Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"..."

The entire meeting hall of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion was silent, and everyone fell into silence, carefully digesting the words that had just come out of the mouth of the Imperial Master.

Objectively and fairly speaking, the Battle of Jingnan does not discuss issues such as the nature of the war, but only in terms of the composition of the troops and the origins of the soldiers, it is very similar to the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty.

The composition of the Yan army's troops was mainly composed of Hu people (Mongolians, Semu people) and Hu Hua Han people in the north. The origins of the soldiers were both guard soldiers who were highly similar to the Tang Dynasty government soldiers, and new conscripts under the recruitment system. There are also mercenaries such as Duoyan Sanwei. The Yan Army under Zhu Di is not exactly the same as the "Yan Army (An Lushan State Name Dayan)" during the Anshi Rebellion in these two aspects, it can be said that they are almost the same.

And it is precisely because after four years of the war test of the Jingnan Campaign, it is precisely because many generals have realized the low combat effectiveness of the inland garrison troops, that the necessity of reforming the garrison system has been clearly seen by the generals here. Clearly.

The guard system was first proposed by Zhang Chang, the Minister of Household Affairs of the Yuan Dynasty. It mainly referred to the military system evolved from the Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang Dynasties. Zhu Yuanzhang, the great emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established it as one of the basic systems of the founding of the Ming Dynasty. In counties and counties, guards and stations are set up, and the external control is under the Dusi, and the internal control is under the Commander-in-Chief of the Five Armies." That is to say, the Du Commandery has a number of guards under its jurisdiction, and the guards have a certain number of thousand-household offices and hundred-household offices. Therefore, when Hongwu founded the People's Republic of China, it was stipulated that thirteen capital commanders and envoys would be under the jurisdiction of the Five Army Governor's Office at the center of the imperial court.

Regarding the system of defense, Lao Zhu boasted: "I raise millions of soldiers without costing the people a grain of rice."

Well, in fact, what Lao Zhu said is quite conservative. More than just one million troops? More than just not costing a grain of rice?

You know, when Hongwu founded the country, there were a total of 491 guards. There was basically no shortage of troops and empty pay. That was a real army of three million!

Of course, everything has two sides. An army of three million looks scary, but if the army is paid according to the recruitment system, the Ming Dynasty's household cadres can't afford to go bankrupt. And if these war-hardened soldiers are rashly abolished, it will inevitably cause chaos in the world. , so the farming system is actually a last resort.

Of course, Lao Zhu knew that the guardsmen had been farming for a long time and had little combat effectiveness. His own original words made it very clear, "Today, the sea is peaceful and the borders are safe. If the soldiers are just sitting on the farm, the farmers will suffer. The art of long-term peace and order is to command the world to guard the country, supervise the army and cultivate crops, and unite the common people, soldiers and farmers, so that the country can enjoy peace and prosperity."

To put it bluntly, the purpose of the Weisuo system is to find a way to feed these three million people without causing trouble. If they are used for fighting, it will be an extra gain. Thinking about it this way, does it feel like a profit?

In fact, Lao Zhu did make a lot of money. He did not give out a grain of rice to support his troops, and even collected rice from the guards.

So who lost?

Of course it is the emperors behind Lao Zhu.

The guard system was a temporary measure at the founding of the People's Republic of China. It was not an eternal foundation at all. Even if no one touched it, it would not be able to be maintained by the time of Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, the Jialong Dynasty and the Wansan Dynasty. At that time, a large number of guards soldiers across the country fled, and many The guard station was 70 to 80% empty, and the frontier army was slightly better, with only 40 to 50% gone. Therefore, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the recruitment system represented by the "Qi Jiajun", "Yu Jiajun" and "Li Jiajun" began to make history. stage, and the next evolution of the recruitment system is the servant system.

Jiang Xinghuo's words did not arouse any objection because the shortcomings of the guard system were too numerous to count. The guard soldiers on the border were relatively strong in combat effectiveness, but many of the guards in the interior were no different from farmers. It is simply a joke to send the old, weak, sick and disabled who have not received much training and have no actual combat experience at all.

When the Ming Dynasty was founded, these three million guardsmen were maintained to maintain stability, but after the Jingnan Campaign, this was no longer necessary.

The reason is also very simple. Many health centers have been wiped out by the establishment.

Didn’t you see that the Dezhou camp, which can accommodate hundreds of thousands of people, has the same banner in front of the gate, but the soldiers have been changed several times!

Li Jinglong threw away 500,000 troops in the Battle of Peiping, and threw 600,000 troops in the Battle of Baigouhe. Where did these soldiers come from? They are not the guardsmen recruited by Emperor Jianwen from all over the country.

