After the night rain, Nanjing is like a stone lion washed away from the dust, and the ancient vicissitudes of history are full of moist water town freshness.

After many days of heat, Chen Ming's reliance was accompanied by many members of the Ottoman mission, and he walked towards the Central Military Academy outside the city. The raindrops still hung on the green tiles of the eaves on both sides of the road, neatly lined up, as if collectively reminiscing about the feeling in the rain just now, until one of them fell to the ground overwhelmed, blended into the puddle, and through the reflection in the puddle, he confided the sadness of parting with his partner above. And in the vacated position above, a new nostalgia is condensed, and a certain interaction between condensation and fall continues.

The clouds are overcast, and the summer rain is majestic.

Selim loved the rain, and the thunder and lightning poured down, washing the heavens and the earth, and he felt very cool in the morning.

In the past few days in China, Selim was very satisfied with the hospitality of the State Guesthouse, the mighty city walls and city defenses of Nanjing, the huge factories and the prosperous streets, which were also completely in line with his imagination of the capital of China, a huge empire.

He has a very deep impression of Chinese cities - they are so clean and tidy.

There were no beggars in sight, although he could see some poorly dressed people on the streets, from the docks to the state guesthouse, he could see many people engaged in 'low' trades, but he could feel the vibrancy of the city even more. This is the biggest difference from Istanbul, which is full of twilight weather.

But Nanjing is not completely satisfactory to Selim, because the climate here, the hot climate. For Istanbul, where the maximum temperature of the year does not exceed 25 degrees, the city of Nanjing is obviously too hot.

If it weren't for the ice basin, Selim wouldn't have believed that he would have to go through a really painful ordeal in Nanjing.

Many members of the Ottoman mission felt the same way as Selim, not to mention that Istanbul, where they came from, was not far from Iraq and the Celestial Peninsula, which were completely deserts in the minds of later Chinese, but a Mediterranean Sea, making Istanbul warm in winter and cool in summer.

Of course, Chen Ming doesn't like the heat, otherwise he wouldn't have gone outside in the summer.

"Come late, a rain washes away the dust, there is no heat", the world after the rain is so wonderful. The smell of the earth is like the fragrance of flowers, and every cell in the body seems to be soaked in infinite freshness and coolness.

One of the big cars in the middle of the team, the dragon chariot that Chen Ming was riding, Selim was holding a cup of sour plum soup in his hand, and was chatting with Chen Ming about the army.

What does Selim think a strong army should look like, and what makes up such a strong army?

What is a powerful army in Chen Ming's mind, and what is it that gathers this powerful army?

Selim couldn't tell why, he was a diplomat, not a military strategist. What is said is nothing more than discipline, fighting spirit and wise command, which are very cosmetic factors.

"In China, in the military textbooks of the Chinese Military Academy, we distinguish the military into three categories."

"With the establishment of the military education system as a dividing point, again before the ancient army, after this there is the modern army, and then the army that I expected - the army of the future."

This is actually the division between the feudal army and the modern army, and the modern army.

But Chen Ming knew in his heart that he couldn't say it like that, right? Although this is just Chen Ming's own division!

"What was the ancient army like? And what does a modern army look like? ”

"Officers are only one of the differences, but not the only ones."

"In my opinion, the biggest difference between ancient armies and modern armies is discipline." This view is very popular. Chen Ming continued: "Measured by the entire army, the modern army requires far more discipline than the ancient army. ”

Of course, this is not to say that the ancient army did not pay attention to discipline. In the eastern military system represented by China, the military of a certain force was in its golden period, and the army at that time was also very disciplined.

From Sun Wu's killing of Concubine Wu more than 2,000 years ago, to the old Qin who beat the Six Kingdoms, as well as the Ming Di killing of his father by the Xiongnu Mao Dun Shan Yu, the Xiliu Camp in the Han Dynasty,......, the Yue family army that shook the mountains and easily shook the Yue family's army, and the Qi family army in the late Ming Dynasty ......"

Of course, Selim didn't know these allusions that Chen Ming said, and the translator on the side quickly explained these historical allusions to Selim indirectly when Chen Ming spoke. Let Selim sigh for the colorful history of ancient China, but also better understand the meaning of Chen Ming's words.

Ancient armies admired the bravery of soldiers and attached great importance to individual combat forces, but this does not mean that they did not attach importance to war. At least in the East.

