“……”

The entire council hall of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies was silent, and everyone fell into silence, carefully digesting the words that had just come out of the mouth of the national teacher.

Objectively and fairly, the Battle of Jingyan does not discuss issues such as the nature of the war, and only in terms of the composition of the soldiers and the background of the soldiers, there is a great similarity with the Anshi Rebellion of the Tang Dynasty.

The composition of the Yan army was mainly composed of Hu people (Mongols, Semu people) and Huhua Han'er in the north, and the soldiers were both guards who were highly similar to the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, as well as new conscripts under the recruitment system, as well as mercenaries such as Duoyan Sanwei. The Yan Army under Zhu Di is exactly the same as the "Yan Army (An Lushan Country No. Dayan)" during the Anshi Rebellion, but it can also be said to be almost the same.

And it is precisely because after the four-year war test, and precisely because many generals have realized the low combat effectiveness of the guards in the interior and the necessity of reforming the guard system, that the generals present can see it clearly.

The Wei system was first proposed by Zhang Chang, the head of the household department of the Yuan Dynasty, mainly referring to the government military system under the evolution of the Western Wei Dynasty, the Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the Ming Dynasty Taizu Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang established it as one of the basic systems of the Ming Dynasty. When Hongwu founded the country, it was stipulated that the thirteen commanders and envoys were under the jurisdiction of the five military governors in the center of the imperial court.

Regarding the system of guards, Lao Zhu boasted: "I raise millions of soldiers, and it doesn't cost the people a grain of rice." ”

Well, in fact, what Lao Zhu said is conservative, why not raise millions of soldiers? Why not just a grain of rice?

You must know that when Hongwu founded the country, there were a total of 491 guards, and there was basically no shortage of troops to eat empty salaries, which was a real army of three million!

Of course, there are two sides to everything, and the three million army looks scary, but if the military salary is paid according to the recruitment system, the Ming household cadres cannot afford to go bankrupt, and if these war-hardened soldiers are rashly dismantled, it will inevitably cause chaos in the world, so the tuntian system is actually a last resort.

Of course, Lao Zhu knew that the guards had been farming for a long time and had no combat effectiveness, and his own original words were very clear, "Today, the sea is quiet, the border is safe, if the soldiers sit and eat in the peasants, the peasants will suffer, not the art of long-term peace and stability, and he orders the world to guard the station, supervise the soldiers and plant, and unite several soldiers and farmers, and the country uses it to comfort."

To put it bluntly, the system of the guard is to find a way to feed these three million people without making trouble, and it is an extra harvest to fight a war.

In fact, Lao Zhu did make money, he raised soldiers without a grain of rice, and collected rice from the guard.

So who loses?

Of course, it was the emperors behind Lao Zhu.

The guard system is an expedient measure at the time of the founding of the country, and it is not at all the foundation of the world, even if no one moves it, it will not be maintained during the Jialong Wansan Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, when a large number of guards fled across the country, many guards were empty, and the border army was slightly better, only four or five percent. Therefore, in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the conscription troops represented by the "Qi Family Army", "Yu Family Army" and "Li Family Army" began to appear on the historical stage, and the next evolution of the recruitment system was the family system.

Jiang Xinghuo's remarks did not arouse opposition, because there are so many ills in the guard system that there are too many to count, and the combat effectiveness of the guards on the border is still relatively strong, but many guards in the interior are no different from peasants, and it is simply a joke to send a group of old, weak, sick and disabled people who have not been trained much and have no actual combat experience at all to the battlefield.

When the Ming Dynasty opened the country, the purpose of raising these three million guards was to maintain stability, but after the Battle of Jingjing, there was no need for this.

The reason is also very simple, and many health centers have been wiped out by the system.

You don't see the Texas camp that can accommodate hundreds of thousands of people, the big camp in front of the gate has not changed, but the soldiers have changed several times!

Li Jinglong threw 500,000 troops away in the Battle of Beiping, and 600,000 troops ran away in the Battle of Baigou River, where did these soldiers come from? It is not the guards recruited by Emperor Jianwen from all over the country.

Therefore, if there is this condition at present, then the reform of the health system is better than the early change.

After a long time, Tong'an Hou Huolihuozhen, who was born as a Mongolian Tatar official, took the lead in breaking the silence, looked at Jiang Xinghuo with burning eyes, and asked, "The national teacher said this, but he has already found a way to improve the ills of the guard?" ”

The other generals were also quite eager about this, don't get me wrong, they didn't really want to get an answer from Jiang Xinghuo's mouth to change Da Ming.

