Chapter 124: The Imperial Edict

"I had long intended to re-establish the Ji Garrison. Count Jingnan Huang Degong rendered meritorious service at the Battle of military pay and provisions, and Wu Sangui's demand for pay further strengthened my resolve on this matter."

Having said this, the Chongzhen Emperor turned to Jiang Dejing, Second Grand Secretary of the Grand Secretariat, and asked:

"On the matter of re-establishing the Ji Garrison, what high counsel does Minister Jiang have?"

Jiang Dejing was in fact also of the Donglin line. In recent times, the Chongzhen Emperor had treated the Donglin Faction like chickens and dogs to be slaughtered — the slightest displeasure meant blood spilled on the spot; lightly, exile to garrison the frontiers; heavily, extermination of ten clans.

All the civil and military officials of the court had witnessed these actions, and the Donglin Faction had been cowed into fear. Jiang Dejing's earlier proposal had been made out of a sense of responsibility to the court and to his position as Second Grand Secretary — a reminder to the reigning emperor. He truly had not expected Chongzhen to turn the question on him.

After hesitating a moment, Jiang Dejing still stepped forward respectfully and spoke what was in his heart.

"Your Majesty is sagacious. The Ji Garrison borders the Liao region to the east, guards the passes to the north, and serves as the capital's shield to the south — a place of strategic military importance for every dynasty. Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, the Qing slaves have frequently raided the borders, plaguing the capital's outskirts, relying precisely on the weakness where the Ji Garrison meets the Liao region. If the Ji Garrison is re-established, the capital shall be fortunate indeed!"

"I submit to Your Majesty — since Your Majesty ascended the throne, the four seas have been at peace and the people have lived in harmony. Dejing's slander of Your Majesty's sacred countenance is truly a crime of high treason!" Suddenly, a remonstrance official leaped out and shouted.

Indeed, some of Jiang Dejing's words, heard by others, truly sounded like treasonous speech.

Words like 'Since Your Majesty ascended the throne, the Qing slaves have frequently raided the borders' — among all the civil and military officials of the court, only this Jiang Dejing would dare speak them before the Chongzhen Emperor's face. Had the one sitting above been the Chongzhen of history, his heart would unavoidably have stirred with anger once more.

What this Donglin man who suddenly leaped out to oppose said was utterly without substance. Since the Chongzhen Emperor had crossed over, the most he had heard was all manner of flattery, and so he gradually knit his brows.

Jiang Dejing was one of the few capable ministers in the court today, and his words carried considerable reason. But the current Chongzhen Emperor cared little for such matters of face. He first waved off the remonstrance official, then sighed and said:

"What you say, minister, I understand as well. But the Capital and Militia Camps in the capital region have yet to form combat strength, and Count Jingnan's forces are a rare elite troop that came to the king's aid. If sent hastily to the provinces, where would that leave the safety of the capital?"

"Your Majesty worries overmuch!" Jiang Dejing was unexpectedly pleased that the Chongzhen Emperor had not called him to account. Hearing these words, he unhesitatingly stepped forward again and reported with resolute finality:

"Your Majesty has won two great victories, and our dynasty's might has been made manifest. Beneath the mounds of enemy dead, the myriad people sing praises — how could any petty villain dare to leap and dance? Moreover, the Capital and Militia Camps number tens of thousands of soldiers or more. If the responsible bureaus are ordered to repair equipment and mount heavy cannon upon the strong walls, what is there to fear!"

"Your Majesty, at a time like this, you must not show the mercy of a woman!"

Hearing this somewhat grating loyal counsel, the Chongzhen Emperor instead burst into loud laughter, thinking to himself that this Jiang Dejing truly made him like him more and more.

Jiang Dejing had long held these words bottled up in his belly, and speaking them now had already brought him great relief. Fearing the Chongzhen Emperor might not wish to hear more, he hurried to finish his speech.

"Santun is the pivot of the Ji Garrison. If Your Majesty wishes to re-establish the Ji Garrison, you must rebuild the Santun region as a protective outpost, and open horse markets to win over the Mongols. Therefore I suggest that the court appoint Count Jingnan as Regional Commander of the Ji Garrison, establish two great camps in the northeast and northwest, and recruit righteous volunteers to serve the nation."

"The Northeast Great Camp shall be tasked specifically with guarding the Liao region, to prevent Wu Sangui from resorting to desperate measures; the northwest shall be led primarily by Chen Qiyu, tasked specifically with suppressing the Shun bandits."

"If the Northeast and Northwest Great Camps are established, our dynasty's military might shall awe the world — advancing, we can suppress bandits and slaves; retreating, we can protect the capital and its outskirts. How would petty villains like Wu Sangui dare to use a single Shanhai Pass to coerce the court?!"

