160. Chapter 159 The Prince’s Taibao

Author: Use your soul to aim

Chapter 159 The Prince’s Taibao

After ordering the troops in Gansu Town, Zhang Zongxian went to Ningxia Town without stopping.

General Kuaibai, who surrendered from the Tatars thirty years ago, saw the ruins of the guard and the low combat effectiveness of the Ming army, so he became a villain and wanted to establish himself as king. Kuaibai used his own private army as the core

, instigating the rebellion of four battalions of garrison troops who suffered from long-term pay arrears.

In order to suppress it, the imperial court deployed almost half of the country's mobile troops. Including Li Rusong, a fierce general who later became famous, also quickly rose to prominence in the Ningxia campaign.

Even so, more than half of the frontier troops in Gansu Town are still composed of Tatars.

With the lessons learned from the past, Zhang Zongxian made complete preparations for this troop deployment in Ningxia Town and mobilized a cavalry brigade from Sufang City to suppress the battle.

Under the pressure of the cavalry brigade, this troop deployment went smoothly. After eliminating the old and weak, Ningxia Town had a total of 20,000 soldiers.

Including Guyuan and Gansu towns that have been counted, the total number of troops directly controlled by the non-legislative forces on the three sides is 55,000.

In order to completely control all the military forces in Shaanxi Trilateral Military Town, Zhang Zongxian ordered in the name of the Governor,

The soldiers and horses from Guyuan were transferred to Ningxia, and then the two towns were led by their respective generals to go out from the border wall to sweep away the scattered Tatar tribes, while the soldiers and horses from Gansu Town were sent out from Xining Guard to sweep up the Tumote tribe in Qinghai.

In order to motivate the soldiers and horses in the three towns, Zhang Zongxian offered a reward of five taels of silver to the Tatar heads. The captured horses, cattle and sheep would be purchased at market prices.

After transferring troops and horses from the three towns, Zhang Zongxian quickly transferred back two cavalry brigades from outside the border wall, plus a brigade previously holding down the battle in Ningxia, and stationed these three in three towns respectively.

After doing all this, the deadline for requesting the return of the military land has also come.

Except that the generals in each town reported the occupied land and then bought the land at half price.

Gentlemen from all over the country have invaded and occupied military fields. Only a few people are willing to buy the occupied military fields. Others are waiting and watching, feeling that the law does not punish the public. What do so many gentry think of you, Zhang Zongxian?

Zhang Zongxian had already expected such a result. These gentry were all masters who would not shed tears before seeing the coffin. They would only be afraid if a knife was placed on their necks.

According to the report of the Investigation Department, ten gentry families in Yurou Township were selected. They were full of evil deeds on weekdays. They directly ordered the local government to expel the members of these ten families from their honors, ransack their homes and send them into exile.

And asked Zhao's staff to say, either return it to the military field, or buy it, but now it is no longer 50% off the market price, but 40% off the market price. In five days, it will be 30% off the market price. In another month, it will be 30% off.

Those who have not returned to the military fields will have their homes confiscated and exiled.

When some gentry saw the governor's behavior, they paid money and bought land. However, some people took advantage of the fact that someone in the family was an official, so they ignored the governor and continued to go their own way.

There were also some gentry who sent people to Beijing to complain, but they were stopped by people from the Investigation Department. Then the local authorities ordered the gentry who complained to be expelled from their official positions, have their homes confiscated, and be exiled.

When the one-month deadline came again, most of the military fields had been redeemed by the occupied gentry, and Zhang Zongxian also issued land deeds to them.

For those gentry who were still indifferent, Zhang Zongxian directly ordered Zhao's staff to lead the governor's personal army to confiscate the homes of these families one by one and exile them.

In addition to these border generals and gentry, there is another force that is also a big owner of military land. They are the bureaucrats who were originally responsible for distributing food and wages to the border troops. These people relied on their official status and did not pay attention to the governor at all.

