Zhao Zhifang, Chief of General Staff of Shu Kingdom, has just returned to the Governor's Mansion.
His chair was not warmed, and a little eunuch with red hair and blue eyes immediately came to him.
"Master Zhao, the King of Shu has summoned you."
"Father-in-law, you're welcome."
Zhao Zhifang followed the usual rules and asked the guard to reward the young eunuch with ten taels of silver coins.
He immediately drove to the Shu Palace.
Zhao Zhifang looked at the scene on the street and fell into deep thought.
When the King of Shu summoned him before, what probably did he want to ask?
He can guess a thing or two.
Zhao Zhifang felt that this summons was very sudden.
He had just come out of the palace of the King of Shu, and the King of Shu was not the kind of person to be coy.
If the King of Shu has any questions, he will ask them clearly at once.
The king of Shu summoned him again after such a short interval.
This must be due to some unexpected circumstances, and the King of Shu thought that the current situation had undergone major changes.
Zhao Zhifang couldn't figure it out, so he closed his eyes and rested.
He soon came to the palace and, under the guidance of the young eunuch, met the King of Shu again.
King Qian Mingyi of Shu saw the arrival of Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang.
He humbly asked for advice: "Qing Zhao, I have an idea, please see if it is feasible."
Zhao Zhifang didn't know what unreasonable ideas the King of Shu had.
He cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, please tell me that I am here to give you some advice. This is what I am good at."
King Qian Mingyi of Shu kept walking around the room.
He pointed at the map and said: "Just now Zhao Qing said that the problem in our country is the shortage of middle and lower-level officers.
The high-ranking generals who command the army are more loyal to the country and the royal family than their abilities.
But for middle- and lower-level officers, their abilities are more important and they only need to execute the orders of their superiors.
This king can tolerate blond natives and join the Shu army.
If our country does not have enough middle- and low-level military officers, can we introduce them from foreign countries?"
Zhao Zhifang heard the King of Shu's unbridled ideas.
He didn't think about the problem at all. He was able to come up with this idea, and his thinking was really different from ordinary people.
Zhao Zhifang was just about to refute, but he found that the reason for his refutation was not so impeccable.
The most critical point in bringing in foreign military officers is how to ensure their loyalty?
But this issue is not worth delving into, because the loyalty of these grassroots officers is not that important.
The officers introduced must be Han officers.
If these officers are not loyal enough, can the indigenous officers in the army guarantee their complete loyalty?
These new officers are disloyal.
The Kingdom of Shu has only been established for a few years, and all the officers of the Kingdom of Shu immigrated from the empire. Can we guarantee the loyalty of the officers of the Kingdom of Shu?
The topic of loyalty is not worth delving into at all.
If you are afraid that these imported officers will be disloyal, you can manage the army commanded by these officers by referring to the way you manage the indigenous army.
For the indigenous armies, the major vassal states learned methods from the empire.
The most important method is bullet separation.
In the age of firearms, the importance of ammunition is self-evident.
An army with only a small amount of ammunition has no combat effectiveness at all.
As long as we have the most loyal army and manage the most important ammunition, the probability of something happening to the army will be much lower.
Putting aside the issue of loyalty, the method of introducing military officers from foreign countries can indeed solve the problems that Shu is currently facing.
Zhao Zhifang said in surprise: "Your Majesty, I think this method is completely feasible.
If you are afraid that the imported officers will be disloyal, you can refer to the indigenous army and strictly control these armies.
The Governor's Office is confident that it can control this army well.
The question that needs to be considered now is where to introduce these officers.
There will be no problem with an individual officer, but I am worried that these officers will form a group.
If they form their own faction and do not obey the command of the Metropolitan Governor, or even listen to the command of the outside world, there will be big trouble."
Zhao Zhifang first supported the King of Shu's idea.
He could already see that since King Shu asked this question, he had already made up his mind.
What Zhao Zhifang has to do is very simple. It is not whether to support King Shu's method, but to find out and fill in the gaps for King Shu and reduce the side effects of this method.
He raised the most serious problem with this approach in a tactful way.
That is how to ensure the safety of the introduced officers.
If it is a certain country, it will export a large number of grassroots officers to Shu and indirectly control Shu's army.
They directly occupied the magpie's nest, and even conspired with Rui and other countries to annex Shu.
This situation must be guarded against. Once it occurs, it will be a crisis of national subjugation.
Of course, King Shu Qian Mingyi could hear the hidden meaning of Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang.
This issue is not only of concern to Zhao Zhifang, he is even more concerned about it.