You can't expect these big and small military leaders who followed Zhu Di to rebel have any lofty ideals, what the generals of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies hope for is to get a military reform plan that they can accept from Jiang Xinghuo.

The military reform that is about to be carried out is where the vital interests of them and their supporters lie at stake.

"Jiang Mou talked to His Majesty about this before."

Jiang Xinghuo quietly changed his self-title, and replied confidently, his fingers lightly tapping on the desk, as if thinking about something important.

In fact, he didn't have this kind of thought, he had already thought about it, why did he need to think about it temporarily, but he had to hang his appetite when it was time to hang his appetite

In fact, when he was on the road, Jiang Xinghuo pondered the holy decree of Emperor Yongle, after all, Emperor Yongle should have thought about it for a long time, and after careful consideration, the first holy decree for him to return to Beijing was this, Jiang Xinghuo felt that it should not only be a hint to him, implying that as long as he was in military power, he should not be in a hurry, there were other things to do.

On the surface, it is naturally a firearms unit and a military rank system.

But Jiang Xinghuo thought about it a little and figured out another meaning, that is, military reform.

Yes, Emperor Yongle must have borrowed his mouth to announce the first draft of the military reform plan to the Governor's Office of the Five Armies.

Because the big and small military leaders in the army have their own factions, even Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu are no exception, so if Yao Guangxiao does not come forward, he, a theoretical outsider in the military circles, is actually the most suitable to do this.

In this way, even if the generals were dissatisfied and had great opposition, Emperor Yongle still had room to turn around.

"In that case, why don't the national teachers quickly come up with a solution?" Someone else stood up and reminded.

Hearing this, the generals nodded in agreement, obviously caring about matters related to their vital interests.

"Don't worry, Jiang was thinking about how to completely eliminate the shortcomings of the guard."

Jiang Xinghuo raised his eyes slightly, looked around and said: "Of course, changing the system of guards is by no means something that can be achieved overnight, but Jiang once told His Majesty that in order to change the system of guards, it is necessary to first establish a standing army that is not controlled by guards, and the number of people is about between 200,000 and 300,000."

"You generals may have heard of it, and that is - Jingying."

"How should this camp be structured, what does Your Majesty mean?"

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head and only said: "Your Majesty's decision is still unknown, but Jiang's opinion to Your Majesty is that it is composed of three major battalions, but these three battalions are not the one with the same name in the Hongwu period, but the five military battalions, the three thousand battalions and the Shenji battalion. ”

"The five military camps are the main field corps composed of elite cavalry and infantry selected and transferred by the Beijing Guards and the Ming Division."

"The 3,000 battalions are cavalry units composed of Tartar officers as the backbone, with heavy cavalry and light cavalry."

"The Shenji Battalion is a firearm-based unit, equipped with firearms, artillery, and hot air balloons."

"Of course, these are just Jiang someone's proposals, and we will only consider military reform after the assessment of the general rank and the conquest of Annan."

The generals were relieved when they heard this, although everyone called this national teacher an immortal, but after all, he looked younger, if he opened his mouth as soon as he came up, or made something shocking, it would not be good.

And this military reform plan, in fact, they have heard some rumors before, and now they have said it from Jiang Xinghuo himself, and combined with Emperor Yongle's "let the national teacher come to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies to personally talk about the firearms troops", they also vaguely realized something.

In fact, in the last class in the imperial prison, after Zhu Di accepted the impact of the new military concept, Zhu Di became interested in the firearms unit.

It was precisely because of Zhu Di's silent support that Zhu Gaoxu's purely firearms tax guard was established, and he also had the opportunity to go to Jiangnan to quell the rebellion and show his face.

The firearms unit may not be mature enough now, and there is no chance to prove that it can adapt to a high-intensity war, but Jiang Xinghuo's performance with the tax guards this time undoubtedly gave the firearms unit a large-scale army and a foundation.

After the observation group of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies came back, he reported the battle situation to Zhu Di in detail, and Zhu Di also had the idea of letting the firearms unit set up a "Shenji Battalion" separately according to Jiang Xinghuo's previous proposal, so he asked Jiang Xinghuo to come to the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies to talk about it.

Now it seems that the resistance of the noble and military ministers is not great.

