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

Chapter 71 Teaching Team

On the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, the teaching team was established. The teaching team and the boy troupe lived together and requisitioned the state school as a place for teaching and living.

The Ming Dynasty attached great importance to education. All prefectures and counties had official schools, and the number of students continued to expand. Students already enjoyed preferential treatment and did not need to kneel when they saw the prefecture officials. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the number of students was seriously over-enrolled, the quality of students declined, and they often interfered with local administration, becoming a major local malpractice.

Nowadays, wars are still frequent, the imperial examination is not popular, and Yong'an Prefecture School is almost abandoned. Danchu is temporarily unable to run education, so he simply requisitioned the prefecture school.

In the afternoon, all officers above the rank of sentry gathered together to listen to Danchu's first class. Actually, there were not many people, less than 20 officers in command, and less than 10 officers such as military assistants, staff officers, and bookkeepers.

"Everyone, the New Year is coming to an end. Why am I in a hurry to set up a teaching team? Why am I in a hurry to gather you for the first class?"

Most of the officers were rough men, so Danchu started with plain language, answering his own questions: "Because we are expanding the army, those present will be promoted soon. Some will be promoted from sentry leaders to captains, and some captains will be promoted to battalion commanders."

As soon as these words came out, everyone was overjoyed and said, "Following the governor, there is a bright future ahead!"

Danchu continued, "However, sentry officers are different from team officers, and team officers are different from battalion officers. To become an excellent sentry officer, you only need to do two things: one is to resolutely execute orders, and the other is to lead by example.

"Compared to sentry officers, team officers have much more autonomy and are truly chief officers. In addition to obeying orders and leading by example, they must also have their own opinions, consider issues comprehensively, and be bold in making decisions when faced with situations.

"Therefore, the team officers are the most experienced people. If a general has not been trained in the position of a team officer, he is not a qualified general. The battalion officers are even more amazing. They are in charge of five or six hundred people. They must have the quality of being able to remain calm in the face of danger, be proficient in various battle formations, and be able to calculate the distance, money and food...

"The purpose of organizing this training camp is, first, to help you adapt to your new roles, and second, to improve your ideas and unify your understanding of tactics and strategies. Let me first ask you a question: What is the purpose of fighting? Don't talk big or empty words. Let me first give you a few choices: is it to capture a city, to seize wealth, or to kill the enemy? Or something else?"

Among all the generals, Kuang Shi was the most respected and stayed in Yong'an to take charge of military affairs. He answered first: "Taiwan, I think the most important thing is to capture the city. The city is the foundation. With the city, we will have food and money, and a place to settle our families."

Danchu shook his head and said bluntly: "No. During the Songjin War, the Qing invaders besieged Jinzhou for several months, but they were not in a hurry to capture the city."

The Battle of Songjin was a battle that determined the fate of the Ming Dynasty. Unfortunately, the Ming army was defeated and its commander Hong Chengchou surrendered to the Qing army.

Everyone had heard the story of the Battle of Songjin, and they were soon inspired and said:
"In war, the most important thing is of course to seize wealth. During the Battle of Songshan, the Qing invaders approached Jinzhou in advance to build a city and cultivate farmland, shortening their own logistics supply lines. They also tried their best to surround Jinzhou and force the Ming army to reinforce. In the end, once the baggage in Songshan was lost, the Ming army retreated across the board."

"Wealth can support the army. On the battlefield, we should try our best to seize the enemy's spoils. Money, food, armor, and weapons should all be seized. If we cannot seize them, we would rather burn them than leave them to the enemy."

……

There were many different opinions, and Danchu was not satisfied with any of them. However, Wu Jie, the deputy captain of the third team, who was known for his bravery, gave an answer that made Danchu's eyes light up:
"In war, the most important thing is to kill the enemy. Once you kill the enemy, you will naturally gain cities and spoils of war."

"Well," Danchu ended the discussion and said, "What Wu Jie said is somewhat reliable, but not accurate enough. I think the most important goal of fighting a war is to annihilate the enemy.