"This plan is improper!" Just at this moment, Hu Shi'an, Junior Supervisor of the Household of the Heir Apparent, stepped forward and shouted sternly:

"The court has issued back pay to Datong and Xuanfu, and added weapons, clothing, and armor — already costing several million taels of silver. Yet the drilling and recruitment matters of the Capital and Militia Camps, and the construction of the Shrine of Loyal Martyrs, have also consumed much. Adding the Northeast and Northwest Great Camps at this time brings no benefit to the nation!"

"I second the motion!"

"We second the motion!"

Seeing Jiang Dejing besieged by officials also of the Donglin Faction, Minister of Revenue Ni Yuanlu showed no regard for his colleagues' faces, stepping forward to vigorously support Jiang Dejing:

"I submit to Your Majesty — the silver and equipment captured in the great victory at military pay and provisions, and the silver, grain, and equipment captured in the Xuanfu campaign, were all escorted into the capital by Gao Jie's forces the day before yesterday."

"And the shops and exchange houses of the seven great merchant families — Fan Yongdou, Wang Dengku, and others — across the nation have all been sealed one after another. Four or five parts in ten of their ready silver has also entered the capital. The Ministry of Revenue's reserves are ample!"

Everyone present clearly understood the impact that establishing the Northeast and Northwest Great Camps would have. If the camps were truly established, it would be equivalent to the court sending a signal — that from then on, men of arms would truly begin to be valued.

Such a thing was unprecedented in the Great Ming. The Chongzhen Emperor had restored the old system of militia camps and had boldly reorganized and restructured the Imperial Guard and Capital Camps — and that was still not enough. He had then widely distributed self-blame edicts throughout the military and among the people, abolishing the status of hereditary military households.

Since the Battle of military pay and provisions, with every battle fought on Great Ming soil, meritorious soldiers from across the nation had gradually become free men.

This had already slightly touched the interests of the great landlords and merchants. Hu Shi'an and others, as the spokesmen of the financial magnates in court, though they understood the Emperor's intent to save the Great Ming by drilling new armies, could not but devise ways to stop such matters.

Ni Yuanlu was one of the leaders of the Zhejiang Faction — a man impervious to all persuasion. Hu Shi'an, as a path-breaking vanguard, had barely spoken one sentence when, before the other Donglin men could even act, this fellow directly laid the matter bare.

The others, hearing Ni Yuanlu had blocked off all avenues of argument, naturally had nothing left to say. They all slunk back, glaring venomously at Ni Yuanlu, clearly planning to settle accounts with him later.

The Chongzhen Emperor watched the murderous factional strife among his ministers below, held no fondness for the Donglin Faction either, and settled the matter with a single sentence.

"In that case, I intend to first establish the Northwest Great Camp. As for where the camp shall be located, that decision will be made after hearing Chen Qiyu's recommendations. That will be all."

Wei Zaode had originally been of the Donglin Faction, and had muddle-headedly become a royalist. But at root, he had been elevated to this position by the support of the Jiangnan financial magnates. In the past, those matters had not touched the magnates' interests, so he had simply turned a blind eye and let things pass.

The ignorant Second Grand Secretary Jiang Dejing had suddenly proposed establishing the two great camps in the east and west — in truth, this had already shaken the interests of the financial magnate group.

This group was the behind-the-scenes mastermind that allowed the Donglin literati faction to control court politics openly. Their power was formidable, and their methods were far more sophisticated than those of the newly emerged Donglin scholars.

Were this group to be provoked to anger, Wei Zaode was deeply convinced that not even the agents of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and Eastern Depot could protect him.

But Wei Zaode also understood that the Chongzhen Emperor had long held reservations about him — he had only been kept on until now because he was obedient. At once, he found himself caught between two difficulties.

On one hand, Wei Zaode did not wish to suffer the vengeance of the southeastern financial magnates; on the other, he did not wish to give up the Chief Grand Secretary position he had obtained, only to end up with his household confiscated and his clan exterminated by the Chongzhen Emperor.

Even though he harbored opposition in his heart, when the Chongzhen Emperor's inquiring gaze turned to him, Wei Zaode still unhesitatingly stepped forward to express support for the camp plan.

"His Majesty is brilliant. Your minister feels that the Northwest Great Camp may be established."

The so-called imperial edicts of before had all been extraordinary measures the Chongzhen Emperor had employed in extraordinary times to preserve his life — they did not count as policies of the Great Ming.

This plan was different. It had first been proposed by Second Grand Secretary Jiang Dejing, gone through proper procedure, and then been circulated among the ministers for back-and-forth discussion and debate.

Chief Grand Secretary Wei Zaode was the most critical step. Only if he decided to support the plan could it finally receive the Chongzhen Emperor's nod of approval and be dispatched to the various ministries and offices for joint execution.

In the strictest sense, this imperial edict was the first edict personally issued by the Chongzhen Emperor since crossing over — an edict carrying the true authority of an emperor.