"But it's not going to be too long. This kind of golden military period, which has maintained its heyday, cannot be too long-lasting. And when the military golden period of the ancient army has passed, looking at their military regulations and military discipline, compared with the gap between the current army, it is obvious. ”

"You would say that modern armies also have a golden period of military affairs. So taking the British red shrimp soldiers as an example, is there any difference between the current red shrimp soldiers and the red shrimp soldiers during the Seven Years' War, and the red shrimp soldiers from a longer time? Since the British cut off the head of Charles I, the British Army, modeled after Cromwell's Model New Army, has not had major ups and downs in combat effectiveness for more than 100 years. Some of the ups and downs are more of a gap in the British commanders. ”

"This is the biggest difference between the modern army and the ancient army. It can also be said that the emergence of muskets and artillery led to the evolution of military theory. Nowadays, the greatest characteristic and advantage of the strong military of various countries is team spirit, and now the army is more of a collective.

Absolute discipline of team spirit is emphasized, relying on which a variety of flexible tactics can be produced and efficient control of the army. For example, when the enemy's attention is greatly tilted towards the right flank, the front-line commander can easily take advantage of this weakness to attack from behind without sticking to the front and right side of the defense. Cooperation, organization, and discipline regard the whole army as a whole rather than relying on the combat strength of individual soldiers.

If the army is a killing machine, the modern army is compared with the ancient army in that it replaces manpower with a steam engine, so that the lethality of the machine is more stable and durable. ”

"And the officer is the soul of an army, the link that connects the whole army up and down. The importance of officers in a disciplined and united army is now even more important. ”

"It doesn't matter if it's the British, the French, the Russians, the Austrians, the Prussians, or we China. In today's military, through brutal corporal punishment and strict training, soldiers gradually lose the ability to think for themselves, thus forming a reflexive execution of orders.

In the vernacular, it is to make soldiers fear the punishment of the officer beyond the threat of death.

The fear of sticks and whips is now ingrained in any powerful army, and the more fearful they are on the battlefield, the more they will mechanically carry out orders. Therefore, they were able to withstand artillery fire and arrange in a tight formation, so as to slowly walk in front of the enemy's position; So they can line up in an extremely neat line, and at a short distance from each other, they keep pulling the trigger on each other. Even if the comrades-in-arms around him fell one by one, they were engaged in their own actions without mistakes.

In ancient times, without the charisma of leading generals, an army would be afraid of losing 10% of its battlefield losses, and it was not impossible for an army to lose more than 20% of its losses on the spot.

But what about the armies of the great powers now?

The armies of Great Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, Russia, including our China, are generally able to withstand losses of less than 20%.

Modern armies can bear the cost of war casualties better than ancient armies, and the cruelty of general conflicts and wars is also greater, and the rate of loss of armies is correspondingly much higher. "Think of the Napoleonic Wars in history, how much blood was shed throughout Europe." Under these circumstances, the importance of a military education system that can quickly train officers above the level in large quantities can be imagined. ”

Modern warfare can be more brutal than the wars of the past.

The organizational structure of the feudal army does not need to be said much, individual martial arts, relying on first-level merit, relying on robbery (especially nomadic tribes) to maintain fighting spirit, so the ancient Chinese art of war will repeatedly emphasize the saying that there is no need to stop the return to the master, and the siege must be que, that is, I hope not to force the opponent to fight hard.

And the modern army in Chen Ming's eyes does not have these statements, anyway, they are all consumables, and they are all pulled down - when calculating the victory or defeat of the war, it largely depends on the number and firepower density of the armies on both sides, and when the density of people is higher than the density of bullets, then there is a greater chance of winning the war. A soldier is an indifferent number, a thoughtless walking corpse on the battlefield.

Because of this, the modern military began to have a larger reserve force, and the mobilization mechanism appeared and became more and more important in the overall war.

After Chen Ming gained strength, he had a certain understanding of the Western military in this era.

The reserve has been in the West for many years, and to put it in one word, it is the militia. But no country has yet officially started to start reserves. China can be said to be the first to eat crabs in this area.

In the first year of Chengtian, Chen Ming promulgated the "Reserve Regulations".

In the North American colonies of the last century, people called the popular armed forces "a gun next to the fireplace".

Chen Ming estimated that the prototype of the modern reserve system should have begun during the French Revolution, when there was a tragic and heroic existence of a large number of formed militias in the Gallic rooster army sequence, which was not the compulsory military service system. Later, the reserve of the United States was based on the militia system, including the National Guard and the Federal Reserve, which was the second armed force of the country. In more countries, the reserve forces are mainly reserve soldiers, and they are the "reservoir" of soldiers in the standing army.

