Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 51

"This kid is quite fascinated by what he's watching..."

In Duke Ying's mansion, Fu Youde peeked at Zhu Gaoxu's reaction in the ear room. Watching him gasp in admiration and shake his head, he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in his heart.

Look, the military book written by me, Fu Youde, is not bad either.

This is also thanks to Zhu Gaoxu's inability to hear Fu Youde's thoughts, otherwise he might be a little dull.

After all, in his opinion, the book of war mentioned by Fu Youde is actually just a medium-length diary.

"I'm going to see how this kid is doing."

Fu Youde was so proud that he couldn't help but want to see what Zhu Gaoxu had learned from the book of war.

He told Fu Zhong, then walked out of the wing and came to the front yard. The two soldiers sitting in front of the door seemed to have seen him, so they hurriedly bowed: "My lord!"

"Hmm..." Fu Youde responded and walked into the room. Zhu Gaoxu also heard the footsteps early, so he put down his book and stood up, bringing a chair for Fu Youde.

Seeing Fu Zhong come in, he took a chair himself.

His actions made both Fu Youde and Fu Zhong very satisfied. After the two sat down, Fu Youde took a look at his "Military Book" and asked quite complacently:
"How is it? The content in this book is pretty good, right?"

"Of course it's good!" Zhu Gaoxu replied happily after sitting down:

"A lot of the content in this "Travel Notes" is very helpful to the boy, especially about the customs and geography of the north and southwest."

"Travel notes..." Fu Zhong felt as if he heard his father's heartbroken voice. He looked sideways, but he didn't expect that Fu Youde could still remain calm.

Suppressing his temper, Fu Youde forced out a smile: "You said it is a travelogue, but what about the military records in it? Can it be regarded as a military series?"

"This..." Zhu Gaoxu saw Fu Youde's reluctance and quickly changed his words:
"Although it cannot be called a military book, it is indeed a series of military books that can help southern generals understand the north and southwest."

"Well..." Fu Youde got an answer that was not perfect, which was somewhat comforting.

"But there are some things in the book that I don't understand very well, so I would like to ask the Duke to enlighten me."

Zhu Gaoxu asked straight to the point, which aroused Fu Youde's curiosity: "I don't understand, what is it?"

"Look, what puzzles me is the issue of the military households fleeing." Zhu Gaoxu picked up the book and pointed to the content and asked Fu Youde.

Fu Youde lowered his head to check, and then saw that what was written on this page was the report from the Governor's Office to the inner court at the end of the third year of Hongwu.

[Bingzi, the Governor-General said: "From October of the first year of Wu to the end of November of the third year of Hongwu, there were 980 soldiers who fled." He ordered all the agencies in the world to hunt them down. 】

In this brief record, from October of the first year when Zhu Yuanzhang was granted the title of King of Wu to November of the third year of Hongwu, the number of soldiers who fled across the country reached more than [-].

This phenomenon of desertion alerted the governor-general of the capital, and Fu Youde also believed that the army must be strictly managed. In subsequent records, Zhu Yuanzhang issued an institutionalized campaign to track down deserters and missing personnel.

First, regulations on continuous sitting were formulated, and officers who fled from sergeants were responsible. Then special personnel were assigned to lead the work of the "Qing Army". Later, a "Qing Army" was compiled in the entire army to check the number of sergeants, forming the prototype of the "Qing Army" system in the Ming Dynasty.

For example, "Three people who escaped from Xiaoqi were demoted to the army. Up to the general banner, hundreds of households, and thousands of households, they all considered the number of deserted troops and took away their salaries and demoted them. Those who served in the military outside were especially severely punished."

In addition, in the 16th year of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Fifth Army Office to call on the foreign guards, quickly arrest the missing soldiers, and clean them up for Pan Yong and other branches involved in the incident.

In the 17th year of the year, Yu Lun, the Minister of the Ministry of War, also submitted a letter to the Ministry of War, saying that "those who have no military family in the capital should not presume to take the same surname or relatives with the same surname, and order a supervisor to verify and issue supplements, and the government guards should not send special personnel."

