My God, I am the emperor, the lord of mankind.

Chapter 355 The issue of the vassal’s military resources

The Chengyuan system of the Ming Dynasty is not only because its historical process has some striking similarities with the Yuan Dynasty.

It is even more because the Ming Dynasty subconsciously absorbed Yuanting's experience in all aspects such as politics, economy, military diplomacy and so on.

At least the military mobilization system of the Yuan Dynasty was completely inherited by the Ming Dynasty after certain modifications.

The military household system based on the family unit theoretically provided the empire with an endless supply of soldiers.

As long as the guards in various places in the Ming Dynasty can maintain basic food and clothing for soldiers, they can support their families.

So no matter how disastrous a defeat the empire's regular army suffered on the battlefield, he could quickly regroup a combatable force and reorganize a counterattack.

There were many reasons for the demise of the Ming Dynasty. The decline of the military household system and the bankruptcy of a large number of military households was a very important reason.

It was not just the self-recruitment of servants by military generals that led to the emergence of border town warlords in the Ming Dynasty.

Don't listen to the court's orders.

The military households' flight in order to survive turned the few troops that the Ming court could still control into a disposable army.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, more and less was used.

The empire could no longer be like it was in the middle and early periods. Even if it suffered a disastrous defeat like a civil fort, Yu Qian could still issue orders from the Ministry of War to mobilize the troops from various military bases to serve the king.

In just one month, more than [-] troops were mobilized from various prefectures and border towns to rush to the capital.

They formed an array outside Beijing and defeated the Oala cavalry led by Ye Xian in a field battle.

Wala fell into despair after this battle. After losing most of his military power under the walls of Beijing, those who fled back to the grasslands were quickly killed by the Mongolian tribes who originally surrendered to him. The tribes were also annexed and devoured by various grassland tribes.

The remaining tribesmen had to flee westward in embarrassment.

His younger brother King Saihan even fled to the Ming Dynasty to seek asylum from Ming Yingzong, and eventually died of old age.

However, with the decline of the imperial military system, the Ming army in the middle and late Ming Dynasty could no longer bear such defeats.

The local guards and the imperial court were at odds with each other, and the soldiers at the bottom had been grudges for a long time.

The Jurchens, Li Zicheng and others can fail countless times——

As long as the ruling core is still there, they can re-mobilize their forces, form new legions, and then continue to attack the Ming court. By promising various benefits, they can recruit and surrender the elite soldiers from various places in the Ming Dynasty for their own use, and plunder the Ming court's territory. population and land.

The army of the Ming Dynasty was a tree without roots and could not get any effective supplements at all... And when Chongzhen even defaulted on their food and wages, the elite soldiers of the empire chose to flee and join in large numbers out of anger and conscious betrayal. Rebels, no wonder.

But now, the empire can collect enough taxes from Jiangnan again.

Zhu Houcong began to restore the Ming court's military mobilization system from the moment he ascended the throne.

This is also due to the efforts of the previous three emperors.

Ming Xianzong led the Ming army through a series of high-frequency wars to re-stabilize the shaky borders of the Ming court since the Tumubao Incident.

In the north, he regained the Hetao through sixteen years of continuous conquests against the Mongols. He also went on an expedition to the Weining Sea, burned the Mongolian royal court, killed a large number of core Mongolian dignitaries, and unified the country that seemed to be reunifying after Oara. Mongolia was shattered into pieces again.

The Ming army entered the Northeast and put the Jurchen tribes under the control of the Ming court again. Through Chenghua Liting, they artificially re-divided the Jurchen tribes, interrupting the Jurchens' unification.

In the south, he resolutely ordered the Ming army to enter the southwest to quell the rebellion. Through a brutal war against the Duzhang barbarians, they surrendered the chieftain tribes in the southwest who were ready to move.

He also used force to suppress the increasingly powerful attempts of certain religious sects and vassal states in the northwest to break away from the Ming court. In response to the Miao rebellion in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions in the south, he ordered the Ming army to carry out an extremely cruel and bloody suppression.    Under the aggressive military policy, although this led to the rise of peasant wars within the Ming court.

But it laid a good foundation for Ming Xiaozong to rest and recuperate for twenty years.

In addition to restoring people's power and uniting people's hearts, Ming Xiaozong's main contribution was to soften the barbarians, reshape the international image of the Ming court, and restore the empire's tribute system.

Emperor Wuzong of the Ming Dynasty helped Zhu Houcong regain the combat effectiveness of the Empire's Central Army, and began to try to restore the Empire's finances, using Jiang Bin and other three-town generals to deal with the northern warlords headed by Qian Ning.

By the time of Zhu Houcong's generation, the power struggle within the imperial court and the challenges to Zhu Houcong's status from various forces were resolved faster than in history.

Zhu Houcong began to carry out institutional reforms in the Ming court.

Rebuilding the three major camps, sorting out the yellow household registration, and counting the population and property are only the first steps.

Restoring the empire's military structure and saving the empire's declining military ethics and armaments are what Zhu Houcong is working on.

Cui was better able to understand the hidden meaning in Fan He's words than the two children.

She poured a glass of wine for her eldest son Fan Zhuang, handed it to him and said.

"Your father is going to travel far away, and it will be up to you to protect this family in the future. Stand up and toast your father!"

When Fan Zhuang heard this, he seemed to feel the heavy atmosphere at home at this time, and his face that was still a bit childish subconsciously became serious.

He took the wine glass from his mother and looked at his father.

I heard the cries of the wolves around Tieling watching the moon in the snow. The room was very quiet. Even my little sister put down the food in her hands and stared at the two people in front of her in confusion, realizing that her home is undergoing an extremely important power transfer.

For the first time, he broke away from the filters of the past. Through the dim candlelight, he discovered that the tall body of his father in front of him seemed to be no more than the same level as himself.

Even due to malnutrition in childhood, he is still slightly shorter than himself.

"My trip is very dangerous. If I can come back alive, our whole family will be able to escape from humble status and return to our ancestral land... Even if I can't come back, I guess the court will not treat you badly..."

Hearing his father speak like this, a faint flash of tears flashed across Fan Zhuang's eyes, and the hand holding the wine glass trembled slightly.

But he still tried his best to keep his figure steady, and listened quietly to his father. This may be the last instruction for the two of them in this life.

"Now that the emperor has reorganized the military households on the nine frontiers and selected elite men from the northern military towns to be used by the princes when they come to conquer the vassal state, our clan is lonely and widowed, and most of the money, food and land in the various defense stations have owners. It is hard to obtain, and it is inevitable that we will be affected by disasters. If you are being bullied by local wealthy families and it is hard to find a living, you can join the service of the generals of the relatives in military towns in various places who recruit soldiers in the name of the prince. This is also a way to survive..."

Of course, the army and civil and military affairs that the feudal king had when he was a feudal lord could not be conjured out of thin air.

Although the princes are still some time away from adulthood, Zhu Houcong has already begun to prepare in advance.

Zhu Houcong did not intend to weaken the foundation of the Ming court by allocating a large number of elite soldiers and generals to various vassal kings.

That would undoubtedly weaken the power of the central court, and would inevitably cause turmoil among the various forces in the empire that had finally been balanced.

Of course, military towns in various places must also provide an appropriate amount of military talents as the backbone of the feudal king's command.

However, Zhu Houcong expected that the main force accompanying various vassal kings to guard all parties and carry out production and development would be the millions of refugees and untouchables without any rights within the empire.

The descendants of these sinners - Zhu Houcong is willing to call them one of the many "legacies of the late emperors", of which only a small part can redeem themselves.

(End of this chapter)