Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 564 The Distressed Examinees
Upon hearing that each army group would have to cut half its personnel, and that the original four armies and eight divisions would be reduced to one army and three divisions, others only felt that the reduction in personnel was too great and that it would be difficult to arrange for officers. However, Feng Guoyong, as the Minister of War, thought more deeply. In addition to the placement of officers, he also considered the issue of operational flexibility.

So Feng Guoyong immediately asked.

"Your Majesty, with so many troops being cut from the army, how will the officers be resettled? Also, why wasn't a brigade added between the divisions and regiments? If there were an additional brigade between the divisions and regiments, more officers could be accommodated, and the use of troops would be more flexible. Won't the current large structure of six regiments per division lead to problems with the inconvenience of troop movement?"

Lu Jin immediately said, "The method of placing officers has been explained before. The officers who are laid off can choose to go to the local internal security forces or to the police department as local police officers. In addition, under the new system, staff officers will be added at all levels, and the original generals can also become staff officers."

"As for why there is no brigade-level brigade, let Xia Yu answer that."

When Xia Yu's name was called, he immediately explained to everyone, "There was no increase in the brigade level, mainly because the intermediate levels of division and regiment are not easy to distinguish."

"With six regiments under each division, if it is divided into two brigades, then each brigade will have three regiments, which is 6,000 people. Adding some brigade-level directly subordinate units, there will be 7,000 to 8,000 people. After the military reform, the firepower of the troops will be enhanced, and their combat power will be much stronger than before. A brigade with three regiments is enough to undertake campaign-level missions."

"Then each division has two brigades under its command. If any problems arise, the two brigade commanders can solve them themselves. What is the division headquarters still commanding? With this three-regiment brigade-level unit system, the division headquarters becomes superfluous. It becomes a mouthpiece for the higher-level military headquarters, relaying the army commander's orders and then doing nothing else."

"If each division is divided into three brigades, and each brigade has two regiments, then the same logic applies. The strength of two regiments is only four thousand men, which is neither too many nor too few. For small missions, the strength of two regiments is not enough. For large-scale missions at the campaign level, two regiments are not enough. In the end, the division headquarters at a higher level still needs to organize and coordinate more troops. In that case, the brigade with two regiments would also seem redundant."

"It's not impossible to add a brigade level between divisions and regiments, and to make each level play a practical role. But unless we build a large division with nine regiments, three regiments to a brigade, and three brigades to a division, then such a division would have more than 25,000 people, nearly 30,000. How can we reduce the number of troops then?"
"This time we're doing both troop reduction and military reform; we can't keep increasing the number of soldiers, can we?"

Upon hearing this, many people present nodded in agreement, agreeing that Xia Yu's statement made sense.

Feng Guoyong then asked, "But your organization, with more than 15,000 people in one division and 152 artillery pieces of various types, has the combat power to match an army or even a group army. But the organization is too large. Such a large organization is indeed useful for fighting big battles, but what if we don't fight big battles?"

"Now that the country is almost completely pacified, even if there are enemy countries harassing us in the future, as long as it is not a national war, most of the situations we encounter will be minor. In such cases, we can't just send an entire division to deal with minor problems, can we?"
"If only one regiment is deployed, it's fine; the regimental commander can take command himself. But what if two or three regiments are deployed? Who should take command then? Which of the three regimental commanders should listen to whom? In the army, unclear command authority is a major taboo. Once this situation occurs, won't your Sixth Regiment Division be too inflexible in terms of troop deployment?"

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded again, agreeing with Feng Guoyong's point. Once all the battles were over and the world was at peace, large armies would no longer be deployed so easily. Instead, small units would be dispatched for minor situations. This would be the norm in the future. According to Feng Guoyong, the Sixth Regiment Division did indeed have a problem with being inflexible.

However, Xia Yu glanced at the emperor at the head of the table, and seeing that Lu Jin had no reaction, he spoke again.

