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The first thousand and fifty-six chapters of the Ming Dynasty

The tenth year of Yongye, February 15th.

Half a month later, the Ming Dynasty ushered in a change in the center. The four military ministers, Liao Huanzhi, Dong Dashan, Wang Dong and Wang Fan, took office and resigned. Their resignation not only marked that Zhu Yicheng's first military minister after the revival of the Ming Dynasty had all withdrawn from the military ministers, but also set an example for the future military ministers.

Due to the change of the Military Affairs Office, Zhu Yicheng had already started preparing for the change of his leadership as early as when he was back in Beijing. More than half a year ago, the Military Affairs Office began handover work. Therefore, although the change of the Military Affairs Office is a major event, there is actually no trouble, and everything is in order.

After Liao Huanzhi and others took office, the Chief Military Minister was directly replaced by Shi Yi, and the other Military Ministers were ranked: Jiang Jin, Zhuang Yan, Ma Gongcheng, Sun Jiagan, He Xianzu and Zeng Yishu.

At this point, the Military Affairs Office added five to seven to meet the increasingly busy work needs of the Military Affairs Office. In addition, this ranking is also a bit intriguing. Although Shi Yizhi was the chief military minister, because Shi Yizhi was the military officer who replaced Wu Sidao's military officer shortly after the establishment of the Military Affairs Office, Shi Yizhi's tenure in the Military Affairs Office would not be too long, which means that at most less than two years, it would be around the end of the eleventh year of Yongye.

In this way, Shi Yizhi's position in the newly established military aircraft office was not as stable as Liao Huanzhi at the time. His chief military aircraft was just a transition. If nothing unexpected happens, Jiang Jin will naturally succeed him as the chief military aircraft when his term expires.

As for Jiang Jin, he ranked among the top in the court, regardless of qualification, status, and credit. If Zhu Yicheng had not deliberately suppressed it, Jiang Jin might have entered the military aircraft long ago. But now, Jiang Jin finally got his wish. In addition, the Ministry of Railways, which was produced by the Ministry of Railways, made Jiang Jin's real power more heavy. In addition, after joining the military aircraft, his status further and his influence in the court has become greater.

Zhuang Yan and Ma Gongcheng represent the military. The former has always been the chief of staff. In recent years, Zhu Yicheng's emphasis on the General Staff is well known. Although the General Staff is nominally just a newly established department planned by the counselor, with Zhu Yicheng's continuous support, the General Staff's position in the military is getting higher and higher, and even there is a vaguely supreme military institution that replaces the emperor to plan and make decisions on wars.

Of course, the final decision-making power of the General Staff is still in the hands of the emperor. This department is just the emperor's organization that controls the army and war and controls the newly reorganized governor's office of the Five Army. Therefore, Zhuang Yan's entry into the military also represents Zhu Yicheng's statement to the world to determine the meaning of the power of the General Staff.

As for Ma Gongcheng, this is a military giant. His position in the military is second only to Wang Dong, and he also has the title of left governor in the Governor's Office of the Five Army. It is precisely because of this that it is natural for Ma Gongcheng to replace Wang Dong after Wang Dong took office, and it is also strengthening the military's influence in the Military Affairs Office.

Apart from the above, Sun Jiagan, He Xianzu and Zeng Yishu's qualifications were much weaker. Among these three, Sun Jiagan and Zeng Yishu were officials of imperial examinations after the restoration of the Ming Dynasty, and their backgrounds could not be compared with those of Liao Huanzhi and others. As for He Xianzu, he was even a Qing official who surrendered to the Ming Dynasty. However, because of the Ryukyu incident, he made great contributions. In order to appease the hearts of the people of the world and win over those civil officials from the Qing Dynasty, he included him in the ranks of military ministers, in addition to commending his achievements, he was also more from political considerations.

Therefore, it can be seen from the ranking of each person in the Military Affairs Office that the three of them are at the end, and their job is not very high, and their influence in the court is far inferior to the first four. This is also one of the reasons why Zhu Yicheng considered adding five to seven of the Military Affairs Office after repeated consideration.

In addition, Zhu Yicheng also prepared a person to replace Shi Yizhi, and this person is now the governor of Xinming Pan Mengyuan. However, because Pan Mengyuan is far away from overseas and Wang Dong has not yet gone to Xinming to officially replace him, so according to the time, it is probably the end of this year when Pan Mengyuan returns to the Ming Dynasty. By then, Zhu Yicheng will first give him the title of left governor of the Later Army Governor's Office, and then ordered his military aircraft to walk. After Shi Yi was in office, he would let Pan Mengyuan take over. This formed a pattern of three military personnel (General Staff, Army, Navy) and four civil officials of the Military Affairs Office, and this pattern will become a decree for the Military Affairs Office in the future.

