Lin Jingzheng looked at the black-faced official in front of him with a smile. This person was Li Banghua, the censor of Zuodu who had just arrived in the capital. Since arriving in the capital in mid-May, he had been immersed in getting familiar with the new environment of the capital camp.
He did not come to see Lin Jing immediately.
Of course, the reason why Li Banghua was so cautious was because the court had just experienced the Wu Changshi case, and he really did not want to implicate Prince Lin Jing at this time.
And the reason why he came to Duanben Palace now was not because of his original intention, but because of Emperor Chongzhen's order.
For Chongzhen at this time, he was eager to see the reorganized Beijing camp, and he was also eager to hope that the Beijing camp could be put to use, and these were all inseparable from Li Banghua at this time.
As for the Yu Guards and the Prince's Military Camp currently being trained by the Crown Prince, they are still more of an army on paper. Just over a month of training cannot change all this.
Therefore, it was not taboo for Li Banghua to come to contact Lin Jing at this time. Everyone knew that the prince's advice was very important if they wanted to rectify the capital camp.
"Your Highness, if you want to rectify the capital camp at the moment, you must be satisfied with one thing, and that is to clear out the military fields occupied by the officers. Otherwise, without money and food, there is really nothing I can do."
Li Banghua has been in the officialdom for a long time, and he naturally has a clear understanding of the current matter. He is very keenly aware that he must hold on to the prince now, otherwise the issue of the restructuring of the capital camp will not be completed at all. By then, although his own honor and disgrace will not matter, it will affect
He really didn't want to see the safety of the entire Ming Dynasty.
Lin Jing nodded lightly and said: "Although Zhu Chunchen, Xu Yunzhen and others have resigned, the accounts of the Beijing camp are already in darkness. It is not easy to sort them out. I'm afraid that rashly clearing out the military fields will cause more problems."
——General Xian, I’m afraid it will be very difficult for you to handle this matter with me.”
What a joke, the reason why Lin Jing hopes that Li Banghua will come to the capital to rectify the capital camp is because he hopes to find someone to stand up to the resentment of the nobles and the military. This is completely different from the previous rectifications of Zhu Chunchen and Xu Yunzhen. After all, no matter how powerful the latter is,
But they didn't dare to make any trouble.
But that is not the case with the wider range of petty nobles and officers. They have effectively controlled the middle and lower levels of the Beijing camp. Once they are attacked, these people dare to encourage the soldiers to cause trouble. When the time comes, Lin Jing will
But it is not in Lin Jing's interests to attribute all the grievances to himself.
Only Li Banghua is more suitable for such a role at the moment, and more suitable to take the blame for Lin Jing.
At present, the number of people in the Beijing camp is 120,000, and there are more than 200,000 registered military households. Each household has an average of more than ten acres of farmland, totaling 2 million acres of farmland. It is an important source of income for the soldiers in the Beijing camp. But the problem is that according to the military household
According to the provisions of the system, those who cultivated fields within three hectares of military households were exempted from the chores, while those with more than three hectares had to bear the chores together with the civilian households.
On the surface, this policy is very humane, because in the Ming Dynasty, every hectare was equal to 15 acres, which means that people with less than 45 acres of land could be exempted from chores, and ordinary military households could not have 45 acres of land.
.
But the problem is that the Ministry of Household Affairs has no money to allocate military rations to the military households, so all the army's rations must come from the military fields. In addition, the military households have to face various endless battles, and often go to war in one fell swoop.
The whole family is affected, especially when traveling to the frontier thousands of miles away. The travel expenses alone are enough to drag down the whole family to death.
Because of this, the phenomenon of military households fleeing in the Beijing camp has become more and more serious. Honorable nobles and military officers wantonly annexed the land of military households. Even after the adjustment of the military household system, this phenomenon has not changed.
, making the current two million acres of land in Beijing, almost most of which has become the farmland of a few great nobles.
Without land, even if Li Banghua wanted to renovate the capital, he would not be able to do so.
Li Banghua frowned slightly and said in a low voice: "Your Highness, since you have named me to govern the capital, you must provide some support..."
Learning to bargain with your boss is very important in any era. Subordinates who only work hard are not the best subordinates.
Lin Jing smiled and said: "The occupation of military fields by ordinary officers is still limited, and these people are also relatively important. The fields of these people will not be evacuated for the time being. I have ordered Duke Dingguo and Cheng
The Duke of Guo took the lead in donating the occupied military land, approximately 200,000 acres, which will then be reclassified to the capital camp."
"Ding Guo Gong? Cheng Guo Gong?"
Li Banghua was suddenly curious and said: "This is a bit incredible. How could they be willing to spit out the fat they swallowed?"
Lin Jing waved his hand and said: "Don't worry too much about this... If you add the original 200,000 acres of official land, you will have 400,000 acres of land, and you can start some things."
As for other things, let’s wait until later.”
It is obviously a fantasy to solve all the bad policies at once. Lin Jing has never had such illusions.
"Thank you, Your Highness. I feel at ease now."
Although the harvest was not much, Li Banghua was still very satisfied, which meant that he could raise twice as many soldiers in the Beijing camp.
Lin Jing continued: "But I want to make it clear to you. Asking you to reorganize the Beijing Camp now does not mean that I think you can turn the Beijing Camp into a strong army. It just means that I hope to be able to give your Majesty a hundred
Let me give you an explanation... If by the time the Yu Guards are fully trained and there are not many changes in the Beijing camp, then the Beijing camp will have no choice but to be disbanded."
"Of course I understand."
Li Banghua said calmly: "If the Beijing camp has no value by then, I will naturally not miss this place... Removing it by then will naturally be the best result, but before that, I will try my best to
try."
When he talked about giving it a try, the sixty-eight-year-old man's gray hair trembled slightly, as if he was trying hard to declare that his inner ambition had never disappeared.
Since Lin Jing had already sent people to screen a group of elites in the Beijing Camp before and let them join the Yu Wei Army and the Prince's Military Camp, he was not optimistic about Li Banghua's persistence at the moment.
After the old man left, Lin Jing slowly tidied up his clothes. He was going to enter the palace immediately and make a fuss about the position of chief minister to Emperor Chongzhen.
Since the fall of Zhou Yanru, the struggle within the imperial court has become more and more intense, but a new candidate for the chief minister has not yet been produced, which makes the court filled with a faint impetuous atmosphere. Everyone is staring at that seat and guessing.
Who will be the winner...
Of course, the current problem is not particularly difficult for Lin Jing, and there is still a chance for everything.