"Can it be called annihilating the enemy? Killing the enemy and capturing the enemy can be called annihilating the enemy. Defeating the enemy and defeating the enemy cannot be called annihilating the enemy. What is the difference between the two?"

Cao Yu, who was always taciturn, said: "If we annihilate the enemy, they will suffer a devastating blow and lose the ability to fight back. Otherwise, although the enemy is defeated, they still have strength and may make a comeback." "That's right!" Dan Chu praised, "War depends on people, food, money, and weapons, but in the final analysis, it still depends on people. If we annihilate the enemy, food, money, weapons, and cities will come naturally.

"The great victory at Buir Lake during the Hongwu reign of our dynasty and the great victory at Hanan River during the Yongli reign of our dynasty were both beautiful battles of annihilation. The Heavenly Army concentrated its forces, either beheaded or captured, and wiped out the Yuan army in one fell swoop, completely subduing the Mongols.

"If we just defeat the enemy, they can gather their defeated troops and come back at any time. For example, in the recent victory in Quanzhou, the various towns worked together to defeat the Qing invaders and beheaded more than a thousand people. However, the main force of the Qing invaders escaped, and Geng's old Dongjiang troops were not damaged.

"The various towns gathered troops in Quanzhou, but the commander-in-chief had no control over them and did not send troops to pursue them, and just watched the Qing invaders escape. Therefore, despite the victory in Quanzhou, the situation in Huguang did not improve, and the Tian army was still in a passive position.

"It is better to cut off one enemy finger than to injure ten of them. It is better to annihilate a thousand enemies than to defeat ten thousand. From now on, everyone should pay special attention to the fact that the first priority in a war is to annihilate the enemy. Don't indulge the enemy because of greed for cities and spoils of war."

"promise!"

Danchu continued to ask: "What is the most important factor in winning a battle?"

The officers responded enthusiastically:
"Courage! The brave will win when two meet on a narrow road. If the soldiers are timid, they will be defeated at the first touch on the battlefield."

"Unity! Without unity, soldiers will not protect officers on the battlefield. If a unit is surrounded, friendly forces will not come to reinforce it."

“Confidence! Without confidence, soldiers will hesitate on the battlefield and flee at the slightest sign of trouble.”

"Lead by example! When an officer is commanding soldiers to fight, he must lead by example and set a good example for the soldiers."

"Weapons! Without sophisticated weapons, you will definitely be at a disadvantage on the battlefield."

"Supply and food! The two armies are in a stalemate. If we cut off the enemy's food supply, the enemy will fall into chaos without a fight."

……

Danchu let everyone speak fully and finally gave the answer:

"Everyone has said it well, but it's not accurate enough. I believe that the most important thing to win a battle on the battlefield is concentration. We must concentrate our forces, our firepower, and all the forces and means that can destroy the enemy.

"The Qing army has grown stronger and is stronger than the Heavenly Army. It is not wise to fight them to the death. Our army is still weak. After the expansion, most of the soldiers are new. How can we deal with the experienced Qing army?
"The answer lies in concentration. Whenever we face a battle, we must concentrate superior forces. For example, if the enemy attacks Yong'an with 1,000 troops, I will fight with 3,000 troops. What if the enemy has 3,000 troops?
"No matter how many routes they come from, I will only go one way. The enemy has 3,000 soldiers and horses, divided into several routes. I will gather the 3,000 soldiers and horses together to deal with only one route of the enemy, and I will be sure to win.

"It's the same when we meet the enemy. In every previous battle, I asked the flag bearer to raise the yellow flag, the purpose is to concentrate the troops. The key to muskets and artillery is to concentrate them, and they must not be dispersed, the purpose is to concentrate firepower.

"In this way, our formation is dense and the enemy's formation is chaotic. Once close combat, three of our soldiers can fight one. Even if the Qing army is strong, one punch cannot defeat four hands..."

(End of this chapter)