After all, Jiang Xinghuo did not prayed to them with white teeth to give them the opportunity to form a separate army, but the tax guards performed accordingly, and Jiang Xinghuo could bring them benefits.

In other words, military reform is also part of the reform.

No matter what the generals think, if the military reform is really carried out according to Jiang Xinghuo's plan, then in the eyes of the outside world, the military of the Ming Dynasty is already on the side of the reform.

In addition, with the acceleration of the process of industrialization, the more Daming's goods are sold, the more funds will be invested in the steel industry and the chemical industry, which will improve the strength of firearms-related materials in a positive cycle.

Jiang Xinghuo told the generals about military theories, and did not describe these things that could not be seen or touched, because these things were not the most important thing to them.

The best part? Benefits, of course!

Jiang Xinghuo's lecture at the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies today can be said to be full of benefits to the generals, including not only the material benefits of the handicraft workshop of the cotton textile industry and the dividends of the follow-up industries, but also the spiritual benefits of the military rank system that he is about to talk about.

"Another thing to talk about is the rank system."

"The military ranks used by the whole army to distinguish between them are tentatively planned to start with the rank of general, and if the implementation effect is good, then the change of the rank of colonel and lieutenant will be carried out."

"The rank of generals is divided into generals, lieutenant generals, and major generals, and the system has nothing to do with the level of the title, the rights and responsibilities of the position, and is only used to mark the rank of the general."

The big and small military leaders of the Ming Dynasty gathered together, and they all listened carefully at this time, the reason why the military leaders were so enthusiastic was actually very understandable, because most of these powerful generals were Jing Nan Honors, they felt that they were stronger than the Hongwu Founding Lords, but many of the inherited Hongwu Founding Lords had higher titles than them, which made them very unconvinced, and there were still many people who were not capable and had no military exploits, but they all held positions in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies.

The general hierarchy system is undoubtedly a very good reform content for them, which can effectively reconstruct the chain of contempt of the Ming army generals, and identify it in a way similar to "clear pricing".

Whoever has the most credit, who ranks first, how fair!

Of course, fairness has always been relative, which is actually very uncomfortable for the Hongwu founding nobles here, such as Wu Gao, Marquis of Jiangyin, Wu Jie, Marquis of Anlu, Zhang Jie, Marquis of Fengxiang, and Li Zhuang, Marquis of Luancheng.

But when it comes to ranking generals, they have a Mao's military exploits?

No matter what these people thought, Jiang Xinghuo's words continued.

"Generals, lieutenant generals, and major generals, each level is divided into five stars, a total of fifteen grades, that is, one-star generals to five-star generals, lieutenant generals and major generals, and so on, the main reference standard is combat merit, and more ranks, not only take into account the needs of promotion, but also take into account the requirements of differentiated identification."

Yongle Jing is difficult to honor, naturally his mouth is crooked, but the Hongwu founding nobles are embarrassed.

They have no military exploits, and it would be really humiliating if the marquis gave him a one-star major general.

Of course, Jiang Xinghuo has always been good at gathering friends and fighting enemies.

There were no enemies in the governor's palace of the five armies.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the Hongwu founding nobles with unkind faces, and continued: "Since the rank system should also be combined with reality, in principle, the criteria for evaluating the rank of general are: the duke needs to be awarded a minimum of one star general, the marquis needs to be awarded a minimum of one star lieutenant general, and the earl needs to be awarded a minimum of one star major general. ”

As soon as these words came out, the faces of the founding fathers of Hongwu improved a little.

At least there is a bottom-up, although there will definitely be a gap because of the merits, but as long as it is not too far behind, then they can reluctantly accept it.

But soon, Jiang Xinghuo went on to say a few words: "But the judging criteria between generals and ranks cannot be measured simply by title, and the specific merits of both sides must be comprehensively considered, after all, in the army, combat merit is the fundamental basis for measuring status."

"Ahem." A young nobleman sitting in the corner couldn't help but cough lightly.

Everyone followed his voice and looked, but saw that the person was Xin'an Bo Zhang Fu.

His father Zhang Yu, as the three giants of the Yan Army on the same level as Zhu Neng and Qiu Fu, has undoubtedly died in battle, so although Zhang Fu, who is still young, is very cared for by these uncles, but after all, his qualifications are too shallow, and now he is a foil at the end of a crane in the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, and he has not said a word even from the beginning to the present.

Jiang Xinghuo finally noticed this young man who had no sense of existence.

