Chapter 5 Preparing to Practice with New Troops

  In the Wenhua Hall, Chongzhen sat on the dragon chair, his face expressionless.

  A dry eunuch's voice rang out.

  "Xunfu Xuanfu Right Capital Governor Qin Shiwen reported: The inserted Han children are the Tuerdun and Haren tribes under the jurisdiction of Ha La Shen, who plotted to offend the border..."

  The eunuch's voice was neither fast nor slow, and came slowly, if it weren't for the faint sharpness mixed in his tone, you would hardly imagine that a eunuch was reading aloud.

  Yang Reform only felt dizzy, just one afternoon, and already felt dizzy and confused. The words in this memorial were really too difficult to understand, profound, and obscure. He shook his head and asked: "Wait a minute, where is the Kill Hu Bao? Where is the Guihua City? And what is that Qi'er Khan?"

  Several university scholars in the cabinet looked at each other, none of them knew how to respond to the emperor's words.

  Yang Reform shook his head and said, "Where is the map? Hang the big map in front of me, so I can see where that place called Guihua City is and where Huhu Fortress is."

  The cabinet ministers hastily called for a map and hurriedly hung it on the pillar of the Wenhua Hall.

  Yang looked at the edge of the map and saw that although it was rough and not very accurate, he had a general idea of where it was. It was absolutely handmade. After some thought, he estimated that it was probably in what is now Shanxi Datong to Hohhot in Inner Mongolia.

  "How can Mongolia, such a useless thing, rob my great Ming dynasty? What do you gentlemen think and have to say about this?" Yang Gaoliang was speechless. Even Mongolia, that useless thing, could rob his own home, it's really leaving people speechless. It's indeed true that there is no worst, only more worse, purely comparing the worst.

  The cabinet ministers all remained silent. No one knew what to do, organize a large army to fight back? First, there was no money, second, there were no people, no money need not be said, no people, the defeat of Guangning had exhausted all the elite troops that could be deployed by the Ming dynasty. It's only been a few years, and there are no longer any deployable imperial troops available.

  It seems that the cabinet ministers have no good way out, and they all remain silent. Yang Reform sighed and said: "This will be suspended here for now. Next topic, remember to use simple vernacular to explain things as clearly and simply as possible, don't always make things so complicated, it's hurting my head!"

  Yang reform supported his forehead, looked at the complex traditional Chinese characters, for a 21st-century otaku born and raised in new China under the red flag, it was indeed an extremely painful thing.

  The eunuch in charge of reading out the imperial edict continued: "The Minister of Revenue, Liu Dingqi, has impeached Grand Secretary Huang Li."

  Yang Reform was a bit dizzy, what is the head of this household department? Who is this university scholar Huang Li Ji? It seems that I don't know him either! However, under the Minister, it seems to be the Deputy Minister, and under the Deputy Minister is the Assistant Minister, and only then should it be the Head of the Department. This seems to have differed by several levels, hehe, interesting, from the department level to the ministerial level, quite bold. Forget it, since no one understands, let's skip it.

  Yang Reform waved his hand, and the ministers in the cabinet breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that this meant the emperor would not discuss the matter further. Yang Reform did not know that among them was Huang Li Ji, who had impeached him on the memorial.

  Next, for example, what is released is Zhai Zhen's general preparation path, and his official position is restored.

  Yang said with a headache: "You guys in the cabinet think about this problem yourself, I'll give you three days to finish it. If there are differing opinions, just vote on it, and the minority will obey the majority, got it?"

  As for this question, Yang has no impression at all.

  "We understand." A group of high-ranking officials expressed their full approval of the emperor's delegation of power.

  "Next." Yang Reform waved his hand again.

  After an entire morning, Yang felt a bit like dying, but still persisted, knowing that it was one of his first times and he wasn't very familiar with it, so he slowly got used to it.

  Studying military tactics with Sun Chengzong, according to Yang's reformed teachings, there really isn't much to learn.

  Yang Reform thought that he was also from the 21st century, and military tactics were nothing but rubbish in his eyes. In Yang Reform's view, the key to winning a battle lay in how to deliver more attacking power onto the enemy's body.

