"Everyone, let's discuss the issue of military reform in the south, a small rebellion of King Ning, let several state capitals in the south suffer huge losses, most of the local defenders have not fulfilled their responsibilities to protect the land and the people, this is the shame of the army, but also the shame of the Ming court, in order to avoid this situation again, the army in the south must be rectified!" In the Wenyuan Pavilion, Zhou Zhong slammed the table with an angry face.

Although King Ning's rebellion was just a farce, the impact was far from over, first of all, more than 400 people in the court were disposed of, and then the problem of the weakness of the southern army was also mentioned on the issue of the cabinet, this matter was not too important, first, the main threat to the Ming Dynasty came from the northern grasslands, and this pressure was all resisted by the border army in the north, coupled with the vigorous development of the navy, making it basically impossible for the south of the Ming Dynasty to be threatened, which also caused both the cabinet and local officials, All did not pay much attention to the military aspects of the South.

But this rebellion of King Ning sounded a wake-up call to the imperial court, tens of thousands of rabble, even from Jiangxi all the way to capture several state capitals, and finally directly to Anqing next to Nanjing, most of the defenders not only did not resist, but fled in despair, fleeing faster than the people, what use do they want this kind of army?

"Supervising the country, in fact, is not only the southern army, but also the army in most parts of the north, but Ningxia and Datong are threatened by the grassland from time to time, which makes the border army of the Ming Dynasty maintain a certain combat effectiveness, but the situation of empty salaries in the armies in other regions is also very serious, and most of the troops are old and weak, and the rebellion of Liu Liu and Liu Qi in that year. If it weren't for the imperial court, the Beijing camp was sent to encircle and suppress in time. I am afraid that there will also be huge casualties. Therefore, the reform of the army cannot be limited to the south, and the entire army within the Ming Dynasty needs to undergo some major reforms! Zhang Cai echoed at this time, but his words made Wang Qiong, who was the secretary of the Ministry of War, a little embarrassed, after all, the army of the Ming Dynasty was so weak, and he also had to bear a certain responsibility.

"Ahem~cough~, Daming's army does have a lot of problems, but this is not formed in a short period of time. It is a problem accumulated over several generations, and the army is the important weapon of the country, and it must not be moved lightly, so although the prison country wants to reform the army, everything must be steady! The old Jiao Fang coughed a few times and gasped a few breaths, his body has become weaker and weaker in the past two years, but Jiao Fang's fame and fortune are too heavy, and he is unwilling to retire even if he is killed, it seems that he has made up his mind to die in the position of a university scholar like Li Dongyang.

"What Jiao Ge Lao said is very true. The weakness of the armed forces is not a one-day shortcoming, but has been slowly formed over hundreds of years. However, the good news is that now with the increase in the number of cadets graduating from military academies, many people have entered the local troops, these people are not only loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but also know how to systematically manage the army, and now the army in many places has greatly enhanced its combat effectiveness under the reform of these people, and I believe that as long as this situation continues, it will not take many years for the Ming army to completely change! Wang Qiong heard that Jiao Fang had relieved the siege for himself, and he hurriedly said at the moment, as the secretary of the military department, no one knew the situation of the Ming army better than him, but the more he knew the situation of the army, the more he did not dare to act rashly.

For Wang Qiong's words, several other cabinet ministers also nodded one after another, and they did not approve of too drastic reform of the army, after all, the army is the foundation of a country, if something unexpected happens, the consequences will be very serious, and even subvert a country, so the best way to reform the army is to slowly change the situation of the army like a gentle breeze and drizzle, such as sending military cadets to serve in the military in various places, which is a good way.

However, Zhou Chong sighed when he heard this, and then picked up a copy of the recital from the table and handed it to Jiao Fangdao: "Originally, I thought so, but now it seems that the situation is not optimistic, and even if the military system cannot be reformed, it is useless to send more cadets to the military academy!" ”

Jiao Fang took the fold and opened it and looked at it, but the more he looked at it, the tighter his brows wrinkled, and when he finally finished reading it, he sighed helplessly, and then handed it to Wang Qiong and others next to him, but after reading it, most of the people's faces became heavy, and even many people were sad.

Zhou Zhong gave Jiao Fang and others a secret memo sent by Jinyiwei, which recorded the events that happened to some military cadets stationed in the armies in various places, although some military cadets relied on their own ability to reform the army, and also successfully enhanced the combat effectiveness of the army, but more students were suppressed by the original officers after entering the army, and they could not display their talents at all, and even some of the cadets were assimilated by those old officers, and they had long forgotten the teachings they received in the military academy. Become one of the people who eat empty pay and drink the blood of soldiers.

