Wu Zhongfu is more than forty years old, and he has been a scholar in the first year of Baoyuan, and he has been a royal historian for many years. is an upright official, and he is not selfish, which is a typical kind of ancient scholar that Du Zhongxiao reads in his memory. He went to the front line, and Du Zhongxiao was worried not that he couldn't find anything, but that he found out too many problems.

Before leaving, Wu Zhongfu went to the official hall and bid farewell to Du Zhongxiao.

Instructed Wu Zhongfu to sit down, Du Zhongxiao said: "It's not easy to go to Mingsha to inspect here. Hundreds of thousands of troops are there, and once the army's morale is shaken because of the inspection, it is not the imperial history that can bear it. Once you get there, you should be careful. ”

Wu Zhongfu arched his hand: "Zhongcheng is a person who has led troops on the front line, and he understands the situation on the front line much better than those of us. Please make it clear what I should do after I arrive in Mingsha? What must be done, and what should be avoided? ”

Du Zhongxiao thought for a while and said, "When the army fights, the morale of the army must not be chaotic. You grasp this one, and think twice about the specific matters you encounter. I went there this time because the garrison had provoked a rebellion against the party, and the cause of this incident must be investigated. After checking it out, I know how to avoid it in the future. If you want me to say, it's better to have a principle. It's better to see, ask, listen, and talk less. ”

Wu Zhong replied: "I am stupid, please also ask Zhongcheng to speak clearly." ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "The matter of Qinggangxia may be accidental or inevitable. In other words, the headquarters of Captain Di Tai on the front line may have been after the large army occupied the party's territory. There is widespread disobedience to military orders, plundering money, abducting women, and even disregarding human life. It is also possible that only the army in Qinggangxia did not obey the military orders for various reasons, so that it forced the prisoners of war against the party. No matter what the situation is on the front line, keep it firmly in mind, keep enough evidence, and deal with it after returning to the DPRK, so as not to set off waves on the front line. ”

Wu Zhongfu arched his hand: "If there is a mistake, it should be corrected!" If this is generally the case at the front, then it will be worth it! ”

Du Zhongxiao smiled: "Yushi, front-line combat, what is the most important thing?" ”

Wu Zhongfu was silent for a while, and said, "Naturally, it is a victory. ”

"Ahh The heaviest thing on the front line is victory, and everything that has the potential to affect victory must be pressed down first. When the war is over, you can be held accountable however you want, but not in wartime. There was such a thing as a prisoner of war rebellion, and it was the army that went into the suppression that was destroyed before it was transmitted back to the imperial court, which explains the problem. Therefore, when you go to the front, ask more, see more, and listen more, but you must not say more, otherwise you will inevitably clash with the soldiers. The army fights, and if it is defeated, it is afraid that it will be punished after returning to the dynasty, and if it is victorious, it is afraid that there will be no reward after returning to the dynasty, and it is already suspicious of the court. If you get there, you will make a big fuss, but I am afraid that something will happen. The Imperial Historical Observatory is only a supervision, not a criminal court, and the trial has its own division. ”

Wu Zhongfu listened and nodded slowly: "I understand what Zhongcheng means." Check and check, don't arouse the suspicion of the front-line soldiers. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded and said, "Yes, the priorities of the matter must be clearly distinguished, and you can't mess up the big plan because of small things." ”

After leaving the official hall, Wu Zhongfu returned to the Taiwan Courtyard and thought about it again and again. When he went to Beijing to see the emperor, although the emperor said that the significance of this visit was very important, he did not explain what to do. When I went to see the two houses, the Privy Council was vague, and the government hall demanded severe punishment. Listening to Du Zhongxiao's words, this matter really has to be done carefully. It is very important from top to bottom, but those who demand severe punishment are only in the political affairs hall.

With a soft sigh, Wu Zhongfu shook his head. I already understood in my heart that on the front line, Di Qing's department was only afraid that the military discipline was not very good. For the Privy Council, the most important thing is victory, as long as everything is good to say. Only the political affairs hall, which is not in charge of military strategy now, demands severe punishment. The Imperial Observatory is one of the three major institutions independent of the Cabinet and the Privy Council, and although it does not have their power, it does not have to be controlled by them.

On the second day, Wu Zhongfu and his chamberlain Wang Congshan took the train to the west.

