In the palace of Qianqing in the capital, in Emperor Hongzhi's huge study room, Emperor Hongzhi was sitting on his large desk, carefully reading the courses and content taught by the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy.
Emperor Hongzhi attached great importance to the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy.
This military academy entrusted Emperor Hongzhi’s hopes and dreams of strengthening the army and the country, and was also the core and focus of the new military reform.
Of course, as an emperor, Emperor Hongzhi, like other emperors, still valued the loyalty of the army the most.
Whether the army can be firmly controlled by oneself and whether the generals of the army can always keep the center of attention on themselves are very important things.
The emperors of all dynasties actually knew that using civil servants to lead the army would cause many problems, which would lead to a decline in the army's combat effectiveness, but they always insisted on this. Why?
It's not because civilians are in charge of the army that makes people feel more reassured. After all, it won't take ten years for the scholars to rebel.
Therefore, it would be better for the army's combat effectiveness to decline and for it to be softer when dealing with the outside world. In order to ensure its absolute rule and security, it will support the civilian group to suppress the military generals' group.
But when it comes to Emperor Hongzhi, Emperor Hongzhi also knows this, but now the Ming Dynasty has reached the point where it has to change its military system. Now the change may cause many problems and turmoil, but this is nothing. If this continues, the Ming Dynasty is destined to be perishable.
Because the military household system has been completely corrupted, the combat effectiveness of the Ming Dynasty's army is very low. The seemingly powerful Ming Dynasty is actually more like a paper tiger, which can be broken with just one poke.
The grassland people in the north can go south every year, there are Japanese pirates in the southeastern coastal areas, pirates are rampant, and the chieftains in the southwest are not stable. These are enough to illustrate this point.
Although Ming Dynasty is big, it is really not strong and is a paper tiger.
In the past, this paper tiger could barely cope with it and could last for more than a hundred years, but now it cannot.
The rise of emerging capitalism in Ming Dynasty and the rapid expansion of overseas interests all determined that Ming Dynasty must build a powerful army to protect Ming Dynasty's interests.
Emperor Hongzhi is now the largest capitalist. He can earn tens of millions of taels of silver every year just from doing business with North Korea and Japan. In addition, the gold from the Golden Continent and the products produced by many factories and industries are also in demand at home and abroad. market.
This determined that Emperor Hongzhi, as an emerging capitalist, had to consider his own interests.
If you want to go to Japan and Korea to do business, you must fight against the Japanese pirates and pirates; if you want to go to the Golden Continent to dig for gold and do business with the descendants of the Yin Shang, you also need strong force.
This year we will also open routes to Southeast Asia and Australia. There are more pirates in Southeast Asia and Australia, and the indigenous people in Southeast Asia are very ferocious. This also requires strong force.
In short, whether it is urgent needs now or considerations for the future, a strong army is needed.
This was also the reason why he was determined to reform the military system.
The military system is about to be reformed, and he is also worried about whether the military after the reform can be in his hands and whether it will be loyal to him. This is also very important.
"Not bad, not bad~"
"This textbook is well written, and Liu Jin's work is really reassuring~"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the teaching textbooks of the military academy and laughed happily.
The emperors of the Ming Dynasty written in the book are all very perfect, and they are all like gods. Even the father of Emperor Hongzhi, Ming Xianzong, this famous faint emperor is also written very perfectly, and his glory is reflected in the book.
One side kept getting bigger and bigger, so much so that Emperor Hongzhi couldn't help but bow down and worship.
Regarding the description of Emperor Hongzhi himself, it is even more profound that Emperor Hongzhi had a kindhearted heart, loved the people like a son, was diligent and frugal, diligent in government affairs, spoke widely, was not close to women, knew people well and made good use of them, worked hard to govern, and defeated the Tatars, etc.
wait.
Emperor Hongzhi in the book is almost the most perfect emperor, the only emperor of all time, the greatest emperor in history, and the god believed by countless people of the Ming Dynasty.
The content he wrote would make even Emperor Hongzhi blush after reading it.
"Xiao Jing, is the situation at the military academy the same as the report?"
Then Emperor Hongzhi pondered for a while and asked Xiao Jing next to him.
He has now become accustomed to asking Xiao Jing and looking at the reports from the factory guard.
"Your Majesty, there is no discrepancy. The most important thing here at the Royal Military Academy is loyalty and honor. It emphasizes that soldiers must be loyal to Your Majesty and swear allegiance to Your Majesty to the death. If the monarch wants the minister to die, the minister must die."
Xiao Jing quickly replied respectfully.
In fact, the Jinyi Guards and Factory Guards have arranged many spies in the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy. Some of them enter as recruits, some as instructors, and some are staff of the military academy.
