Zhu Yihai summoned Zhu Shengli and Zhu Chenggong, two young men with national surnames. Facing these two young men, Zhu Yihai was very cordial and held each other's arms.
"I have ascended the throne of Xiaoling, but now I don't have a son, which is really a pity. My previous three sons all met with misfortune. Now I love the second minister and want to adopt him as my adopted son. I wonder if the second minister is willing?"
The two young men were both heroes of the moment, especially after serving in Zhu Yihai's camp. They were highly valued and displayed their talents to the fullest. One was a rookie in the navy, and the other was a talented cavalryman.
There have long been rumors that Zhu Yihai planned to choose Zhu Chenggong as his son-in-law. Although there is no follow-up to this matter now, the two people really impressed Zhu Yihai.
"Would you like that?"
Both of them were surprised.
The adoption of adopted sons was not uncommon in the Ming Dynasty. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, had more than 20 adopted sons, including Zhu Wenzheng, Li Wenzhong, Mu Ying, He Wenhui, Xu Sima, Ping An, Zhu Wengang, and Zhu Wenjin.
, vajra slaves, buying donkeys, etc.
As for why Zhu Yuanzhang accepted so many adopted sons, there are actually many reasons. Firstly, it was an important way for generals to cultivate the power of their confidants, or due to years of war and turmoil, there were many orphans, some of whom were relatives and some were orphans of fellow soldiers who died in battle.
There are also some poor orphans who were adopted out of pity.
Zhu Yuanzhang's adopted sons all became his confidants. They were his confidants in the early days, and later they were sent out to lead troops in battles, or even guard one side, and they all made great contributions to the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang also often asked an adopted son to stay as a supervisor every time he conquered a territory.
For example, Mu Ying and Tang He once guarded Zhenjiang together, Xu Sima Zhu Chang Yuchun guarded Wuzhou, Zhu Wengang and Geng Zaicheng guarded Chuzhou together, Jingang Nu and Ye Xian guarded Quzhou together, etc.
Using adopted sons to monitor and control generals was also a result of the severe and unpredictable war situation, and was a relatively common practice at that time.
Now Zhu Yihai wants to accept Zhu Chenggong and Zhu Shengli as adopted sons, which is also very meaningful.
After all, the two of them are not ordinary people. Zhu Shengli was originally Li Guo's adopted son, a war orphan. When Li Guo returned to Lu Jianguo, he was given the name Li Chixin and commanded the Zhongzhen Camp. When he came to see him, he left his adopted son Li Laiheng as his guard.
, in fact, it is also a show of loyalty to send the hostages.
Li Laiheng was young and talented, so he was rewarded by Zhu Yihai and given a national surname. This could be regarded as the end of the adoptive father-son relationship with Li Chixin, but after all, he came from Yuan Shunying and had a closer relationship with Zhongzhen Town.
Now Zhu Yihai wants to adopt him as his adopted son, which is certainly not easy.
The two young men were very excited. Being adopted sons of the emperor was a rare honor and there was no reason to refuse.
"If you are willing, kowtow to me and serve me tea!"
The two young men formally worshiped Zhu Yihai as their adoptive father.
"The imperial camp's central army has two steps, two water, one cavalry and one artillery. It has 48,000 soldiers in six towns, plus 18,000 auxiliary troops. They will stay in Jiangning. The Zhenjiang area has abundant troops, so I plan to form the imperial camp's Huguang camp and Fujian and Guangdong camp.
, each of the two battalions will draw one thousand combat troops and three hundred six auxiliary troops from the six towns, totaling two thousand infantry, two thousand naval divisions, one thousand cavalry, one thousand artillery, and two thousand one hundred six auxiliary troops."
"In victory, you will command the Imperial Camp Huguangxing Camp, with a total of 8,160 people on land, water, horse and infantry, and set up 12 battalions. You will go up the Yangtze River to garrison in Changsha. The Qing army has now abandoned Changsha and gathered in Wuchang to divide the troops.
Garrison Jingzhou and Xiangyang, do our best to repair the two cities, and divide the troops to garrison Yuezhou. Huguang is still in decay, but we cannot let them breathe. Division Zhu is currently still encircling Zhongwu, Zhongyong, and Zhongyi towns in Hengzhou, Guilin and other places.
Rebels, your main task after passing is to contain the Huguang Qing army and prevent them from recovering in peace."
"Can you bear this burden?"
Zhu Shengli was very excited to be directly awarded the title of admiral, especially because the admiral was the imperial camp.
This trust is very impressive.
After the collapse of Huguang, most of the Zhongwu, Zhongyong and Zhongyi either surrendered or rebelled. Now almost all of the Jianghan Plain has been lost. They have retreated to the mountainous areas. They have to prevent the Tatars from advancing and suppress the rebels. They are fighting on both sides and have to face a wavering place.
Chieftains, Zhu Dadian also had a very difficult time. Even Zhang Mingzhen, the admiral of Liangjiang, led troops to reinforce, but it was remote and backward, so encirclement and suppression was not easy.
If this pustule is not cleaned out, it will be impossible to compete with the Qing army in Huguang.
Of course, for Zhu Yihai, the biggest problem in Huguang now is that the various people there are not reliable now.
Even if the three loyalists who have rebelled and surrendered are cleared out, the remaining loyalists and loyalists may not be completely trustworthy. These are local warlords, especially Zhongzhen Town and Shunying.
With the previous lessons, Zhu Yihai still believes in his imperial camp the most.
This time, sending Zhu Shengli, the young tiger from the Zhongzhen Camp, back to the Zhongzhen Camp, it was not easy for Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng from the Zhongzhen Camp to react too much. After all, Zhu Shengli was Li Chixin's adopted son. Even if this relationship is no longer the case,
But there is still such a layer of origin.
