Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 270 The prisoner is a brick
After Liu Chuanyi finished talking about the strategy for breaking the city, Lu Jin continued.

"I will personally command this crossing of the river. It will be divided into two battlefields, north and south. I will command the battles at Niuzhuji and Caishiji in the north, and Yang Jing, the commander-in-chief of the 37th Army, will command the battle to break the city of Dangtu in the south.

"The southern attack group is composed of the 1st Marine Regiment, Yang Jing's 4th Regiment, and the 1st Brigade of the Imperial Guard. The task of breaking into the city and ascending the city first will be given to Zhu Shou's Imperial Guard Brigade."

Upon hearing this, Yang Jing immediately looked towards Zhu Shou.

Lu Jin continued, "The organization of the Imperial Guard Brigade is different from that of an ordinary division. They have eight battalions, and normally there should be nine battalions. For example, the Second Brigade has nine battalions, and the First Brigade only lacks a cavalry battalion.

"Why are there so many battalions? Because this combined brigade organization incorporates multiple arms, and its main weapons are muskets and artillery. There are four musket battalions, one artillery battalion, one heavy armored infantry formation, two grenadier battalions, and normally there should be a cavalry battalion.

"Because of the comprehensiveness of the troops, they can handle almost all kinds of tasks, such as sieges and field battles. As long as the difference in the strength of the enemy and our army is not too great, then one Royal Guard Brigade is enough to handle most situations."

As soon as Lu Jin said this, the generals of the 37th Army on the left all looked towards the opposite side. They only knew that the generals of Lu Jin's imperial guards were facing them, and there were two unit numbers, but they didn't understand why these two units had so many battalion officers. Now after listening to Lu Jin's introduction, they suddenly realized.

"Yang Jing, you should communicate more with Zhu Shou, Zhang Wen and others after the meeting to familiarize yourself with the combat methods of the Imperial Guard Brigade."

"Yes." Yang Jing immediately clasped his fists and accepted the order.

Lu Jin continued to make arrangements, "For the siege battle on the southern front, after the navy ships have suppressed the defenders on the city walls and are close to the city walls, the first brigade of the Formation of the Breaking Army will be the first to break into the city. They are all elite warriors selected from the Imperial Guards, equipped with the best weapons, and the armor they wear is also heavy armor weighing 60 kilograms per set, which has a great advantage in breaking into the formation and breaking into the city first.

"After the Xianzhen Camp climbs the city from the southwest corner, it must occupy the South Gate and the West Gate at the same time. After opening the city gates, Yang Jing, you lead the four regiments to enter the city from the West Gate and attack to the north and east. Zhu Shou's Imperial Guard Brigade's four musket battalions will enter the city from the South Gate and attack to the west and east. Surround three gates and leave one, leaving the East Gate unattacked, and eventually drive the enemy out from the East Gate."

Yang Jing and Zhu Shou both nodded repeatedly as they listened. Xu Yong, the battalion officer of the First Brigade's Xianzhen Camp, also raised his head proudly when he heard Lu Jin introduce him like this. Among the nearly 60 generals, only he and Zhang Liang of the Second Brigade were wearing black armor, which made them very conspicuous in the crowd. When other generals heard that their armor weighed kilograms, they couldn't help but look at them with admiration, and some even showed envy.

But Zhu Shou then asked, "Marshal, what about the artillery battalion and the chariot battalion of my brigade?"

"Since the artillery battalion and the chariot battalion are not mobile, they will not participate in the siege. Let them stay outside the city and prepare for a field battle. This siege is different from previous sieges. The speed of breaking into the city will be very fast, and the enemy will hardly have time to escape or mobilize. So you and Yang Jing must be prepared for street fighting.

"After this meeting, they will urge their subordinates to familiarize themselves with the essentials of street fighting. I will send you the street map of Dangtu City before the battle begins."

"Yes." Zhu Shou nodded and left.

Lu Jin then said, "On the day of crossing the river, the two battlefields in the north and south should coordinate the attack time. After my vanguard group lands, Yang Jing and your team can start attacking the city. In this way, when your street fighting is almost over and the enemy is driven out of the city, my cavalry will have almost arrived.