If Chen Ming wants to give full play to the combat effectiveness of the Ottoman Empire, he always has to take out some dry goods. The reserve military service system is one of them!

For a country with its headquarters in Istanbul and the Sultan under the nose of the Janissaries, a stronger army is necessary if a Sultan is to truly remove the great threat of the Janissaries.

The reserve system would have given the Ottoman Sultan a good opportunity. As long as this system had been implemented by the Ottomans, perhaps the end of the Sultan's own army would not have to wait for the distant year 1826.

Selim very respectfully asked Chen Ming what the future army was. Because Chen Ming clearly told him that one of his lifelong wishes is to be able to follow the day when he closes his eyes and see a brand-new China and army. That obviously will not be China, the army, which has degenerated into an ancient army.

"At present, the combat effectiveness of the army depends on strict training and requirements in peacetime, and a large part of the fighting spirit of soldiers on the battlefield comes from the fear of military regulations and military discipline.

Therefore, I hope to have an army that is not bound by military regulations and military discipline, but also has a strong fighting spirit and tenacious spirit.

If the current army is a line of corpses, then inject soul and mind into them.

Whether or not a modern army can become the army of the future depends on whether or not the ideology and spirit can be cohesive in this army.

As far as China is concerned, judging from the surrounding situation, there is no external threat to China. China has chosen peace, and I don't think anyone will take the initiative to start a war against China. The greatest value of military personnel does not exist.

I have reduced the salaries and salaries of military personnel, and the gains in many professions in society are far greater than those of the army, which has to a great extent dampened the desire of the Chinese people for the army.

And this also gives the Chinese military a hope of transformation.

There is no longer an 'equal' or 'spillover' of high treatment between the state and the military, and the actual wealth given by the state is less than that of the soldiers, but less than the contribution of the soldiers. In this case, if a person chooses to enlist in the army, it is dedication.

It is to sacrifice one's own personal interests in exchange for the interests of the whole country and the whole nation.

What the state and the government can give them can only add another spiritual reward. ”

In the future, in addition to the tangible material, China's soldiers may have a spiritual reward - I am a soldier, and I am glorious.

"Both the Ottomans and China are big countries, we have a huge land area, if an outsider invades our land one day and occupies our land. Our army was defeated again and again on the frontal battlefield, the main forces kept retreating, and a large number of stragglers fell behind enemy lines. ”

Chen Ming painted a picture for Selim: "What will be the performance of the ancient army and the modern army in this situation? ”

"Is it possible for them to spontaneously coalesce, regain a firm sense of fighting, and continue to fight the enemy behind enemy lines?" Chen Ming explained to Selim what guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines was.

"I'm afraid that more ancient and modern armies will become rogues and stragglers who burn and loot, right?"

"And the army of the future that I envision is a force that can continue to organize in this environment, protect the people of the country, attack behind the enemy's back, and resolutely carry out guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines."

"They are loyal to their country and nation, and even when they are in a desperate situation, they would rather die in battle than surrender, and even after being captured, they will not immediately confess the military secrets of their own army, let alone serve the other side and beat their own people."

"Such an army is not necessarily strong in combat. Because the composition of the army is not only people, but also armaments and logistics. ”

The speed of the dragon was decreasing, Chen Ming opened a window screen, looked outside through the glass, and found that the Central Military Academy was already in front of him. He had been talking to Selim for so long.

He also had a bowl of sour plum soup at his hand, Chen Ming took it and drank it all, and finally said to Selim: "The army armed with ideas is the most powerful army, and the Ottomans should have their own thoughts and spirits." You are carrying the future of the entire Celestial World! ”

"You are the only remaining power in the Heavenly World. When the Ottomans fall, the entire heavenly world will be eaten by the great powers! ”

Think about the heavenly world in the last time and space, it was really a lie down and never got up.

Even if some countries in the Middle East in the 21st century are very rich, and they do earn two points of weight in the international community by relying on oil, but seriously speaking, there is no powerful country in the entire heavenly world.

What does Iran count? Enhanced version of the Golden Sun?

What is Saudi Arabia? A fat sheep?

Turkey is not even a regional power.

Today's every move has a far-reaching impact. (To be continued.) )