It has only been a few years from Zhu Jinsong's rebellion to his control over six provinces. By all accounts, Zhu Jinsong's army should not have any retired soldiers.
However, let's not forget that Zhu Jinsong has always liked to learn by trial and error. He readily copied and used the regulations of rabbits, not worrying about anyone asking for copyright fees.
For example, the Great Ming's land army, despite having the name of the Five Commanderies Directorate, was essentially five war zones. Other formations such as armies, divisions, regiments, and battalions were all directly copied from the rabbit's land army structure, with only minor modifications to aspects unsuitable for the current environment.
This included the conscription of personal guards and the system for veteran retirement. While some parts were directly copied, many others had been altered.
After occupying the entire Shandong province, Zhu Jinsong's army had been continuously expanding, recruiting new soldiers twice a year, with each recruitment wave numbering around one army, or approximately 40,000 men.
In later generations, China's service term was generally two years, or three years at most in earlier times. Zhu Jinsong's army had a minimum service term of three years, easily extending to over a decade.
Concurrently, Zhu Jinsong stipulated that a portion of the older soldiers would be transferred to civilian roles or retire each year. They would either be reassigned to second-line forces akin to the People's Armed Police or posted to local county, prefectural, and provincial government offices. These retiring or transferring soldiers amounted to about two divisions, or 20,000 men.
The veteran soldiers assigned to local government offices, along with local peasant association guards, formed the reserve forces. Both the second-line forces and the reserve forces had their management systems closely aligned with China's system.
For instance, the second-line forces were normally under the jurisdiction of the Provincial Administration Commission. Veteran soldiers assigned to local government offices as yamen runners were managed by the Imperial Guard, a subordinate of the Cabinet. During wartime, they would directly report to the Five Commanderies Directorate.
Therefore, even without mobilizing the reserves, Zhu Jinsong had already dispatched nearly 40,000 second-line troops. These troops were then integrated with the original five armies and reorganized into a six-army structure.
Following Zhu Jinsong's direct copying of the rabbit land army's structure, each army typically had a strength of around 40,000 men. The six armies thus comprised a total of 240,000 troops.
Zhu Jinsong truly did not believe that six armies, with their combined strength, could not defeat a motley collection of over twenty allied forces.
Although Zhu Zhongqu's twenty-odd allied armies claimed to have a million troops, Zhu Jinsong believed this was merely a claim. The actual number of combat-ready soldiers likely did not exceed 800,000. Furthermore, Zhu Jinsong had never intended to engage Zhu Zhongqu's allied forces in a head-on battle.
As the founding emperor had clearly stated in the "Five Scrolls of Dragon Slaying Techniques," the essence of warfare was the strong preying on the weak. When one's own forces were insufficient, the best approach was to use rapid penetration tactics to create a numerical advantage and then concentrate firepower to defeat the enemy's weaker forces.
Whether it was Liu Heming's Central Army Commander Directorate's First Army, Zhu Erdan's Forward Army Commander Directorate's Second Army, or the other armies, these forces had fought alongside Zhu Jinsong since his rise from Ningyang, and they were most adept at rapid penetration and long-range raids.
Of course, to be strictly accurate, Zhu Jinsong's troops were actually most skilled at ambushes and surprise attacks, relying on their firepower advantage.
This did not mean that the Great Ming's army was incapable of frontal engagements. Rather, as Lieutenant General Li, who had participated in the Battle of Stalingrad, stated, a unit's character and temperament were often determined by the personality and temperament of its first commanding officer at the time of its formation, regardless of the passage of time or changes in personnel.
When Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of Great Ming, first rose to power, he suffered from a severe fear of insufficient firepower. Therefore, the Great Ming army's greatest strengths were actually artillery saturation followed by ambushes and surprise attacks.
It was precisely because of this that Liu Huaiwen would get a headache at the mere mention of war. Facing these prodigals who loved to saturate battlefields with artillery and treated shells and grenades as if they were free, any person in charge of the Great Ming's financial system would be troubled.
The thought of the original five armies expanding to six made Liu Huaiwen, the head of the Great Ming's financial system, even more troubled.
Especially when Liu Huaiwen thought of those shells, bullets, and grenades being thrown out like worthless items by those spendthrifts, he felt an overwhelming urge to rush to the garrisons of these armies and scold their commanding officers.
However, upon remembering his own emperor, Liu Huaiwen couldn't help but feel a sense of despair.
At this moment, Zhu Jinsong was addressing the leaders of the civil and military systems. Those being addressed included Zeng Cheng, the Grand Secretary of the Great Ming, over a dozen ministerial leaders, the six army-level commanders and twenty-four division-level commanders of the military system, and Ke Zhiming, the head of intelligence.
"Now, rebels great and small from all over the world are uniting to attack our Great Ming. What can our Great Ming do? We can only fight back."
"But how this war is fought matters."
"Listen to me carefully, everyone. If a problem can be solved with shells and bullets, then solve it with shells and bullets. Anyone who dares to risk the lives of their soldiers by charging headlong into danger, even if they achieve merit, will not be recognized. Not only will they not be recognized, but they will also be dealt with severely upon their return!"
Speaking of this, Zhu Jinsong couldn't help but let out a cold snort and said, "The world is attacking Ming. I don't know what our Great Ming did wrong to offend so many people, prompting them to unite and attack us?"
