Rebirth of the Ming Dynasty: Sixth Generation of Glory, I don't want it

About the military organization of the Ming Dynasty.

The Jinyiwei and the Changwei were mentioned earlier.

I have not mentioned another more important figure in the Ming Dynasty - the Jingwei. I would like to add this:

【Jingwei】In the early Ming Dynasty, most of them were directly managed by the emperor, and some were under the jurisdiction of the Five Military Commandery and the Ministry of War. Their functions were similar to those of the Imperial Guards. The highest position was "Duzhihuishi".

During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, forty-eight imperial guards were set up.

After Zhu Di moved the capital to Beijing, the number of guards increased to 72, and the number of personnel expanded to nearly 300,000.

There have been some adjustments since then, but the number is roughly around seventy-two.

The levels and numbers of these Beijing guards vary.

Some are equivalent to local dusi, and some are at the same level as local weisu.

Ordinary Beijing guards usually have five thousand households under their jurisdiction. This is standard but not a rule.

Compared with the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Eastern Depot, the Beijing Guards had more single responsibilities, but these three military organizations basically covered the emperor's entire daily life and tightly wrapped up the imperial power.

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But the Ming Dynasty’s army was far more than just the Beijing Guards, the Embroidered Uniform Guards and the Eastern Depot.

The Ming Dynasty army had three major systems.

During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang: the "Weisuo System" was created, which was divided into "Beijing Wei" and "Local Wei".

During the reign of Zhu Di: the "Beijing Camp" was newly established.

From then on, the three systems coexisted until the end of the Ming Dynasty.

[Beijing Camp] - The army that followed Zhu Di and was the direct force that launched the "Jingnan" campaign to seize the throne, and was directly managed by the emperor.

Several northern expeditions were basically completed by the Beijing troops.

The soldiers in the Beijing camp were called camp soldiers.

The Beijing Camp was divided into three camps, namely the famous "Five Army Camp", "Shenji Camp" and "Three Thousand Camp".

These three battalions were better equipped and more powerful than any other local garrison. They were typical field troops and, after several northern expeditions, were responsible for defending the capital.

The highest military rank in the Beijing Camp was "Admiral", which was later changed to "Governor-General", and was granted the seal of "Governor-General of the Beijing Camp's Military Affairs". Until the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was held by meritorious officials and nobles.

The heads of the three camps - the main general, the deputy general, the lieutenant general, the guerrilla general, and the assistant general.

The main general and deputy general are easy to understand. They are equivalent to leading the main force of the central army, while the lieutenant general leads the auxiliary forces.

Guerrilla and supporting attack are similar to mobile forces, and have some combat functional meanings.

Ranks are also divided according to priority, but they are all under the jurisdiction of the chief general and deputy general, and the various military positions below do not necessarily have a direct subordinate relationship.

Each battalion has a thousand-man commander who follows the expedition, a thousand-man commander who follows the camp, a selected vanguard commander, a commander, a general flag, and a small flag.

During the reign of Zhu Di, among the three major systems of Beijing Garrison, Beijing Guards and Local Garrisons, only the Beijing Garrison was an elite force.

The Five Army Battalion, the Shenji Battalion, and the Three Thousand Battalion, after the three battalions formed the habit of fighting together, one plus one plus one equals more than just three.

Unfortunately, this most elite force of more than three with a particularly high degree of coordination was almost completely wiped out after the "Tumu Incident".

After that, most of the civil unrest and border wars in various provinces were fought by local garrison troops. The Beijing Garrison had completely become a nursing home and withdrew from the war stage.

The consequences of the "Tumu Incident" were far more than just the loss of the most elite troops.

After Zhu Qizhen was captured during his personal expedition, Yu Qian successfully led the "Battle of the Defense of Beijing" as a civil servant. From then on, the military power of the Ming Dynasty was firmly controlled by the civil servant group.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty could only directly command and mobilize the Jinyiwei and the Jingwei.

The emperor had to obtain approval from the cabinet and the Ministry of War before mobilizing any border troops.

The Ming army's combat effectiveness began to decline from here.