“If the battle goes smoothly, you, Yang Jing, will be in charge of the command. Use the 4th regiment to occupy Dangtu City and guard the prisoners. Zhu Shou will lead the Imperial Guard Brigade out of the east gate and pursue in a field formation. The cavalry that just passed by will also be under your command.

"Ye Sheng, when you arrive, you must follow Yang Jing's command and pursue the remaining enemies that escaped from the east gate, but don't stop them all. Allow some of them to go so that they can spread the prestige of our army when they return, and make the rest of the Yuan army in Jiangnan weakened by hearing our name."

"Yes." Yang Jing and Ye Sheng obeyed the order again.

After all the deployments were completed, Lu Jin glanced at the generals and emphasized again.

"In this crossing of the river operation, in addition to occupying a foothold in Jiangnan, we also have another major purpose, which is to expand the army. The troops to be expanded are those captured soldiers in Jiangnan.

"So in this battle, after defeating the enemy, we should try to force them to surrender and not kill them indiscriminately. We expel the Tartars in order to drive out the Yuan invaders and restore our Han people's country, not to slaughter our own compatriots."

Lu Jin pointed eastward, "Those Jiangnan soldiers on the other side may have been bewitched by the Tartars, but they are also our Han brothers. The ones you kill may be your own soldiers in the future. If you kill too many now, we will have fewer soldiers in the future.

"Also, our army implements a mission-based military merit system, not a head-count system. So even if you kill a lot of people, it won't count as merit. Only when you complete the mission I assign to you will it count as military merit. For example, the mission of the vanguard group is to open up the beach, occupy the dock, burn the enemy's cannons, and cover friendly forces landing.

"The mission of the Imperial Guards Brigade is to capture the city first, open the south gate and the west gate, and lead the friendly troops into the city. As long as you complete these tasks, it will be considered a military achievement. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" Nearly a hundred generals shouted in unison.

Lu Jin paced back and forth and said, "Of course, some people may think that if we take over hundreds of thousands of prisoners into our army, it will be more than the number of soldiers we have now. What if the prisoners surrender and then rebel again?"

At this time, Lu Jin turned around again, glanced at the generals and said.

"I will now talk about the conversion of prisoners. The combat deployments just now were for the generals of each unit. What I am going to say now is for the training officers of each unit. The training officers can take notes of what I am going to say next, and the generals of each unit should also listen carefully."

As soon as these words were spoken, the instructors standing behind the generals immediately perked up and took out ink, paper and pens to prepare to take notes.

Seeing that everyone was ready, Lu Jin spoke.

"There have been no disasters in Jiangnan in recent years, and the population is not small, but now there are more people than land in Jiangnan. A large number of people do not have their own land and can only rent other people's land. Their lives are very hard. After working hard for a year, the rent and taxes they pay may not be enough for their own food. Most of the soldiers of the Yuan army in Jiangnan are also followers and tenants of local tyrants.

“Therefore, when we capture prisoners this time, we must implement a double trial and double investigation, let them vent their grievances and have a heart-to-heart talk, and educate and support them. We must not only transform the enemy’s prisoners into our soldiers, but also make them completely loyal.

"So what should be done? What is the second review and second investigation? What should be examined?
"First." Lu Jin raised a finger.

“We need to examine the land holdings of the captives and divide them into four categories according to the amount of land holdings.

“The first category is the extremely poor households, which are tenant farmers who don’t have any land of their own. These people can be separated out first.

"The second category is the poor households, which have fields but not enough to eat, and have rented other people's land for farming. This category should also be singled out.

“The third category is those who are not in need, but have their own land, which is just enough for food, but they do not have tenants.

"The fourth category is the wealthy households, which have many fields of their own and have hired tenants and long-term workers.

“Among the above four types of prisoners, except for the wealthy ones, the first three are all safe for us to use and can be quickly converted and absorbed.