In the 21st year, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the guards to verify the army.

It can be said that from the first year of King Wu to the present, in the past twenty years or so, the fleeing of Ming military households has continued.

For those who do not understand the military household system in the Ming Dynasty, this may be a reflection of the collective reaction of the sergeants after Zhu Yuanzhang abused the sergeants.

After all, the third year of Hongwu was the year when the Ming Dynasty made great progress and implemented the second Northern Expedition.

This year Xu Da from the left defeated Wang Baobao and allowed Wang Baobao to cross the Yellow River on a plank and escape.Li Wenzhong on the right attacked Yingchang and captured Yuan Zhaozong's son. Yuan Zhaozong escaped with only dozens of cavalry.

In May, the Ming army sent troops to capture Hezhou and open the door to Tubo.

After the entire battle, the Ming Army in the Northern Expedition achieved a complete victory.

But in this context of "from victory to victory", the Ming army sergeants kept running away, with as many as [-] people escaping in three years.

Such a phenomenon is really unbelievable to Zhu Gaoxu.

However, in the face of Zhu Gaoxu's surprise, Fu Youde acted very calmly.

He took the book, pointed to the content on it and said: "Although there are forty-seven thousand deserters in three years, compared with previous dynasties, we are already very strict in running the army."

"Look at the Qin State's reform, which rewards farming and warfare, and the Qin State's farmers also changed the law and fled."

"Taizong and Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty expanded their territory, but soldiers also appeared who would rather kill themselves than go to war."

"Needless to say, more recently, the armies of the two Song Dynasties fled, and the Mongols under the rule of the Northern Lu also rushed to flee first."

"Compared to the previous government, our number of escapes is very small."

"Besides, it doesn't matter if these deserters escape, at least it will consolidate the instability of the team. In the future, there will be fewer and fewer deserters. They are all children of military families who are unwilling to serve."

Fu Youde taught Zhu Gaoxu a lesson, but this was also caused by Zhu Gaoxu's lack of understanding of ancient and modern military history.

If he had been in the past life, he would have known that even in modern times, the number of deserters at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China was not a small number. There was even a record in the report of more than [-] deserters in one area.

However, most generals gradually became relieved from worry.

This is true in modern times, let alone military households in the early Ming Dynasty.

Although military households in the early Ming Dynasty received good treatment, often receiving [-] to [-] acres of farmland at their base, and military pay including "monthly rations" and "line rations," they also shouldered greater responsibilities.

In a military household, except for the father who is a sergeant, the other sons will also be granted free land.

A military household must first cultivate the military field in the garrison, and then cultivate its own remaining farmland.

The former's fifty acres of military farmland produced only twelve shi of grain for military households, while the latter's remaining farmland, no matter how much, had to bear the burden of one dou and two liters of grain per mu, which was nearly four times the amount of grain requisitioned by civilian households.

In addition, although they still have the benefit of 24 kilograms of salt a year, the terrible thing is that they have to be prepared to be immigrated at any time.

Under such conditions, it was acceptable for tens of thousands of the 180 million military households to flee during the Hongwu period.

However, based on Zhu Gaoxu's past review of the government military system, most of the children of military households were born in the third generation and fled in the fourth generation.

Most of today's military households in the Hongwu Dynasty are still in their second generation, and the third generation has not yet grown up.

Once this third generation of children grows up, the collapse of the Wei system will begin.

No matter what, in the future the Ming Dynasty will have to switch to a recruitment system like the Tang Dynasty.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu also bowed to Fu Youde: "The boy has learned a lesson."

"Okay, if there is anything you still don't understand, come here and I'll explain it to you."

Seeing that Zhu Gaoxu could listen, Fu Youde immediately became interested and asked him without reservation.

Zhu Gaoxu was also happy when he saw this, and quickly asked the questions he had puzzled one by one, and gradually understood them with Fu Youde's explanation.

Even if time passes little by little and the sun sets little by little, it cannot interrupt Zhu Gaoxu's behavior of absorbing knowledge like a sponge...

(End of this chapter)