Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 148 Discussion on training the new army

The next day, Li Rusong arrived as promised.

"Admiral Li, please come in quickly." Zhang Xiao was already waiting at the door.

In the main hall, the hosts and guests were seated.

"Why is Admiral Li free to come to the humble residence today?" Zhang Xiao asked.

"I'm really sorry to say that I have to come and bother you on the day of rest. Zhang Shaoqing is now visiting the new Honglu Temple, and Li is also a hindsight. I heard that Honglu Temple is co-organizing the Queen Mother's birthday ceremony these days, and Zhang Shaoqing must be too. It’s quite busy.”

"It's true that I'm busy. Admiral Li doesn't know something. I'm really busy, but it's not a matter of coordination. I went into battle myself."

"Oh, why did Zhang Shaoqing personally perform the battle? Also, it's better not to mention the title of admiral. I have handed over the title of admiral now."

"General Li, Zhang played the instrument himself at the banquet and did not perform badly. The Queen Mother was quite satisfied and rewarded me. Lu Zhang, bring me the box of golden melon seeds."

Lu Zhang obeyed the order and quickly took out the box of golden melon seeds.

"Here, these are the golden melon seeds that the Queen Mother rewarded. It should have been a full box, but some were rewarded later. When I came on stage, the Queen Mother was so happy that she gave me all the remaining golden melon seeds. "

"Thank you, General Li, for the compliment."

"I have seen one of the Atlantic harps in the palace now. You can't play it with other instruments to achieve the same effect. There are two songs with words, one is used to add excitement to the opening of the childlike song. The other is General Li's song. You might appreciate the interest." Zhang Xiao said as he handed over the lyrics of the commander's military training song.

"That's not true. The main thing I was playing at that time was the Atlantic Qin that Matteo Ricci presented as a tribute. The court musicians had never seen this instrument. I was familiar with this instrument when I was in Nanyang, so I was asked to play it. .”

"Why are there so many musicians in the imperial court, and why do they bother you, Mr. Zhang, to perform on stage?"

"The lyrics are good, how about the music?"

"It's just a small trick. If the Queen Mother is happy, my position as the young minister of Honglu Temple will be secure."

"The imperial court wants to protect the overall situation of peace, and the commander-in-chief is following the order to practice new exercises. Huh? When will the imperial court practice new exercises? Why didn't Li know about it?" Li Rusong was shocked when he saw the first sentence.

"Well, let me sing a cappella for the general once. If I don't sing well, please forgive me, general." Zhang Xiao sang the song again. Anyway, the song was so familiar that changing the lyrics would have no effect.

"Thank you General Li."

"General Li, please don't misunderstand. This is just Zhang's private work. At that time, the Queen Mother asked Zhang to play another song. Zhang had an idea and played this song first. The lyrics were also a preliminary draft, not a final draft. General Li just took a look to see if there was anything wrong." Zhang Xiao explained.

"By the way, what kind of music did Mr. Zhang play at the birthday banquet? Can it be convenient for Li to listen to it?"

"Zhang has already handed the lyrics to Shengshang."

"Mr. Zhang is really talented. I have been fighting for so many years and never thought of this. It's a pity that you became a civilian official, otherwise I would definitely invite you to serve as a staff member in the army."

"It doesn't matter, the work that Honglu Temple is responsible for is also very important. Welcoming guests and sending them off, and observing etiquette. I also study more myself. I don't even know if the emperor will lose his etiquette one day."

"It's so true. Mr. Zhang is really versatile."

"The gun table means that the distance fired by each gun is different. The angle of each gun is different, the amount of ammunition is different, and the distance fired is different. So it is best to have a table to record By knowing these numbers, you can shoot more accurately when shooting. I heard that the Western Yi people have this method." General Li's question suddenly hit the key point, so Zhang Xiao had no choice but to explain it in this way, and by the way, he explained the concepts of parabola and gravity. Said it for a while.

"Li, please tell the truth and ask Mr. Zhang not to be angry. Your position as Shaoqing of Honglu Temple is still a bit inferior. Although I am a martial artist, I generally understand the setup of the imperial court. Honglu Temple and Hanlin The difference between the hospital and the hospital is not the slightest bit."

"Oh, that's it. Then I'll read on." Li Rusong then looked at the lyrics below.

"Mr. Zhang is open-minded, so Li won't say much. At present, the merit evaluation for the Korean War is still being processed. It doesn't matter if others don't know. Li knows how much Mr. Zhang's contribution is. If the merit is rewarded If the payment is less, Li will definitely help Mr. Li fight for it."

"Yeah, it's quite catchy. Does Your Majesty know the lyrics?"