Oh no, it's two young people who don't have much sense of existence, one is Xin'an Bo Zhang Fu, and the other is Xinningbo Tan Zhong (the son of Tan Yuan, the general of the Yan Army), all of whom are qualified to enter the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies at this age because of the light of their fathers who died in battle.

Tan Zhong scolded Zhang Fu with his hand, but the other party still stood up.

"Who is this?"

"In the next letter Amber Zhang Fu."

Jiang Xinghuo looked at this burly young general with a resolute face, and was slightly surprised.

It turned out to be Zhang Fu of the three expeditions to Annan!

This is the existence of the next generation of Ming Army in the future, and it is worth paying attention to.

Zhang Fu naturally didn't know what Jiang Xinghuo was thinking, arched his hand, and asked: "I have self-knowledge below, if it is according to the general rank system of the national teacher, then at a young age, the military merits will definitely be insufficient compared with the generals, and I can only rely on the earl to be rated as a one-star major general. But dare to ask the national teacher, how can he be promoted from a one-star major general to a five-star general? ”

"Five-star generals, they need to have incomparable contributions to the country, such as Xu and Chang when the founding of the country, and such as today's Zhu and Qiu, or General Zhang Yu, who are the princes of the country, and they may not necessarily be evaluated."

Well, Jiang Xinghuo didn't say a word, in fact, if you talk about "incomparable merits", General Li Jinglong, who sent 1.1 million troops to Zhu Di before and after, is the real first hero of the Jingjing, and it is definitely not too much to evaluate a five-star general.

Zhang Fu originally wanted to say something, but Tan Zhong kept tugging at his sleeve before he arched his hand and sat back.

However, although Zhang Fu's face was very calm, a trace of ambition had risen in his heart.

He is never willing to live in the shadow of his father, relying on the merits of his father, one day, he wants to prove himself, he wants to become a five-star general of the Ming Dynasty!

The generals asked some questions one after another, and Jiang Xinghuo answered them one by one.

"I don't know what new industries the national teacher plans to establish?"

"Naturally, there is, and in a few days, there will be relevant publications in the "Di Bao", please pay attention to it."

In this way, under the dual temptation of material and spiritual, the generals of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies finally made a 180-degree turn in their attitude towards Jiang Xinghuo.

"Although the national teacher can rest assured, let Annan agree to free trade, we will do our best."

"Yes, I am willing to support the general rank system of the national teacher!"

……

Seeing this, the corners of Jiang Xinghuo's mouth raised a faint arc, but his heart did not fluctuate.

None of these military leaders are fuel-efficient lamps, but it doesn't matter, his purpose has been achieved today.

Immediately, Jiang Xinghuo said a lot of high-sounding nonsense one after another, and finally lowered everyone's enthusiasm.

The generals of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies "welcomed" Jiang Xinghuo with knives, but they sent them off in the way of dispatching all of them, and even Jing'anhou, who had the worst attitude before, changed his face.

Although Zhu Neng's performance was not so obvious, he also got up and sent it to the door.

For Zhu Neng, Jiang Xinghuo's performance today greatly exceeded his expectations, and he was inspired by the simple explanation of "war is the continuation of the temple" that he had not finished talking about in the last conversation. After all, his status is not only a pure noble and military minister, but also one of the highest levels of the Ming Empire.

After understanding the logic of the new type of war and the reason for fighting, Zhu Neng also had his own more in-depth thinking about the military reform of the Beijing camp and the conquest of Annan.

Looking at Jiang Xinghuo, who was hugged out by the front and back, Liu Sheng, who was silently following behind his buttocks, although he could understand it intellectually, he still couldn't accept it emotionally. If you pretend to be forced to go, you can still go out like this, and Jiang Xinghuo is the first one in the establishment of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies for decades.

However, Liu Sheng is also very happy today, although the matter of the "Shenji Battalion" has not yet been finalized, the probability of success in the end has undoubtedly increased greatly, which means that he, a professional artillery officer, has a place to use, and there will be more room for promotion in the future.

Outside the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies.

"Master, where are you going next?" Zhu Gaoxu rode his sweaty BMW and followed behind Jiang Xinghuo's little gray horse.

The smile on Jiang Xinghuo's face gradually disappeared, and his expression became cold.

Temple struggles are never about playing house, it's a very serious matter!

"Go to the palace, I want to see who is fighting against the change."

PS: It's really uncomfortable today, and I'm sorry for being a little less, and I'll make it up tomorrow.

(End of chapter)