Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 321 My name is Gao Yao, a dog-skin plaster!
Not long after Tu Huai came out to report the news, Liu Minhua and Tu Hai opened the gates and surrendered the city. They also brought the body of Sun Deya. It was said that Sun Deya had hanged himself, but looking at his hideous face, it didn't look like he died on his own.
But because of this, his body is still intact.

Liu Minhua and Tu Hai finally met Zhu Liangzu this time. In the central army tent, in addition to Zhu Liangzu sitting at the top, there was a middle-aged scholar with a round face and a short beard sitting on the side seat next to Zhu Liangzu. This man had a ruddy complexion, fair skin, and a pair of bright eyes that stared straight at them.

The reason why he is called a scholar is that he is wearing a white Confucian robe, but what makes people feel weird is that he is wearing iron armor outside the robe, waving a folding fan with landscapes, bamboo and rocks painted on it in his hand, but there is an iron mace hanging from his waist. This incongruous attire, appearing in the central army tent, is as eye-catching as it can be.

However, seeing that generals Feng Sheng, Zheng Yong and others on both sides were not surprised by the man, Liu Minhua and Tu Hai did not say anything.

After the two of them greeted Zhu Liangzu, Liu Minhua took the lead and spoke.

"I wonder how the general plans to deal with Sun Deya's body. Now that he is dead, please don't dismember him. As for those officers from Dingyuan who have died, we also hope that they can be buried directly in Tianchang, and not be left exposed in the wilderness, otherwise it may arouse the dissatisfaction of the soldiers in the old camp."

What Liu Minhua said was not without reason. At that time, it was not only those officers who participated in the fight between Dingyuan and Lu Ding. Some soldiers from the old camp also participated. But if even the dead officers did not have a good ending, they would naturally worry that they would be liquidated in the future.

In this case, we have to be cautious in how to deal with these dead bodies, otherwise the troops that have just surrendered may rebel.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Liangzu said, "I may not dismember Sun Deya's body, but I have no say on how to deal with it. I will send someone to send him to Jiankang intact. I don't know how the higher-ups will deal with him, but that has nothing to do with us.

"As for the officers from Dingyuan, they can be buried in Tianchang, but it needs to be handed over to others. I don't have the time."

Liu Minhua and Tu Hai breathed a sigh of relief. Tu Hai then said, "Don't worry about it, General. We will bury the body ourselves."

Zhu Liangzu shook his head and said, "You don't have the time."

The two were stunned when they heard this. Just as they were about to ask why, Zhu Liangzu spoke first, "You two just got temporary military positions as commanders of temporary independent regiments. So, do you want to become regular soldiers?"

"Of course I do." Liu Minhua replied immediately.

"Okay then." Zhu Liangzu nodded and said, "I told Tu Huai before that I will send troops to attack Yangzhou soon. Since you have joined my army, you must go with me. I don't have time to waste with you, so you must reorganize your troops tonight and go to Yangzhou with me tomorrow. If it weren't for this, I wouldn't surrender you, understand?"

"know."

"So urgent?" One nodded, the other was surprised.

Zhu Liangzu did not explain too much, and continued to ask, "Yes, we will set out tomorrow. We must reorganize the troops tonight. Do you know the organization of our Shengwu Army?"

"I know a thing or two." The two answered immediately this time.

Zhu Liangzu nodded and said, "Each regiment has 4500 people, divided into five thousand-household battalions, each with 900 people. Four of them are combat battalions, mainly used for combat, and one auxiliary battalion, mainly used for building camps, escorting supplies and food, and guarding the city. The battalions are also divided into companies and platoons. If you don't understand the details, I'll have someone tell you later.

“I only give you one night. Remove one thousand old and weak soldiers from the ten thousand soldiers in the city, leaving only nine thousand elite soldiers, and organize them into two regiments. Each of you will arrange five thousand soldiers and officers at all levels below. Complete the reorganization before dawn and hand over the roster to me. We will march out at dawn tomorrow.

“Since you have just joined the Shengwu Army and may not be used to our fighting style, I can lower the requirements for you to march only 40 miles tomorrow. But the day after tomorrow, you must march at least 50 miles and arrive at the city of Yangzhou within two days.

