Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 561 Reduction of 300,000 Troops (Part 1)
By April, just as Chen Youliang occupied the southeastern half of Borneo, the northward fleet led by the Yuanwang ship arrived in Chengzhou (Hokkaido), and Zhu Chongba had already led all the immigrants ashore.

Under Wang Dayuan's guidance, Zhu Chongba divided one of his garrison divisions into 15 camps, established villages and towns, and cultivated farmland.

Each battalion is divided into four companies, two of which are responsible for land reclamation, one company is responsible for logging and clearing forests, and the other company is responsible for guarding the camp and protecting its security, as well as building houses in villages and towns.

Each of the four companies had its own responsibilities. The first year was for them to establish themselves, and the second year they would continue to develop the land. In any case, for the first five years, everyone would eat from the same pot, and the land would be shared. No one should complain about not doing enough work, since everyone would have something to do. If anyone felt it was unfair, the four companies could take turns doing the work, and the land would be officially distributed after five years.

Meanwhile, the military commander of each battalion is responsible for village and town construction and land reclamation, as well as military training. In addition to doing ideological work, mediating disputes, and distributing supplies, the instructors of each battalion are also responsible for maintaining good relations with the surrounding Ainu people.

In the beginning, you can send some gifts to the surrounding indigenous tribes. If they give you face, then the two sides can live in peace. If they show hostility, then the garrison commander should not be polite. If necessary, fight or kill.

If the local people show them kindness, such as living with the agricultural settlers and learning farming techniques together, then the agricultural settlers will not drive them away. They can directly absorb these tribes into the agricultural settlement system and allocate land to them in the future.

For now, the situation is not bad; at least there has been no fighting yet, for the following reasons.

Firstly, the Ainu people do not farm; they live by fishing, hunting, and gathering, so they mostly live in forests. The Ming Dynasty's immigrants, on the other hand, prefer alluvial plains near rivers for land reclamation. These areas are open, flat, and fertile, making them suitable for land reclamation. Military camps are also mostly built in such places. Therefore, there is not much territorial conflict between the two sides. The Ming Dynasty immigrants would at most go to the edge of the forest to cut some firewood or trees, and would not go too deep into the forests occupied by the natives.

Secondly, there is the issue of population density. Among the three civilizations of agriculture, nomadism, and hunting and fishing, hunting and fishing has the lowest population carrying capacity per unit area. The Ainu people are basically small tribes organized in the form of families, without the large tribal groups of nomadic people.

The Ainu are matrilineal clan tribes, with each family consisting of no more than twenty or thirty people. Moreover, the connections between their tribes are not very strong, and they don't even have a unified military leader. This is why they were historically unable to defeat the Japanese.

The immigrants lived together in a camp of more than 800 people. The local Ainu people who were disturbed could not speak out even if they were angry. After all, the Ming Dynasty immigrants were many people. How could their tribe of 20 or 30 people fight against a camp of more than 800 people?
Since they couldn't win, they had no choice but to swallow their anger. Besides, the new immigrants had already given them gifts right away. As the saying goes, you can't hit a smiling face. Since the Ming Dynasty immigrants were so polite, the natives couldn't deliberately cause trouble.

Of course, there is also a crucial reason: the Ainu people, who live by fishing and hunting, have no concept of land ownership. Their tribes are constantly moving around, so when the Ming Dynasty immigrants occupied some land, they didn't think much of it. If they really wanted to wait until the two sides had a conflict over land, they would have to wait until the immigrant population increased.

For these reasons, the two sides were able to live in peace for the time being, which allowed the Ming Dynasty's immigrants to gain a foothold.

On their way north from Jiankang, their fleet stopped once at Jeju Island. Zhu Chongba bought more than a hundred horses from the island and brought them to Chengzhou. He then organized a personal guard of only a few dozen men. Zhu Chongba himself led the guard around all day, traveling between 15 immigrant camps to check the resettlement and land reclamation in various places, and to collect the problems encountered by everyone so that he could find solutions.

