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Zhu Youzhen has infinite admiration for the old man, because the old man is not only a great politician and military strategist, but also a great thinker, leaving many easy-to-understand but philosophical sayings to future generations. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Among them, Zhu Youzhen's most admired sentence is: political power comes out of the barrel of a gun.

Yes, you say you are righteous, you say you are civilized, you say you cook freely and equally, is it useful? In this world where the weak eat the strong and the fittest survive, if you can't defend yourself by force, if you can't build a powerful military power that foreigners dare not underestimate, you will become a lone deer on the grassland, and you can only be chased and bitten by carnivores forever!

On the other hand, if you have force that is strong enough to be feared, then you don't have to invade others, and others will not dare to provoke you. Just like the elephants, rhinoceros, and giraffes of the African savannah, they are all herbivores, but they are huge and extremely strong, and even the lions, known as the king of beasts, do not dare to fight their ideas easily, otherwise most of the losses will be lions.

Since Zhu Youzhen had already made up his mind to eradicate the eunuch clique and the thieves internally, and to completely eliminate the threat to the Chinese nation from the Jurchens, Mongols, the Japanese Invaders, and the Western powers, he must build a powerful army. Zhu Youzhen founded Qin Bing precisely for this reason.

The strength of an army is reflected in the advanced weaponry and maturity of its tactical literacy on the one hand, and on the other hand, it must have sufficient scale. The reason why Zhu Youzhen deliberately controlled the scale of Qin soldiers in the past was that the consumption of raising troops was huge, and Qin Wangzhuang was in ruins, and the money and food were indeed insufficient; Second, he was afraid of arousing the suspicion of the imperial court, in case Tianqi misjudged that he was going to rebel and raise the whole country's troops to conquer, the Qin soldiers who had just formed an army had limited combat effectiveness and would definitely not be able to compete with hundreds of thousands or even millions of officers and soldiers.

But that's no longer the case. First, Qinwangzhuang's industry was gradually on the right track, and through textiles, construction, and commerce, Zhu Youzhen could earn a large amount of silver, and sufficient military spending was the most powerful guarantee for the expansion of the army. Although it is only breaking even now, Zhu Youzhen still has a lot of money, and he is confident that he will triple the size of Qin Bing.

Second, the Qin soldiers have been growing up in constant battles since they formed the army. This is a real battle, and I don't know how many times stronger than the effect of training. Therefore, the combat effectiveness of the Qin soldiers has improved extremely quickly, and it can be seen from the Battle of Guyuan and the Battle of Meridian Valley that in the face of thieves who are not strong in combat, the Qin soldiers can almost be ten with one.

On the other hand, the official army can be said to be declining, and every year is not as good as a year. The most combat-effective should be the Guanning Iron Cavalry and the Liaodong Border Army, but they were firmly pinned down by the Houjin, and the imperial court would never dare to move them easily. Like the Shaanxi thieves tossed like this, the imperial court transferred a thousand Guanning iron horses. Even if the Guanning Iron Cavalry has combat effectiveness, it is only a drop in the bucket to face hundreds of thousands of thieves at every turn. Besides, Zhu Youzhen felt that Zu Dashou had gradually had the idea of supporting the army and respecting himself, but he was afraid that he would not listen to the words of the imperial court so much in the future.

As for the rest of the officers and soldiers, there is nothing to worry about. According to Zhu Youzhen's view, the more effective ones are Hong Chengchou's "Hong Bing", Lu Xiangsheng's "Tianxiong Army" and Qi Xianzong's "Qi Family Army". The Tianxiong Army and the Qi Family Army will definitely not be enemies with themselves, and Zuo Guangxian in the Hong soldiers also has a good impression of Zhu Youzhen.

As for the officers and soldiers like Zuo Liangyu, compared with the brave and strong Qin soldiers with strict military discipline, their combat effectiveness is basically scum. Zhu Youzhen traveled most of China this time, and the officers and soldiers he saw along the way were all unarmed and undisciplined, and I am afraid that he could not catch up with Zuo Liangyu, and no matter how many such officers and troops there were, it was useless.

In addition, the generals of the Qin soldiers led by Sun Chuanting were absolutely loyal to him, so Zhu Youzhen finally made up his mind to expand the army after weighing the pros and cons. And the situation forced him to do so, because Wei Zhongxian's assassination of him was almost unscrupulous, indicating that the eunuchs might be desperate and find a random reason to kill him. Of course, Zhu Youzhen will not stand still, with 30,000 Qin soldiers, even if Wei Zhongxian transfers troops from all over the country to attack, he is confident to deal with them.

When he said the idea of expanding the army, all the generals were excited. Who doesn't want to have more soldiers and horses under their command? Especially Li Laiheng, who is outspoken, clapped his hands and laughed: "Okay! Now I have 3,000 Qin soldiers in Dunzhou, if only it could be expanded to 10,000 and the cavalry can be expanded to 3,000! In the past, when I encountered the main force of the thieves, I had to walk around. With 3,000 iron horsemen, I dare to go head-to-head with them! ”

"Don't keep staring at the thieves, how many catties do they have?" Zhu Youzhen said with a smile, "I want to really give you 3,000 iron horses, do you dare to go north to fight the Mongols?" ”

"What's not to dare?" Li Laiheng plucked his chest and said, "Don't say it's the Mongols, as long as Your Highness has an order, even if it's a Tartar, I dare to have a bloody battle with them!" At the banquet, I looked at Zu Kuan's kid unpleasantly, he was crazy! Oh, just his Guan Ning iron riding is amazing, we are all rice buckets? It's the mule and the horse that comes out for a walk! ”

"Yes, it's a bit of a general!" Zhu Youzhen smiled, "To be a general, you must have the strength to dare to fight, be belligerent, and not admit defeat." But it's not enough to dare to fight, you also have to win for this king, and you have to minimize casualties, and you can't bear to fight for the head of this king. It's late at night, so let's go and rest first. I will return to the garrison early tomorrow morning and inform you of the specific measures for expanding the army and training troops, and when I have the charter. ”

Only then did several young generals reluctantly say goodbye, and went to rest under the leadership of Yan Ling. Sun Chuanting stayed, and said to Zhu You without worry: "Your Highness, of course it is a good thing to expand the army. But now the minister has to withdraw 300,000 taels of silver from the palace in a month, if the army is doubled, how can His Highness afford it? The minister had an idea, but I don't know if it is feasible. ”

"Sir, tell me about it!" Zhu Youzhen still has great respect for Sun Chuanting, as long as there is no one else, he always calls Sun Chuanting "sir".

"Thieves in the northwest have been raging for years, people have died or fled, and a large amount of wasteland has appeared in various places." Sun Chuanting said, "Anyway, these lands are ownerless, can you let Qin Bing Tuntian?" First, the grain and grass can be self-sufficient, and second, the sergeant also has an industry, so he can work with peace of mind. ”

Zhu Youzhen was silent for a long time, and Fang said slowly: "Sir's idea is very good, but it won't work right now. ”

"But why?" Sun Chuanting knew Zhu Youzhen very well, and knew that he didn't look at his age, but his knowledge was often much higher than that of ordinary people, so he also asked very sincerely, and he was not angry at all because Zhu Youzhen did not agree with his plan.

"I'm not done yet, it doesn't work, but it can be flexible!" Zhu Youzhen's eyes were blazing and said, "Sir's words have helped me a lot!" ”