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The Beijing Camp was abolished, but in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, there was constant strife both at home and abroad. The organization of local garrisons in the interior was not suitable for large-scale operations involving multiple arms.

For this purpose, the imperial court needed to temporarily reorganize the local garrisons in various provinces and towns, adopt the organization of the Beijing Camp, and as a temporary position, appoint someone as a governor or something like that to suppress the rebellion.

Temporary positions such as governor-general should be taken back by the court after the war.

The soldiers of the local garrisons also had to return to their previous stations.

But the reality is that most of them are not harvested, or cannot be harvested at all, and in the end nothing is done.

In the early days, rebellions broke out one after another, and the situation was always in a state of confrontation, which could break out at any time. The imperial court did not take it back. In the later days, the imperial court and the local areas became even more corrupt, so they simply didn't bother to take it back.

The position of governor has become a complete custom. He usually manages several provinces or towns and supervises military and civil affairs.

These temporary positions coexisted with the military positions and institutions of the inland garrisons.

Management is becoming increasingly chaotic.

The confusion in military positions leads to management chaos, which gives corruption more room to exploit. In order to cause corruption, friction will arise between temporary and local officials, and finally there will be serious disunity in command, and they will hinder each other.

Take the defense against Mobei as an example:

The imperial court drew troops from various military towns and garrisons to form a large army.

The highest leader of this army is the governor who is in charge of both military and political affairs.

Below them is the commander-in-chief of each army, who is called the "general".

For example, those from Shandong are called Shandong Generals, and those from Shanxi are called Shanxi Generals.

Theoretically, everyone takes care of their own business and there won't be any conflicts.

But the problem is that the number of troops is not the same. For example, Shandong has 20,000 troops and Shanxi has 5,000 troops.

Different number of people means different mentality.

But they are all generals.

There are various levels under the general. After the people are divided up, the smallest flag of the Shandong Army may have more soldiers than the guerrillas.

This imbalance leads to a lack of coordinated operations.

Those who are in larger numbers always feel that those who are in smaller numbers are taking advantage of them.

I would rather put aside and fight alone.

After a battle, the generals, lieutenant generals, garrisons and guerrillas of the two places each led their own troops and actually fought on their own.

The individual combat effectiveness of ordinary Han people is not good enough. When combined with others, they cannot form a combined force. Add to that the others trying to take credit and hindering others, etc., the orders issued by the governor cannot be fully executed, and it is difficult for them to avoid defeat.

There's something even more disgusting here.

During the middle and late Ming Dynasty, there were financial difficulties. When an army of a garrison was withdrawn from the local garrison, most of the troops could not even enter the city gates of the places they passed through. It was common for them to not get supplies along the way, and looting was also a common occurrence.

I was starving all the way to the battlefield.

If they failed to win and did not receive any rewards or incentives from the court, they would have to return to their hometown in disgrace with their tail between their legs.

In order to avoid falling into such a situation, killing innocent people and claiming credit for rewards is definitely the first choice.

Because the court only looks at the results.

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The military system of the Ming Dynasty court was originally intended to consolidate imperial power and prevent military generals from becoming too powerful so as to ensure checks and balances between them.

Dividing the military into wartime and non-wartime organizations is also a very flexible approach.

It was very good in the early days of the dynasty when various policies were relatively clear and the emperor was capable.

However, this kind of cooperation, which requires a high degree of coordination, can only end in chaos and passive resistance if the top leader and the leadership team below are not good enough.

The great leader Zhu Qizhen who led the army to fight in person is a living example.

His capture was a minor matter; the most important thing was that the military power was taken away by the civil officials.

From then on, the emperor became a tiger with most of its teeth missing.

It was not until Zhu Houzhao that the military power, which had been controlled by civil officials for decades, began to return.

Unfortunately, the situation is too bad to be reversed.

Moreover, Zhu Houzhao only lived to the age of 31.

It says where he died, but there is no record of what caused his death.

There are three versions circulating in the underworld: he died of pneumonia after falling into the water, Yang Tinghe bribed the imperial physician to murder him, and Jiang Bin murdered him.