Take control of Wei Zhongxian at the start and confiscate 100 million from him!

Chapter 20 The Embryo of the New Army

Since Zhu Chunchen, the Duke of Cheng, was silently confined to his residence by an imperial edict that resembled a "financial audit," the undercurrent of conflict within the noble circles of the capital was instantly cooled and solidified, as if a giant piece of cold iron had been thrown into boiling water.

Fear is a more effective tool of domination than anger.

When the executioner's blade is no longer blatantly aimed at your neck, but instead becomes a cold ledger filled with numbers, using a logic you can neither understand nor refute to pronounce your "social death," the fear stemming from the unknown is enough to crush even the most stubborn fortress.

The reorganization of the Beijing garrison can finally shift from the infighting with those old foxes to the most fundamental and core aspect—troop training.

Thirty miles south of the capital, a piece of wasteland that originally belonged to the imperial estate has now been razed to the ground and transformed into a huge military camp that is still expanding.

There are no ornately decorated generals' mansions here, no bustling brothels or taverns, only rows of neat barracks built with freshly felled timber and rammed earth, like silent tombstones, burying the past and foreshadowing the future!

This place was named "New Military Camp" by Zhu Youjian.

A name so simple it's almost brutal, yet it clearly indicates its nature—a complete break with the past.

The recruits for the new army did not come from the corrupt and incompetent soldiers of the Beijing Garrison.

Zhang Weixian issued a proclamation in the name of the emperor to recruit soldiers, with astonishingly harsh conditions: a clean family background with no bad deeds, a height of over five feet seven inches, the ability to draw a bow with ten strengths, the capacity to carry eighty catties of weight, and the ability to travel fifty li a day.

However, this was accompanied by unprecedentedly generous benefits: all selected personnel would receive a monthly stipend of three taels of silver, paid in full without any deductions. Those killed in action would receive a pension of fifty taels; the wounded would be supported for life!

Under the reward, there must be a brave man.

In just half a month, three thousand refugees from the capital region, Shandong, Henan and other places, retired soldiers from border towns, and even scholars who had nowhere else to turn all gathered here!

For the salary that would allow their families to survive, they voluntarily entered this military camp, which was known to outsiders as a "living hell."

Zhang Weixian practically lived here.

He would rise at dawn every day, getting up with the soldiers.

As the first rays of dawn pierced the horizon, he was already standing on the high command platform, like a silent stone statue, overlooking the entire training ground.

……

"Boom-thump-thump-"

The dull sound of the cowhide drum, like the pulse of death, echoed over the empty camp.

Three thousand soldiers, dressed only in thin clothing, began their daily routine of "appetizer"—weighted cross-country running—in the biting cold wind.

Each person carried a backpack filled with stones.

Their breaths condensed into white mist in the cold air, only to be dispersed by their own rapid panting!
At the very front of the procession, several tall instructors, contrary to everyone's expectations, rode horses and carried water-soaked leather whips, leading the charge like death-bringing judges!
"Run! All of you, get running! Haven't you eaten?!"

"You in the back, yes, you! If you dare to slack off again, you're not getting breakfast today!"

"Lift your feet! Take bigger strides! If you want to run faster, then run faster! Train hard enough so you can bring home military merits and glory to your ancestors!"

Zhang Weixian stood on the reviewing stand, watching everything quietly, his face expressionless.

This set of military training methods was largely created by him by combining the essence of Qi Jiguang's "New Book of Military Tactics" with his own understanding of how to deal with the Jurchen cavalry.

He knew it was cruel, but he also knew that the battlefield was a hundred times crueler than this place, and that mercy towards soldiers was cruelty towards victory.

He would rather they bleed more on the training field than lose their lives on the battlefield due to the slightest negligence.

However, this is just an appearance.

Behind this seemingly traditional and rigorous training lies something unfamiliar, even somewhat incomprehensible, to this veteran.

All of these things came from a booklet called "Outline of Training for the New Army" that Emperor Zhu Youjian personally handed to him.

After the cross-country run ended, there was no rest for a moment, followed immediately by an hour-long drill training session.

Stand at attention, march in formation, and change formations.

These seemingly meaningless and tedious actions, in the eyes of civil officials, were the core of what Zhang Weixian and the emperor jointly confirmed.

What Zhu Youjian wanted was not three thousand fearless brutes, but a war machine that obeyed orders and was as easy to control as his own arm!
He wants to completely destroy these three thousand individuals from all over the world, with different thoughts and habits, and then reshape them into a whole!
In this whole, there is no "I", only "we", no individual will, only absolute obedience!
Next, the emperor's "personal agenda" began to emerge.

