Chapter 10: Wang Maozhang

Wang Maozhang joined the army when he was a teenager, he was brave and strong, and he must take the lead every time he is in battle, so he is deeply valued by Yang Xingmi. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

At this moment, in Wang Maozhang's camp, Yang Wu was arguing with a stout man with his neck crossed.

"General Wang, my father personally instructed you to select a thousand elite soldiers to be dispatched below, and now among the people you have selected, there are six or seven out of ten of the old, weak, sick and disabled, and there are less than two hundred people who can really be regarded as young and strong, is this the strong and strong you selected?"

His face was angry, early this morning, he rushed through a suit of bright light armor, and took Zhu Siqing and the two Du Yu Fan Sicong and Chen Fan arranged for him by his father to Wang Maozhang's camp, looking forward to a strong team waiting for him to command.

Who knows, Wang Maozhang first received them politely and asked them to take them to the camp arranged for him. As a result, as soon as he entered the camp, he saw that the 1,000 people allocated to him were mostly old, weak, sick and disabled, and the number was far from 1,000, only 800 at most. The angry Yang Wu was naturally unwilling, so there was a scene of breaking into Wang Maozhang's camp to question.

"Commander Yang, this is in the army, and there are rules in the army, not at a messy banquet. What do you look like yelling at your superiors like this? Before Wang Maozhang could speak, his lieutenant Li Qianyu stood up and scolded loudly.

Yang Wu also knew that he couldn't be too rude, after all, this was a military camp, and it was a big crime to collide with his superiors at any time, if it weren't for the fact that he was Yang Xingmi's eldest son, I was afraid that someone would have rushed to him and hit dozens of boards.

"Yes, the general is rude, please calm the general's anger." Yang Wu hurriedly clenched his fists and apologized.

"That's it, when Commander Yang first arrived at the barracks, he was not used to the rules of the army, and some collisions were inevitable. But next time, you have to remember that there is only Yang Commander in the barracks, and there is no Yang Gongzi. If you can't stand the rules in the army, then go back and be your Yang Gongzi! Wang Maozhang said lightly.

It's a dismount when he comes up, Yang Wu secretly hates it in his heart, but he can also understand him.

Wang Maozhang has been in the army for a long time, and he is deeply respected by Yang Xingmi, and now he is the commander of the capital, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command. This time, Yang Xingmi, the king of Wu, ordered him to transfer thousands of elite people in the army to Yang Wu, which was like cutting off his heart, although he was reluctant in his heart, but he did it because of the military order.

"Commander Yang, what did you do when you broke into the general's camp early in the morning?"

Don't you know what it is? Yang Wu was secretly annoyed.

"The last general was ordered by his father to come to receive the two flags belonging to the last general, according to his father's military order, it should be an elite soldier of 1,000 people. But when they arrived at the camp, they found that most of them were old, weak, sick and disabled. And the number is far from a thousand, at most less than eight hundred..."

"It is seven hundred and sixty-three, of whom two hundred and seventy-three are young and strong between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, and the rest are old and infirm." Zhu Siqing on the side added.

"That's right, so the last man asked the general why this was the case."

"Hmph, it's always been like this in the army, what's so strange." Another lieutenant with a gloomy face sneered.

Wang Maozhang, the head of the head, explained, "Commander Yang doesn't know that since the Yellow Nest thieves swept through Jianghuai, the land of Jianghuai has first had the rebellion of Qin Yan and Bi Shiduo, and then there were Qin Zongquan and Sun Ru Cholera Jianghuai; Especially Sun Rujun, where he passed, ten rooms and nine emptiness, the land of Jianghuai, his vitality was greatly damaged. Although the king has been recuperating for many years, he is still tired. ”

"In today's Huainan Army, no matter which general's barracks, the elite among them are only a few, and most of them are old and weak. Ben will deliberately select many elites for you, even if the rest are old and weak, they are old and old, and they are also excellent soldiers. Even if you first join the army, you don't know about it, but the adjutant generals around you should also know about it. Therefore, Commander Yang also had to understand the difficulties of the general, and Hugh had to say that the general did not listen to the king's military orders. ”

Yang Wu was dumbfounded when he heard this, and turned his head to look at Zhu Siqing and the others, and the three of them all nodded slightly: "That's the case, Childe." ”

Yang Wu was silent, he knew that the army in ancient times was basically like this, a few elites and a large group of ordinary soldiers were an army. When fighting, the elite soldiers who dare to fight charge in front, followed by cowardly and timid soldiers. Therefore, for those elites who dare to fight, every general is co-opted with all kinds of lucrative treatment, and firmly grasps them in their hands as if they were the meat of their hearts.