"In this military reform, His Majesty wants to strengthen the division-level command headquarters. This is also the key point of the regularization reform of this military reform. The reformed division-level command headquarters will need a division commander, a division instructor, one or two deputy division commanders, a division chief of staff, and below the chief of staff, there will be training staff, weapons staff, intelligence staff, and logistics staff."

"In other words, a division command has five or six chief officers and several adjutants. If it really comes to the situation that Feng Xiang mentioned, where troops need to be divided and two or three regiments are to be separated to carry out missions independently, the division headquarters can send one or two deputy division commanders or chief of staff to temporarily command this detachment. Therefore, there is no problem of insufficient flexibility in the use of troops, let alone the problem of unclear command authority."

Everyone was taken aback upon hearing this. Even Feng Guoyong nodded slightly this time, "In that case, it is indeed quite flexible. At the same time, it can strengthen the division headquarters' leadership over the regiments and prevent the regiments below from being unable to understand the division headquarters' orders."

But then he asked, "I understand the roles of division commander and deputy division commander, and training officer, but what about the chief of staff and a bunch of staff officers? Why are there so many of them?"

This is also a question that many others are curious about.

Xia Yu immediately explained again, "The term 'counselor' originally came from the 'councilor' in the Doctrine of the Mean, which means 'councilor in the creation and nurturing of the world.' Later, it was extended to mean 'participation, assistance, and planning.' This position has existed in the military throughout history, but our dynasty has further subdivided the counselor position."

"The division chief of staff has four staff officers under him. Among them, the operations staff officer is responsible for the daily training of the entire division, as well as the overall operation coordination, marching, and setting up camp."
"The weapons staff must be familiar with the performance and usage of all kinds of weapons in our army, especially the 152 artillery pieces of various types in the whole division. Under what circumstances and how to use these artillery pieces to achieve the mission objectives, formulate fire strike plans for the whole division, or coordinate higher-level fire support, such as other technical branches dispatched by the military headquarters. This is what the weapons staff is responsible for."
"As the name suggests, intelligence staff officers collect, analyze, study, and interpret enemy intelligence for the reference of their superiors."
"The logistics staff is responsible for the logistics support, warehousing, and transportation of the entire division;

"The chief of staff, also known as the chief of staff, is in charge of all these daily and operational matters. The chief of staff must be proficient in the four staff councils below, in order to assist the military commander in better carrying out combat missions."

Everyone was taken aback by what they heard. This arrangement did indeed seem more formal, and the job assignments were quite reasonable. However, Feng Guoyong then asked another question.

"If the staff officers are doing all these things, then what are the military commanders doing?"

"The commanding officer is responsible for decision-making. Freeing the military commander from these administrative tasks is to allow him to focus more on commanding operations," Xia Yu explained again.

"Moreover, when it comes to commanding battles, frankly speaking, those who are often in the army have their own insights into how to fight. Before a battle even begins, the subordinate generals and strategists will offer many suggestions. At this time, the most difficult thing for the commander is not having no ideas, but rather having too many suggestions, and in the end, not knowing whose strategy to use."

"Therefore, making the final decision is the task of the commander-in-chief. A single decision is related to the life and death of tens of thousands of people in the entire division, and even more so to the outcome of a battle."

Upon hearing this, Feng Guoyong fell silent, while others nodded in agreement, some lost in thought, all pondering the purpose of such a reform.

Just then, Lu Jin added, "Xia Yu just mentioned that the focus of military reform is regularization. So what does regularization mean? Regularization means standardization and industrialization. This does not refer to what kind of weapons or tactics the army uses, but rather to fundamentally change the way the army is built."

Lu Jin pointed to his temple, "Then what is the difference between this kind of formalized army and the armies of previous dynasties?"

"To give an analogy, the armies of the past were like family workshops, such as the Yue Family Army, the Zhong Family Army, and the Zhe Family Army of the Song Dynasty. Each family had its own secret training methods and its own preferred combat tactics. Whether an army could fight or not depended entirely on how the generals led and trained the troops and what tactics they were used to. So what were the advantages and disadvantages of this kind of traditional army?"

Before anyone could answer, Lu Jin continued.