  No matter how advanced the military strategy is, it's useless without sufficient strength.

  Sun Chengzong also sighed with admiration for this emperor student. What a genius, unfortunately he is an emperor. Otherwise, galloping on the battlefield, he would be a famous general who could make his name known for centuries.

  "Master Sun, I've roughly gone through these military books and listened to your explanations. I have a general idea in my mind now," said Yang Reform.

  "Oh, Your Majesty, what insight do you have?" Sun Chengzong asked.

  "Master Sun, in my opinion, the key factors that enable an army to win battles are threefold: discipline, willpower, and organization. These three elements share a common goal, which is to inflict more damage on the enemy until they collapse." Yang Reform was boldly using his future perspective to deceive Sun Chongzong, what Yang Reform wanted was to quickly form a new army, rather than learning any military tactics from Sun Chongzong. Properly studying military tactics would take at least ten or eight years, but unfortunately, the wild boar skin would be entering the pass in the second year of Chongzhen's reign, and there was no time to wait.

  "Your Majesty, what is your view?" Sun Chengzong asked with a hint of puzzlement and a serious tone.

  "These three elements form a perfect combination, the purpose is to deliver the lethality of the army to the enemy. Let's talk about organization first, ten ordinary soldiers are managed by a small flag, five small flags have one general flag on top, the general flag has a hundred households, the hundred households have a thousand households, and the thousand households have a commander-in-chief. This is the organization, without organization, no army can be called an army."

  "Discipline is a matter of life and death for an army. The good or bad discipline of an army directly affects its combat effectiveness. For example, the Yue Family Army had extremely strong discipline, they would rather sleep on the streets than enter civilians' homes. Another example is General Qi's army in our dynasty, which could stand still in the rain for one or two hours without moving. Their discipline was very strong, and this strong discipline allowed them to forget everything on the battlefield except for the word 'discipline', and they would still form ranks and fight according to regulations even under the enemy's cavalry charge. They only moved forward, and their combat effectiveness was also extremely strong. For example, setting up camp, defending a city, and launching a charge are all manifestations of discipline, which can be seen as military discipline."

  "The will to fight, the combat effectiveness of an army depends on the release of fighting spirit. Even if it is a very strong army, without a strong fighting spirit, there is not much combat effectiveness. The strongest will is faith, willing to sacrifice voluntarily for certain beliefs and convictions, such as defending one's home country. This kind of willpower is the strongest. Next comes material wealth, such as salary, bonuses, honors, promotions, these are all means to enhance combat morale. A strong fighting spirit can guarantee that an army will continue to fight even when it has only one person left. With these three elements, this army is already a formidable force. If equipped with sufficient lethal weapons, it will be an invincible and unbeatable powerful army..."

  ……

  Sun Chengzong fell silent for a while before saying, "Your Majesty is indeed a genius, with such insights into military strategy. It's truly embarrassing for an old minister like myself, as I have nothing left to teach you." Sun Chengzong was also feeling quite depressed - the Emperor had only read military books for a few days, yet he seemed more skilled than himself after decades of reading. How did this Emperor suddenly become so formidable?

  "Master Sun, I am preparing a new army, but there is no suitable candidate, so I would like to ask Master Sun for help."

  "A new army? Does Your Majesty think that the current army is no longer usable?"

  "Master Sun, don't you think that now there is still a Weisuo army with combat effectiveness?"

  "Hmm! This..." Sun Chengzong was originally a scholar, but having been in the military for a long time, he had some understanding of the current Ming dynasty's various garrison troops. As for which army still had strong combat effectiveness, even Sun Chengzong himself did not believe it.

  "Master Sun, the Ming dynasty is already on the verge of collapse, and the military power of the guards is almost non-existent. Therefore, training a new army can no longer be delayed. Only in this way can we undertake the heavy responsibility of defending our great Ming dynasty. What do you think, Master Sun?"

  "Alas, Your Majesty, I will do my best. You must have some new ideas for the new army, what instructions do you have to give?" Sun Chengzong and Yang Reform had a long conversation, naturally knowing that the Emperor had many of his own views on training troops, so he asked first if there were any places where Yang Reform's new ideas needed to be followed.

