Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 677 Hatred is the best gift Yanhuang gave to the Chinese people
After listening to Guo Kang's description, Zhu Wenkui first asked: "You have always said that we should go deeper into the people and recruit capable people. This is what you said in Dadu and in Egypt. Did you refer to these lessons?"

"That's part of it." Guo Kang thought for a moment and replied, "Of course, there are many other examples."

"I see, you've started thinking carefully so early." Zhu Wenkui said with emotion, "You've thought a lot. I should learn from you."

"After reading a lot of history, these things are not difficult to think of." Guo Kang shook his head: "You don't need me to teach you this. Look at your side, aren't they all capable people recruited from the people? In fact, your family is the most proficient in these principles. If I really want to learn, I should learn from your great grandfather."

"Moreover, most of the people who are helping me now were given to me by you. If you trace them back to their past, they are all talents that King Wu painstakingly discovered from all over Europe. In terms of grassroots leadership, he is probably the most successful person in Europe right now."

"Don't brag about him. Great grandfather is capable, everyone recognizes it, but he..." Zhu Wenkui waved his hands repeatedly: "How could he be so painstaking and deliberately take the grassroots route? He just can't control his mouth. He threatened every day that he would reduce the power of the feudal lords, but in the end he offended all the nobles and could only hide among the people. If he doesn't take the grassroots route, people will not be happy..."

"Well, how should I put it?" Guo Kang scratched his head. "Although it sounds like double standards, history has different requirements for those in high and low positions. As long as the high position can do things that benefit the people, it's fine. Because the competition and temptations brought by high positions are too fierce, it is difficult for people to maintain pure ideals. As long as the result is good for everyone, it is acceptable. On the contrary, if there is only a good purpose but no good results, it is better to do nothing."

"For ordinary people, the situation is the other way around. Because resources are too scarce, there is often no condition to perform major righteous deeds. If we look at the results, even if they have better ideas and stronger abilities, they are often not as good as those in higher positions. This is unfair."

"Yes, don't be too harsh on King Wu." Tuohuan also advised: "We often deal with the French, and their palace is not a place to do things. Now, it is even more unsuitable for such an outsider without roots to operate. It is a good thing to leave early. Judging from the results, his strategic vision is quite good."

"The greatest benefit his strategic vision has brought us is that it has given me the opportunity to get to know you and the heroes of the Great Qin Kingdom." Zhu Wenkui said tactfully: "I have always been a little worried. It is better to be careful."

"As far as training is concerned, there shouldn't be any problem." Guo Kang said, "The military base there is also very good."

"Not at all. Many of the people he recruited have not received special military training. In fact, the ones who can fight are mainly Lao Yang and his gang. As for the others, many of them are ordinary villagers, craftsmen and small vendors. They may be loyal and enthusiastic, but they are really... unskilled." He imitated Guo Kang's catchphrase and described it.

"Military ability is the easiest to cultivate. Loyalty and enthusiasm are, on the other hand, too rare." Guo Kang sighed and said with emotion: "Can this lineup be considered bad? Look at us in Russia and Egypt, isn't it the problem of how to gain loyalty and enthusiasm?"

"I think the foundation of an army is very important." Guo Kang gave an example: "So far, throughout history, both at home and abroad, the army with the highest overall quality comes from Yue Wumu. I have never seen anyone object to this. Just look at how his army came from, and you will know, right?"

"Isn't this goal too high?" Zhu Wenkui asked in surprise.

"How can you learn without setting a high goal?" Guo Kang shook his head and said, "How much you can learn depends on your own ability. But first you have to make sure that the direction of your goal is correct."

"That statement does make sense." Tuohuan agreed.

"My idea is that the training method can determine the lower limit of the army, but the upper limit of the army must consider the origin and source of the army." Guo Kang said: "Have you noticed? Yue's army is a unique one in the Southern Song army."

"The Southern Song army was roughly divided into three parts. The first was the Southeast Army, which originated from the Marshal's Office and participated in the various armies that supported Zhao Gou. After Zhao Gou proclaimed himself emperor, he established the Imperial Camp Division and incorporated the army into it. However, later, the Miao-Liu Rebellion broke out in these armies, and some officers above the rank of commander were killed by the rebels, and some were executed after the failure of the rebellion. In addition to the veterans who retired from the military, by the early years of Shaoxing, the only senior officers at the time were Liu Guangshi, Han Shizhong, and Zhang Jun."

