Chapter 73: The Strength of the Imperial Horse Guard
Chapter 73: The Strength of the Imperial Horse Guard
Zhu Zaigui stroked his chin and frowned as he thought about Huang Jin's abilities.
Originally, Zhu Zaigui wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Firearms Battalion was not as powerful as before, and recruit 500 soldiers from the Firearms Battalion, and at the same time get some igniters and craftsmen.
As a result, they failed to get the soldiers from the Firearms Battalion, but unexpectedly received 500 strong soldiers from the Imperial Stables.
The Imperial Stables and the Firearms Battalion are completely different things.
Strictly speaking, the Firearm Battalion was a military force jointly controlled by the Palace and the Ministry of War. In an era when the Firearm Battalion was in the lead, such an important force was highly valued by both the Palace and the Ministry of War.
However, as there had been no alarm in the capital for a hundred years, the military preparedness within the capital naturally became lax.
Nowadays, if we check the list of the Ministry of War, we can still find 40,000 to 50,000 imperial guards in the capital, but these are just old soldiers who have never seen a fight, or they are simply the old, weak and disabled who have inherited the throne and lived in the capital.
It is almost impossible to expect someone to love and care for them.
That's why Zhu Zaigui had planned to attack the Firearms Camp, but in the end it was people from the Imperial Stables who came.
The origin of the Imperial Stables can be traced back to the Hongwu period of Emperor Taizu. However, at that time, the Imperial Stables was just a newly established unit and was still a weak inner court unit. Even the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Stables was only a sixth-rank official.
However, during the reign of Emperor Yongle, the functions of the Imperial Stables underwent a radical change.
Emperor Yongle not only expanded the original power of the Imperial Stables from "managing the horses in the imperial stables" to "managing the imperial horses and various tributes, as well as the horses and mules collected by the pastures", but also gave the Imperial Stables two major functions: military and financial.
From then on, the Imperial Stables became a duck from an old hen. It was so majestic that it could be on a par with the Imperial Household Department and the Imperial Ceremony Department.
Its business also expanded from managing imperial horses to horse breeding and horse training.
Because of the expansion of this power, a group of imperial guards led by the Imperial Stables was born, namely: Tengxiang Four Guards, Four Guards, and Warrior Battalion!
Moreover, the uniqueness of the Imperial Stables can also be seen from an old document from the Hongzhi period.
In the tenth year of the Hongzhi reign, the Minister of War Ma Wensheng gave a brief review of the establishment of the Ming Dynasty's imperial guards in a memorial, in which he mentioned the imperial guards led by the Imperial Stables.
The memorial said: "When our Emperor Taizu Gao ruled the country, he followed the ancient ways and had a very thorough military system. Therefore, he set up the Sixteen Guards Commanding General Office, which was not under the jurisdiction of the Five Government Offices and was a forbidden army. ... During the Yongle period, the Commanding General Office of the Twelve Guards was established. In addition, the young and strong officers and soldiers of the guards in the world and the escaped men from the captives were selected and recruited as warriors. There were usually several thousand of them, all of whom were under the Imperial Horse Administration. They took turns to serve on duty and were entrusted to the command of trusted internal and external officials. Their armor and equipment were different from those of other armies."
Therefore, it can be seen from this old document that the Imperial Stables began to manage the horse breeders and then command the imperial guards during the Yongle period.
Moreover, the original source of this imperial guard was also the best and strongest men selected from the guards in various places, as well as the young and strong men who escaped from the Mongolian region. In terms of affiliation, this imperial guard did not belong to the Upper Twelve Guards (later the Twenty-Two Guards) under the command of the Imperial Guard Command, but its status was obviously higher than that of the Upper Twelve Guards, and it was the imperial guard among the imperial guards; therefore, the duty of this imperial guard could be to "take turns on duty" and serve as the night guard.
It's so arrogant!
Moreover, the personnel structure of the Imperial Stables had undergone several changes. In the sixth year of Xuande, this imperial guard had a quota of 3,100 people, and it also had a formal name: Yulin Sanqianhusuo!
Two years later, Emperor Xuande further enriched the horse-raising soldiers of the various guards of the Beijing Army and the original Shenwu Vanguard officers and soldiers, and organized them into the Tengxiang Left and Right Guards, Wuxiang Left and Right Guards, collectively known as the "Four Guards", also known as the "Four Guards Army".
If calculated according to the organization at that time, with 5,600 people per guard, the Four Guards would have consisted of more than 20,000 soldiers.
This shows how terrifying the actual strength of the Imperial Stables is!
