"There are many native villages in Henan, and the ministers in the foreign court have different opinions on this, and they can't agree on one thing. You come from Henan. From your perspective, how should you make a decision?"
Zhu Yihai pulled his newly adopted son, who was actually not a few years younger than him, out of the palace and strolled towards Xiaohai.
Xiaohai was originally the core of Dengzhou Water City. There was a sea gate connected to the sea, and a sea was enclosed in the city where Dengzhou Navy ships could berth. However, now it is like a lake in the garden of a royal palace.
Upon hearing the emperor's question, Zhu Zhongyi bravely said bluntly, "Your Majesty, I thought I was going to fight."
The Tuzhai in Henan and other places has its historical reasons. In the final analysis, it was the political turmoil in the late Ming Dynasty, especially when the peasant army repeatedly invaded the Central Plains.
, local indigenous people, led by clan surnames or even famous squires, established forts, villages, etc. to protect themselves, forming a state of local autonomy.
This is not unique to the late Ming Dynasty. For example, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Wubi Wubao that was popular in the north was actually the same thing as Tuzhai, a wealthy family, powerful and self-governing.
Of course, it is inevitable that some bandits and bandits will also cut off territories to stand on their own feet in troubled times, occupying mountains and becoming kings.
"Let's talk about it in detail."
"I only take the situation in Guide Mansion and its surroundings as an example. There are many villages of various kinds, including famous villages built by gentry and celebrities, and powerful families. Dazhai is large and famous, and the clans and refugees they recruit are also famous.
Many, powerful.
There are also more local villages, which were established by powerful powerful people, or by some former lower-class people who gathered as refugees. They established villages to farm, but they also attacked each other, took money and food, and were even hostile to the government."
"There are even some that are the strongholds of thieves, including Nian thieves, Lao Tang, thieves, swordsmen, and water thieves. These people mainly engage in robbery, but also kidnapping and other things."
Zhu Zhongyi came from Henan and was very familiar with the various local villages.
He explained to the emperor in detail that regardless of the identity of the leaders of these villages, they had one common characteristic, which was armed autonomy. Moreover, after becoming a fort, they also had the purpose of clearing the countryside and gathering all the population, materials, etc.
In the fort, whether it is the Chuang army, the Ming army, or the Qing army, it is often difficult for thieves and bandits to obtain supplies.
Even if they occupy one area, they have replaced the original government power in the county government and township.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, three major Tuzhai leaders emerged in Henan: Li Jiyu from Luoyang, Liu Hongqi from Nanyang, and Shen Wandeng from Runing. These three forces were no longer even a simple village, but an alliance of hundreds of thousands of Tuzhai.
Each group supported tens of thousands of people, and everyone in Xiaozhai returned.
Liu Hongqi once had actual control over five prefectures in Henan.
Natural disasters, famines, and wars have left the Central Plains in ruins. The remaining people can only form strongholds to protect themselves.
Villages attacked each other, and gradually some people joined forces with each other to form alliances. Then gradually, the big fish ate the small fish, and the small fish ate the shrimps. At one time, several large alliances of native villages appeared.
However, after the death of Chongzhen, the establishment of Hongguang, the Qing army entered the pass, and the Shun army collapsed, the Central Plains once again became a battlefield for several parties, such as Liu Hongqi and Shen Wandeng. They were also defeated one after another, and the Tuzhai forces were also severely hit.
But after the big alliance collapsed, some of the original big village owners took advantage of the situation and took over.
As a result, many new strongholds appeared in the Central Plains, and many people openly proclaimed themselves kings, built camps and strongholds, and conquered cities and territories. This was a re-annexation and reorganization after the collapse of the Great Alliance.
Because the chaos had been going on for too long, Zhu Zhongyi believed that it was not enough to surrender. These villages had experienced years of turmoil and were wavering between the Ming Dynasty, the Shun Army, the Qing court, and even Liu Hongqi. Even if they surrendered on the surface,
It's no use either.
Therefore, we must first suppress them in a targeted manner, use troops to exterminate some, kill chickens to scare monkeys, establish power, and then show kindness to appease them.
Otherwise it won't work at all.
"I suggest that we can deal with Tuzhai in several steps. The first step is to target the Dazhai famous villages established on the basis of the clans of the former imperial court civil and military generals in the countryside, mainly to recruit them, and to grant those village owners magistrates, magistrates and other local places.
officials, restore prefecture and county yamen, and even organize their local soldiers directly into rural warrior regiments to train,"
These people are originally officials of the imperial court. Some have become officials, some have returned home during the war, and there are also many former imperial scholars, scholars, scholars, etc. They are often very famous in the local area and even have quite a large clan.
In addition, during the war, the villages they built were generally relatively orderly, so they were given priority to be recruited.
For other types of local strongholds, such as those established by powerful people, refugees, and bandits, they must be shown their authority.
They were ordered to disband their villages, hand over their weapons, and even their camps within a time limit. Those who refused to obey the orders were dispatched to destroy them one by one.
"After the bandit stronghold is conquered, troops can be sent to garrison it or it can be directly demolished. Their weapons, horses, money, food, etc. can be confiscated. The villagers can be ordered to return to their hometowns for employment, or new villages and farms can be built directly on the spot."
"Your Majesty, as long as there are still Tuzhai, it will be difficult for the imperial government to effectively implement its authority, and it will be difficult for government orders to be issued, let alone the collection of taxes, etc., so it must be eliminated one after another."
Zhu Yihai looked at Zhu Zhongyi and could see that he was a little nervous, but he still spoke in a very organized manner.
