Zhu Houzhao looked at the cotton-padded armor in front of him with a dark face. The cotton stuffed inside had turned black, and even the blackened cotton was very thin, even a cotton-padded jacket was thicker than it.
And this is the armor issued by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and it is also called the "Bright Armor".
After hearing Zhu Houzhao's words and looking at the cotton armor and the blade in Zhu Houzhao's hand, Liu Yu's forehead was filled with cold sweat.
"What's going on?"
Zhu Houzhao looked at Liu Yu and asked coldly: "Do our soldiers wear such armor and carry such weapons to fight the Tatars?"
"Chen...chen..."
For a moment, Liu Yu didn't know how to answer, and he immediately fell to his knees.
As for the border soldiers below, when they heard Zhu Houzhao's words, they couldn't help but burst into tears.
That's right, they have always been wearing such armor and carrying such weapons to fight the Tatars. In many cases, it is not that they, the border troops, do not have the courage to fight with the Tatars, but because they do not have the courage in their hands.
When it comes to things, courage alone is of no use.
You can't just go up and fight the Tatars with your bare hands. That would basically mean going out to die.
Finally, His Highness the Crown Prince noticed this about them, and finally someone spoke up for them.
"Tell me, what's going on?"
Zhu Houzhao looked at Liu Yu's appearance and roared angrily.
Even though he was still young, only in his teens, he was so domineering that Liu Yu even trembled secretly with fear.
"Your Highness, these are the armors and weapons issued by the superiors. Our border troops have no choice. We can only use whatever armors and weapons are given by the superiors."
Liu Yu thought for a while and said helplessly.
At this time, we can only sacrifice fellow Taoists rather than poor Taoists, and shift the responsibility to the superiors. Of course, in terms of weapons and armor, he does not have any responsibility, and it is true that they use whatever is issued by the superiors.
"What armor weapons are issued from above, which armor weapons do you use?"
"As the trilateral commander-in-chief, you have a heavy responsibility on your shoulders. How can you be so playful? Don't you know if there is something wrong with this armor weapon?"
"Or are you, like me, seeing this armored weapon for the first time?"
Zhu Houzhao looked at Liu Yu coldly with his small eyes and asked sharply.
"I...I am guilty!"
There is no way, a few times can shirk most of the responsibilities, but this responsibility of inspection is absolutely unavoidable. With these weapons and armor issued, how can he not know what the trilateral system is like.
Logically speaking, if there is a problem with this armor weapon, he should submit a memorial to Emperor Hongzhi and explain the situation to Emperor Hongzhi, and then Emperor Hongzhi would send someone to investigate the matter thoroughly.
But all this time, this matter has never appeared on the desk of Emperor Hongzhi. From the perspective of Emperor Hongzhi, this military expenditure is incurred every year, weapons and armors are also made every year, and money and materials are not lacking. The following is
The craftsmen are also working hard, and the armor and weapons used by the army here should be guaranteed.
However, the fact is exactly the opposite. Not only are these armor weapons not issued every year, but they are issued once every two or three years, which is good. However, the armor weapons issued are not visible at all.
But in this matter, because the military power is in the hands of the civilian group, the military commanders here are all civilians, and there is at most one eunuch to supervise the army. The generals Xungui Group has no control or influence on the army at all.
It doesn’t even count.
Therefore, the control power is in the hands of the civil servant group, and the power to allocate funds, materials, etc. is also in the hands of the civil servant group. In the final analysis, all these things are handled by the civil servant group.
If Emperor Hongzhi's father, Ming Xianzong, had known how to use the power of factory guards to supervise, these civil servant groups would not be so rampant.
But as for Emperor Hongzhi, he was an emperor who was almost deceived by the civil service group. He listened to the civil service group in everything and did not trust factory guards at all.
Naturally, these civil servant groups were unscrupulous and did whatever they wanted, and it would be fine anyway. Even if something went wrong, the higher-ups would casually fool Emperor Hongzhi and the matter would be reduced to a minor matter.
This is the serious disadvantage of the dominance of one civil servant group.
The civilian clique is naturally opposed to the military generals clique. Naturally, it is necessary to suppress the military generals clique and let the civilian clique control the army and build the legion. It would be strange if they don't destroy you.
Armor, weapons, and munitions and equipment are only a small part of it, but it can also be seen from here that the Ming Dynasty's army has long been riddled with shortcomings.
"guilty?"
"You want to shirk responsibility just by saying you are guilty?"
Zhu Houzhao looked at Liu Yu coldly.
"I, the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, sacrificed their lives and blood for the country, so you let them wear such armor and use such weapons to fight against the enemy?"
