I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 54 Let’s Train the New Army First

After hearing Zhu Yijun's words, Hu Zongxian was speechless for a long time.

He never expected that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's understanding of the situation in the Nine Borders was not only more profound than his own, but also more pessimistic.

How can we continue this conversation?
I think the stuff made by Jiubianwei can be used for a while after some mending.

However, the prince felt that what the Nine Border Guards had made was just a piece of rag that had no sign of being repaired, so it would be better to destroy it as soon as possible.

If there are different opinions, then His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will definitely not agree to the Nine Border Rectification Plan that I have been planning for a long time.

However, to reorganize according to His Royal Highness's idea would be tantamount to turning the Nine Frontiers upside down, causing earthquakes and huge storms that no one could withstand.

Zhu Yijun saw Hu Zongxian's hesitation and said to him, "Mr. Ruzhen, I know my idea is very radical. But if you want to find the source of the disease, you must dig deep and not avoid seeking medical treatment. You must have the courage to face it and face it directly. Only in this way can you find the most fundamental cause of the problem.

Once the root cause is found, how to treat it is another matter. We cannot say that we have to cut off our right hand just because there is an abscess on it. "

Hu Zongxian understood and nodded repeatedly.

"Your Highness, how do you think we can cure Jiubian's illness?"

Zhu Yijun thought about this problem for a long time, but could not come up with any good solution for a while.

But someone in later generations provided a template idea for solving similar problems.

Train new troops.

Train an army that is brand new from the inside out.

First of all, its tactics and methods must be new. After they are trained, their combat effectiveness must crush the old-style army, and fighting one against ten is the basic operation.

Secondly, its personnel and food and salary must be completely independent. Official hats must be out of the control of the Ministry of War, and purses must be out of the control of the Ministry of Revenue and local governments.

Otherwise, no matter how well you practice, after rolling in that quagmire for a few years, you will still be a puddle of mud.

When the new army is trained, we will use the ignorant northern barbarians outside the Great Wall as a whetstone and fight a few good battles. As long as we can win a few battles, this new army will be considered a complete army.

You can also be invincible.

No matter if someone wants to overturn his table or he wants to overturn someone else's table, he will be able to keep the situation under control.

Zhu Yijun wanted to entrust the important task of training the new army to Qi Jiguang.

First of all, he was recognized by later generations as a master of military training. At least no one in his time could train troops better than him.

Secondly, he was not averse to new weapons and tactics such as firearms, and was good at learning and absorbing them.

Zhu Yijun knew that thermal weapons were the trend of the future, but it was ultimately just talk.

How to effectively use firearms to achieve the greatest effect under the current conditions? Zhu Yijun knew that he was definitely not as good as Qi Jiguang, who had rich practical experience.

Therefore, Zhu Yijun specifically named Qi Jiguang in the secret edict to lead troops north to rescue the king, and also sent people to pass on the military intelligence of the Jinyiwei about Baduer and Xin'ai's tribe through the channels of the Coordination Office. The people were waiting in Tianjin Wei, and Qi Jiguang would be informed immediately when he arrived, and the latest developments would be shared at any time.

With the latest military intelligence, Qi Jiguang was able to lure Baduer into a trap near Xianghe, wait for the enemy to tire themselves out, and catch Baduer off guard.

Qi Jiguang's great victory in Xianghe brought honor to the emperor, who jumped out of the trap of the northern barbarians invading the border and disturbing the territory, and put the blame on the civil servants.

The Emperor had a very good impression of Qi Jiguang, so he would naturally listen to his advice and make use of him.

"Mr. Ruzhen, Mr. Wenchang, my idea is very simple. I will start with a basic point, lay a solid foundation, and then wait for an opportunity to break through.

I would like to take the opportunity of training and replenishing the troops for Jizhou Town to allow General Qi, the commander-in-chief of Jizhou Town, to take on another official title. "

"What title?"

"Superintendent of the Military Training Department of the Beijing Camp."

"Training Hall?" Hu Zongxian immediately understood Zhu Yijun's hidden meaning, "To train new soldiers for Jizhou Liaodong, Xuanfu Datong and other towns?"

"Yes, the combat effectiveness of the Nine Borders' troops is low. We will take it step by step. First, we will train combat-capable new soldiers for the Nine Borders, and train a batch of them to rotate with the previous batch. Before they are organized into an army, they will be registered under the name of the Beijing Camp, and called the New Army Camp.

The government and the opposition all said that the Coordination Office was going to take over the food and salaries of the nine frontiers. What a joke! That was a bottomless pit that could not be filled by mountains of gold and silver. Besides, the food and salaries of the nine frontiers involved many aspects, and the Coordination Office was just an institution run by the emperor and the people. How much could it have?

The Coordination Office will help Grandpa Huang share his worries, but we must do what we can. We must first take on the responsibility of providing food and wages for the new military camp, and we can worry about the rest later."