"Whether it's reorganizing the troops or marching, if you two want to become regular soldiers, you should show your true abilities. My Shengwu Army doesn't want useless people. If you can't even keep up with the march, then there's no point in having you."

The two were secretly shocked when they heard this, thinking that Zhu Liangzu was trying to intimidate them and deliberately make things difficult for them.

But think about it, since they are marching to fight, then the other side's troops must march together. Since they can march 50 miles a day, why can't you keep up? Wouldn't that make you a useless waste?
Thinking of this, the two looked at each other and agreed with gritted teeth. Liu Minhua then asked curiously.

"May I ask, General, do we really want to attack the entire Yangzhou Road, Gaoyou Prefecture, and Huai'an Road?"

"There is no joking in the army." Zhu Liangzu was straightforward.

"I wonder how many troops we have here. If we only have these now, I'm afraid they are not enough." Liu Minhua said with some concern.

Both of them had just joined the team and were confronted with such a large-scale war right away, so it was normal for them to be a little worried.

Zhu Liangzu picked up some words and said, "Of course, there are more than just my soldiers. There are at least five divisions and 15 regiments deployed in the Jiangbei Campaign this time. I am only one of the divisions. However, only three of these five divisions are used for the main attack, and the other two are helping to occupy the land in the back.

"If it's just for conquering cities, then it's almost enough. But if it's used to fight Tuotuo, the troops are indeed insufficient. But it doesn't matter. Didn't the Marshal allow me to expand the army at a convenient price? If we capture Yu Shiliang's camp, we will get at least one regiment. Add your two regiments in Tianchang, and you see, that's another division with three regiments of troops."

"So that's it." Liu Minhua suddenly realized that he had also included his newly joined troops.

Liu Minhua roughly calculated that there were 13500 people in one division, and five divisions would have nearly people. Adding their temporary expansion and those who surrendered, they could make up nearly people. It sounds like a lot, no wonder the Shengwu Army dared to fight such a big battle.

But Tu Hai, who was standing beside him, was still somewhat puzzled and asked, "General, we received news that Tuotuo is about to lead the elite Yuan army southward. Do we really have to fight northward and confront him head-on at this time? Why don't we wait a little longer?"

"Why should we slow down? In the eyes of the Tartars, we are all rebels. If you don't fight him, will Tuotuo not come to fight you? You are just dreaming. Don't rely on luck.

"And precisely because we know that Tuotuo is about to head south, we have to move quickly and race against time. We will reorganize tonight and move camp tomorrow. Before Tuotuo arrives, we must at least capture Gaoyou and engage in a tug-of-war with him in Huai'an.

"As long as we can occupy a piece of land in Jiangbei, we will be able to receive continuous support from the rear. Even if we have to compete with Tuotuo in terms of consumption, we can afford it. The most important thing now is to seize a stable foothold in Jiangbei."

The two were a little surprised when they heard this. They didn't expect that the Shengwu Army's fighting style would be so aggressive. Knowing that a powerful enemy was in front of them, they still wanted to grab some benefits under the enemy's nose, and even took the initiative to fight with Tuotuo. They were just a group of rebels, how could they compete with the Tartar court?
Liu Minhua immediately reminded him, "General, we don't have much food in Tianchang. How are we going to supply food to these 10,000 people?"

Zhu Liangzu immediately waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about this. Jiangnan will raise food for us. We just need to take over the territory as soon as possible."

The two of them breathed a sigh of relief and quickly agreed, "Since the general has a comprehensive plan, let's go back and reorganize the army first."

"Go, go, hurry up and don't hold me back." Zhu Liangzu quickly sent the two away.

After the two men left, Zhu Liangzu asked the middle-aged scholar in the account, "Lao Gao, what do you think of these two guys?"

The middle-aged scholar Gao Yao, who was named, twirled his short beard and said, "From their surrender agreement and the operation under the name of Sun Deya, one of them must have some wisdom. In addition, I saw their words and deeds just now, so I think the one who came up with the idea should be Liu Minhua.

