The news that His Majesty was going to build a military school quickly spread throughout the capital, and some nobles began to get restless.
From ancient times to the present, the selection of military talents often comes from these families. In this way, they can maintain control over the army for a long time. Although the military has been suppressed by the literati in recent years, the basic upward channel is still retained. Now that Your Majesty wants to establish a military school, what will happen to our children in the future
We are rectifying the Beijing camp here, and we are starting to mess with our next generation over there, are they really leaving us no chance to survive? For a while, complaints arose everywhere.
Zhu Youjian knew what these people were thinking, but he didn't want to pay attention to it.
He found the Minister of Revenue Bi Ziyan and asked him to withdraw some money from the Ministry of Revenue to build a military academy.
As the Minister of Finance of the Ming Dynasty, he was very competent because he was very stingy. After listening to Zhu Youjian's intention, he began his long speech.
From the first emperor to the second ancestor, from civil officials to nobles, from disaster relief to border pay. In short, one word: no money!
I heard that the imperial farm had a bumper harvest this year. Can some of the grain be used for disaster relief
Can he say no? He can't.
I heard that a lot of property was confiscated when Wei Dang and other eunuchs were executed. Can some of the money be taken from the treasury to pay their salaries
Could he refuse? No.
As a result, he not only did not get a single copper coin, but Bi Ziyan also demanded 2 million dan of wheat and 2 million taels of silver.
It was not easy for Bi Ziyan to be the steward of the Ming Dynasty. Because he was inclined to Donglin, he was regarded as a thorn in the eyes of Wei Zhongxian. Fortunately, Emperor Tianqi was not foolish, otherwise the grass on his grave would be ten feet long. But this could not fill the financial hole of the Ming Dynasty. His own brother Bi Zisu asked for money to pay the salary many times but could not get it, which led to the Ningyuan mutiny and finally committed suicide out of shame.
May 18
The military academy has started construction!
He pulled out Song Yingxing, who was researching spinning machines at the Academy of Sciences, and asked him to work as a supervisor at the military academy construction site.
In fact, he had already developed a spinning machine that could spin eight threads at the same time, and was currently developing a spinning machine that could spin sixteen threads at the same time. The emperor gave the order, so he had to put aside his research and development work and plunged into the construction of the military academy, becoming Supervisor Song.
There can be no school without students.
Zhu Youjian had already decided on the candidates for the first batch of students at the military academy, and planned to select them from among the military candidates. So he issued an order to hold the palace examination for the military candidates next month.
But then something happened that made him very embarrassed.
His will was rejected by the cabinet.
He was a little confused. It seemed that the power of the cabinet to block or refute had been no longer used since Yan Song? Why did it come up again with me? Especially you, Bi Ziyan, you are the second assistant minister after all, you just took my money and turned around to cheat me!
He angrily called the five ministers of the cabinet and summoned them to the Hongde Hall.
"Why do you refuse to draft an edict for the military examination?" Zhu Youjian asked coldly, suppressing his anger. In fact, the problem was very simple. Zhu Youjian's actions touched the sensitive nerves of the civil officials.
Initially, the four Tengxiang guards were abolished and the Yongwei camp was established. The Yongwei camp was the internal guards, and no one said anything. You just came to power and felt insecure, and everyone understood. Later, you rectified the Jingying camp, and we didn't say anything. After all, the Jingying camp was really rotten. But later, you wanted to build a military academy, and we didn't object, because you spent your own money.
But now you are going to hold the military examination in the palace, what exactly do you want to do
Do you want to let those warriors come down on us again
You are the emperor, you can do whatever you want, but we can't. We must express our attitude for the forces we represent behind us!
The five cabinet members, led by Fan Jingwen, stood quietly with their heads bowed. They all heard the suppressed anger in Zhu Youjian's tone and knew that if they were not careful, they would get burned. But someone had to answer His Majesty's questions, so Fan Jingwen spoke:
"After discussing with several of our ministers, we feel that this move is inappropriate. Throughout the more than 200 years of our dynasty, there has never been a precedent for a palace examination for military examinations. Your Majesty, please reconsider."
Zhu Youjian almost couldn't suppress his anger after hearing Fan Jingwen's words, but suddenly he saw the gray hair of several people and suddenly calmed down. He calmed down and said in a slightly slower tone:
"I know what you are thinking. I ordered Li Banghua to reorganize the military camps some time ago. I think you have heard a little about it. There are 100,000 soldiers, but only 17,000 can be used, and these are the three major camps in the capital. What about the guards in various places? You don't know anything about it, right
The Ming Dynasty looked powerful, claiming to have a million soldiers, but how many of them could actually fight? Take the Ningyuan victory for example. It seemed that Ningyuan City was defended, but how many people died on Juehua Island? More than 14,000 people, including civilians and soldiers, died, and 2,000 ships and 80,000 dan of food and grass were burned.
Can such a result be called a great victory? If one day the Jiannu break through the border defense, the capital will be exposed to the iron hoofs of the Jiannu, the people of the Ming Dynasty will be slaughtered, the land of the Ming Dynasty will be trampled, and the cities of the Ming Dynasty will be burned. At that time, what can I rely on to protect my people and my land? "
"For this palace examination, I only intend to select a group of military officials to serve me. Please don't be too nervous."
"I dare not."
"Go back. The burden of the Ming Dynasty still needs your help to share with me."
"I will take my leave now!"
After saying this, they walked out of Hongde Hall together and returned to the duty room.
"Sir, what should we do about this matter?" Jiang Dejing, Grand Secretary of Wenyuan Pavilion, asked Fan Jingwen.
"Draft an imperial edict. Refuting is just an attitude. If you still don't know the limits, I'm afraid neither you nor I can stop His Majesty's wrath. Moreover, I think His Majesty hates factional disputes the most. We should all act cautiously and do our part well. Don't let the foreigners get hold of us."
Several people nodded in agreement and went back to their work.
Without the obstruction of the cabinet, the government's orders were naturally unimpeded. The notice of holding the palace examination for martial arts was distributed to various prefectures, which made the martial arts candidates who had just participated in the examination very excited. Most people felt that their skills had a place to be put to good use, and a few people began to move around. They all rushed to the capital.
Zhu Youjian only recently came up with the idea of holding a military examination. Before, he only thought about building a military academy and forgot an important thing.
It’s not enough to just recruit students, there must be teachers in the school, right
If he only studied the Four Books and Five Classics, it would be easy to find people. But he needed a group of backbone forces who were completely loyal to him and good at fighting. Not nerds who could only shake their heads and recite.
Just when I was worrying about it, I thought of the martial arts examination. So let's hold the martial arts palace examination to see if we can select a group of useful people.
In the following time, Zhu Youjian buried himself in the pile of books again.
He has to prepare the students' teaching materials before the military academy starts.
There is no need to mention cultural skills and martial arts, what is important is the shaping of ideology.
He wanted to cultivate a group of forces that were loyal to him and only to him.