Chapter 1779: Hand Over the Roots!

The detached palace at Nanhaizi, within the great hall.

The feast of fish and meat and great steamed buns and big bowls of wine had reached the point where all were full of wine and meat, and Zhu Youjian too had stopped eating, his burning gaze slowly sweeping across the brightly lit great hall, his brows slightly furrowed, awe-inspiring without anger.

Seeing that the officials seated to the left and right in the middle of the hall had all stopped eating and drinking, Zhu Youjian then spoke: "Gentlemen, since We left the capital in the sixth month, We have been away for nearly seven months. First We repulsed the Khutuktu Khan at Datong, then fought several battles with the slave rebels beyond the capital region, and at last drove them back, and in passing seized the three prefectures of Xing, Hui, and Ying beyond the Great Wall. The territory is not large, but it still counts as expanding the realm. The enemy slain are not many, yet they are somewhat more than the tally our Martial Temple grandfather won in the great victory at Yingzhou."

His words carried a somewhat mocking edge, and the atmosphere in the great hall at once turned sour. The officials were no fools; they knew perfectly well that the young Emperor was about to make trouble again — this young Emperor had looked quite honest when he first took the throne, doing nothing but amusing himself with his household retainers. Who would have thought that once his wings hardened, he too would turn out to be a troublemaker!

And this fellow was even more troublesome than that carpenter late Emperor, because the carpenter late Emperor's actual strength was limited; he relied on the moral authority of his title and on a flailing Wei Zhongxian to stir up trouble — and could only stir up trouble against civil officials at court who had no real power. Those with real power he could not touch at all!

But this young Lord of Ten Thousand Years now truly held in his hands an elite force that could kill Tartars and kill the slave rebels — and not just a few dozen at a time, but by the thousands!

If the Liao garrison went all out, it might perhaps be able to wrestle with this young Lord of Ten Thousand Years, but the Capital Camps, the Chang garrison, the Xuan garrison, and the Ji garrison — none of them should even think of it!

Moreover, these several garrisons had now either been reorganized by the young Lord of Ten Thousand Years or wrecked by him. The meritorious nobles in the capital still had a little armed strength, and there was still the Embroidered Uniform Guard, which looked quite intimidating, but the trouble was that Zhu Youjian now did not enter the Forbidden City at all, so all their underhanded tricks naturally could not be brought to bear.

As for the Embroidered Uniform Guard deploying openly for battle — that would surely be a fine thing the young Emperor could only wish for, but unfortunately such a fine thing would never happen!

And with the meritorious nobles all keeping their necks pulled in, it was not proper for Zhu Youjian to personally reach out and lift their heads up to cut them off! The ancestors of these men were all old brothers of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di. And the men of the Headquarters Army, by seniority, were their juniors. If Zhu Youjian cut off the heads of his seniors without any regard for reason, the juniors would be chilled to the heart.

"Your Majesty first broke the northern barbarians, then struck the eastern slaves; your martial achievements rival those of Taizu and Chengzu. Truly this is the fortune of the Great Ming and the fortune of all under Heaven!"

"Your Majesty's martial prowess surpasses the age, and your command of troops is divine. Our Great Ming's pacification of the Hu and extermination of the caitiffs is only a matter of days!"

"With Your Majesty leading us subjects, our Great Ming shall surely be invincible under Heaven!"

No one offered blunt remonstrance, and no one sang a contrary tune to the young Emperor; instead, flattering words came out the moment they opened their mouths! These officials really were quite crafty!

Zhu Youjian nodded and said with a smile: "Pacifying the Hu and exterminating the caitiffs is not so easy. Our victory in repelling the eastern barbarians in Northern Zhili was won very hollowly. We already gave it Our all and committed every elite soldier, yet how many did the eastern barbarians send? According to the captured Mongols, the true slaves in this incursion through the passes numbered no more than twenty thousand; the rest were Mongols and Han booi. If the eastern barbarians came with their full strength, Northern Zhili would become a hell on earth. So We are still far from being invincible under Heaven!"

It seemed the young Emperor still had some self-awareness. The officials below breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time felt somewhat disappointed.

The young Emperor's self-awareness meant that the Great Ming's situation could still be maintained. But at the same time, it also meant that the young Emperor would continue to clean house internally!

Zhu Youjian paused, then continued: "The slave rebels are now opening up farmland at Mount Mameng and Jinzhou. Before long they will come again, and when they do it will not be twenty thousand true slaves — they will come with their whole country. If we cannot hold them off, whether the Great Ming realm can even be preserved will be hard to say! How many military farms remain in the capital region now, how many actual soldiers are there, and what is the state of training and war readiness? Chief Grand Secretary, Minister of War, Minister of Revenue — all of you, speak!"

