When Zuo Mengeng returned to Linqing, the happiest person was Xu Ruolin.
The girl didn't care about being shy and pulled Zuo Mengeng to look at him, fearing that he was missing some parts.
"Oh, I told you, it's just an armed trip, nothing happened."
Xu Ruolin also realized that she was a little too concerned.
"It's not...I haven't heard from people that fighting is very dangerous."
Zuo Mengeng laughed loudly.
"On this expedition, a total of three of our troops were injured. Guess how they were injured?"
How does Xu Ruolin know the art of military formation?
"I sprained my foot while chasing the enemy."
Speaking of this, Zuo Mengeng couldn't help laughing.
There is really a huge gap between the New Army and the White Lotus Sect rebels.
This time when he returned to Linqing, Zuo Mengeng met another person, Geng Ruqi who had recovered.
He is in his forties or fifties, with a strong bookish air about him, thin and meaningful, elegant and easy-going.
"Zhongheng, thank you for your great efforts in rescuing the Gyeonggi incident. Otherwise, I..."
Zuo Mengeng did not take any credit.
"Uncle, why do you need to stay away from others? We are in the same boat and should help each other."
Geng Ruqi is not a hypocritical person, and after what happened in the past, he suddenly became more open-minded.
"I have already met Li Sima and Duke Dongjiao. I don't think you have all the talented people here, but you are more transparent than those in the court. How about you arrange something for me to do?"
Zuo Mengeng was overjoyed, but he didn't expect that Geng Ruqi would take the initiative to join his camp.
He can slowly train grassroots officials on his own, but when it comes to administrative methods at a certain level, he has only a limited understanding of them.
There was originally a Li Banghua training, but it was obviously not enough.
Now there is another former governor, Geng Ruqi, who is really even more powerful.
Zuo Mengeng thought for a while and decided to play it safe.
"If uncle doesn't give up, can you help Mr. Meng An with some official training first? When uncle is well, you will have to take control of the overall situation. In addition, Taichong and others are arguing endlessly, and there is no conclusion to this day. Uncle has given me some advice.
So that everyone can reach a consensus."
Zuo Mengeng's arrangement has another purpose.
That is to reform the thinking of old bureaucrats like Li Banghua and Geng Ruxi.
The best way is to let them participate in a big ideological debate.
Today, the debate between Huang Zongxi and others is still inconclusive, and the scope of equality cannot be unified. In addition, their debate has begun to expand and has already involved the positioning of the king.
But this kind of debate and dispute is necessary.
The process of unification of thoughts must be like this.
You can't just open your mouth and talk about a theory, and others will readily accept it.
Confucius encountered many setbacks in his preaching.
Only by participating in it can you be influenced and ultimately change your mind.
"Everyone, during this expedition, I did not go to the front line personally. I had some free time and finally completed the last part of "The Wealth of Nations". In addition, here is the work "The Prince" by the European scholar Machiavelli compiled by my wife.
I believe that these works from afar may be able to give us some inspiration."
Zuo Menggeng has always paid attention to participation in ideological debate conferences.
He is a leader, whether in the military or in politics, including in the ideological field, he must show his sense of existence.
Especially in the field of thought, only if he participates in it can he control the direction and avoid chaos.
In addition, he also needs to guide and mobilize everyone's brainstorming so that everyone's thinking will develop in a more advanced direction instead of going backwards.
When everyone began to discuss the position of the monarch, Zuo Menggen knew that the time had come, so he took out the final chapter of "The Wealth of Nations", discussing the income of the monarch and the country.
It just so happened that Xu Ruolin had finished compiling "The Prince", which was a great assist for him.
Zuo Mengeng took out two expositions, which immediately aroused everyone's enthusiasm. They all took the manuscripts back to read and study.
It is conceivable that the next discussion meeting will be lively again.
In fact, in the process of spreading these ideas, Zuo Menggeng has always hidden deep meanings.
That is the concept of transmission country.
The Ming people of this era actually did not have a very precise concept of country. Their division of the world was based on dynasties and nations.
It's very simple and very in line with the current environment.
But Zuo Menggeng knows very well that if the Chinese nation wants to break through geographical restrictions, truly integrate into the world, and become a pioneer, a more complete national concept must be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.
On the surface, it seems to be about the monarch and the income of the political power, but by extension, it is not the concept of the country.
Although the reason for returning to the army this time was due to the conflict with Prince Heng's Mansion, it happened to allow the new army to reorganize.
At the military meeting, Zuo Menggeng made a decision.
"Half of the first and third regiments will be transferred to the first brigade of the second division. Ning Weiping, you will serve as the commander of the first brigade of the second division."
The other officers looked at Ning Weiping who was promoted to brigade commander and couldn't help but be very envious.
We went out to fight several battles, and although they were all flat, both officers and soldiers gained combat experience.
This gave the new army a basis for expansion.
The originally empty second division (Linqing Association) can also enter the stage of improvement.
Mao Yuanyi is the happiest about this decision.
He came to Linqing and joined the New Army in order to realize his dream of fighting on the battlefield and to regain Liaodong in the future.