"Another part is the Western Army that stayed in the northwest. Later, they retreated to Sichuan and became the independent Sichuan-Shaanxi system. The Wu brothers who ruled Sichuan are the representatives here."

"Finally, there were the troops of the Tokyo Garrison recruited by Zong Ze. However, the imperial court had no intention of launching a northern expedition, and after Zong Ze's death, this army was scattered and disintegrated. Some of them defected to the Jin Kingdom, some became rebels, and were later annexed by other forces. Yue Fei's troops were their only remaining remnant."

"So, at the beginning, on paper, Yue Fei was an outsider that no one wanted. Moreover, his strength was also very weak. After Zong Ze passed away, Yue Fei served under Du Chong. However, at that time, he only had more than a thousand people under him. Later, Du Chong's troops were defeated, and Yue Fei fought and retreated all the way. When he arrived in the south of the Yangtze River, there were only a few soldiers left."

"However, in Zhao Gou's opinion, compared with other military leaders with deep roots, Yue Fei, who is good at fighting but has no faction to rely on and does not have many followers, is more useful. Therefore, Zhao Gou began to promote him and assign him troops."

"At that time, there were still a large number of warlords entrenched between Song and Jin. The most powerful among them was Li Cheng between Jianghuai. Li Cheng was born a commoner and was famous for his bravery. On weekdays, Li Cheng also took special care of the soldiers. If the soldiers didn't have food, he wouldn't eat either. If the soldiers were sick, he would visit them in person, and even if it rained, he wouldn't let his followers hold an umbrella. Later, he defected to the Jin Kingdom. Someone reported him for treason. Wuzhu sent the person to him, and Li Cheng only beat the informant and let him go. Therefore, the soldiers were happy to obey his orders, and no one violated his orders even if they were strict. Among the warlords who defected to the Jin people and Liu Yu, he was the best fighter."

"Zhao Gou hoped to suppress these semi-independent warlords, so he ordered General Zhang Jun to lead the army. But Zhang Jun was afraid of Li Cheng and felt that he could not win on his own, so he specifically asked Zhao Gou to ask for Yue Fei. In the subsequent battles, Yue Fei served as the vanguard and led the troops many times, repeatedly defeating Li Cheng's army. Li Cheng could not hold out, so he led the remaining troops to flee north and surrendered to Liu Yu. Most of the remaining tens of thousands of troops surrendered to the Song army and were incorporated into the army by Zhang Jun and others."

"After Li Cheng was defeated, the nearest warlord was Zhang Yong, who was attacking Jiangxi. Zhang Yong and Yue Fei were from the same hometown and were originally militiamen. They responded to Zong Ze's call to defend the king and Bian Jing. After Zong Ze's death, Du Chong replaced him. But Du Chong had no intention of conquering the north. When the Jin army marched south, he did not dare to resist. Instead, he sent people to dig the Yellow River, saying that this would be able to stop the enemy. As a result, the righteous army became disunited and many people left the team and became "rebels" and "military thieves." People at that time said that Zong Ze could turn thieves into soldiers, and Du Chong could turn soldiers into thieves. They were referring to these people."

"Zhang Yong and Du Chong had a bad relationship, so Du Chong plotted to annihilate him and sent his generals Cao Cheng, Li Bao, Sang Zhong, Yue Fei and others to attack the disobedient Zhang Yong and Wang Shan. Yue Fei advised him not to fight, but Du Chong refused to listen. He gave in and said that he was willing to persuade Zhang Yong to surrender, but Du Chong refused to agree and insisted that they send troops to attack."

"However, Zhang Yong and others had already learned the intelligence and made preparations. As a result, the government troops were defeated and Li Bao was captured alive. Only Yue Fei's troops defeated the enemy in front of them. But the contradictions between the parties were irreversible."

