Ciqing Palace.

"The ministers have seen His Royal Highness the Prince!"

Wang An hurriedly went out to bring people in, Zhu Changluo and the others sat separately, and after a while, three old men in scarlet robes walked in at the gate of the palace, which were Xing Jue, the squire of the military department, and others.

The three of them came to the front of the hall and saluted respectfully, but they caught a glimpse of Ye and Li on the side out of the corner of their eyes, and they couldn't help but be a little surprised.

"You don't have to be polite, get up!"

Zhu Changluo didn't say much, raised his empty hand, and said.

After everyone sat down, Zhu Changluo asked.

"I don't know if you are coming together today, why do you want to meet this palace?"

This is not a knowingly question, but the etiquette of meeting the king, the king does not ask, the courtiers do not answer, if Zhu Changluo does not open his mouth to ask, according to the rules, the ministers under him cannot open their mouths without authorization.

"Your Highness, the ministers are here today to report the progress to Your Highness for the restructuring of the three major battalions!"

Xing Jue took out a booklet from his sleeve and handed it to Wang An, who came forward, and said.

"Until yesterday, a total of 3,524 transferred officers from the three battalions, 16 adjutant generals have been purged, and the originally unqualified generals have been deposed to ordinary soldiers with the approval of the Ministry of War. This martial arts election is basically over, please take a look! ”

Although Zhu Changluo was in charge of the military affairs of the three major battalions, in fact, Zhu Changluo did not take power, he was only responsible for formulating the plan and steps for the restructuring, and all the specific operations were handed over to Xing Jue and others to complete.

This is also the reason why he was able to easily pass the court turmoil this time, and the personnel transfer in the later period was not directly responsible for Zhu Changluo, but by Xing Jue, who worked with Chen Liangbi and others to deliberate again and again, and then drew up the list.

Although Zhu Changluo was the main one in the early stage of the plan, Xing Jue and others were not left behind, and they were nominally jointly formulated!

This is the reason why those people in the dark have no way to start, otherwise, if they really have evidence, why bother to come up with a trumped-up charge to scare people.

To put it bluntly, although Zhu Changluo seems to have a big package, he is actually cautious and cautious, and will not leave a handle for others.

Just like now, although the affairs of the three battalions are still in charge of him, in fact, he has not gone to the three battalions in person, and Zhu Changluo is not verbose about the power that should be handed over.

Just like this large-scale transfer of personnel, Zhu Changluo is only responsible for reviewing the list, and the specific operation is completed by Xing Jue, after all, the power of military selection is actually in the hands of the Ministry of War, and if Zhu Changluo directly intervenes, he will not be criticized by others.

However, the core of this martial arts selection is the drawing up of the list, Zhu Changluo has this one, although Xing Jue and others have done a lot, but in fact, they are just doing coolies.

"Okay, Xing Shilang has worked hard!"

Zhu Changluo glanced at the booklet in his hand, nodded, and said.

"But now the personnel are complete, Governor Feidu, and the armor of the Ministry of Industry is in place? Also, the new bookkeeping method that you are familiar with in this palace order, can you train people? ”

The so-called workers must first sharpen their tools if they want to do a good job, and Zhu Changluo has seen the conditions of the three battalions with his own eyes, the swords in the hands of the soldiers have been rusted or even broken, and the clothes and armor they wear are even more tattered.

Under such conditions, an army with sufficient combat effectiveness will be born? Dream on!

For those big-headed soldiers below, the reason why they came to serve as soldiers is to be fed and clothed, and maybe they can get back some military salaries to subsidize their families.

This is also the reason why Zhu Changluo did not hesitate to cut off Hu and also intercepted one million taels of silver from the household department.

I'll talk about it later, at least for now, with this amount of money to support, we have to put up the shelves of the three major battalions first!

But before that, Zhu Changluo has one more thing to do......

He wants to make sure that the money doesn't go into someone's pocket!

There are many ills of the three major battalions, and one of the most important is embezzlement of military funds!

In all fairness, the Wenchen clique's suppression of military ministers and relatives is one thing, but the Ming Dynasty's annual investment in military spending is very high, accounting for more than half of the total expenditure of the national treasury.

Otherwise, it would be difficult to maintain the Ming Dynasty's army of more than 800,000.

But take the three major battalions as an example, a few years ago, the military budget was allocated in full, of course, there was the factor of the emperor's pressure, but after all, it was all allocated.

But later, the courtiers gradually discovered that no matter how many silver taels were allocated, there was no obvious change in the status quo of the three battalions.

Correspondingly, even if the allocation of silver taels is reduced, those people can't make any big trouble.

They simply deducted it again and again, and until now, the three major battalions have received less than half of the full amount of military spending every year.

The reason for this lies in the embezzlement of military salaries, the upper and lower hands, and the filling of private pockets!

Most of the middle-level generals of the three major battalions are mediocre and incompetent, and they have no ability to train soldiers, but they are good at making money.

No matter how strong these people's background is, when they come to Zhu Changluo, they have to be kicked out obediently!

But even with Zhu Changluo's ability, he can only do this, he knows in his heart that what he has caught is only a small part of it, and basically all the middle-level generals of the three battalions have different degrees of corruption.

This is a big dye vat, in which there are no more people who can wash white!

What's more, these people are different from the low-level officers, their relationship in Beijing is intertwined, and they must not do anything one-size-fits-all, and under the current situation, Zhu Changluo can only keep them for the time being and replace them little by little.

Unable to cut off the embezzlement of military salaries from the root, Zhu Changluo had no choice but to use some symptomatic measures, such as strengthening the power of the supervision system!

"Your Highness rest assured, according to His Royal Highness's orders, the minister has taken back all the weapons and armor made by the Ministry of Industry, and this batch of armor and weapons is enough to replace all the three major battalions with a new one, but Your Highness, Lord Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, has urged the ministers three times, and the ministers will at least give them a part of the silver temporarily, you see ......"

Fei Jiajin is actually an honest man, and this weapon Zhu Changluo was actually extorted from the Ministry of Industry.

Of course, such a large amount of weapons, even if it was blackmail, the Shangshu master of the Ministry of Industry would not dare to give it in vain, so Zhu Changluo agreed with him to pay half of the silver taels first, and pay the rest later.

But when the weapons were delivered, Yang Shangshu found that there was no silver at all, and he didn't dare to come to Zhu Changluo.

"Let's owe it first, tell him that the Ministry of Industry has used the manpower of the three battalions for so long, and this is considered interest! This silver tael, wait until after the New Year's Festival, if Yang Shangshu is dissatisfied again, let him come to the palace! ”

Zhu Changluo waved his hand and said.

If these weapons are paid according to the market price, it will cost at least hundreds of thousands of taels, where can he find so much silver to give to the Ministry of Industry, anyway, it is the uncle who owes money this year, and he owes it first, he doesn't believe that Yang Yikui dares to block his East Palace to ask for accounts!