On April 22, the sixth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, on the south bank of Xiaoling River in western Liaoning.
When the sky was dim and bright, there was a scene of solemn killing outside the Ming army camp in the north of Songshan City.
The athletes of western Liaoning, the warriors of Jizhen, and the servants of generals. Under various banners, they were already standing in the open space outside the camp. The soldiers and armor are neatly arranged, and the swords and guns are cold.
They are an elite force that Yuan Chonghuan, Zhao Lijiao, He Kegang, Zu Dashou and others spent five or six years and more than 20 million in military pay, as well as all their loyalty and conscience to create... Oh, yes , and also invested in 22 thousand households with a total of more than 2 million acres of cultivated land to support their families and soldiers.
Moreover, the emperor and courtiers of the Ming Dynasty gave these warlords enough trust. They neither sent eunuchs to supervise the army, nor did they have many bullets to expose their crimes of embezzling military pay and stealing military rations... Of course, This is also because Yuan Chonghuan, Zhao Lejiao, and He Kegang have good moral conduct and are quite reliable in training troops and farming.
Of course, Zu Dashou couldn't compare to the three of them, but after experiencing the heroic charge of Zhu Youjian, the first warrior of the Ming Dynasty, in the Battle of Tangzhishan, the Zu family's generals began to work harder. Since Zhu Youjian is so fierce, Hou Jin seems to have little chance to replace him. Even if he can survive, the situation will be like that of Xixia. The position of the ancestral general is obvious - he will guard Liaoxi for the rest of his life. If you want to defend the world, of course you must have strength.
Therefore, Zu Dashou, like Yuan Chonghuan, Zhao Lejiao, and He Kegang, worked hard to accumulate his own military strength!
And the emperor Zhu Youjian is also the most knowledgeable military commander they, the generals on the western Liaoning front line, have ever encountered. Emperor Tianqi and Emperor Wanli are simply blind in the military when compared with Zhu Youjian! Zhu Youjian's military ability, in the eyes of experts such as Zu Dashou, Zhao Lijiao, and He Kegang, has surpassed that of Dongli Xima, that is, Qi Jiguang and Qi Shaobao can compare with him!
When a military strategist of this caliber becomes the emperor, of course the generals in Liao Town can freely train their troops! Not only would Zhu Youjian not hold them back, but he would not let others tie their hands and feet. He could also give them military guidance and correct many of their and Yuan Chonghuan's military deployment, equipment, training, and organization problems. mistake.
What surprised these Liao Town generals the most was that Zhu Youjian also proposed a solution that was acceptable to all parties - the Jia Ding Qian system, which had almost become a stubborn problem that weakened the combat effectiveness of the Ming army, but did not know how to change it. Hundred-household system.
Zhu Youjian gave the Liaoxi corridor and Liaoxi mountainous area, and the Tuntian Qianhu and Tuntian Baihu institutes developed by Ji Liao generals themselves, to the third general and sixth deputy general of the Ji Liao army and some of the following generals, allowing them to Use the land and farming households of these thousands of households to support their own servants.
Because on the one hand, Ji Liao generals can use part of their millions of food and salary for investment (this is actually corruption); on the other hand, there are more than two million Liaodong refugees living in difficulties in the customs, and conservative discrimination (refugees are always looked down upon) Ah), all longed to return to their hometowns in Liaodong and Liaoxi, so Jiliao generals could easily recruit to farm households. Therefore, the conditions of farming in the Western Liaoning Corridor and the mountainous areas of Western Liaoning were much better than those in Yanshan and Daning. By the fifth and sixth year of Chongzhen, the 22 thousand-household stations in Western Liaoning had already made a profit and could be used to support the generals of Jiliao. Servant.
However, Zhu Youjian would not let these Jiliao generals allocate their land (developed with public funds) to their servants as work fields in vain... He gave the Jiliao army's third general and sixth deputy general The most tempting flatbread! They were promised to occupy the same amount of land in the recovered territories in western Liaoning and eastern Liaoning as their own land, and they were also allowed to possess 22 "households for thousands of households" in western Liaoning for generations.
Of course, the generals of Zhu Youjian's direct army can also receive the same treatment - they will be granted the title of hereditary military households and encircle the land of honor in the newly recovered land!
Unlike the traitor who likes to spend money to reward people and hope that the heroes who overcome difficulties will become Nanjing citizens, Zhu Youjian likes to grant the meritorious officials fiefdoms to thousands of households and hundreds of households, turning them into small feudal lords... This is basically the approach of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang. The difference is that Zhu Yuanzhang implemented a "fuzzy feudalism" and did not grant the Qianhusuo and Baihusuo to a group of old brothers. Instead, he allowed their descendants to inherit the official positions of the guard station hereditary.