And this is not the peak of the Imperial Horse Administration. During the Jingtai and Chenghua periods, the three camps of the Beijing Army were reorganized into regiments. The warriors and strong bannermen of the Four Guards of Tengxiang were selected to form the Warrior Camp and the Four Guards Camp. The camp officers were selected from the commanders of the Four Guards. The two camps had more than 40,000 people during the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods.
It can be said that it is a super imperial army that surpasses all the imperial armies in the capital! However, with the deterioration of the Ming Dynasty's finances, the emperor naturally cannot afford to support such a huge imperial horse prison.
Therefore, after several subsequent rectifications and changes, the quota of the Imperial Stables was set at more than 6,500 people. But even so, no one dared to underestimate the strength of the Imperial Stables.
After all, the Imperial Stables are the private army of the palace, and all the salaries and wages of the personnel are directly paid by the palace. It is no exaggeration to say that they are the emperor's exclusive spoils.
Moreover, the weapons and equipment they are equipped with are the best and most advanced in the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, if such an awesome configuration was just for show, it would definitely not be taken so seriously.
Therefore, the Imperial Stables also had its highlights in history.
In the 14th year of the Zhengtong reign, Emperor Baozong and his close comrade Wang Zhen were addicted to drugs, which led to the Tumu Incident. Not only was Baozong himself captured and Wang Zhen killed, but even the three main camps of the Ming army were completely destroyed.
At this critical moment, the Imperial Stables stepped forward.
The Wala army took advantage of the victory and attacked the capital directly. The Battle of Beijing lasted for five days under the organization of Uncle Yu Qian. The most intense fighting took place at Xizhimen and Zhangyimen.
The soldiers guarding these two gates were the main force of the Imperial Stables. The one guarding Xizhimen was Liu Ju, the nephew of the eunuch Liu Yongcheng of the Imperial Stables and the governor of the Right Army. The ones who took the initiative to attack the Wala army at Zhangyi Gate were the four guards and banner soldiers who were stationed in Beijing under the command of the admiral of the Imperial Stables.
After this battle, everyone suddenly realized that in addition to the three major camps that were destroyed by Bao Zong, the Ming Dynasty also had a very powerful force - the Imperial Stables!
From then on, the Imperial Stables received more and more attention. Even when Baozong restored the throne, Baozong was not at ease and killed the eunuchs of the Imperial Stables and replaced them with new ones. In the fifth year of Tianshun, Cao Jixiang, who supported Baozong's restoration, rebelled. It was the four guards and the flag army of the Imperial Stables who made great efforts to put down Cao Jixiang's rebellion.
Later, in the ninth year of the Zhengde reign, Emperor Wuzong selected elite troops from the 12 regiments of the Beijing Army and organized them into the front and rear battalions, which were trained together with the Warrior Battalion and the Four Guard Battalions in the Western Palace Hall as the "Selected Front". This shows that the Imperial Horse Administration was a very powerful force.
But now Huang Jin has brought him five hundred well-trained soldiers from the Imperial Stables. How could this not make Zhu Zaigui rethink Huang Jin's true strength?
He can actually interfere with the power of the Imperial Stables. This is really terrifying!
You should know that the Imperial Stables was directly under the emperor's private armed forces. Although the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Stables was not as prominent as the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department, his actual status and power were no less than that of the Imperial Household Department.
Therefore, even though Huang Jin was the eunuch in charge of the Imperial Household Department and the commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot, he could not directly dispatch people from the Imperial Stables without going through Emperor Jiajing.
But now the people Huang Jin got for Zhu Zaigui were from the Imperial Stables, which forced Zhu Zaigui to rethink his partner. He was too powerful. In the future, he should move around more and stick to him.
In Zhu Zaigui's cognition, the princes and princes of the Jiajing Dynasty were not as popular as those of other periods. The Taoist priest Jiajing was a superstitious emperor who believed that "two dragons cannot meet". If he did not hold on to Huang Jin's thigh tightly, what would he do if he was bullied and the Taoist priest Jiajing did not stand up to support him?
After all, some historical records, whether true or not, also said that whether Prince Yu in history could have money to spend depended on Yan Shifan's mood, otherwise he would not even be able to receive the salary of a prince.
Therefore, Huang Jin's thigh must be held tightly, so as to protect against external risks to the greatest extent.
"Meng Daban, go to the account office and take out 10,000 taels of silver to give to Huang Jin, and say it's a special dividend!"
Thinking of this, Zhu Zaigui yelled and called out to Meng Chong outside, preparing to further strengthen the relationship between himself and Huang Jin.
(End of this chapter)