Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

As an officer who aspired to be awarded a knighthood for meritorious service, Zhang Yongan thought that he had put a lot of effort into training.

His squadron also ranked among the best in the new army and was often praised in army exercises.

But when the emperor ordered the soldiers of the patrol battalion to quell the rebellion and he set out with his subordinate squadron, he found that going to war was completely different from the training.

The queue that usually moves well, now just doesn’t move well.

Even trivial matters like his shoes falling off or his ankle being sprained gave him a headache.

What made him even more speechless was that someone took advantage of his inattention to escape.

So much so that Zhang Yongan couldn't help but wonder:
Is it that I am not cut out to lead troops and cannot even lead a squadron of more than a hundred people?

To the point that he began to worry about gains and losses, and his self-confidence suffered a great blow.

But no matter how bad the mood is, the march must continue.

Fortunately, they did not encounter any bandits and there was no fighting along the way.

When they were about to set up camp in the evening, the officers of their Second Battalion were gathered for a meeting, and Zhang Yongan discovered that his squadron had performed well.

The worse squadrons even had entire squadrons and teams deserting. It was said that one squadron in one battalion had less than half of its soldiers left.

This comforted Zhang Yongan, but he also wondered what those soldiers were thinking:
They all came from the garrisons, so if they escape back they would be caught by the local garrisons?
Why would these people risk escaping and later being tried by a military court?

The other officers were also confused and could only attribute it to the fact that these soldiers were timid. In the future, when selecting regular soldiers, they should pay more attention to courage and select those who dare to go to the battlefield.

After chatting for a while, the captain of the second battalion came back from a meeting in the camp and brought back an order:
"The bandits have been defeated by the Warrior Battalion's reconnaissance brigade. The Patrol Battalion's mission has changed from suppressing the rebellion to guarding and arresting the fleeing rioters."

"The first brigade is responsible for guarding the palaces of the kings, and the second brigade is responsible for guarding the university city."

"Start a forced march now, abandon your armor and baggage, carry only the supplies for tonight's battle, and reach the university city as soon as possible."

Military orders are as heavy as a mountain, and Zhang Yongan didn't bother to discuss why the soldiers fled.

After returning, he ordered the soldiers to take off their heavy armor, left one team to guard the supplies, and led the other two teams to start a quick march with light equipment.

But even so, they did not reach the university town before nightfall. It was not until after dark that they arrived with torches.

Speaking of torches, we have to mention the spring wheel lighters that began to appear in Beijing.

Because it is very convenient to start a fire and there are different shapes for playing with, spring wheel lighters quickly became popular after being sold in royal stores. With its exquisite handmade craftsmanship, it became a toy for the upper class.

In order to popularize this type of lighter as required by the emperor, some craftsmen in Wensi Academy made a larger and easier to make spring wheel torch based on its structure.

This type of torch also uses cotton wicks and cotton balls to absorb kerosene, which are placed in copper or iron tubes. The cotton wick can be ignited with a spring-wheel lighter.

Because it can self-ignite fire, it is also convenient to add kerosene and other fuels. In addition, the existence of windproof holes can better protect against wind and rain. This kind of torch has been popular since its launch and has even been distributed as military equipment.

The emperor even gave it a special name, calling it the torch.

These torches come in large and small sizes, some with spring wheels that can self-ignite, and some that require additional ignition, suitable for different scenarios.

Zhang Yongan carried a small torch that could generate fire by itself, discarding the flint and fire stick he had used before. After using the spring wheel lighter to generate fire, he lit the large torches carried by others.

These torches formed a line in the dark, with scattered torches around, detecting whether there was an ambush.

However, those rioters had long been frightened by Hu Dawei's killing, so how could they dare to stay in the university town?

Zhang Yongan arrived safely with his soldiers, and because he was from the Jinwu Guard, he was sent to guard Tsinghua Garden.

Looking at the ruins next to Tsinghua University, Zhang Yongan was somewhat frightened by the audacity of the rioters. He was also worried that the fighting during the day was just a cover and there might be more rioters at night.

So he ordered the soldiers to be alert and took them to patrol around Tsinghua campus.

Gu Yanwu and other students, who had been frightened the whole day, finally felt relieved when they saw the patrol battalion's troops rushing over.

Many people did not dare to return to the dormitory and slept on the floor in the palace in Tsinghua University.

But they could sleep, while Zhang Yongan and others didn't dare to sleep at all. Braving the cold winter wind, they patrolled around with torches all night.