  "Here, Master Sun, this is something I've written over the past few days based on some insights. Take a look, Master Sun." Yang Reform handed a thin little booklet to Sun Chengzong.

  "What's this?" Sun Chengzong flipped through the small booklet, the cover page read "New Soldier Drill Manual".

  "This is what I have gained recently, and I wrote it down to compile this second volume. Master Sun, please take a look and see if there's anything inappropriate. Also, if new troops are recruited, please train them according to the content of this book." The little booklet Yang gave was based on his impression of military training and what he had learned over the years. It basically consisted of increasing physical training, eating meat every day, intense training, formation drills, standing at attention, marching, and after one or two months, engaging in hand-to-hand combat, weapons training, and finally, actual combat exercises. In about half a year's time, one could become a qualified soldier."

  Generally speaking, it's quite rough and there is almost just an outline, a few words of chat.

  Sun Chengzong initially frowned when he started reading, but as he read on, his expression changed to one of growing shock. This was clearly a masterpiece that had gathered the essence of all the great military strategists throughout history. Although it was somewhat crude and simple, it was absolutely practical. He never expected the Emperor to have such talent, truly a blessing from heaven for the Great Ming Dynasty!

  Sun Chengzong was getting more and more excited, and he even excitedly grabbed the sleeve of Yang's garment, saying: "Your Majesty is truly a genius, truly blessed by heaven to our great Ming dynasty. With this little book, the new army trained by Your Majesty will surely be an invincible and unbeatable force."

  Yang Reform looked at Sun Chengzong and almost saw little stars in his eyes, that kind of worship feeling, which made Yang Reform feel very good, the feeling of being worshipped, still a historical celebrity.

  Sun Chengzong had no idea how much he had offended the emperor by pulling his clothes.

  "Master Sun, don't be in a hurry to leave, I still have some questions for Master Sun." Sun Chengzong was already eager to leave, but Yang Guifei seemed to have more questions for him.

  "Your Majesty, is there anything else you'd like to ask me?" Sun Chengzong just wanted to quickly get that proofread book.

  "Master Sun, what's your view on this new army recruitment?"

  "Huh, new army recruitment? Isn't the emperor drafting elite troops from each of the Imperial Guards?" Sun Chengzong's idea was good, directly drafting elites from each of the Imperial Guards, so the trained soldiers would naturally be the cream of the crop.

  "Master Sun, I think it's best if the new army is made up of peasants who haven't been tainted by the rotten atmosphere of the Wei military."

  "Your Majesty, is this why? Can't we even spare a few thousand men from the millions of troops in the Great Ming Empire?"

  "Master Sun, I don't think so. I believe that mobilizing the elite troops of the Wei state would indeed lead to great achievements in a short period of time. However, Master Sun, don't you think that natural disasters and man-made calamities have been occurring more frequently over the past few years?"

  "Your Majesty, what does this natural disaster and man-made calamity have to do with the new recruits?" Sun Chengzong was also perplexed.

  "Master Sun, I plan to recruit soldiers in the disaster-stricken area. This way, some young people who are not willing to wait for death will be drawn out of that place, and the possibility of rebellion in that place will be reduced. Moreover, Master Sun also knows the effect of disaster relief. However, if several thousand people receive military pay, I think it will be easier for the people in that place to survive. What does Master Sun think?"

  Sun Chengzong nodded in agreement, clapping his hands: "Excellent! Your Majesty, this way, those who were planning to rebel due to hunger will lose momentum and ability without the participation of adult males. If we add your military salary on top of that, if it's just a few thousand people per state or county, relying solely on military salary, it can basically quell the rebellion! Your Majesty, this is indeed a brilliant move. Moreover, these refugees naturally have lower requirements than the elite troops and are easier to train! They receive the emperor's assistance, how can they not give their lives for you? You truly are a genius. Good idea." Sun Chengzong thought this method was too clever, it could reduce the possibility of rebellion while gaining a batch of loyal soldiers, killing two birds with one stone.