First Prince of Ming Dynasty

  Chapter 77 Soldier Blood and Empty Pay

  Zhu Biao asked Lan Yu and Quan Xu to stay by his side, and left to arrange his own military affairs.

   After Zhu Biao distributed the big cake, they also had to distribute the small cake, and they had to arrange their own lineage, otherwise they would not be able to command the soldiers on the battlefield.

   It seems that there is an obvious ambush ahead, but there is no way to retreat. When it is necessary to rush, if someone is arranged to go up, but he is afraid to go forward, what should I do?

  It will be too late to hack him to death with a knife, and the morale of the army is already in disarray, and the rest of the people will be even more afraid.

  So when it comes to the battle, the more you have to arrange your own direct line, only they will be willing to go to the front for you, without fear of sacrifice.

  Zhu Biao led the people up to a high platform in the school field, and the formal soldiers below were practicing with firearms, but most of them were just posing. After all, ammunition is rare, so there is no way to waste it.

  Zhu Biao looked at the densely packed crowd and military camp around him, and asked Lan Yu, "How many people are there in the 300,000 army? Tell me the truth, and I won't blame you."

  Sapphire's mouth twitched and said: "This..."

  Zhu Biao said: "It's nothing more than that the generals drank the blood of soldiers. This has been the case in all dynasties. I have no intention of pursuing it, but I don't know how many soldiers I have when I can't go out!"

   Lan Yu took a step closer and said in a low voice: "The 30,000 people from the General's Commander's Mansion brought by the general are real, and our 160,000 army has 30,000...

   Zhu Biao frowned, but he didn't say anything. The 160,000 and 30,000 living dead are enough to give him face as a prince.

  Soldiers who died in battle or retired from the army did not report, and were still paid according to the original roster, or even forged rosters to cheat the army. Of course, all the benefits flowed into the pockets of the officers.

   It's pretty good now, but in the late Ming Dynasty, the corruption of army officers directly led to the demise of the Ming Dynasty.

  The Ming army is expected to send 400,000 troops in the battle of Sarhu. If it is 400,000, Nurhachi will lose, and the problem lies in the short pay.

  Because the biggest hobby of the Ming army was to eat short pay, so that when the army assembled, the officers couldn't figure out how many soldiers they had, and some even made up the entire battalion out of thin air.

The result of this is that the 400,000 army expected by the Ming army actually reached 200,000 (some say hundreds of thousands, at least 120,000). There are no more than 10,000 to 20,000 horses, and both officers and soldiers are old, treacherous and cunning. Although there are some loyal and brave generals, it is strange that such a decadent army can win battles!

  Lanyu looked at Zhu Biao's expression carefully, thinking that if His Highness got angry and wanted to rectify military affairs, he would try his best to persuade him. This matter cannot be changed overnight, not to mention that this expedition is of great significance to the prince.

Seeing that although Zhu Biao frowned, he didn't intend to summon generals, so Lan Yu breathed a sigh of relief and persuaded: "This is your commander, otherwise even if King Kaiping came, there would be a deficit of 50,000 people. These generals I have already brought all my own military servants, just in case you are not satisfied."

  Zhu Biao almost laughed angrily. I have to thank them?

   But Zhu Biao was not too angry, he had expected this matter. Drinking soldiers' blood and eating empty pay, just like civil official corruption, cannot be eradicated. All dynasties have tried their best to improve it, but the results are not good.

Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty, when describing the chaos of the army’s “empty pay” at that time, said: All the generals in command of the army in the world falsely reported their military status in order to receive food and pay. Seventh, if there are deaths in battle or fleeing, the actual number of soldiers will be reduced by two or three tenths within ten years. "

  The proportion of "registration and no one" in the national army has reached more than half, which shows that the problem of "empty pay" was serious at that time.

   Not only that, even among the actual registered soldiers, there are still many hidden "empty pay" phenomena. Many soldiers are just working on time, but they usually have their own livelihoods. Some soldiers even set up stalls in the market all day long to do small business.

At the beginning of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang turned back to the "military household" system of "combining soldiers and farmers" in view of the "redundant expenses" and "redundant soldiers" caused by the recruitment of soldiers in the Song Dynasty, and was classified as a "military household". Allocating a piece of land, going out during wartime, farming in peacetime, and not receiving food and salaries from the imperial court, so the amount of empty salaries was also reduced for a time.

  However, this kind of military household system, which does not distinguish between good and bad and enforces military registration, will inevitably embark on a path of rigidity and decline over time. Due to the weakness of military households and soldiers, the recruitment system was reintroduced in the late Ming Dynasty, and the old historical problem of "eating empty pay" appeared like a shadow. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was even worse than Tang and Song Dynasties.

Zhu Biao sighed and said: "I don't care about their original rules. I will never deduct the military pay of these soldiers on this day. Lan Yu, you go and convey it to the army. If I find out by then, Don't blame the military law for being ruthless!"

  Sapphire's face turned bitter, and it was another job to offend others, but Zhu Biao couldn't refuse to listen to Zhu Biao's orders, and immediately agreed.

  Zhu Biao lost his mood, turned around and took Quan Xu back to the military tent, sitting on the chair feeling a little bored.

  Quan Xu stepped forward and said: "Your Highness, don't worry, our army is so strong, especially in Beiyuan. They claim to have one hundred thousand cavalry every time, but there are only thirty to forty thousand cavalry."

  Zhu Biao smiled helplessly, this is still worse than bad.

  This situation must be changed, but not now. This matter involves almost all the nobles, and we can't kill all the nobles. I'm afraid that the world will be in chaos again.

   But it doesn't matter, Daming has just been established, everything has a chance.

   Zhu Biao asked Quan Xu after letting Lan Yu go down, "Are all 30,000 of you armed with firearms?"

  Quan Xu replied: "The Holy Majesty stipulated that there should be one hundred households in the general army, ten blunderbusses, twenty knives, thirty bows and arrows, and forty guns."

  Zhu Biao nodded. The end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty were indeed an important node in the development of firearms, and Zhu Yuanzhang was particularly fond of firearms. Among the heroes at the end of the Yuan Dynasty at that time, Zhu Yuanzhang's army was a wonderful flower.

  According to historical records, Zhu Yuanzhang's army used various old and new firearms on a large scale for many times, and they used them in siege, city defense and water warfare (gunboat confrontation).

There are so many firearms such as dragon guns, firecrackers, large and small general barrels, iron cannons, magic arrows, caltrops, and "Naihe (flammable firearms, and even the gunpowder formulas required for different weapons have also been explored. many kinds.

  ………

   Thanks for the reward, it’s the first time I have a rudder master

   I’m actually quite depressed today. The more I write, the more I feel that my skills are not enough (crying) and fall into self-doubt and criticism

  (end of this chapter)