Meanwhile, in Jiankang, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Lu Jin also convened a small meeting at the Privy Council regarding troop reduction and military reform.

Before the Chinese New Year, Lu Jin made a personnel adjustment of the Privy Council officials. Bao Yu, the former Minister of the General Staff, was transferred to the State Council as Minister of Police, and Xia Yu, the former Director of the Privy Council's Attendant Department, was promoted to Minister of the General Staff.

The original intention of transferring Xia Yu to this position was to have him take charge of the military reduction and reform. Xia Yu worked hard for three months and finally completed the military reform plan according to Lu Jin's requirements. Because the military reform involved multiple departments, Lu Jin convened this small meeting with relevant personnel to discuss the military reform plan. If there were no problems, the plan would be finalized and then the military reduction and reform would be implemented gradually.

First, General Feng Guoyong explained the situation. He looked at the documents in his hand, cleared his throat, and immediately began to speak.

"The main reasons for this troop reduction and military reform are as follows: First, our army currently has too many troops, which leads to excessive military expenditures, so it is necessary to reduce some troops to save military expenditures."
"Secondly, the enemy situation we face has changed. In the past, we aimed to conquer the world and faced various warlords who controlled their own territories. But now that we have conquered the world, our enemies in the future will mainly be the remnants of the Mongol forces in Liaodong, Mobei, and the Northwest."

“These places are sparsely populated, and even if a war breaks out, what they need most is cavalry. However, our army has the most infantry and very few cavalry. Infantry is good for defense or large-scale battles, but the Tartars on the grasslands dislike head-on confrontations the most. They rely on their large number of horses and move around at will, and they will never fight a large-scale battle with us.”

"Our army lacks cavalry and has insufficient mobility, so we don't have a good way to deal with them in a real battle. Therefore, this troop reduction will be carried out together with the military reform. It will not only reduce the number of infantry units, but also increase the number of cavalry units and adjust the ratio of military branches in our army."

Everyone present nodded in agreement. They were aware of the situation. Lu Jin had long ago mentioned his plan to reduce the army, and last year he had also requested 20,000 warhorses from Goryeo, as well as an annual tribute of 6,000 warhorses. On the one hand, he wanted to reduce the army, and on the other hand, he obtained so many warhorses. Of course, this was in preparation for expanding the cavalry.

Feng Guoyong continued, "The following is some information about our army at present. The main field forces of our Great Ming Holy Martial Army are divided into five army groups, each with 100,080 personnel. The five army groups together have a total of 540,000 personnel."

"There is another 11th Army Group under Liu Futong, which was newly formed later, with a strength of 54000. Adding the previous five army groups, these main infantry forces alone number 594,000, nearly 600,000 troops."

"Secondly, there are eight Imperial Guard divisions directly under His Majesty, each with a quota of 10,000 men, for a total of 80,000 men."

"There are also independent cavalry divisions, currently three, and one in active service, for a total of four cavalry divisions, totaling 54000 men."

"The above counts only the army, not the navy and the navy, totaling 728,000 men. This is too many troops. His Majesty's idea is to reduce the army by at least 200,000 to 300,000 men this time, bringing the total force down to 500,000 or even below 400,000."

"However, although the number of troops has been reduced, the overall combat effectiveness of the army cannot be reduced. On the contrary, it must be improved. This is the purpose of this troop reduction and military reform."

"Next, Minister Xia from the General Staff will introduce the proposed military reform plan, and then we will discuss it together."

Upon hearing this, Xia Yu immediately stood up, first bowing to Lu Jin at the head of the table. Lu Jin waved for him to sit down, and then Xia Yu spoke.

"The military reform plan is not just about reducing the number of personnel; it also needs to be combined with the updating of our army's tactics. The new organization must be matched with the new tactics. How can we reduce the number of troops by half and not only not reduce the combat effectiveness, but also improve it?"

