Hearing Chongzhen's analysis, Sun Chengzong nodded subconsciously, but still said with some hesitation: "In this way, Yuan Chonghuan has been somewhat wronged." Also, after Sun Baigu took office, I don't know if he can suppress the generals of the General Staff and the New Army? ”

Zhu Youzhen thought for a while before saying: "I plan to transfer Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng to the Army Military Academy first, and after teaching the two or three batches of cadets, then let Sun Chuanting be Mr.'s deputy, and Lu Xiangsheng can help him." As long as there are a few phases of military academy students echoing below, Sun Chuanting will not be unavailable if he wants to come.

As for Yuan Chonghuan? To be honest, I really don't feel comfortable letting him take over his position. Because this person does things, he really likes to take shortcuts to the end of the south. ”

Sun Chengzong didn't react to Chongzhen's previous words, but when he heard the emperor's evaluation of Yuan Chonghuan, he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Why did Your Majesty say this?" ”

Zhu Youzhen replied seriously: "Since last year, I have issued orders to the Xuanda and Inner Mongolia Governors several times, requesting that the formation mode of the right-wing Mongolian tribal armies be disrupted, and that they be used instead to use banners and leagues as regions, requisition troops according to the proportional population, and the formation of garrisons of the Inner Mongolia Four Leagues, and the promotion of more generals from ordinary herdsmen.

However, in this dispatch, the right-wing Mongol army brought by Yuan Chonghuan was still organized according to the tribe. The Mongols were still led by the noyans of the various tribes or their cronies. Such an army seems to be easy to form combat effectiveness, but once they encounter a vicious battle, will they really make up their minds to fight to the death instead of saving their strength and fleeing?

Yuan Chonghuan, as the governor of Inner Mongolia and the Xuanda Defense Region, did not make up his mind to build an army loyal to the imperial court from scratch, but connived at these Mongol noyans to continue to maintain their military force, allowing them to regain their strength under the wings of the Ming Dynasty. If there were a few careerists among them, wouldn't our actions today become a move to raise tigers? ”

Sun Chengzong was suddenly a little dumbfounded, he really had nothing to defend Yuan Chonghuan for Chongzhen's worries. After all, these orders issued by Chongzhen have been discussed in detail with the General Staff. This can only be said that Yuan Chonghuan wanted to behave too much in front of the emperor, but instead dug a hole for himself.

Sun Chengzong wisely stopped mentioning the topic of Yuan Chonghuan, and instead began to report to the emperor about the rewards given by the General Staff to the meritorious officers of this battle, and the military rectification plan for the border towns of Jizhou and Liaoxi.

The general content is basically extended in the direction that Chongzhen discussed with everyone in Zunhua at the beginning. In addition to the issue of unifying military ranks, Sun Chengzong and the staff officers of the General Staff discussed it, and also vetoed the emperor's idea.

“… If the military officers of the new army and other Ming armies were to be changed to a unified military rank, it was inevitable that a unified military salary would be issued. However, now the salary of the new army is almost more than double that of the other Ming armies, whether it is taken to a higher place or unified to a lower place, it will eventually cause dissatisfaction on one side.

Therefore, the ministers thought that it was okay for the new army to establish military ranks, and it was better not to unify it with other armies, so that the country's military salary expenditure would not rise sharply. And an army with different combat missions will not be dissatisfied because of the level of military salaries..."

After listening to Sun Chengzong's opinion, Zhu Youzhen thought for a moment, and then moved out of the classification of military ranks in later generations without hesitation, "Then distinguish between generals, colonels, lieutenants, and sergeants, in addition to recruits, soldiers who have been assigned to the army are divided into three categories: sergeant, sergeant, and corporal, and they are divided according to the number of years in the army."

Generals, colonels, and lieutenants are also divided into upper, middle, and lower levels, with lieutenants as the lowest officer ranks, and the General Staff Headquarters formulates official qualifications and standards for the payment of military salaries and food allowances for each rank. In the future, in wartime, command priorities must be assigned according to the rank of officers who are not directly subordinate to the subordinate ranks..."

Sun Chengzong listened carefully to Chongzhen's description of the military rank system, and asked a few questions, before nodding his head and saying: "Your Majesty's meaning has been understood, so the minister will retire first and convey His Majesty's meaning to others." ”

Zhu Youzhen stopped him and said: "Sir is not in a hurry to leave, I still want to meet with everyone before the wartime base camp is disbanded, which can be regarded as the final end of this war, it is better for Mr. to arrange it for me." ”

Sun Chengzong immediately replied: "Then Your Majesty, and in a moment, the minister will summon them to wait in the conference room..."