Hearing Zhu Youjian ask about military farms and actual soldiers, the hearts of the officials present all sank to the bottom!

"Your Majesty," the named Chief Grand Secretary Huang Liji had no choice but to steel himself and step forward to speak, "the last time the military farm quotas were tallied was in the Wanli reign, and thirty or forty years have passed since then."

Seeing Huang Liji hemming and hawing, Zhu Youjian went along with his words and continued: "We remember the Wanli-era figures. The fifty-four guards in the capital, including the Embroidered Uniform Guard, together with the Chief Military Commission of the Rear Army, had a current farmland total of over 5,052 qing; the various guard stations of Northern Zhili had a current total of over 43,678 qing. The two together come to over 48,700 qing — that is over 4,870,000 mu! Can this figure still be found today?"

That current total of 4,870,000 mu was the figure sorted out and cleared up in the early Wanli period under Zhang Juzheng's administration. At that time, the nationwide total of military farm acreage that was sorted out came to over sixty million mu — a full third less than the over ninety million mu of the Hongwu years!

Moreover, the military farmlands of the Hongwu years were genuinely used to support soldiers. Reckoning fifty mu of land to support one farming soldier, over ninety million mu could support nearly two million military households. Reckoning one soldier sent up for rotation duty from every six military households, the state could maintain over three hundred thousand standing rotation troops without the slightest strain.

But the over sixty million mu of the Wanli years could only be used to collect garrison grain and fodder. On average, one mu yielded only a little over one dou of military grain; over sixty million mu meant several million to over ten million shi — of course, that was only collectible when Zhang Juzheng was in power!

In those days the court had money, and the pay and grain for the nine border garrisons were ample. Not only could soldiers be supported, but fortresses could be built on a large scale and military preparations put in order.

The foundation for the Three Great Campaigns of the Wanli reign was laid with Zhang Juzheng's help!

Zhu Youjian said slowly: "We do not now ask about the whole country; We ask only about the military farms of Northern Zhili, Xuanfu, Datong, and the various guards in the capital. And We do not ask how things stood in the Hongwu and Yongle years; We ask only about the Wanli-era figures. Moreover, We do not seek to recover the actual land; We seek only one dou and two sheng of seed grain per mu, plus a little hay for raising horses.

This is something Zhang Juzheng was able to accomplish back then. We consider Ourself far fiercer than Zhang Juzheng, and what is more, We are the Emperor! So what Zhang Juzheng could accomplish, We shall accomplish too — it shall be accomplished in the second year of Chongzhen!"

According to the figures Zhang Juzheng left behind, Beijing plus Northern Zhili plus Datong had over 7,600,000 to 7,700,000 mu. Xuanfu's statistics in those years showed over four million mu, though the Xuanfu garrison had contracted considerably from the middle and late Wanli period until now, so much of that farmland must have fallen into waste and could only be slowly restored — but over a million mu was certainly there.

That is to say, Zhu Youjian was preparing, in the second year of Chongzhen, to sort out at least nine million mu of military farmland in Beijing, Northern Zhili, Datong, and Xuanfu from which seed grain could be collected. Reckoning an average collection of one dou and two sheng of garrison grain per mu, the annual garrison grain due would be 1,080,000 shi!

Reckoning thirty shi to support one soldier, 36,000 quota soldiers could be supported by garrison grain alone!

And these would be quota soldiers supported at the high standard of thirty shi per soldier! Though they could not compare with the Son of Heaven's household retainers, as long as they lived up to those thirty shi of pay, they could give the Tartars a hard time. After all, thirty shi of grain for one infantryman was truly not little — that was several thousand jin!

Zhu Youjian continued: "Besides the military farms, Northern Zhili also has civilian fields and official fields. The Wanli-era current total was over forty million mu. Should that not also be properly tallied? And how much imperial grain should those forty-odd million mu pay? The military farms pay one dou and two sheng; how much should civilian fields pay? Half? Or a third? There should also be a unified tax rate. Even if collected at a third of the military farm rate, that should still come to nearly two million shi, should it not? In this way, the military farms of Northern Zhili, Beijing, Xuanfu, and Datong alone, plus the civilian and official fields of Northern Zhili, should be able to support 100,000 quota soldiers! We will take a discount and support 80,000 quota soldiers. Not counting the troops of the four garrisons of Yan, Yun, Ji, and Liao, and not counting the Headquarters Army — the four garrisons of Xuan, Da, Chang, and Jing alone will support 80,000 quota soldiers. How about that?

Tens of millions of mu of land yielding only three million shi, supporting 80,000 quota soldiers — We are still being quite reasonable, are We not? What do you gentlemen think? Can it be done?"

(End of Chapter)