After the drill training, instead of the traditional weapons training, there was a training exercise called "physical limit cycle".

"Set 1! Push-ups! Begin!" "Set 2! Sit-ups! Begin!" "Set 3! Squats! Begin!" "Set 4! Pull-ups! Begin!"

The instructors roared out bizarre commands. The soldiers were divided into groups and placed in different areas to undergo these strange physical exercises that did not use any weapons.

They were either lying on the ground, supporting their bodies with their arms as they rose and fell, or lying on their backs, curling up with their heads in their hands, or on the horizontal bar, trying their best to pull themselves up...

When Zhang Weixian first saw these training programs, he couldn't understand them at all.

In his view, soldiers are trained in the skills of killing, in knife skills, and in marksmanship.

What's the point of all those monkey-like jumping and leaping movements?

Zhu Youjian explained it this way: "Duke, in warfare, the body is the foundation. No matter how exquisite the swordsmanship, without power, it is just a show; no matter how accurate the archery, without endurance, one will be a weakling after three arrows."

What I need are warriors who can draw their bows ten times in a row, charge a mile in heavy armor, and wield swords to kill.

These movements aren't about practicing techniques; they're about developing the 'foundation' of their bodies. I call it... core strength.

"Core strength"... Zhang Weixian pondered this novel term.

He watched as the soldiers, on the verge of exhaustion, roared like wild beasts, their muscles bulging, sweat pouring down like streams.

Zhang Weixian gradually realized that what the emperor wanted was not "soldiers" in the traditional sense, but a kind of "warrior" he had never seen before!
A war machine that pushes human capabilities to their limits!
In the afternoon, there were group-specific training sessions.

Here, the emperor's "new ideas" are fully demonstrated.

A spearman practices more than just thrusting, parrying, and deflecting.

In front of them stood rows of straw figures painted with human-shaped targets.

The straw man's vital parts, such as its heart, throat, and face, were marked with red circles.

Their training goal is no longer the vague "stabbing forward", but the precise "stabbing towards the red circle".

"Stab the throat!" "Stab the heart!" "Stab the face!"

The instructor's commands were precise and ruthless.

Thousands of spears, under orders, were thrust in unison at different vital points on the straw man's body. This was not only a training of teamwork, but also the most efficient killing instinct!
The emperor said, "On the battlefield, every bit of effort must cause tenfold damage. Cutting off an arm is not as effective as piercing the heart. I want our soldiers to incapacitate the enemy in the shortest time and with the least effort. This is called... 'target-oriented attack'."

Zhang Weixian stepped down from the reviewing stand and slowly strolled between the various training grounds.

Like a traditional Confucian scholar, he stumbled into a Mohist workshop full of ingenious skills and crafts, his heart filled with immense shock and astonishment.

He watched the soldiers hone their bodies and killing skills in ways he had never imagined. He could sense that a new, terrifyingly efficient philosophy of war was taking root in this land.

Zhang Weixian is like the most discerning craftsman, examining a work that is not his own creation but far exceeds his expectations.

He could see that this rough jade was being rapidly polished by a completely new technique he had never heard of before. Although it was still rough, it had begun to reveal a cold and deadly brilliance that was completely different from the past!

He even saw a special "sand table simulation room" in the new military camp.

Inside is a huge sand table modeled after the terrain of the capital region.

A group of young officers were gathered around a sand table, using small flags of different colors to simulate various battle scenarios.

The emperor told him, "This is called 'wargaming.' Warfare cannot rely solely on brute force. Our officers must mentally prepare for a hundred battles before even stepping onto the battlefield. They must learn to think, to calculate, and to achieve the greatest victory with the least cost! What I need are not reckless brutes, but commanders!"

Push-ups, sit-ups, target orientation, tactical evasion, wargaming... a series of novel and strange terms, like heavy hammers, constantly struck at the long-established military thinking of veteran Zhang Weixian.

He felt that all the military strategies and tactics he had learned in his life seemed so... outdated in front of this excessively young emperor.

He suddenly remembered what the emperor had said when he handed him the "New Army Training Outline" that day.

"Duke, times have changed. The way we wage war should change too."

We can no longer use the same mindset we used to deal with the Mongols to fight the Jurchens, nor can we use an army from the agricultural era to fight against a completely new world that is quietly knocking on our door.

This new army is my testing ground. I will plant the seeds of the future of the Ming Dynasty here!

Standing on this bustling training ground, listening to the soldiers' synchronized shouts and seeing their spirit so different from that of the old army, Zhang Weixian truly felt for the first time the outline of the "new world" the emperor had spoken of.

It was a cold and powerful world made of steel, discipline, data, and efficiency!

(End of this chapter)