met free Chapter 972 A Cruel and Bloody Reality
Chapter 972 A Cruel and Bloody Reality
Emperor Zhu took out two memorials from the table and had Chen Zhong give them to Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen.
"It's the damn Ming Dynasty now."
“These bastards are still trying to seize the people’s land and turn them into their slaves.”
“Even worse, some people practice the practice of having children born outside their families.”
"There are also those who treat soldiers as slaves—the book says, 'How can we say we have no clothes? We share the same robes.' How come in our Great Ming Dynasty, some people dare to treat the soldiers of the garrison as servants?"
"Are our Ming soldiers inherently inferior to them, and deserve to be bullied by them?"
"If one day we decide to 'raise an army,' will our brothers still be willing to 'fight alongside us'?"
Emperor Zhu slammed his fist on the table with murderous intent, then sneered, "Damn it!"
"I, Zhu Chongba, rose from a lowly beggar monk to this throne, and I never considered myself superior to the soldiers in the army. So why are you all acting so arrogantly, these captains and centurions?"
Liu Bowen immediately broke out in a cold sweat.
The matter of keeping servants was addressed to Li Shanchang and himself.
The idea of enslaving soldiers was directed at Chang Yuchun and himself.
In any case, both things require my personal involvement.
Li Shanchang and Chang Yuchun both glanced at Liu Bowen.
According to the existing system of the Ming Dynasty, the censors of the Censorate are divided into two types: officials of the censorate and officials of the circuit.
Among them, the clerks refer to the various censors who were newly established in the sixth year of the Hongwu reign. They were responsible for inspecting memorials from various departments, reviewing official documents, supervising the implementation of government orders, and impeaching officials for illegal and disorderly conduct.
The Daoguan refers to the Censorate of the Censorate, who was responsible for impeaching officials, participating in the "Joint Trial by the Three Departments," and evaluating the performance of officials.
Simply put, the censors were responsible for various departments of the imperial court, while the officials in charge of local affairs were responsible for both the imperial court and local areas.
The local gentry wantonly seized the people's land, kept slaves, and even engaged in all sorts of shady practices like having children in their own homes. The officials in charge of the region were responsible, but Liu Bowen, the head of the Censorate, also bore an inescapable responsibility.
As for the soldiers being enslaved who kept emerging in the local garrisons, this was an even bigger problem that Liu Bowen couldn't shake off.
Because the garrison system itself was proposed by Liu Bowen.
Liu Bowen was filled with trepidation. He bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, it was my oversight and dereliction of duty. Please forgive me."
Li Shanchang and Chang Yuchun also bowed to Emperor Zhu and said, "Your Majesty, it was our oversight and dereliction of duty that led us to this. We beg Your Majesty's forgiveness."
Emperor Zhu, with a dark and sour face, waved his hand at Li Shanchang, Liu Bowen, and Chang Yuchun.
“We know that the practice of keeping slaves has existed since ancient times, and the garrison system laid the foundation for our Great Ming Dynasty.”
"We're not the kind of confused fools who can't distinguish right from wrong."
"You don't need to apologize."
Emperor Zhu let out a long sigh of relief, gestured for the three to sit down, and continued, "The reason I've brought these two matters up with you is to see how to resolve these two problems."
Liu Bowen frowned in thought, but Li Shanchang suddenly had a bright idea. He stroked his beard and said, "Your Excellency, these two matters are troublesome in some ways, but simple in others."
Emperor Zhu was slightly taken aback and asked, "Mr. Shanchang, have you come up with a good idea?"
Li Shanchang stroked his beard and smiled, saying, "Your Majesty, please allow me to keep you in suspense for now. We'll discuss the matter of keeping servants later."
"Let me first tell you about the matter of conscripting soldiers into slavery."
"The reason why the sergeants, captains, centurions, and even chiliarchs of various local garrisons dared to use soldiers as servants was simply because ordinary soldiers had no channels to complain or seek redress."
"Just like Xiang Fei, the former commander of Lingshan Guard."
“The ordinary sergeants must have long harbored resentment towards Xiang Fei.”
"However, no matter how much Xiang Fei oppressed the soldiers, they had no way to complain to their superiors or the Grand Commander's Office."
"Firstly, they cannot easily leave the military camp."
"Secondly, once they leave the military camp, they don't know who to complain to."
“The situation is better for garrisons near the capital, but for garrisons as far away from the capital as Lingshan Garrison, soldiers can’t even come to the capital to file a complaint.”
"Therefore, no matter how much they suffered, the soldiers could only force themselves to endure it."
At this point, Li Shanchang's tone became somewhat heavy: "If the soldiers can't hold back one day, the final result will be desertion, or they will have to trade their lives for theirs."
"If Xiang Fei and his ilk have more extensive and deeper connections, I'm afraid the soldiers won't even be able to trade their lives for each other."
"Even if it were possible to exchange lives, it might be suppressed by others."
As Li Shanchang finished speaking, Emperor Zhu, Liu Bowen, Chang Yuchun, and others fell silent.
Li Shanchang's words were very blunt, even pointing out that the Censorate and the Grand Military Commission were both derelict in their duties.
But this is reality.
A brutally cruel reality.
Emperor Zhu sighed softly and looked at Li Shanchang, asking, "In your opinion, Mr. Shanchang, what should be done about this matter?"
Li Shanchang stroked his beard and said, "Your Majesty, I don't have any good ideas of my own."
Emperor Zhu's face darkened.
You old fool, you don't have any good ideas of your own, yet you dare to say, "Solving this problem isn't that difficult?"
Upon seeing the Emperor's displeased expression, Li Shanchang felt a chill run down his spine and said, "Your Majesty, although I don't have any good solutions, the methods that the Imperial Son-in-Law used in Ningyang County are quite reliable and can be directly adopted."
That bastard?
Emperor Zhu was slightly taken aback and asked, "What is he up to this time in Ningyang County?"
Seeing that Emperor Zhu's expression softened, Li Shanchang breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "The Imperial Son-in-Law has appointed a military supervisor in the Thousand-Household Office of Ningyang County—a permanent military supervisor. The Thousand-Household Office has a Military Supervisor for the Thousand-Household Office, and the Hundred-Household Office has a Military Supervisor for the Hundred-Household Office."
“Each centurion selected soldiers who could be respected to form a soldiers’ council, which was specifically responsible for checking all expenditures of the centurion and reporting directly to the commander and centurion supervisors. The supervisor was on par with the commander and centurion, but was not responsible for military matters. He was only responsible for the soldiers’ pay and whether the soldiers were mistreated in peacetime.”
At this point, Li Shanchang couldn't help but feel a little envious.
Just how much did the superior trust Yang Dianfeng to completely hand over an entire thousand-household garrison to him to mess around with?
Good heavens, they can change the military system of the garrison at will, abolishing all related systems such as military households, settlements, and markets, setting retirement ages for sergeants at will, and changing the content of training at will.
What's even more infuriating is that the Grand Commander's Office, which usually treats the local garrisons like the apple of its eye and is afraid that others will dare to interfere, also turns a blind eye to the Ningyang Thousand-Household Garrison, letting Yang the madman run wild with his various schemes.
Is this the kind of treatment a prince consort should receive?
Not right either.
It cannot be said that the higher authorities and the Grand General's Office ignored the Ningyang Thousand-Household Office.
After all, the higher-ups and the Grand Commander's Office had been keeping a close eye on the manpower of the Ningyang Thousand Household Garrison, especially on the soldiers who were about to retire, fearing that if they acted too late, they would miss out on the opportunity.