"Report!"

When Wang Puzheng and Liu Qingyan and Liu Rushi were discussing the issue of racial integration, Tang Shenghongliang's voice suddenly sounded outside the door. Tang Sheng had just rushed back from Shanhaiguan.

Wang Pu turned around and replied: "Come in."

Amid the heavy and rhythmic footsteps, the tall Tang Sheng entered the hall with high apology, saluted Wang Pubo, and said aloud: "Salute!"

After returning the military salute as if he was decent, Wang Pu asked: "Tang Sheng, is there any situation in Shanhaiguan?"

Tang Shengdao: "Report to the Marquis, nothing is wrong."

"Have Shanhaiguan's defense been arranged?"

“All arranged.”

"Yeah." Wang Pu nodded with satisfaction and said, "Do you know what it is for to recall you to Beijing this time?"

Tang Sheng shook his head and replied in a silly voice: "I don't know."

Wang Pu stepped forward and patted Tang Sheng on the shoulder, saying, "From today on, you will be the Admiral of Beizhi. You will be restraining the three battalions of the Central Army stationed in Beizhi. Your mission is to protect Beizhi's province and to prevent possible invasions from Jiannu and the Tartars. If necessary, you must cooperate with the Beizhi security team to take military actions against Jiannu or the Tartars."

"Yes." Tang Shengba kicked his legs and replied excitedly, "Thank you for your cultivation."

With the growth of the Central Army and the improvement of Wang Pu's status, the old subordinates who had followed Wang Pu in the past were gradually promoted. After Scarface became the admiral of Shandong and Zhao Xin became the admiral of Huguang, Tang Sheng was also appointed by Wang Pu as the admiral of Beizhi and officially became the chief official of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, the local military and political structure of the Ming Dynasty gradually underwent a change. The old governor and the ward system were fading out of the historical stage, and replaced by a brand new governor and admiral system. The governor is the highest commander of a province and enjoys local military and political power, but the admiral is not controlled by the governor and is only controlled by the commander-in-chief of the Central Army.

Because the admiral led the Central Army of the Ming Dynasty, not the local security team.

Such a military and political structure was gradually formed after a long period of brewing. Such a structure can ideally ensure the expansion and invasion of the Han people, and at the same time, it will not form a warlord separatist situation in various provinces and provinces newly incorporated under the empire in the future.

Because the governors of each province enjoy all the military and political power in the local area, they not only manage the money, grain and government affairs of a province, but also the security forces of a province. Under the promotion of the killing order, the governors of the local government can effectively allocate the money, grain and force within their jurisdiction, and carry out continuous expansion and invasion of the surrounding barbarians and foreign tribes.

The existence of central garrisons in each province can not only provide force to local governors, but also shock ambitious local governors.

In order to prevent the local governor from attracting the admirals stationed in various provinces to be king, and to prevent the admirals stationed in various provinces from colluding with the local governors to form a warlord separatist situation, after the Ming Dynasty is unified in the future, Wang Pu will also adopt a rotation system for the central army garrisons and admirals in various provinces, and will replace the garrisons and admirals in various provinces every three or five years.

At the same time, a considerable number of central military standing forces must be maintained in the north and south capitals, and the total force should not be less than 500,000. It must have an absolute military advantage over the provinces under the rule of the Ming Empire. Once a province becomes independent, the central government can quickly extinguish it in the shortest time.

During Wang Pu's lifetime, this standing armed force of the Central Army was of course controlled by Wang Pu.

But Wang Pu also basically thought about the military force arrangement after his death, that is, to develop a system similar to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, disperse the power of the Central Military Command. The Central Army no longer has the Supreme Commander. Daily military affairs are presided over by the Chiefs of Staff elected by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The power of the Chiefs of Staff is restricted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. If necessary, the Joint Committee can remove the Chief of Staff from the position of Chiefs of Staff at any time.

The Central Army has the highest organization and there is no higher organization above the camp. This is to ensure Wang Pu's absolute control over the Central Army, or to ensure the absolute control of the Central Army by the Joint Chiefs of Staff after Wang Pu's death, because among the more Central Army officers, even if one or several officers have problems, they can only control a small number of troops, which cannot cause too much storm and is even more impossible to subvert the imperial rule.

In case of a war, when several or even dozens of battalions of the Central Army need to be mobilized to participate in the war, the commander will be elected from the members of the joint meeting. Once the war is over, the commander will unconditionally hand over the command, and the battalions of the Central Army participating in the war will still return to the military camps of the north and south capitals.

