After the last counter-insurgency war, the military structure of the Song Army's Jinghu Theater had undergone considerable changes and was mainly divided into two parts.
One part is the Forbidden Army from the central government. Zhou Yun, the commander of the Guard Infantry Division, led 15,000 soldiers of the Guard Infantry Division to station in the Jiujiang area, replacing Qi Fang's original position.
Of course, this was not what Zhao Hao wanted, but it was an emergency measure out of necessity. After the defeat, the Jinghu Theater was in short supply of troops, so he had no choice but to let the Guard Infantry Division take over, responsible for monitoring and guarding the peasant army on Jiangnan West Road.
The other part is the more than 40,000 troops composed of the original remnants of Tian Shizhong, Wu Gong and the 20,000 troops brought by Yao Zhong himself. This part of the army is mainly stationed in Xiangyang and is responsible for guarding the Henan Corps of the Ming Army in Henan.
But in this way, the defense of the Ezhou area will be empty, and the military strength to suppress the peasant army from the direction of Hanyang will not be enough.
If the peasant army suddenly chooses to break through from this direction, it can break through the Hanyang defense line in one fell swoop and move north to Xiangyang, threatening the rear of the most important defense area in the Southern Song Dynasty.
That would be too dangerous.
Therefore, after the political stability of the Southern Song Dynasty was relatively stable, and the 80,000-man recruitment plan was in its later stages, the Privy Council began to send the 30,000 troops originally planned to supplement Zhao Goudian's former division to Ezhou to rebuild the Ezhou army and try to regain control of the Jiangnan West Road area.
In order to ensure that this army obeys orders and does not mess up, 60% of this army's composition from soldiers to officers are newly recruited. Many of the officers are recruited through the Special Forces Military Examination and civilian selection. Come.
The Privy Council believed that this force was very elite, very brave, and equipped with good equipment.
Of course, the generals who command the troops still have to use experienced people. The Privy Council selected them and selected Wang Shun, the son of Wang De, one of the few famous generals under Zhang Jun who was really good at using troops.
Wang Shun followed Wang De and lived in the army all year round. He followed Wang De through life and death several times and made military exploits. He was famous for his bravery and good fighting skills. Therefore, he was appointed as the commander of the Ezhou army and led the army to station in Ezhou along the Yangtze River.
In addition, the Infantry Division of the Guards was also increased by 15,000 troops, restoring its strength to 30,000 people. So in the second half of the fourth year of Hongwu, the army in the Jinghu Theater of the Southern Song Dynasty basically returned to its pre-war status, with full strength. . .
However, since most of them were new soldiers and the combat-effective troops were mainly concentrated in the Xiangyang area, the Privy Council was unable to issue combat orders for a long time.
The Privy Council required the two new armies to undergo rigorous training. In terms of daily expenses, part of the daily expenses were provided by the imperial court and part by the local government. Logistics support was also handed over to the local government to be responsible for appropriation and transportation to the military camps.
That's the problem.
Part of the logistical transportation and the support of military supplies are originally incurred by the local government, and most of the rest require the local government to be responsible for storage, which is another expense.
It is a waste of time and energy, but there is no additional income. In addition to the long-term conflicts between civil and military forces, it is natural for the civil servants in the Jinghu Theater to seek some benefits for themselves.
However, the civil servants in the Jinghu War Zone are still a little measured in doing things.
They deducted military supplies from the Ezhou Army and the Xiangyang Army, but were more lenient with the Jiujiang Army without being too targeted, basically maintaining a regular level.
The reason is, of course, that the Jiujiang Army is the infantry division of the Imperial Guard, and is the emperor's personal army. Many military chiefs have connections with senior executives in the capital, and local officials cannot afford to offend this emperor's personal army.
If they are offended and they initiate relations with the capital, local officials will have to take a hard drink.
Everyone is very skilled in using magic to deal with magic, but they really don't dare to do anything when they encounter someone with a more difficult relationship.
However, the Xiangyang Army and the Jiujiang Army are local army establishments, and the chief officers have no connections at the central level, so they are easy to bully.
Wang Shun, who was in charge of Ezhou's army affairs, was not qualified enough. Although he was quite annoyed when encountering this kind of thing, he also knew the twists and turns involved, so he chose a forbearance strategy and sent people to bribe military officials with money in an attempt to get preferential treatment.
