Chapter 8: The Jade Seal of the Kingdom (II)

Since seeing Elinchen, Taisong entered the territory of Donghalashen's territory peacefully and received warm hospitality from his leader Subudi and a group leader.

Subudi once wandered between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin Dynasty for a long time, but now he was determined to board the Ming Dynasty's ship. Of course, this is also related to the Ming Dynasty's brilliant policies. One of the policies of the Later Jin Dynasty to Mongolia was marriage. The benefit of this policy was to maintain it with family and blood ties. However, this relationship was both the most reliable and fragile in the world. Zhu Yinglong knew that for these peoples that were still in the semi-slave system, they valued blood ties, but ignored blood ties the most, and interests were eternal. The Ming Dynasty implemented economic and cultural infiltration of Mongolia, and almost all-round cooperation besides religion. In this way, Subudi was unknowingly abducted by the Ming Dynasty on his own chariot. Many other Mongolian tribes also changed their attitude towards the Ming Dynasty because of the great sacrifices made by the Ming Dynasty.

Military reforms were not smooth sailing, and there were also loud oppositions, especially the civil servant group. The separation of military and political affairs caused these people to be dissatisfied. The opportunity to lead troops to war and command thousands of troops was cut off at once. In particular, the policy of "civil officials commanding military generals" was completely abolished. This made civil servants who thought they were "rebirth of Zhuge Kongming", but there was no way. The court was not just a joke this time. The military reform led by the emperor was not so easy to overturn, and there was no one above the emperor. Almost all those who could influence the emperor's ideas were supported by the military reform, so the civil servant group could only do nothing!

One of the military reforms that concerns the interests of officers to soldiers is the military rank system. The biggest beneficiary of the establishment of the military rank system is the grassroots officers in the army are soldiers, and soldiers are the most passionate title. Although most of them are the lowest-ranking peasants and workers in society, they are illiterate. They fight for the court, country, and nation on the battlefield. In addition to making a feast for a meal, they also long for the recognition of the court. In a sense, military rank is a kind of recognition and honor.

Therefore, once the military rank system was publicized and vigorously promoted, it immediately resonated with the entire army. Many unsuccessful officers even cried with joy, because this military rank system would change their destiny and allow them to show their ambitions and serve the court.

Military ranks have a great relationship with military merits, and at the same time, military ranks are directly related to military positions, and the level of military ranks is linked to the welfare and salary of soldiers. Therefore, the military rank system can also be said to be a system similar to the "nine-rank hierarchy system" of civil servants.

Since there is no marshal at the moment, the highest rank of military rank is the general at present. Zhu Yinglong's meaning is not to set the current rank of officers too high, so as not to have no room for promotion in the future. The number of generals is limited to ten by Zhu Yinglong, so it would rather be too little than to be too bad.

In this way, the military ranks of military generals and civil servants will become the two major honorary hierarchies of the Ming Dynasty. Except for the direct royal family, all titles and ranks will become lifelong systems in the future. When a person dies, everything will disappear.

Originally, the assessment of military ranks requires a certain age limit, but after Zhu Yinglong carefully considered it, this may be the most stable approach in the peace era, but during the war, age limit is a kind of constraint. Moreover, the Ming Dynasty will not be too calm in the future, and war may break out at any time, so military ranks are not linked to age.

The highest military rank is now stipulated as the general, so the selection of generals has become one of the hot topics that everyone pays most attention to.

Regarding this, Zhu Yinglong, the ten generals sent from the Military Museum, suddenly crossed out eight people, including his father-in-law Xiong Tingbi. There were only two people on the list of generals. One was Sun Chengzong, the chief minister of the Military Museum. He was the first in the army, so no one had any objections to the rank of generals. The second was Qin Liangyu, the commander of the Southwest Military Region. Although Qin Liangyu was not the most shining among the generals of the Ming Dynasty, especially Hong Chengchou, who is now the most popular, made great contributions in the fight against rebellion, and his glory was unique. In addition to Zuo Liangyu of the Wuhan Military Region, the seven military regions were almost on the list of the generals sent by the Military Museum, but these people were almost rejected.

But this is the emperor's decision, and no one will be so stupid that he will run to the emperor to ask why.

Therefore, the generals suddenly reduced from ten to two, but this also made the competition for the next generals even more intense. Everyone knows that there are eight places for the generals. Once the general is selected, there will be a chance to be promoted to generals. Therefore, the general's quota seems to touch the hearts of all senior generals more.

There are naturally restrictions on the quota of generals, with no more than fifteen people, including both in-service and unemployment.

No one snatched the number of the first general from Xiong Tingbi. He was both the father-in-law and a famous general, and the second person in the army, and deserved it.