"There have been many natural disasters in Huainan in recent years, and many people have died. The land is vast and sparsely populated, and we are in urgent need of population replenishment. After we capture these prisoners, we will give them land in Huainan if they are willing to surrender, and that will make them surrender." At this time, Sima Shiheng, the instructor of Chang Yuchun's 13th Regiment, suddenly raised his hand. Seeing this, Lu Jin called on him and said, "Shiheng, the instructor of the 13th Regiment, you speak."

"General, what about the fourth category of wealthy households, those who have a lot of land and are looking for tenants? What should we do?"

Lu Jin then explained, "According to our previous method of expanding the army, we would select meritorious officers and veterans from the old troops to lead the new soldiers and form new troops. The first three types of prisoners can be used directly in this way, with officers and veterans being selected to lead.

"And the vacancies created by the old troops that were drafted will be filled by the fourth category of wealthy households with land. Our current old troops have also been allocated land, and are not much worse than those wealthy households. There won't be much of a barrier when we absorb them in.

"Besides, there are 12 people in a class. If we take two away and add two new ones, it won't take long for them to integrate into the class."

"Great!" Shi Heng's eyes lit up when he heard this, thinking that this method was perfect. If two people led ten, it might take a long time to integrate them into the group, but if ten people led two, if you didn't get along, problems would soon arise.

It’s a pity that he didn’t know what the herd effect was, otherwise he wouldn’t be surprised.

"I have no problem. Please go ahead, Marshal."

Lu Jin then continued, "The above is the first round of review, checking the land and family background, what is the second round of review?"

Lu Jin then extended his second finger and said, "The enemy prisoners are still a whole. If we want to absorb these surrendered soldiers, we must first break this whole into pieces.

"Their whole is like a broken house that we have knocked down. Although the wall has collapsed, the bricks are still connected. We can only remove these bricks from the broken wall and build our wall to add bricks to our great cause. So how do we remove them?
"This is the second type of investigation, which is to check the past and let the captives report each other, to find out who has been a lackey for the landlord and done evil; who is the landlord himself and has oppressed the farmhands and tenants; who is a local thug who has collected debts for the tyrannical Yuan government and forced people's families to sell into slavery.

"We want them to report on each other, so that we can divide their hearts and minds, and prevent those with ulterior motives from stirring up trouble among the prisoners, so that we can separate them.

"By the way, pick out the broken bricks on this broken wall. These scum who have done evil in the past are the broken bricks!"

hiss--

All the generals and instructors gasped. What a cruel method! This commander-in-chief was indeed a master at playing with people's hearts.

Lu Jin then said, "Why do you do this? If you have read history books, you should know that the reason why the Han and Tang dynasties were so powerful was because they used good family sons as soldiers.

"As the saying goes, those who have permanent property have permanent heart. If we give land and property to those people who have no land and are honest and hardworking and have been oppressed, then they will be good people. In order to protect the land and property we give them, they will fight for us with all their lives. Because if the Yuan court fights back, will the Yuan court officials recognize the land deeds we give them?"

"No." The instructors present all shook their heads.

"So you must explain this principle clearly to the new captive brothers. On the contrary, the worst source of soldiers in the army has always been those dishonest knights, evil young men, and today's young hooligans. These are bad soldiers, and we don't want them!
“In this second round of investigation, once the most heinous crimes are found, those who have killed people will be put to public trial and executed. Those whose crimes do not warrant death will also be sent to do hard labor, such as building cities, mining, and serving as prisoners.

"After dividing the captives' hearts and minds, we can pick out the broken bricks. The remaining bricks will be good bricks for our own wall. The above is the second review and second investigation. Have you remembered everything?"

"Remember it."

"Remember this," the instructors below came one after another.

Only after everyone had remembered most of what was said did Lu Jin continue to preach.

"After talking about the second review and second investigation and differentiation, let's talk about how to integrate, what is complaining and talking, and what is education and assistance.

"First, we need to integrate them materially. We should give them land so that they can become like our soldiers. Secondly, we need to integrate them ideologically. How can we integrate them? This requires us to share our grievances and open our hearts with them.

