After all, Sun Chengzong is a doer, and he can't avoid the substantive issues raised by Chongzhen, and he is unwilling to avoid them. And Han Yi and others' moral articles are about to be written well, but when they encounter this kind of practical problem that cannot be solved by Jingyi, they can only help on the side.

Seeing Sun Chengzong silent, Zhu Youzhen took the opportunity to say: "Since ancient times, I have never seen an army that can win a battle without training, and now the recruitment of troops in Liaodong has occupied three or four out of ten, but how many people have really been trained?"

In the past, Qi Shao Baoping was peaceful, and he had to train the army for three years, but today's officials are only greedy to recruit more strong men, and do not think about training soldiers.

The idea that holding the city is victory is simply ridiculous. Can I still enclose all the farmland within the city walls? Without peasants to go to the fields and plough, what will the soldiers eat? With what? Did their salaries fall from the sky?

It's okay to recruit a group of tigers and wolves more, and recruit a group of sheep back, is this not enough to eat enough? ”

Wen Zhenmeng was a little unconvinced when he heard this, he suddenly stood up and admonished: "My Ming officials and soldiers are the teachers of benevolence and righteousness, how can I learn like Donglu and become a group of tigers and wolves, Your Majesty's words are really against the way of the sages, please think carefully about it, and say it carefully." ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Wen Zhenmeng strangely and said, "Does Wen Qing want me to be Song Xianggong?" The gentleman is not seriously injured, does not capture Ermao, does not obstruct the pass, does not drum and does not form a column, Song Xianggong is very benevolent and righteous to the enemy, but after the death of the Song Dynasty, did the enemy speak benevolence and righteousness to the Song people? Preaching benevolence and righteousness to the enemies of the Ming Dynasty is the tyranny of the people of the Ming Dynasty, doesn't Wen Qing understand? ”

Liu Zongzhou turned a blind eye to the speechless scene of Wen Zhenmeng being questioned by Chongzhen. Sun Chengzong couldn't watch Wen Zhenmeng, who had relieved himself from the siege, fall into a predicament, and he couldn't help asking: "But with Your Majesty's intentions, what is it going to do?" ”

Zhu Youzhen looked at Sun Chengzong and said: "Without him, the troops will be streamlined, the old and weak will be eliminated, and all the soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country and were wounded should be taken care of by the imperial court." ”

After a slight pause, he continued: "The guard system has been implemented for more than two hundred years, and today, it can neither resist foreign enemies nor calm the place. Mr. Sun has been in the army for a long time and is proficient in military affairs, and I would like to ask Mr. Sun to prepare for the establishment of this new army. ”

Sun Chengzong was already an initiator of military reform, and when he was the secretary of the military department, he once asked the apocalypse to go through all kinds of malpractices in the army and wanted to carry out military reform. He said in Shuzhong: (1) The Ming army "has many soldiers and does not train, and pays more than nucleus". (2) "Soldiers are used by generals, and civilian officials are recruited; to be in battle, and to be directed by civil officials; to use the military to advance the border, and to increase the number of civil officials in the shogunate". (3) "Take the side to serve the economy and care, and the day to ask the war to defend the court", thinking that "will be from the emperor" is inappropriate. Therefore, he advocated "taking the power of the generals today." Choose a Shen Xiong who has a master strategy, and give it a thrift, which can be set up from the following, and do not let the scribes use small views to touch the tomb."

With the support of the Apocalypse, Sun Chengzong began his trial military reform in Liaodong. It's a pity that his vision did not exceed the limitations of the times, and his heavy general power turned out to create the strange military group of Liaodong Jiangmen.

To put it simply, Sun Chengzong's military reform is similar to Zeng Guofan's idea of army building, but in terms of actual army construction, Sun is far less realistic than Zeng Guofan.

Sun Chengzong relied on the Liaodong Jiangmen to build the army, and he hoped to build these generals into the border barrier of the Ming Dynasty, but in the end, even he himself could not command these warlordized warrior groups at will.

However, Zeng Guofan relied on Confucianism as a junior officer, with the township party as a link and the defense of famous religion as the banner, and firmly controlled the Hunan army in the palm of his hand from beginning to end. The Hunan army is the Zeng family army, but the Guan Ning army is not the Sun family army.

Therefore, the Hunan army can extinguish the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and create a situation of Tongzhi Zhongxing. In the end, Guan Ningjun became a lackey of the Manchu Qing Dynasty and became the culprit of the destruction of the Ming Dynasty.

Sun Chengzong asked to resign himself and return to his hometown because of the defeat of Liuhe, but he did not see the essence of Guan Ning's army. Guan Ningjun, who had exhausted tens of millions of gold to train, did not dare to fight against the Houjin army, but dragged his own people back. Sun Chengzong was disheartened, and finally begged to go.

After experiencing the events in Liaodong, Sun Chengzong also understood how important it was to have an army that could be trusted. Therefore, when Chongzhen proposed to him to establish a new army, he only hesitated for a moment, and then abandoned the agreement with Han Yi and gave up fighting for the position of Jiliao Governor.

Sun Chengzong's defection made Han Yi and other Donglin party members suddenly suffer a dumb loss, and Liu Zongzhou was also very supportive, Chongzhen's strategy of elite soldiers and real soldiers, in Liu Zongzhou's view, all policies that can save court expenditures are good things.