Because the commander and the soldiers of the Central Army battalions only have a relationship between the commander and the commander, and do not train together to live together, the loyalty of the Central Army soldiers can only be the Ming Empire, not a commander. This can prevent an ambitious commander from becoming a warlord by controlling the Central Army and eventually posed a threat to the ruling institutions of the Ming Empire.

Of course, if this military organization similar to the Joint Chiefs of Staff can operate smoothly, there must be a prerequisite, that is, the Ming Empire must have an equally sound administrative organization! If there is a lack of a sound administrative organization, the military organization envisioned by Wang Pu would become a castle in the air.

Wang Pu did not think about how to form a new and sound administrative agency based on the current administrative agency of the Ming Dynasty, but what he most tended to be a constitutional monarchy, which not only retained the imperial system of the Ming Dynasty, but also retained the royal bloodline of the Zhu family, but the state machine is no longer in the hands of the emperor, but must be in the hands of the cabinet.

However, all of this is just Wang Pu’s initial idea, and it is too early to truly realize it.

After all, the internal and external troubles of the Ming Empire have not been completely settled. Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng are still in Sichuan, Shaanxi are cede land and become king, and Wu Sangui is a great traitor, and Wang Pu is still in Shanxi. Moreover, Wang Pu is still less than 30 years old, and it is still early in his twilight years. Wang Pu has enough time to operate slowly.

In mid-December of December, three Mixed Camps who were quickly transferred from Nanjing to the north arrived outside Beijing.

After handing over the defense of Beizhi to the new Admiral Tang Sheng of Beizhi, Wang Pu immediately led the main force of the Central Army to set off south and drove into Henan Province through Daming Prefecture. Shi Lang's Zhenhai Navy had to temporarily stay in Beijing due to the freezing canal and the waterway was not smooth, and assisted Tang Sheng in stabilizing Beizhi's defense.

At this time, the main force of the Central Army was still three baggage battalions, three musket battalions and one artillery battalion. Because the Scarface Mixed Battalion and Tang Sheng's Mixed Battalion had been built, the three mixed battalions stationed in Beizhi and the two mixed battalions stationed in Shandong were newly transferred from Nanjing, and no troops were drawn from the main force of the Central Army.

When Wang Pu led the main force of the Central Army to advance to Henan, the Henan army led by Hong Niangzi was facing a crisis of internal strife.

As early as when she returned to Kaifeng, Hongniangzi had announced her decision to all the rebel soldiers, and would accept the adaptation of the Central Army within two months to establish a new first to eighth battalion of the Central Army's cavalry. Hongniangzi's decision did not cause too much riot among the rebel soldiers, and the rebel soldiers accepted this decision calmly.

For most Rebel soldiers, this was a natural or encouraging result.

After all, the Central Army's bravery and excellent equipment have already penetrated into the hearts of the rebel soldiers, and what made the rebel soldiers happy was the generous salary of the Central Army.

In the Central Army, even new recruits who have just joined the army can receive twenty-four taels of military pay every year, while veterans who have been in full year can receive thirty-six taels of salary, and then twelve taels of salary every year. If they can be promoted to an officer, it will be even more amazing. Even the lowest-level team leader, the annual salary can be doubled on the original basis!

There is also the silver reward after winning the battle or the pension after the death. In short, being able to become a Central Army soldier has become the lofty ideal of most Han young people at that time. Even many scholars or children who failed the exams have begun to join the army enthusiastically.

However, not everyone is willing to change their courses and join the Central Army, among which Li Hu, Li Mu and other Li family members are most resistant. Although Hong Niangzi is the supreme commander of the Henan Army, the Henan Army is fundamentally the army of the Li family, but if it is incorporated by the Central Army, it has nothing to do with the Li family.

As vested interests, the Li family's children certainly did not want the Henan Army to be incorporated by the Central Army.

Recently, the Li family's children, led by Li Hu, have frequently summoned military generals to hold secret meetings. Kaifeng City seems calm, but in fact there is a surging undercurrent.

All signs suggest that it seems very unwise to announce the decision too early.

Because the premature announcement of Hong Niang gave those who were ulterior motives enough time to respond to external forces, allowing them to collude internally and externally and plan calmly. However, on the other hand, announcing this decision in advance could allow these people with ulterior motives to jump out on their own and prevent them from being forced into the ranks of the Central Army due to the situation.