In short, the power of factory guards was pervasive and penetrated into every aspect of the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy and the New Army. Reports were continuously sent to Emperor Hongzhi's desk every day.
"Hmm~"
Emperor Hongzhi nodded with satisfaction.
The new army is so important. Emperor Hongzhi's money is spent like water. Let's not say whether it can create a strong army. At least for now, it is at least very loyal to himself.
I was brainwashed every day, constantly telling the glorious deeds of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, telling how there would be no Ming Dynasty without Zhu Yuanzhang, the good life of the Han family without it, and so on.
"How is the prince doing at the military academy?"
Soon, Emperor Hongzhi thought of Zhu Houzhao again. Zhu Houzhao liked military affairs. He knew that he couldn't stand Zhu Houzhao's hard work, so he agreed to let Zhu Houzhao go to the military academy to practice and practice.
This was also met with collective opposition from the civil servants, especially the three elders of the cabinet, and Zhu Houzhao's teacher Yang Tinghe, who directly submitted several resignation letters.
Yang Tinghe felt that he had no shame in being a teacher to Zhu Houzhao. A student of Confucianism actually went to the military academy to hang out with Qiu Ba.
How could these instructors and teachers in the military academy compare with himself? He even felt as if he had been insulted.
Naturally, there are reasons for the opposition of the civil service group. The prince trained in the military academy and naturally became closer to these soldiers, which is extremely detrimental to the civil service group.
The prince is related to the future, and the civil service group has always paid the most attention to it. In many cases, it doesn't matter if he can't fight now. They have already taken action on the successor.
Emperor Hongzhi is a typical example.
His father, Ming Xianzong, liked to use the power of the factory guards. The East Factory and the Jinyiwei were not enough, so he also established the West Factory. When Ming Xianzong was in power, the entire government and the public were shrouded in the shadow of the factory guards. The West Factory
The factory owner is even more domineering and arrogant.
Civil servants can't defeat the factory guards, so what should they do?
We started with the successor, so he concentrated on cultivating Emperor Hongzhi, and led Emperor Hongzhi astray. Therefore, Emperor Hongzhi trusted civil servants very much and valued them, but he was very cold towards factory guards.
As soon as Emperor Hongzhi came to power, he immediately abolished the West Factory, and all the factory guards were sent to the sidelines. The spring of the civil servants was here.
Now the prince has gone to the military camp to hang out with the generals and nobles' disciples, and is alienated from civil servants like them. This is not a good thing.
Zhu Houzhao didn't like them civil servants in the first place, and admired Wei Qing and Huo Qubing. It was even more disadvantageous for them to go to the military academy to hone their skills.
When Zhu Houzhao becomes emperor, will there be a place for civil servants like them?
Therefore, now the ministers in the court are writing to Emperor Hongzhi almost every day, asking him to recall the prince so that he can no longer hang out in the military academy. At the same time, they also ask Emperor Hongzhi to choose a famous teacher for the prince to teach him.
Emperor Hongzhi ignored these memorials.
He is no longer the former Hongzhi Emperor. He has clearly seen the faces of these civil servants and trusts his own intuition and judgment.
He felt that it was actually a good thing for Zhu Houzhao to go to the military academy to gain experience. Exercise, learn military knowledge, and become familiar with the army, which would be beneficial to Zhu Houzhao's future control of the army.
"Back to Your Majesty, Your Highness performed very well in the military academy and ranked among the best in all assessments."
Xiao Jing replied respectfully.
"This kid has been interested in this kind of thing since he was a child. Let him go. Maybe it would be good to get some experience in a military academy."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded happily.
He knew everything about his son, including where he went every day, what he did, and so on.
After all, he only had one son. He valued him very much and had high hopes for him. In the end, Zhu Houzhao would have to inherit the Ming Dynasty.
"He doesn't have any contact with anything now, does he?"
Then Emperor Hongzhi seemed to have thought of something again, and after pondering for a while he asked.
"Back to Your Majesty, His Highness has no contact with anything anymore. No one in the East Palace dares to let His Highness have contact with it. After entering the military academy, there is no chance of contact."
"Now His Highness is putting all his energy into studying all aspects of the military academy."
Xiao Jing quickly replied.
He clearly knew what Emperor Hongzhi was referring to. Ever since Liu Jin said that contact with men and women too early would lead to infertility, Emperor Hongzhi had issued a death order in this regard.
The many books, pictures, etc. collected by Zhu Houzhao were all confiscated. Even the maids in the Prince's Palace in the East Palace were all replaced by eunuchs. It was also decreed that anyone who led Zhu Houzhao in this regard would be punished by the nine tribes.
He was really frightened by Liu Jin's words.
Just like a single seedling, if Zhu Houzhao was infertile and had a short life due to premature exposure to something, where would the Ming Dynasty go?
