Yue Fei sat down, looked around at the style of the store, and said: "Although this store is clean and tidy, it is not luxurious. There is not even a singer in the store, but it suits my taste. I just don't know how it tastes. I often listen to it. Xu Qing praised this restaurant, let’s have a meal today to get a feel for it.”
Xu Qingdao: "This store is just a place to eat. You can leave when you are full. Where are the singers? If you ask me, this store is a bit strange. When it comes to eating, it is comparable to a big store. But when it comes to eating, drinking and having fun, it is the same as It’s like a small store.”
Yue Fei nodded.
After a while, the cold dishes ordered arrived. It's nothing more than sauced beef, salted duck eggs, duck egg crispy radish, and mixed crispy lotus roots. The table is piled high.
Yue Fei said to everyone: "Duck eggs are a famous product in Yingzhou Water Town. Let's try them."
The waiter brought the wine and poured it for everyone.
Xu Qing smiled and said: "Luoyang often drinks strong liquor, and I have missed its taste these years. I have nothing to do today, would you like Chengxuan to have a drink too?"
Yue Fei said: "Since I have given up drinking, I should persist. How can I be greedy for food and drink? You guys can have a couple of drinks."
Wang Gui thanked him and drank the wine in front of him. Putting down the wine glass, he said with satisfaction: "After all, it is under the rule of Prime Minister Wang Xuan, so the taste of the wine is different."
A few people were drinking and eating tea, having a good time.
After a while, the dumplings and hot dishes came out, and the big men ate each one, which was delicious. They are warriors who go into battle to kill the enemy. How can one person and one plate be enough? I ordered a few more plates and ate slowly while drinking.
Yue Fei said: "Everyone likes to eat dumplings. In recent years, several dumplings have been opened in Jiangzhou City. These dumplings are filled with fillings, noodles and vegetables. They are really good."
Zhang Xian said: "That's for people like us who don't pay attention to luxury. Those who really do don't want to eat this kind of thing."
Yue Fei laughed after hearing this, nodded and said, "This is absolutely true."
Yingzhou is a metropolis under the rule of Wang Xiaolie. Apart from the "Cyclamen" Dumpling House, there are also restaurants of the same grade such as Zuixiang Restaurant and Jiangbian Restaurant, all of which are doing good business. These are still under the Xuanfu Division, and there are even more private ones. "Dingxiang Tower", which has higher consumption than this, is also crowded with customers every day.
Soldiers like to eat it because "Cyclamen" often opens branches with the army, and people in the army are accustomed to this style. Wearing military uniforms and entering "Cyclamen" everyone thought it was normal. But wearing a military uniform and entering Zuixiang Restaurant, even though it is a restaurant of the same grade, is still impressive. Although some officers thought "Cyclamen" was too simple, they had to take off their military uniforms and change into civilian clothes before entering other restaurants.
Yue Fei lived a simple life, and "Cyclamen" seemed good to him. Which other general with status like him would do this?
After eating the dumplings, Yue Fei picked up a radish and turned to look out the window. The people on the street are bustling and busy, each going towards a different life.
Compared with other generals, Yue Fei is very familiar with Wang Xiaolie. When Zongze was in Kaifeng, Yue Fei was a small boss and had contacts with Wang Xiaolie, who was also a small boss at the time. Many years later, Yue Fei finally became one of the leading generals of the Song Dynasty, and Wang Xiaolie was already a high-ranking official.
Yue Fei was also happy to know that Wang Xiaolie was in charge of the government and had made many military exploits, but he didn't think much about it. It wasn't until Wang Xiaolie's Northern Expedition, which defeated the Jin army, and even occupied Guanzhong and the south of Hedong Road, that Yue Fei suddenly discovered that Wang Xiaolie's army was very powerful.
After many years of leading troops, Yue Fei is familiar with military books, and also learns from other people's experiences in leading troops, and strives to improve himself. It was not until the past two years that Yue Fei's army truly took shape and had its own style.