If you don’t give me money, I won’t give you good products. So if I give you money, you can give me some good things. Is it a good deal?
The civil servants in the Ezhou area were quite satisfied with Wang Shun's success, so they treated Wang Shun's Ezhou army relatively well, and provided a relatively balanced quantity of good and defective products.
But Yao Zhong couldn't bear it.
He himself is a long-established general. When he followed the Wu brothers in the bloody battle against the Jin army at Xianren Pass, these civil servants were still hiding in Jiangnan and trembling.
He looked down on these civil servants who were hiding behind the army and pretending to be noble. He was always dissatisfied with them. When he was in Sichuan, he was known as a domineering official. Because of his profound qualifications and military achievements, and with the support of the Wu brothers, no one dared to touch them. he.
Sichuan itself also has a relatively special situation. The military supplies are still relatively clean. The military chief still has certain powers over the distribution of supplies. He distributes his own things by himself and does not allow outsiders to interfere.
But this is not the case in the Jinghu area. In the Jinghu area, he, Yao Zhong, is an outsider. The civil servants in the Jinghu area don't care whether you are a powerful person or not. As long as you are not a member of the emperor's army, you can do whatever you want.
The Xiangyang army led by Yao Zhong was at the forefront of the Ming and Song battlefields. They faced the elite Henan Corps of the Ming Army every day. Facing their ferocious murderous intent, it was really stressful.
Under such circumstances, most of the military supplies sent were defective and few were of good quality. This made Yao Zhong very unhappy after hearing Wu Gong's complaints.
Finally, when inspecting the ordnance items, Yao Zhong found that among the more than a thousand divine arm bows sent, 70% were inferior products, and only 30% were good ones. They could not even make up for the daily training losses of the army, which made him uneasy. Living.
He immediately reported to the court, explaining the situation of the Xiangyang army and the current crisis, and accusing the military officials in the Jinghu Theater Zone of inaction and corruption. At the same time, he personally led troops to Ezhou and other places to get an explanation.
He took a rusty steel knife, a low-quality spear, and armor made of wood pieces as iron pieces, and went directly to the Ezhou Governor's Mansion to confront Song Chen, the Ezhou Governor.
"Can this kind of steel knife be used?"
Yao Zhong swung the steel knife against a nearby tree in front of a group of civil servants. The steel knife hit the trunk of the tree and broke directly.
"Can this kind of spear be used?"
Yao Zhong picked up the ten-foot-long spear again and broke it with a strong force of both hands.
"Can this armor be used?!"
Yao Zhong pulled off a series of "iron pieces" from the armor with one hand and threw them at Song Chen's feet, his face full of anger.
"Wearing this armor on the battlefield, do you want my soldiers to die directly? What kind of ordnance does the Ming army on the opposite side use? What kind of ordnance do we use? Can this kind of ordnance be used to fight? The Song Dynasty army has never been The fighting ability is not strong enough, but the things in hand are too bad! It’s so bad that it’s appalling!”
Facing the veteran Yao Zhong who came directly to cause trouble, Song Chen looked very bad.
Of course he knew the inside story of this matter, because he himself was one of the masterminds behind the whole matter. He was the leader who organized the official warehouse in Ezhou to trade with the peasant army.
It was with his permission and protection that "ordinary" businessmen were able to obtain regulated weapons such as the God's Arm Bow and trade in peasant armies, and then make a lot of money.
He has made more than 200,000 yuan from this trade. This money was settled in his hometown in the form of gold, silver, silk, and land and became his own property.
It can be said that it is profitable.
But now that the suffering master came to visit, he had to give him an explanation, otherwise it would be difficult for him to give an explanation if the gang of stinky Qiu Ba started to make a fuss and were investigated by the superiors.
"Commander Yao, this matter is indeed due to the negligence of the rear. Let's do this. I will arrange for someone to investigate immediately. After the investigation, I will give you an explanation immediately."
Yao Zhong is experienced in official communication and is well versed in the importance of speaking in an official tone. He knew as soon as he heard that this guy was perfunctory and was engaging in a delaying tactic.
"What does an explanation mean? I don't understand, Mr. Song."
Song Chen patiently dealt with him.
"Yao Tongzhi, this matter is very involved and needs to be investigated slowly. It's impossible for you to stand here and ask me to give a result and I can give a result. Now you are leading troops to block the governor's mansion. Isn't it a bad influence? "
