Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 5 Twilight of Hongwu
"It puts a lot of pressure on me..."

On the teaching field, facing Zhu Yuanzhang's gaze, Zhu Gaoxu took two deep breaths nervously.

At the same time, he also glanced at the military attache disciples around him, shaking his head in his heart as he looked.

As far as he knew, there were currently more than 700 military attaches in Beijing during the Hongwu Dynasty, and more than 700 military attaches outside.

Since the Hongwu Dynasty implemented the military household system and the hereditary military attache system, basically all military attaches were hereditary from father to son.

Even if a military household was promoted for meritorious service, the original position would still be hereditary from father to son. Military households with meritorious service could only be transferred to serve elsewhere.

In other words, the number of military attachés in the Ming Dynasty was more than 400, and the number of hereditary military attache children was also corresponding.

However, compared with the old military attaches who were killed from the end of the Yuan Dynasty to the first year of the Zheng Dynasty, the quality of the second and third generations is indeed worrying.

Among 1000 people, those who are skilled in arching, horse riding, shooting, long and short soldiers may not even be able to gather fifty people, let alone marching and setting up formations.

"If the army is commanded by these guys in the future, then..."

Zhu Gaoxu's mouth twitched, and he no longer had expectations for the Ming army's grassroots command capabilities in more than ten years.

Judging from the current performance of these thousands of military attachés, Zhu Gaoxu understood why the guard system could only basically defend in the late Yongle period.

If the general is not good enough, it will be useless no matter how good the soldiers are at fighting.

"Zhu Gaoxu!"

"To!"

In the teaching field, the examiner shouted to Zhu Gaoxu, and Zhu Gaoxu subconsciously responded and walked to the front row.

Since wearing heavy armor consumes a lot of energy, Bao Tao Guard's soldiers have been changing and resting.

Zhu Gaoxu was unlucky, and he happened to be replaced by a soldier with full strength.

But to him, it didn't matter whether the soldiers were full or dissatisfied.

He picked up a three-foot-long stick, spread his feet slightly, turned his body as sideways as possible, and pointed the head of the stick at the soldier.

Opposite him, the soldiers of Leopard Tao Guard responded in the same way.

This scene attracted the attention of the civil and military officials on the campus, and many of them also made their conclusions.

"The soldier is only five feet, three or four inches long. Although he has solid skills, His Highness is tall and has long arms. In addition, he can fire a powerful bow of [-] kilograms. I'm afraid the soldier is no match for him."

"That's not right. We still have to see how well His Highness has mastered his stick skills. Sticks are no better than a long bow."

Several military attachés were discussing, but Zhu Gaoxu, who was on the teaching field, did not hide himself. He simply stepped forward with a gun and stabbed the soldier in the chest.

The soldier tilted the head of his stick and tried to move the head of Zhu Gaoxu's stick away. Unexpectedly, Zhu Gaoxu was so strong that he failed to move the head of the stick and lost the opportunity.

In this situation, Zhu Gaoxu almost thought he had won, but the experienced Leopard Tao guard followed up with the tail of his stick the moment the head of the stick was too far away. He twisted his waist and knocked the head of Zhu Gaoxu's stick away with the tail of the stick, and took a step back.

"Gao Xu is quite good at practicing with sticks, but compared to soldiers who have practiced long guns and clubs for more than ten years, his skills are still a little behind."

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was good at using sticks, commented, and the people around him also heard some closeness from his title to Zhu Gaoxu.

Obviously, Zhu Gaoxu's performance today is indeed changing his impression in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart step by step.

Zhu Yunwen did not show any displeasure. Instead, he stepped forward and bowed:

"After all, Gao Xu is young and has only been in the military camp for three months. It is normal for his skills to be poor. With more training in the future, he will be as skilled as a veteran in the army."

"Well..." Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little satisfied when he saw Zhu Yunwen helping Zhu Gaoxu to speak, and a smile couldn't help but appear on his face.

When Zhu Yunwen saw this, he immediately retreated to his position, looking at Zhu Gaoxu and Bao Taowei veterans on the school field.

Just when his eyes were on him, Zhu Gaoxu pressed forward step by step, holding sticks in both hands, and hit the old soldier with the force of splitting Huashan.

The old soldier instinctively raised his long stick to block it, as if he wanted to tilt the long stick, and let go of one hand to let Zhu Gaoxu's long stick slide to relieve the force, and then swept Zhu Gaoxu with the tail of his stick.

This set of combos was practiced by him on the battlefield, and he never failed after repeated attempts.

But his calculations failed, because the moment the long stick in Zhu Gaoxu's hand hit the stick in his hand, he was confused for a moment.

When he came to his senses, he saw that he had already sat on the ground, his mouth swollen and painful.

"Concession..."

