Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 15 Army Expansion
When it comes to expanding the army, Bai Gui and Zhao Xing are very excited:

"These days, the imperial court only cares about the quantity of the army, not the quality. Whoever has more soldiers is favored. Aren't Liu Chengyin and Chen Bangbo living examples? Especially Chen Bangbo, who never cared about military training. His officers and soldiers were all street rogues, but he claimed to have 30,000 soldiers. He had no military achievements, but the imperial court actually named him Marquis of Si'en. It's ridiculous!"

"Yes! During the last battle of Guilin, I heard that the standard camp went in and out of the city four times before finally defeating the Qing invaders at Gaogushan. If the standard camp had more people, for example, a thousand men and horses, they might have been able to defeat Gaogushan in one blow. Why would they have to go in and out four times?"

……

Expanding the army is a very complicated and troublesome matter. To expand the army, the first priority is to obtain food and pay. To obtain food and pay, one must have territory, and one must have good relations with the bigwigs in the court and local officials and gentry.

Jiao Lian was brave and good at fighting, but he was not familiar with the ways of the officialdom. He was from Shaanxi, a warrior, and lacked a backer. Otherwise, based on his escape from Daozhou with Emperor Yongli on his back and his suppression of the rebellion of Prince Jingjiang, he should have been granted the title of Marquis.

In the Ming Dynasty, titles of nobility were divided into three levels: duke, marquis, and earl. They were inherited from generation to generation and were of extremely high value.

However, in the Southern Ming Dynasty, the imperial court conferred titles and titles in order to win over civil and military officials. For example, Liu Chengyin was the Duke of Anguo, and his generals were either marquises or earls.

Jiao Lian had made great military achievements, but he had just been promoted to the title of Xinxing Earl. Among his generals, Ma Qijiao had the highest rank, as the commander-in-chief, while Bai Gui and Zhao Xing were both deputy commanders-in-chief.

We are all from Shaanxi, and we have fought together for many years, so we are like brothers. But I am not happy that I cannot get promoted.

The generals of Liu Chengyin and Chen Bangbo had no merit and were lawless, but they were granted titles of marquis and baron. Li Chixin and Gao Bizheng were both born as rebels and had a deep hatred for the Ming Dynasty. As soon as they were recruited by Du Yinxi, they were granted titles of marquis.

This kind of injustice is really unfair.

If Jiao Lian had a strong army, not to mention 30,000 or 50,000 soldiers, but 10,000 or 20,000 soldiers, would the court still dare to look down on him? Would it still dare to look down on the generals?
Cen Danchu advised from another perspective: "Kong Youde has conquered Huguang, and this matter is a foregone conclusion. The commander-in-chief and the governor are powerless to reverse the situation. Next, if the Qing army wants to move south, they will come into contact with Liu Chengyin's troops.

"Liu Chengyin has evil intentions. It is fortunate that he did not surrender to the Qing invaders. How can we expect him to fight to the death? By then, only our army will be able to defend Guilin.

"Including Ma Zhen, our army only has 3,000 combat soldiers, but we have to face the troops of Kong Youde, Geng Zhongming, and Shang Kexi. We can't rely on our friendly forces, and Kong Youde is far better than Gao Gushan. 3,000 soldiers are definitely not enough, and we must expand the army as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Bai Gui and Zhao Xing looked at Jiao Lian with eager eyes, hoping that the commander-in-chief would not avoid suspicion and resolutely expand the army.

Jiao Lian drank the wine in his glass, finally made up his mind, and said:
"Well, it is necessary to expand the army. A few days ago, Zong Chen (Zhu Minru) asked for an audience and was willing to spend all his family wealth to invest in increasing the army. I was still hesitant at the time, but now it seems that I will grant him the request tomorrow."

Zhu Minru, courtesy name Zongchen, was from Guilin. He was a military scholar and a brave general under Jiao Lian. When Zhang Xianzhong invaded Quanzhou, Zhu Minru raised an army and joined Jiao Lian.

This man was good at riding and shooting, had extraordinary physical strength, and was very wealthy. However, because he was not from Shaanxi and had little experience, his status was not as high as that of Ma Qijiao, Bai Gui, Zhao Xing and others.

Zhu Minru was unable to participate in the last battle of Guilin, but he was upright and honest, and he was not interested in money and was loyal. Afterwards, he proposed to Jiao Lian to expand the army, and he paid for it himself.

Zhu Minru wanted to expand his army, of course, he wanted to expand his own troops. Jiao Lian was worried that he would rise above Ma Qijiao and others, causing discord among the generals, so he did not agree.

