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

Chapter 379: Establishing the Official System
The summer was hot and humid, which was not conducive to fighting. Cen Danchu was stationed in Hengzhou, keeping his troops in place and not in a hurry to counterattack. There were still many things to do, which kept people busy for a moment.

The most urgent task was to expand the army and form the Fourth Infantry Regiment as soon as possible. Secondly, the Red Army had seized Yongzhou, Hengzhou, and Chenzhou in Huguang. If they wanted to gain a firm foothold, they had to establish a government as soon as possible, recruit refugees, and resume production.

Finally, good news came from Jiangxi: the Red Army blockaded Ganzhou for six months and finally broke into the city on July 26.

According to the report of the Second Town Commander Kuang Shi, the defenders had run out of food. One stone of rice sold for 260 taels of silver, and a mouse sold for 8 taels of silver. The Manchu soldiers were extremely brutal, killing people for food. The Han army and the Green Camp in the city were in a panic and were on the verge of collapse. From time to time, some generals secretly communicated with the Red Army.

Zhumala could not stop the rebellion despite repeated prohibitions, so she had to lead the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia to move to the south of the city and personally guard the most dangerous Zhennan Gate. The Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia, together with Aha, had only more than 2,000 people, and with those who died in battle or from illness, they could barely defend the two southern gates of Zhennan and Baisheng.

On July 25, Geng Jimao decided to surrender and opened the Xijin Gate in the northwest of the city at five o'clock in the morning to surrender to the Red Army. The Red Army selected a death squad to cross the Zhang River along the Xijin Gate pontoon bridge and directly reach the outside of Xijin Gate, first occupying Xijin Gate and then welcoming the main army into the city.

By the time Zhumala learned the news, the Red Army had already entered the city. The Jingnan vassal army cut off their braids and joined the Red Army in attacking the Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia.

On the 26th, after fierce street fighting, all the Manchu and Mongolian bannermen were killed and the Red Army captured Ganzhou.

"I didn't expect that the leader of the conspiracy was Geng Jimao. Once he surrendered, the three kings and one duke in Dongjiang Town would only have Shen Yongzhong and his men." Qian Bingdeng sighed, "Shen Yongzhong is the worst and has the weakest men. He is following Hong Chengchou's command and setting up defenses in Changsha and Yuezhou. The king can lead his troops to the north and wipe out Shen Yongzhong and these remnants of Dongjiang in one fell swoop."

"Well," Danchu pondered, "According to your plan, how should we deal with Geng Jimao?"

"The title of King of Jingnan must be revoked. When the Three Feudatories invaded Lingnan, the court sent Feng Yao as an envoy to Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao, and conferred Shang Kexi the title of Marquis of Pinglu and Geng Jimao the title of Marquis of Jinglu. The king may as well cite this example and ask for the title of Marquis of Jinglu for Geng Jimao to win him over."

This was a clever plan, with a hint of humiliation and warning. When the Red Army was not yet well-known, Shang Kexi and Geng Jimao had no scruples and directly executed Feng Yao. Cen Danchu's re-appointment of him as Marquis of Jinglu was intriguing.

"Good, then make him a marquis."

The title was secondary, since the official titles of the Southern Ming court were not valuable anyway. After Cen Dan first proclaimed himself the ruler of Nanyue, he bypassed the court and took charge of the military and political affairs. The positions of the Red Army officers were all real positions, and their value was much greater than those of the court officials.

Director of the Training Bureau Chu Yongpei, who was in charge of military personnel, suggested: "Although Geng Jimao has the merit of surrendering his family, he is desperate after all. Although he has the value of united front work, his past crimes are notorious after all. If he is appointed as assistant commander, the army will certainly not accept it. It is better to appoint him as standard commander."

Danchu also had this idea and said, "There must be many surrendered enemies in Ganzhou. We can follow the example of the Second Brigade of the Imperial Guards, absorb the voluntary troops and surrendered soldiers, and expand the army on the basis of the Fourth Brigade of the Infantry. One part will be reorganized into the Third Brigade of the Imperial Guards of Huben Town, with Cen Guangyun as the assistant commander, and transferred to Huben Town. The other part will still be called the Fourth Brigade of the Infantry, still under the Second Town, with Li Yuanyin as the assistant commander. Geng Jimao's Jingnan vassal army will be affiliated with the Fourth Brigade."

The Fourth Association of the Second Town was mostly composed of Yao and Dong ethnic minorities from Guangxi. The leader of the association was Tianzhou Tusi Cen Guangyun, who was brave and daring in battle and had made great military achievements.

Danchu intends to expand Huben Town. After the establishment of the Third Brigade of the Red Army, Huben Town will have seven brigades under its jurisdiction, including one cavalry brigade, one artillery brigade, one navy brigade, one auxiliary brigade and three personal guards. The total number of people will reach 70,000, which is the real elite of the Red Army.

In order to support the army, they had to occupy the rich land of Jiangxi as soon as possible. Fortunately, Oboi had already gone to Nanjing, and the Red Army could take the opportunity to march north and seize the entire Jiangxi.

"Send a message to Kuang Shi, urging him to head north to Nanchang as soon as possible. If the Second Town can capture Nanchang, all parts of Jiangxi will naturally be conquered by the order." Dan Chu said, his confidence doubling.

"Please ask the king whether the Second Brigade of the Royal Guards should still be assigned to the Second Infantry Regiment?" asked Chief of Operations He Zhaoji.

"Assign it to the Second Town first, and after we capture Nanchang, we will return it to Huben Town based on the situation."