It was not until the next day when several other battalions came to take over that Zhang Yongan and his men went into the tents built by the auxiliary soldiers to sleep soundly.

When he woke up, it was already evening and Zhang Yongan was assigned to the night shift again.

However, after a day of cleanup, many of the fleeing rioters had been caught. This night was not like last night, when there were often noises of catching rioters.

The students in Tsinghua University also left here. Some went to live in the capital, or returned to the dormitory. There are soldiers guarding there now, so there is no need to worry about safety.

Because of this, Zhang Yongan relaxed a lot and even had the mood to sort out his gains from the past two days.

Although no bullets were fired and no thieves were captured in the past two days, Zhang Yongan still felt that he had gained a lot and realized the difference between training and combat.

This kind of war atmosphere made him very nervous. Moreover, he was guarding the imperial garden of Tsinghua University, which made him feel a great responsibility.

If a thief sneaks into such an important place at night, I can’t say how much damage he can cause, but his personal future may be ruined.

So he required his soldiers to meet complete combat standards, and only today did he feel slightly relieved.

After summarizing his gains, Zhang Yongan thought about the soldiers' escape again.

He really didn't understand this, so he chatted with the soldiers on duty:

"Aren't those fleeing soldiers afraid of being caught by the local guards?"

Of course the soldiers said they were afraid, but the answer from a sergeant named Qian Wu made him think deeply:
“I was afraid of being arrested when I returned to the garrison, but I was even more afraid that no one would farm the newly allocated land.”

"If I die, won't the land be divided for nothing?"

"At least I have to save some seeds for my kids to plant later."

"If my superiors hadn't encouraged me to become an officer, I would have gone back home to start a family and have children."

Zhang Yongan knew that Northern Zhili was implementing the policies of Zhuolu District and planning the reform of the council and the garrison.

But he really didn't expect that this incident would affect the combat effectiveness of the patrol camp.

As far as he knew, the families of soldiers who served in the patrol camp were generally treated well. Many families were rated as hereditary soldiers, and military households were allocated more than 30 mu of land.

So Zhang Yongan thought that these soldiers should be loyal to their country. But he didn't expect that some soldiers deserted because they were divided up.

This made him fall into deep thought for a moment. While it felt absurd, it also made sense:
"The land has been divided up. If there are no heirs to inherit it, won't it be given to someone else in the future?"

"No wonder those soldiers wanted to escape first even if it meant being punished."

For a moment, he didn't know how to deal with this matter.

I could only write a report as an instructor to explain the soldiers' psychological state to my superiors.

This report was submitted all the way to Xu Guangqi's case.

However, Xu Guangqi was also confused at this time. He had been very nice to the soldiers in the patrol camp, so why did some of them still escape?

Originally, he thought that these soldiers lacked loyalty and planned to have the guards strengthen their loyalty education.

After reading Zhang Yongan's report, I realized that some soldiers were worried about dying on the battlefield and were eager to return home to leave offspring.

This solved my doubts and made me feel fortunate.

Fortunately, this rebellion has been basically put down. If this had happened when the Jianlu attacked, wouldn't the new army, which he had placed high hopes on, be in great chaos?

Therefore, he ordered people to give Zhang Yongan a credit, and at the same time recognized the importance of the military protection system.

If the emperor had not insisted on extending the guard system into the squadrons and was willing to complete this organization by having the squadron leader serve as instructor, perhaps no one would pay attention to the soldiers' thoughts and would not know the reasons for their desertion.

However, among so many squadron leaders and instructors, only Zhang Yongan discovered this matter, which shows that most instructors are still incompetent and have not done a good job in ideological and political work.

So he wrote a memorial and presented it to the emperor together with this report, requesting that more literate civilian officers be sent to serve as instructors.

In the past, Zhu Youjian really couldn't send anyone. Most of the students who learned martial arts were placed in the imperial camp as guards.

However, the siege of the university town by the mob stimulated many students. Some students were angry about the casualties of their classmates and wanted to join the army for revenge.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian issued an imperial decree to allow the patrol camp to recruit clerks from students and let these clerks serve as trainee instructors. As long as they perform well, they can be promoted to acting instructors as a ninth-rank second lieutenant of the guard. Later, they can go to the military academy to study and complete relevant training.

Although none of Gu Yanwu's classmates died in this rebellion, he did become interested in the army after this battle.

