Lu Ming

This is an imperial decree that anyone on Earth can guess the content of: "With the Cao family's outstanding military exploits, this special decree confers—Dr. Ronglu, Zhu Guo, Zhongyong Bo, Minister of the Ministry of War, Zuo Dudu of the Rear Army Commander's Mansion."

So Zongbing Cao... Uncle Zhongyong of Xinke hurried forward to kowtow to thank him.

Except for those dukes and nobles at the founding of the country, during the Chongzhen period, few generals with real power and troops could directly complement these titles.Including Zu Dashou and Mao Wenlong who lived in the Liao Dynasty in the fourth generation, none of them were able to get such a complete rank of generals.

Cao Zongbing jumped to the sky today, and became the real Earl of Daming by virtue of the two piles of Jingguan in front of Daming Gate.

The title Zhongyongbo is still very meaningful, and it contains the emperor's strong expectations.

The first generation of Zhongyong Bo before this can be traced back to a general named Jiang Xin during the Zhengtong period, and the second generation of Zhongyong Bo is his descendant Jiang Shan.Now that 200 years have passed, Cao Zongbing has become the third generation of Zhongyong Bo of the Ming Dynasty.

As for the rest of them, they all started from the first-rank loose officials and the false titles of Wu Xun.

From this string of titles, it can be seen that Emperor Chongzhen was indeed afraid of being bullied by the Tartars during this Jisi change.You must know that Chongzhen has always been stingy, and has never rewarded military commanders with such generous official positions.

Even so, the emperor on the throne still felt a little indebted to Zongbing Cao... Uncle Zhongyong.

So after Uncle Zhongyong kowtowed to thank him, the emperor made a special confession in public: the top title was not given because the northern captives had not been completely wiped out, so the emperor wanted to leave some titles for future use, and hoped that Uncle Zhongyong of Xinke would make persistent efforts. Sweep out the northern captives as soon as possible, and the emperor will definitely reward them generously.

What else can Uncle Zhongyong say at this time?I can only express my loyalty loudly.

This round of procedures had just been completed, and Fang Zhenghua's second imperial decree was launched again.

The content this time is relatively simple: the emperor asked Uncle Zhongyong to report all those who made meritorious service in this battle to the roster, and they will all be rewarded with great rewards afterwards, "I will not refuse."

In addition, the emperor gave Uncle Zhongyong a house in the capital, and by the way, he also rewarded him with a series of good things such as slaves, bows and knives, BMWs, gold coins, and Shu brocade.

Uncle Zhongyong dragged his sore knees and kowtowed to thank him...

The decree is not over yet.

Fang Zhenghua took out the third envelope.

Fortunately, the content this time has nothing to do with Mr. Cao's military affairs.Taking advantage of the power of his victory, the arrogant emperor directly promoted Wen Tiren, an old drama player who already had a reputation as a "knowledgeable soldier", to Dongge University Bachelor and Minister of Rites in the imperial decree—more than two months earlier than in history.

The members of the Donglin Party in the palace gritted their silver teeth at this moment.However, today is a day of great joy, whoever wants to make life difficult for the emperor will be looking for layoffs, maybe looking for a jail, so at this moment, the heroes of Donglin can only watch the old thief Wen come forward to accept the order to thank him, but there is nothing he can do.

Chapter 472 Gap

The last imperial decree at the meeting was about Sun Chengzong and Ma Shilong.

Although Cao Zongbing has done the work in this plane, the contribution of Sun and Ma who led the army to defend the capital and finally sent troops to "recover" the lost ground is indelible. Xinke Zhongyongbo will not take this credit, so The emperor gave the two rewards as usual.

Sun Chengzong first added the title of Taifu, then his descendants inherited Shangbao Sicheng, and then bestowed python clothes and coins, and finally the old grandson still received the Minister of the Ministry of War.

This Minister of the Ministry of War, like Cao Zongbing's Minister of the Ministry of War, is a false title that has no right to intervene in the affairs of the Ministry, but it is still useful: it can be used as a troll.

Although the military system of the Ming Dynasty was crude and inefficient, the basic military administration and military orders were still separated: the Military Command was in charge of the Five Armies Governor’s Mansion, and the Military Department was in charge of military administration.

