Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 906: Soldiers

"Lying in the street, the people offer food and drink, but you refuse to accept it..." Xie Jin seemed to be shocked. He muttered to himself for a long time, and suddenly he shook himself and exclaimed: "No, Your Highness, this is impossible."

"Even if an army of such kind was formed by the so-called benevolent and righteous army of ancient times, it would not be able to do so... Even if an army was formed by scholars who were well-read in poetry and literature, it would not be able to do so."

"Your Highness, are you deceiving me? How could there be such an army?" Xie Jin couldn't believe it no matter what.

"Haha, Jinshen is also a new scholar, you should know how big the world is. Even though you haven't seen it with your own eyes or heard it with your own ears, how can you know that it doesn't exist?" Zhu Biao said with a smile.

He walked to the window sill, looked at the sky outside the window, and said with longing: "Ma Ye wants to put countless people in the southwest into war for his own military achievements. Although other generals of our Ming Dynasty are not so crazy, but from the previous reports, we know that most of the soldiers in the army, for the sake of military achievements, can turn a deaf ear to steal the bell and ignore what Ma Ye did."

"Why did the squire just now advise me to suppress the military commanders? It's simply because he thinks that the military commanders are crude and uncivilized, and have no sense of justice."

"If you allow it to grow in power, it will be like holding Tai'a sword upside down, which will hurt you in the long run."

"But what if the soldiers of our Ming Dynasty are just like the army I just described? If that's the case, do we still need to worry about the power of the generals?"

"How dare Ma Ye, this beast, go against the will of the world and do such a crazy thing?"

"It's easy to get rid of Ma Ye, but if this trend in the army is not rectified, there will be Zhang Ye and Wang Ye in the future. It will be difficult to stop them!"

"This matter is not about Ma Ye alone. What I want to do is to use this matter to completely change the style of the Ming army!"

"One day, our Ming Dynasty will expand its territory, and the generals and soldiers will leave China and step into other territories. Are we going to let them do whatever they want? Then how can we call our Ming Dynasty a benevolent and righteous army? How can the expansion of territory last long?"

Xie Jin was shocked when he heard Zhu Biao's explanation. He had never thought that what the court needed to solve was just a matter of Ma Ye trying to force Shuixi to rebel and take credit. Who would have thought that the prince would be so generous and wanted to use this matter as an excuse to reform the atmosphere in the Ming army!
He couldn't help but tremble in his heart. He originally thought that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was just a king who maintained the status quo. Although government affairs were always handled in an orderly manner, he was only benevolent, righteous and wise at most.

Today I know that the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty is as magnanimous as his father!
"Your Highness's intention, Jin already knows it." Xie Jin said. He already understood Zhu Biao's intention, which was nothing more than using the method of "praising" to raise the "moral standards" of the Ming army higher, so that the people would all regard the Ming generals as heroes, and using the method of "praising to death" to make these warriors dare not act rashly, otherwise, if they are not careful, they will end up in disgrace.

But the Crown Prince's intentions were obviously more than that... He wanted to reform the army, and his standards were obviously unrealistic. Thinking of this, Xie Jin thought he needed to pour a basin of cold water on the Crown Prince, so he said, "Your Highness, although your intentions are good."

"But this standard is too high and beyond human reach."

"How could the soldiers in this world possibly do what Your Highness said?"

"If that were really possible, even the teachers of benevolence and righteousness trained by ancient sages would feel ashamed... How could this be possible? As the crown prince, Your Highness should not be so ambitious..."

Seeing Xie Jin's anxious admonition, Zhu Biao's eyes flashed with warmth. But he did not waver.

Zhu Biao read the works of sages since he was young. His teachers taught him that he should govern the Ming Dynasty into a benevolent and righteous country.

But what does a benevolent and righteous country look like? The gentlemen did not have an answer either.

If people do not pick up lost items on the road and do not lock their doors at night, then it is only a country of gentlemen, but it cannot be called a country of benevolence and righteousness. Although a country of gentlemen may seem to be benevolent and righteous, it is just a moon in the water or a flower in the mirror. It will disappear with just a disturbance like a small stone.

