Strategy for the Revitalization of the Late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 61: Root Cause
Zhu Cilang personally presided over the interrogation. All the officers and generals of the Tianwu Left Camp, including the chief and deputy battalion commanders, the chief and deputy captains, the chief officers of the Military Affairs Department and the Logistics Department, and even some captains, were summoned.

These are the officers in the Tianwu Left Camp who truly have decision-making power and who participated in Zhu Cilang's review of the army and put on a show of flattery.

There were no civilian supervisors in the camps of the Palace Army. Zhu Cilang established the Military Affairs Department and the Logistics Department in the army, which were specifically responsible for the specific management of matters such as soldier recruitment, training, and life. At the same time, he also deprived officers of the power to pay salaries, directly eliminating most of the corruption problems at the officer level.

Of course, this is not the logistics warehouse management system of modern armies. The equipment requirements and management difficulties of military operations at that time did not require such a complex system.

In the absence of corresponding talent reserves, relying on the corrupt old bureaucrats of the Ming Dynasty or those illiterate boatmen to manage such a complex system would surely have disastrous consequences.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang only referred to the tip of the iceberg of the military management system of later generations, and made some improvements to the Palace Army established on the basis of the Ming Dynasty military system, and he had achieved his goal.

After all, in the short term, the Palace Army only fought on the inner line of Jiangbei. Even if the army was later mobilized in Nanzhili, Jiangxi, Huguang, Sichuan and other places, it could rely on the Yangtze River system and the Ming Dynasty's bureaucratic system in various places to achieve rapid mobility and logistical supply.

Zhu Cilang will further improve the management of the army in the future, especially in the future Northern Expedition, when various armies from east to west need to fight on the outside lines, a more efficient army management system will be particularly important.

But now, the most important thing is to deal with these problematic generals and officers.

Under Zhu Cilang's personal interrogation, Zhao Guanhu and his officers and generals, as well as the officers of the other three large camps of the Palace Army who accompanied the inspection, were also implicated. One after another, they recounted the major and minor events that had occurred during their military training during this period.

The dignified Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the supreme ruler, would not dare to confuse right and wrong during an interrogation under such circumstances, let alone cover up for each other.

After all, without prior coordination, no one can guarantee that after they lie, the next person will say exactly the same thing, let alone guarantee that they can cover up the matter later. This crime of deceiving the emperor is no joke.

After most of the day's questioning, Zhu Cilang soon discovered that apart from the show and flattery, the Palace Army now had more problems.

This included excessive power and lack of checks and balances among battalion commanders, insufficient experience in commanding troops, and the one-sided or even excessive implementation of many military orders and directives. In addition, officers, in order to meet training assessment standards, disregarded actual training requirements and soldiers' physical fitness, forcibly increasing training intensity and changing training subjects.
In other words, although he had taken some measures and personally participated in the formulation of the organizational structure and military laws of the Palace Army, a team of officers that lacked sufficient experience still made most of the mistakes they should have made in the process of training their troops.

This is why Zhu Cilang had to come and review the army in person. If he only sat in the imperial study in the Forbidden City and read the written reports that had been revised countless times before being submitted, he would never find any problems.

Discovering problems during personal inspections was not only the key to his mastering the results of military training, but also a great opportunity to strengthen his personal prestige, gain the hearts of the troops, and take the opportunity to reform and improve the system.

Today's show was so exhausting that even Zhao Zhengdong, Gu Defu, and Mao Qing, three officers, soldiers, and military law enforcement officers who were almost impeccable under military law, were so angry that they cursed.

Of course, the Palace Army's more than two months of training have not been without success. Although there are all the problems mentioned above, because there is no large-scale corruption, the supply of food and grass is sufficient, the soldiers' physical fitness and most basic training subjects have achieved certain results.

Otherwise, the soldiers of Tianwu Left Camp would not have been able to hold out for so long, and they tried their best to carry out military orders from beginning to end.

Chang Denggui and Chen Fu brought out the only remaining elite troops in the Beijing camp. Although they did not have high status, they were all veterans who had been in the barracks for many years and had rich battlefield experience. Even without reading military books, they knew a lot about the specific methods of training troops.

There is never a shortage of talented individuals at the grassroots level, but opportunities are always scarce. Ultimately, only a few can achieve their goals and unleash their talents. Often, heroes shape the times, and the times shape the heroes.

Therefore, Zhu Cilang chose a two-pronged approach. On the one hand, he vigorously employed people who had been proven to be talented in history. On the other hand, he continued to discover and promote people from the army he had personally assembled.

However, a makeshift team is still a makeshift team after all. If the military training model of this period was not basically fixed, and Zhu Cilang further simplified the training requirements when he was designing the top level, the Palace Army would probably have started to go astray by now.

This is thanks to the training achievement assessment standards that were formulated by Zhu Cilang and Li Banghua, Gao Jie, Huang Degong, Chang Denggui, and Chen Fu after many discussions and were promoted in the Palace Army, Nanjing Jingying, and the four camps of Jiangnan and Jiangbei.

As a person from later generations, he was ahead in many aspects of management system design in more than one dimension, effectively avoiding many problems.

Of course, the problems that arose in the Palace Army at this time were certainly due to the spread of a culture of obedience to superiors in the officialdom or the military, but a considerable part of the problems were caused by the imperfections of the management system itself, especially the one-sided pursuit of these assessment indicators.

Although the training of the various camps of the Palace Army is now basically within the controllable range, if it is not corrected in time, such extensive training methods will eventually affect the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, and thus affect the victory or defeat on the battlefield.

After the interrogation and inquiry, Zhu Cilang immediately ordered Chang Denggui to thoroughly investigate the training problems of the Palace Army during this period, and asked him to report directly to him. He would personally review the results of the investigation and subsequent rectification.

At the same time, Zhu Cilang also ordered the dismissal of Zhao Guanhu and several of his trusted subordinates in accordance with the previously designated military law, and transferred them to the Nanjing Jingying to train new troops. At the same time, other officers who planned and participated in this matter were demoted and had their salaries fined.

But these are only temporary solutions and not a fundamental solution. What Zhu Cilang really needs to do is to find out the problems clearly and then improve military discipline and law, and improve and perfect the decision-making and management system of the Palace Army. Only in this way can such absurd things be reduced from the root.

He knew very well that without institutional constraints, as the army expanded further in the future and the size of the Palace Army increased, such unhealthy tendencies would become more and more serious, and problems such as ignoring facts, deceiving superiors and subordinates, and flattery and showmanship would only become more serious.

However, it is unrealistic to find a fundamental solution right now. Zhu Cilang is still facing military threats from the north. He has to get the training of the soldiers in each camp back on track without escalating the impact of the matter.

"Lin Changfeng!"

"I'm here!" The commander of the imperial guards who had been standing beside Zhu Cilang immediately stepped out and bowed.

"During this period of time, you have been by my side and have read a lot of military books. I have seen your progress." Zhu Cilang paused, then slowly said:

"From today on, you will be in temporary command of the Tianwu Left Camp. I will give you two days to take charge of the entire camp. After two days, I will review this camp again!"

"The minister obeys the order!"

(End of this chapter)