The second general is Zhang Guowei. As the Duke of England, he represents the power of nobles in the traditional army, and his energy should not be underestimated.

The third is the turn of the commander of the Liaodong Military Region, Yuan Chonghuan. This is meaningless. The people's achievements in defending the city are there. Besides, the Liaodong Army now submissively submit to him except the emperor.

The fourth is Liang Tingdong, the fifth is Chang Yanlin, the sixth is Hong Chengchou, the seventh is Mu Tianbo, the eighth is Lu Haotian, and the ninth is Xu Yunzhen, and the remaining six are vacant.

There are more lieutenant generals and generals, and there are as many as six in the Liaodong Military Region, including Man Gui, Zhao Rujiao, Zu Dashou, You Shilu, etc., two in the Beijing Military Region, one is Huang Degong, and the other is Ma Xianglin. The four names of Nanjing Military Region are Song Xiance, Zheng Nansheng, Xiong Zhaolian and Zhou Yu, three in the Guangzhou Military Region, four in the Southwest Military Region, Qin brothers and Liu Zexu, two in the Northwest Military Region, Lu Xiangsheng and Wu Xiang, Zuo Liangyu of Wuhan Military Region and Zhou Huaian, the commander of the Imperial Army, a total of twenty-three people.

There were even more major generals and officers. Wu Sangui, Yan Peiwei, He Renlong, Li Yao, Zhang Fengyi and other fifty-six generals were selected. The most dazzling one among major generals is naturally Wu Sangui. He was the youngest general to be awarded the rank of general after the Ming Dynasty implemented the military rank system. He was only in his early twenties and his future was limitless. Even his father was the rank of lieutenant general, which was only one level different from him. Of course, the two female generals who were most talked about were Lieutenant General, Li Yao and Zhang Fengyi. This was the first time he had been panicked.

Qin Liangyu has entered his seventies and has made outstanding achievements. Even if he is awarded the rank of general, not many people dare to object. One of these two female generals is a descendant of a famous family and is also Qin Liangyu's daughter-in-law. If you count it carefully, plus the Qin brothers, one of them is six generals. This is unparalleled in the history of the Ming Dynasty in the future. It is unprecedented. Li Yao is even more legendary. She was originally a rebel general, but later surrendered to the Ming Dynasty, but she was exposed to the light of her sisters entering the palace to become the imperial concubine. She suddenly climbed the Dragon Gate and became the leader of the emperor.

Although the first female general of the imperial guards of the family was not unprecedented, he was considered a future generation. After taking charge of the imperial guards, he immediately moved into the Palace of Yangxin and enjoyed the same treatment as the imperial guards. This made people think a little about it. Because of Li Qing's precedent, Li Yao did not encounter much opposition when she entered the Palace of Yangxin. However, Li Qing's later experience made more people speculate whether this mature and beautiful female general would follow Li Qing's footsteps and become a member of the emperor's harem.

Since Li Yao did not disclose her identity, most people could only guess secretly and dare not talk randomly.

Because Zhu Yinglong used the so-called military study class as a reason to open so-called military study classes, he locked up some of the heads who might oppose military reform and the military in the Tongzhou Military Academy and rebuilt them. Therefore, although the military reform was a little turbulent, he also killed several senior officers who incited opposition military reform and confusing the public. The military reform was successfully implemented.

No reform can be without blood. Zhu Yinglong, who came from the future time and space, has long known this. All he can do is to minimize this bleeding.

Of course, Zhu Yinglong knew that the conflicts in China were actually very sharp, but they were always at peace. This was accumulated with his personal prestige and a series of victories. As long as he could continue to win like this, naturally, this contradiction would slowly find opportunities to resolve and time could change everything.

This is actually the reason why Zhu Yinglong easily did not use his sword. A setback may cause a chain reaction, which will lead to the overwhelming pain of his hard work over the past few years. Only when he was forced to be bullied, he had to make up his mind to attack the enemy. The battle between China and the Netherlands and Taiwan broke out under such a guiding ideology.

Zhu Yinglong is too cautious about the current European countries. The surrounding environment of the Ming Dynasty is still very harsh. There is no need to force these maritime powers too tightly. These colonial countries put interests first. Although the hatred between the Ming and the Netherlands still exists, it is not the kind of pain of cutting the country. After the Dutch East India Company replaced a new Batavian Governor, peace talks became an inevitable trend.

For this reason, Zhu Yinglong personally summoned He Bin, the Dutch translator of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and personally gave him the opportunity to negotiate with the Dutch. If he could not get a war, he would have to get it at the negotiating table. The Ming Dynasty now almost controls the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea. If the Dutch wanted to hold on to his interests in East Asia, he could only cooperate with the Ming Dynasty!
Chapter completed!