June and July of the 11th year of Wanli can be described as quite unrestful.

First, the cabinet of the cabinet debated the construction of the Praetorian Guard Fort, and finally handed it over to the emperor Chen, and two days passed, and this piece of music was never approved by the emperor. If it is said that it was left behind, it is not like it, it seems that it has simply been put on hold temporarily, and I don't know what the emperor is weighing.

Immediately afterwards, Zhou Yong, the governor of Jiliao, believed that Nurhachi in Jianzhou had been very active recently, which had caused a certain amount of pressure on the border defense of eastern Liaoning, and asked him to transfer Qi Jin, a guerrilla on Gubei Road in Jizhen, and his subordinate to be stationed in eastern Liaodong.

The Ministry of War replied to this arrangement, expressed appreciation for the frontier minister's proposal to strengthen the border defense of Liaodong, and further proposed that Qi Jin be transferred to Shenyang guerrilla.

The emperor agreed the next day, and because Qi Jin's transfer would cause a chain of changes in the important posts of the eastern border defense of Liaodong, he asked the military department to make a summary report on the transfer of the entire eastern Liaodong.

This kind of move is not very common, but it is enough to show that the emperor is now very concerned about the military affairs of Liaodong, and the reason is clear to everyone, which is to prepare for the final "Eastern system" of the Western Huaidong system.

The military department was ordered to immediately convene a meeting of the officials and ministers of the court, that is, a meeting between Shangshu and the four attendants.

There is no need to elaborate on the process of the meeting, but in short, the ministerial meeting that was finally submitted to Wu Ge Lao for review was arranged as follows:

The position of Cao Yan, the deputy commander-in-chief of Liaodong, remained unchanged; Ma Dong, the right staff general of the sea cover; Divide the original staff general Ma Chengen; Shenyang guerrilla Qi Jin; Tieling guerrilla Cao Jian (Cao Yan's brother); The new Jin Fu guerrilla general was appointed, and Zhang Wanbang was appointed to it.

At this point, Li Chengliang was the only important position he still held in the eastern region of Liaodong, and there was only one Kuandian general left. But it's not a big deal, after all, the chief military officer is still him, and Li Chengliang's main force has long been concentrated in the western Liaoning region.

Wu Dui didn't make any changes, and directly showed it to Shen Shixing, who thought for a while, and submitted it directly without making any changes.

The reason why Shen Shixing did not object was because he felt that as long as Liaoxi was in the hands of Li Chengliang, there would be no problem, after all, once a big war against Tumen Khan was launched, it would definitely be from Liaoxi, not Liaodong.

Liaodong is at most a start, it doesn't matter, you can't eat the meat yourself, and you don't leave any soup for others, then you can't do it - what the military department says is also in the hands of the real school, if you provoke them, maybe everyone can't eat it.

The emperor received a note from the military department and quickly approved it. Immediately afterwards, there was an accident that was not big or small: Xin Chou Day, Taibai Star was visible during the day.

As an atheist, Gao Pragmatic has always been known for not agreeing with the theory of heaven and man induction even in today's Ming political arena, and he has certainly never taken this phenomenon seriously. But he doesn't care, there are always many people who care, such as Shen Shixing, who expressed his opinion on this.

It doesn't matter what you say, anyway, the final result is that the emperor sent him to review the Shou Palace selected by Tianshou Mountain with Xu Wenbi, the Duke of Dingguo, and Zhang Cheng, the eunuch of the ceremonial superintendent. Zhu Yijun's Shou Palace had been surveyed a few years ago, but it had not yet begun to be repaired.

This time, Shen Shixing, the first assistant, temporarily left Beijing.

Tianshou Mountain is not far away, and it is generally not a big deal to check the Shou Palace like this time, as long as there is no big accident, you will basically say that everything is okay when you come back, and it will take five days at most. If Shen Shixing is in a hurry, he can even run back and forth in three days.

But whether it is three days or five days, this time is enough - Shen Shixing has just left Beijing on the front foot, and the next day the emperor announced that he would enter the palace pragmatically and "call the right platform".

The so-called platform summoning is basically equivalent to the state of the nation consultation, that is, the emperor consults the minister on certain government affairs, usually to inquire about the local feudal officials, and the main thing is to call the government affairs, and sometimes he will also consult the important officials of the DPRK and the central government.

The term "platform" here is, of course, specifically referred to. Jianji Hall is in the middle to the back, high on the top of the white jade railing of the three feet and the opposite of the Qianqing Gate, the Yuntai Gate also, both sides to the latter, the east is said to be the left door, the west is said to be the right door, that is, the left and right doors of the Yuntai, also known as the "platform".