"Afterwards, Zhang Yong broke away from the Song army and went south to become an independent warlord. His wife, nicknamed 'Yi Zhang Qing', was extremely brave and famous. The two of them occupied the area from Hanyang to Ezhou, and had enough strength to expand eastward. The court sent Zhang Jun's troops to fight again. Zhang Jun asked Yue Fei what to do, and Yue Fei said that there was no need to use soldiers. He wrote a letter to Zhang Yong and his wife, explaining the pros and cons. Zhang Yong had fought with Yue Fei before and knew his strength, so he led 50,000 troops and accepted the persuasion to surrender. These people were also incorporated into the court, and Yue Fei was promoted by Zhao Gou for his merits. He began to lead an independent army, and his troops grew to thousands of people."

"South of Zhang Yong is Cao Cheng, a warlord entrenched in Hunan. It turned out that after Du Chong fought and drove away Zhang Yong and Wang Shan, his followers dispersed, so he became guilty. Just as the Jin army was heading south, Du Chong abandoned Tokyo without firing a single arrow and fled all the way to Jiankang. However, Zhao Gou not only did not blame him for this, but also rewarded him, making him the right prime minister and letting him guard Jiankang. But Du Chong was already scared out of his wits, and when the Jin army attacked, he simply surrendered directly." "Du Chong's subordinates were also completely defeated. Because Yue Fei was too determined to fight against the Jin army, he suffered heavy losses in soldiers and military supplies, and the number of troops could not be increased. At one point, there was not enough food to eat, and the entire army was starving. Cao Cheng and others escaped in advance, so many of them were saved."

"When Yue Fei went south, Cao Cheng had gathered tens of thousands of people. He himself was also an ordinary soldier, had been through many battles, and had strong fighting ability. Yue Fei sent people to persuade Cao Cheng to surrender, but Cao Cheng found that Yue Fei had only 8,000 people and did not take it seriously. The two armies fought, and Yang Zaixing, a brave general under Cao Cheng, led his troops to attack the camp of Yue's army and killed his general Han Shunfu. Yue Fei increased his troops to fight back and sent Zhang Xian, Wang Jing and others to join the battle, but they were defeated by Yang Zaixing again, and Yue Fei's younger brother Yue Fan was killed in the battle. The two sides fought back and forth and fought many times in the mountains. Finally, Cao Cheng's troops could not resist and began to flee."

"Although the losses were great, Yue Fei still asked his men not to kill indiscriminately and to recruit as many as possible those who were coerced to follow him. If they encountered a stubborn leader, they would consider killing him. Cao Cheng's soldiers surrendered one after another. Cao Cheng fled to Guangdong and then fled to Jiangxi. Zhang Xian and others pursued him all the way. Finally, Cao Cheng ran into Han Shizhong who was returning from Fujian. He couldn't escape and surrendered to Han Shizhong. Most of the soldiers who fled along the way chose to join Yue Fei. Yue Fei recruited more than 20,000 elite soldiers including Yang Zaixing, and his strength became stronger."

"At this time, the Xiangyang area was occupied by Li Heng, a warlord who broke away from Zong Ze. Li Heng and his men were very independent and did not obey the court's orders. They marched north without authorization, defeated the pseudo-Qi army along the way, surrendered Niu Gao, Dong Xian and others, recovered Yingchang Prefecture in the east, recovered Luoyang in the west, and began to attack Bianjing from both sides."

"Liu Yu quickly asked the Jin army for help and received reinforcements led by Wuzhu. He also sent his most capable general, Li Cheng, to fight Li Heng near Bianjing. Li Heng's army was very poor and lacked even armor, so they were defeated. Li Cheng took advantage of the situation and pursued southward, conquering Xiangyang. Yue Fei was ordered to attack and successively recovered several cities. Li Cheng had been psychologically traumatized by him, and when he heard that he was coming, he simply abandoned Xiangyang and ran away."

"Yue Fei then recruited Li Heng's men, including Niu Gao and Dong Xian. Later, Liu Yu and Wuzhu sent reinforcements to Li Cheng many times, but Li Cheng was defeated repeatedly, and the reinforcements from the Jin army also suffered heavy losses, and finally had to retreat."

"But the court strictly prohibited the pursuit of the enemy outside the country, so Yue Fei returned to Xiangyang and operated there. The Jingxiang army of the Southern Song Dynasty started from here. Until the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, this army was still the pillar of the court. Once Xiangyang was captured, the Southern Song Dynasty would soon perish."

"The main part of Yue's army was made up of Zhong Xiang, Yang Yao's troops, and the surrendered warlords. Most of the surrendered warlord soldiers were once the rebel army. I think the strict discipline of his army was also related to the source of the soldiers."

