Chapter 425 Destruction of the Ming Dynasty. The Dream of the New Army III
Due to his ups and downs and his background after Zhongliang, Yu Zigao did not want to nor was he unworthy to plunder the people. He and his new army "Yuyao Regiment Training Camp" still had this opportunity; within this year, his troops He has been repeatedly recruited by Zhejiang Chief Secretary Yamen, Zhejiang Dusi and Jiangnan Governor to fight against pirates, bandits and peasants who were anti-rent and rebellious.
Other Ming army troops took advantage of the opportunity of sending troops to march and fight, waiting for the opportunity to make a fortune. It is not that Yu Zigao's new army had done this before. However, the military discipline of Yu Zigao's most trusted troops - the Guards Battalion and the Artillery Battalion were acceptable. Under Yu Zigao's personal supervision, relatively few bad things like burning, killing and disturbing the people were done.
Unlike Yu Zigao's famous father Yu Dayou, Yu Zigao is not the kind of person with a firm will. He is easily affected by the surrounding environment. During his studies at the Chinese Military Academy, he was able to take the lead in China's campaign against the Japanese Satsuma clan. After returning to the military system of the Ming Dynasty, the concepts he learned from the Chinese Military Academy encountered obstacles at every turn, and his official career was ups and downs. He was now promoted from Wuhu guerrilla to deputy general of Ninghaiwei, Zhejiang, and was in charge of the training of the new army. Yu Zigao himself felt that this was This was his last chance to pursue an official career under the Ming Dynasty system.
He tried his best to run his own army. Only then did he realize that the creation of such an elite force, which mainly used firearms, touched every aspect of the Ming Dynasty's military system. Just like Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou formed an anti-Japanese force. Yu Zigao must create a new military system without completely breaking the Ming Dynasty's officialdom system.
Yu Zigao sadly discovered from the beginning: he had to establish a complete military industry system, logistics system, soldier selection system, and officer training system at the same time. At the same time, he had to compile all tactical training on firearms and operational regulations down to the flag signal transmission system. He They all need to start from scratch. Moreover, half of the new army is selected from the original Ming army system. It brings all the ills of the original Ming army system of undisciplined and unorganized: soldiers' combat skills training is neglected, officers are corrupt, pervert the law, and embezzlement. Military pay became a common practice. In order to correct these problems, he dismissed some officers. However, in order to balance the relationship between the various forces, he had to recruit some people with family backgrounds such as the Yuyao Xie family into the new army officer corps.
After all, Yu Zigao had to deal with the official circles of the Ming Dynasty. He could not and did not have the ability to take action against the Ming Dynasty's military system. Therefore, his new army was inherently deficient from the beginning. It never had stable logistics and weapons supply. But seeing the relative strength of the new army, With generous military pay, various big families in the south of the Yangtze River continued to send people inside.
Just because there are more people joining the New Army does not mean that Yu Zigao has more talents to choose from. China has always had a misunderstanding, thinking that there is a fixed proportional relationship between talents and population. The larger the population base, the more talents there are. The more. Therefore, the emperors of all dynasties always wanted to call all the scholars from all over the world to take part in the imperial examination. They thought that in this way, they could achieve "no sages in the wild". But they forgot that "Liu Xiang didn't study." As the old saying goes, true pioneering talents often exist outside people's conventional vision. They cannot be cultivated deliberately, nor can they be obtained by hard work.
Instead, Yu Zigao got into various personnel disputes. The Xie family regarded the New Army as their own private army and kept filling in the new army.
Once the strict military discipline passed down from the Chinese Military Academy is enforced on those who are forced into the army, the families of the Yuyao Xie family, Jiangnan wealthy merchants, gentry and academics will intervene and threaten to cut off the supply of military pay, leading to Yu Zigao's military discipline enforcement was often ineffective.
The weakness in Yu Zigao's character was fully exposed at this moment. He stepped back from his position step by step. Finally, he completely gave up control over those New Army officers with backing and background.
Nowadays, the new army has been in existence for several years. The wars it has participated in are basically small-scale wars such as suppressing bandits and quelling chaos. It has no chance to show the advantages of the new weapons and weapons in combat. On the contrary, its military expenditure is many times or even several times higher than that of other Ming army units. More than ten times. Received many attacks from important officials of the imperial court.
When Xu Guangqi was appointed as the ambassador to the south of the Yangtze River and the governor of Nanjing, he presided over the formation and training of the new army. He advocated the selection of talents, trained new recruits, and volunteered to take on the task of training soldiers. The new army training yamen had been established for a month, but Xu Guangqi had no one in the court. He had to pay but had nothing to do, and had nothing to do. Later, he finally managed to get military pay through donations from the Jiangnan gentry family. With his support, Yu Zigao eliminated the old and weak soldiers who had been stuffed into the new army. Only 2,000 people could barely make up the number. Not to mention a selection. It all depends on the support of various big families in Jiangnan. The new army has reached its current scale.
Xu Guangqi entrusted Li Zhizao to send disciples Zhang Tao and Sun Xueshi to Guangdong to secretly purchase four red Yi cannons from Macau businessmen. This was the first time that the Ming Dynasty court purchased cannons from a foreign country, and the funds were actually provided by Xu Guangqi himself. Xu Guangqi tried his best to advise the court. : "In today's affairs, unique firearms are the most important thing." "The only weapon that can defeat the enemy is the powerful cannon." But after these four cannons were bought and shipped to the New Army camp, it didn't take long for the foreign gunners to be repatriated. . And Xu Guangqi's personal funds are really limited, and he can't afford to buy any more cannons.