Where summoned to the cabinet ministers and other officials, or on the platform, that is, after the left door also. At that time, the rule was that the ministers (or a certain minister) stood solemnly, the emperor sat there, and when he encountered a problem, he called the name of the official, and the official stepped forward and knelt there to answer, and when the emperor allowed it, he could also stand there and say that it was for the platform to summon the right.

In the past, the emperor asked Gao to talk about things, and under normal circumstances, he was directly announced to the Wenhua Palace, and this kind of summoning was relatively ordinary and cordial, and of course it could be said that it was not so formal.

Compared with this kind of Wenhua Hall call, the platform call is much more formal, and generally speaking, it will only happen when there are major state affairs that need to be seriously inquired about.

This is strange, building a large military camp is also a major state matter? Even if this military camp is a fortress and the scale of investment is relatively large, this "big" is only a relative concept - for the financial level of the Ming Dynasty, it is not a small pressure to build such a super-large fortress plus various housing, warehouses and other comprehensive military camps.

However, in fact, according to Gao Pragmatic's preliminary calculations, the absolute value of simply talking about the cost of the construction project, that is, the "total construction cost", is not large: about 70,000 or 80,000 taels.

This...... How can the cost of building a sea ship be enough for major state affairs?

Gao Pragmatic entered the palace with questions, and it wasn't until he saw the emperor that he knew that Zhu Yijun was not just about building the camp in Beijing.

What Zhu Yijun asked was, why is it that Taizu 'raised millions of soldiers and did not waste a grain of rice for the people', why is it that nearly seventy percent of the world's expenditure has been spent on the army?

At the same time, he also asked, if so much money is spent, the army is extremely strong, then it is okay, but there are very few real warlike armies, if the army commanders do not bring their families, almost most of the army has no combat effectiveness, why?

This question can be answered with high pragmatism and confidence, but he wondered why Zhu Yijun suddenly had this doubt.

What's more, does this matter have anything to do with the last time Shen Shixing expressed his opposition to the construction of the Jingbei Camp Praetorian Guard Fort? Did Shen Shixing say something to the emperor that made the emperor put the proposal to get the song on hold for the time being?

Of course, doubts are doubts, and the emperor's question still has to be answered first, after all, is it "the platform is right".

This problem actually has historical roots, and retrospectively, it is not just from Zhu Yuanzhang.

After the late Tang Dynasty, especially in the late Southern Song Dynasty, the status of the regular army has been declining, while the auxiliary army has been remarkably developed. The so-called auxiliary forces are inferior to the regular army or the main combat soldiers in terms of military structure or status, occupy a secondary position, or are free from the regular army establishment, but have a certain official legal color, such as the Yuejia army, and the current armed family.

The reason for this is that since the Northern Song Dynasty, the society has emphasized literature over military force, and the central government has suppressed the army, which has led to a decline in the status of military personnel. The corresponding treatment of soldiers has also been declining, because military households are not allowed to engage in side jobs, and officers use empty quotas as a source of income, which undoubtedly greatly reduces the combat effectiveness of the regular army.

The soldiers who used to have a high status in the Sui and Tang dynasties have now not only become a class below the peasants, but have even become a negative image of not doing their jobs. The continuous decline in the status of military personnel has led to the increasingly low morale of the regular army, and the composition of the army has become increasingly complex and unusable.

When the Ming Dynasty's guard system was first established, it solved the problem of logistics and provided support, which reduced the financial burden. Tuntian became one of the important responsibilities of army commanders at all levels, and according to the regulations at that time, the proportion of garrisons in border guards was three points to defend the city and seven points to garrison fields, which saved a lot of military expenditures.

Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang once proudly declared: "I raise millions of soldiers, and it doesn't cost the country a penny." In reality, however, the army's combat effectiveness and training have been weakened by a large number of reclamation tasks.

The reason why the army in the Zhu Yuanzhang period and even in the Zhu Di period still maintained strong combat effectiveness was mainly because the military meritorious group was still relatively strong at that time, and the surrounding country was not quiet, and there were opportunities for "actual combat training" from time to time, so the army at that time relied on this inertia to maintain a certain combat effectiveness.

In fact, it can be seen from the Battle of Jingyan that the combat effectiveness of the troops around Nanjing at that time had declined. When the unit strength is roughly the same, Nanjing's army obviously can't beat Zhu Di's troops, the reason is that the south has been peaceful for some years, and Zhu Di's side is still open to the Northern Yuan Dynasty at every turn.

