At this moment, Emperor Chongzhen is the happiest day since he ascended the throne.
Since he came to the throne, he has been suffering from crises, internal and external troubles. There were few things that made him happy.
Most of the time, it makes him feel helpless.
In every platform meeting, there are a lot of things that cannot be implemented. He could only supervise and supervise frequently. After all, doing things requires conditions, and he knows the difficulties below.
Since he discovered and used Yang Fan, the situation has finally improved. He was surprised to find that no matter what happened, it would only be in Yang Fan's hands. It can be done quickly and well.
Although, it feels very risky every time and my heart is always in doubt. But the bet paid off every time.
As long as he made up his mind to Yang Fan, the results would not disappoint him every time.
"Yang Qing, you said that the Ming Dynasty had an army of millions and a population of 20 million. Why is the court so short of generals? Why can't the military examinations only select talents every three years? This makes me very confused."
Yang Fan hesitated a little. This question was difficult to answer and could easily offend people.
"Yang Qing, you can speak freely. There are no outsiders here today." Seeing that Yang Fan was worried, he comforted him.
"Your Majesty, the martial arts examination is too simple. It is far away from the battlefield. If you pass the martial arts examination, you will not be able to lead troops in combat."
Chongzhen nodded when he heard this, and the number one scholar in martial arts was usually directly awarded to the deputy commander-in-chief. But he didn't dare to let Wu Zhuangyuan lead the army. Those who have passed the martial arts examinations do still need training.
"I read the history books and found that there are two main sources of famous generals in the past dynasties."
"One is from the military, that is, he accumulated merits in the war step by step from a soldier, and was gradually promoted and finally became a general. For example, Yue Fei, Han Shizhong and others. They started from the lowest level of soldiers and became independent generals step by step. Their profound Understand what the military is about. Know the basic laws of war. So they can win the war."
Chongzhen nodded and agreed with Yang Fan's statement. It is true that many famous generals in the Ming Dynasty were trained in war.
"The other type is those who come from a family of generals. Their fathers and ancestors have led troops in battles for a long time. They have rich experience. These people have witnessed it since they were young, and were even brought along for training. They have been familiar with the army and war since they were young. Many of them have led troops. Experience is passed on from the elders. These experiences are very valuable and have been gained by generations of officers and soldiers with their lives and blood."
Chongzhen nodded, he could agree with this. What Yang Fan said was very pertinent.
"The martial arts exam first tests policy theory, which is the art of military strategy. Then it tests archery and horse shooting, which mainly tests strength such as archery, horse riding, and weightlifting. The exam is divided into three sessions: ninth, twelfth, and fifteenth day according to content: The first test is horse archery. ; The second test is infantry shooting; the third test is strategic theory, which is military theory. The main sources of candidates are martial arts students and "innocent" people recommended by officials from various places who are familiar with the art of war, are brave, resourceful, and highly skilled in martial arts."
"However, these are too far away from the army and the battlefield. A qualified general needs to know a lot of professional knowledge. This knowledge is not available in the martial arts examination. For example, a general must understand the terrain, which is extremely important to victory or defeat. He must also understand the weather. Climate, wind, frost, rain, snow, severe cold and heat will all have an impact on war. If you are a navy and don't understand weather, a storm will capsize your ship."
"Talents who are trained according to the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty. They are neither fighting talents nor military talents. They are neither technical talents nor command talents. They are people who are good at horseback riding and archery, can lift heavy objects, and have strong strength. Such a person cannot be a general. The best he can do is be a junior officer."
Chongzhen listened with interest and continued to ask: "What does Yang Qing think we should learn in martial arts?"
"If your Majesty established martial arts for the purpose of selecting officers, I think you should at least study the following subjects. Tactics, military system, weapons, fortification, transportation, topography, finance and economics, military medicine, and chariot and horsemanship. , firearms, shipbuilding, meteorology, baggage science, cartography and other disciplines. These knowledge are all necessary to lead troops in combat."
This was the first time Chongzhen heard that a general had to learn so much knowledge. He didn't quite understand what these knowledges were.
"Yang Qing, can you briefly explain what these subjects are?"
"Your Majesty, tactics can be understood as the knowledge of how to fight. Military science is the knowledge of army formation and deployment of arms. Ordnance science is naturally the knowledge of how to use various weapons and how to coordinate them. Fortification science is mainly the study of cities and fortifications, The knowledge of how to build a fort, and the methods of attack and defense. …"
After hearing this, Chongzhen remained indifferent for a long time before sighing and saying: "I see that Yang Qing will win every battle. I thought that fighting is very simple. It turns out there are so many words in it."
"Your Majesty, these things must be understood. But these dogmas are dead, but people are alive. The army is composed of thousands of officers and soldiers. The so-called iron-clad camp and flowing soldiers. Talents are the core of the army. Soul. Many times, a general must always understand the ideological activities and trends of his subordinate officers and soldiers. Otherwise, problems will easily arise."
"The army is a violent institution, and military law is strict. The first priority of military law is to prevent soldiers from escaping. People become soldiers just to eat food and receive military pay. Their purpose is not to die in battle. The purpose is to support their families. This is the true thinking of soldiers. .If the soldiers go into battle and then disperse, everything will be over."
Chongzhen felt that what Yang Fan said was reasonable. If he thought about it from his perspective, being a soldier was a profession. No one wants to gamble with his life. Moreover, those who are killed or disabled in battle will inevitably be kicked out of the army. At that time, survival and supporting their families will become problems.
Hearing what Yang Fan said, Chongzhen also felt very troubled. How to prevent officers and soldiers from escaping in battle is a big problem.
"Yang Qing, how did you prevent this? I see that your army has never deserted. How did you do it?"
"Your Majesty, this problem is very complicated. There are different ways to deal with different situations. Your Majesty, have you heard of the Erba Law?"
Chongzhen shook his head and said: "I have never heard of it, but I would like to hear the details."
"Out of ten soldiers, two are brave. The remaining eight follow the crowd. When fighting, the brave will rush forward. The rest will quietly and unnoticed Yes, secretly slow down the pace. In this way, you can distance yourself from the brave ones. The result is that the brave people rush into the enemy formation, are outnumbered, and all die in battle. The remaining cowardly people will disperse in a rush. There will be a fight. The battle was lost.”
Chongzhen took a breath of cold air. For the first time, he knew that the low-level soldiers could be so cunning.
"Yang Qing, what should we do?" Chongzhen was dumbfounded, how could he fight this battle.
During the Tianqi years, the Ming Dynasty and Jiannu fought in the field and were defeated in every battle. This must be the reason.
The generals of the Ming Dynasty relied on a small number of servants to fight their wars. Isn’t it just this 28 rule? All the servants were dead, and the rest all ran away.
"Form the infantry into a military formation, line up neatly, and monitor the front and rear. If a person breaks away from the team, he will be discovered immediately. Implement the responsibility of mutual supervision of the front, rear, left, and right, and firmly fix the people in rows of military formations. No matter who it is, Those who cower and those who turn around and run away are all responsible for surveillance. All are responsible for executing him on the spot. This makes the brave cannot advance and the coward cannot retreat. Everyone must fight forward to survive."
Chongzhen suddenly realized and said: "It turns out that the purpose of forming military formations in battle is to prevent soldiers from escaping and not contributing."
He thought to himself, this is indeed the truth. If everyone has run away, why fight?