In Mingsha County, Zhang Yu said to Di Qing: "Taiwei, seeing that the Chinese New Year is coming, the army has not completely come out of the Hulu River." If you want to go to Lingzhou City, I'm afraid it will be half a month later. I want to capture Lingzhou in the past half a year, but I am afraid that it will not be easy. ”

Di Qing said: "Don't be discouraged. Lingzhou was only surrounded by water when the Yellow River was flooding, and it was not easy to attack. As long as the Yellow River is normal, it is not difficult to get to its city. Besides, even if we have more than 200,000 people, it is not impossible to drain all the swamps there into dry land. ”

Zhang Yu thought for a while and said, "Taiwei has a point. Anyway, the army has nothing to do, drain the swamp, there is always something to do. ”

After using guns, there were no fierce generals rushing into battle, and Zhang Yu, as the first brave general of Di Qing's hand, was inevitably a little depressed. Moreover, after the restructuring, the army formation was strictly organized, and for the front-line generals, the requirements for immediate command were completely different from before. As a brave general, Zhang Yu might as well have Jia Kui, and quickly adapted to the new situation. Leading the troops this time made Zhang Yu feel depressed.

While the two were gossiping, Lu Zheng came over and crossed his hands and said, "Captain, the Privy Council has announced its order." Because of the defeat of Qinggangxia, the imperial court sent the imperial historian Wu Zhongfu and the inner ruler Wang Congshan to inspect the military situation. ”

When Di Qing heard this, his face darkened, and he said in a deep voice: "It's just a few hundred people who are in rebellion, just send a large army to pacify it." What is the intention of the imperial court to send the imperial history? Do you think that the military discipline on the front line is chaotic and must be strictly investigated?! ”

Lu Zhengdao: "The Privy Council announced that it was like this, and it didn't say more. The imperial history is here by the order of the court, and you can't slack off. ”

Di Qing was silent and sat there with a dark face. This time I led a large army to battle, and I was ambitious before I came, but I didn't expect it to turn out like this. If you had known this, you would not have come, lest your reputation be ruined here.

To be honest, Di Qing is not familiar with the military system of Hequ Road. Although it took a lot of effort to try to learn and understand, those experiences were too different from his own, and Di Qing himself was not a person who was good at learning them. As for the whole army's retraining, it is more about changing guns and artillery, and the military system has been changed in name only, but in fact it is still the same as before. In this 300,000 army, most of them have the same idea as Di Qing.

If there was no new military system, it would have been much easier for Di Qing to lead the army to the battle. The old military system relied on commanders and officers, with one level pressing the other, and the command system was simple and direct. As for the various departments of the commanders, the superiors do not need to take care of them, as long as they can fight in wartime. The soldiers in the barracks are also accustomed to this. Anyway, everything is subject to the commander-in-chief, life and death are up to him, and he can do whatever he wants.

The problem lies in the fact that in the process of the whole army's retraining, the non-commissioned officers have been trained in a good manner. These soldiers not only learned to array and shoot, but also learned knowledge. In the past, in the battle formation, as long as you saw the flag clearly, saw the general's movements clearly, and followed along. Now it is required to learn to cooperate, learn to help each other, and learn that although the array is dead, it cannot be dispersed. And the generals who commanded them learned a mess in the military academy.

Nowadays, most of the soldiers can read and write, although they don't know many words, and they can understand some simple commands. And the low generals, but there are still many people who are illiterate, but they are not as good as soldiers. For the new army to obey the rules, many times the soldiers know more than the generals. This change directly poses a huge challenge to the old command system. Because of the chaos, senior generals tried to simplify the command system as much as possible, and more and more retreated to the old military system. When they arrived at the battalions, the non-commissioned officers were not adapted to the old military system because they had received new training, and there were constant conflicts and conflicts.

Di Qing's 300,000 army, the hundreds of miles from the Zhenrong army to Mingsha, was run in this kind of conflict. As for military discipline, where can it be managed? It is already rare that the marshal tent can ensure that the armies advance without contradictions between each other. The supply system of the Privy Council is not in line with the actual military system, and I don't know how many incidents there are every day.

Di Qing himself felt that he had exhausted his mental strength in the past few months, and it had never been so difficult to command a battle. In the eyes of the imperial court, this army was moving slowly, and now there was a matter of forcing the prisoners of war to rebel, which was also very dissatisfied.

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