"The lyrics are well written. Military law and discipline as well as the essentials of marching and combat are clearly listed. The organization of the troops is also explained. What is this artillery list?" Li Rusong asked.

"The lyrics of this song are really good. If there are no problems with His Majesty, Li will let this song be sung in the army. Mr. Zhang, I am afraid you have a plan in mind for this new exercise."

"We can't talk about planning. It's just that this time we entered the aid of North Korea. Although we won, it also exposed many problems in our army. General Li must know this better than me. So now if the imperial court can train a new central army, that would be the most A safe method. But now the imperial treasury is empty, and the investment in the army is far from enough. It is not easy to build an army that can fight."

"Yes, now the Beijing camp has begun to default on pay. Now Wu Weizhong's troops are still in North Korea, otherwise the military pay will be owed even more. I don't know where the Ministry of War got the money for this reward." Li Rusong said with emotion.

In Cining Palace, the originally clean and empty room only contained Buddhist scriptures, but now there are many more books.

"Queen Mother, according to your order, we have found all Zhang Xiao's books." Chen Ju said respectfully.

"Thank you for your hard work, Eunuch Chen. Just leave these books here in the Ai family."

Chen Ju said goodbye and left.

"Aunt Wu, I heard that Zhang Xiao's books were selling very well before. I didn't expect that people in the palace would also circulate them. I am a little ignorant. I have never read any of these books. But now I I don’t want to read these words anymore, so just read the beginning in the order of the books, and continue reading from whichever book you want to hear, or change to the next one and continue reading.”

"My slave obeys the order." Aunt Lu picked up the first "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and began to read. The Queen Mother just listened quietly.

In the imperial study room, the emperor read the lyrics of "The Commander's Military Training Song" written by Zhang Xiao several times, and then began to sing quietly along with the score above.

"Chen Ju, Chen Ju?" The emperor raised his head and did not see the familiar figure. "Your Majesty, Eunuch Chen has just gone to Cining Palace on errands and won't be back until a while." said the young eunuch serving next to him.

"Oh, yes, I was so busy that I forgot about this." The emperor put down the lyrics and picked up the memorials on the desk. He reviewed a few copies, but he always felt that he was absent-minded today. Feel.

"Your Majesty, the minister has returned from doing errands from Cining Palace." Chen Ju hurriedly returned to the imperial study.

"Has the letter for the Queen Mother been delivered?" the emperor asked.

"They're all delivered. All Zhang Xiao's works and books have been delivered."

"Why did the Queen Mother want to read his book even after meeting Zhang Xiao? Let's not talk about it for now. You see, I have ignored Zhang Xiao for a few days, and he can't wait to show off his talent. The lyrics of this song are You looked at it too, did you see anything?"

"This lyric may seem short, but it actually describes the basic appearance of training a new army. It seems that Zhang Xiao has many ideas after observing the war in North Korea."

"There are too many ideas. According to the lyrics, this new army is well-equipped and has strict military discipline. I just don't know how many people it will take to train the new army."

"Since Your Majesty also wants to ask about the new army, why not call Zhang Xiao to ask?"

"Don't be in a hurry, the Queen Mother's birthday banquet has just been held, and you have to give people some time. Let's do this. Send someone to send a message to Zhang Xiao, asking him to stop expressing his ambitions in poetry and carefully follow the regulations for the new army. List them out, I would like to see what other tricks he comes up with."

"The minister obeys the order."

In this way, Zhang Xiao, who had just finished discussing the matter with Li Rusong, soon received another order to work.

"Eunuch Wang, this is your wish. Can you please explain it in more detail? Your Majesty asked me to list out the charter of the new army and submit it to you. After reading it, your majesty will summon me? Regarding the charter of the new army, your majesty has something to do with it. I didn’t say anything more.” Zhang Xiao was making final confirmation with the father-in-law who delivered the order.

"It doesn't matter what you have in mind. What His Majesty means is that Zhang Shaoqing, you already have a plan in mind and have written out the lyrics, so you can polish up the drafted charter and submit it."

"Thank you very much, Eunuch Wang. Would you like Eunuch Wang to drink some tea?"

"No need, I have to go back quickly to restore His Majesty's life. Zhang Shaoqing can just stay." Eunuch Wang said a few polite words and left in a hurry.

Zhang Xiao sighed softly, but there was nothing he could do. The good and comfortable days had just begun and were about to end.

"Wenhua, it seems we are going to be busy again." Zhang Xiao said to Lu Zhang who was cleaning up the main hall.

"Congratulations to my boss for regaining His Majesty's favor." Lu Zhang said happily.

