to the Beijing camp.

So he stopped.

Xu Wei just bowed and said directly: "The emperor just issued an order today, and the cabinet has officially changed the Ministry of Revenue's Baochao Tizhu Division to the Ministry of Money. In the area of ​​Xijiang Mixiang near the Jinyiwei Yamen, the Ministry of Works was ordered to supervise the construction of the Jinxing Yamen."

Yan Shaoting's eyes lit up instantly.

Although the issue of currency system had long been agreed by Zhu Zaigui and recognized by Gao Gong and others, he even asked Changping to recast gold, silver and copper coins based on the image of the new emperor and send them to the palace.

But the matter was originally just a discussion within the court and it was too early for it to be implemented.

I didn't expect that this matter has been done just after the first month of the year.

Yan Shaoting immediately asked: "What is the reaction of the court?"

Xu Wei said: "Recently, the emperor and the cabinet have issued many new policies, and the court is mostly taking a wait-and-see attitude towards the change of the currency system. However, some officials are worried that such a hasty change of the currency system may harm the fiscal and taxation laws, and they are worried."

After he finished speaking, Xu Wei finally remembered.

He took out a folder from his sleeve and handed it to Yan Shaoting.

"Oh, right, these are the details of the money law that was promulgated this time. Most of them are the same as what the guest originally proposed, but a few have been modified."

Yan Shaoting started to check it out immediately.

He mainly looked at the key provisions in the money law.

"It's a good thing that the new currency will only be minted in the capital mint."

"Why did you deny my suggestion that the imperial court should maintain a stable official price for copper, iron, salt, firewood and rice?"

There were not many changes in the money laws, most of which were the contents that I had originally sorted out and submitted.

However, the items that Yan Shaoting was concerned about included the details of the court's efforts to stabilize official prices of goods, which were crossed out, as well as details such as only recruiting people who were proficient in arithmetic from the gold business.

The latter was crossed out, probably because some people wanted to arrange their own people to enter the gold bank.

Yan Shaoting didn't care about this.

As long as it is a matter within the imperial court, there will inevitably be people who want to place some of their own people there, or seek benefits for those close to them.

But these people actually deleted the details of the court's plan to stabilize daily official prices.

Xu Wei nodded and said, "It was Li Chunfang who proposed to remove the clause about the court stabilizing the official prices of commodities. Although Yuan Gelao disagreed, it was finally removed."

Yan Shaoting was instantly relieved.

If it was Li Chunfang who proposed to remove it, then it is easy to understand.

This Li Chunfang originally represented the Qingliu Old Party in the court, and behind the Qingliu Old Party were the gentry and wealthy merchants in the southeast.

These people usually appear to be righteous and talk a lot about sages' writings, benevolence, righteousness and morality, but secretly they are all doing lowly things that they usually look down upon.

Seeing Yan Shaoting's deep eyes.

Xu Wei asked quietly: "If the guests are dissatisfied with this, we can also organize people to submit a petition and bring this one out of the money law. I think it will not be easy for Li Chunfang and his gang of old party members to stop it."

Yan Shaoting stretched out his hand and shook his head: "Now let them do whatever they want."

"Then let's..."

Yan Shaoting smiled, turned around and patted Xu Wei on the shoulder: "Mr. Wenchang, don't worry. Now we just need to keep an eye on the money bureau and gold shop and prevent them from forcing people in. All the laws and regulations can be formulated according to our plan. It will take at least two to three years for the new currency to be circulated throughout the country."

Xu Wei nodded and glanced at the Beijing Camp's parade ground, which was already bustling with people. "Speaking of which, the most important thing for you now is to train these people so that you can get permission to go to war before summer comes."

As he spoke, Xu Wei took out a notebook from his other sleeve.

Then he explained in a low voice: "This is the detailed information of the generals, eunuch supervisors and their guerrilla generals in each of the nine frontier towns. It was just sent over by Lu Tongzhi yesterday."

Yan Shaoting then took the folder and hid it in his sleeve.

"According to Qi Yuanjing, the Beijing camp can be ordered to march out after three months of training. The remaining matters can be further trained on the way to the battle."

"I calculated the time. I have to submit a petition to ask for permission to go to war by the end of March. I will lead the troops to drive out the bandits and recover Hetao."

Although the Beijing Camp had accumulated problems for a long time, it was still under the eyes of the court, so it still had some foundation. Now with Qi Jiguang and the Shanzi Camp, they trained for three months and were fed meat every day, so even the small dogs should have been trained into wolfhounds.

Yan Shaoting also had a pretty good understanding of Qi Jiguang's military training methods.

The most important thing is actually the military formation, followed by the morale of the army.

Instead, the personal bravery of the officers and soldiers ranked last.

It took several months for the entire Beijing camp to become familiar with Qi Jiguang's military formations and tactics, and then the morale of the troops was strengthened by eating, living and training together.

Basically, you can get twice the result with half the effort.

That end.

A huge roar suddenly erupted from a huge mud puddle next to the parade ground, which had been dug out since the arrival of the Shanzi Camp.

I saw countless clay figures lying in the mud, with only one standing in the middle.

The officers and soldiers around were screaming loudly.

"The general is mighty!"

"The general is mighty!"

"The general is mighty!"

Yan Shaoting glanced at Xu Wei, who understood and bowed to take his leave.

And he walked towards the quagmire.

When they got closer, they found that the only person standing in the quagmire was Qi Jiguang himself.

Qi Jiguang stood in the mud, looked around, and chanted with his mouth open.

A soldier with his mouth full of mud was struggling to crawl towards the shore in the quagmire.

His face was full of aggrieved, and with a "slap", his big hand covered in mud fell on Yan Shaoting's boots.

"I……"

"I really can't do it anymore..."

"When will this day end..."

…………

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(End of this chapter)