In addition, the trainee instructor allowed him to withdraw, so after seeing the notice for recruiting clerks in the patrol camp, he took the initiative to sign up.

Because he had written "On Military System" and had made contributions in the battle to defend Tsinghua University, Xu Guangqi admired him very much and specially arranged him to Zhang Yongan's squadron.

Zhang Yongan had no impression of Gu Yanwu, but Gu Yanwu once saw Zhang Yongan leading soldiers on patrol on the arrow tower.

He had a good impression of this squadron leader who could lead by example, and he looked at him with a different eye after learning that he was a descendant of Zhang Xueyan.

The two of them had a very pleasant conversation, and Zhang Yongan also assigned a lot of writing work to Gu Yanwu.

The amount of writing work for a squadron is not a lot, but it is definitely not a small amount either.

Especially since this time the soldiers deserted, Xu Guangqi asked each team to compile a roster and list the actual number of people present.

The commanding officers and guard officers were also required to report military achievements and award medals to soldiers with outstanding performance.

At the same time, we should commend the teams with outstanding performance as a whole.

This is the biggest difference compared to the old army. The new army does not attach importance to rewarding merits by beheading, but is more based on the completion of tasks.

Treat the soldiers who have made contributions as a whole and record their collective achievements.

As the vanguard that arrived at the university town this time, Zhang Yongan was awarded a year's merit for his good performance.

Everyone in the squadron who participated in this operation will have one year of probation period reduced, and outstanding personnel will also receive personal merit.

For example, Zhang Yongan was awarded one year's merit by Xu Guangqi because of that report.

He was very grateful to Qian Wu for saying that, and was very optimistic about this sergeant who stayed and did not run away because of his encouragement. He believed that this person could overcome emotions such as fear and desire, and might become a useful person in the future.

So he wrote Qian Wu into the list of meritorious personnel, believing that Qian Wu's performance should be commended. At the same time, he recommended Qian Wu to join the patrol camp training team, so that he could have better conditions for learning and facilitate the military academy entrance examination in the future.

What Gu Yanwu saw on the documents were these densely packed lists and words. He had never been involved in this kind of work before, so he was shocked.

He originally thought that the clerical work of a hundred-man team would not be difficult, but now he realized that he had underestimated the matter.

If he doesn't do it seriously, he won't be able to do his job as a clerk, let alone serve as a trainee instructor and do a good job in the ideological work of the soldiers.

When he saw the food, fuel and other supplies consumed by this expedition, he felt even more deeply how much the army was wasting.

A battle without firing a single bullet would consume so much. Soldiers who made contributions also needed rewards from the court.

If the battle is more intense, the cost will be even greater. No wonder the court wants to increase the Liao tribute and the current emperor wants to collect property tax.

However, seeing that Zhang Yongan mostly commended his soldiers without punishing them, and even did not offer any opinions on how to punish the soldiers who fled, Gu Yanwu raised a question:

"The New Book of Jixiao says: Anyone who is not in line, walks in disorder, or leaves the team without permission...will be punished by military law."

"Why didn't Lieutenant Zhang propose any punishment for these people?"

Zhang Yongan was somewhat embarrassed:

"These people have their reasons for fleeing, and the patrol camp has not yet decided how to deal with them."

"I plan to punish them all together after the higher-ups make a decision."

Gu Yanwu shook his head and said:

"otherwise!"

"Rewarding merits while punishing mistakes is the only way to let the soldiers know what is right and what is wrong."

"We can't let them think that escaping doesn't matter, the worst that can happen is that they won't get any credit."

He also criticized Xu Guangqi, saying that this man was too weak:
"If you ask me, Master Xu is just too gentle and not ruthless enough in his military management."

"If any soldiers start to flee, kill a few of them as sacrifices to the flag."

"There won't be so many soldiers fleeing this time."

Zhang Yongan refuted:
"Military law must be enforced by military judges. This is what His Majesty has ordered."

"Are we going to be like the old army, beheading and punishing soldiers at will?"

"During the training of new soldiers, an officer hung up soldiers who did not march properly. As a result, several soldiers died from the sun and it almost caused chaos."

"His Majesty was very angry when he found out, and he stipulated that military judges should enforce military law, and ordinary officers could only put soldiers in solitary confinement."

"Later, it was only after Xu Xueshi requested that officers were given the power to lash the prisoners, and the limit was ten lashes."

"This is your majesty's kindness. Are you not satisfied?"