Of course, he also knew that Wang Maozhang must have reservations in his words, although the situation in the army is not very good, and there are not many elite soldiers, but the vast majority of them are still young and middle-aged, and the real old and weak are still a few.

Nowadays, the armies of each feudal town are recruited into the army, and the old and weak are generally not recruited into the army. Wang Maozhang obviously exaggerated the difficulties in the army.

In addition, it is impossible for him not to know what Yang Xingmi means, let him select a thousand elites, this is intended for Yang Wu to be used as a pro-army, it is for him to choose the real elite, and it must not be treated with the situation of ordinary troops.

However, if a thousand elite warriors were selected and handed over to him, the combat effectiveness of Wang Maozhang's own army would drop too much, which was obviously undesirable to him. He also thought about making meritorious contributions and becoming a festival envoy in the future, how could he do it without a strong army. So, except for a few of them who are really elite, everyone else is used to make up the numbers.

This is normal in an age when the military is considered his own private property. If it was the previous Yang Wu, Wang Maozhang was afraid that he would have offended him by doing this. However, Yang Wu is much more tolerant now, the world is like this, it doesn't mean that change can change. If he wants to change this situation of private ownership of the army, he must first have an army of his own.

"The so-called soldiers are expensive but not too expensive, what can those old and weak soldiers do except consume food and make up the number of people? What I want is an elite pro-army, not a showman who looks at a large number of people but actually doesn't have much combat effectiveness. Thinking of this, Yang Wu also made up his mind.

"A battalion of 500 elites, General Wang, the last general also knows the general's difficulties, and the last general is not willing to make more demands. Since there are not many elites in the army, then there are only 500 elites. General Wang is a famous general in Huainan, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command, and it is very easy to select 500 elites. As long as it is an elite between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, and has seen blood in their hands, a total of 500 people will be fine, as for the other old and weak, the last general will not want it, what does the general think? Yang Wu stared at Wang Maozhang with a solemn face and said seriously.

The first Wang Maozhang was also pondering, "The elite of 500 people can be taken out by gritting their teeth, and after all, he has the king's order, and the general is not easy to disobey, now that he has taken a step back, as long as half of the people and horses, the general will not accept it when he sees it." Moreover, yesterday I saw him brilliantly, and the king was very happy with him, thinking that he would become the heir of the king in the future, and it would be good to sell him now, and it would be good to see him in the future. ”

Thinking of this, Wang Maozhang nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give you 500 elites." You already have 273 people there, Zhang Chong, you should go to the army now and select the remaining 227 people, and make up 500 people, there is no mistake. ”

"Yes, the last general obeys!" Zhang Chong, the deputy general with a gloomy face just now, clenched his fists and led the order out of the camp.

"The last general will also go and have a look." Zhu Siqing and the other three moved in their hearts, and followed Yang Wu after saluting.

For their careful thoughts, Wang Maozhang only regarded it as if he didn't see it, and began to explain the matter of grain, grass and military salaries.

"Although your banner was parted from the general's office, it is actually the king's tooth soldier. Therefore, according to the usual practice of my Huainan Army, the grain, grass and military salaries under your command should be directly managed by the Jiedu Embassy, and the general is not responsible. Of course, today is the first day, and Ben will be in charge of their food and grass. Wang Maozhang said with some care.

According to the rules of the feudal towns of this era, the army was generally composed of five parts: tooth soldiers, tooth foreign soldiers, foreign town soldiers, state soldiers, and regimental training as a reserve.

The tooth soldier is the private soldier army cultivated by the Jiedu envoy, that is, it belongs to the pro-army of the Jiedu envoy, and is directly responsible for the Jiedu envoy's Yamen guard, like the Huainan Jiedu Embassy is located in the Yacheng where thousands of people are stationed in the pro-army. Yang Wu's current army should also belong to the tooth soldier system.

As for the Tooth Guards, although they are also stationed in the Governor's office, they are not responsible for the guards of the Jie Du Envoy. For example, Wang Maozhang's department is such an army, stationed outside Guangling City, ready to go out to other places at any time.

In short, the military system of this era is somewhat complicated, and in general it is in a state of mutual checks and balances.

"Thank you General Wang for this, in the future, there will be a reward!" On these details, Yang Wu is also reluctant to worry too much.

