Jingtai: Making the Ming Dynasty Great Again

Chapter 122 Instructor Recruitment Course

Zhu Qiyu smiled and said, "Minister Hu is right."

Then we'll use both locations, with the drill ground as the main school building.

Gongde Temple served as a branch school, specifically for training high-ranking military officers.

Yu Qian continued, "I believe that the matter of instructors can be divided into three categories."

The first category is resident instructors.

The officers were selected by the Ministry of War to be well-versed in military strategy and have practical combat experience, and they were stationed at the Military Academy to teach year-round.

The second category is rotating instructors.

The generals and deputy generals of the various border towns took turns going to Beijing to give lectures.

Each person speaks for one to two months, and then returns to their post after finishing.

The third category is specially appointed instructors.

The Ministry of Works dispatched firearms experts, the Ministry of Revenue dispatched grain and forage experts, and the Imperial Observatory dispatched astronomical experts to provide specialized instruction in the relevant knowledge.

Zhu Qiyu exclaimed, "This is excellent!"

Let the people from the Ministry of Works explain the structure of firearms.

Send someone from the Ministry of Revenue to explain the allocation of grain and fodder.

Let the people from the Imperial Observatory explain astronomy and geography.

Although these people have never fought in a war, what they know will be useful in battle.

Yu Qian said, "That's exactly right."

As for the source of students, I believe that they can be recruited in three categories.

The first category consists of young soldiers recommended by various garrisons.

The requirements are that the candidate be brave and skilled in battle, have a basic understanding of literature, and be between twenty and thirty years old.

The second category is the children of noble families, for whom the admission requirements can be relaxed.

The third category is to establish military examinations, modeled after civil service examinations.

Talented individuals selected through the provincial examination, the metropolitan examination, and the palace examination.

Those who passed the palace examination could be directly trained as high-ranking military officers.

These words caused an uproar in the hall.

Chen Xun hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, this is absolutely unacceptable!"

Military households were soldiers for generations, which distinguished them from civilian households.

If we recruit sons of civilian households into the military academy, wouldn't that disrupt the military household system?

Zhu Qiyu looked at him: "Grand Secretary Chen, how many soldiers can the Ming Dynasty currently rely solely on military households?"

Chen Xun was speechless.

After six months of recruitment, the Beijing Garrison has now reached a strength of 120,000.

However, eight or nine out of ten of these people were recruited from civilian households, rather than from military households in the garrison.

Zhu Qiyu said slowly, "I established the Military Academy to provide a way out for all those who want to be soldiers and are capable of being soldiers."

Whether they were children of military households or children of civilian households.

Anyone with the ability can enter the military academy and become a general!

The hall was completely silent.

Zhu Qiyu continued, "I do not intend to abolish the military household system."

The military household system is currently the foundation of our Great Ming Dynasty and cannot be shaken.

But I want to give a chance to those commoners who are willing to join the army.

Only in this way can the army of my Great Ming attract talent and grow stronger with each battle.

Yu Qian immediately cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"

After a moment, Chen Xun spoke again: "Young Master Yu, will relaxing the conditions for the sons of noble families to enter the Military Academy cause controversy?"

Some might say this is just gilding the lily of noble families.

Yu Qian said, "The sons of the Xun Gui family have already made contributions to the country in their fathers and grandfathers."

It is only natural that such people have some privileges.

However, this is only a preferential treatment for admission.

Once inside the military academy, they had to be treated the same as other students.

No exam should be missed, and no punishment should be waived.

Zhu Qiyu nodded and said, "Young Master Yu is right."

This is another thing I've been thinking about.

Those descendants of hereditary dukes, earls, and marquises were required to study at the military academy.

After the assessment, the amount of hereditary salary will be determined based on her performance.

Those who fail the assessment for multiple generations will have their titles and salaries reduced, eventually becoming commoners.

Another rule is that the sons of Xun Gui must start from the bottom to enter the Military Academy.

Don't come in and immediately assume the roles of captain or squad leader.

We lived in a dormitory with ordinary sergeants, did drills together, and got scolded by the instructors together.

If you can't stand this hardship, go home and take care of your children as soon as possible.

Some of the officials couldn't help but chuckle, almost bursting out laughing.

As for Zhu Qiyu's statement that the sons of noble families who fail the assessment may face demotion, he did not provide a proper title.

Most of the civil officials present were supportive.

Those nobles with titles already received an additional title and salary compared to civil officials.

Most people feel unbalanced.

