Simulates history, but Chongzhen is the Divine Emperor at the beginning

Chapter 223 General Yue, please give the order!
"Work hard! You're so young, and you'll definitely not be limited to being a captain in the future!"

In the final moments before leaving the barracks, a beaming Liu Dutou encouraged you: "Take it, boy! This is my last wave!"

[Then he walked out of the camp gate, where a woman holding a child was waiting for him... Perhaps she also glanced at you a few more times.]

[But no matter what, the family of three returned to Xiangyang City in a lively atmosphere, leaving only a warm family portrait for you who came to see them off...]

In the year 208 of Shaoxing, Liu Dutou, who had served in the army for many years, voluntarily left the army on the grounds of advanced age. From then on, he lived a peaceful and happy life with his wife and children.

[And thanks to his strong recommendation, and your considerable achievements and qualifications, you were able to replace him as the head of the city.]

【This year marks your twenty-third year.】

[This year, you left the ranks of ordinary soldiers and officially became a grassroots officer of the Song Dynasty!]

This was an insignificant step, as a junior officer like a Dutou could only manage a hundred or so men at most, while the Xiangyang garrison numbered several hundred thousand. Among these hundreds of thousands of men, there was no telling how many Dutou there were...

[But this is also a very important step, because it means that you are beginning to break the shackles brought by the class! ]

[During the Song Dynasty, the problem of class stratification was actually very serious. The most important reason for this was that senior generals, such as Yue Fei, were reluctant to abdicate.]

[Thanks to the "changes in the heavens," these old generals, while unable to achieve physical immortality, were able to remain in the world for a long time thanks to their powerful spirits... Furthermore, they had always envisioned a future northern expedition to the Central Plains, so their positions remained theirs.]

[Since the old generals refused to retire, there were no younger men to replace them. Therefore, the upper ruling class of the Song Dynasty, whether in the government or the military, was extremely rigid...]

[Besides this, there is also the issue of military merit! ]

Because the Song Dynasty had maintained peace for a long time, there were no internal wars to fight. And since there were no internal wars to fight, the same was true for the outside world. Ever since the failure of the Northern Expedition caused by the "natural disaster" in the early Shaoxing years, the Song Dynasty had not organized a new Northern Expedition... As a result, the Song army officer class, which had already become rigid due to the old men's unwillingness to retire, became even more hardened...

Take Liu Dutou, for example. He had been in the army for nearly thirty years, yet he was stuck at the rank of Dutou, unable to advance. This was because he lacked any military merit, so he could only gain seniority. However, seniority alone couldn't push past the older officers, so throughout his life, he was never able to achieve a higher position than Dutou.

[And you, thanks to Liu Dutou's support and your voluntary abdication, were able to become Dutou in just five years. This is clearly a historic moment!]

[Just as Liu Dutou said at the end, a young man like you, even if you really spend your whole life accumulating experience, you will never be relegated to the position of Dutou. Your future is truly promising!]

You knew all of this, so as you gazed at the happy figures of Liu Dutou and his family of three from afar, your myriad thoughts left only two words...

"Thank you..."

You sighed silently.

【…】

[Being promoted to the position of captain is certainly a cause for celebration, but along with the honor comes responsibility!]

[Although most of your colleagues have gradually lost their enthusiasm and passion in these days with no hope of promotion, becoming decadent people who just want to get by, you haven't followed their lead, but instead have been very rigorous in your work.]

For example, the need to report on time: Due to the long-term decline in military preparations, even though the Xiangyang army had veteran generals like Yue Fei to enforce discipline, the soldiers were at most afraid to exploit the soldiers' blood and collect empty salaries. As for small matters like reporting on time, they were very perfunctory...

Soldiers often slacked off from their daily training due to late roll calls... Since the lower-level officers themselves weren't very active in this matter, let alone properly disciplining their soldiers, discipline was quite lax, and it was no longer the "Yue Family Army" of the past...

[And as soon as you took office, you immediately ordered all of your hundreds of soldiers to report on time!]

[This new officer had three major changes upon taking office, and the soldiers were quite excited. So after a period of strict inspection, everyone had no choice but to report on time every day...] [And since they had to report on time, they naturally had to go through the daily training!]

[Every morning, you lead this group of hard-working soldiers through various training exercises, such as running in formation, enforcing orders... and your best gun and stick techniques!]

Although no one was impressed by your training, as the saying goes, soldiers always admire the strong. When you danced with your spear like a dragon on the platform in the training ground, the soldiers below couldn't help but stare in amazement...

[Oh my god! This is so cool!]

[Everyone's admiration for you naturally fueled their interest in training. As you set an example, these hundreds of soldiers enthusiastically followed your lead.]

[Day by day, month by month, under your diligent guidance, these soldiers quickly got into shape. Not only did they master weapons like swords and spears, but their discipline and morale also improved significantly!]

[But you're not satisfied with this: How can a strong army be just about fighting and killing? Sufficient cultural literacy should also be a must!]

So, while you were teaching them training, you also focused on teaching them how to read and do arithmetic...

[However, you also took into account the limitations of practical conditions, so the content you teach is not very advanced. At most, you teach some common characters and simple addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.]

[Once they have a certain foundation, you added a history class, specifically teaching them about important events in ancient times... Of course, you mainly focus on ancient history related to war. After all, this is the military, and talking about war is the most appropriate topic.]

[There's "King Wu Conquers King Zhou," "Duke Zhou's Eastern Expedition," "King Wucheng and Jiang Shang," "Sun Wu and Han Bai"... There are also biographies of heroes from the Three Kingdoms of Wei, Shu, and Wu, the Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui and Tang dynasties, and most importantly, the history of this dynasty...]

[Of course, you must have skipped over the nostalgic events like the "Chenqiao Mutiny" and "Axe Sounds and Candlelights," and only spoke proudly of the great achievements of Taizu and Taizong in "destroying the Han and overthrowing the Tang Dynasty"!]

[There's also the conflict between the Song, Liao, and Western Xia kingdoms, and so on, all the way to the Jin army's capture of Bianjing, the capture of the two emperors, and the "Jingkang Shame"... Talking about this ridiculous national shame of the Song Dynasty, you can't help but force a look of grief and indignation, and try your best to exaggerate the brutality of the Jin army and the pity of the two emperors and the people of Bianjing, in order to draw out the great historical contribution of the current government in turning the tide and supporting the crumbling empire!]

[Well, you only talked about how sad and indignant the "Jingkang Shame" was, but deliberately omitted why the "Jingkang Shame" happened, what about "Guo Jing and the six divine soldiers defending the city", what about "the two saints' operation was delicious", what about "searching the mountains and seas to capture Zhao Gou"... These impolite things, you didn't mention them at all...]

[In short, you must have the soldiers earnestly study the profound historical significance of the Song Dynasty to the Chinese heritage, and deeply carry forward the Song Dynasty's core feudal values ​​of "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism," striving to avenge the Jingkang Incident as soon as possible, and then accomplish the emperor's affairs of state, earning a good reputation both in life and after death...]

[No, it’s win win win win win win win! Winning is numb and belongs to…]

【…】

Under this unique and coordinated education system, your soldiers are making rapid progress. They train with tears in their eyes all day long, and some even burst into tears mid-training: "The emperor's kindness is still not over!"

[The emperor's kindness is not over, the humiliation of Jing Kang must be repaid! ]

【North! Expedition!】

[General Yue, please give the order! ]

Everyone cried out like this...

Yue Fei: ...

……

(End of this chapter)