After listening to the opinions of Sun Chengzong and Huang Liji, Zhu Youzhen thought for a long time before saying slowly: "What Mr. Sun said is right, if this army no longer respects military discipline, then the imperial court may not be able to control these soldiers in the future."

If an army puts the interests of its own small group above the interests of the whole country, then for the Ming Dynasty, it will be the beginning of the militarization of local feudal towns, and we must not condone such an atmosphere in the army.

Of course, since the beginning of this year, all the people of Daming have heard is bad news, and it is rare for the army to win a battle outside the pass, and now this bad news has come from Sichuan. Seeing that the Chinese New Year is approaching, I don't think there is any need for the people of the world to have a bad year.

The year of my ascension to the throne, although the beginning was not very smooth, but at least there must be a good ending. ”

Sun Chengzong looked at Chongzhen with some concern, and after Huang Liji glanced at Sun Chengzong's face, he asked Chongzhen carefully: "Your Majesty means to hide the battle report of Chishuiwei's defeat and not release it to the public?" ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said: "That's not good, since the people of Yongning have begun to flee, the news of the failure of the Sichuan army's attack will soon spread all over Sichuan, and the merchants who come and go will definitely bring the news back to the mainland."

If the imperial court wants to hide this matter, it will cost too much and may not have any effect. Moreover, once the people find out that the court is lying, it will be a big blow to the reputation of the court and the cabinet.

The failure of Chishuiwei still has to be announced, and in order to prevent some people from mistakenly expanding the losses of the defeat, the imperial court should take the initiative to announce the news to the world. However, we must focus our propaganda mainly on the courage of the Ming army to take the initiative to attack the rebels, and the bloody battles of the low-level soldiers when the war is unfavorable.

Of course, this is only the content of the announcement to the outside world, but as far as the army is concerned, the General Staff Headquarters must order the Sichuan army to thoroughly examine the problems existing in this defeat, and not to avoid the important and trivial, nor to pass the buck to each other.

After the Sichuan army has examined and understood the problem of defeat, the General Staff Headquarters should turn this defeat into a lesson plan and a lesson, and first of all, it should teach it in various military academies so that the cadets of the military academies can firmly remember this lesson. Second, it is necessary to issue a document to the armed forces in various localities so that the officers and men of all departments can take this as a warning after understanding their mistakes and not repeat their mistakes.

In addition, let Hou Liangzhu and You Shiwei's positions be transferred to each other, let him manage the Southwest Army Military Academy, and let You Shiwei serve as the chief military officer of Sichuan. In addition, a group of generals of the Sichuan Army were sent to the Army Military Academy for study, and the cadets who graduated from the first batch of the Southwest Military Academy were transferred to the Sichuan People's Army.

Two infantry brigades were given to the Southwest Governor's Office, one was formed by selecting personnel from the Sichuan army and the other from the Shizhu Tusi soldiers. The commander of the former unit was concurrently served by You Shiwei, and the latter appointed Ma Xianglin, the son of Ma Qiancheng, as the chief officer. In addition, let Wednesday Wei select personnel to go down to assist the Southwest Governor's Office to complete the reorganization of the three-level armed forces system and logistics system, once the pilot of the Southwest Governor's Office is completed, it will be used as a model for the establishment of the Governor's Office in all parts of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Huang Liji said to Chongzhen with some uneasiness: "Your Majesty, now the government and the opposition still have doubts about changing the local civil and military official system and establishing local governors and governors' mansions. If the situation in Sichuan is unfavorable, will the reform of the local government be resisted? ”

Zhu Youzhen glanced at Huang Liji, then turned his head to Sun Chengzong and asked: "Will the reorganization of the Southwest Governor's Mansion and the temporary transfer of the generals of the Sichuan Army lead to confusion in the army, so that they will lose in the next battle and cause the situation in Sichuan to get out of control, has the General Staff made an assessment?" ”

Sun Chengzong thought for a while and said: "Even if there is a small loss, it will not disturb the stable situation in Sichuan, after all, the stone pillar soldiers are still in the rear. Moreover, in the past six months, the Sichuan army and the Shaanxi army have been sorted out, and many old and weak sergeants have been eliminated, and a group of young and strong soldiers have been re-recruited.

In addition, the road to the west of the mountain is rugged, and it is difficult for us to attack, and it is also difficult for the rebels to assemble out of the mountain. After several years of rebellion, the area around Shuixi has become desolate, and basically neither we nor the rebels can get any supplies from the local area.

Therefore, when our army attacked Shuixi, it had to transport grain from Huguang and Yunnan. And if the other party wants to go out of the mountains, the small group of troops can probably count on carrying some dry food and game meat in the mountains and forests as a supplement. When a large force attacked, it was inevitable to raise military rations from the hinterland of Shuixi.

The two traitor leaders, Hao Chongming and An Bangyan, established themselves in the Great Liang State, and claimed to lead an army of 100,000 to recover Yongning. The ministers thought that without four months of preparation, they would not be able to transport the supplies for tens of thousands of troops to Chishuiwei.

There is four months as a buffer, and the transfer of Hou Liangzhu and other generals to study in military academies will minimize the psychological impact on low-level sergeants. Moreover, the graduating cadets of the Southwest Military Academy were originally transferred from the Sichuan Army, and they assisted You Shiwei to take over the Ming Army in Yongning, so they would not encounter great resistance from the army. ”

After listening to Sun Chengzong's statement, Zhu Youzhen thought carefully in his heart, and finally made up his mind and said: "Then it is decided, the General Staff Department will issue this order to the Southwest Governor's Office in an urgent form, and let the Southwest Governor's Mansion do a good job of bereaving the bereaved families of the war dead."