Zhu Biao originally thought that by following what was written in the books of sages, he would be able to achieve a country of benevolence and righteousness. Later, he learned the principle of "putting the interests of the country first" and realized that the books of sages were not always correct.

But even so, he still didn't know what a benevolent and righteous country should look like.

It was not until one day later that he got the answer he wanted from an accidental chat with his younger brother Zhu Su.

It was one of the times when he was discussing "history" with his younger brother again. After knowing that Zhu Su was a time traveler, he and Old Zhu would often look for Zhu Su to discuss the details of "history", and extract and summarize various lessons and experiences from them to learn from.

On this day they talked about the demise of the Qing Dynasty. Normally, they would only mention the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty. First, the Qing Dynasty inherited the Ming system. To Zhu Su and Zhu Biao, the historical events of the Ming and Qing Dynasties were more practical. Second, after the Qing Dynasty, the feudal system perished. Although Zhu Su claimed to be a time traveler, he did not dare to reveal that he actually believed in the proletarian revolution. Therefore, he was often vague about what happened after the Qing Dynasty, or he claimed that he did not know.

But on this day, when the Qing dynasty was poor and weak and foreign powers rose up, the Qing dynasty perished under internal and external troubles. Zhu Biao listened with deep worry and asked, "China was exhausted at the end of the Qing dynasty, and the foreign powers had powerful weapons and ships, and they were wreaking havoc on China. It sounds like the situation was a hundred times worse than when my father started the rebellion at the end of the Yuan dynasty."

"I don't know what kind of person will be able to recover the Han Dynasty and revive China when the country is weak and surrounded by powerful countries. It's really unimaginable."

At this time, Ming Dynasty firearms had made great progress, and relying on firearms, Zhu Su and other Ming troops equipped with firearms had won many victories. Zhu Biao knew Zhu Su's theory of weapon generation gap. When he learned that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the weapons of the great powers were several times more powerful than those of the Ming Dynasty today, but the Qing court was still using spears and swords, he naturally found it incredible.

Zhu Su didn't want to elaborate. After thinking for a while, he said, "Even though the weapons are strong, they are not as good as the enemy's peace. Even if the enemy's weapons are strong, so what? They believe in interests, while China has an army with more faith."

"An army with more faith?" Zhu Biao was very interested.

So, Zhu Su explained to Zhu Biao in detail what the army's faith is. From military discipline, to behavior, to the people's support for the army, to the epics of the heroes of that tragic era, he explained to Zhu Biao in detail. Although Zhu Biao was well-informed, he had never heard of such a team that overcame all obstacles and was indomitable in the face of adversity? Although weapons can be ten times as powerful as one, when a team has soul and faith, their strength is enough to make up for the huge generation gap in the so-called weapons.

"The army is violent, but it should not be all about violence. Soldiers should not fight for pay or food, nor for their general or for the interests and power of a certain person. If every soldier knows the righteousness and the meaning of their own fight, they have common pursuits and common beliefs, they are noble and great, and the vast majority of them truly regard defending their country as their own responsibility... In such an army, would the court still worry about one or two bad apples among them?" Zhu Su said at that time.

"If this is true, even the ancient benevolent and righteous army cannot match it!" Zhu Biao exclaimed. "If the generals of the Ming Dynasty can also be like this, why should we worry about the world being in turmoil?"

"Haha." Zhu Su smiled unnaturally and changed the subject: "Although that is the case, with the elite soldiers of our Ming Dynasty, it can barely be used."

"If you work hard in the future, you may be able to achieve it."

But in fact, Zhu Su was just talking casually. To be able to build such an unrivaled army in the world, it is unique in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. How could a time traveler like him be able to do it?

If you have even a basic understanding of this, you will be able to navigate the world of the fourteenth century.

However, Zhu Biao saw from it what a "benevolent and righteous country" should look like: a benevolent and righteous country must have a benevolent and righteous army. The army is the ballast stone of a country's stability, but this ballast stone itself has become an unstable factor for the court...If the generals and soldiers can also devote themselves to the country and take the rise and fall of the world as their own responsibility, then why should the world be in turmoil?
If the army can be made like this, the world will be able to truly enjoy long-term peace and stability!
(End of this chapter)