Generally speaking, the deputy generals of the generals under the jurisdiction of the Dudu Mansion have no right to dictate military affairs outside the defense zone.Like Mao Wenlong, even if he became the left governor, it is impossible to criticize Shanxi's defense. He can only manage Dongjiang Town.

So now that General Cao has the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, he is similar to a researcher of the Ministry of National Defense. Although it is false, he can direct the country's military affairs from now on.The most important thing is that as the emperor's statutory military consultant, the Minister of War can meet with the emperor at any time and provide professional advice.

This right was specially given by Chongzhen: this time the change of Jisi made Chongzhen extremely disappointed with the original military mobilization and think tank system of Ming Dynasty.Well, now that an expert on killing Tartars emerges, the emperor will definitely use this to obtain more information.

After Sun Chengzong took the decree to thank him, Ma Shilong also came out to receive the reward: adding the prince Shaobao, Yinbu's descendant Ningxia Wei hereditary thousands of households.

At the same time as receiving the reward, Sun Ma and Sun Ma were also revoked from their positions as temporary chief managers of Qin Wangbing.From this moment on, they lost command of more than 20 Qin Wangjun.

After that, the fate of the two people was different.In history, Ma Shilong returned to Ningxia within a few months, and died of illness a few years later.On the other hand, Sun Chengzong continued to stay in the court to preside over the war-the Ming court would launch a wave of strategic counterattacks in northern Liaoning later.

In the end, due to the defeat of Dalinghe, Lao Suntou finally went home and retired completely.

……

After the announcement of the four consecutive decrees of rewarding the most senior officials, the official business of today's special grand meeting is considered to be over.As for other next-level to-do items, the emperor will address them later.

Next came the entertainment time: the emperor had a big banquet for his ministers and distributed rewards to them—with Chongzhen’s character and poverty, it was really not easy to invite dinner and give red envelopes during the new year.

The 4000 heads this time not only dealt a heavy blow to Houjin's hard power, but from a certain point of view, it was crucial to enhance the confidence of the Ming Dynasty's government and opposition against Houjin.

Over the years since the old slave started his army, the military power of the Ming Dynasty has been gradually defeated.After Saarhu, it changed from strategic offense to strategic defense. It can be said that until today, the military of the Ming Dynasty has not won any large-scale battle.

Even the Battle of Ningyuan, which was blown into the sky by the Donglin Party, in the final analysis was just a defense of the city.Afterwards, all the soldiers and civilians on Juehua Island were slaughtered by the Tartars, not to mention, even those captured under the city of Ningyuan, none of them... Yes, it is said that the Tartars took away all the corpses under the city and burned them, so there are no heads.

If there is no head, it is impossible to tell the battle achievements, there is no way to publicize it, and the court will not take it seriously-"The cannon passes, it is useless to kill Beiqi", and the frontier generals often write the same memorial to go The Ministry of War cheated.If the number of enemies killed by memorials alone, let alone the later gold, and the Mongols couldn't bear it, they would have been extinct long ago.

This is why Cao Zongbing was able to receive a national-level ceremony reception after entering Beijing: 4000 human heads were actually placed there for the people of the world to test the results of the battle. There is no need to exaggerate or argue. The two pyramid-shaped Beijing Temples have their own shocking effects. It is an irrefutable hardcore credit.

These two Jingguan not only brought shock, but most importantly, they boosted the confidence of the army and the people, and clearly told the government and the public: the Tartars can be defeated, and the so-called invincibility is a joke.As long as we find the right way, the originally dark future can definitely be changed.

This kind of confidence seems illusory, but for the ruling and opposition parties who have just gone through the siege and have completely fallen into a low ebb, it is nothing more than a big booster.

In the end, everyone knows how to settle accounts.

Among the 4000 heads, there are 3000 authentic elites from the Eight Banners.

The reason why the Hou Jin was able to suppress the Mongols and many coats was due to the more than 2 elite Manchus.Losing 3000 elites in the first battle is an unbearable loss.