"You instructors are supposed to educate the captives. What is our team for? We are to expel the Tartars, restore our Han people's country, overthrow the tyranny of the Yuan court, and advocate fairness and justice.

"You must select activists from our army and take the initiative to talk to the captives, telling them about their tragic pasts, the sufferings brought about by the Yuan court's tyranny, and the changes for the better after joining the Shengwu Army.

"Our own soldiers should speak first, and after they have finished speaking, we should encourage the prisoners to speak out as well. Once they are willing to pour out their bitterness to others and enumerate the evils of the violent Yuan Dynasty, and everyone has the same enemy, then everyone is one, and this is how we can vent our grievances and open our hearts.

"But it is not enough to just know the evils of the Yuan Dynasty. You also need to educate and help them. What are you educating? Why did we rise up against the Yuan Dynasty? It is because the Tartars oppressed us Han people and treated us unfairly. So since we want to rebel and seize the world and drive the Tartars away, we cannot do the same thing as them.

"We must guide them to be good, and make it clear to them that they are wearing armor and shedding blood on the battlefield not for others, but for themselves, so that their parents, brothers and sisters at home will no longer be slaves to the Tartars! We are raising an army to fight against the Yuan Dynasty, and what we are doing is a just thing!

"Secondly, we need to teach them culture. We need to enlighten them, teach them to write, do math, sing our military songs, and teach them military rules and laws. We often say that we should not rob civilians or rape women. You need to explain this to them clearly. They need to learn to think from their perspective. If your superior leads you to rob women and civilians in an area, and tomorrow he leads a group to rob your house, what will you do?
"In the early Song Dynasty, scholars controlled the army with scholars, and most of the Confucian scholars looked down on the soldiers, insulting them by calling them soldiers. They looked down on the soldiers for not understanding the teachings of the sages. Since they didn't understand, why didn't you take the initiative to teach them?
"Confucius also said, 'Do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you.' This also applies to military regulations. If you don't want your parents, brothers, sisters, and sisters to be robbed and raped by others, then don't do the same thing as them. Do you understand?"

"Understood!" the instructors shouted in unison.

Lu Jin then said, "There is one last thing, assistance. What is assistance? It means to help and support. All the generals of the various departments also listened together.

"The captured new soldiers will naturally need training, and they will certainly lag behind our veterans. At this time, you should not just think about corporal punishment and scolding. As long as they do not commit serious offenses that are intolerable under military law, you should be patient and help them train more. If the new soldiers cannot learn or practice well, then the veterans will accompany them to teach and the squad leaders will accompany them to practice until they learn and practice well.

"So what is support? If you don't train well in military affairs, the generals and officers need more help. If you encounter difficulties in life, you need to find a training officer.

“For example, if the new brothers don’t have enough clothes and bedding, you should find a way to apply for new clothes and bedding from your superiors. For example, if your family has just been allocated land but lacks labor to cultivate it, which has delayed farm work, you can’t do anything about it, but you should report it to your superiors and to me in a timely manner.

"I have already instructed the government offices in Huainan Province to do a good job in placing the new soldiers, and to urge the county magistrates to do a good job in supporting the families of soldiers. They should organize mutual assistance among the villagers at the local level. Those who have more labor at home should help those who are short of manpower. Reward measures should be formulated. If a family is short of cattle, the government should help to borrow them.

"The soldiers will give you feedback, and you will report it to your superiors, who will then contact me, and I will urge local officials to implement it. In a word, we must ensure that these new soldiers have no worries and can focus on training and fighting.

"As long as you can do what I said, the enemy's soldiers will be our soldiers! The 200,000 troops on the other side will be ours! Can you do it?"

"Yes!" Nearly a hundred generals and instructors shouted in unison.

After listening to this, everyone realized how powerful Lu Jin's method was. If the twelve-word policy of "two trials and two investigations, complaining and heartfelt, and education and assistance" could really be implemented, then how could there be a shortage of soldiers in the future? There would definitely be more and more soldiers! Moreover, surrendered soldiers would never surrender and then rebel again. If there was a rebellion, it must be that the generals and training officers did not do their job well.
(End of this chapter)