He was right that this young man had indeed been trained down there.
This reminded him of the famous founding generals and prime ministers of the past dynasties. Many of them came from ordinary backgrounds, but in the end they were able to achieve fame and become famous in history. The most important thing was that they experienced enough training and were finally selected through the waves.
Isn’t there a saying that names and ministers must pass through prefectures and counties, and powerful generals must be sent to their ranks?
"If I let you go and deal with the Tuzhai in Guide Mansion, what are your plans?"
"Your Majesty has just promised to recruit 2,000 soldiers from the royal camp to strengthen the regiment training for Guide. He also ordered 3,000 armors, 1,000 muskets, and hundreds of artillery pieces. With these, the training for the regiment will be able to immediately go up to a higher level and deal with those locals.
The stronghold is more than enough. As long as we use suppression and appeasement together, it won't take long for them to be wiped out one after another." Zhu Zhongyi said very confidently.
"Very good, I will give you full power. Besides, I know that you have a good relationship with Old Master Zhao. Then I will grant Old Master Zhao the responsibility of patrolling the Xu Dao of Guichen Province in Henan Province. You two will continue to work together in both civil and military affairs. You, as the general soldier of the Guide Regiment, will not only
It has jurisdiction over Guide Mansion."
Zhu Yihai directly divided Kaifeng Prefecture into three, with Chenzhou Prefecture and Xuzhou Prefecture in the south, so Zhu Zhongyi and his father were in charge of the three prefectures.
Old Master Zhao is a sub-inspector, a small governor, who is in charge of military affairs, money and food. He is naturally a step up from the previous Guide Prefect.
Zhu Zhongyi's Guide Regiment trained its general troops and was awarded the title of Deputy Admiral of Henan. The defense area consisted of these three prefectures.
The entire Henan Province is divided into four sub-inspection roads, Guichenxu Road, Heshankairu Road, Hebei Road and Nanruguang Road.
Although this division is based on traditional divisions, Xu Dingguo is now besieging Kaifeng, Li Jiyu is besieging Luoyang, the Yuyuan Army has invaded the four prefectures north of the Yellow River in Henan, and Nanyang, Runing, etc. are still under the control of the Qing army
.
At this time, Heshan opened Rusi Prefecture to create a road, and also divided Kaifeng into two prefectures for Guide. Li Jiyu and Xu Dingguo joined forces. This was deliberately creating conflicts.
Not to mention, Xu Li was besieging Luoyang and Kaifeng, but Zhu Yihai asked Zhu Zhongyi to raid the local villages in the territory at this time, and also sent him imperial soldiers to join his regiment training, instead of going to reinforce Kaifeng and Luoyang. This intention, Zhu Zhongyi
It’s also very clear.
"You don't have to worry that the Qing troops in Xuzhou and Yingzhou, Runing, and the imperial camp in Huainan will keep an eye on them. Just go ahead and do it. I also remind you that the ultimate goal of encircling and suppressing the Tuzhai is to restore order in the court.
Each of the four peoples should return to his own place."
"So there must be good military discipline."
"When Henan is pacified in the future, the Guard regiment training can be upgraded to the imperial camp and the Henan camp. Work hard, and you will be the admiral of the camp by then."
The emperor admired this young man who joined the army in Jiangyin. After all, he was also from the imperial camp, but his trust was not completely unconditional. This time the imperial camp was reorganized, the emperor directly transferred two thousand people from the imperial camp.
Guide Mansion naturally transferred not only two thousand soldiers, but also many officers, including generals at all levels at the town level.
They even had to train and equip the Guide Regiment with the five departments of military order, staff, supervision, logistics, and equipment according to the military system of the camp.
Zhu Zhongyi is still the commander-in-chief of the Guided Regiment, and even Old Master Zhao will become a minor governor. But with the sudden addition of two thousand imperial soldiers and a large number of imperial officers, this army will no longer be the original one.
The Red Spear Club is the core force.
It can not only increase the combat effectiveness of the Guide regiment, but also completely control this group of troops, and the imperial camp can move north, and it can also strengthen the balancing ability against Xu Dingguo, Li Jiyu, Li Huajing, Liang Min, etc.
"Success and victory are both my adopted sons. Now one is in Huguang and the other is in Fujian. The camps they lead are very good. I have always had a good vision. You are no worse than the two of them. Work hard!"
The emperor patted Zhu Zhongyi on the shoulder and encouraged him with Zhu Chenggong and Zhu Shengli. This made him secretly encourage himself. Those two were the envy of many imperial soldiers. At such a young age, they were favored by the emperor and adopted as their adopted sons.
, He has made many meritorious deeds, and he has been promoted quickly. He has dominated one area for a long time, and has even been promoted to an earl.
He did not expect that he was once a tenant farmer who often worked as a day laborer at the port and docks. Mr. Zhao once said that he was not worthy of having the same surname as him, but now he was given the national surname and became the adopted son of the emperor.
"My son will never betray your majesty's trust." When Zhu Zhongyi left, he kowtowed to the emperor and swore that he would risk his life to fulfill this oath.
Protect the Ming Dynasty with your life.
"I will write you a message, please keep it!"
The emperor dipped his pen in ink and wrote four big characters on the rice paper: loyalty, filial piety, justice and justice.
Zhu Zhongyi took it with both hands and held it high above his head, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
"I have ordered my inner treasury to prepare 200,000 taels of silver for you. Take it with you when you leave. Work hard and do as you say. Come from one place to another, first level it and return to Germany, and then show it to the two states. I will wait.