"Everyone has also seen that although the officers who graduated from the military academy have ideals and ambitions, they are also human beings, and their abilities are limited, sometimes they are not only suppressed by their superiors, but also resisted by their subordinates, and some people can't stand the temptation and completely degenerate into one of those old generals, and these people are not a minority, if this situation is allowed to develop again, I am afraid that even the reputation of the military academy will be ruined by these people!"

When Zhou Zhong said in the end, he couldn't help but feel a little sad, the army is not shorter than the navy, the navy was established for a short time, and under his leadership, a good environment has been created at the beginning of the establishment of the army, but the army is an atmosphere formed over the past hundred years, and if you want to change this atmosphere, you can't just rely on those officers who graduated from military academies, but you must change the system, otherwise it will only make more and more military academy officers be assimilated by this kind of wind.

"It is indeed a pity that those military academy officers who have been assimilated, but there are also some military academy officers who have succeeded, so it seems that it is still feasible to rely on military cadets to reform the army, the key is how we can give those officers some support, so that they can feel that the imperial court is standing with them, plus some of the convenience provided by the imperial court for them, they can better change the army under their command, and when the time is ripe, large-scale reform will not cause too much backlash in the army!" At this time, Wang Shouren, who was a squire in the military department, suddenly said that although he and Zhang Cai did not enter the cabinet, they could usually participate in cabinet meetings and had a lot of say in court politics.

"This is a feasible way, the imperial court can make some small changes to the army, so that the officers who graduated from the military academy can better control the army under their command, and wait until these new officers control most of the army, and then carry out large-scale reforms, then there will be much less resistance, and it can also get the support of more people in the army, although it will take some time, but it is a safe way." Wang Qiong also agreed at this time, Wang Shouren is his subordinate, and now Wang Shouren proposes a feasible method, which is also equivalent to the opinion of the Ministry of War, if it can be passed, it also seems that their Ministry of War is not doing nothing.

Zhou Zhong also attaches great importance to Wang Shouren, after hearing his opinion, he lowered his head and thought about it seriously, he originally wanted to take this opportunity to sweep away the corrupt wind in the Ming army in one fell swoop, but now it seems that even most of the people in the cabinet do not agree with their own approach, after all, such a large-scale reform of the army, the risk is too great, which also makes Zhou Chong have to reconsider this matter.

"Then how can we make some changes to the military academy so that the officers who graduated from the military academy can better reform the army in their hands?" Zhou Zhong thought about it for a long time, and finally agreed with Wang Shouren's opinion and asked.

"If you want officers to change the army under them, you must let them be able to control the army in their hands, but now most of the army is the former military households, and the original officers are inextricably linked, plus those low-level officers are also controlled by the original officers, so the officers who graduated from the military academy will be restrained and embarrassed by the upper and lower levels when they arrive in the army, which makes it difficult for most people to display their ambitions, and we only need to make some changes to this."

When Wang Shouren said this, he paused for a moment and then said: "I think the dispatch of military academy officers in the past was very problematic, according to the original dispatch system, the military academy officers who graduated from each class would be evenly distributed to various places, but in this way, it will dilute the strength of military academy officers, so that they can not support each other, so the subordinate officials think that the officers who graduate every year can be concentrated in a certain area, so that they can take care of each other, and when arranging the positions of these officers, there should also be consideration, so that they can control the real power of the army as much as possible." ”

"In addition, there is another point, that is, the military supervision section of the military academy should also be used, in the past, when the army was fighting abroad, the supervision army would be dispatched, but now after the military academy has set up a special supervision department, many supervision troops are graduated every year, before these supervision troops are sent to the northern border army and the navy, but I think it is possible to expand the enrollment of the supervision army, and then send some supervision troops in the defenders in various places, so as to strengthen the control of the imperial court over the local army, and second, with these supervision army containment, It can also make those former officers of the army dare not be too presumptuous. ”

After listening to Wang Shouren's two opinions, Jiao Fang, Wang Qiong and others all nodded again and again, whether it was to concentrate on the dispatch of military academy officers or increase the number of military supervisors, it would not have too much impact on the entire Ming army, and finally Lian Zhou Zhong nodded, using this relatively mild means to solve the problems of the army is indeed much more secure than his previous thoughts.

"Just handle it according to Wang Shilang's advice, and I will let the military academy fully cooperate." Zhou Zhong finally spoke, but then he frowned, and said again, "Where is the imperial brother now, have you already seen King Ning?" (To be continued......)