"Yue Fei's army was well paid and well trained. But if that was all, it would not be enough to make the soldiers obey the rules even at the cost of their lives. However, many of Yue Fei's soldiers had seen the tragic situation after the invasion of the Jin army, and they joined the army to defend their hometown. Other Song soldiers were often afraid of the Jin people. But those who dared not fight the Jin people would not come to join him. Such a team, with good training and excellent command, is naturally invincible."

"Alas, this situation is not common in history," said Zhu Wenkui.

"There have been quite a few in recent years." Guo Kang replied: "When the Ming Dynasty was founded, the situation was similar. I can tell the situation by the proportion of deserters."

"Which deserter?" Zhu Wenkui didn't react.

"It was when we were discussing the garrisons before. You said that during the Northern Expedition, more than 40,000 garrison soldiers deserted in three years, and your great-grandfather immediately sent people to investigate." Guo Kang said, "I didn't quite understand it at the time, but after reading some archives, I knew what this number represented."

"The number of deserters is affected by discipline and morale. The stricter the discipline and the higher the morale, the fewer people will desert. Only a small number of soldiers from hundreds of thousands of garrison troops deserted. The morale of the Ming army at that time was really high."

Zhu Wenkui and others didn't quite understand it at first, after all, their first reaction was to compare with the Europeans. But at this time, it was normal for half of the European army to run away every year. If the environment was bad, it could be even more, there was really no comparison.

During the Thirty Years' War, 46% of Gustav's troops fled in half a year. In 1634, the Scottish Marquis Hamilton led 500 troops to support him, but only four months after arriving, only of these Scottish mercenaries, who were famous for their bravery and bellicosity, were left, most of whom had fled, and they had not yet entered the battlefield.

The reason for comparing with the "later generation" data is that at that time, Gustav's new army at least had a registered number of people. But now, many armies are simply military towns. Various personnel come and go, people keep leaving, and people are constantly pulled in by mercenary captains. Now, the commander himself may not know how many people he has under his command...

Besides, even if we win, there is nothing to be proud of. Maybe we need to compare it with other eras to get a better idea - for example, according to modern data, in the year starting from October 49, more than 10 soldiers of the North China Military Region deserted. In this comparison, even considering the errors and omissions in the ancient data, the desertion rate of the Ming army is quite scary.

"This kind of morale is hard to learn," Tuohuan commented.

"Yes. This shows that the treatment of military households is quite good, but the treatment alone is probably not enough." Guo Kang nodded: "At that time, the Ming army was still on the Northern Expedition. Despite the losses caused by the expedition, they were still able to achieve this level of morale. This level of morale is really a bit outrageous. I don't know what the Yuan Dynasty did to them, to make people so excited..."

"But it's true that this kind of morale is really hard for us to learn." He said helplessly: "The Han people hold grudges. People in the Mediterranean world are generally not so good. Maybe they can get better after repeated education."

“Holding a grudge? Is it that important?” Zhu Wenkui asked puzzled.

"Of course it is important. You are so used to it that you don't take it seriously." Guo Kang said, "Keeping grudges is a very luxurious custom. Most people can't remember any history, let alone the premise of remembering hatred. Moreover, even a small number of people who have history don't have the conditions to hold grudges."

"Having hatred is equivalent to constantly torturing yourself. Unless revenge is achieved, it will be difficult for everyone to live in peace. Therefore, contrary to your intuition, letting go of hatred, not continuing to put pressure on yourself, and avoiding the responsibility of revenge are the instincts of most people."

"Besides, revenge requires strength. If you are too weak, then having a tradition of holding grudges is actually a bad thing. Because it is easy to further offend your enemies and be destroyed by them, which is actually not conducive to survival. Therefore, hatred is a trait exclusive to the strong."

"With these conditions, holding a grudge becomes a huge advantage. The motivational effect brought by hatred is unmatched by other emotions. I'm afraid that Yue's army and the Ming army were both motivated by this emotion. The threat of revenge will also make other potential enemies think carefully about the price they will pay, which can ensure a more stable and peaceful environment."

"So, this seemingly ordinary emotion is actually a precious treasure left to us by our ancestors. It just depends on who can use it well," he said confidently.

(End of this chapter)