Therefore, at the moment, the New Army has more than 15,000 people, including more than 1,000 people in the artillery battalion. The only decent cannons are these four Western cannons that were first purchased by Xu Guangqi. The rest are all first-class old-fashioned Franco-style cannons that are common in Ming Dynasty military camps.
Xu Guangqi transferred the capital to the north and joined the cabinet as a postgraduate scholar. Some people publicly demanded the complete disbandment of this army. One of the reasons was that there were Western military instructors in the army. Why recruit foreigners from far away? It would worry the mainland and let them see our reality and familiarity. In my situation, how can I laugh at the fact that there is no one in the imperial dynasty?" He advocated "to stop the difference between the continued acquisitions and to fight against the internal quarrels." Xu Guangqi immediately responded to this statement and tried his best to distinguish between the red barbarians (Dutch people) and the Australian barbarians (Portuguese people). ). Lu Zhaolong retorted:
"The great dynasty of China must wait for the barbarians before becoming strong... I have studied the books of Confucius and Mencius since I was a child. I have corrected my mistakes and practiced self-restraint. I have prepared the scriptures. I don't know that there is a single religion of God and the so-called Nestorianism of the Tang Dynasty in the world." The minister... I said that the barbarians cannot use it. But I said that the artillery cannot be used."
He thought that as long as a cannon was placed there, it could be used as a weapon.
Some people lashed out at Xu Guangqi's work, accusing him of "blindly moving to corruption". He should not "become a model soldier by being a poet". The selection of soldiers was "a turmoil in the country". The purpose of training soldiers is "nothing but a scheme to deceive officials and steal people." The imperial court spends tens of thousands of money just for one's own leisure... It is a serious crime to harm the country and deceive the emperor." Civil officials who knew nothing about military technology instinctively thought that how could the great dynasty borrow barbarian troops and fight with barbarian weapons? In particular, Cui Jingrong, the new Minister of War, strongly opposed Xu Guangqi's proposal. In addition, Yao Zongwen, who co-organized the New Army, impeached him for various misdeeds. Xu Guangqi, who was ostracized, was forced to report his illness and return home. He went back to his hometown in Shanghai to farm and raise chickens. The New Army cause he advocated with all his strength also became an orphan. Those foreign military personnel. Ming officials considered it an ominous sign and "concluded that it would be harmful rather than beneficial. They decided to return to Australia without any room for redemption." All the Portuguese military personnel Xu Guangqi hired from Macau were repatriated to Macau.
After Xu Guangqi returned home from Beijing due to illness, Yu Zigao had almost despaired of the cause of the New Army. In the few years since its establishment, the New Army has not only failed to establish a supporting logistics supply system, but now even daily military pay has begun to be in arrears. He co-organized the New Army. Yao Zongwen was now the "overlord" of the new army in the household affairs. When Yu Zigao's military orders came out of his own guard camp, he had to rely on Yao Zongwen to execute them smoothly.
Yao Zongwen was born in the Zhejiang Party and had a close relationship with the wealthy gentry family in the south of the Yangtze River. He now controls the source of food and salary for the New Army. All money and food transactions are handled by him. After all the money and materials pass through his hands, he will not save three out of ten, or even ten out of ten. Cunyi. Yao Zongwen colluded with some people from the Xie family in Yuyao and regarded the New Army as their source of additional income. In the past six months, the New Army has hardly added a musket, an ounce of gunpowder and a bullet. Yu Zigao, who came to ask for supplies, said: "There is no need for soldiers to train with real guns and live ammunition. Just hold the guns and practice postures. All the gunpowder and bullets for our army are produced in the capital. Supply is difficult. General Yu should understand the difficulties of the court." .”
When Yu Zigao heard this, he secretly sighed in his heart. He had no choice but to return home disappointed. He drank and slept drunkenly in the military tent in his old camp.
Luo Xiaoming, the nephew of Zhejiang Chief Military Officer Luo Qing, was the commander of Yu Zigao's artillery battalion and his personal guard captain.
Yu Zigao didn't know that Luo Xiaoming was his fellow junior. When Luo Xiaoming secretly entered the Artillery Department of the Chinese Military Academy to study, Yu Zigao had already left the Chinese Army and returned to Fujian.
The core strength of the New Army is Yu Zigao's guards and artillery battalion. The rest of the New Army soldiers are now better than other Ming army troops in terms of weapons and equipment and formation training. The rest of the tactical training and military discipline are getting worse and worse. .It’s getting worse.
Yu Zigao no longer worked hard and worked day and night to supervise the training of the troops. He has now accepted his fate: the people and things of the Ming Dynasty are just like this. No matter how hard he works, it will be in vain.
On this day, he privately left the barracks in Yuyao North City and came to the West Lake in Hangzhou, a hundred miles away. He found a luxurious boat and went boating on the lake, enjoying the rare mild sunshine on the West Lake in winter.
All the trivial matters, above the West Lake in winter, in the cool north wind accompanied by the sunshine, in the sound of the beautiful boat girl's fishing songs, everything is just floating clouds.
Yu Zigao missed the life in the Chinese Military Academy. Although he was tired and miserable, he and a group of brothers could always take a break from the busy schedule to go to Leshan Tower to listen to the beautiful singer. He often missed the lights-out signal at night and had to climb over the wall to return to the dormitory.
Now, the brothers who studied with him and fought together in Kyushu, Japan, probably have military power and conquered the world.
Yu Zigao was reclining on the lounge chair in the cabin in front of the boat. There was a charcoal brazier beside him. He closed his eyes and listened to the singing of the young boat girl Shi Li. He comfortably stretched out his hand to warm the fire on the charcoal brazier. Boat girl Shi Li After the song was finished, he smiled loudly at Shi Li and said, "Young lady can sing "The Story of Huansha". It's such a heavenly voice. Why is your aunt willing to let you go out rowing?"