Gu Bingqian, as the first assistant, was naturally qualified to read this urgent recital, he took the brocade box and read it as quickly as possible and handed it to several ministers around him, and several people quickly read the recital, and after reading it, everyone turned their eyes to the face of Zhao Yan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, this kind of problem involving military affairs has always been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.

Zhao Yan handed the folded hands to Zhu Youxiao and pondered for a while before saying: "Your Majesty, Zhenjiang Mansion has reappeared the traces of the Japanese Bandits, this matter is not trivial, it stands to reason that the imperial court should send a large army to encircle and suppress, but now that the elite of the imperial court are mostly gathered in the nine sides, it is difficult to transfer troops to Zhenjiang Mansion for a while, it seems that Zhenjiang Mansion and other places can only be ordered to temporarily close the city gate and wait for the follow-up army to arrive before they can start to clear it." ”

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but stand up and shouted: "How can this be reasonable, I remember that Nanjing has tens of thousands of troops, can't even deal with hundreds of Japanese pirates?" What do the local governments do to eat? What about Xu Hongji, is his Nanjing garrison an ornament? ”

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but smile bitterly, Gu Bingqian stood up helplessly and arched his hand: "Your Majesty doesn't know, although according to the ancestral system, there should be three guards around Nanjing, with a total of more than 18,000 guards, plus more than 46,000 soldiers and horses in the battalion in Nanjing, but now the guards are afraid that they don't even have half of the troops, and the guards have long been rotten, let alone fighting, if they are allowed to resist the enemy, I'm afraid they will all run away without even seeing anyone." ”

"Is the guard so corrupt? Not really, right? Zhu Youxiao looked at Gu Bingqian with some doubts, "Gu Aiqing, our Daming guard doesn't seem to be as unbearable as you say, right?" ”

Seeing the suspicious look on Zhu Youxiao's face, Gu Bingqian said helplessly: "Your Majesty, the degree of erosion in the guards is only worse than what the old minister said, let me tell you this, there is not even a single person in the guards of the Ming Dynasty today." As early as the Jiajing period, the guard has no longer the initial combat power of the founding of the country, when the Japanese invaded Jiangnan, it was because the guard has been all rotten and unbearable, Qi Shaobao (Qi Jiguang) had to recruit soldiers in Jinhua, Yiwu and other places to resist the Japanese invaders, which later had the prestige of the Qi army. ”

"That's not right!" Zhu Youxiao shook his head with a puzzled expression: "I clearly remember that the guards in Nanjing City are doing quite well, and they are also training every day, so they are also presentable." ”

"Nanjing's health station performs every day?" Gu Bingqian glanced at several ministers next to him, and finally fell on the face of Zhao Yan, the secretary of the Ministry of War, who should have the most say in this point.

Zhao Yan's head shook like a rattle, and he said with certainty: "There is absolutely no such thing, even according to the military system, the army is only two drills a month, according to the erosion of the current guard, it is estimated that it may not be drilled once in a few years, if it is a daily drill, it will be even more impossible, even the elite of the nine sides can't do this, but I don't know where Your Majesty heard this news?" ”

"I am a pro-......" Zhu Youxiao was dumb as soon as he said half of it, he couldn't say that he saw them perform with his own eyes, if this matter was really exposed, I am afraid it would have to cause an uproar.

Wei Zhongxian, who was standing behind Zhu Youxiao, was also anxious, if the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty knew that Zhu Youxiao had sneaked out of the palace some time ago, and had gone around Nanjing, he would have to blow up, and then he, the chief eunuch of the ceremonial supervisor, would not be able to eat and walk around, so he coughed lightly twice and hurriedly said: "This...... Your Majesty is smart and studious, and recently read some historical materials from the founding period of our Ming Dynasty, so he was still immersed in the achievements of Wei at that time, and he was a little speechless for a while. ”

"Ah...... Yes, yes, I have recently read a lot of historical records of the Taizu and Gaozu periods, and then I am very puzzled. Why is the combat power of our Ming Dynasty so high during the Taizu period, and even the Mongolian Tartars were defeated by us, but later they eroded into this, I don't know why you taught me? ”

"This ......"

Now it's Gu Bingqian's turn and the others to sit down, why did the guard corrode like this, of course they knew the reason. Isn't the reason why the guard house is erosive is because all the land of the guard house has been annexed and divided by those officers, heroes and gentry, so that the military households of the guard house can no longer survive and almost half of them have fled, and then it has declined?

But knowing is knowing, but there are some things in this world that you can know but can't say, if you say it, it will be against the vested interests of the Wei army of the whole Ming Dynasty, although those guards are no different from beggars in their eyes, but no one will set up enemies for no reason.

Seeing that Gu Bingqian and the others were all speechless, Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but sigh, although he hadn't received much education since he was a child, but when he was in Nanjing Jiangdongmen Thousand Households, Yang Feng had already talked more than once about the advantages and disadvantages of the health center system and the reasons for its decay. The reason why he sighed was because he saw that several important ministers of the court who he relied on were so timid and had no responsibility at all, how could this not make him sad.

Zhu Youxiao didn't speak, just stood up silently and walked out. Looking at the slightly emaciated figure of Zhu Youxiao who disappeared at the door, for some reason a trace of guilt surged in the hearts of Gu Bingqian and the other four. These people have been up and down for decades, and as one of the highest-ranking people in the Ming Empire except for Zhu Youxiao, they see the disadvantages of the Ming Dynasty better than anyone else, but they have nothing to do about it, maybe they know that what they do is harmful to the country, but they do not hesitate to do it as a vested interest group, at most they just sigh afterwards, this is the mentality of most officials in the late Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youxiao walked out of Wenyuan Pavilion, and after walking in the corridor with his back for a while, he suddenly said, "Wei Zhongxian." ”

"The slave is here." Wei Zhongxian, who was following him closely, hurriedly responded.

"I remember that the imperial court has already decreed the execution of Xiong Tingcongee after the autumn, is that so?" Zhu Youxiao's voice sounded faintly.

Wei Zhongxian hurriedly replied: "The slave remembers that this is the case, and in four months it will be the day to behead him." ”

Zhu Youxiao was silent for a long time before saying: "Let him go, the defeat of Guangning actually has nothing to do with Xiong Tingbi." ”

"Ah......h

When Wei Zhongxian heard this, cold sweat immediately flowed down, and he stammered, "The emperor ...... The Emperor...... This...... The holy decree has been issued, and it is not much to change suddenly, right? ”

"It's okay if it's down, I can just change him." Zhu Youxiao suddenly turned his head and looked at Wei Zhongxian and said word by word: "You go and release him in person immediately, if he has any mistakes, you are the only one to ask." ”