In the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, it is freezing cold in Liaodong.
Wang Ji's ship was urgently mobilized by the imperial court to transport grain from Tianjin and Shandong to Liaodong.
Nie Bao, the governor of Liaodong, Zhang Meng, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, and Yu Dayou, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, jointly inspected the military fields in Liaodong, and at the same time, the guard system was changed to the camp system.
This was to dig out the roots of the hereditary generals, and finally sparked a rebellion in the autumn. Shenyang Zhongwei, Tielingwei, Dingliao Youwei (Dandong), and Thirty Thousand Guards (Kaiyuan) all rebelled, and even colluded with Jurchen tribes to cause rebellion. Nie Bao, Zhang Meng and Yu Dayou were impeached, but Wang Yuan made the final decision and forcibly retained the three.
Wang Ji had already transported food and grass to the Liaodong army twice. When he finally arrived at Lushunkou for the third time, an official said to them: "You don't need to come again. The cost of transporting food will be settled by the Ministry of War."
Everyone couldn't help but inquire, but it turned out that the Liaodong rebellion had been put down.
These guys began to rebel in the autumn, and were beaten to a crawl by Yu Dayou's troops. However, there are many deep mountains and old forests in the Northeast. After the rebels lost the city, it became more difficult to deal with them. During this period, Yu Dayou was ambushed and defeated once.
After winter, the situation completely reverses.
A large number of officers and soldiers who participated in the rebellion could not stand the terrible cold, and soldiers fled back to the Acropolis every day to ask for surrender. Gradually, some middle- and low-level officers led their troops to surrender in an organized manner, just to save their lives, even if they were exiled to Yin. They all recognized Zhou.
But those high-ranking generals have no chance of surrendering, because they will definitely die.
These guys ran to join the Jurchen tribe. If it were any other season, the Jurchen chiefs would have colluded with them and ran to the Ming Dynasty to plunder. But what’s the point of winter? The Ming army is so powerful, and these rebels can only come over. A waste of food from the Jurchen tribe.
As a result, three commanders were beheaded by Jurchen chiefs one after another and sent to Liaoyang to request rewards from the imperial court. The other commander had long been beheaded by Yu Dayou's formation.
The situation in Liaodong was thus stabilized. A large number of military fields were allocated to military households. All military households were converted into civilian households on the spot, and some of the young men were selected as camp soldiers.
The guard system became history in Liaodong.
In the first month of the following year, the imperial court established the Chief Secretary of Liaodong and the Chief Secretary of Liaodong. The border towns in Liaodong disappeared and should be called Liaoning Province from now on.
The boundaries of Liaoning Province in the Ming Dynasty are almost exactly the same as those of later generations. The west reaches Shanhaiguan, the south is the coastal area, and the north and east are bounded by mountains, rivers, and border walls.
In order to prevent foreign invasion, heavy troops are still stationed in various places in Liaoning. However, they are no longer guard posts. They have all been converted into battalions (generals are transferred and soldiers are recruited). They are divided into Shenyang Camp, Tieling Camp, Fushun Camp, and Thirty Thousand Battalions (Kaiyuan Camp). ), Phoenix Camp (Dandong).
By the way, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Liaodong and border towns successively converted from the guard system to the camp system. In addition, the salt system was abolished, resulting in the central government's military expenditures increasing several times.
The guard system combined with the Kaizhong system means that local military expenditures are self-sufficient. If the local military expenditures cannot be self-sufficient, the salt tax will be used to make up for it. If the salt tax cannot make up for it, the local government will raise funds. In the end, if there is a shortfall, the central finance will provide it. If this is done, the court ministers It saved trouble, but it made local officials, merchants and people miserable. The corruption losses were several times the normal military expenditure, and the court gradually lost control of the army.
Historically, why could the capable ministers of the Ming Dynasty not change the military system?
Nothing but political, economic and military reasons.
If you dare to disturb the imperial system, you will definitely provoke a rebellion. It is possible that the reformers will be dismissed from office and imprisoned before the rebellion is subsided.
Even if they could withstand the political pressure, they could not withstand the financial pressure. After the abolition of the guard system, the central military expenditure doubled. Where could the Ming emperors and ministers find so much money to fill the hole?
In addition, the military pressure is not only the rebellion of the officers and soldiers, but also the Mongols and Jurchens who are eyeing them. In the early stage of reform, there will inevitably be chaos. Once the Ming army is in chaos, the Mongols and Jurchens will take the opportunity to cause trouble. Who dares to take such a big risk?
Wang Yuan also first defeated the Mongols and Jurchens to eliminate external military pressure. Then he carried out currency, tax, and salt policy reforms to increase the amount of money in the treasury. In this way, he finally dared to operate on the guard system. The order cannot be reversed.
, otherwise the Ming Dynasty will be a mess.
Once the military system in Liaodong is changed, Gansu Town will still need to be cleaned up. By that time, there will be no guard system in the entire north.
No matter where the changes are made, there will always be people everywhere, and there will always be some stubborn ones popping up.