During the days when the First Division went out to war, his main job was to train new recruits.
Originally he thought these recruits were the foundation of the Second Division, but he didn't expect Zuo Mengeng to be more far-sighted.
First take the two regiments of the first division to fight. After they have been trained, half of the men will be sent to the second division when they come back.
In this way, the Second Division suddenly had a group of experienced officers, instead of being filled with newcomers from top to bottom.
Transferring a group of new soldiers from the Second Division to join the First Division will not harm the combat effectiveness of the First Division too much.
In the subsequent battles, after a few more battles, both the first division and the second division will be tempered.
At the meeting, everyone discussed and the command structure of the second division was also established.
Division commander Mao Yuanyi, political commissar Zhang Jimeng, chief of staff Zuo Yong, and military chief of staff Liu Yiyuan also serve as chief of staff of the first division.
At present, the second division can only form the first brigade. The brigade commander is Ning Weiping, and the political commissar is Yi Guozhengping, the former political commissar of the first division and first brigade.
Ning Weiping and Yi Guozheng were both political commissars, and they both served as commanders of the newly built Second Division and First Brigade, which also contained Zuo Menggeng's deep meaning.
He needs to control absolute military power, so he naturally needs to arrange trustworthy people.
The political commissar of the first division and first brigade was replaced by Lou Fu, the political commissar of the second brigade and third regiment, and the political commissar of the third regiment was replaced by Jian Zongan, the commander of the seventh battalion of the third regiment who had outstanding performance in the Yidu battle.
The organizational structures at all levels below the Second Division and the First Brigade are still vacant. The generals of the Second Division need to find talents to supplement them during the formation and training process, and they also need the First Division to deploy them after they grow in the subsequent battles.
After the specific personnel arrangements were made, Zhou You stepped forward.
"This is an infantry drill code compiled by me, Deputy Commander Zhang, Political Commissar Mao, Chief of Staff Liu and others. With the approval of the Army Commander, it will be implemented by the entire army from now on."
A mature army must have a mature training system.
Zuo Menggeng has been doing this since the days of the New Army or the Hou Ying.
The person who is specifically responsible is always in charge of recruitment and training tours.
The infantry drill of the new army not only incorporates the advanced concepts of later generations, but also makes changes based on the current situation.
The recruits of the second division are the first batch of recruits who have completed basic training under the guidance of the drill.
The results are very good, at least everyone can see the speed at which the new recruits grow.
After passing the practical test, Zuo Menggeng made the decision and began to promote it throughout the army.
In addition to infantry drills, there are also several training syllabuses such as cavalry drills, artillery drills, and engineer drills.
These contents made the New Army begin to move towards regularization and systematization, and began to gradually transcend the times. The longer the time goes by, the more powerful the New Army's combat effectiveness will be.
As for the construction of the new army, Zuo Mengeng did not stop there.
"Since our army is becoming more and more regular, the training of officers must be more in-depth and standardized. I am determined to establish a new army officer school. From now on, officers above the regiment level will not be allowed to serve unless they have graduated from the military school."
Zuo Mengeng used the military academy as a killer weapon.
Later generations have proven that the role of the military academy is very significant, and there is no reason to abandon it.
It is a specialized military academy, and it is the only way for senior officers to be promoted. This setting is very novel for everyone, but it is not surprising.
Because Zuo Mengeng has mentioned similar ideas to everyone many times before and after, everyone is mentally prepared.
Especially in the process of compiling various military training codes, everyone increasingly felt that military affairs could be taught in different but detailed disciplines.
Nowadays, generals everywhere either inherit it from their families or learn it on their own on the battlefield.
Not to mention the probability of success, at least such a general is uncontrollable.
No one knows the story of the domineering military commanders who destroyed the foundation of the dynasty. And how to control the military commanders has also been a big problem in all dynasties.
Trampling the warriors underfoot like the Song Dynasty did, only to be beaten until they couldn't breathe for more than three hundred years, is definitely not possible.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the status of military generals was still good. But after Tumubao, military generals were reduced to servants of civil servants.
Facts have proven that this still doesn’t work.
Although many of the senior generals of the New Army came from civilian backgrounds, after actually experiencing actual combat, they knew better than anyone else that there were serious drawbacks to civilian-controlled military operations.
It was Zuo Mengeng's words that inspired them.
"Since civilian officials cannot unite the army, why not turn civilian officials into generals?"
It was because of Zuo Menggeng's influence that everyone realized the importance of cultivating generals.
After a unanimous vote, the New Army Officers School was officially opened in the new camp outside Zuozhuang Military Camp.
Zuo Menggeng appointed himself the principal and actually came to teach.
Huang Zongxi, director of the Academic Affairs Office, is responsible for instilling new ideas into the officers. With such a radical and powerful person, there is no need for the officers of the New Army to follow Zuo Mengeng closely.
The rest of the scientific and educational officers are also served by the commanders of the respective units.
By combining practical combat with theory, many talents will surely emerge from the New Army Officer School in the future.