As for the arrangements for the several military ministers who were in office after their resignation, Zhu Yicheng was naturally properly placed. Among them, Liao Huanzhi was appointed as the Grand Tutor, Wang Dong was appointed as the Grand Guardian, Dong Dashan was appointed as the Grand Tutor, and Wang Fan was appointed as the Young Master.

In addition, Liao Huanzhi remained in the court as a minister, and Zhu Yicheng also gave him a title of assistant to the government affairs. The so-called assistant to the government affairs was originally a title of prime minister in the Tang Dynasty, but later it was changed to Pingzhang Political Affairs in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. During the founding of the Ming Dynasty, it also had some days because of the establishment of prime ministers. Later, Zhu Yuanzhang abolished prime minister Hepingzhang Political Affairs and changed the local governor to the government envoy, so the official position was no longer used.

But now, Zhu Yicheng picked up this official position from the pile of old papers and gave it to Liao Huanzhi with a title. In other words, it is equivalent to setting up a position like an emperor's personal political consultant. Although this official position is not a real official, the official title is a first-rank to show closeness and glory.

Wang Dong replaced Pan Mengyuan to Xinming, and Dong Dashan still retained his position in the army. At the same time, he also added the title of left governor and became the actual supreme commander of the Ming Dynasty.

As for Wang Fan, because he strongly demanded to retire and return home, as the Minister of Military Affairs and Minister of Revenue, he has been doing his best for the Ming Dynasty in recent years. Although Wang Fan's reputation in the court and the country is no better than that of other people, and he is quite low-key on weekdays, the important officials in the court knew in their hearts that Wang Fan was Zhu Yicheng's confidant, and it was precisely because of Wang Fan's excellent financial management ability that the Ming Dynasty was able to maintain normal operation and meet huge military expenditure needs in the first few years when the financial situation was extremely tight.

It is precisely because of these reasons that Wang Fan now looks much older than before, and he looks very haggard. After all, it is not easy to be a steward in the court. In the initial days, the entire court had to spend money everywhere, but his income was not enough to make ends meet. He relied on the only resources in his hands to maintain operation. Only Wang Fan could do this. Now the Ming Dynasty has finally passed the most difficult moment, and the annual fiscal revenue has increased steadily. The Ming Dynasty is no longer short of money, and Wang Fan can leave the court with satisfaction.

Originally, Zhu Yicheng planned to keep Wang Fan and Liao Huanzhi in the court, but he could not withstand Wang Fan's several requests to retire and return home. Therefore, Zhu Yicheng had to agree in the end, but he gave him a lot of glory. At the same time, he also handed over the power of the Royal Trading Bank and the Royal Bank of the Ming Dynasty, hoping that he could continue to assist Zhu Yicheng in his private name after returning to Jiangnan.

Wang Fan agreed readily. In this regard, he transformed from an important official in the court to the head of the two major consortiums with the strongest capital and the most powerful capital of the Ming Dynasty. This transformation can be said to be a joy. Wang Fan also happily bid farewell to Zhu Yicheng a few days after resigning, and then took a boat south to Ningbo. After staying in his hometown for a few days, he went to Shanghai to take up his post.

In addition to the changes in the Military Affairs Office, there are naturally changes in the imperial department, that is, in addition to the six ministries, the Ministry of Railways, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are added.

Six ministries became nine ministries, and the ministers and ministers of each ministries naturally had to be arranged and appointed one by one. These were carried out together at the same time as the military office changed its leadership. In addition, the actual functional changes of the Five Army Governor's Office, it can be said that the beginning of the tenth year of Yongye was the year with the greatest changes in the Ming Dynasty, and it was also the foundation for Zhu Yicheng's entire framework reform of the future Ming Dynasty.

In addition to these obvious changes, Zhu Yicheng also started to adjust the internal adjustments of the Jinyiwei and the General Office. Compared with the Jinyiwei, the changes in the Public Affairs Office were smaller. However, the chief officer of the Public Affairs Office was promoted from the original third rank to the second rank, which was equivalent to the official positions and powers of the Secretary of the Court, including the General Office Commander of the General Office. It was divided internally according to the region, and five departments were set up to provide intelligence work in Asia, including Nanyang, Xinming, Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

The actions of the Jinyiwei were greater than those of the General Office. At the instruction of Zhu Yicheng, Zhang Ran carried out drastic reforms to strengthen the control of the Jinyiwei and the work of the intelligence network. In addition, Zhang Ran and Deng Bing were awarded the rank of lieutenant general and were also the right governor, so as to determine the legitimacy of these two intelligence agencies in the army, and also facilitate the emperor to intervene and investigate the military through these two intelligence agencies when necessary.
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