Now, expanding the army has become a consensus. Zhu Minru is a local wealthy man in Guilin. He raised military funds to expand the army by himself, so Jiao Lian did not need to worry about it, so he should be allowed.

Bai Gui leaned forward and asked curiously, "General, how many soldiers does Zongchen plan to recruit?"

"To complete a battalion, the number of soldiers needed would need to be at least 2,000 and at most 3,000." The generals were shocked.

Zhu Minru currently has less than 400 soldiers and horses. If he is allowed to expand his army, he will be the only one in power and will come out on top. No wonder Jiao Lian hesitated.

However, there is no way to deal with this. After all, he is a local and has a lot of money.

Bai Gui and Zhao Xing were somewhat envious, but they also knew that the overall situation was more important, and agreed with Zhu Minru's expansion of the army.

Cen Danchu said bluntly: "General, the garrisons of this dynasty have been abandoned for a long time, and the camp system is popular. When a general leads the army, he must be in the standard camp, so that he can control the important and the trivial, and control the inside and the outside.

"He Dushi and Du Zhitai were in Huguang. They were ordered to do so at a critical moment. They had no time to train the standard battalion. They were only good at recruiting soldiers. They claimed to have hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but no effective standard battalion. When the Qing invaders came, hundreds of thousands of Ming troops were defeated. If He and Du had 10,000 or 20,000 effective standard soldiers, they would not have collapsed at the first blow.

"The commander-in-chief is strict in military discipline and leads by example, which makes the soldiers sincerely convinced. However, the troops in the standard camp are too few, only about 300 people, so it is difficult to achieve great success. According to the old system, only people from Shaanxi can enter the standard camp. There will be casualties in every battle, and there is no way to replace the casualties, so it will not last long.

"If the Marshal wants to expand the army, he should start with the standard camp."

Jiao Lian nodded slightly. It was not that he did not want to recruit soldiers, but because there were many difficulties. Take the standard camp for example, the people of Shaanxi have the same customs and habits, are hardworking and easy to control. If he recruited people from other provinces, they would have different customs and habits, which might cause trouble.

In addition, although the number of troops in the standard camp is small, they are very elite, all of them are heavily armored cavalry, each with two horses, and they are well-paid. If the standard camp is to be expanded, the military expenditure will be considerable.

Jiao Lian had no territory and no benefactors, and only had a relatively friendly relationship with Qu Shisi. Qu Shisi had a reputation in name only, but was not very capable, and his orders did not go beyond Guilin, so only Lingchuan and Lingui counties were under his control.

To expand the standard camp, they had to find a way to raise funds. Jiao Lian was troubled by this and asked, "Expanding the army costs money, and the standard camp costs even more. Where do you think the funds will come from?"

Cen Danchu glanced at Bai Gui and Zhao Xing. The two generals were also very enthusiastic about expanding the army and nodded to him.

Danchu felt more confident and said:
"Nowadays, the situation is chaotic, and refugees are everywhere, with nowhere to go. As long as the army gives them a bite to eat, they will gladly enlist. After the new recruits enter the camp, they only get an extra portion of military rations.

"There are a lot of wastelands outside Guilin, and it is close to the Yangjiang River and the Lijiang River, which is convenient for irrigation. Judging from the intention of staying, we will be stationed in Guilin for a long time. At that time, we can organize officers and soldiers to cultivate land and raise military rations. Therefore, the military expenditure is not as heavy as imagined.

"However, at the beginning of recruiting soldiers, we need to purchase weapons and war horses, which is a considerable expense. We can ask the garrison to donate this money to the wealthy families in Lingui and Lingchuan counties.

"With the wealth of Zhu Minru's family, we can recruit 3,000 soldiers. If we find some more loyal and righteous people like him and grant them official titles and reputations, we can raise enough military funds. Tax stations should also be set up in the two commercial ports of Baishitan and Daxu to collect commercial taxes.

"I think we don't need to expand the army too quickly. Right now, we have 3,000 combat soldiers and 2,000 dependents. It would be better to recruit 5,000 combat soldiers without dependents, bringing the combat soldiers to 8,000, and keeping the total number under 10,000."

This is a feasible solution. Jiao Lian was tempted and asked, "Expanding the army is a good thing, but if it is not handled properly, it will easily weaken military discipline. Is there any good solution for this?"

Bai Gui and Zhao Xing both looked at Cen Danchu and were very much looking forward to seeing him.

Danchu came prepared and said, "The best way is to change the team's organization from 50 to 100 people."

(End of this chapter)