Therefore, given the current conditions, it is better to change the guard system early than to change it late.

After a while, Huoli Huozhen, the Marquis of Tong'an who was born as a Mongolian Tartar official, was the first to break the silence. He looked at Jiang Xinghuo with stern eyes and asked, "So the Imperial Master said that he has already found a way to improve the shortcomings of the guard system?"

The other generals are also quite eager about this. Don't get me wrong, they don't really want to get answers from Jiang Xinghuo to change the Ming Dynasty.

You can't expect these military leaders, big and small, who followed Zhu Di to rebel, to have any lofty ideals. What the generals of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion hope is to get a military reform plan from Jiang Xinghuo that they can accept.

The military reform that is about to take place is of vital interest to them and their supporters.

"Jiang discussed this matter with His Majesty before."

Jiang Xinghuo quietly changed his name and answered confidently. He tapped his fingers gently on the table, as if he was thinking about something important.

In fact, he didn't have such an idea. He had already finished thinking about it, so he didn't need to think temporarily. It's just that when it's time to whet his appetite, he has to whet his appetite.

In fact, while on the road, Jiang Xinghuo carefully considered Emperor Yongle's imperial edict. After all, Emperor Yongle must have been thinking about it for a long time. After careful consideration, this was the first imperial edict given to him when he returned to Beijing. Jiang Xinghuo felt that it should be more than just It was a hint to him, suggesting that as long as the military power was there, he should not be anxious, there were other things to do.

On the surface, it is naturally the firearms unit and the military rank system.

But Jiang Xinghuo thought for a moment and figured out another meaning, which was military reform.

Yes, Emperor Yongle must have used him to announce the first draft of the military reform plan to the Fifth Army Commander's Office.

Because all the major and minor military leaders in the army have their own factions, even Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu are no exception, so if Yao Guangxiao does not come forward, he, a theoretical outsider in the military world, is actually the most suitable to do this.

In this way, even if the generals were dissatisfied and had strong objections, Emperor Yongle would still have room for change.

"In that case, why don't the Imperial Master come up with a solution quickly?" Someone stood up and reminded.

The generals nodded in agreement after hearing the words. It was obvious that they were concerned about matters concerning their vital interests.

"Don't worry, everyone. Jiang was just thinking about how to completely eliminate the ills of the guardhouse."

Jiang Xinghuo raised his eyes slightly and looked around before saying: "Of course, changing the guard system is not something that can be accomplished overnight. But Jiang once told His Majesty that in order to change the guard system, it is necessary to establish a non-guard team first. The number of the standing army formed is between 200,000 and 300,000."

"You generals may have heard of it, that is - Beijing Camp."

"How should this capital camp be structured? What do you mean, Your Majesty?"

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and said: "I still don't know His Majesty's decision, but Jiang gave His Majesty the opinion that it is composed of three battalions, but these three battalions are not the ones with the same name during the Hongwu period, but the Five Military Battalions, Three Thousand Camp and Shenji Camp.”

"The fifth military camp is the main field legion composed of elite cavalry and infantry selected from the capital guards and the Ming Dynasty's governors."

"The Three Thousand Battalion is a cavalry force composed of tough Tartar officers as its backbone, with both heavy cavalry and light cavalry."

"The Shenji Battalion is a firearms-based force, equipped with muskets, artillery, and hot-air balloons."

"Of course, these are just Jiang's suggestions. The specific military reform will not be considered until the general rank is evaluated and Annan is conquered."

All the generals were relieved after hearing this. Although everyone said that this national master was banished to the world, he looked younger after all. If he came up, he would make a big noise or come up with something shocking. Come on, that's not going to be good.

As for this military reform plan, they had actually heard some rumors before. Now that Jiang Xinghuo said it personally, combined with Emperor Yongle's "asking the national advisor to come to the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion to personally talk about the firearms unit", it became clear. I vaguely realized something.

In fact, after Zhu Di accepted the impact of new military concepts in the last class in prison, he became interested in the firearms unit.

It was precisely because of Zhu Di's silent support that Zhu Gaoxu's purely firearm-based tax guard was established, and he had the opportunity to go to Jiangnan to quell the rebellion.

The firearms unit may not be mature enough now and has no chance to prove that it can adapt to high-intensity warfare, but the performance of Jiang Xinghuo and the tax guards this time has undoubtedly laid a foundation for the large-scale formation of the firearms unit.