If there's an opportunity to discipline military officers, why not take it?

Zhu Qiyu looked at Jin Lian: "Minister Jin, shouldn't your Ministry of Revenue carefully calculate the money matters?"

Jin Lian stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I have just made a rough estimate."

If we follow Yu Shaobao's suggestion, accommodating 500 students and 50 instructors would require approximately 30,000 taels of silver per year.

This money can be allocated from the funds recovered from the rectification of the garrison.

The amount of farmland and vacant land recovered in Gansu and Datong alone will amount to more than 50,000 taels this year.

Therefore, Your Majesty need not worry too much about money.

Zhu Qiyu nodded in satisfaction: "Okay, let's talk about the courses at the Martial Arts Academy next."

"Young Master Yu, what courses do you think should be offered?"

Yu Qian thought: "I believe that courses can be divided into two categories: basic courses and professional courses."

Basic courses are compulsory for all students, including military strategy, geography, military formations, firearms, horsemanship, and swordsmanship.

Specialized courses are divided according to the positions students may hold in the future.

For example, the cavalry department specializes in cavalry tactics.

The infantry department specializes in infantry tactics.

The naval science department specializes in naval warfare, etc.

Zhu Qiyu said, "How should military strategy be taught? We can't just have students memorize 'The Art of War' by rote, can we?"

Yu Qian smiled and said, "Your Majesty, rest assured, I have already made preparations."

The Ministry of War would summarize typical battles from past dynasties and have the trained soldiers analyze them.

Simultaneously, sand table exercises and live-fire drills were conducted.

Zhu Qiyu added: "There is another course called national conditions education."

We must let the soldiers know how many people, how much land, and how much tax our Great Ming Dynasty has.

What is the situation on the border? What enemies are in the surrounding area?

A general cannot only know how to fight; he must also know why he is fighting and how to defend the spoils after the battle.

This can be considered as Zhu Qiyu joining the "moral education" course.

He wanted to place instructors in the military camps, a plan that had been tried before during the Battle of Beijing, but the results were not ideal.

At that time, scholars from the Hanlin Academy were selected to serve in this position.

The main problem is that these scholars from the Hanlin Academy and the soldiers don't see eye to eye.

They didn't usually interact much, but suddenly someone was parachuted in to take charge of discipline and ideological education.

Most of the soldiers harbored a desire to resist.

But Zhu Qiyu firmly believes that the future of the motherland's army will be strong.

The military's strength, especially in its early days, owed much to the instructors.

Therefore, Zhu Qiyu planned to continue implementing the instructor system.

The only thing needed is a change in strategy; the position would no longer be filled directly by a scholar from the Hanlin Academy.

Instead, they were asked to teach the students at the martial arts academy.

Then select some of these people to take on the roles.

Hu Dan nodded and said, "Your Majesty's words are insightful and far-sighted."

I believe this course can be taught by scholars from the Hanlin Academy.

Zhu Qiyu nodded and said, "That's feasible, but we must remind those scholars not to speak in too literary a language, or the soldiers won't understand."

We need to use plain language to explain practical things.

The ministers all nodded in agreement.

Zhu Qiyu added, "There is one more thing: students of the Military Academy must be proficient in both literary and martial arts."

They must learn not only how to fight, but also how to read and write.

Yu Qian said, "Your Majesty is wise. If the generals in the army cannot understand the military orders, they rely entirely on the personal guards to read them to them."

If someone with ulterior motives interferes and alters military orders, the generals will not be able to detect it at all.

Therefore, I believe that students of the Military Academy must be literate, at least able to write simple military reports.

In fact, by the time of the Ming Dynasty, there were almost no illiterate generals left in the army.

Especially after the reigns of Emperors Renzong and Xuanzong, the Ming Dynasty experienced few wars.

The imperial court also established the Capital Guard Martial Arts Academy, which primarily taught Confucianism and secondarily martial arts.

However, this only covers those high-ranking generals.

Zhu Qiyu's current goal in establishing schools is to select talent from among all people nationwide.

Those selected through the military examination system had an extremely high rate of illiteracy.

Zhu Qiyu said, "Then let's set a rule: those who enter the Military Academy must be able to recognize more than a thousand characters."

Those who are illiterate will first study literacy in a preparatory class for a year, and only those who pass will be admitted to the regular class.

Chen Xun stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, I think this is a very good one."

A thousand words may not seem like much, but they are sufficient for daily military affairs.

Those with exceptional talent can pursue further education and may become military staff members in the future.