Chapter 1760: Colonization Begins Beyond the Wall

After hearing Zhu Youjian's words, Zhu Chunchen truly felt like weeping without tears — of course he didn't want to go beyond the Ji Garrison border wall and become the lord of some single guard!

Hereditary succession without replacement, holding one region in perpetuity, sole enjoyment of a guard's provisions and pay — none of this was what Zhu Chunchen wanted. He was no ancestor Zhu Neng; he had neither that kind of ability nor that kind of ambition.

Zhu Chunchen just wanted to be a Beijing merit noble who coasted along on his privileges. Even if he couldn't become a Commander or skim off phantom troop quotas, as long as he could live safely and securely within Beijing city, living off the old capital his ancestors had embezzled and seized, he'd be fully satisfied!

But this little emperor of the Zhu family was simply too much trouble. In just over a year on the throne, he'd already turned Zhu Guobi, Zhao Zhilong, and Xu Yunzhen into martyrs, and Li Shouqi seemed about to achieve glory in death as well.

He himself had been lucky enough to remain intact so far, but whether he'd be this fortunate next time — only Heaven truly knew. If he didn't agree now, he feared tomorrow he'd be forced onto the battlefield by the little emperor to become a martyr!

"This subject... this subject is indeed moved!" To avoid becoming a martyr, Zhu Chunchen had no choice but to call his heartache a stirring of the heart.

"Good, good!" Zhu Youjian nodded approvingly. "We shall enfeoff your family with a hereditary, never-replaced Guard military-civilian Commandant post. As long as your family can bring 1,000 military households beyond the wall to open up land, We shall grant your family provisions for 1,000 households, and further permit your family to enclose 300,000 mu of reclaimable land beyond the wall. Duke of Chengguo, can you bring in 1,000 military households?"

"This subject... this subject will find a way. This subject will certainly bring those 1,000 military households." Zhu Chunchen nodded repeatedly.

For a great merit noble like Zhu Chunchen, pulling 1,000 commoner households from around the capital region to go colonize beyond the wall was truly a trivial matter.

This was not the seventeenth year of Chongzhen, when the population around Beijing had been sharply reduced by war and plague. This was still the first year of Chongzhen; inside the border wall all was still peaceful, and at the feet of the Son of Heaven there were plenty of landless, jobless commoner households.

Moreover, the Duke of Chengguo's household was itself a great landlord that also ran "small-sum lending." The impoverished farming households that owed the Chengguo household usurious interest — debts they could never repay even working like oxen and horses their whole lives — numbered more than a thousand. As long as the Chengguo household was willing to forgive some interest, this crowd of "certain white laborers" would obediently go beyond the wall to farm!

"Just pulling people in won't do," Zhu Youjian continued. "You must also equip the able-bodied men you take out with weapons, train them rigorously, and turn them into garrison-farming troops! We are, after all, issuing your family pay for 1,000 troops — silver and grain together, converted to silver that's 30,000 taels a year. This is not given for nothing; your family must send troops to fight for Us!

Furthermore, your family must build a guard city beyond the wall. If this guard city is seized by the northern caitiffs or the eastern barbarians, that would be the crime of losing territory!"

Zhu Chunchen no longer merely felt heartache — his heart was dripping blood.

The little emperor wasn't "enfeoffing" his family with a guard at all; he was simply making the Duke of Chengguo's household contribute men and money so the court could seize a foothold beyond the border wall, and when the various Tartars attacked, they'd still have to hold the city for the little emperor!

Zhu Youjian paused, then added: "But it won't do for you alone to be moved. You must also mobilize more merit-noble houses to go beyond the wall and open up territory. We shall give you quotas for 9 more guard-battalion posts. You'll be responsible for recruiting people. Bring in a duke or marquis, and he'll be enfeoffed as a military-civilian Commandant; bring in a count, and he'll be enfeoffed as a military-civilian Chiliarch.

These guards and battalions are really just formal titles. Whether guard or battalion, each has 1,000 troop quota and 300,000 mu of land, and the guards and battalions do not command one another. Above the guards and battalions, separate Garrison Commander yamens will be established. One Garrison Commander yamen will administer 10 guard-battalion units. Duke of Chengguo, if you can bring in 9 guard-battalion units, We shall further enfeoff you as a Garrison Commander.

In addition, this time We are enfeoffing all 30,000 remaining troop quotas of the Capital Camps to you all! Henceforth there will be no more Three Great Camps of the Capital Camps!"

What Zhu Youjian wanted to establish in the Yanshan and western Liaoning mountain regions was true feudalism, so of course he had to control the scale. A feudal lord holding 1,000 military households and 300,000 mu of reclaimable land (uncultivable mountain peaks not counted) was a moderate scale; enfeoffing a guard of 5,600 households would be too large.

In a critical area like the Yanshan range, so close to Beijing, if a 5,600-household feudal military guard failed, the loss would be great. And if it succeeded too well, that would also be too dangerous.

So he simply adopted a uniform "thousand-household system," granting the Beijing merit nobles 30 chiliarchies (guard-battalions), while at the same time wiping out all 120,000 mercenary troop quotas of the Capital Camps — the pay for 120,000 Capital Camp mercenaries was over three million taels a year. Meanwhile, the 30,000 troop quotas of the 30 beyond-the-wall guard-battalions came to only 900,000 in pay altogether. One item out, one item in — a saving of over two million.

Zhu Chunchen patted his chest and assured Zhu Youjian: "This subject will certainly recruit nine more merit-noble houses for Your Majesty!"

This was actually not difficult.