“This person appears to be humble and polite, and he always asks you the right questions. He seems to be a talented person, but whether he can be used by our army remains to be seen.

"As for Tu Hai, he is the commander of Sun Deya's personal soldiers. We have to go through him to capture Sun Deya. I don't know who is the master and servant between him and Liu Minhua. But from his words and actions just now, he is a shrewd and impatient person. Such a person is actually the easiest to deal with. I will go and give him a lesson and explain our rules to him. I am afraid that I can help the Marshal to subdue another powerful general."

Zhu Liangzu nodded and said, "Okay, I'll let you go meet them later."

Gao Yao also reminded, "Didn't more than a thousand women, children, the elderly and the weak be driven out of the city during the day? Now it's dark, and since we have opened the gates and surrendered the city, we must quickly send those women and children back."

Zhu Liangzu slapped his forehead immediately and said, "I almost forgot about this."

So Zhu Liangzu hurriedly sent the women and children back to the city, and sent soldiers to send them back to their homes. For a moment, the people in the city were grateful and thought that the new Shengwu Army was much better than the previous Sun Deya.

Zhu Liangzu also took the opportunity to let Sui Zheng, the battalion officer of the Fifth Regiment, lead a battalion into the city to take over the city. At the same time, he transferred Tian Hong, who had surrendered from Yu Shiliang's troops, to lead 1200 soldiers into the city. Together with the old and weak soldiers laid off by Liu Minhua and Tu Hai, only soldiers were left to defend the city.

Upon hearing this arrangement, Sui Zheng immediately ran to Zhu Liangzu to ask, "General Manager, you only leave me 3,000 old, weak and disabled soldiers. Can they defend the city? What if the Yuan army attacks?"

Sui Zheng was an old subordinate of Zhu Liangzu when he was the "Marshal of the Righteous Army" of the Yuan court. He was brought here by Zhu Liangzu when he surrendered to the Shengwu Army. The two had a close relationship. Upon hearing this, Zhu Liangzu immediately pulled him in front of the map.

"The area west of Tianchang is ours now. Although Xuyi in the northwest is in the hands of Zhima Li, he is also our ally. Unless he is crazy, why would he come to attack you?

"I will attack Yangzhou tomorrow. Yangzhou in the southeast is also in danger. In the end, only Gaoyou may send troops. But tomorrow I will ask Zheng Yong to send a battalion of cavalry to monitor the enemy in Gaoyou. If there is any unusual movement in Gaoyou, let them tell me.

"Just give me three days. Once I take Yangzhou, I will march to Gaoyou. You can just stay here and train your troops well. Who around here dares to attack you? Do you really think that the main force near us doesn't exist?"

Sui Zheng finally felt relieved after hearing this, and quickly took his men back to the city to take charge.

On the next morning, Liu Minhua and Tu Hai, who had been busy all night, finally led the reorganized troops out of the city. After they handed in the roster, Zhu Liangzu casually glanced at it and handed it to Gao Yao, a middle-aged scholar beside him.

Unexpectedly, Zhu Liangzu didn't say anything, but Gao Yao held the two rosters and started to comment on them with a click of the tongue.

"Liu Minhua's arrangement is okay. There are five thousand battalion officers, Jiang Wei, Huang Zunyi, Lou He, Bai Tao, and Gu Fanglue. One is from Chuzhou, two are from Lai'an, and two are from Tianchang. This is fine. They can be given the temporary number of the First Independent Regiment. But Tu Hai, this is not okay."

Liu Minhua seemed to be thinking about something when he heard it, and did not say anything. However, Tu Hai frowned and asked directly, "Why is it not possible? Aren't they all arranged according to your organization? One commander and five battalion officers, what's wrong with that? And there is also a general, may I ask who this person is?" Tu Hai first refuted, but was dissatisfied with this person taking the roster away casually, so he asked Zhu Liangzu directly.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Liangzu immediately introduced Gao Yao, Instructor Gao, a full-rank instructor of the 36th Army. He has the same rank as me in the army.

Seeing that both of them had puzzled expressions, Zhu Liangzu explained in detail.

