Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 610 Qin Army
"grown ups!"

A familiar voice sounded outside, interrupting Sun Chuanting's thoughts.

"It's Eigo, come in!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gao Jie walked in and saluted Sun Chuanting.

Seeing Gao Jie coming, Sun Chuanting smiled and kindly asked him to sit down and talk, but Gao Jie still bowed respectfully before taking a seat. After sitting down, he maintained a military posture with his back straight and his hands on his knees.

After meeting Sun Chuanting in Pingshun, Gao Jie followed Sun Chuanting to Shaanxi. After the Shaanxi Army (Qin Army) was formed in Shaanxi, Sun Chuanting valued Gao Jie very much. Not only did he let Gao Jie serve as his central army, he also gave Gao Jie the main offensive tasks many times.

Gao Jie did not disappoint Sun Chuanting's high hopes. In several battles with bandits, Gao Jie led the troops and fought bravely, making great contributions. At present, Sun Chuanting has three most capable generals, namely Gao Jie, Bai Guangen and Zuo Guangxian, among whom Gao Jie's military exploits are the best.

From Wang Rong's perspective, Sun Chuanting and Gao Jie are still relatives, but Gao Jie never brags about this, and never tells anyone about this relationship. Not only that, Gao Jie is extremely respectful to Sun Chuanting, both in person and behind his back, and always acts cautiously. As time goes by, Sun Chuanting trusts Gao Jie more and more, and since their private relationship is different from that of ordinary people, he takes good care of him.

"Look at this." Sun Chuanting took the document from the side and handed it to Gao Jie.

Gao Jie took it with doubt and opened it to take a closer look. He originally thought it was a military order, but after a closer look, he found that it was an appointment document from the court. After reading the contents clearly, Gao Jie's breathing became a little heavy, and his expression, which had been calm just now, became excited.

"Sir, this...?" Gao Jie raised his head and looked at Sun Chuanting in disbelief.

"Haha, what's wrong? Are you so happy that you can hardly believe it?" Sun Chuanting asked with a smile.

Gao Jie scratched his head subconsciously, grinned and nodded: "I really can't believe this is true."

"Don't worry, this is absolutely true. From today on, you are the deputy general." Sun Chuanting patted his shoulder and gave him a reassurance.

This document was sent by the court together with the imperial edict that conferred him the title of Minister of War. Because of Gao Jie's military achievements and Sun Chuanting's recommendation, Emperor Chongzhen specially gave him the title of deputy general. You should know that Gao Jie was only a guerrilla general before. According to the military rank of the Ming Dynasty, there is also a rank of lieutenant general above the guerrilla general. Now, because of Sun Chuanting's recommendation, Gao Jie not only skipped the rank of lieutenant general and directly became a deputy general, but also became the highest-ranking soldier among the soldiers under Sun Chuanting.

Sun Chuanting admired Gao Jie very much. In addition, there was the relationship between the two of them, that of Wang Rong and his son. Over the past six months, he had also recognized Gao Jie's abilities and performance. Sun Chuanting's way of employing people was different from that of others. He never cared about their background, but only about their abilities and loyalty. Otherwise, Sun Chuanting would not have valued Gao Jie, Bai Guangen and other generals who came from bandit families so much, and entrusted them with important tasks.

This time, not only Gao Jie was recommended, but also Bai Guangen and Zuo Guangxian were recommended. Gao Jie was promoted to deputy general, Bai Guangen was promoted to guerrilla general, and Zuo Guangxian became a lieutenant general. The three were promoted, and Gao Jie was the fastest promoted. In time, when Gao Jie was promoted to general, he would be qualified to lead an army alone, and by then he might even have a seat in the court.

Facing this result, Gao Jie was naturally very happy, and even very excited. As an ordinary person, Gao Jie never thought that he would have such a glorious day. When he followed Li Zicheng to start the rebellion and joined Gao Yingxiang, Gao Jie just wanted to find a way out because life was difficult. But who would have thought that in such a short time, he would go from a bandit to an official appointed by the court, and then be promoted to the position of deputy general?
Although the deputy general was a military commander, he was also a second-rank military position. Gao Jie's ancestors had never held an official position for several generations, but now he had achieved it. Thinking of this, Gao Jie's heart surged, his face flushed, he stood up, knelt down in front of Sun Chuanting, bowed deeply and said that he was able to achieve what he had today entirely because of Sun Chuanting's support, and he was very grateful for Sun Chuanting's kindness. As long as Sun Chuanting sent him, Gao Jie would never refuse, even if he died, and he would not frown.

"Haha, there's no need to be like this. You and I both serve the court and the Ming Dynasty. There's no need to say these things." Sun Chuanting helped Gao Jie up with a smile. Although he said this, he was very happy in his heart.

Gao Jie's attitude made him extremely satisfied. Although Sun Chuanting valued Gao Jie, he did not want to cultivate an ungrateful person. Recommending Gao Jie this time was actually a test of Gao Jie by Sun Chuanting. He wanted to see whether Gao Jie's character was really what he thought or was just a cover-up. If he could reassure him, he would value Gao Jie even more in the future, and there would be more important things for him to do.