Gu Yanwu still praised the emperor for his kindness. But he was young and hot-tempered, and could not help but retort:

"Your Majesty's benevolence is benevolent, but you must also have methods when implementing it."

"Your Majesty said to use military judges. Can't you just appoint more military judges?"

"The Art of War by Sun Tzu says: A man who is generous but cannot be commanded, who is loving but cannot be ordered, who is chaotic and cannot be governed, is like a spoiled child and cannot be used."

"Your Majesty is not giving such generous treatment to the new army in order to support a group of useless arrogant soldiers."

Zhang Yongan listened to these words. Although he was dissatisfied with his criticism of Xu Xueshi, he was also touched by some of the words.

If we simply treat our soldiers well and follow their ideas, won't we end up raising a group of arrogant soldiers who will become useless in the future?

Thinking of the arrogant and brave generals in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, Zhang Yongan felt that he should take them as a warning. He wanted to be rewarded with a title for his meritorious service, but he did not want the generals to be coerced by the soldiers like in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties.

So he suppressed his unhappiness and had a serious discussion with Gu Yanwu. He punished some soldiers who made mistakes according to Gu Yanwu's ideas, and co-wrote a report to explain the necessity of increasing the number of military judges.

At this time, Xu Guangqi was also thinking about how to deal with the fleeing soldiers. After reading this report, he was deeply moved and reflected on whether he was too kind, so that the soldiers were fearless.

So he proposed to increase the number of military judges and suggested setting up a military court to strengthen the punishment of soldiers.

At the same time, he also summarized the experience of this expedition and believed that the cavalry of the patrol camp should be concentrated and several cavalry battalions should be set up to facilitate rapid deployment when encountering similar situations.

In addition, each brigade must strengthen logistics, set up special transport squadrons, and increase the number of mule and horse carts to transport supplies.

It can be said that although the patrol battalion achieved little in this rebellion suppression mission, it did discover a series of problems that were not discovered during normal training.

Zhu Youjian agreed with Xu Guangqi's opinion and added military judges to the patrol camp and established a military police force to facilitate the implementation of military law and punish soldiers under the command of officers.

After frowning, he agreed to the patrol camp's request to set up a cavalry battalion.

Although cavalry is relatively expensive, as the new army that he has high hopes for, it is still necessary to train a cavalry battalion so that he can explore cavalry tactics.

However, due to the shortage of war horses, he planned to allocate some unqualified war horses to the Patrol Battalion, and let them explore the horse infantry together with the Brave Guard Battalion.

They used horses for marching and dismounted to use muskets when fighting.

Zhu Youjian called these mounted infantrymen "dragoons" according to his custom. He said that he allowed the use of fire dragons as military flags, so he gave them this name.

As for the request of the transport squadron, Zhu Youjian did not agree. He was worried that if there were too many squadrons under the brigade, the requirements for the officers of the brigade would be too high, and he would not be able to find so many qualified officers.

Therefore, he limited a battalion to five squadrons, and only changed the support squadron to the support and guarantee squadron, and added several transport teams and engineering teams to it, so that they could help the artillery transport shells while transporting supplies, and it would be easier for them to cooperate with each other.

The support squadron was relatively large, with nearly 200 people. The size of the brigade also expanded further, from 660 to 720 people.

Such a large team has a combat capability that exceeds that of the Qianhu Suo of the Ming Dynasty. However, whether it can defeat the Niulu of Jianlu still requires actual combat training.

Zhu Youjian had no idea about this, so he ordered Liu Xingzuo to train the Jurchens recruited by the Andong Protectorate and the Ningyuan Earldom according to the Jianlu tactics, and to train at least a Niulu of 300 people, who would be transferred to Tianjin in the spring of next year to conduct actual combat exercises with the patrol camp.

As for the Patrol Battalion, it cannot be idle now. Zhu Youjian asked the engineers from the Construction Research Institute who returned from Dongning to draw a design and asked the Patrol Battalion to build a bastion of a thousand people as a barracks stationed in the west of Beijing.

At the same time, we should practice the offensive and defensive tactics of the bastion, so as to provide reference for Huo Weihua who will go to Dalinghe to build the bastion next year. Based on the experience of defending the city when facing the Jianlu, we should improve the bastion appropriately.

After more than half a year of basic training, the new troops of the Patrol Battalion began to turn to actual combat exercises to prepare for the Jisi War next year. (End of this chapter)