Although there are still some officials who have not returned to the capital, the meeting room of the General Staff Headquarters, which has been deserted for a long time in the Wuying Palace, is already crowded.

The officials sitting around a large long table were talking head-to-ear, and when the emperor summoned them to see if he planned to reward them or something, Chongzhen walked into the conference room accompanied by Mao Yuanyi, and the officials in the room immediately got up and saluted the emperor, and the atmosphere in the room was very harmonious.

However, when Chongzhen greeted everyone with a smile, he sat down on the main seat and said to everyone with a serious expression: "I summoned you today not to praise you again. On the contrary, I would like to criticize you today. ”

The emperor's words suddenly made the smiles on the faces of many people freeze, and they began to restrain their smiles and sit upright, waiting for the reason for the emperor's so-called criticism.

Zhu Youzhen stared at everyone's expressions before continuing: "When I returned to the capital from Zunhua, I asked you to completely record your experience in this battle and write down the gains and losses.

Your combat records and command experience will be compiled by the General Staff Headquarters and then compiled into teaching materials and handed over to the military academy to be used to educate our cadets and cultivate their combat command ability.

As of yesterday, I have gone through the combat records and command experience of most of your personnel, but to my regret, most of what you have written is not true.

Most of the people's combat records and command experience either covered up their mistakes or trumpeted their wisdom and decisiveness, or they described in detail the captured enemy supplies and prisoners, but they did not mention the course of the battle...

In my opinion, these so-called combat records and command experiences are just a bunch of rhetorical and ornate performances, which have no effect on guiding the students to learn combat.

The reason why I have summoned you today is to ask you face to face, do you know why we won this war? Why did the enemy lose? ”

Under Chongzhen's fierce criticism, the generals of the new army immediately lowered their heads, although the emperor did not directly criticize by name, but they knew very well what the combat records and experiences they handed over to the General Staff Department were.

It is rare to win a battle in Houjin, and their names have a chance to appear in the textbooks, and these generals naturally want these junior students to remember their exploits, not the mistakes they have made. Therefore, when the emperor provoked this matter to challenge everyone, the generals immediately shrank their necks, and they no longer had the pride they had when they participated in the triumphal ceremony before.

After Chongzhen criticized it, Sun Chengzong, Mao Yuanyi and others took the initiative to take responsibility for the emperor, and said that they would urge the participating armies to rewrite the battle records, so that the emperor calmed down his anger.

After criticizing everyone, Chongzhen talked about the plan formulated by the General Staff to reward meritorious deeds. There was a previous episode, when the emperor promulgated the plan, no generals dared to jump out to fight for themselves, from this point of view, it reduced a lot of trouble for Chongzhen and the General Staff.

After more than an hour of negotiations, Chongzhen finally announced the end of the meeting and asked the generals of each army to return to the camp to settle the soldiers and rest for a month or two. However, he left behind the members of the General Staff, saying that he wanted to have a few more words with the staff officers.

When the generals of the new army left, the conference room suddenly seemed a little empty, and more than a dozen members of the staff headquarters, such as Sun Chengzong and Mao Yuanyi, all sat down again around the long table.

Zhu Youzhen looked at these staff officers and said, "The question I just raised about the members of the wartime base camp is not an excuse. The records of marching operations and the experience of command are all lessons and lessons learned in the pursuit of tactical victory. For my generals, they have done their duty to understand how to pursue tactical victory.

However, you are different, you are the brain of our Ming army, and the principles and policies you have designated are related to the most fundamental combat purpose of our Ming army and the direction of concentration of resources for our Ming national defense.

Therefore, for you, how the Ming can achieve victory, and why the enemy army will suffer defeat, is a strategic guiding principle, and it is also a belief that we will instill in the Ming army why it fights.

I have always believed that an army that has no faith will not be able to assume the responsibility of defending the people of the Ming Dynasty. Even if this army has good combat effectiveness, it is not worthy of our trust. Because no one can guarantee that it will not betray the court for its own selfishness. ”

Sun Chengzong remained silent, while Mao Yuanyi cautiously asked Chongzhen, "What kind of faith does Your Majesty want to establish for the soldiers?" ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at him, looked at the people present, and said word by word: "I think that not only the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty should know, but every Ming person should have such a cognition: civilization will inevitably defeat barbarism, and justice will inevitably defeat evil."

This is not only the belief of the Ming army, but also the image of the General Staff to publicize the Ming army. The General Staff must keep the Ming army on the side of civilization and justice, and must make our enemies barbaric and evil beings.

I hope you will remember that the image of the Ming army in the hearts of the Chinese people is also related to the position of the General Staff in this country. Fighting is not just a face-to-face fight, in a bloodless battlefield of public opinion, the image of the propaganda army is also a battle..."