Gao Jie's reaction now hit the mark of Sun Chuanting, which also meant that Sun Chuanting had not misjudged Gao Jie. Moreover, they also had the relationship of Wang Rong and his son. The two were not only superiors and subordinates, but also legitimate relatives, so they were naturally different from ordinary people. After Gao Jie's excitement calmed down a little, Sun Chuanting talked to Gao Jie about business. He told Gao Jie that he was now a deputy general, and according to the rules of the court, if his military rank was promoted, the number of troops under his jurisdiction would also increase accordingly.

At present, the total strength of Sun Chuanting's Qin army is about 5,000, including 1,200 people from Gao Jie's army, 800 people from Bai Guangen, and 1,500 people from Zuo Guangxian. The remaining troops are commanded by the subordinate thousand and hundred households, plus the personal guards directly led by Sun Chuanting.

Sun Chuanting had long wanted to expand his army. Although he had fought in many battles and suppressed many bandits, including several well-known ones, compared with the entire Shaanxi Province, Sun Chuanting's troops were too few.

There are only 5,000 people. Such a small number of people scattered across the Sanqin area is of little use. Even with the help of Hong Chengchou, such a small force will be stretched to the limit.

In Sun Chuanting's opinion, the Qin army would need at least 10,000 troops. As for more troops, it was not because he could not command them, but because he did not have enough money to support them.

Although he was the governor of Shaanxi, he had no idea about the military expenses from the imperial court. Emperor Chongzhen was even withholding military pay in Liaodong, let alone other places.

When Sun Chuanting took office, he left Beijing with almost nothing. If Wang Rong had not helped him, not only assigning Gao Jie to his subordinates, but also giving him several hundred elite soldiers as personal guards and a sum of money, how could Sun Chuanting have assembled his troops so quickly when he arrived in Shaanxi? Not to mention the successive victories that followed.

But even so, the governor Sun Chuanting had little money. Shaanxi had been plagued by bandits for years, and the local people were displaced. Coupled with natural disasters and man-made disasters, it was no exaggeration to describe it as a barren land. The government could not even pay the taxes to the court, let alone solve the problem of famine, and even the training of the army was the same.

It was not easy to raise this team with the money Wang Rong gave him, and he also got some spoils from the subsequent encirclement and suppression of bandits, which allowed Sun Chuanting to barely maintain it. But these were far from enough. To put it bluntly, Sun Chuanting now wanted to split every penny into two to spend. Recruiting soldiers and training soldiers required money, pacifying the local area required money, resuming production required money, and disaster relief required even more money. Money! Money! Money! Sun Chuanting was almost going crazy because of the money problem.

However, Sun Chuanting is a rational person. He knows clearly what is more important and what he should do first.

Sun Chuanting's plan was very simple. He would first concentrate his efforts to wipe out all the bandits in Shaanxi. This was a prerequisite. Only when there were no bandits in Shaanxi could he free up his hands to govern the local area, slowly find ways to restore production, and allow Shaanxi to gradually recover.

If the problem of bandits is not solved, the latter is nonsense. The destructive power of bandits is too strong. They are like passing locusts, destroying wherever they go, not to mention stabilizing Shaanxi.

Because of this, Sun Chuanting decided to expand the army despite the shortage of money and food. The promotion of Gao Jie and others also gave him a legitimate basis for expanding the army. He planned to let Gao Jie lead the army alone and double Gao Jie's troops to about 3,000 people. The same was true for Bai Guangen and others. After these soldiers arrived, they would train the new soldiers with the old ones, and try to sweep the entire Shaanxi in the shortest time, solve the problem of bandits, and then deal with civil affairs and resume production.

After listening to Sun Chuanting's idea, Gao Jie agreed without hesitation. He patted his chest and told Sun Chuanting that recruiting and training soldiers were trivial matters. As long as Sun Chuanting gave an order, he could get it done in a few days. Shaanxi didn't have much else, but it had a lot of soldiers. Not to mention the expansion of the army by more than a thousand people, even if it was several times more, it would be no problem. Compared with the common people who couldn't even get enough food, being a soldier at least guaranteed that they wouldn't starve to death. This was a good thing that the local people wanted.

Sun Chuanting was very satisfied with Gao Jie's reaction. After encouraging him a few words, he let him go and recruit the vacancies as soon as possible, while ensuring the combat effectiveness of the army in preparation for the upcoming follow-up encirclement and suppression.

After Gao Jie left, Sun Chuanting called Bai Guangen and others separately, and handed them the promotion documents first, and then explained his plan to expand the army.

For a time, the morale of the generals in the Qin army was boosted by their promotion, and then the Qin army expanded. With the efforts of various departments, in just a few days, the people of the Three Qins flocked to join the army. If Sun Chuanting had not specifically limited the number of troops to be added, and repeatedly instructed that young and strong people with clean family backgrounds must be selected to join the army, the number of applicants would still far exceed the demand.

Eventually, the Qin army expanded from 5,000 to 10,000, and each unit was reorganized and sent to the battlefield after a little training. In the following month, the army performed well in the battle against two groups of bandits, defeating one and completely wiping out the other, even killing their leaders on the spot. The heads of the soldiers became military merits, and the Qin army became famous.

(End of this chapter)