In fact, it was Wang Pu who deliberately asked Hong Niang to do this.

Wang Pu was unwilling to some thieves with ulterior motives into his Central Army. As the saying goes, a rat shit broke a pot of porridge. Wang Pu ran the Central Army for many years and finally got the situation today. Of course, he did not want the current good situation to be ruined by a small group of people with ulterior motives.

Even if he would lose some strength due to this, Wang Pu would do whatever he wanted.

For a long time, Wang Pu's principle of governing the army was to be weaker than excessive. For the Central Army, the organization of the eight cavalry battalions seemed too large. Not only because the annual military pay expenses of 40,000 soldiers were not a small amount, but also because the logistics support of 40,000 war horses was a heavy burden.

Although the current treasury is very rich because the official industry is auctioned, the deposits in the treasury alone are as huge as tens of millions of taels, Wang Pu is prepared for danger in times of peace. Once these families are exhausted and the industrial and commercial forces are unable to rise, they will not increase taxes to the treasury. What will Wang Pu use to support the huge number of Central Army?

It would be ideal to compress the organization of eight cavalry battalions into four, and Wang Pu's psychological bottom line is six cavalry battalions.

Kaifeng, Li Hu's mansion.

It was late at night and the two travelers dressed in merchants came quietly and knocked on the door.

Hearing the knock on the door, the servant who was watching the door yawned up and opened the door, muttering, "It's so late, who is it?"

The night walker dressed in a merchant said, "We are merchants from Shaanxi and want to see your general."

"A merchant from Shaanxi?" The servant was stunned for a moment and said in a voice, "You guys are waiting."

After saying that, he closed the door again. After about a cup of tea, the servant appeared again and respectfully sent the two merchants into the Li Mansion and led them to the Dongguan Pavilion of the Li Mansion.

Li Hu was waiting in the East Warehouse.

Seeing these two merchants, Li Hu looked up and down for a while, frowned and said, "Where are your eyes tight?"

One of the merchants smiled and said, "As the saying goes, "I am familiar with each other again. When we meet next time, will the general know each other?"

Li Hu frowned and asked, "Do you really come from Shaanxi?"

"No." The merchant smiled and shook his head, "We are from Shanxi."

Li Hu's face changed slightly and he said in a calm voice: "Shanxi? Wu Sangui's people?"

The merchant bowed to the northwest and said loudly: "I am the assistant under the tent of the King of Pingxi!"

"What is the King of Pingxi?" Li Hu said coldly, "It's the big traitor Wu Sangui!"

"Hey, General Li shouldn't say so badly." The merchant smiled and said, "The King of Pingxi is not a big traitor. The King of Pingxi used the Qing army to enter the pass just to pursue and suppress the rebel Li Zicheng. But he never thought of being a slave to Jiannu, nor did he think of betraying the Ming Dynasty. As for the traitor, it was completely a slander of the King of Quan Yin..."

"Do it, don't tell me these useless things." Li Hu said impatiently, "What's the purpose of you coming to me?"

The merchant suddenly said, "Don't General Li knows that he is dead?"

Li Hu was furious and said, "What do you mean? Don't think you are Wu Sangui's people, I won't dare to touch you!"

"Haha." The merchant laughed, "As the saying goes, if you don't know, unless you don't do it yourself, General Li colluded with a thief to kill his clan brother Li Yan, in fact, the reason why Hongniang tolerate it was because of Wang Pu, because Wang Pu wanted to keep your bait and hang Li Zicheng's big fish!"

Li Hu couldn't help but take a breath of air conditioning when he heard this, and his face changed again and again.

That's right, Li Hu has indeed secretly hooked up with Li Zicheng, intending to launch a mutiny before the Central Army enters Henan, to deal with Hongniang and control the Henan army, especially the 40,000 cavalry!

However, Hongniangzi was strict in governing the army. Since becoming the commander of the Henan Army, a large number of brave and war-friendly generals have been promoted from the lower-level soldiers. The children of the Li clan have become increasingly marginalized, and the 40,000 cavalry have completely become Hongniang's confidants. Without external forces, Li Hu would definitely not be able to shake Hongniang.

That's why Li Hu thought of Li Zicheng and tried to use Li Zicheng's power to settle Hong Niangzi.
Chapter completed!