"You just arrived, so you may not know that my Shengwu Army has a dual-chief system. Each unit has two chief officers, regardless of priority. There are military chief officers at all levels in charge of military affairs, and there are also training officers at all levels in charge of military affairs.

"I, the commander-in-chief, will be in charge of the march and the battle, but the military supplies, intelligence, military law supervision, and military merit verification are all in the charge of the training officer. Although he is at the same level as me, he can also supervise me as long as it is not a war."

What the hell? Shouldn't the commander have absolute authority in the army? How come there is a dual-chief system that even the commander can control? How can there be such a rule?
The two looked at each other, and a word suddenly popped up in their minds. They said in unison, "Military Supervisor?"

"It's still different from the previous military supervisors." Zhu Liangzu shook his head and explained again.

"I couldn't figure it out before, I thought it was some kind of military supervisor, but later I realized that the military supervisors of previous dynasties were mostly eunuchs around their lords or important officials in the court. These people were only responsible for causing trouble in the army. It would be fine if they didn't know how to fight, but they also interfered with the command. If the army won, they would get a share of the credit. If the army lost, they would slander the lord and blame the generals for not fighting well. However, they themselves were not in any trouble and were praised by the lord for their loyalty."

The two listened to Zhu Liangzu scolding the military supervisor, but when they looked at the instructor Gao Yao next to them, they saw that the man didn't care at all, as if he wasn't the one being scolded. They were quite surprised, and Tu Hai even followed up on Zhu Liangzu's words and asked, "Isn't it?"

Zhu Liangzu shook his head and said, "It is true that most of the military supervisors in the past dynasties were like this, but the training officers of the Shengwu Army are different. Although our training officers also have the power of military supervisors, they cannot return to the court to serve. Once they enter the army, they can only serve in the army.

"If you have military merit, you can be promoted together with the commander. If you lose a battle, neither the commander nor the instructor can escape. They have to bear the blame together. So the military supervisor can make trouble, but the instructor cannot. If you really hinder the commander and cause a defeat, the instructor will be the first to be punished. Do you understand?"

Tu Hai nodded as if he understood, and Liu Minhua indeed understood the difference.

Zhu Liangzu further explained, "Moreover, whenever a war breaks out, as long as it involves combat issues, the commander can make arbitrary decisions. The training officer does not have the power to order the commander, but only the right to make suggestions, not the right to make decisions. In other words, as long as the war breaks out, everything must be done according to the military commander. Even if the training officer has opinions, he must follow our orders and act accordingly. This rule is much more comfortable than the military supervisor's system.

"In short, the training officer does have many advantages. It can save the commander a lot of trouble. The commander only needs to think about how to win the battle, and you don't have to worry about anything else. So you don't have to resist the training officer. The training officer is one of us, not those unreasonable turbaned scholars."

The two men then understood the difference between the two, and suddenly realized it. They hurriedly bowed and saluted to Gao Yao, saying that they were being disrespectful. From what Zhu Liangzu said, this man would be their immediate superior in the future, and would also be in charge of military law. How dare they offend him?

Tu Hai also suppressed his temper and asked, "Then may I ask Instructor Gao, Liu Minhua's is fine, why is mine not?"

Gao Yao immediately explained, "Let me ask you, other armies have numbers like Tiger, Leopard, Jinwu Yulin, etc., which sound very impressive, but our Shengwu Army's numbers are all ordinary numbers. Do you know why?"

"I don't know why?" Tu Hai immediately shook his head. He really didn't know. He felt strange when he first heard about it.

Gao Yao heard this and said, "Have you ever heard of a saying, 'Only the tools and reputation should not be delegated to others. They are the responsibility of the monarch.' That is to say, the reputation and tools should be controlled by the monarch himself and should never be left to the ministers under him, because this is the foundation of the emperor's rule. If the reputation and tools are handed over to the ministers and generals, the emperor will lose his prestige and the court will not be far from being destroyed.

"What is a title? To put it simply, it is an official position. Just like the official appointment of the two of you, that is something that only the Marshal can personally control. No matter how high Zhu Liangzu's position is, he cannot appoint officers privately. If the generals below can be appointed at will, who will listen to the Marshal? Wouldn't that be blatant rebellion? So he can only appoint temporary acting military positions. Do you understand?"

