Wu Shigong could not ignore Yu Ji's urgent report. However, because Shanhaiguan was in the hands of the Qing army, if the Daping army wanted to reinforce and transport food, they must exit the customs at the Great Wall Pass and take a long detour to Ningyuan and Zhenyuan. Moreover, because
With the threat of the Qing army and the Mongolian tribes, it would not be enough to send too few people, so Wu Shigong planned to ask Yao Liang to lead a team after the beginning of spring to carry grain and grass to reinforce the two cities outside the pass.
In addition, not to mention those miscellaneous troops, the Daping Army also stationed 20,000 soldiers and horses in the capital to guard against possible rebellions by the Qian Ming forces. It also stationed 10,000 soldiers and horses in the Tongzhou Camp to guard the food and grass here.
A town of 15,000 troops will be arranged to the west of Beizhili to guard the Xuanda line and be ready to reinforce the Western Expedition Army in Shanxi at any time. In the Fengtai camp outside the capital, there are also troops stationed in Zug.
Ma Town, as the general reserve force, is ready to mobilize reinforcements everywhere at any time.
After all this calculation, there were only nearly 90,000 people left in the main force of the Daping Army. Wu Shigong organized them into the Northern Expedition Army, appointed Xue Yongli as the Northern Expedition General, and asked him to lead the Daping Army in the final battle.
The elite main force formed a defense line around Shanhaiguan to prevent the main force of the Qing army from pouring out from Shanhaiguan.
However, no one, including some senior officials of the Great Ping Dynasty, knew that the Marine Corps led by Gonzalez and Huang Ding had also quietly expanded to a town of 20,000 troops. They were guarding Tianjin
Step up your training and prepare for the decisive battle that will happen in the future.
After reading those military memorials, Wu Shigong was extremely tired. He said to Ye Zhong: "Move the remaining memorials to the back room!"
There is a small room behind the study room where Wu Shigong annotated memorials. If Wu Shigong was busy too late, he would sleep in this small room. He would not go back to any concubine's palace to disturb their rest.
As soon as he entered the small room, Wu Shigong half-lyed down on the bed. He ignored the remaining memorials and thought he wanted to take a rest first and chat with Ye Zhong for a few words.
When Wu Shigong moved into the palace, there were of course a group of eunuchs and maids in the palace to serve Wu Shigong's family. However, the number of eunuchs and maids left over from the previous Ming Dynasty was really huge, with a total number of more than 30,000. Many eunuchs were scattered across the country.
, were not in the capital, and some of them were killed, captured and plundered by the Dashun Army and the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and another group escaped, but now the number of people left in the capital exceeds 8,000.
Moreover, the loyalty of these people is questionable. The palace maids are okay. They can be replaced by maids from Wu Shigong's mansion in Runing, but eunuchs are difficult to find.
That is to say, Ye Zhong, the supervisor of the Runing Army, was familiar with Wu Shigong. Ye Zhong had the experience of studying in the study room of the palace before. So after consulting his opinion, this time Ye Zhong went with Wu Shigong's family.
He rushed to the capital from Runing and served as Wu Shigong's eunuch.
"Ye Zhong! From now on, I will not set up prisons such as the Chief of Ceremonies and the Royal Horse Prison in the palace. You, the great eunuch, may not be as majestic as your predecessors." Wu Shigong said casually.
"It's nothing!" Ye Zhong said with a smile, "If you can serve a British master like the emperor, then the old slave's ancestral grave is smoking. It's just that... the emperor should pay attention. You must call yourself 'I'."
"I always forget!" Wu Shigong said with a smile, "But you eunuchs have come to the palace to serve me, so I have to let you live on."
"Then I will thank the Emperor for those little bastards." Ye Zhong bowed and smiled.
In fact, what Wu Shigong said to Ye Zhong today was just a tease. In his expectation, the reform of the royal eunuch institution was not just a drastic change, but a complete overhaul.
In the future, the internal affairs department will not only lose the important powers such as the ceremonial supervisor and the royal horse supervisor, but also almost all matters such as procurement will be carved out. It will be merged into a separate royal affairs department, which will be managed by Wu Shigong's housekeeper in Runing -
—Liu Yuan came to manage. As a result, the number of eunuchs and maids in the palace will definitely be greatly reduced, and even the power will be gone.
Why is this so? Because in the future Great Ping Dynasty, national finances will be completely separated from royal expenditures. The annual annuity allocated to the royal family by the state is only about 1% of the total fiscal revenue, plus a fixed palace maintenance fee and
The maximum amount of state banquet entertainment expenses per year is 200,000 taels.
Of course, as the national fiscal revenue increases in the future, the annual royal annuity will gradually increase, but no matter what, the royal family will not have huge income. In addition, the expenses for royal weddings and weddings will also be borne by himself, so Wu Shigong supports his family.
The pressure can be imagined. Therefore, it is impossible to afford the expenses of so many eunuchs and maids.
In fact, in his heart, Wu Shigong still resented the inhumane product of eunuchs. If the social atmosphere at this time was not like this, and the royal family also needed such dignity, maybe Wu Shigong would abolish the eunuch system. But now, he can only hope.
In the future, people will be enlightened and society will progress.
But for Ye Zhong, he was a little dissatisfied with Wu Shigong's words. The eunuchs who had entered the inner study were all very educated people. Of course, they were also very familiar with history. Ye Zhong understood that in every
In the beginning of the dynasty, because there was a strong emperor, the weakness of eunuchs was always natural. But in the future, as the emperors who were raised in deep palaces lacked experience, they would become more and more dependent on eunuchs.
Of course, Ye Zhong was not interested in considering such a distant matter. But as the chief eunuch in the palace, even if Wu Shigong deprived the eunuchs of all their rights, Ye Zhong's own financial situation would still not be shaken. In order to make the emperor happy
, why should I care about other eunuchs and maids?
However, Ye Zhong did not consider it, Wu Shigong always had to make arrangements. After all, some eunuchs, such as Liu Yuanbin, Xiao Yuegui and others, had helped Runing Jun to some extent, and Wu Shigong still had to remember their affection. And inside
The eunuchs who had studied in the study had merits in terms of cultural knowledge and political ability, and even surpassed some rookie officials who came from the imperial examination.
And those professional eunuchs such as mine supervisors and tax supervisors also have strong professional knowledge. It is a pity that these talents have given up like this. At least they should be diverted. As long as Wu Shigong can stop their exaggerated behavior,
Just be greedy.
There are also some old eunuchs and maids. If they are kicked out of the palace, their livelihood will be cut off. After all, morally speaking, Wu Shigong not only inherited the Zhu family dynasty, but also took in domestic slaves such as eunuchs and maids.
Abandoning them would be detrimental to the benevolence of the royal family. (To be continued...)