Sun Chengzong accepted the appointment to form a new army, and immediately asked Chongzhen: "Then may I ask Your Majesty, where will the soldiers of the new army be recruited, how will the salaries be solved, and where will the generals be transferred?" ”

Chongzhen replied quietly: "As the so-called general is brave to the army, if you want to train the army, you must first train generals, an army does not dare to fight, how can there be soldiers who dare to go to the battlefield if there are generals who can fight." There is no hurry to raise a new army, and the top priority at the moment is to first train a group of generals who will lead the troops.

Although I have martial arts and martial arts, these people are basically just a group of ordinary people who can fight on the streets. Letting these people with no military experience go to the battlefield to lead the troops is the greatest irresponsibility to the soldiers.

Therefore, I plan to abolish the martial arts system, and instead use the general officer training school to train the generals who lead the army, and the students from the general officer school are meritorious soldiers, civilians who are interested in joining the army, and hereditary guards officers. In the future, all children of officers of the guard who have not graduated from the training school for generals will not be allowed to inherit their official posts.

As for the formation of the new army, I do not intend to do so by recruitment. The duty of the army is to protect the family and defend the country, which is the right and obligation of every Ming person, and the Ming Dynasty also wants to give the status of the soldier a guarantee.

Similarly, no one is born to be a soldier for the rest of his life, with 5 years of service for a soldier and 7 years for a lieutenant and above, depending on his personal ability and willingness. In the new army, the hereditary system of officers is no longer implemented, and those who are capable are promoted and those who are incapable are demoted.

I call it the compulsory military service system, and in the areas where the compulsory military service system is implemented, the three guards of the left, center, and right of Yingzhou on the outskirts of the capital began to be piloted. Mr. Sun can start with the preparation for the construction of the general officer training school, and as for the reform of the military cantonment of the guard, I will mobilize manpower from Guozijian and Jinyiwei.

For the purpose of preparing for the establishment of the Jiangguan School, we will first allocate 100,000 taels from the internal funds as the opening expenses of the school. As for the instructors of this school, then..."

Sun Chengzong suddenly raised his head and said: "The minister recommended Lu Shanji, Mao Yuanyi, and Yuan Chonghuan as professors of the new army generals. ”

"Yuan Chonghuan?" Hearing this name, Zhu Youzhen's brows couldn't help frowning. There has been a lot of debate about this person on the Internet in the afterlife.

A figure who was called a hero of the anti-Qing Dynasty by Qianlong, but the historical materials that recorded the deeds of the late Ming Dynasty were all burned by Qianlong in the name of repairing the four libraries.

For such a controversial figure, Zhu Youzhen has always avoided thinking about how to face this figure hidden in history.

However, there are some people whose existence cannot be escaped. The name that Zhu Youzhen was reluctant to face finally appeared in his ears tenaciously.

However, Sun Chengzong found a good time, thinking that it was not easy for him to stuff the reform of the guard system into the topic of the preparation for the establishment of the new army, Zhu Youzhen understood that it was best for him not to do anything now.

These civilian officials are now only focusing on the preparation of the new army, so they do not pay attention to the so-called reform of the military cantonment system.

However, in Zhu Youzhen's eyes, the preparation for the establishment of the new army and the establishment of the school for generals and officers were not as good as the reform of the guard system that followed. The former is only a symptom, and the latter is the root cause.

Maybe the future of the new army will definitely be stronger than the current Weisuo army, but compared to the new army that does not even have a single hair now, the hundreds of thousands of Weisuo army in the Ming Dynasty is the army that can quickly become the force in his hands.

"The regime comes out of the barrel of a gun, without the support of the army, everything he wants to do is built on a castle on the beach, which cannot withstand the impact of a wave." Zhu Youzhen took a deep breath and left all his uneasy emotions behind.

"Mr. Sun's recommendation is naturally good, and I am naturally fully supportive." Zhu Youzhen hesitated, but decided to support Sun Chengzong's candidate.

After a tacit understanding was reached between Zhu Youzhen and Sun Chengen, naturally no one in the court meeting would oppose the military reform plan proposed by Chongzhen. The Donglin Party believed that at least the establishment of the new army had allowed the Donglin Party to control a reliable force near the capital.

And because Huang Liji and others have just gained the power of official reform, they are now unwilling to touch the cake of the Donglin Party.

Although the meeting started badly, when it came to the end, it seemed that everyone had something to gain and was happy.

Huang Liji and other non-Donglin political forces gained the lead in the reform of the official system, and the Donglin Party members at least got a piece of the pie, and also got the power to raise the new army.

Although in the eyes of these officials, military reform is far less enticing than official reform. After all, in the Ming Dynasty, the status of an officer is far inferior to that of a civilian official, and a seventh-grade county commander dares to scold the fourth- and fifth-grade guerrilla generals at will.

And Yuan Chonghuan dared to kill a guerrilla general from the third rank without ordering the monk Fang Baojian to be a soldier from the fourth grade, which shows that the status of the Ming warriors is low.

Therefore, the attention of the Donglin Party was completely attracted by the reform of the official system proposed by Chongzhen, and they did not pay much attention to the reorganization of the new army and the reform of the health center. Even Sun Chengzong and other officials with a little insight only paid attention to the establishment of the general officer training school, and did not pay attention to the restructuring of the military garrison.