In addition, the strict separation of military and civilian registration is also a major problem. There are two types of people with military status: officers and soldiers, both of which have military land, and both are hereditary. Officers became aristocrats hereditarily, soldiers became serfs hereditarily, and that's pretty fucked up.

And the hereditary soldier is that if a person joins the army, he will always be a military household, and he will never be mixed with the civilian household. Although the strength lies in the guaranteed supply of soldiers and the relatively stable life of soldiers, the officers who are hereditary nobles have a too secure life, and the laziness of generation after generation eventually becomes worse and worse with the passage of time.

The soldiers, who were hereditary serfs, were driven by others for life, and there was no hope for the future, and those who were a little self-motivated would flee spontaneously. And the constant flight has weakened the combat effectiveness of the guards to a great extent - after all, the rest are scum.

Again, the Ming Dynasty's emphasis on literature and light on military force was more prosperous in the past, and the prosperity of the imperial examination also exceeded that of the previous dynasty. The imperial examination has become the most desirable smooth road for all strata, the martial arts industry is more cheap, the morale and status of the guards are getting lower and lower, and the combat effectiveness is also more uneven.

As the saying goes, "The Son of Heaven is heroic, and the article teaches Ercao." Everything is inferior, but reading is high". Why is Gao Pragmatism's position so unique? In addition to his background and the resume of the prince's companionship, the most fundamental thing is that his identity as the "six champions" is too mythologized in this era.

In this social atmosphere, the social status of the children of military families who were excluded from the imperial examination was low, and the Ming Dynasty had the so-called "Enjun" system of confiscating criminals into the army, which virtually made the social image of military households even more unbearable. Commerce began to flourish in the Ming Dynasty, and although merchants were not in the upper class, they were also looked at differently because of their affluence.

However, military households were strictly bound to the cantonment land and were not allowed to engage in business, which made the morale and living conditions of military households always low, and they lived like dogs, and of course they did not have much enthusiasm for normal training and warfare.

Of course, there are also those who take the imperial examination among military households, such as Zhang Juzheng, who was born in the military. But you must know that Zhang Juzheng's military status is not a soldier's military status, he is an officer's military member, so he can be admitted to the sergeant, and those with soldier military status should not think about such a good thing.

In addition, the military system of the Ming Dynasty stipulated that in wartime, the imperial court temporarily sent generals to confer seals to form wartime military leadership organs, and then transferred troops from the guards to their command. This has caused inconvenience in command, coordination, management, and other aspects.

In fact, Gao Pragmatic's Praetorian Guard quietly bypassed this article, but he didn't say it explicitly.

In addition, there was a terminal illness in the politics of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the eunuchs could intervene in almost anything. In addition to the use of Wenchen as the commander during the war, there was also a system of eunuchs supervising the army, that is, the so-called "eunuchs supervising the army", most of these eunuchs only knew how to embezzle and accumulate money, so that the combat effectiveness and discipline of the army could be imagined. Even if there are a few good ones once in a while, if you count them proportionally...... A drop in the bucket, no change in the overall situation.

And Gao Pragmatic had told the emperor before that the Janissary Guards must strictly stipulate the terms of reference, and it is precisely from this aspect that he considers, otherwise once he encounters the eunuch who is very holy and likes to meddle in military affairs, then sooner or later this Praetorian Guard will be played to death by him.

Gao pragmatic spoke eloquently, analyzing these situations one by one, and Zhu Yijun's expression became more and more serious.

As he himself said, this world is also pragmatic and dares to speak the truth bluntly in front of him, even if the truth sounds simply heartbreaking.

Zhu Yijun was particularly shocked and even admired that Gao Pragmatic actually thought that it was wrong for Wengui and Wuli to be cheap - of course, Gao Pragmatic said that it was not right for Wengui and Wuli to be cheap to this point, but that was enough for Zhu Yijun to be shocked.

However, Gao Pragmatic's words are really from his heart, he is really dissatisfied with the current social trend of the Ming Dynasty, and the status of the military minister is too low.

According to the highly pragmatic view, it is not surprising that literature is more valuable than martial arts, and any normal country in later generations is more important than martial arts at the level of national policy, because once martial arts are more important than literature, most of them will fall into a strange circle of ****, which is not conducive to the stable development of society.

But this kind of disparity between civil and military forces can't be too big, and a situation like Daming should definitely not be - you don't give martial artists a reasonable social status and economic treatment, but when you are about to fight, you ask people to fight to the death, how is it possible?

After a long time, Zhu Yijun gradually came back to his senses, looked at Gao pragmatically with complicated eyes, opened his mouth and sighed.

"Truth-seeking, do you know what Mr. Shen said in the draft vote when the ministry of the Ministry of War came up a few days ago?"

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