Tu Hai frowned and nodded, "I understand this. Official positions cannot be conferred by anyone, but what does this have to do with my roster? Why is his Liu Minhua roster OK, but mine is not?"

Gao Yao tapped the roster in his hand and explained.

"This brings us to the subject of weapons. What are weapons? To put it simply, the army is the emperor's weapon, or the country's public weapon. The army belongs to the court and the emperor, not to the generals' private army. So when the Shengwu Army was established, it abandoned anything that had anything to do with private armies. All numbers were used for the serial numbers, and the military flags were also of the same style, with only the numbers on them being different. Even flags with the generals' surnames were not allowed to be flown.

"Why? To put it simply, once an army becomes a private army of a certain general, it will have terrible consequences. When encountering a tough battle, they dare not fight, and are reluctant to fight, because they are afraid of losing their own private soldiers. They always think about preserving their strength, fearing that their private army will be wiped out.

"The final result is that when you encounter a tough battle, you don't dare to fight, and neither does he. If no one wants to fight, how can you win the battle? When you encounter an easy target, everyone will scramble for credit. You try to grab the credit, and so do others. In the end, the enemy doesn't kill many people, and your own people will be beaten to a pulp first.

"Once it becomes such an army, no one can defeat it. It will only lead to death. At a critical moment, this person may even defect to the enemy. Anyway, the private army is all your property and the capital for your survival. It doesn't matter who you vote for or who you fight for. Don't you think so?"

Tu Hai broke out in a cold sweat when he heard this, not only because he had really thought about it before, but also because he had realized why Gao Yao told him this, because the roster he handed in had a total of five thousand battalion officers, namely himself, Tu Hai, his second brother Tu Yang, his third brother Tu Huai, his fourth brother Tu Dian, and a battalion officer of the auxiliary battalion, Du Tianyou.
Good man, you are simply a butcher, what do you want to do?
Gao Yao added, "To put it in a broader sense, a general dares to raise a private army. What do you want to do? Do you want to rebel?!"

Gao Yao suddenly shouted loudly, and Tu Hai was so frightened that he almost couldn't stand still. It was as if he really saw an important official in the court scolding him. He quickly knelt down in fear.

"Hey, this, this, I really don't want to do that, Instructor Gao, my brothers are officers in the army. I can't stop them from leading troops just because they are my brothers, right?"

Seeing that the guy was frightened, Gao Yao walked forward with satisfaction and helped him straighten up, then spoke in a kind tone.

"If you four brothers each lead a battalion in your regiment, the Marshal will definitely not agree. Our Shengwu Army does not even allow flags with generals' surnames, let alone putting your fathers, brothers and their families in one unit. Wouldn't that make it your private army?"

Tu Hai suddenly panicked and said, "Then please teach me, Instructor Gao, what should I do?"

"Hahahahahahaha." Gao Yao laughed heartily, then took Tu Hai's hand and said.

“As the saying goes, ignorance is not to blame. You have just joined our army and do not know our military rules. How can I blame you?
"Besides, now that a war is imminent, if I force you to replace your generals, it is inevitable that the soldiers will not know their generals and the generals will not know their soldiers, and we will not be able to exert our due combat power. Therefore, I will not take any action against your regiment for the time being."

Tu Hai heaved a sigh of relief upon hearing this, but before he could finish his breath, Gao Yao spoke again.

“But let us be frank. Your organization arrangement will definitely not be approved by the Marshal’s Office. When the formal reorganization is carried out in the future, your brothers will definitely be transferred to different units.

"You have to be mentally prepared for this. Don't say I didn't tell you in advance."

Tu Hai wanted to say something when he heard that, but Gao Yao quickly raised his hand to interrupt him.

"I know what you are going to say. Just listen to me. First of all, this is definitely not directed at you. Don't think that we are deliberately making things difficult for you just because you surrendered. Speaking of surrendered generals, the Chief Steward Zhu beside me is the biggest surrendered general.

