Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 63: Discussing Soldiers in the Study Room
In the study room, when Xu Huizu shook his head and said those disrespectful words, Zhu Gaoxu subconsciously looked out the window.

Looking at his actions, Xu Huizu chuckled: "The people guarding here are all from my house, so don't be nervous."

"It's you..." Xu Huizu pointed at the "Martial Arts General Essentials" with his hand: "If your father sees this Martial Arts General Essentials, I'm afraid he will immediately ask His Majesty for help."

"My father would not dare to ask grandpa directly for someone." Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but laugh. He knew how afraid Zhu Di was of Zhu Yuanzhang.

"He won't ask for it directly, but he will cry for poverty." Xu Huizu also thought of Zhu Di's fear of Zhu Yuanzhang. While explaining with a smile, his eyes did not leave Zhu Gaoxu's body for even an inch.

"It seems that Duke Ying and Duke Song are still young..." He couldn't help but sigh, and Zhu Gaoxu also nodded:
"Ying Guo Gong treated me very well. Although Song Guo Gong did not have many verbal exchanges with me, he kept the books in the mansion for me to read. In addition, Ying Guo Gong answered my questions. Many of the boy's confusions were solved one by one in this month. open."

"Well, I heard about it." Xu Huizu nodded: "Ying Guogong has a high opinion of you, saying that you are good at literature and martial arts."

"I didn't believe it before, but after reading this book, I finally believe what he said."

Xu Huizu once again talked about the annotations of "Wu Jing Zong Yao", but Zhu Gaoxu was puzzled: "This annotation is not very profound, so why does everyone praise it?"

Although he is the author of the annotations, he really doesn't know why everyone who has seen this book is praising him.

In fact, Zhu Gaoxu also underestimated himself.

After experiencing the destruction of production at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, very few people were literate during the Hongwu period, and even fewer people could understand the meaning of articles and make annotations.

Coupled with the problems of the times, many generals will use divination as part of their battles, but Zhu Gaoxu did not bother to explain it, and just left a hasty sentence: "The ways of ghosts and gods cannot be trusted. The way to train troops lies in concentration."

Of course, the more important thing is that Zhu Gaoxu will not follow the path in the military book rigidly, but adds his "own" insights based on the content of the military book.

Most of his "insights" were based on the military training experience of later generations, and he also knew what was suitable for this era and what was not.

Modern tactical thinking is essentially based on the modern military system, and the Ming Dynasty corresponds to the Ming Dynasty. If it is applied continuously, it will only be counterproductive.

Therefore, the insight Zhu Gaoxu added is that the biggest difference between modern armies and ancient armies is military discipline and organization, as well as ubiquitous military discipline and organization.

In fact, if Zhu Gaoxu's annotations were simply compiled into a book, then for people of this era, the chapters on military discipline and organizational strength in this book might become a must-read for every grassroots military attache.

Zhu Gaoxu thought it was nothing, because he thought the army should be like this, but he never thought that the army in his eyes was an enhanced version of the Qi Family Army in ancient times.

As he said, "Nothing is taken away from the people," and "All seized and confiscated, [-]% will be handed over to the court, [-]% will go to the generals, and [-]% will go to the army." These things are simply not realistic.

"You have such strict requirements on military discipline, aren't you afraid that the soldiers below won't be able to stand it?"

Xu Huizu asked Zhu Gaoxu, but Zhu Gaoxu responded as he should: "Feed the soldiers, provide them with shelter at home, and give them status, and they will not be unable to bear it."

"In order to tempt people with benefits?" Xu Huizu nodded slightly, seemingly convinced by Zhu Gaoxu, but he quickly asked: "How did the imperial dynasty plan the meals for the soldiers during peacetime and when they were out?"

Xu Huizu suddenly asked Zhu Gaoxu about the food of the Ming army. After many months of study, Zhu Gaoxu already knew these basic things and subconsciously answered:

"On weekdays, the cavalry has a monthly ration of two stones, the infantry has a monthly ration of one stone, those who have a family have two pounds of salt, and those who have no family have one pound of salt. The army and horses are given three liters of beans and fifteen pounds of fodder every day."