"The advantage is that this kind of army has a high ceiling. When it encounters generals like Han Xin, Huo Qubing, Wei Qing, and Li Jing, it can turn the rotten into the miraculous and often achieve incredible results."

"The downside is that the lower limit is also outrageously low. If you encounter people like Li Guang, Li Guangli, Xiahou Dun, and Fan Wenhu, wouldn't that just be sending your head to the enemy?"

"Another drawback of this kind of family-run traditional army is that the generals play too much of a personal role in the army. Once the generals are killed or transferred, it is still the same army. If a new general comes in, he will be unable to command and fight. The once invincible elite army may become mediocre, and the army will be ruined."

"At the same time, if a general acts recklessly, the court will find it difficult to deal with him, because the army cannot function without him. The general will then use his army to his advantage, bargain with the court, or even outwardly comply but inwardly defy orders, or even openly rebel and defect to the enemy. This is what is known as a military clan, or warlord for short!"

"And what is military regularization? It's like mass-produced products in a large factory, where everything is made from the same mold. Each unit uses the same organization, the same weapons, the same tactics, the same training syllabus, the same operational regulations, and a staff trained at the same military academy to help with various administrative tasks."

"What are the purpose and benefits of doing this? Firstly, it can simultaneously raise the lower and upper limits of the army. Even if the generals are relatively mediocre, with so many professional staff officers assisting them, as long as they fight in accordance with the operational regulations and command procedures, they will not achieve too bad results."

"Moreover, with the help of the staff to share the administrative tasks, and when encountering a general with outstanding talent, this system can better bring out the full potential of the general and achieve amazing results."

"Secondly, it facilitates replenishment. The field army and the internal guard army are trained in the same way. In this way, even if a division on the front line suffers 3,000 casualties, 3,000 internal guards can be immediately mobilized to replace them. They can pick up the field army's weapons and immediately be put into battle without retraining."

"In addition to the rotation system and troop replenishment, this can effectively maintain the combat effectiveness of the unit, allowing the army to withstand higher losses and fight high-intensity wars that were previously unthinkable. No matter how long the hard fighting or fierce battle, the army is less likely to collapse, unlike the old-style army, which would collapse immediately if it suffered even slightly greater losses."

"Thirdly, the regularization of the army can also make the army a true public instrument of the state, rather than a private army in the hands of certain generals, preventing generals from using their troops to make themselves powerful. For generals who listen to orders but do not obey commands, who are outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant, or who even dare to rebel and defect to the enemy, the court can deal with them at any time and replace them as soon as possible."

"Even if a new general is immediately appointed, the army's combat effectiveness will not decrease too much, and there will be no problem of the new general being unable to command the old troops."

"This is the difference between standardization and family workshops." Everyone nodded in agreement. The emperor's words did make sense, but His Majesty was probably more concerned about the third point: preventing the army from becoming the private army of generals and preventing generals from using their troops to their advantage. This is what should be paid most attention to in the long term of peace.

Once the new military system of Lu Jin is promoted, the situation of generals becoming warlords like Hong Chengchou, Wu Sangui, and Zuo Liangbi in the Liaodong region at the end of the Ming Dynasty should not reappear. Of course, this possibility cannot be completely ruled out. As the saying goes, nothing is absolute. If the court experiences a systemic collapse, it is still possible.

Throughout history, the systems and policies established by dynasties were all good at the beginning, but they all eventually ran into problems. However, if a systemic collapse were to occur, the country would not be far from its demise, so why worry so much?
Feng Guoyong then said, "If that's the arrangement, then I have no problem with it. Setting up the division-level command in this way not only ensures the flexibility of troop deployment, but also allows for the placement of several dismissed generals. It's equivalent to putting all the brigade-level commanders in the division headquarters as adjutants, which is not impossible."

After saying that, he glanced at Lu Jin again, "Your Majesty, when will we begin the downsizing and military reforms?"

Lu Jin immediately said, "How can we make changes if we don't have enough weapons? We can't just change the weaponry and let the soldiers continue to use spears, can we?"