"I think we should let you people wear such armor and carry such weapons to fight the Tatars once. Maybe you will understand the importance of human life and the importance of military affairs."
When he said this, Zhu Houzhao's voice became very loud, clearly reaching the ears of everyone present.
"Okay~"
He didn't know he was shouting, but he seemed to feel the same thing. Suddenly, all the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty in the playground also started shouting.
"His Highness still cares about us. Your Highness, you don't know, these people are so evil. Not only do they give us armors and weapons like this, but even the rice we usually eat is moldy old rotten rice."
"And even if it's old rotten rice, it won't let us people have enough to eat."
"Your Highness, they are also deducting our military pay. We have not received military pay for more than a year. Last time, the child of Chen Laosan's family was sick and died because he had no money for medical treatment."
It seemed that the pain points of these frontier soldiers were mentioned. At the same time, everyone couldn't help but cry and tell their own sufferings. In this era, being a soldier is really too painful.
Without status, it is difficult to even feed and support the family.
As for wanting to rely on war to gain the title of marquis and prime minister, and achieve a comeback, that is even more impossible. Civil servants have always been weak in power. If they can do it without fighting, they will not fight. Even if they win, it is the credit of these civil servants.
, where are the affairs of these soldiers?
Just like this time, after defeating the Tatars, those who were promoted and knighted were basically the commanders of the three armies, all civilian officials, and only Yang Yun and a few military generals got some benefits from following them.
Withholding military pay, withholding military rations, passing off inferior goods as good ones, exchanging old ones for new ones, using empty pay, reselling military supplies, etc. There are too many different things.
The final result was not only the low combat effectiveness of the Ming army, but also the integrity of these Ming soldiers.
No matter how hard it is for someone to have enough food, clothing or warmth, to support their family, or to make ends meet, they have no integrity. Once a person reaches that point, he will sacrifice his life for anyone who gives him food or money.
This is why this time, the reward for killing a Tatar is one hundred taels of silver, and the reward for killing a Tatar is two hundred taels of silver, which is so tempting.
Because for people like them, nothing is more real than silver. They don’t know what it means to be loyal to the emperor and serve the country. They only know about silver, because only with silver can they support their families, and only with silver can they feed themselves and their families.
Full meal.
Originally, these people did not dare to say these things, and in the past, no one would listen to them.
But things are different now. Prince Zhu Houzhao is here, and he is asking him these things sternly. In addition, this time he kills the Tatars.
The rewards were real gold and silver, and each of those who died in battle was given two hundred taels of silver.
This made these frontier soldiers believe in Zhu Houzhao and believe that Zhu Houzhao would make the decision for them, so they all began to speak out and constantly exposed the many problems that existed in the Ming Dynasty's army.
To be honest, if it hadn't been for the household registration system created by Comrade Zhu Yuanzhang, no one would have joined the army. They were helpless because their ancestors had military registration, so they had to join the army.
"Everyone, please speak slowly~ Everyone, please speak slowly, one by one~"
Zhu Houzhao listened to the voices below and looked at everyone's angry expressions, his face darkened.
As for Liu Yu, the trilateral commander-in-chief, his face was ashen. He was finished. Everything had been exposed. He could push the weapons and armor matters to the top.
But there are some things that he has absolutely no way to push to the top.
The deduction of military pay, the reselling of military supplies, the empty pay, and the fact that he opened a horse market and a slave market for the border army must not be pushed to the top. Once these things are exposed, he, Jingbian,
Uncle is dead.
"It's over~ It's over~"
Liu Yu collapsed to the ground and couldn't help but mutter, "This time it's really over."
Even his immediate boss Ma Wensheng and his fellow countryman Liu Jian, the chief minister of the cabinet, could not save him, and once this matter was brought to the court, it would not only be his Liu Yu's problem.
The entire civil service group will face a storm, and it is unknown how many people will die this time.
This is not just the case here, but also in the entire Jiubian Town. In addition, the military household health centers in various places are full of ills and have various problems.
No one had spoken out about these issues before, and even if someone had spoken out, they would never have reached the emperor's desk. Now Zhu Houzhao has exposed them, and they will be published in the Ming Dynasty Morning Post.
Then the entire Ming Dynasty will know these things, and it will definitely cause huge waves.
"Get some rice~"
Here, Zhu Houzhao started to investigate one by one on the spot. The first thing he checked was the military rations of the border army. Someone just reported that the military rations he was eating were old and moldy rice, and it was limited, so he also conducted an investigation on the spot.
.
Soon, someone from the Prince's Palace in the East Palace brought over generations of rice and gently cut it open. You can immediately see the moldy old rice.
