I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 58: Rectifying Military Discipline and Turning Decay into Excellence

Zhao Zicheng and County Magistrate Huang had reached a behind-the-scenes deal on the distribution of credit. After that, he stayed safely in Feng County for more than ten days, and then moved to Xuzhou City.

A short period of stationing and reorganization was essential. Zhao Zi claimed that the number of prisoners captured was too large and their composition was mixed. The newly recruited personnel already exceeded twice the number of veterans.

He simply didn't dare to take such a team on a long journey immediately. Otherwise, if someone on the way still had evil intentions, the army's morale was unstable, and there was another mutiny, it would be no joke.

Zhao Zi said that his family fortune might be severely damaged and he himself might be in danger.

It is very necessary to spend more than half a month to rectify military discipline, strengthen training, win people's hearts, and brainwash people with promises before we can set off again.

After all, they were on someone else's territory, and Zhao Zicheng was also very careful to keep a low profile, so he instructed Yang Zhi and Lu Da in advance that during this period of time, when training the soldiers, they should not practice any strength or martial arts, nor should they engage in battle formations and tactics. They should only emphasize formations and military discipline, as there was not much time anyway.

This will also prevent County Magistrate Huang or others from becoming suspicious and thinking that he is raising private soldiers and practicing martial arts.

After more than ten days of training, the soldiers' discipline has indeed been significantly improved. They are no longer as easily defeated as they were when they were bandits and veteran soldiers.

Throughout the entire process, Yang Zhi and Lu Da didn't simply use kindness to persuade the soldiers, as many soldiers were indeed accustomed to being lax. As the saying goes, kindness is not the best way to command an army, so necessary punishment measures must be used.

Some bandit soldiers really did not abide by military discipline. They were lazy during training, sly and evasive when carrying out orders, and even tried to cause trouble to the local area after training. Yang Zhi strictly enforced military discipline, beating those who should be beaten with military sticks and deducting the military pay of those who should have their pay deducted.

If the problem was truly serious, they would be reclassified as "Fan Rui's remnants," deprived of the previous "surrender on the battlefield" treatment and instead counted as "captured stubborn bandits," imprisoned or sent to Magistrate Huang for exile. Magistrate Huang hadn't filed the paperwork yet, so whether they were considered voluntary surrenders or captured in battle could still be adjusted.

Among the prisoners who had been screened out and were deemed culpable, those who performed well could be flexibly adjusted in. All of this was possible during the first two weeks, but once the paperwork was finalized, there was no longer any way to change it.

With such a sword hanging over their heads, the cunning and slippery ones were unwilling to do it, but there were substitute prisoners who were willing to do it, and many new recruits immediately became obedient.

With such strict military discipline, the soldiers' morale changed rapidly and their complaints increased.

Zhao Zi said he couldn't explain it to each soldier individually, as that would be too high-profile. Some things weren't appropriate to say, as they could easily give someone a handle on him.

Therefore, he let a few military officers such as Yang Zhi, Lu Da, Li Jun, and Li Gun pass on the orders.

If any complaints were found among the soldiers, they could be secretly collected and reported. Zhao Zicheng would then give them a few answers and then let them appease the ordinary soldiers.

Within just a few days, Yang Zhiluda and others reported a problem, that is, the bandits who had just been recruited felt that although the military discipline was so strict, they would only work for the government in the future, and there were corrupt officials in power in the court, so there was no future for them.

Originally, they were just impulsive and thought that following Zhao Zicheng might give them a better future. However, they did not expect Zhao Zicheng to be so strict. It seemed that he just wanted to work quietly for the court, so the soldiers felt it was not worth it.

This kind of thinking is also very natural, and Zhao Zi said it is impossible to force it to change.

By the time Zhao Ji was in power, the Song Dynasty was indeed plagued by numerous problems. To be honest, many people wanted to rebel, and many felt that there was no future in working for the court, which was more or less understandable.

Regarding the mentality problems of the newly joined soldiers, Zhao Zicheng also spoke heart to heart with the main officers and taught them how to channel and resolve them.

"These men were originally bandits, and they believe that the people are suffering under the rule of treacherous officials. This is the truth. Due to my status, I cannot publicly proclaim these truths on the training grounds, but you can try to enlighten these soldiers privately.

These soldiers have never read history and do not know the darkness of past dynasties. To be honest, although our Song Dynasty has many harsh taxes and levies, before the current Majesty ascended the throne, the vast majority of the money and grain was used to support the army and redundant officials, and the proportion of money and grain used for corruption and enjoyment was still less than that of previous dynasties.

In order to get rid of the bandit nature of the soldiers, we need to tell them a little bit of history. We don’t expect them to understand it thoroughly, but just telling them the story as if it were a story will also be beneficial.

Of course, the current emperor is indeed incompetent. Not only is he deceived by treacherous officials, but he also indulges in sensual pleasures, far surpassing all his ancestors. I am only telling you this behind closed doors. You are all my confidants, so I say this.