"His Majesty's intention is to reform the entire army's field forces into all-firearms units. The following plan is what I have prepared based on His Majesty's requirements. "Taking the regimental organization as an example, in the past our main infantry regiments adopted a four-four organization, with 12 men per squad, four squads forming a platoon, four platoons forming a company, and four companies forming a battalion. Each regiment had four such combat battalions, plus a supply battalion, for a total of five battalions, with a total strength of 4500 men."

"This old-style infantry regiment is mainly composed of armored pikemen and its combat method is to charge in pike square formations. However, it is severely lacking in ranged infantry and is difficult to fight alone. In previous battles, it was necessary to cooperate with the Imperial Guard Division for these pikemen to be effective."

"However, after these years of battles, it should be easy for everyone here to see that whether it is field battles, sieges, or street fighting, pikemen have few opportunities to play a role. In fact, in most battles, the main force has been the Imperial Guard Division, which is equipped with a large number of firearms."

"In field battles, our army must first destroy the enemy's formation with artillery, and then use musketeers to get close to the enemy and fire volleys. Once these two moves are used, basically no enemy formation can withstand them, and then the enemy will collapse. When the pikemen are really needed to do their job, all that's left is to chase down the fleeing enemy soldiers."

"In sieges and street battles, artillery would be used to suppress the defenders on the city walls first, and then heavy armored infantry would swarm up the city walls, seize the city gates, and support the main force to enter the city for street battles. In this process, pikemen would still be useless. When entering the city for street battles, the 5.4-meter-long pikes would not be effective in the narrow streets and alleys, and they would be far less flexible than the combat groups of musketeers and heavy armored grenadiers."

"Since pikemen are not needed in field battles or siege warfare, the absence of pikemen, or replacing them with artillery and musketeers, will not affect the pursuit of the defeated enemy remnants. On the contrary, it will allow for the deployment of more long-range troops in combat, enhancing the firepower of the front line. This is the reason for the reform of the entire army's firearms."

"Finally, in all previous battles, whether in field battles or siege warfare, artillery has played an indispensable role. However, in the past, artillery was concentrated in the Imperial Guard Divisions and was only temporarily reinforced and distributed to various army groups during wartime. This made it difficult for the army groups to fight independently without the support of the Imperial Guard Divisions' artillery. Therefore, the distribution of artillery to various units in this military reform is also a key point of the reform."

"Here is a draft organizational plan that I have prepared. Please listen to it first. I also have a corresponding organizational chart here. Please pass it to each of you."

Xia Yu handed out several sheets of paper. The person next to him took them, kept one for himself, and then distributed the others to the next person. Soon, everyone present had a copy. Then Xia Yu introduced the list to everyone.

"The newly formed classes have been reduced from 12 people to 10 people per class. Even if nothing else is changed, we can still lay off about 100,000 people."

"Then the organization of squads and above was changed from the original four-four system to a three-three system, with three squads forming a platoon, three platoons forming a company, three companies forming a battalion, and three battalions forming a regiment."

"Each platoon, including officers and signalmen, has 35 people; each company, in addition to officers, has an additional communications squad and a 12-person cook squad, responsible for the meals of more than 100 people in the company, for a total of 130 people in the company."

"Each battalion, in addition to officers, will have an additional 35-man guard, reconnaissance and communications platoon, and an additional battalion-level artillery company with four field guns and a staff of 60, for a total of 521 men in the entire battalion."

Upon hearing this, several people present who were unaware of the inside story showed expressions of disbelief. They could guess that artillery would be distributed to various units, but they guessed that it would be distributed to the division or regiment level at most. They did not expect that Xia Yu would be even more ruthless and actually create a battalion-level artillery unit.

Even Feng Guoyong frowned upon hearing this and immediately raised his hand to ask a question. Upon seeing this, Lu Jin immediately asked, "What does Prime Minister Feng have to say?"

