Picturesque Rivers and Mountains in the Red Chamber

Chapter 271 Chapter 4.67 The military system of the Zhou Dynasty was quite complicated
Volume Four

4.67 The military system of the Zhou Dynasty was quite complicated
A few days passed in the blink of an eye. On October 25, a three-masted cruise ship docked steadily at the Wuchangfu pier. It was Zhou Yang who brought two girls, Zhao Qiying and Qingwen, here. He had already been in Daye for a few days, so it was time for him to take office anyway. I came here to pay a visit to my superiors - of course, it was just a courtesy visit and it didn't really need to be taken seriously.

The military system of the Great Zhou Dynasty was quite cumbersome. On the one hand, this was affected by the long-term suppression of warriors. On the other hand, the tragic consequences of overplaying "using civility to control military force" in the late Ming Dynasty also alerted Emperor Taizu of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Therefore, In many aspects such as the organization, management, and logistics of the army, it has adopted quite painful strategies.

Taking local guard posts as an example, according to their levels, the garrison can generally be divided into hundreds of households, thousands of households, (guard) commander's office and general military office. However, these levels are not strictly superior or inferior. relationship, but made different arrangements based on different local conditions.

Taking Wuchang Prefecture as an example, the nominal highest military officer is naturally the Wuchang Commander, but he is not the "Guard Commander". In addition to the Daye Qianhu Post, the Wuchang Prefecture garrison also has the directly subordinate Jiangxia (Fu Guo) Qianhu Post. Therefore, as well as the indispensable hundreds of households garrisoned in each county, these military establishments are both under the jurisdiction of the Wuchang commander, but they are not integrated into a guard, and there is no direct jurisdiction relationship between the two parties of "guard-thousand households".

If we have to make an analogy, this relationship is more similar to the modern "provincial military region" and "stationed XX troops", except that there is an additional transfer authority for logistics and military orders, and there is no other substantive connection; similarly, there is the commander-in-chief of the important place. The subordinates of soldiers are not "guards", but "thousand households". If there are other commanders nearby, there is no direct relationship between the two.

In the entire Great Zhou Dynasty, the only ones who could ensure the authority and strong jurisdiction over "my territory" were the general soldiers of the core towns and the four major border armies. The rest were basically this "I can't control you, you belong to me" approach. If a war breaks out, only their respective "responsibility for defending the territory" will arise. Unless superiors and subordinates send higher-level officials to coordinate and coordinate, they will each fight on their own.

This can indeed minimize the problem of "supporting troops and self-respect", but it is achieved at the expense of military organization and even combat effectiveness. The imperial court retains the final authority to integrate and dispatch. The problem is that once a war actually breaks out, the imperial court will send troops to integrate There will definitely be a delay in the speed, which is likely to cause serious problems.

Even more exaggerated, there are some very special circumstances. Jinling, as the former capital of the Zhou Dynasty, although it was not named a "living capital" like the previous Ming Dynasty, its importance is still self-evident. In order to maximize the To avoid the problem of others imitating the great grandfather to "start a family", the military system here is a mess.

As the capital of Jiangnan Province, Jinling only has permanent civilian officials, that is, the governor's office. The only regular troops stationed in the city are "Fubiao" who are directly subordinate to the governor. All surrounding counties have thousands of households, such as Jurong County, Liuhe County, etc. This is true, but Jinling does not even have a "commanding envoy", and all Qianhu offices are directly under the "Jiangnan Admiral".

The problem is that the Jiangnan Admiral is based in Anqing Prefecture, and can only manage the "western Jiangnan" areas such as Anqing, Chizhou, Huizhou, Ningguo, Luzhou, Fengyang, Xuzhou, etc. The eastern part is difficult to effectively manage due to distance problems, especially The two prefectures of Suzhou and Yangzhou are in a semi-"directly governed" state because of their wealth and prosperity. No matter the governor or the admiral, there are many problems that cannot be discussed.

So, what about Zhenjiang Prefecture, which is closest to Jinling Yingtian Prefecture?Can't it be settled here?Sorry, because the terrain is dangerous and the location is extremely important, there is a special commander of the "Zhenjiang General Army", and he is directly responsible to the Ministry of War and has nothing to do with the Jiangnan Admiral. It is also the "East Gate" of Jinling. Now Jiangnan will Completely "safe".

This is just talking about the middle and lower levels, the upper levels are even more troublesome.

On the one hand, deeply affected by the tragic situation of the Zhu family basically losing military power in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Guo family has always attached great importance to military power. The activities of the army in their own garrison are quite flexible. For example, Zhou Yang can directly send troops to wipe out the enemy without asking for instructions. The Ye family, however, has extremely strict jurisdiction over "exit" dispatches. Although daring to tamper is not "a crime even if you win," it is also very difficult to clean up.

On the other hand, the top military officials are nominally with the Ministry of War as the highest authority. This also allowed the Minister of War to regain the ancient title of "Da Sima", but also set up the "Fifth Army Governor's Office" as the core of military leadership in wartime. In peacetime, it is only responsible for The supervisory responsibilities have a very low sense of presence. They are more of a "temporary" unit for certain personnel. The two departments are responsible to the emperor respectively, and they are in an antagonistic relationship with each other.

