Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1551 Standard Bearer
Are you trying to change the subject again?

"No. Look, this is actually quite important to them; it's related to their work."

"Oh, you mean that?" Zhu Ling noticed it too—that was the Flag Bearer Society. As the name suggests, they were flag bearers.

The Imperial College (Guozijian) had many student clubs, most of which were related to hobbies and interests. Others were also related to hobbies and interests, if making pamphlets counts as such—after all, the Imperial College had a landmark "Fushe" (复社) there, surrounded by a series of opposing or flanking clubs like the Yuhua Society (雨花社). To some extent, this could indeed be considered part of hobbies and interests.

The Flag Bearer Club is somewhat involved in both, mainly because the student union of the School of Melon has members in this club, but other schools also have members.

"Speaking of which, why is the Flag Bearer Club so popular? There are so many of them."

"Because it looks good, and you can wear uniforms; it's the school's honor guard. Also, the flag bearer club of the Imperial College is trained by the flag bearer guards, which is very helpful for getting a job with the flag bearer guards in the future—basically, if you really want to work for the flag bearer guards, you'll most likely meet your future superior here."

"Speaking of which, isn't the ceremonial guard the responsibility of the Embroidered Uniform Guard?"

"That's true, but just like the Secretariat has its own secretaries, the honor guard should also have its own honor guard responsible for the specific duties of the honor guard. That's the standard-bearer guard."

In the early Ming Dynasty, there were various imperial guards. The earliest were the Twenty-Six Imperial Guards, namely the Golden Guard Vanguard, the Golden Guard Rearguard, the Feathered Forest Left Guard, and the Feathered Forest Right Guard.

Besides the Imperial Guard, there were the garrisons under the jurisdiction of the Five Military Commissions.

However, some guard posts belonged neither to the Five Military Commands nor to the Imperial Guards—they were the three guard posts jointly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War, namely the Left, Central, and Right Guards of Military Craftsmen. There were also various imperial guard posts. Although these guard posts were part of the capital's guards, they did not belong to either of the above two categories.

After the Yongqing reforms, these old systems were merged.

In short, the combat functions of the Five Military Commissions were abolished—because the Ming Dynasty transitioned from the garrison system to the battalion system, and the army changed from being subordinate to the garrisons to being subordinate to a certain large camp. For example, the Fengtai Camp in Shuntian and the Tangshan Camp in Yingtian were the close guard units stationed in the suburbs of the two capitals, Beijing and Nanjing.

The remaining garrisons became a kind of civil administration agency under the Ministry of War, mainly responsible for the management and development of military households. The Five Military Commissions were thus integrated into the "Ministry of Revenue for Military Households." The five military commissions in the east, west, south, north, and central regions were mainly responsible for building up the army and supplying soldiers to fixed camps. The camps then reorganized these soldiers into combat units called "armies." For example, the Tangshan camp outside Yingtian had two armies with a total of 12 brigades stationed there.

The 26 Imperial Guards were also integrated into the "Imperial Guards" organization, and the Wugong Left, Middle and Right Guards and Xiaoling Guards were additionally incorporated into the Imperial Guards, continuing the garrison system.

This also creates a fundamental difference between the garrison system and the military camp system—the garrison system only conscripted soldiers from garrison households. In contrast, the military camp system only included garrison soldiers as a part of its manpower; the main camp, in addition to accepting soldiers from garrisons, also recruited soldiers extensively from outside the garrison. In terms of organization, soldiers from military households served as "Tiger Warriors," while those from other sources served as "Trainees."

The Imperial Guard was a closed unit that almost never recruited soldiers from outside the army. However, precisely because it almost never recruited soldiers from outside the army, the Imperial Guard did not differentiate between the treatment of the Tiger Warriors and the Foot Soldiers; both were treated the same.

Like the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the Standard Guard was one of the few imperial guards that directly recruited talent from outside the capital. Once enlisted, one immediately obtained imperial guard status, which could be passed down through generations.

Shangluo scratched his head: "Was I born in Rome from the very beginning?"

[While the literal meaning may be ambiguous, I understand what you mean—yes, your starting point is excellent. The old merchant is a military craftsman within the Imperial Guard; your starting point is the goal many aspire to.]

The Imperial College's Flag Bearer Society was a group directly guided by the Flag Bearer Guards. However, even so, it was unlikely that four or five people would be able to join the Flag Bearer Guards in a year, because the Flag Bearer Guards only recruited 50 people in total each year. It was considered good if three or four of those 50 people were chosen from the Imperial College's Flag Bearer Society. A year in which more than five people were admitted was considered a year with excellent student quality.

Moreover, it wasn't just civilians who wanted to become standard-bearers; even those from military households aspired to join. This was because ordinary military households were often registered in local areas—when the guard posts were assigned, the locations chosen were usually the leftovers or situated in the narrowest corners of the prefectures and counties. Consequently, the cities where the guard posts were located were all quite remote. [Furthermore, I checked. Even within the capital's guards, not all posts were located within the city. There were only five guard posts in Yingtian City—besides the Embroidered Uniform Guard, your family's Wugong Left Guard was one of them.]

"The standard-bearer guards too?"

Yes, the Standard Guard is the same. Their station is on the Champ de Triomphe, near the Grand Palace. This isn't just any Rome; this is Rome within Rome. Even the families of Roman senators couldn't compare. After all, even senators might not own a house in Rome. Your house, though small, is still considered a Dormes residence, a place only senators could afford in Rome, not the Insula apartment complex.

"Wait, so I'm considered a Roman noble?"

【You military households were originally feudal nobles; at the founding of the nation, military households were used as a feudal class.】

"Tsk, shouldn't I thank my father properly?"

Who wouldn't thank their own father?

"I didn't thank him properly before, is it not good for me to not go see him for so long?"

I've always wanted to ask you, why don't you contact him?

"Because he himself said not to contact him unless it's important. You see, when I talked to him before, we only talked about business and not about anything other than business."

[I get the feeling that the relationship between you two isn't as close as your relationship with your senior brother. The Emperor is your brother, and Old Shang is your superior?]

"Hmm," Shangluo said, stroking his chin.

Zhu Ling happened to be next to him, and they looked at the brochure together.

"Hey Zhu Ling, how's your relationship with your dad?"

"That's great. Although he's retired now, he used to spend a lot of time playing pound ball with me when we were kids."

"Are you sure it wasn't you who played with him?"

"No, actually I like it myself. It's my brother who doesn't. He prefers quieter recreational activities and doesn't like driving around chasing a ball all over the mountains. It was only after our father went into seclusion that he occasionally played some pound ball. Why are you suddenly asking this?"

"Zhu Ling, teach me how to play hammer ball."

"Don't you know how to fight?"

"I want to hear you tell me how your father raised you."

(End of this chapter)