Zhu Yihai now needs to send his own central army to Huguang, but he must not irritate the local army there too much, especially the Zhongzhen camp who was born in Shunying. Zhu Shengli's identity is quite good.
Eight thousand troops is neither too much nor too little. Even though it has been newly expanded, it is already a royal army that has won many battles and even severely damaged the Tatars. Regardless of morale or other aspects,
All are very strong.
With the foundation of these eight thousand people, Zhu Yihai's authority as emperor can be truly established there.
With the addition of governors such as Zhu Dadian, Du Yinxi, and Xu Qiyuan, Huguang can be separated from central control, and even in this kind of war, there is a possibility that the local warlords will not be defeated.
One of the biggest reasons for the failure of several emperors in the Southern Ming Dynasty was that the emperor only had the title of emperor for nothing, and the local areas were basically controlled by warlords.
There were many reasons for the collapse of Huguangda before, but one of the important ones was that although the Five Faithfuls had a large number of people, they were complex in composition. They were all grass-headed kings who supported the army, and there were not many who were willing to obey the imperial court or the governors and governors sent by the imperial court.
of command.
This was a huge loss. There was nothing we could do about it at the time, but we must change it now.
The Royal Camp Huguangxing Camp was built first. After the eight thousand people established a foothold there, they could then continue to reorganize the local army.
For example, in Huguang, the general soldiers of Wuliu Town were reorganized to control the number of soldiers and horses and ensure the court's control over them, instead of having general soldiers and deputy generals everywhere, regardless of soldiers and thieves.
"When you, the camp admiral, get there, you must cooperate with Governor Zhu and several governors and admirals to stabilize Huguang."
Zhu Yihai used the word "cooperate" instead of "submit to the dispatch of the governor", because Zhu Shengli was the commander-in-chief of the imperial camp, and the imperial camp was not qualified to command even the cabinet and the Ministry of War, and was directly subordinate to the emperor.
Supervisors and governors also manage military affairs, which refers to the local provincial and town camps and the training of rural brave regiments.
This is also the reason why Zhu Yihai specially set up the imperial camp in Huguang, instead of granting Zhu Shengli an official position such as Admiral of Huguang.
If Huguang wants to control it, it must first unify the order, but the current situation is not easy. Zhu Dadian, the governor, does not even have a pavilion standard that he can really control. The three governors of Huguang, Pianyuan, and Yunyang
The situation is similar, but Zhongkai and Zhongzhen retain too many troops and can expand them at will.
There are many other generals, who are basically independent military leaders.
After the Huguang Imperial Camp was established, a system of one governor, three governors, three admirals, and several soldiers were established to establish a true model army. These troops will be the new army that can obey the emperor's will.
The original Zhongzhen, Zhongkai and Zhongyi departments will be standardized. For example, Zhongzhen will retain a town with a maximum of ten battalions of 5,000 soldiers, and the remaining troops will be converted into auxiliary troops, or
Convert them to local regiment training, or simply demobilize them and relocate them locally, while retaining the establishment of the Baojia militia.
The main trunk must be weak and the branches must be weak, otherwise it will be difficult to exercise authority.
Although this road is not easy to walk, this first step must be taken.
The camp in Huguang with more than 8,000 people was the first step. Zhu Shengli would go to the camp as admiral with the title of the emperor's adopted son and his national surname.
"Success!"
Zhu Yihai pulled Zhu Chenggong over, patted his arm and said, "You have a family background in the navy, and you are also very knowledgeable about horse-mounted land warfare. Among the young people I personally teach, you and Shengli are both."
He is the best.”
"I plan to ask you to take eight thousand people to Fujian to form a camp."
Zhu Chenggong was a little silent. Compared with Zhu Chenggong's happiness, Zhu Chenggong was very willing to return to Huguang, especially as the camp admiral.
But Zhu Chenggong remained silent. He had actually guessed the emperor's intention.
Eighteen years ago, Zheng Zhilong led his army to capture Xiamen. After the commander-in-chief Yu Zigao fled and Xu Xinsu was killed, Zheng Zhilong occupied Xiamen and made Xiamen, Kinmen, Anhai and other places his base camp.
After eighteen years of operation, especially taking advantage of the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng Zhilong regarded Fujian as his own private territory.
Conflicts had broken out with Governor Zhang Kentang more than once before. After Zhang Kentang returned south to Fujian with He Tengjiao for the second time, the conflict became more and more intense. Zhang Kentang was even squeezed to the island of Taiwan by Zheng Zhilong.
I heard that Zhang Kentang's stay in Taiwan was not going well. The Dutch had been operating in Taiwan for decades and had a very complete defense system consisting of a castle as the center and multiple forts, semicircular forts, wooden fences, trenches, etc.
Although the Dutch had only about 2,000 troops, they had hundreds of cannons in the city and the fortresses outside, and they also had sail warships that far exceeded the Chinese navy.
Reinforcements can even come from Batavia.
Zheng Zhilong accepted Zhu Yihai's order and organized troops to conquer Taiwan. The biggest enemy he faced was not the island's islanders, but the Dutch who occupied the Dayuan area.
Zheng was very aware of the strength of these Dutch people, and had even been doing business with them, but he deliberately arranged for Zhang Kentang to lead his Fu Biao to attack, just to kill people with a borrowed knife.
Zhang Kentang's Fu Biao was also newly recruited. Most of them were former Fujian local Ming troops, many of them were guardsmen, and their combat effectiveness was extremely weak.
"After the Fujian and Guangdong troops marched south, they first stationed themselves in Funing, then went to Penghu, where they rebuilt castles, ports, etc., then marched to Taiwan, defeated the Dutch, and recovered most of the troops."