At this time, Yue Fei carefully studied Wang Xiaolie's leadership and the characteristics of Wang Xiaolie's army. In the end, I discovered that this was a completely different method of leading troops than my own experience in leading troops. Nothing can be seen at first, but the gap gets bigger as you go to the back, and there is also a qualitative difference in the combat effectiveness of the two sides.
If we take a battalion as an example, Yue Fei believes that his army will not be worse than Wang Xiaolie's army, and may even exceed it in terms of combat effectiveness. But at the regiment level, his own army was completely at a disadvantage. This difference is due to the different command systems and the resulting differences in combat effectiveness.
Relying on the personal command of the commander, it is difficult to exceed the regimental level. In other words, it is impossible for the commander to fully control the regiment-level battle. To win, you must have a complete command system or destiny.
The division of labor of Wang Xiaolie's headquarters and the reliance on messengers, bugles, semaphores, trumpets, whistles, etc. form a complete system. This system is not only effective, but also ensures execution by subordinates. On the battlefield, Wang Xiaolie's regiment is a complete combat unit. It can not only accept the command of superiors, but also break down the orders of superiors and effectively convey them to subordinates. Yue Fei cannot do this.
As for the battle at the regimental level, Yue Fei himself knew that he was no match for Wang Xiaolie. One of Cao Yi's regiment was nearby. Yue Fei observed carefully for a long time and confirmed this judgment.
Why is this happening? Yue Fei knew that his command system was too crude, but he couldn't tell what the other reasons were.
Will an army like Wang Xiaolie, who pays great attention to organization, definitely be better than Yue Fei's army? uncertain. There are too many accidental factors in a war, and it is difficult to say what the outcome will be. However, if it is a battle divided into many groups, Wang Xiaolie's group will definitely have a greater chance of winning. Taken together, in a large-scale war, Yue Fei's chances of winning are very slim.
There are many factors that affect the combat effectiveness of the army, such as morale, military morale, soldiers' fighting determination, organization, logistics capabilities, etc. Large-scale wars and small-scale battles have different influencing factors.
Large-scale wars are not a simple superposition of small-scale battles, but complement each other and influence each other. There are examples in history of people who have been victorious in battles, but who eventually died and their country was destroyed. Of course, there are also examples of people who have been defeated and finally won a great victory.
Views on war directly affect military construction. The knowledge Wang Xiaolie gained from later generations was not about the use of cannons, grenadiers, or barbed wire in the army, but his views on the army. Those technical weapons only accelerated the process of the war, but did not change the outcome.
The prototype of gunpowder weapons had already appeared in the Song Dynasty. According to the normal process, firearms should develop rapidly in war, and new tactics and theories should be developed. The demise of the Yuan Dynasty and the Southern Song Army interrupted this process. There were fewer wars in the Ming Dynasty, with lower intensity and less rapid development. By the Qing Dynasty, there was no new development at all.
In this process, the biggest drawback is not the inferior weapons, but the stagnant development of military theory. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing army was unable to defeat foreign invading armies. Is it really because of the powerful ships and artillery of the great powers? More importantly, the military theories are very different. I think it is because the enemy has strong ships and powerful guns, which is the result of not knowing much about the war itself. It is only the beginning to realize that military theory, military organization, and war command are all inferior to the enemy.
Wang Xiaolie's army started with organization, and then extended to various aspects such as war command, soldier training, logistics supplies, medical rescue, engineering construction, etc. The simplest is to train the soldiers to move step by step of Wang Xiaolie's army, breaking down each tactical action into key actions, so there is no way to increase the speed, and the movements of the soldiers are more standardized.
Are soldiers trained step by step necessarily stronger than those trained using the old method? uncertain. Some people are just naturally gifted, and some are just better suited to the old way. However, the new training method must be much better for an army than for an individual.
One person is one thing, and they are organized into a group and they are another thing. For a group, the characteristics and interests of the group must be taken into consideration. For an army, it is necessary to consider that combat effectiveness is not just the sum of individual soldiers, but also consider that combat effectiveness is not just the sum of individual soldiers.
This time when he went to Yingzhou and observed Wang Xiaolie's army at close range, Yue Fei began to consider this issue. However, due to the limitations of objective conditions, his thinking is still very immature. But starting to think is a start.