By the way, when the official plot of the original novel "Red Mansions" begins, basically all the so-called "Eight Gongs" families have arrived at the Governor's Mansion of the Fifth Army, or in other words, they have all lost their real power. How many tricks are there in this, it is really not something Zhou Yang can do now. understandable.

Finally, as the saying goes, "War is about logistics." The most important logistics supply authority of the army has been arranged to be directly managed by the Ministry of War and coordinated by the Ministry of Household Affairs. Everyone knows the problem. In the feudal dynasty, it was the Ministry of Household Affairs that was in charge of money, grain and taxation. The Ministry of War wants When it comes to military supplies, they can only argue with each other, and the final authority lies with the emperor's "Holy Judge".

However, the final military dispatching power can only take effect after the emperor's imperial decree is confirmed. This "one daughter-in-law everywhere mother-in-law" jurisdiction method has indeed solved the "warlord" problem to the greatest extent, but it is also inherently accompanied by "low efficiency". For example, the "disarmament" issue brought up by Zhou Yang at the beginning, the two sides repeatedly argued and delayed for nearly half a year before it was officially started.Of course, Zhou Yang can't control these things for the time being.
"It is worthy of being known as the heart of the 'Throughway of Nine Provinces'. The prosperity here is not much worse than that of Jinling." On the second floor of the cruise ship, Zhao Qiying looked through the porthole at the busy dock and most of the Zhou family's soldiers and servants who had assembled on the dock. , with an expression full of admiration, "Brother Zhou, in such a prosperous place, the Snow Brand has just given up. Isn't it a pity?"

"It's a pity. You can't get a big share if you stay. The most profitable thing here is the grain business. It was divided up 800 years ago. Anyone who dares to interfere is tantamount to going against them. Then there is Yangzhou, the transit point for salt goods. The Bajia, Zhenjia, and the local local tigers all share their wealth. If you dare to interfere, you will fight them to death. What else can we do besides giving up?" Zhou Yang said helplessly, "However, at least there is a place to stay here, so we won't end up here. Also stay in an inn.

In this way, you and Qing Yatou will lead the people to follow the Xuezi manpower on the shore and go to the accommodation arranged in advance. I will take the Li brothers and some gifts and so on, and go directly to the commander's Yamen to report. Can we do it today? Let’s not talk about it for now, at least you have to register your number, even if you are queuing up, you have to let people know that you are coming. "

"Brother Zhou, don't worry, I will make arrangements." Zhao Qiying nodded, pulled the reluctant Qingwen to his side, and said with some worry this time, "But, if you want to go back, how should you find her? us?"

"I'll go directly to the service point left here by Xue Zihao and ask them to take me there." After Zhou Yang said with a smile, he waved his horse and took Li Xiong, Li Hu and ten more on ordinary horses. Kuai Ma's "cavalry" left the cruise ship, and official duties must be carried out as soon as he arrived. If he went to arrange accommodation first, people would think he was neglecting official duties.

Unexpectedly, he underestimated his own dignity. Originally, sending the invitation to the commander's office was just a formality. According to the usual practice, he had to wait at least two or three days before he could hope. He didn't want to just receive less than half a cup of tea after the invitation came in. Soon, a servant came over to send a message, asking him to quickly go to the main hall to pay his respects.

"Hahaha, I heard from Sir Alex a long time ago that there is another young talent in the Wu Xun lineage. Today I saw it and realized that it is true that 'famousness is not as good as meeting, and meeting is worse than being famous' in this world!" This made him even more excited. Unexpectedly, Luo Gang, the current commander of Wuchang, would personally greet him at the entrance of the lobby and even take the initiative to say hello.

"I have seen the commander in my humble position!" No matter what other people's attitude is, they must maintain their identity.

"Sir!" Luo Gang laughed and stepped forward to grab him, and walked towards the side hall with his arms, "You are a student personally recognized by Lord Chen of Qi State Palace, and you are also a disciple of Rongguo Palace; I had the honor to worship you at the beginning. Lord Ma’s subordinates in Duke Zhiguo’s mansion are all brothers, so what’s the point of being so polite!”

This seems to be right, but there seems to be something wrong with it.

The slogan "Eight Gongs are one" is correct. In theory, the disciples of each family of the Eight Gongs are also members of the same family. The problem is that even when Zhou Yang was in the capital, he had several drinking and spanking sessions with the disciples of each family. No one had ever introduced him to "disciples" from various prefectures. Even the one in front of him was the one whom Jia Zheng promised to help contact when he accepted Fu Shi.

Wait, Jia Zheng promised to help write a letter to Luo Gang to introduce him, but until now, Luo Gang has never mentioned Jia Zheng.
"Your Majesty, you are serious. Before I left the capital, I had the honor to visit my second uncle Guozheng. He had a very good impression of your Majesty and praised him very much." Zhou Yang entered the side hall and hurriedly bowed to see him. "It's a pity that the old man always likes him." Scholars, I have not seen him a few times."

"Is Mr. Jia the chief?" Luo Gang's expression became much colder. "I have never seen him. I just visited Ningguo Mansion many times to visit Envoy Jia Jiedu when I was in the capital."

"Huh?" Zhou Yang looked confused. What the hell is wrong with this?

(End of this chapter)