Hu Zongxian and Xu Wei exchanged glances.

This move of the prince is interesting.

The new military camp was organized and trained by Qi Jiguang, and its food and wages were borne by the General Coordination Office. I believe that the selection of soldiers and officers must have their own systems, which are revolving around the training hall.

The Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue and the local governments were unable to intervene, let alone infiltrate and control it.

As for when the new military camp will be organized and trained, it is up to the prince to decide.

"For the Nine Borders, let's do this first. Mr. Ruzhen, you and Mr. Zili (Tan Lun), one in the west and one in the east, will protect the safety of the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. First, focus on rectification. Clean up the accumulated problems, repair the city fortresses, check the number of soldiers, and eliminate the inferior and retain the good.

You and Mr. Zili should support General Qi in training the new military camp."

Seeing that Zhu Yijun was unwilling to go into too much detail, Hu Zongxian could only bow in response.

"Yes!"

"Mr. Ruzhen, I know that the Southeast Navy was created by you."

Zhu Yijun was right.
In the 1554nd year of the Jiajing reign (), Hu Zongxian, who was in charge of suppressing the Japanese pirates in the southeast, decided to establish a coastal defense system in response to the erratic movements of the Japanese pirates, the long and difficult coastline being difficult to defend, and the coastal areas being at risk of being burned and looted by the Japanese pirates at any time.

He organized people to compile the coastal Japanese situation, geographical conditions and anti-Japanese measures into "Zhou Hai Tu Bian", which was distributed to various places to guide the anti-Japanese operations.

He strongly advocated repairing armor and building ships, and built hundreds of warships of various sizes, and equipped them with many firearms, such as muskets, cannons, rockets, etc.

Three major water forts, namely Haiyan, Yanpu and Zhapu, were set up along the coast of Zhejiang, and nearly a hundred ships from Cangshan, Fuqing and other places were recruited and lined up in various ports on standby.

Sentinels were set up along the coast of Fujian, and five major water forts were established at Beacon Gate, Xiaocheng, Nanri, Wuyu and Tongshan, and hundreds of Fujian ships were recruited.

They were commanded by four lieutenant generals and six generals. Regardless of whether there was an alarm or not, they would lead their troops out to sea for patrols regularly. If they encountered pirates, they must fight hard, otherwise they would be beheaded.

However, these navies were scattered, or only used for near-shore defense, or assigned to generals such as Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou. They were subordinate units, but they were already the real navy of the Ming Dynasty.

Later, Zhu Yijun asked Hu Zongxian to form a complete navy and gain control of the sea in the southeast. It was with this foundation that he was able to pull out a combat-capable navy in one fell swoop.

"Now you are transferred to Xuanda, the southeast is under the command of Mr. Renfu (Liu Tao), and the navy is commanded by Generals Lu and Yu. Can you ensure that the local area is safe and successfully eliminate the remaining Japanese pirates?"

"Your Highness, Brother Renfu is a Jinshi in the 17th year of Jiajing. He is skilled in riding and shooting, and is familiar with military strategy. He previously served in the northwest and was familiar with border defense. Later, he was transferred to the southeast to serve as my deputy. He fought along the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian and won countless victories. Qi Yuanjing once served as a lieutenant general under him. It was through his recommendation that I learned about Yuanjing's great talent.

All the generals in the southeast were convinced by his prestige."

"That's good." Zhu Yijun looked at the sky, stood up and said decisively, "It's getting late, let's go back to the city."

Sitting in the carriage, Hu Zongxian couldn't help but ask Xu Wei, "Brother Wen, the prince only asked half of the question today. What does it mean?"

"It's very simple. Brother Ruzhen, you and Brother Zili will do your best to fulfill the Nine Border Affairs. Just try your best to cooperate when the time comes. His Royal Highness should have other plans.

In fact, he is more worried that after Brother Ruzhen, Brother Zili, and General Qi are transferred away from the southeast, will there be a recurrence of the situation there? "

"No!" Hu Zongxian answered firmly, "Liu Renfu can handle it! The prince's advice to me to build a navy was a brilliant move.

The Zhejiang and Fujian navies will only become stronger with each battle. With them, plus the Marine Corps led by Wang Rulong and others, the Japanese pirates will have a hard time making a dent.

The bandits in Guangdong and those who fled from Fujian to Jiangxi are becoming more and more serious. But Cao Bangfu and Wang Chonggu, together with Tang Kekuan and Liu Xian, are enough to deal with them. "

"That's good! Now that you say that, the prince will be relieved." Xu Wei advised, "The capital is not like the southeast, it's like walking on thin ice. The prince lets you and Zili live in Guanzhen, which is actually a protection for you.

After Yan Song left, Xu Jie became the first assistant and Gao Gong became the second assistant. Undercurrents are surging! "

(End of this chapter)