After the observation team from the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion came back, they reported the battle situation to Zhu Di in detail. Zhu Di also had the idea of ​​setting up a separate "Shenji Battalion" for the firearms troops as proposed by Jiang Xinghuo before, so he asked Jiang Xinghuo to come to the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion to talk about it. speak.

Now it seems that there is not much resistance from the noble military ministers.

After all, Jiang Xinghuo didn't just pray to them in vain for the opportunity to form a separate firearms unit, but the tax guards performed accordingly, and Jiang Xinghuo could bring them benefits.

This means that military reform is also part of the reform.

No matter what the generals think, if the military reform is really carried out according to Jiang Xinghuo's plan, then in the eyes of the outside world, the Ming Dynasty's military will already be on the side of the reform.

In addition, as the process of industrialization accelerates, the more Ming Dynasty products are sold, the more funds will be invested in the steel industry and chemical industry. These industries will increase the strength of firearm-related materials in a positive cycle. , currently it is a matchlock front-loaded smoothbore gun, but as time goes by, there will be flintlock front-loaded smoothbore gun, flintlock front-loaded rifled gun, and even flintlock breech-loaded rifled gun.

Jiang Xinghuo taught the generals military theory and did not describe the invisible and intangible things, because these things were not the most important to them.

What's most important? Of course it’s profit!

And Jiang Xinghuo's lecture today at the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion has brought a lot of benefits to the generals, including not only the material benefits related to the dividends of the cotton textile industry handicraft workshops and subsequent industries, but also the benefits he is about to talk about. The spiritual benefits of the military rank system.

"Another thing I want to talk about is the general hierarchy."

"The military ranks used by the entire army to identify and differentiate are tentatively planned to start with the general rank. If the implementation effect is good, then the changes to the school rank and captain rank will be carried out."

"General ranks are divided into generals, lieutenant generals and major generals. This system has nothing to do with the title, position, power and responsibilities. It is only used to calibrate the rank order of the general."

The military chiefs of the Ming Dynasty gathered together and listened attentively. The reason why the military chiefs were so enthusiastic was actually easy to understand, because most of these powerful generals were Jingnan Xunnobles. They felt that they were better than Hongwu. The founding heroes are strong, but many of the Hongwu founding heroes who have been passed down have higher titles than them, which makes them very unconvinced. Moreover, there are also many people who are incompetent and have no military exploits, but they all hold positions in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion. .

The general rank system is undoubtedly a very good reform content for them. It can effectively reconstruct the contempt chain of Ming army generals and mark it out in a way similar to "clearly marked prices."

Whoever has the greater credit will be ranked higher, how fair!

Of course, fairness is always relative. This is actually very uncomfortable for the founding heroes of Hongwu, such as Wu Gao, Marquis of Jiangyin, Wu Jie, Marquis of Anlu, Zhang Jie, Marquis of Fengxiang, and Lizhuang, Marquis of Luancheng. According to In terms of title, they are marquises, second only to single-digit dukes.

But when ranking generals based on their military exploits, do they have Mao’s military exploits?

No matter what these people thought, Jiang Xinghuo's words continued.

"General, lieutenant general, major general, each level is divided into five stars, with a total of fifteen levels, that is, one-star general to five-star general, lieutenant general and major general, and so on. The main reference standard is military merit, and for higher levels, Taking into account both the promotion needs and the requirements for differentiated identification.”

Yongle Jingnan's nobles naturally smiled crookedly, but Hongwu's founding nobles all looked embarrassed.

They have no military exploits. It would be really humiliating if the Marquis gave them a one-star major general rating.

Of course, Jiang Xinghuo has always been good at gathering friends and attacking enemies.

There are no enemies of his in the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the founding nobles of Hongwu with unkind expressions, and continued: "Since the general rank system must be combined with reality, in principle the standard for evaluating general ranks is: a duke must be awarded a minimum of one-star general, and a marquis must be awarded a minimum of The minimum award for a one-star lieutenant general and a count is one-star major general."

As soon as these words came out, the faces of Hongwu's founders became slightly better.

At least there is someone who knows the truth. Although there will definitely be a gap due to combat achievements, as long as the difference is not too far, then they can reluctantly accept it.

But soon, Jiang Xinghuo went on to say a few words: "But the judgment standard between generals cannot be simply measured by their titles. The specific achievements of both sides must be comprehensively considered. After all, in the military, military achievements are the measure of status." Fundamental basis.”

"Ahem." A young gentleman sitting in the corner couldn't help coughing twice.

Everyone followed his voice and saw that the man was Xin'an Bo Zhang Fu.