"When the Marshal had not yet conquered Luzhou, he was captured alive. Now that he has sincerely surrendered to us, the Marshal has not been stingy with his official position, and has no prejudice against factions. He has also been promoted to the position of military commander. Look at how many military commanders we have in our army?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Liangzu immediately cursed, "Damn you, Old Gao, can you please stop talking about this? The Marshal brought eight men to fight me alive before he captured me alive. Eight!"

Gao Yao was not angry at all. He turned around and said, "I know. What's wrong with eight people? They were captured alive, right? I'm talking to you. Please go to the side first."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Liangzu snorted in anger and actually stepped aside without saying anything. This scene immediately made Liu Minhua marvel at it.

Gao Yao continued to pull Tu Hai and said, "To tell you the truth, this is the rule of our Shengwu Army. Let alone you, a surrendered general, what about those Chaohu veterans who followed the Marshal to start the rebellion?
"There are four people in the Yu family, the old general Yu is stationed in Luzhou, his eldest son Tonghai is now leading the army in Jiangnan, the second son Tongyuan is leading the troops in Haozhou, and the third son Tongyuan is now in charge of the navy.

"Of the three generals of the Liao family, General Liao is now leading troops in Jiangnan, General Liao is stationed in Anqing, and General Liao is now leading troops to attack Zhenzhou. In a few days, he will join us in attacking Yangzhou.

"What I want to tell you is that no matter how noble your status and position are, can you be more noble than these veterans who followed the commander-in-chief to seize Luzhou? Even they follow this rule, so even if you brothers are separated in the future, you should not feel resentful. The commander-in-chief treats everyone equally, and the whole army does the same, so you have nothing to complain about.

"Besides, you brothers are all under your command, which means you have always suppressed them. If you don't get promoted, they will never be able to surpass you.

"But it would be different if we were separated. Maybe your brothers' achievements in the future would not be inferior to yours. Don't you think so?"

At first Tu Hai really thought that the other party was deliberately looking for excuses to make things difficult for him, but when he heard Gao Yao speak so frankly about the arrangements for other Chaohu veterans, he immediately lost his temper. What the other party said made sense. All the Chaohu veterans of Yuan Cong were like this. What could a new surrendered general like you have to complain about? All the resentment in his heart immediately disappeared.

Tu Hai then said, "Thank you, Instructor Gao, for telling me. When the reorganization is in the future, I am willing to follow the arrangements of the Marshal's Mansion without any complaints."

"Hey, is that right?" Gao Yao immediately had a teachable expression and raised his head and said.

"Let me tell you one more rule of our 36th Army. I don't care what the instructors of other armies do. My rule is to make everything clear on the surface so that everyone doesn't get suspicious of each other.

"When the Marshal was giving us instructors a lecture, he said something very good: resentment is like a boil on a person's body. If you don't speak it out, it will just stay in your heart and you may end up causing trouble. We instructors are the plasters to remove the boil!
"In our 36th Army, my rule is that you just need to think of ways to win the battle, and leave everything else to me. If anyone dares to steal your military merits, I will risk my life to get them back for you. If any bastard lacks your food and military supplies, I will personally go to their door to get them for you. If you have a conflict with other generals, you can just fight each other to vent your anger, and I will personally be your referee.

"As for other personal matters, if you like a girl and want to marry her, I will go to be your matchmaker myself. I am worried that your parents will not have enough food and clothing. In that case, your parents are my real parents!

"But there is one thing we must make clear. If anyone dares to withhold soldiers' food and wages, if anyone dares to allow soldiers to rape women, if anyone loses the battle without paying attention, don't blame me, Gao Yao, for turning against you. The iron mace that the Marshal gave me can really kill people!

“Even if Manager Zhu pleads for you, he can’t save you!

"Why did the Marshal specially transfer me to be the instructor of Zhu Zongguan? It's because the Marshal knows that ordinary people can't subdue him. I, Gao Yao, have a dog-like face. If I do something wrong, you can scold me, and I will never say a word in return. But if you do something wrong, don't blame me for being rude!
"I am Gao Yao, the training officer of the 36th Army. I am a dog-skin plaster that can draw out pus!"

(End of this chapter)