In addition, some trained military doctors were dispatched to set up military medical colleges in Yongning and Chongqing to treat soldiers wounded on the battlefield and to promote cowpox vaccination in the local area to prevent smallpox. ”

Seeing that Chongzhen had made up his mind and the matter had become a final decision, Huang Liji was also a little helpless, he had to fight for Zhu Xieyuan's final power, "Then Zhu Xieyuan's combat strategy, did the General Staff also issue a document to the Southwest Governor's Office and ask it to follow it?" ”

Before Sun Chengzong could speak, Zhu Youzhen had already stopped in front of him and said to Huang Liji: "The combat strategy proposed by Governor Zhu is very good, but the Governor has the authority to lead the Southwest Governor's Office, and I feel that there is no need to supervise the implementation through the General Staff, unless the Southwest Governor's Office is unwilling to accept Governor Zhu's order, then the General Staff will need to intervene."

I do not want the Cabinet or the General Staff to interfere, and Governor Zhu or the Southwest Governor will exercise their powers normally, and I also do not want Governor Zhu to go beyond the Southwest Governor to command the military institutions below, which will not benefit either side.

Of course, there is one thing that the General Staff and the Cabinet can still inform them that the Imperial Court wants to establish a fast and stable communication channel between them, and not go their separate ways, so that the rebels can find a flaw.

In addition, the Southwest Governorate originally had no right to command the Yunnan army, but since the Yunnan army was mobilized in this Suppression War, all Yunnan troops participating in the war must obey the leadership of the Southwest Governor's Office. ”

Although he did not get the expected requirements, Huang Liji still got the results above the bottom line, and once again clarified the political sequence of the governor's leadership of the Southwest Governor's Office, and reluctantly accepted Chongzhen's decision to leave.

After Huang Liji left, Zhu Youzhen stopped Sun Chengzong and said: "The General Staff sent people to reorganize the Southwest Governor's Mansion this time, and we will specially allocate 500,000 yuan as the funds for the reorganization.

In addition, a number of light artillery pieces of less than 12 kilograms were transferred from the Ordnance Supervision to strengthen the military strength of the newly built infantry brigade of the Southwest Governor's Office. In addition, a part of the craftsmen were allocated to set up a workshop in Chongqing for the daily consumption of the Southwest Governor's Office. ”

Sun Chengzong nodded at Chongzhen and said, "The minister is also planning to apply for some funds from His Majesty, and since His Majesty has already taken it into account, then the matter in the southwest must not be a problem."

However, the minister still has one thing he wants to advise His Majesty, even if he defeats the two Tusi of Lu'an, it does not mean that the southwest will be safe. Since the rebellion of Xuan Chongming and An Bangyan, Tusi has responded in the southwestern provinces, and the minister thought that it was not accidental.

It is that my Ming Dynasty has had problems in the governance of the southwest in the past, so the contradictions between these natives and our Han people have erupted recently.

As His Majesty said, after the Banshu Tusi Rebellion, there was the Luan Rebellion, and after the Lunan Rebellion, it was the turn of the Tusi Rebellion? Based on the combat strategy proposed by Zhu Xieyuan, the minister thought that the time of the rebels was running out.

But next, how should the imperial court deal with these rebel Tusi who surrendered, thinking that the latecomers should quit, is the most important thing. Otherwise, rebellions in the southwest will occur one after another, and even if the imperial court can suppress it every time, I am afraid that it will exhaust its national strength. ”

Zhu Youzhen was silent, he knew why Sun Chengzong said this. In the end, the Confucian scholar still disagreed, and he retaliated against the rebellious Tusi with the same iron-blooded means. Sun Chengzong was still worried that excessive killing would cause panic among the Tusi in the southwest, which would cause the Ming army to lose the support of some Tusi who had originally been devoted to the imperial court in the southwest.

In the hundreds of thousands of years of local rule, these toasts have long formed a very large network of in-laws. If you cut it down, you don't know whose father, mother, nephew, uncle, or brother it will hit.

What's more, the Han people live in the plains, most of these ethnic minorities live in the mountains and forests, maybe they can't beat the regular troops of the Ming army, but they can continue to harass the settlements of the Han people, once the Han people can not stay in the local area, the Ming army will lose a reliable source of soldiers and materials.

If it is a strong period of the dynasty, with the endless material production capacity of the Central Plains Dynasty, it can be used to consume these ethnic minorities to death for decades. But for the current Ming Dynasty, I am afraid that it is the Ming Dynasty itself that will fall first.

Zhu Youzhen thought for a long time, and finally made a decision that he had been hesitating about, he looked up at Sun Chengzong and said: "I think that I will take this opportunity to implement a comprehensive compulsory military service system for Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan, and every healthy male young man who has reached the age of 18 must enter the army and serve for 5 years.

In addition, militia organizations at the village, township, and county levels should be established in the above three places, and these militia organizations should also be subject to the control of the Governor's Office, and each militia member should undergo 15 days of off-the-job training a year and receive simple military education. and that they are allowed to carry muskets as hunting tools for their daily life, but * and ammunition are to be brought by themselves..."