The bandit group cannot be defeated. Once it fails, the reputation of invincibility will be lost, and the bandit will have nothing.

In the current situation, it doesn't take much, as long as there are one or two more losses of the same level, the Houjin Bandit Group will disintegrate on the spot-once the core strength falls below the critical point, the vassal forces will backfire.

This is not only known to the robbers themselves, but also to the emperor and ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

So this time, the rewarding action for soldiers has a state banquet, which strengthens the function of celebration - not only to celebrate the past, but also to look forward to the future, with the taste of mobilization in it.

This is how the grand banquet of the ministers held in the Huangji Palace began.

In fact, the banquet is no different from usual, except that the scale is bigger and the scene of the toast is more spectacular.

However, after the emperor left the banquet, Uncle Xinke Zhongyong was surrounded by people to persuade him to drink, and finally he was so drunk that he was carried back to the gift house. The scene was a little embarrassing.

After the hustle and bustle.

In the evening of the same day, inside Zhengyangmen, west of the imperial city, Renshoufang, the residence of Uncle Zhongyong.

Zhang Dongdong was agitated by the chatter and laughter outside.

After getting up from a Ming Dynasty-style babu bed, enduring the headache from drinking, Zhang Dongdong went out to take a look, and found several time-travelers sitting in the main room, talking loudly.

Picking up a pot of herbal tea on the table, he poured it and wiped his mouth. Uncle Zhongyong began to curse: "Not to mention getting a maid to serve me. I'm thirsty. Oh my god, this is made by a wise man. Tribute wine is not drinkable at all, it seems to be of low alcohol content, but it is actually high."

"Then I didn't see you send a few barrels of good wine to the emperor?"

Xue Haiyuan, who was chatting at the side, laughed: "Besides, the emperor gave some slaves, the question is, do you dare to use them? Let's wait a couple of days and let's recruit some servants ourselves. Then I will make backgrounds for these people." There are many investigations and procedures."

"En." After Zhang Dongdong nodded, he looked outside the old-fashioned window covered with white paper: "This is the house bestowed by the emperor? How about it?"

"It's rather dilapidated and needs to be renovated." Zhang Zhongqi, who was dressed in the uniform of a low-grade military officer, replied, "However, within the second ring road, the area is as large as dozens of courtyard houses, which is more than ten billion yuan!"

"Oh, that's not bad. It seems that the emperor also invested money in order to win over my lord."

Zhang Zhongqi nodded in agreement: "Yes. Even if housing prices were low in the Ming Dynasty, it was not so easy to get a mansion near the imperial city. If it wasn't for the emperor's decree, would a Pixiu unit like Shuntianfu be able to allocate such a mansion for you?"

"Let's decorate first, bring some glass cement over here first." Zhang Dongdong rubbed his swollen temple with his middle finger: "What's the next step?"

"We're all busy with our own business. As for you, just be honest. When the emperor finishes his busy work for the past few days, he will definitely see you alone. At that time, we will play according to the agreement."

"OK!"

In this way, the first day when the army came to the capital to offer prisoners passed.

For the monarchs and ministers of the Ming Dynasty and even countless people, the significance of this day is extremely important.The general soldier from the south and his powerful subordinates made a public appearance, and the far-reaching influence brought about by it will be gradually revealed in the years to come.

……

At the same time Cao Zongbing was drinking herbal tea to quench his thirst, in another courtyard in the capital, a civil servant who had left the court also returned home, drinking tea to soothe his hangover.

This man was in his fifties, elegant and elegant, with a third-grade tonic on his chest. He was General Cao's nominal colleague and the right servant of the Ministry of War, Hou Xun.

Hou Xun was a native of Guide, Henan, the eldest son of Taichangqing Hou Zhipu from a family of gentry.This gentleman's reputation is not obvious, but Hou Xun's son is still famous in later generations: Hou Fangyu, one of the four great princes in the late Ming Dynasty.

The three generations of the Hou family are generals of Donglin.During the Tianqi period, the father and son were driven back to their hometown because of their opposition to Nine Thousand Years.After Chongzhen came to power, Hou Xunqi was reinstated as the Yushi of Henan Province. Not long ago, this person had just been appointed as the Minister of the Ministry of War.