Although he is now the eldest son of King Wu, he has no prestige in the army, and he is not willing to offend a general like Wang Maozhang who has a heavy army as soon as he enters the barracks.

What's more, Yang Wu knew that although Wang Maozhang was not famous now, Wang Maozhang was famous all over the world in the next year's campaign to aid Wang Shifan of Qingzhou Pinglu Jiedu. At that time, he led an army of 7,000 people to defeat the Xuanwu army led by Zhu Wen's nephew Zhu Youning, not only killing Zhu Youning, passing his head to Huainan to show the public, but also capturing and killing tens of thousands of enemies.

Later, Zhu Wen heard that Zhu Youning was dead, and personally led an army of 200,000 to Qingzhou day and night to rescue. In the face of Zhu Wen's army, Wang Maozhang closed the base and showed the enemy to be weak, and after reconnoitering that Zhu Wen's army was a little slack, he led his troops to rush out, galloped and attacked quickly, and defeated Zhu Wen's army many times. After each battle, he returned to the camp and sat down, gathered his generals to drink, and soon rushed out to fight.

When Zhu Wen climbed the heights to watch the battle, he saw him and asked the people who surrendered, only then did he know that it was Wang Maozhang. He sighed and said, "If I can be a general with this person, the world will not be enough for me to be calm!" ”

It can be said that the battle of sending troops to Qingzhou made Wang Maozhang famous all over the world, and later returned to Huainan and led the army to pacify An Renyi's rebels, which can be said to be a great achievement.

With such a fierce general, Yang Wu is too late to win over, where is he willing to offend. Taking advantage of the time when Zhang Chong was still selecting young and strong, Yang Wu hurriedly asked Wang Maozhang for advice on military affairs, and he was respectful in his words, and he did not dare to slack off in the slightest.

Seeing Yang Wu so polite, Wang Maozhang gradually had a smile on his face, and the slight unhappiness he had before had long been forgotten. The conversation between the two became more and more harmonious, and in the end, they took Yang Wu's hand and explained to him many things that need to be paid attention to in the army.

I have to say that Wang Maozhang has lived in the army for a long time, and he holds an important position, and his understanding of military affairs is much deeper than that of Zhu Siqing.

"Therefore, the general thought that in order to be a general, the first thing is to have the courage to take the lead, so that the soldiers can follow the generals to rush and kill the enemy. With such an elite warrior as the vanguard, then you can be invincible. ”

Wang Maozhang is obviously a brave general, and after explaining his views on leading troops, he finally concluded like this.

Although he still has some disapproval in his heart, Yang Wu can't help but admit that in this era, as long as the generals who have the courage to take the lead, the combat effectiveness of the army under his command is generally good. In the usual battle, the generals led a small number of elites to attack the enemy formation, and if the battle went well, those old and weak soldiers would take the opportunity to press on them to expand the results. These old and weak may not be able to tackle tough problems, but they are still competent enough to fight a good fight.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" often depicts Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other fierce generals fighting the enemy generals first, and after the victory, the whole army covers up the past, which is still somewhat reliable in this era.

However, Yang Wu, who came from later generations, believed more in the role of military discipline, he was not a brave general, and he didn't need to do anything brave. As for all he has to do, all he has to do is grasp army discipline.

Yes, in Yang Wu's view, only iron discipline can build a strong army. Yue Fei's Yuejia Army in the Song Dynasty and Qi Jiguang's Qijia Army in the Ming Dynasty have repeatedly proved this, not to mention that strict discipline was originally the soul of the modern army and modern army in later generations.

He had already made up his mind to focus on military discipline in his future military training.

"General Qiyu, 500 elite soldiers have been selected, please inspect the general." At this time, Zhang Chong and others also came back.

"Well, Commander Yang wants Ben to accompany you to check it out now?" Wang Maozhang asked with a smile.

Yang Wu looked at Zhu Siqing slightly, and when he saw him nodding, he knew that Zhang Chong did not stumble again this time, and his heart was completely relieved.

"No need, the general is busy with military affairs, and the last general has been bothering for so long, how dare he bother the general anymore. Now that the official business is over, the last general will also resign. Yang Wu clasped his fists and saluted.

"Well, that will not keep you either. In the future, if there is anything you don't understand about military affairs, you can come to the general, who doesn't understand anything else, and still knows a little about military affairs. Wang Maozhang smiled and sent Yang Wu and the others out of the camp.