"Wenhua, please roughly find out the table of contents of the chapters related to the military system in the history books for reference."

"Students will do it right away." Lu Zhang promised.

Zhang Xiao also had a headache. He didn't have any ready-made strategies for building a new army. He could only combine the successful experience in history and consult authoritative people in the military to avoid making a joke.

At present, the Ming Dynasty actually does not have any serious enemies on land. The old rivals, the Mongols, are also continuing to decline. Although a small number of chieftains headed by Yang Yinglong in the south are unruly, they will not shake the foundation. As for the Hou Jin Kingdom that swept across Liaodong later, there is not even a shadow of it yet.

At that time, when Zhang Xiao used the spoiler method to deal with Japan, he also thought about whether to use this trick to deal with the Jurchens. But thinking about it later, it was really inappropriate. After all, the Toyotomi regime at that time was already in a raging fire. It looked lively but was actually full of crises. Zhang Xiao was just loosening a handful of soil on the shaky foundation of the Toyotomi regime at the right time. .

If the past events of Houjin's entrepreneurship were published now, it's hard to say how the Ming Dynasty would react. The Jurchens would definitely be in a state of excitement. The Jianzhou Ministry would probably raise troops on the spot, and other ministries would probably follow suit, scrambling to invade the Ming Dynasty. After all, although Nurhachi has won the battle, the Jianzhou Department is far from establishing hegemony in the Northeast. Especially the Yehe Department will definitely not succumb to the Jianzhou Department easily. When the time comes, the Yehe tribe will also compete for the destiny, and other tribes such as the Ula tribe will not be lonely. Who knows how many years of chaos the Northeast will be.

If we were to face the rising Jurchen tribe, troops trained according to the style of the new army in the late Qing Dynasty would be more than enough. The premise is that there must be enough money and food. According to the senior online writers, the army can be sent to Jiangnan to collect taxes. As for how to collect taxes, Zhang Xiao really can't imagine it. If it were so easy to collect taxes, it would not be a feudal autocratic country.

Putting aside those messy thoughts, Zhang Xiao picked up the military system of the Ming Dynasty and observed it carefully. He also slowly recalled the training methods of the Beiyang New Army in the late Qing Dynasty, and carefully wrote a memorial requesting the training of the new army.

Fortunately, after the Queen Mother's birthday banquet at Honglu Temple was completed, the entire Yamen was idle. Except for the staff on duty, everyone else was at home on standby. Zhang Xiao would go to Dian Mao every day and come back to write the training methods for the new army.

After several days of work, Zhang Xiaocai roughly completed the first draft. However, Zhang Xiao was really afraid that his words on paper were too shallow. So after sending the invitation, Zhang Xiao took the manuscript and rushed to Uncle Ning Yuan's house.

"Zhang Shaoqing, my dogs are quite busy with official duties these days, so you have to wait for a while. Can you let me see your manuscript?" Li Chengliang asked.

"That's what you wish for. Your Majesty also wants me to check with the senior generals in the army first, and then formally submit the document." Zhang Xiao said.

"Then I'll take a look at it first." Li Chengliang took the memorial manuscript and looked at it. I watched it with relish, but sometimes there was a look of confusion.

"Zhang Shaoqing, according to your approach, how many people will be trained in the new army at the beginning?"

"The plan is to train 5,000 to 10,000 people first. Later, we can use this as the basis to build an army of 50,000 to 100,000 people. Of course, this is just an idea of ​​Zhang's."

"One hundred thousand troops? This is going to replace the Beijing camp. Will the troops from the nine sides also have to replace them?" Li Chengliang was also a little surprised when he heard the number of one hundred thousand.

"Uncle Ning Yuan, not all the new armies are concentrated in the capital. New armies are also trained in important towns in various places. However, the essence of the new army must be guarding the important places in the capital."

"According to the organization and equipment you listed, if you want to form a new army of 10,000 people, the court will spend a lot of money. Even if the food and salary have been raised, these armies must be organized, especially the artillery and baggage. The army, they are all technical arms, and the quality requirements for the army are too high. Now even in the three major battalions of the Beijing Camp, many people cannot read and write. I am afraid that these big-headed soldiers will not be able to understand them at all. ." Li Chengliang said.

"So the new army will give priority to recruiting people who are literate and skilled in crafts. Military pay must be sufficient, and military schools must be established to improve the cultural quality of the army." Zhang Xiao said.

"Zhang Shaoqing, if you hand over this memorial like this, I'm afraid it will cause an uproar. I suggest you keep this one for yourself first, and just submit the regulations for organizing and training 10,000 new troops." Li Chengliang suggested. .

(End of this chapter)