Hou Xun participated in the whole court meeting today, including the banquet afterwards, so Master Hou drank a few more cups of tea after returning home—although the Donglin party members didn’t like Mr. Invigorating, so most people had a few extra drinks today.

At this moment, the servants came to report: there are visitors, and they are Mr. Wei Xuwei from the engineering department, and Mr. Songming, an old friend of Mr. Hou.

Master Hou was taken aback when he heard this.During this period of time, it was hard for him to figure out that the two of them would come hand in hand, so Hou Xun hurriedly changed his clothes and went out to meet the guests.

Not wanting to meet the guest for the first time, the old friend Song Ming jumped up from the chair, bowed to the ground towards Master Hou, and at the same time wailed: "Brother Dazhen, something is wrong, Ming Dynasty is in danger, my name The teaching is in danger!"

Hearing such a broad end-time prophecy, Hou Xun was shocked on the spot.

Although the trick of "pretending to make shocking words" is a gifted skill of literati, it is used to fool other uneducated old and rough classes. When did the gentry play this trick among themselves?

So Master Hou was furious.His face was gloomy, he opened his mouth and asked, "Bu Daxing, are you suffering from insanity?"

Bu Daxing, courtesy name Songming, was a former envoy of Xingquan Taoist soldiers in Fujian.This gentleman was devoted to fighting against the cross-travelers, and after discovering that Fujian Xiong Wencan had helped the evildoers, Master Bu went to Jiangnan to continue his career.In the end, for some reason, he reappeared in the Hou Mansion of the capital today.

Chapter 473 Impeachment

The emperor gave Cao Zongbing the title of Uncle Zhongyong, which invisibly pushed him towards the Xungui Group.

The Xungui Group is a military aristocrat, an aristocratic group that started with military exploits and passed down from generation to generation.

Although the Earl of Cao Zongbing is not yet hereditary, everyone knows that as long as someone can act like a cat and a tiger again, the emperor will definitely make him a marquis and allow hereditary inheritance.Once it is hereditary, it means that the member has officially become a member of the Xungui Group.

In the most ideal state, if Cao Zongbing can go straight to Huanglong and completely wipe out the Tartars in the years to come, then he can become a prince, or even a king after his death.Then the descendants can be like Wei Guogong Xu Da, guarding a big city hereditary, enjoying the glory and wealth, and resting with the country.

This road is basically the best solution that the warriors of the Ming Dynasty could choose.But it is a pity that the further back the line, the more superb political wisdom is actually needed.So even in the early Ming Dynasty when it was easy to be knighted, except for a few people such as Xu Da who could have the last laugh, everyone else fell halfway.

But in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, there was a major turning point in the political structure of the Ming Dynasty - the Tumu Fortress Change, and the core strength of the Xungui Generals Group died overnight.

After the Tumu Fort, the civil servants represented by Yu Qian reorganized the regiment battalion, seized the opportunity to push the Ministry of War to issue orders, and dealt a blow to the military commander's office of the five armies, which had lost all branches, and completely changed the military command rules of the Ming Dynasty.

Since then, Xungui military generals have been completely suppressed, the front line has begun to fix the military supervision system, and the number of civilians leading troops is increasing day by day.

Later, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the military aristocrats and the hereditary guard system had decayed, and the strength of the entire group became weaker, and the power of the major forces in the court was gone.

In this way, the civil official group will not give up the rights it has acquired—even Qi Jiguang, who has outstanding military exploits, failed to get a title until his death under the obstruction of the civil official.

The Earl that General Cao obtained this time is not as valuable as in the early Ming Dynasty, but for most Ming generals, the title of Earl of Zhongyong is still an orange equipment that is elusive.

In fact, General Cao's success in conferring the title this time was not resisted, but in fact he was still in the favor of the Tartars.After all, Grandpa Qi's opponent was the Japanese pirates, and the Japanese pirates would not send out a large army to besiege the capital, form a system to destroy the Ming army's field troops, and scare the emperor and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty to wake up in the middle of the night, secretly preparing for the funeral.

But having said that, Uncle Zhongyong's current position is actually a bit embarrassing.