I feel that the Governor's Sword of Shang Fang can only kill the military attachés, not the civil servants. It is true that the Sword of Shang Fang cannot kill them, but all of them are corrupt and have violated the law. If you look at it, it is a crime.

Zhang Zongxian directly sent out disciples of the school to check the accounts one by one and arrest any one found. Those without rank were all beaten to death directly during interrogation. Those with rank were immediately dismissed from office and escorted to the capital.

Zhang Zongxian also took this opportunity to insert a large number of disciples of the school. Although they were all rank-and-file officials, they were all in power at the grassroots level.

Zhang Zongxian's reputation as the King of Hell resounded throughout the entire Trilateral Military Town, and the local gentry was eager to drink his blood and eat his flesh.

There were also smart people who wanted to be promoted and took this opportunity to please Zhang Zongxian. Zhang Zongxian also took advantage of the situation and conquered many grassroots bureaucrats, and continued to use schools to marry them, allowing Zhang Zongxian to completely control the three-sided military towns in Shaanxi.

At the same time, the impeachment memorial against Zhang Zongxian also flew into the cabinet like snow flakes. The cabinet also wanted to take this opportunity to dismiss Zhang Zongxian from office. The entire court shouted for Zhang Zongxian to be beaten and killed.

Master Ma was so busy dealing with these impeachments every day that he fell ill. After Zhang Zongxian learned about it, he wrote to Master Ma not to worry. They would immediately send one million taels of silver to the emperor and ask him to send it to the emperor's internal funds, saying that it was for the emperor's repair.

For palace use.

During this inspection of military fields, more than 1.5 million taels of silver and 500,000 shi of grain were obtained. Zhang Zongxian used 1 million taels of silver to bribe the emperor, even though he was not afraid of Donglin's impeachment.

When Tianqi received the money, Long Yan was overjoyed. Zhang Zongxian was even more considerate than the eunuchs. In order to increase internal funds, Wanli did not hesitate to send mine supervisors. If the Ming Dynasty had officials like Zhang Zongxian, why the royal family would build a palace would have to depend on the cabinet.

As a result, the imperial court rejected all the memorials to impeach Zhang Zongxian, and Tianqi also reprimanded a few of the most enthusiastic officials. The Ming court could appreciate Tianqi's favor for Zhang Zongxian.

Taking advantage of the fact that Tianqi was still happy after receiving the money, Zhang Zongxian proposed to waive the additional Liao pay to reduce the burden on the people of the country. The military expenditure saved by the three sides of Shaanxi was enough for Liaodong.

After all, although the Ming Dynasty is now on the defensive in Liaodong, Tieling, Kaiyuan, and Fushun are still in the hands of the Ming army. As long as these three places are defended, Jiannu will not be able to cause trouble.

The memorial also suggested that he continue to inspect the military fields. In places like Xi'an Sanwei, a large number of military fields have been occupied. The military villages in these places have long been ruined. It is better to abolish them directly and turn the generals' villages into civilian fields, using the harvested land.

Taxes directly support the army.

Xiang Tianqi stated that once the military fields of all the guards in Shaanxi were cleared, the financial situation of the Ming Dynasty would be greatly improved. Not only would Shaanxi not need to be dispatched by the court every year, but it would also be able to pay a large amount of taxes to the court.

The expenses of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty have always been very high, and the emperor has no restraint when it comes to spending money. Tianqi is sincerely satisfied with a capable minister like Zhang Zongxian, who can expand the territory and be considerate of the emperor.

Giving away money from internal funds is different from those civil servants who only know how to take money from internal funds. They do not understand the emperor's difficulties at all and force the emperor to compete with the people for profits.

In May, Tianqi issued an edict to confer Zhang Zongxian as the crown prince's Taibao and bestow him with silver coins in mang robes. He also gave Zhang Zongxian the order to inspect the military fields of all the guards in Shaanxi.
Chapter completed!