"Your Majesty, are you aware that artillery has been reduced to the battalion level? Artillery is inherently cumbersome, and battalions and companies are the most basic tactical units, emphasizing operational flexibility. Wouldn't such a small organization, carrying several cannons around, slow down the march or reduce the range of maneuver?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Jin immediately replied, "Of course I know about this matter. In fact, the deployment of artillery to the battalion is my requirement. My original idea was to equip battalion-level infantry with a rapid accompanying support weapon, preferably a relatively lightweight one, weighing no more than 100 jin, which can be carried by a few people after disassembly, and whose power and range are not too small. However, the technology is not yet available, so I can only have the General Armament Department test-produce a more traditional artillery. The specific details can be introduced by Minister Tao of the General Armament Department."

What Lu Jin wanted, of course, was mortars or recoilless rifles. These were the kind of firearms that could accompany the infantry at any time, without needing to apply to higher authorities. They could be used flexibly and provided with fire support whenever needed.

However, he is currently unable to develop seamless alloy steel pipes, trigger fuses, smokeless propellants, and high explosives. Even if he could produce some in the laboratory, it would be difficult to mass-produce them. Therefore, he decided to let the General Armaments Department develop a traditional muzzle-loading smoothbore gun for the time being.

After listening to Lu Jin's explanation, Feng Guoyong nodded slightly. If there really was a small artillery piece like Lu Jin described, weighing less than 100 pounds, easy to carry and run with, and possessing considerable power and range, then it would indeed be suitable for equipping the battalion. However, he wouldn't recommend the cumbersome artillery pieces of the present day.
Just then, Tao Guangyi also took out the materials and introduced them to everyone.

"Regarding the project of battalion-level artillery, it was also the standard set by His Majesty. In order to enable the artillery to flexibly accompany the infantry, His Majesty set the requirement that no more than four horses should be used to pull the artillery, and that the artillery should be disassembled and carried up the mountain by manpower."

"Furthermore, it is required that the artillery itself, when firing solid shot, must have a range of no less than one mile, and must also be able to fire grapeshot and explosive shells."

"After discussions, the General Armament Department selected a caliber of four jin cannon and carried out targeted design. There are currently two plans, which are to be finalized at this meeting."

"Let's call this battalion gun the Four-Jin Mountain Gun. It has an 80mm caliber, a shell weight of four jin and two liang, a 14-caliber barrel, and is a field gun of the flat-fire type. It is 1.22 meters long and comes in two weights: one weighs 320 jin and the other weighs 260 jin. Apart from the difference in barrel thickness, there are no other differences."

"These two models, hereinafter referred to as thick-tube and thin-tube, use 1/3 of the ammunition for heavy charge. When firing solid shot, the effective range is 810 meters, for grenade it is 1150 meters, and for shotgun shell it is 250 meters. The maximum range is 400 meters."

"The thin-tube shot uses a 1/4-bullet heavy charge. When firing solid shot, the effective range is 650 meters, the grenade range is 900 meters, the shotgun range is 220 meters, and the maximum range is 350 meters."

"The two models differ in weight by 60 jin, but for artillery, the difference is not significant. Both models can be carried by four soldiers, and can even be carried over mountains and valleys. The artillery carriage can be disassembled into three parts, with two soldiers carrying one wheel each, and two more carrying the gun mount. The ammunition boxes can also be carried by four people."

"In addition, there are draft horses. This kind of small cannon only needs two slow horses to pull it around. If strong mules are used, one mule can also pull it. The whole cannon, including the carriage and 40 standard rounds of ammunition, not counting the draft horses, can be disassembled and carried up the mountain by a gun crew of 12 people. Detailed information is here. You can discuss it and see whether to choose the lighter or the heavier one."

Everyone was astonished upon hearing this. Feng Guoyong also exclaimed in surprise, "This little cannon only weighs two or three hundred pounds, yet it can be carried up the mountain, and its range can actually reach a distance of one and a half miles?"

Tao Guangyi immediately nodded and said, "That's right. But we've almost pushed this caliber of artillery to its limit. Unless we have new technology, this is the lightest weight we can get. We really can't reduce the weight any further. We've used almost every weight reduction method we can think of."

(End of this chapter)