His father, Zhang Yu, was one of the three giants of the Yan army along with Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu, so his status was unquestionable. Unfortunately, he had died in battle. Therefore, although Zhang Fu, who was still junior, was well cared for by these uncles, he was still too junior after all. , now in the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, he is just a sidekick, and he has not said a word from the beginning to now.

Jiang Xinghuo finally noticed this young man who had no sense of presence.

Oh no, they are two young men with no sense of existence. One is Xin'an Bo Zhang Fu, and the other is Xin Ning Bo Tan Zhong (son of Yan Army General Tan Yuan). They are both qualified to be at such an age because of the glory of their fathers who died in the war. Enter the Fifth Army Commander's Mansion.

Tan Zhong slapped Zhang Fu with his hand, but the other man still stood up.

"Who is this?"

"I write to Amber Zhang Fu."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at this burly young general with a resolute face and was a little surprised.

It turned out to be Zhang Fu who conquered Annan three times!

This is the existence of the next generation of Ming army who will play a leading role in the future, and it deserves some attention.

Naturally, Zhang Fu didn't know what Jiang Xinghuo was thinking, so he cupped his hand and asked, "I am self-aware. If I follow the general rank system of the national division, then I am young and my military achievements will definitely be insufficient compared with other generals. I can only rely on Earl, I have been rated as a one-star major general. But I dare to ask the national master, how can I be promoted from a one-star major general to a five-star general?"

"A five-star general must have made unparalleled contributions to the country, such as Xu and Chang at the founding of the country, or Zhu and Qiu today, or General Zhang Yu. Even if he is the Duke of the country, it is not necessarily the case. Can be judged."

Well, Jiang Xinghuo didn't say a word. In fact, in terms of "incomparable merit", General Li Jinglong, who sent 1.1 million troops to Zhu Di, is the real number one contributor to the Jingnan. He is definitely not worthy of being rated as a five-star general. point.

Zhang Fu originally wanted to say something, but Xinning Bo Tan Zhong kept tugging on his sleeves, so he just cupped his hands and sat back.

However, although Zhang Fu looked very calm, a trace of ambition had already arisen in his heart.

He never wants to live in the shadow of his fathers and rely on their achievements. One day, he will prove himself and become a five-star general of the Ming Dynasty!

The generals asked some more questions one after another, and Jiang Xinghuo answered them one by one.

"I wonder what new industries the National Master plans to establish?"

"Of course there is, and in the next few days, the relevant information will be published in Di Bao. Please pay attention to it."

In this way, under the dual temptation of material and spiritual factors, the generals of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion finally made a 180-degree turn towards Jiang Xinghuo.

"Don't worry, Master. We will do our best to get Annan to agree to free trade."

"Yes, I am willing to support the general rank system of the national division!"

…

Seeing this, Jiang Xinghuo's mouth curved slightly, but his heart was unmoved.

These military leaders are indeed not fuel-efficient, but it doesn't matter, his goal has been achieved today.

Immediately, Jiang Xinghuo continued to talk a lot of high-sounding nonsense, which finally lowered everyone's enthusiasm.

The generals of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion "welcomed" Jiang Xinghuo with knives, but sent them off in full force. Even Marquis Jing'an, who had the worst attitude before, seemed to have changed his face.

Although Zhu Neng's performance was not so obvious, he got up and walked to the door.

For Zhu Neng, Jiang Xinghuo's performance today greatly exceeded his expectations. He gave an in-depth and simple explanation of "war is the continuation of the temple" that he had not finished in the last conversation, which inspired him. After all, his status , is no longer just a pure noble military minister, but also one of the highest levels of the Ming Empire.

After understanding the logic of the new type of war and why he was fighting, Zhu Neng also had more in-depth thoughts on matters such as the military reform of the Beijing camp and the conquest of Annan.

Looking at Jiang Xinghuo who was being escorted out, and Liu Sheng who was silently following behind, although he could understand it intellectually, he still couldn't accept it emotionally. He was still able to leave after pretending to be cool, so he walked out like this. Jiang Xinghuo was the first in the decades since the Fifth Army Governor's Office was established.

But Liu Sheng is also very happy today. Although the matter of "Shenji Camp" has not been finalized, the probability of final success has undoubtedly been greatly increased. This also means that he, a professional artillery officer, has a place to use, and there will be more opportunities in the future. Greater room for advancement.

Outside the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army.

"Master, where are you going next?" Zhu Gaoxu mounted his sweaty horse and followed Jiang Xinghuo's little gray horse.

The smile on Jiang Xinghuo's face gradually disappeared, and his expression became grim.

Temple struggle is never just a game, it is an extremely serious matter!

"Go to the palace, I want to see who is against the reform."