If these soldiers really rebelled, other people in the Shu Kingdom might survive, but members of the Shu Kingdom's royal family would definitely die.
King Qian Mingyi of Shu expressed his thoughts.
"We in Shu must not be able to introduce officers from other vassal states.
Even if these countries do not lack military officers like our country, they still have a limited number of military officers.
Introduce officers from vassal countries, no matter how good they are to our Shu Kingdom.
I am also afraid that these people will occupy the magpie's nest, or that they will work together to plot against our country.
The only way to introduce officers is from the empire.
The empire has trained a large number of military officers over the years.
The empire will definitely not let go of a general who can lead troops.
But they are just grassroots officers who command dozens or hundreds of people. Their number in the empire is hundreds of thousands.
In order to prevent irritation to European countries.
It is unclear why serving officers cannot be brought in.
Even officers who have just retired cannot be introduced.
We can bring in officers who have retired for some time.
The connection between such people and the empire is not that close.
Our country can bear the cost of recruiting this group of people without any pressure."
Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang replied happily: "Your Majesty has considered this issue very comprehensively.
I think this method is completely feasible.
There is just one point worth debating, and that is not allowing this group of people to go through the naturalization procedures.
On the battlefield, they did not appear as Shu troops, but as Shu mercenaries."
King Qian Mingyi of Shu heard this suggestion from Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang.
This is completely different from his previous thoughts.
He had previously thought that in order to prevent the impact of public opinion in European countries, all these people should be naturalized, and they would go to the battlefield in the name of the Shu Army.
Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang accepted all other situations, but raised objections on this point.
"If Zhao Qing has any suggestions, please feel free to speak up."
Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang immediately expressed his thoughts.
"Your Majesty, there are advantages and disadvantages to not allowing these people to be naturalized, but I think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
The disadvantage of not allowing these people to naturalize is that these people may not be so loyal to our country.
But loyalty is something that cannot be quantified at all.
Even if these people are naturalized, they may not be loyal to our country.
On the contrary, there must be a brave man under a heavy reward. This situation has existed since ancient times.
As long as the reward is enough, there is no need to worry about these people not working hard.
As for the boycott of European countries, our country does not need to care at all.
Regardless of whether these people are naturalized or not, in essence, they are foreign aid invited by our country.
Countries that should boycott this matter will not give up boycotting our country just because of whether they are naturalized or not.
There are many benefits to not allowing these people to become naturalized citizens and letting them join as mercenaries.
First, these people join as mercenaries, and their rewards and punishments can be completely different from the current standards of our army.
In this way, differences in treatment will not cause estrangement within our army.
Secondly, these people are mercenaries, and their behavior on the battlefield has little to do with our country.
Whether they kill prisoners on the battlefield or use weapons prohibited by the Jianye Convention, it has nothing to do with our country.
We cannot control everything these people do on the battlefield.
Our country has to guard against what happened in Wu State."
King Qian Mingyi of Shu listened to the advice of Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang. He believed that what Zhao Zhifang said did have merit.
The existence of mercenaries can indeed do some things that the Shu army cannot do.
They are equivalent to the black gloves of the Shu army.
King Qian Mingyi of Shu ordered: "Qing Zhao, I will leave this matter of mercenaries to you.
Imperial businessman Zhao Yizhuo is Concubine Zhao’s clan brother.
He felt that the Shu Kingdom was not strong enough and introduced some retired soldiers from the empire.
Many of these soldiers are veterans of the Imperial Tank Corps.
First, in the name of mercenaries, send them to the Hongshanling battlefield to test the quality of these people.
If the mercenaries perform well, then we will increase our efforts."
Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang was very happy when he heard that the King of Shu accepted all his suggestions.
But he felt that some details about the mercenaries were not worth scrutinizing at all.
This was by no means an accidental idea of the King of Shu, it must have been secretly promoted by certain forces.
This group of retired soldiers are veterans of the Imperial Tank Corps.
People who retired from other troops showed up in Shu in advance, which is not worth pondering.
However, the chariot has only been around for a few years, and the total number of retired soldiers from the chariot unit is not very large.
If they master this skill, they can earn a lot of money even if they drive tractors in the empire.
There is indeed a group of people who have come to Shu in advance. This is such a coincidence that it is hard to believe.
But Zhao Zhifang knows better that some things are hard to be confused about.
He immediately accepted the task and went to contact the imperial businessman Zhao Yizhuo.
The front line of the Shu army is already in danger. The addition of a new force to the Shu army may change the current situation of the war.
Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang did not delay in his work and quickly completed the formation of the mercenary army.
He stipulated in detail what kind of rewards the mercenaries would get for killing the enemy, and the details of the cooperation between the mercenaries and the Shu army.
After these things were done, the mercenaries composed of veterans of the Imperial Tank Troops immediately rushed to the Hongshan Ridge area in the south.
Chief of General Staff Zhao Zhifang bid farewell to the slowly starting train. He hoped that the mercenaries could reverse the current situation.
…
Shu Army Camp, Hongshanling Iron Mine County.
Yan Baizhi looked exhausted and waited for General Tan Zhengyang who came to replace him.
The two of them were acquaintances. Tan Zhengyang was a junior general and served as a staff officer in the General Staff Headquarters.
He also went to the Imperial Royal Army School for further studies some time ago.
Tan Zhengyang's resume shows that he is a key talent cultivated by the Shu Kingdom.
If Yan Baizhi were younger, he would still be able to grab a place to study in the empire.
He previously believed that what he had learned throughout his life had not been eliminated.
The war between Shu and Rui gave him a blow.
There were various reasons for the failure of the Shu army.
But as the commander-in-chief of the Shu army, he had no problems at all, and he didn't believe it himself.
Yan Baizhi forced a smile: "Old Tan, if you take over my job, I will feel more relieved.
The 100,000 elite soldiers of the Shu Army in Hongshan Ridge will all be in your hands."
General Tan Zhengyang replied politely: "Lao Yan, thank you for your hard work.
We all know that you did not make a big mistake in the failure of the Shu army.
This is entirely because our strength is inferior to others.
My next tactics will become more cautious."
General Tan Zhengyang didn't know how to comfort Yan Baizhi.
Yan Baizhi returned to the capital, and the best price for him was to stay at home.
The Shu army suffered heavy losses this time, and someone must take responsibility.
The person who can bear this responsibility can only be the commander-in-chief of this battle.
Tan Zhengyang looked at Yan Baizhi's declining expression, and he seemed to have seen his future situation.
In such a state of mind, it was impossible for him to laugh at Yan Baizhi.
Yan Baizhi saw that Tan Zhengyang's attitude towards him was quite good.
He smiled bitterly and said: "Old Tan, I'm really sorry, I left you a mess.
The combat capability of the Swedish army cannot be underestimated.
We held strong fortifications but failed to hold our position.
The risk is too great to fight a mobile war with the Shu army in an open plain area."
General Tan Zhengyang nodded and said: "Thank you, General Yan, for your teaching. I will definitely learn the lessons from previous battles."
He knew that General Yan Baizhi was more familiar with the Hongshanling area and this army.
This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! General Tan Zhengyang humbly asked for advice: "General Yan, you are a senior. Please give me some guidance on what I should do next."
General Yan Baizhi thought for a moment, sighed, and warned: "We did lose the previous war.
The morale in the army is low now.
After the Swiss army catches up, they must not engage in a decisive battle with the Swiss army.
You need to go through several small-scale battles first and win.
Let the whole army know that we can defeat the Swiss army, and the morale of the army can be restored before the decisive battle can be carried out.
Don’t look at the military appearance now, but if we continue to lose, we will collapse.”
General Tan Zhengyang knew that this was what he said from the bottom of his heart, and he bowed to General Yan Baizhi.
After Yan Baizhi warned him, he had nothing to miss.
Under the escort of the military police, he boarded the train heading north.
General Tan Zhengyang officially took over the Shu army.
As soon as he entered the confidential room, he received a telegram from Warsaw.
After reading this telegram, he felt mixed emotions in his heart.
"Mercenaries, the situation has deteriorated to this extent.
The imperial court believes that they need mercenaries to reverse the current situation."
General Tan Zhengyang received a telegram from the Governor's Office, and he immediately ordered to shrink the defense line and wait for the arrival of mercenaries.
While studying at the Imperial Army School, he learned about the huge differences between the armies of vassal states and the Imperial Army.
For traditional infantry, the difference is not that big.
The higher the technological content of the arms, the greater the gap.
For an army such as the chariot, the gap between the empire and the vassal states is too big.
General Tan Zhengyang saw that the imperial court had sent a group of mercenaries who were proficient in chariot warfare.
Only then did he have sufficient confidence in defending the Swiss army's attack.
Otherwise, let him command a tank unit that has not undergone much training to deal with the well-trained tank unit of the Swedish army.
He is full of great strategies, but based on the actual situation, it is impossible to realize them.