He looked up and saw Zhu Gaoxu holding a stick and clasping his fists in humility. Only then did he realize that he had obviously been knocked to the ground by a stick just now.From his perspective, it might be a little confusing, but to outsiders, the old pawn was beaten to the ground by Zhu Gaoxu before he could even release his strength, and the stick flew out of his hand.

If Zhu Gaoxu hadn't withdrawn his stick at the end, I'm afraid the old pawn would have been hit on the shoulder by now.

"This kid is not serious about his actions."

Zhu Yuanzhang said that Zhu Gaoxu was wrong, but he couldn't hold back the smile on his face.

Seeing his appearance, Xu Huizu and the commanders of the four guards breathed a sigh of relief.

The emperor is happy, so even if the military attache's children perform poorly today, the Fifth Army Commander's Office should not be punished too severely.

Sure enough, as they expected, the exam ended after a while, and after the booklet was delivered to Zhu Yuanzhang and he read it, he did not become furious, but slightly nodded.

After a while, when the military attache disciples in the audience returned to the team, Zhu Yuanzhang slowly said:

"Among the children of military attachés, only 32 of them are qualified in archery, horse riding, shooting, lance and short-range combat, and the remaining 900 or so are unqualified."

"I am ashamed..." Seeing the emperor say this, Xu Huizu and others knelt down and bowed, lowering their noble heads.

Faced with the accusations from Xu Huizu and others, Zhu Yuanzhang did not respond immediately. Instead, after reading through the details, he told Xu Huizu and the military attache of the Fifth Army Commander's Office:
"In the early years, I often ordered the children of military attachés to practice martial arts. Today, in peace and quiet, the young people can only enjoy the salaries of their fathers and brothers, and indulge in drinking, music, singing and dancing as games."

"Once they take office, these disciples will not be able to ride horses and shoot arrows, and their superiors will not be able to control their soldiers. How can they serve the country?"

"The reason why I ordered to test the skills of the military attachés' children this time is because of the recent incident of Yangzhou Guard Commander Shan Shou."

Zhu Yuanzhang told the reason why he ordered the military attache's children, and as soon as the reason was revealed, the head of the military attaché of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion dropped even lower.

This year Shan Shou, a military attaché of the Yangzhou Guard, succeeded his father as commander and led his troops to Taizhou to capture the bandits.

This kind of task of catching bandits was very easy for the soldiers of the Ming army who mostly wore armor in the early Ming Dynasty. It could even be said to be a welfare.

However, the outcome of this matter was disappointing.

Shan Shou and the Yangzhou guards suddenly met the bandits on the way to capture. The moment the battle broke out, the Yangzhou guards were ready to fight the bandits.

As a result, Shan Shou, as the commander, actually ran away because of fear, and even called the soldiers to protect him and retreat together, which eventually led to the defeat of the army.

More than a hundred soldiers of the guard station wearing armor could not defeat hundreds of bandits without armor...

After this incident happened, it quickly attracted Zhu Yuanzhang's attention, which is why he ordered the children of military attachés to take the exam in Beijing.

"The reason why I live a single life is because I never practice martial arts and strategies."

"I decree today that from now on, the military attache's children must practice archery, horseback riding and archery in their free time."

"The children of military attachés who want to inherit the army must go to Beijing to have their riding and shooting skills tested by the military attache of the Fifth Army Governor's Office in this large training ground."

"Otherwise, even if you are awarded a job, you will only be given half salary."

"If he fails the exam, he should go home and practice his skills. He can take the exam again after three years."

"If you are still unable to ride and shoot in three years, you will be demoted to the army."

Zhu Yuanzhang announced the new policy to the military attaches in the Fifth Army Commander's Office, and the military attaches could only bow and bow and sing loudly: "Long live"

The eunuch and eunuch in charge of rituals on the side recorded what Zhu Yuanzhang said in front of the emperor, and prepared to polish it a little before returning to the palace and then distribute the decree.

"Okay, let's stop here today. Those who are qualified in martial arts will be sent back to the station. Those who are not qualified will be allowed to go home or stay in the large training ground to study martial arts."

Zhu Yuanzhang stood up, and the officials around him bowed down, and he also set his sights on Zhu Gaoxu's team.

He didn't say anything, just took a look and turned to leave.

Seeing him leaving, Zhu Yunwen quickly followed.

Upon seeing this, all the officials on the stage, as well as the Hezhou Guards and Baotao Guards, also guarded him and left the teaching grounds.

This scene was very fortunate for the military attachés and very normal for the soldiers in the military training field, but it was not good for Zhu Gaoxu.

He stared at Luan Jia leaving with his eyes wide open.

"What's going on? What about me? My grades are so good, why don't I have any arrangements?"

(End of this chapter)