Zeng Cheng secretly glanced at Zhu Jinsong and thought, is it strange that the world is attacking Ming? If you had been like the rebels of past dynasties, quickly winning over the local gentry and scholars when you had the opportunity to seize the throne, the entire world would likely have surrendered by now. But you, on the other hand, insisted on establishing peasant associations and equalizing land ownership, completely offending all the scholars and gentry in the world. How could things possibly go well?
Of course, while he complained to himself, having followed Zhu Jinsong for so long, Zeng Cheng also understood the benefits of establishing peasant associations and the significant advantages of Zhu Jinsong's rebellion model, which did not rely on scholars and gentry, for future governance of the realm.
Not to mention other things, the current mobilization capacity of the Great Ming imperial court was undoubtedly countless times stronger than that of my Tartar Qing dynasty.
...
Yang Da Niu, dressed in a brand new military uniform, looked at Xiao Xu Zhuang, a place both familiar and strange, and could not quite describe how he felt.
Under the large willow tree at the entrance of Xiao Xu Zhuang village, many old men were still sunbathing, and many mischievous children were still playing wildly.
Yang Da Niu had seen such scenes countless times before in Xiao Yang Zhuang, Qing County.
But Yang Da Niu knew very well that although they were sunbathing under the same large willow tree, under the same sun, there was a significant difference.
Previously, in Xiao Yang Zhuang, Qing County, those old men sunbathed because they couldn't afford to burn firewood, so they could only come out to bask in the sun. In contrast, the old men in Xiao Xu Zhuang sunbathed simply for the sake of sunbathing.
Of course, they also couldn't bear to burn firewood, but the difference was that they had firewood but were unwilling to burn it, whereas in Xiao Yang Zhuang, they wanted to burn it but had no firewood to burn.
The same applied to those mischievous children.
Before, in Xiao Yang Zhuang, Qing County, those mischievous children played under the large willow tree purely because their parents were busy with fieldwork and had no time to look after them, so they could only gather under the large willow tree to play.
The mischievous children in Xiao Xu Zhuang, however, were likely playing after finishing their studies. Perhaps their parents would soon drag them home by their ears.
Thinking of the scene where these mischievous children were dragged home by their ears, being beaten and crying out in pain as they walked, Yang Da Niu, who was still single, suddenly couldn't help but laugh.
Yang Da Niu didn't know what he was laughing about; perhaps he just felt like laughing.
Perhaps if he got married and had children in the future, his life would be like this?
Shaking his head with a smile, Yang Da Niu simply strode towards the large willow tree.
Yang Da Niu needed to find someone to ask for directions.
He had no choice. If he didn't ask for directions, Yang Da Niu wouldn't be able to find his way home. He had been away from home since enlisting, and in the past year and a half, he had only exchanged a few letters with his parents.
Through the letters his parents had someone write to him, Yang Da Niu knew that a new courtyard had been built at his home, and his parents had moved into the new courtyard.
Therefore, Yang Da Niu, on his first visit home, which might also be his last, couldn't find his way home.
Seeing Yang Da Niu, dressed in his military uniform, approaching the large willow tree, the old men who were sunbathing stopped their activities and stood up, looking at Yang Da Niu with interest. The mischievous children were even more direct, running up to Yang Da Niu, surrounding him curiously, hopping, jumping, and making noise.
Fear? Fear was impossible. Their parents had always told them that no matter what danger they encountered, as long as they saw someone in this uniform, there would be no more danger. They were protectors of the people, and they shouldn't fear anyone.
One of the children, about ten years old, was a bit braver. After sizing up Yang Da Niu, he tentatively asked, "Are you Brother Da Niu?"
After Yang Da Niu nodded, the child excitedly exclaimed, "Brother Da Niu, you're back! I'm Xu Ergou, do you remember me?"
Yang Da Niu did remember the name Xu Ergou. However, in Yang Da Niu's memory, Xu Ergou should have been much shorter and thinner than he was now, and nowhere as fair and plump as he was today.
Patting Xu Ergou's head, Yang Da Niu smiled and said, "Of course, I remember you. You used to cry the most when you were little. But, Ergou, you've grown taller and bigger now. In a few years, you'll be ready to get married."
Hearing Yang Da Niu say this, Xu Ergou became a little embarrassed and bashfully replied, "What marriage, what marriage? It's nothing like that, it's still a long way off."
After saying that, Xu Ergou looked at Yang Da Niu and said, "Brother Da Niu, can't you find your way home? I'll take you!"
Yang Da Niu smiled and nodded, saying, "Alright, thank you for the trouble."
Xu Ergou chuckled and led a group of mischievous children in front of him, hopping and skipping as they walked, shouting, "Brother Da Niu is back from the army!"
When they reached Yang Da Niu's new courtyard, these mischievous children voluntarily stopped outside the courtyard, letting Yang Da Niu go home by himself. Then, one by one, their little heads peeked over the gate, curiously observing the movements inside the courtyard.
Yang Da Niu pushed open the door and saw his father, Old Man Yang, fiddling with the stove next to the door. His mother, Madam Yang, was still lying on the bed by the east wall, coughing intermittently.
Yang Da Niu's eyes stung, and he suddenly knelt down with a thud, exclaiming, "Father, Mother!"