Then Lu Jin looked at Tao Guangyi and asked, "When will the General Armament Department begin mass production of the new guns?"

Tao Guangyi immediately said, "Building the factory is relatively fast, and the equipment has been continuously manufactured. We also have skilled workers who used to make flintlock guns at the Luzhou Ironworks. We can transfer them over as technical backbones and recruit some apprentices to learn. At the latest, we can start trial production by the end of this year and officially start production next year."

"Based on an annual production capacity of 100,000 units, that's 8334 units per month, enough to equip four or five regiments in a month. With the military reform starting next year, it will definitely not delay the re-equipment of the army."

Lu Jin nodded. "Then let's officially start military reform next year. This year, before the reform begins, let's finish the last battle in the country. The General Staff needs to draft an operational plan within a month."

"Yes!" Xia Yu immediately agreed.

Upon hearing the emperor's words, everyone immediately understood their meaning. The final battle in the country would undoubtedly be fought in Guizhou and Yunnan, and it seemed that Yunnan would be targeted this year.
After the meeting, everyone went about their own business. Tao Guangyi went to supervise the construction of the arsenal, Xia Yu went to plan the campaign to recover Yunnan, and Zhang Bixian returned home after his shift. He was still living with Chen Youliang's family for the time being. Although Chen Youliang had gone to Southeast Asia, his family was still in Jiankang. Without Lu Jin's permission, he dared not take his wife and children away.

In a three-courtyard house on the south bank of the Qinhuai River, Chen Youliang's only remaining second wife, Lady Zha, lived in the second courtyard with her two sons, Chen Shan and Chen Li, and Zhang Bixian's son, Zhang Kun. Zhang Bixian lived in the outer courtyard with several family retainers and stewards.

Returning from get off work at the Privy Council that day, he first knocked on the door of the second courtyard's hanging flower gate. Immediately, a maid opened it from the inside, and Zhang Bixian asked, "Have the young masters returned?"

"Reporting to you, sir, the young masters just returned from school and are currently at home."

"Then go and inform them that I have something to say to the Lady of the Marquis and the young masters."

"Yes."

The maidservant hurriedly went to call Madam She and several teenagers. A moment later, the group sat down in the main hall of the second courtyard, and Zhang Bixian got straight to the point.

"His Majesty recently issued an edict to hold a special imperial examination. Have you and your two sons heard about it?"

"I've heard about it, but what does this have to do with my family?" Madam Zha asked, puzzled.

“Sister-in-law, you may not know this, but this special imperial examination is different from the ordinary imperial examinations. All those who pass will enter the new dynasty’s science class to continue their studies, just like the Imperial Academy in previous dynasties. Moreover, this science class is taught by His Majesty himself. It is no exaggeration to call them the emperor’s disciples. Furthermore, His Majesty attaches great importance to this matter. Once they have completed their studies, they will all be given important positions in the future. Therefore, I suggest that the eldest son and Kun’er both take the exam and give it a try.” Zhang Bixian stated his purpose directly.

But Lady Zha blinked, still puzzled, and asked, "But now that you have been granted the title of Marquis of Mianyang, Shan'er will surely inherit the title in the future. Is it still necessary for him to take the imperial examination at the Imperial Academy? If he does become a Jinshi, will it affect his future inheritance of the title?"

"I don't know if this will affect the inheritance of the title, but His Majesty of the new dynasty has his own rules. For the nobles of the Ming Dynasty, a title is a title, and a job is a job. A title can be inherited, but a job cannot be inherited. Even if the young master inherits the title, if he wants to follow in his father's footsteps and join the army in the future, he will probably have to start from a low-ranking official position. He will probably be something like a centurion. To become a general, he will need to have military merits to be promoted. At most, he will be promoted faster than others because of his marquis status."

"Moreover, there can only be one title, and it cannot be passed on to two children. The other sons must have other means of livelihood."