Call it Xungui, but it doesn't count as officially entering that circle; call it Minister of the Ministry of War, it's just a false title, and it doesn't fit in with civil servants at all.

So in the end, Uncle Zhongyong is still a general, the kind commonly known as Qiu Ba.When he was in court, he had to stand among the generals, and his position was relatively low, because there were cabinet ministers and relatives of the emperor with higher qualifications.

Speaking of going to court, Cao Zongbing officially started this ancient morning shift after resting in the gift house for a day.

……

After Chongzhen held the state banquet that day, it was rare for the industrious emperor to give his ministers a holiday the next day, so that everyone didn't have to go to the Emperor's Palace to engage in formalism... But, BUT, the class still had to be attended.

The emperor himself went to the ancestral temple to offer sacrifices to the ancestors on the same day: such a great victory, should we not tell Comrade Zhu Baba?

After the day passed, and in the early morning of the next day, Uncle Zhongyong had to get up from the warm quilt and prepare to go to court.

In theory, as long as they are officials in the capital, or officials from other provinces who are on business trips in the capital, they have the right to go to court.

The rule of going to court every day was established by Zhu Yuanzhang, a model worker of the older generation of Ming Dynasty.

Lao Zhu was born as a farmer. Later, after the abolition of the prime minister, he was worried about being deceived by others, so he formulated the rules of the early court for the officials.After that, several emperors followed the morning court every day as a ancestral system, the most powerful of which was the new generation of model workers Chongzhen.

According to the records of the Great Ming Huidian: In the early court, the minister had to get up at midnight, cross half of the capital, and then wait outside the Meridian Gate at 3:[-] in the morning.

So in the cold wind in the early morning of early April in the north during the Little Ice Age, Uncle Zhongyong had no choice but to mix in the dark crowd with full of resentment, waiting in front of the Meridian Gate to drink the wind.

"This fucking doesn't treat employees as human beings. Is it because Daming doesn't have labor arbitration?"

Zhang Dongdong, who came from a later generation, couldn’t stand this anti-human way of working. Thinking that this kind of pain would continue for a while, Uncle Zhongyong became murderous: “No wonder we want to overthrow the old society. Gotta do it!"

After fantasizing about seven or eight plans to arrest the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty and then plunder the family property, it finally arrived at 5 o'clock in the morning. The drums sounded from the Meridian Gate tower, and the palace gate opened.

At this time, the courtiers should line up and enter one by one, and form a team in the square after crossing the Jinshui Bridge.When everything was ready and the sky turned pale, the emperor arrived at Huangji Gate surrounded by a large number of eunuchs and guards.

Zhang Dongdong, who was mixed in the queue, could only go forward and back with the class honestly, followed the master of ceremonies' singing, and knelt down and kowtowed three times with all the officials.

At this point, Uncle Zhongyong has completed the full set of procedures of the Ming Dynasty's formalism.Next, he just needs to make a human background board like those generals around him.If he's lucky, it won't take long for the court to leave, and he can go back to the mansion to make up for the sleep.

Uncle Zhongyong really didn't have anything to do in today's early court, because everyone knew that the emperor had only one agenda: to send all the kings and soldiers from all walks of life.

Since this change of Jisi was the first time that the Hou Jin entered the customs, almost all the 13 provinces of the two capitals of the Ming Dynasty sent Qin Wang soldiers and horses, including the forces of the Nine Frontiers and the chieftains of the frontiers.

Now that the northern captives have retreated and all the key border passes have been recovered, it is time to send the soldiers and horses of the provinces back to their original places.After all, with so many troops gathered in the outskirts of Beijing, the logistical pressure was huge, and the emperor was a poor man who couldn't afford it.

So in the following time, more and more people, such as the lieutenant generals of various provinces, stepped forward to accept the seal.Whenever a military general finished receiving the rewards from the emperor, he also bid farewell to Chongzhen by the way.

It is worth mentioning that the ogre ancestor Dashou today is the same as in history. He was afraid that the emperor would turn his back on him and take him down, so he still did not appear in the capital. The representative of the Guan Ning army was Cao Wenzhao.