"In addition, every ten days in the army, the soldiers are rewarded with cooked rice wine and pork. Each sergeant in the army has a pound of each. It costs [-] guan each time."

Zhu Gaoxu first talked about the daily situation, and then went on to talk about the situation when he left the guardhouse:

"If you are fighting, in addition to monthly rations, you should also have traveling rations. The traveling rations will be provided according to the distance and time. There are no fixed rules." "But I read the contents recorded in the books collected by Ying Guogong and Song Guogong. Generally speaking, traveling in A hundred miles away, more than five days will be paid accurately, and the amount will be paid according to the region, distance, and type of dispatch."

"For more dangerous tasks such as hunting down, burning wasteland, and preventing autumn, the branch rations are one to five liters per day."

"If you go to Beijing for preparation, sentry duty, guarding the pier, lookout, trimming and other tasks, you will be paid one liter per day."

Zhu Gaoxu talked about the specific treatment of military households in the early Ming Dynasty. These are commonplace things. People always ask him these days, and he is a little tired of talking.

The expenses of a sergeant are not low. Even with the minimum salary, he will consume at least twelve shi of monthly rations, twelve kilograms of salt, 36 kilograms of rice wine, and 36 kilograms of pork a year.

These are only the sergeants in charge of farming, while the soldiers in charge of combat follow the highest standards of each branch of the army. Although there is no difference in wine, meat, and salt, they have more food.

Soldiers who are responsible for combat have to go out for basically ten out of twelve months a year, so the extra ration of one to one liter and five liters is only about three stones of extra food in a year.

Facing Zhu Gaoxu's explanation, Xu Huizu, who had already understood it, asked slowly: "So, if the rations for each soldier in the guard station are discounted, how much will it cost?"

"This..." Zhu Gaoxu probably knew what Xu Huizu was going to say, but he still answered quickly:

"The cost of a field soldier is about five guan and two-three, a fighting soldier's infantry is about six guan and two, and a fighting soldier's cavalry is about twelve guan."

"Then if we raise the army according to your requirements, how much will the cost increase?" The smile on Xu Huizu's face could no longer be hidden, and Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly when he heard this, but he could only reply:

"Raise the troops according to my method, with about ten infantry and eighteen cavalry."

"How many troops can be raised in that farm?" Xu Huizu kept asking. Although Zhu Gaoxu frowned, he calmly answered:
"If the field soldiers are abolished and only combat soldiers are retained, and the tax within the station is maintained at one in ten, a guard station in Peiping can support [-] cavalry and [-] infantry."

"Beiping..." After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Xu Huizu shook his head:

"The world is very big. There are not many areas like Peking where each military household has fifty acres. Most land in the south of the Yangtze River has twenty acres per household. If you pay taxes to raise soldiers according to your method, one guard station can only support two hundred cavalry. , four hundred infantry."

"If you implement this method, the 330 guard posts in the world will only be able to support 24 cavalry and [-] infantry."

"If you include armor, ordnance, and horses, then this situation will be discounted by 20, with only [-] troops and horses."

"How can we defend the huge Ming Dynasty with only 20 troops? I'm afraid we won't even be able to defend the North."

"Gao Xu..." Xu Huizu sighed to Zhu Gaoxu: "Your idea is good, but within the rules set by His Majesty, what you think is inappropriate."

"Even if the general's tax on farmland is raised to five taxes and one tax, the army that can be supported will only be 40."

"I'm afraid it would be too difficult to take care of all aspects with this small force..."

Xu Huizu was about to get up and leave because he thought what he said was obvious enough.

In his opinion, Zhu Gaoxu's method is indeed feasible, but it is not applicable to the current Ming Dynasty, because his method must use the money and grain of the Ministry of Household Affairs, but it violates Zhu Yuanzhang's policy of "raising the world's soldiers and horses without costing the people." "One grain of rice" policy.

He was about to leave, but when faced with his reminder, Zhu Gaoxu told him to stay where he was.

"This kid's method is not for the purpose of serving the guards..."

(End of this chapter)