The Red Army's capture of Ganzhou was of extraordinary significance. Everyone was very happy. Qian Bingdeng said:
"The Red Army has occupied Guangdong and Hunan, and will soon sweep across Hunan and Jiangxi. The court's official ranks are in disarray, with all military commanders serving as generals and all civil officials serving as governors. It is difficult to reward those who have made contributions, and those who have not made contributions are arbitrarily awarded. If the official system is not clarified, it will be impossible to motivate the soldiers, clarify politics, and put an end to the chaos in Huguang."

He was talking about the official system, but Cen Danchu thought further. After three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, the official system, military system, taxation and other systems have become rotten. Cen Danchu started a new business, founded the Red Army, took charge of military and political affairs, got rid of the constraints of the small Southern Ming court, and achieved today's achievements. In the current situation, he is not enough to change the flag, but he has the capital to be promoted to the title of One-Character King.

Director of the Education Bureau Chu Yongpei knew what he was thinking and said, "The king's title is the King of Nanyue, and Nanyue only covers Lingnan. As long as the Red Army sweeps Jiangxi and Hunan, the king can be promoted to the title of One-Character King, surpassing Sun Kewang and Zhu Chenggong. It will be more convenient for him to rally the people's hearts and manage the military and government."

Danchu smiled and said, "Let's not talk about the Yizi Wang for now. Mr. Qian's words make a lot of sense. Our vassal has seized Ganzhou and Hengzhou, and the recovery of Jiangxi and Hunan is just around the corner. If we can't clarify the official system, we can't build a strong government, and we can't call on civil and military officials."

The official system can be seen as a system of official titles, which can be divided into official positions and titles. From a legal point of view, even though Danchu was the ruler of the Southern Ming Dynasty, he could only confer official positions, not titles.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, rituals and music were in disarray. After the Hongguang era, there were no less than a dozen governors and university scholars scattered around. In order to facilitate the recruitment of righteous armies, the court issued them many blank imperial seals and granted them the power to confer official titles.

As a result, there was an overabundance of official titles. As early as the Longwu period, He Tengjiao dared to confer titles of nobility without even a blank imperial seal.

In the Huguang and Jiangxi areas, most of the towns were dukes and marquises. Even the volunteer armies of several hundred or a thousand men were either generals or barons and marquises. In terms of military power and prestige, they could not even compare to a Red Army commander.

The Red Army Infantry Battalion commanded 3,000 soldiers and could be called a battalion commander, which was already a mid-level military commander in the Red Army. However, most of these battalion commanders were direct descendants of the Red Army, most of them were recruited from the ranks, and had no titles, which made them somewhat overshadowed by the various towns and righteous divisions.

Danchu decided to first clarify the official system, and from then on, the Red Army officer system would be used in all official documents and formal occasions of the Nanyue Kingdom.

Military officers are divided into five ranks and ten grades. For example, the highest rank is general, which is the first rank and is not a permanent position. In case of a major war, Danchu can select a general to be appointed as a general and be given the command of several towns. Below the general are town commander (second rank), assistant commander (third rank), battalion commander (fourth rank), and battalion commander (fifth rank). Captains and below are not included in the rank.

Cen Danchu was called Marshal in the Red Army, a super-rank. The Left Assistant Army was rated as the first rank, the Right Assistant Army was rated as the second rank, the Assistant Army Officer and the Directors of the Military Advisory Office were rated as the second rank, and so on.

Civil officials were also divided into five ranks and ten grades. The left councillor was the first rank, and the right councillor was the second rank. The ministers of various ministries, the councillors, and the provincial governors were the second rank. Below the provincial level, the prefect was the third rank, the county magistrate was the fourth rank, and the township head was the fifth rank.

The Red Army advocated equality and divided officials into five grades and ten levels, which was a significant reduction compared to the previous dynasty.

For reference, Zhou had a number of rank, from one to nine; Han had a salary rank, from two thousand stones to one hundred stones, with sixteen ranks (the Eastern Han Dynasty had thirteen ranks); Wei established the nine-rank system, which was the beginning of the rank system. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, each rank was divided into two levels, and each rank below the fourth rank was divided into upper and lower ranks, for a total of thirty ranks. In the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, civil and military officials were divided into nine ranks, each with a regular and a subordinate rank, but no upper and lower ranks.

The above can be regarded as real officials, with fewer ranks, which is conducive to centralization. But now is the time to conquer the world, and fewer ranks are not conducive to rewarding meritorious officials and motivating soldiers.

It imitated the honor system of the Ming Dynasty, combining honor ranks and miscellaneous ranks into one, setting up fifteen honors and fifteen ranks.

The five honors for military officers are general, imperial guard, captain, colonel and cavalry lieutenant, each honor having three ranks, such as general having three levels: senior general, lieutenant general and major general.

This is a bit like the military rank system, but it is different from the military rank system. The Ming Dynasty's honor system is far more complicated than the Western military rank system. The five honors and fifteen ranks were set up in the early Dan Dynasty, which was greatly simplified.

The five honors for civil officials are Zhuguo, Fuguo, Zhengzhi, Zizhi and Zanzhi, and each honor has three ranks, such as Shangzhuguo, Zhongzhuguo and Shaozhuguo.

As for the titles, it is planned to restore the five titles of duke, marquis, earl, viscount and baron, with three ranks for each title, such as first-class duke, second-class duke and third-class duke. However, the Danchu did not have the power to confer titles, so this matter was not mentioned for the time being.

(End of this chapter)