This kind of feudal law has the benefits of feudalism, but does not have the responsibilities of feudalism. Therefore, after one generation, hundreds of guards will basically lose their combat effectiveness.
If Zhu Yuanzhang had given over a thousand thousand households and more than ten thousand hundred households under several hundred guards to his old brothers, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army might have been maintained for several more generations!
In Zhu Youjian's case, whether he was a knight in front of the tent or a servant of Ji Liao, he was now a vigorous and good warrior of the first generation of feudalism.
Moreover, if Ji Liao generals have enough land and farm households to share with their servants, they will of course be able to spend less on military pay and less space, and they will also be able to provide adequate pay to the soldiers below - Yuan Chonghuan, Zhao Lejiao, He Kegang, Zu Dashou and the others are now idealistic warlords and bureaucrats. Before they can achieve the goal of enclosing land by becoming marquises, prime ministers, etc., they must of course put more effort into their armed forces.
Therefore, the 62,000 Jiliao soldiers that were presented in front of Zhu Youjian on April 22, the sixth year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, still looked quite similar.
These 62,000 Jiliao soldiers belong to the first governor, the third general, and the sixth deputy general. Unlike Zhu Youjian's direct lineage armies such as Zhangqian and Dianqian, which have strict command and clear upper and lower systems, the Jiliao Army, like most Ming armies, distributes military power to senior officials such as the governor, general, and deputy generals—— Originally, even the participants and guerrillas could share part of the military power. Later, after several rectifications by Yuan Chonghuan, the military power was finally concentrated in the hands of ten senior officials, including the first governor, the third general, and the sixth deputy general.
However, the number of soldiers controlled by these ten senior military officers varies. Generally speaking, the number of the third generals is more, and the number of the sixth deputy generals is less. The number of the governor-general Yuan Chonghuan's supervisors is exactly 6200, which is an average number. .
The number of these ten military officers dispatched was reported to Zhu Youjian yesterday - it was not reported casually, it was really counted!
The officers and soldiers of the guard regiment brought by Zhu Youjian all know how to count. Now they are scattered to count. They must not only count, but also record everyone's name, place of origin, official title, position and salary!
All must be registered!
Moreover, the officers and soldiers of these guards would also convey Zhu Youjian's imperial edict while recording!
"Don't be afraid of death! Long Live the Lord has prepared the pension and coffin. Please be generous and generous. The starting price of the pension is 200 taels..."
"Long live Lord, Governor Yuan, and all the generals and lieutenants, will join you in crossing the river to kill the enemy! Long live people are not afraid of death, so what are you afraid of?"
"Long live the Lord's decree. Anyone who retreats without orders will be killed without mercy, regardless of his official position!"
"In today's battle, Long Live Lord will personally supervise the formation and take credit for destroying the enemy's formation, not counting the heads. You must not mess up the formation just to cut off people's heads..."
OK, we have the money for the pension and the coffin to hold the body!
Moreover, Long live the Lord brought a group of governors, generals, and lieutenants across the river together... neatly, not a few of them, everyone lives and dies together!
If Long Live Lord takes this responsibility, the top soldiers below are still afraid of death, so why do they get military pay!
"Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories! Ten thousand victories for the Ming Dynasty, long live our emperor..."
As soon as the points were counted, the troops whose morale was originally low (they were afraid of slave thieves!) began to cheer!
The cheers of 62,000 people were truly earth-shattering!
When the soldiers started cheering, Yuan Chonghuan, Zhao Lejiao, He Kegang, and Zu Dashou were at an artillery position by the Xiaoling River used to cover the crossing of the river, trying to persuade Zhu Youjian who wanted to take the lead.
"Long live Lord, you are the Lord of ten thousand chariots, how can you lead the battle? If you are the first to cross the river, what do you want me to do?"
"Yes, long live my lord, let me lead the battle. You can supervise the battle on the south bank of Xiaoling River!"
"Long live my lord, I am willing to invite you to fight..."
The three generals are all asking for a fight, scrambling to be the first to cross the river!
However, Zhu Youjian's eyes fell on the face of Yuan Chonghuan, Governor of Jiliao, "Governor Yuan, do you think I should take the lead?"
Of course Yuan Chonghuan shook his head, "Long live my Lord, how can you take the lead? You are the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty! I am willing to take the lead for the Emperor!"
Zhu Youjian suddenly nodded: "Okay! Governor Yuan, the first battle is yours... Hurry up and mobilize the governor's standards and board the boat to cross the river immediately! I will sing a song to march for the governor!"
Yuan Chonghuan was stunned. He was just talking... He is the governor! How could the Governor take the lead?
He quickly winked at his confidant General He Kegang, hoping that the latter would challenge him again, but Zhu Youjian had already started singing!
"The wind is rustling and the water is cold. Once the governor is gone, he will never return..."