Because the Capital Camps' books had already been balanced. On paper there were only 30,000 men left; killed, seriously wounded, and deserted accounted for sixty or seventy thousand reported! Deserters made up the majority. An army like that — if not disbanded, what were they waiting for? Now granting the merit nobles 30,000 troop quotas and sending them beyond the wall to open up territory was already exceptional imperial grace.

Any merit-noble house in Beijing that failed to secure a guard-battalion quota could just wait to be shelved and sidelined, declining step by step!

Zhu Youjian then turned to Zu Dashou, who was squinting off to the side pretending to be invisible: "Zu Dashou, are you moved?"

"Your Majesty, this subject is of course moved!"

Zu Dashou was actually not very moved. He still inclined toward maintaining the status quo and continuing to skim phantom quotas in Liaodong.

But the little emperor was fierce!

The little emperor truly dared to lead from the front, charging into formations and killing men, and had even outright shattered 2,000 cavalry of the Plain Red Banner! Such valor, in the realm of emperors, could only be compared to the Great Ming's temple-honored ancestor or the Tang dynasty's Taizong, Li Shimin. Zu Dashou did not have the nerve to contradict such a "fierce lord."

Moreover, Zu Dashou's enthusiasm for opening up territory beyond the wall was somewhat greater than Zhu Chunchen's. Although his ancestor had also been one of Zhu Yuanzhang's old brothers (Zhu Yuanzhang may have killed many great meritorious officials, but he was quite generous to those old brothers who posed no threat to his dynasty — the more than five hundred guards and two thousand-plus battalions across the realm were in fact territories enfeoffed to his old brothers), the Zu family had not reached the level of merit nobility. So they had been enfeoffed at Ningyuan Guard and become a military aristocratic house of the Great Ming. By the time of Zu Dashou's grandfather Zu Ren and father Zu Chengxun, the Ningyuan Zu family was already a populous and powerful clan; Zu Ren and Zu Chengxun had both reached the rank of Regional Commander, standing at the pinnacle of the border garrison military houses. And by Zu Dashou's generation, riding on the Great Ming's collapse in Liaodong and the opportunity of Sun Chengzong and Yuan Chonghuan pouring money into western Liaoning, the Ningyuan Zu family had already developed into a feudal warlord clan.

A feudal warlord clan naturally needed territory. Moreover, after Xiong Tingbi's defeat at Guangning, he had gathered over two million Liaodong refugees through Shanhai Pass, most of whom were living in hardship. If they could be allotted land in the western Liaoning valleys, one could surely recruit refugees who could not survive inside the pass to become farming households.

Zhu Youjian looked at Zu Dashou. "Minister Zu, how many chiliarchy quotas should We give you?"

"This subject..." Questioned by Zhu Youjian, Zu Dashou also realized something was off.

His own forces were numerous! What troop quota would be appropriate? Besides, his family still had plenty of phantom quotas!

At this thought, Zu Dashou, having no idea in his heart, could only cast a pleading look toward Yuan Chonghuan.

Yuan Chonghuan's expression was grave. He knew those lords in western Liaoning were not the useless Capital Camps — if anyone tried to audit their books, it would surely provoke a mutiny, and then he himself, as Governor, would not be able to cover for them!

"Your Majesty," Yuan Chonghuan hastily stepped out of line, "the Liao Garrison and Shanhai Pass Garrison together have 120,000 troop quota and over four million in pay, all raised through the kaizhong salt-for-grain system."

"Oh." Zhu Youjian nodded and smiled. "The Liao Garrison and Shanhai Pass Garrison do indeed have quite a lot of troop quota! Minister Yuan, how about this: the Liao Garrison shall be moved to western Liaoning, and the Shanhai Pass Garrison shall be merged with the Ji Garrison.

For the commanders of the merged Ji Garrison, We shall also enfeoff 30 chiliarchies beyond the wall, with pay for 30,000 troops — this grain and pay need not come from the kaizhong system. The remaining troops of the Ji Garrison, together with the Western Liao Garrison, shall all be supported by the kaizhong system. And both the Ji and Liao Garrisons shall be under Minister Yuan's overall command. Minister Yuan shall serve as Supreme Commander of Ji-Liao, stationed at Shanhai Pass! What does Minister Yuan think?"

At last he had become Supreme Commander of Ji-Liao! And he had also preserved the phantom quotas for a bunch of Liao Garrison military bosses!

Yuan Chonghuan was overjoyed. He immediately kowtowed in gratitude and accepted the post of Supreme Commander of Ji-Liao.

Zhu Youjian then continued: "Zu Dashou, you shall remain Regional Commander of Western Liao. Beyond the western Liao wall, 30 chiliarchies shall also be enfeoffed. As for troop pay and quotas, you shall discuss that with Supreme Commander Yuan."

"This subject accepts the decree." Zu Dashou breathed a sigh of relief — the phantom quotas could continue to be skimmed! And he could also obtain territory in the western Liao mountains. Now he'd struck it rich!

"Zhao Shuaijiao!" Zhu Youjian then called the name of the somewhat uneasy Zhao Shuaijiao — this time the slave caitiffs had broken through his defense sector!

"This subject is here."

"Above the 60 guard-battalions and 6 Garrison Commander yamens beyond the Ji Garrison wall, a Regional Commander yamen must also be established. You shall be Regional Commander of the Yanshan Garrison!" Zhu Youjian said. "We shall further grant the Yanshan Garrison 15,000 mercenary troop quota, with grain and pay the same as the Liao Garrison."

(End of Chapter)