"I figured out that getting a Jinshi degree from the science class shouldn't affect the inheritance of the title. It's not like there aren't civil officials in the Ming Dynasty who can be granted titles. This special imperial examination is another good way out. My elder brother is far away in Southeast Asia now, and he asked me to take care of my sister-in-law and nephew. Of course, I had to tell him the truth when I heard about this."

Madam She patted Chen Li's head, somewhat hesitant. "But Shan'er is only 13 years old now, and Li'er is only five. Li'er definitely can't pass the exam; he's just started his studies. Shan'er could try, but can he pass? And what about Kun'er? Whether Kun'er takes the exam or not, he'll be 12 by now, won't he?"

Zhang Bixian immediately said again, "This special imperial examination will not test the classics, history, philosophy, or literature, nor will it test essay writing. It will only test mathematics, especially the Gongshu Suanjing. Shan'er and Kun'er have been studying mathematics with His Majesty's eldest disciple, Meng Zhifang, for the past three years. Are you two confident about this special imperial examination?"

Chen Shan scratched the back of his head. "Uncle, although I'm learning math from Mr. Meng, my grades aren't outstanding in class. According to Mr. Meng, I'm only at the second-year junior high level. I don't know how difficult the questions in this special subject are. I'm afraid I won't pass the exam."

Zhang Bixian then looked at his son, Zhang Kun, and asked, "And you?"

Zhang Kun stuck out his tongue. "I can't even learn as fast as Brother Shan."

Zhang Bixian glared at him immediately, and then said to Madam She, "Sister-in-law, why don't we let them both take the exam? Anyway, even if they don't pass, there's no loss. If they do pass, they can become the emperor's disciples, and their future prospects will be very different."

"Moreover, the imperial edict also stated that this special examination for the Ming Suan Ke (a type of mathematics exam) will be held more than once. Even if you don't pass this time, you can just take the exam again next time."

Upon hearing this, Madam She hesitated only slightly before nodding and saying, "My husband is not at home now, and I am just a woman who doesn't understand these things. I will leave everything to Uncle to decide."

"Alright, let them both take the test. I'll arrange it, sister-in-law, don't worry."

Similar scenes have occurred in many places. Can this special imperial examination really be compared to the regular imperial examination for official positions? That's not necessarily true. But the imperial edict said that once you pass the exam, you can become the emperor's student and be personally taught by the emperor. This is a privilege that ordinary imperial examination graduates can not enjoy.

Many people thought that if they could show their face more to His Majesty, they might rise to prominence in the future. As a result, many people who thought they were good at math went to take the imperial examination. However, not just anyone could participate in this special examination.

Although Lu Jin set up seven test centers across the country, not all candidates could go to these seven test centers to take the exam. To avoid too many candidates, a basic introductory question was first given to each county. Only those who could answer this introductory question were qualified to take the exam at the seven test centers.

When everyone saw the introductory question, they were stunned. It was a complex application problem. The question gave the density of one cubic centimeter of iron, then drew a double-cone blast furnace, along with various conditions, and finally asked about the efficiency of iron production and the consumption of raw materials.

This caused a wave of groans and screams to erupt in exam halls across the country.

Actually, this question isn't that difficult, but it involves a lot of knowledge points. You need to be able to calculate the volume of a blast furnace, especially the volume of the double-cone furnace, which is geometry. Also, the quantities of coke and lime are not given, so you need to set up unknowns and solve equations, which is algebra.

It's a very simple question, based on elementary and junior high school level knowledge. The only problem is that it involves a lot of calculation, but the difficulty level does not exceed the mathematical level of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. Ancient people also had equations, called the Tianyuan method, and they also dabbled in geometry, called the method of exhaustion. Zu Chongzhi even calculated pi.

Of course, even so, this question was still too difficult for most people in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties. But Lu Jin only recruited 340 people in total. How could he weed out people without a difficult question? He was looking for that group of geniuses, not a bunch of elementary school students. He wanted people who could do the work. He didn't have time to teach them slowly.
Just as students taking the national college entrance examination were complaining bitterly, several students sent by Lu Jin last year to search for minerals returned from Jiangxi, Hunan, Zhejiang and other places.

(End of this chapter)