The military reform in Shanxi and Shaanxi is relatively easy and harmonious, because Hetao and Jining were recovered at that time. Wang Yuan, with the power of victory, moved the two provincial guard posts to the newly restored land, and skipped the liquidation army through land conversion.
The land also induced the hereditary officers to leave their territory. In this way, the hereditary officers lost the courage to rebel and did not accumulate so much grievances over the liquidation of the military land.
The coastal guards were also abolished by Wang Yuan last year.
The officers and soldiers in these places had long since died and were unable to rebel even if they wanted to. They obeyed the imperial decree and a large number of landless military households spontaneously immigrated overseas.
The next things can be implemented slowly and step by step.
The military system was reformed first in the north and south Zhili, and then in Henan, Shandong, Huguang, Jiangxi, Sichuan... The richer the area, the fewer the number of military posts and the lower the difficulty of reform.
When Tamluo was recovered and Liaoning was established as a province, Wang Ji personally participated in it.
It's just that his job is to be a sailor, and now he can wash the deck very well. The captain immediately asked him to learn how to sail.
To learn to sail, you must first learn to deal with cables.
The larger the ship, the more cables there are. The densely packed cables can make people dizzy.
Wang Ji spent New Year's Eve in Japan this year.
Fukuoka is the largest port in Japan. There are many shops near the dock, more than half of which were invested and opened by merchants from the Ming Dynasty.
Wang Ji was very popular among the sailors of the Breaking Waves. He won several fights and gained the respect of the sailors with force. At the same time, he was generous and often treated guests to dinner when he disembarked from the ship, conquering the sailors emotionally.
Today, Wang Ji, who is under fifteen years old, is respectfully called "Brother Zhou" by the sailors.
Well, Wang Ji temporarily changed his name to "Zhou Ji", and followed Zhou Fei to "Wang Fei" to avoid people guessing his identity because of his surname.
On New Year's Eve, Wang Ji was escorted off the boat. After they had had enough wine and food, everyone headed to the brothel laughing and joking.
The brothel business in Fukuoka was not run by merchants from the Ming Dynasty.
It's not due to any moral factors, but the three major industries of yellow, black and gambling are definitely in the hands of local snakes.
This is a low-level brothel that mainly provides services to sailors and dock workers.
Wang Ji randomly called a prostitute and took her into the house to have fun.
The room was very narrow and dark, and the bed was padded with bamboo boards, straw and cotton cloth. Fortunately, the cotton produced in the Ming Dynasty was cheap, otherwise there would not even be cotton cloth on the bed, and it would only be covered with a layer of kudzu or linen cloth.
Wang Ji was tanned a lot by the scorching sun at sea, his hair was messy and unkempt, and he was wearing an ordinary cotton-padded jacket.
Even so, he is still handsome and has three points more perseverance than before.
The prostitute was probably in her twenties, her appearance was barely adequate, she was as tall as a girl, and her legs were very short. When she saw Wang Ji's appearance clearly, she couldn't help but feel a little happy, and as soon as she entered the door, she helped Wang Ji take off his clothes.
"No, just sit and talk for a while," Wang Ji asked, "Can you speak Chinese?"
The prostitute was stunned for a moment, then nodded and responded: "I know...a little, but I can't...say it quickly."
Wang Ji asked: "How much do you earn per month?"
The prostitute was confused: "Huh?"
Wang Ji asked again: "How much money do you make every month?"
The prostitute replied: "Look... how many customers there are. When you are busy, you can earn 800 coins, and when you are young, you can earn 300 coins."
Wang Ji sighed: "It's very hard. I have to work even on New Year's Eve."
This kind of low-level prostitute relies entirely on quantity to do business. She just pays for it and calls it a day.
Today is Wang Ji's treat. I know that the prostitution fee for each person is five cents.
A prostitute has to give more than half of her money to her boss, and she can only keep two cents at most. Assuming she earns 800 cents per month, she has to receive 400 customers a month, which is more than 10 customers a day.
Wang Ji's words moved the prostitute very much. Such a handsome Ming guest would actually understand her hard work. She even wanted to pay for it for free, and immediately showed a sincere smile: "It's all... hard work, you...
It’s also hard work. I… make money to support my family, but it’s not… hard work.”
"Scream louder." Wang Ji suddenly said.
The prostitute was puzzled: "Huh?"
Wang Ji pointed to the next door and said with a smile: "I can't let my friends look down on me."
The prostitute smiled, then twisted and shouted: "Ah! Ah! Ah..."
Wang Ji ignored the filthy bed and lay down on his back with his hands behind his head, closing his eyes and humming a leisurely tune. This was a very strange experience. Last New Year's Eve, he was studying in a luxurious university, but this New Year's Eve he was studying in a Japanese university.
Cheap brothel.
What is public suffering?
Wang Ji didn't know this before, but now he knows a lot more.
Japan is really interesting. Apart from minerals and Japanese knives, they have no products that can be exported to make money. Lords from various places actually contacted merchants of the Ming Dynasty and sent their women to Nanyang as prostitutes, which greatly alleviated the physiological needs of Nanyang immigrants. This