Episode 127 The Land of Hope

On August 7, the Ming army achieved good results both on land and at sea.

On the land battlefield, the Ming army had expelled the Japanese army from the southern part of Manchuria and completely recovered the provinces of Mukden and Jilin. Now they are struggling to fight the Japanese army retreating in Heilongjiang. However, the Ming army was on the southern front, only tightly guarding the defense line of the Yalu River, and did not mean to cross the river to attack Korea. For more than ten days in a row, the reinforcements of the Ming army continued to cross the Shanhaiguan Pass by train, and rushed to the outside of the pass like a tide. At present, the mobile combat strength of the Ming army in the north has basically been transferred to the two battlefields of the northeast and northwest. The garrison and public order of the vast northern region have been handed over to the newly incorporated "New Ming Army."

This so-called "New Ming Army", that is, the former Qing Army that was absorbed, has now been put into use as a second-line army after a period of training and education. Within the Ming army, they all called these people the "New Army" and "Northern Army". Many times, they are simply called "Yankees" in private. Now the Ming army only left the military police units to control the new armies in various places. However, the military police of the Ming army stationed in the north did not call them "Yankees" very much, because they were in the north, and there were "Yankees" everywhere, and they were always "watched" by Yankees, and it would be good if they were not called "Yankees" by others.

But these new armies were, after all, Qing troops a few months ago. Although he went through two to four months of assault training, he was given a lot of "modern civics lessons" and gained a refreshing understanding of the concepts of "state," "court," "government," "people," "citizen," "law," and so on, he still had a lot of old Qing military habits. Not only are soldiers and ruffians serious, lazy and slippery, stealing chickens and dogs, but also lack a sense of public morality and a sense of honor, and generally believe that "people are not for themselves, and heaven and earth will be destroyed", and they believe that "moral honor and gods and horses are all floating clouds", which are all good to say on the scene and cannot be taken seriously.

However, the Ming army had no choice, and now the use of troops was very tight, and a large number of troops were needed to fight on the eastern and western fronts, and a large number of troops were needed to maintain law and order in the north. Since these surrendered Qing troops are placed here, they can't do without them. Otherwise, it's a huge waste. And the Ming army also said in advance, no matter the new army or the old army, all are equal, treat everyone equally, and there must be no discrimination. Now that those new troops have put on the uniforms of the Ming army and have been given the number of the Ming army, they are completely equal to the Ming army from the south. It is not possible to form a relationship similar to that of the "imperial army" and the "puppet army". As a result, the Ming army transferred some old Ming army units to form a military police unit to manage these new troops as a "military policeman." This is a no-brainer.

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The Ming army entered the north from the early days of the Northern Expedition, and many troops have been stationed until now, or they were transferred to the east and west in the north, and they all deeply felt the great difference between the Northern Ming and the Southern Ming. Especially people are very different.

When the instructors of the Ming army taught classes with the new soldiers, they talked to them about the meaning of life, the value of people, and the fact that in addition to eating, drinking, and being full, there are many things that are more worthy of pursuit. Serving as a soldier is not only for food, but also for the country and the people to fulfill their responsibilities. When speaking, the new officers and soldiers below nodded vigorously and slapped vigorously, and when they talked vividly, there would be some new officers and soldiers below who took the lead in shouting, "The commander is right!" "Resolute support! "Resolutely support! "Long live Captain X! ”

The instructors of the Ming army had never seen this effect, and they were all praised at first, and they also walked in a tidal wave of applause when they got out of class. But later, after several classes, I found that something was wrong, it turned out that no matter who these soldiers listened to or what content they heard, they were all "resolutely supportive" and "resolutely supportive" like this. Occasionally, one or two young soldiers who have not been deeply involved in the world ask a question, and they will immediately be attacked by a group of people, saying that he "dares to suspect the instructor", "has ill intentions", "has ulterior motives", or simply says that he "has a conspiracy in his heart and vainly tries to restore the pseudo-Qing Dynasty". The instructor didn't know what to say.

But after class, when these new officers and soldiers get together to laugh, if occasionally a young soldier talks a little seriously about what is being said in class, he will immediately be ridiculed. Either others will think of him as a fool, or someone will kindly enlighten him: Hey, do you really believe it? Silly or not. It sounds good, people eat whole grains, and no one is a saint. What honor and responsibility, believe that why do you surrender? People live all their lives, don't they just live for real things? Eating fragrant and spicy food and marrying a daughter-in-law is serious, and those vain things are not eaten or worn, and they are not what we are pondering. I can't see through that.

The officers and instructors who had just been transferred from the south felt that there was a great contrast, and for a while they were very uncomfortable with these new troops, and found it difficult to communicate, because the values, basic understanding of the world, and moral standards of the two sides were not on the same level. They are all very confused, thinking that the same nationality, speaking one language, using one script, traditional culture and so on, is very similar, why is there such a big difference. But those officers and soldiers who have been stationed in the north for a long time have felt it more deeply. Not only these new troops in the north, but even the people in the north are similar. In their view, they are all the same: low moral standards, no sense of statehood, and full of servility.

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Every time the Ming army was stationed in one place, a new business would flourish near the local area - stealing supplies from the station.

Sometimes the thief was caught by the Ming army, but he didn't find anything, so he let him go. If it was the former Qing army, who would care if they couldn't find anything, they would just deduct it and let the family pay money to ransom people. But the Ming army pays attention to evidence, not to mention that nothing is found, even if something is found, many times it is because these ordinary people are pitifully poor, so they are released. But the people who were put back not only continued to come back to steal, but also laughed at the stupidity of the Ming army. The Ming army sometimes deals with the adults when they catch them, and they put them directly when they catch the children, and sometimes they give them a piece of chocolate. As a result, many adults directly taught their children to steal the Ming army.

When the soldiers of the Ming army went out to visit the market, the apples were obviously five cents a catty, and some stall owners saw that they were wearing Ming army uniforms and speaking with a southern accent, and they immediately asked for two dimes and a catty. Although the salaries of the soldiers of the Ming army were not high, they were very rich compared to the people in the north. Many Ming soldiers also knew that it was not worth so much money, but seeing that the people who set up the stalls were pitifully poor, they didn't care about the two dimes, and often didn't bargain, so they bought it directly. However, when they went back the second time, they found that all the stall owners had asked them for two dimes a pound, and they could no longer buy apples for five cents a pound. And not just apples, almost everything, for the Ming soldiers multiplied several times.

These things go on and on. As long as the soldiers of the Ming army were dealing with the local people, they always had the feeling of "dealing with thieves and swindlers". The officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty always couldn't figure it out, when they first came here, the local people beat gongs and drums, ate pot pulp, and wanted to treat themselves as relatives. Now they are all doing this to themselves, what is going on? It seems that these troops haven't done anything to be sorry for the local people!

Later, after a long time, many Ming officers and soldiers pondered the way out. These people are abducted and deceived, not because they hate anyone, but because this is their way of life, and they have become accustomed to it.

Many officers of the Ming army lamented: What we inherited was a land where the whole people had fallen. - I used to think that it was just the bureaucracy and army of the Northern Qing Dynasty that were degenerate, but now after a long time, I realized that even the people had degenerated.

Nanming gradually understood that what they wanted to rebuild was not only the roads and bridges in the north, but also the spirit of the people in the north. Fortunately, the sealed iron cover had been lifted, and the sun was shining in. The mold that used to rely on the dark and damp inside will soon die. Under a normal, undistorted environment and system, the human mind will gradually return from distortion to normal.

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