However, I've heard that the Crown Prince is benevolent, filial, humble, and frugal. Regardless, if he ascends the throne in the future, at least the massive construction of the Flower and Stone Gang, the Genyue Temple, and other palaces can be avoided, so there's still hope for the Song Dynasty. However, if someone were to rashly rebel now, whether it would fundamentally alleviate the people's suffering is still uncertain. The Liao and Jurchens are currently fighting fiercely in the northern border, and the situation is changing several times a year. This is a major change unseen in a century. If we, the Han people, engage in excessive internal strife at this time, wouldn't we be giving foreigners an advantage?

Moreover, the vast majority of those who rebelled had no agenda to speak of, nor could they talk about saving the country and the people. They simply changed the era name and surname. Before the founding of our Great Song Dynasty, the Liang, Tang, Jin, Han, and Zhou dynasties changed the era name and surname countless times, killing countless innocent people, but was it effective?

Even if a person without a program or principles succeeds in seizing power through force, won't he be retaliated against by his own people? How can he have the prestige to intimidate others and prevent them from thinking, "If you can rebel against the Zhao family, why can't I rebel against you?"

When Chen Sheng first rebelled against the Qin Dynasty, he lacked a guiding principle. He asked, "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of any race?" and then declared himself king. Wouldn't that have been like fighting himself, claiming he had no race? If he had a guiding principle, he wouldn't have been able to claim the throne after he said, "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of any race?"

As a result, his military officer was sent to pacify Zhao, who immediately proclaimed himself King of Zhao. Then, his general Han Guang was sent to pacify Yan, who immediately proclaimed himself King of Yan. Rather than being killed by Zhang Han, Chen Sheng's death was caused by a series of internal rebellions.

So whether you're rebelling, purging the emperor, or supporting the Song Dynasty, you have to think clearly about whether others can do what the lord you follow can do. If others can do it, then if you follow that lord and act rashly, you will have no future.

These words are too outrageous, so I'll just talk to you privately. Think it through for yourselves, simplify it, and tell them what the common soldiers can understand. Just treat history as a story. I don't expect the common soldiers to be learned. As long as they can seek benefits and avoid harm, know right from wrong, and understand that disobeying the lord is seeking death, that's enough."

Zhao Zicheng's words actually do not contain much profound meaning. Scholars can easily understand them and may even find his words vulgar.

But Yang Zhi and Lu Da had little education, and the other junior officers were even less so. Zhao Zicheng's crude, straightforward, and unvarnished statement convinced them immediately, and they felt that the county lord's words were much more credible than those dog scholars who spoke in flowery terms about loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness.

The scholars are hypocritical every day, talking about loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, but they don't believe a single bit of it. Zhao Zi said that if you talk about interests directly and do things without a program, you will soon end up in trouble. Many people understood it immediately.

Only by following a leader who is both trustworthy and intelligent can you have a future.

In the following days, they also told the story that Zhao Zicheng asked them to spread, using the most concise language that could best resonate with the soldiers. They just omitted the most rebellious part and did not dare to spread it for the time being.

The ordinary soldiers who were originally unruly also understood the simple truth and became more obedient. They realized that they were lucky and had encountered a good opportunity, so they had to work hard.

Zhao Zi said that he could use the grassroots officers as a barrier to communicate with ordinary soldiers through brainwashing and make the soldiers loyal to him. Another advantage was that it could avoid leaks.

Because it is too unsafe to say some things directly to hundreds of soldiers. There will always be some cunning people who want to inform or cause trouble.

If we only tell a few officers, it will be easier to control them because they are all confidants. Secondly, there will be few witnesses because everyone is in cahoots. Even if someone wants to tell on us, the others will deny it, and the informer will have no evidence.

Even if an accident happened, Zhao Zi said there would be time to clean up the mess and control the situation.

Finally, Zhao Zicheng, having received the political education of later generations, clearly understood that to control the morale and ideological principles of the troops, he didn't need to personally go down to the grassroots and have heart-to-heart talks with each soldier. As the commander, he only needed to show up in front of the soldiers frequently, establish his authority, let the soldiers know who they were working for, and then clearly distinguish rewards and punishments and provide sufficient food and wages. These points were sufficient.

Talking to the soldiers and explaining the truth to them could be left to the lower-level officers. Later generations required ideological education to be implemented at the company level, but Zhao Zi said that it would be sufficient to implement it at the level of the captain and deputy captain, as one captain was in charge of 100 soldiers.

According to Zhao Zicheng's observation, since the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, although there have been countless military mutinies and rebellions by military leaders, there have been almost no cases of ordinary soldiers mutinying, because they have no ability, no program, and don't even know what they should do.

Even if they were rioting over pay, they would have to identify a military leader to lead the rebellion. As long as the officers at the rank of captain were completely controlled, instilling a deep sense of awe in them, and frequently appearing before ordinary soldiers, and paying them promptly and fully, the cohesion of the army would be solid.

As for teaching ordinary soldiers to read and write a few words so that they know what they are fighting for, these things can be done, but not now.

We are still on the road, and in the next few months, it will be enough to tell the soldiers some historical stories. After Zhao Zicheng returns to Suzhou, we will slowly plan the soldiers' literacy.

……

PS: The army is expanding too quickly, so I'll write a little about military construction and ideological work to fill the gap. I don't think it's too much. I spent most of my time in Xuzhou, so there's not much to write about. I'll update today to collect Lin Chong and the others, then return to the south.

(End of this chapter)