Chapter 13: The Strategy for New Recruits and the Challenges of Commerce

Strictly speaking, Zhu Yunwen had no understanding of new recruit training in the true sense. However, as the emperor, he didn’t need to be well-versed in the details; that was the responsibility of his ministers. The emperor only needed to provide overarching guidance and coordinate the overall situation.

With the perspective of future generations and drawing from historical knowledge, Zhu Yunwen drafted a comprehensive training plan.

The plan consisted of five parts: physical training, ideological development, battlefield arrangements, equipment upgrades, and special forces development.

It includes a mixture of special forces training methods learned from television and movies, ancient military command strategies on the battlefield, and training methods employed by exceptional ancient commanders, etc.

Naturally, physical fitness is crucial, in the era where cold weapons were predominant, The personal physical fitness, qualities, and combat capabilities of soldiers directly impact the outcome of battles.

Physical strengthening training is essential.

We cannot have soldiers who are out of breath after taking three steps or collapsing after walking ten steps going into battle, can we?

Regarding ideological development, Zhu Yunwen dared not mention anything about communism. After careful consideration, the best approach to instill Marxist-Leninist ideology would result in his own downfall.

As an emperor, it is important to approach it from the perspective of an emperor, respecting objective facts, which is known as a materialist view of history.

Without embracing Marxist-Leninist beliefs, we can promote the heroic spirit of “dying for the cause,” the patriotic spirit of “loyalty to the country,” and the national spirit of “assisting the monarch in governing the nation and maintaining peace throughout the land.”

Supplemented by promotions and rewards benefiting their descendants, it is enough to make soldiers willingly devote themselves to serving the court.

Regarding the arrangement of battle formations, Zhu Yunwen did not elaborate much, as it is the expertise of military commanders. However, he did propose the concept of the “Three Great Camps” and advocated for the practice of new battle formations and tactics.

Equipment upgrade is a matter of great importance to Zhu Yunwen.

Indeed, during the early Ming Dynasty, there were already firearms and ammunition. However, at that time, the long guns were called “huo chong,” and the short guns were called “shou chong.” But these weapons had limited range, ranging from tens of meters to two hundred meters.

Moreover, after firing one shot, they needed to be reloaded before the second shot could be fired, making it difficult to establish a comprehensive firepower network.

With a range of two hundred meters, when facing rapidly approaching cavalry, by the time you have fired two shots, they could already be charging at you with their sabers swinging.

As for cannons, although the “Francois machine” has not yet been introduced to the Ming Dynasty, there were still some cannons available, such as the Shenchong carriage cannon and the Great General cannon.

These cannons were still useful, with longer ranges reaching up to 3 kilometers, and even exceeding 4 kilometers.

However, they were nothing more than a pile of iron, weighing between two hundred to four hundred catties (approximately 100 to 200 kilograms). At that time, the Ming Dynasty did not have trucks or trains for transportation, nor did they have paved roads. After rainfall, the roads would become muddy. Who could transport these heavy cannons?

Furthermore, warfare requires speed, rapid maneuvering, and swift interchanges. If you’re carrying a large cannon, just waiting for it, how many miles can you travel in a day?

Therefore, in the Ming Dynasty, these cannons were mostly used for city defense or, after surrounding enemy cities, brought in to blast open the city gates.

Considering them as an independent branch and integrating them into the battle formation did not exist.

Now, Zhu Yunwen has made it clear that not only does he want to establish musket squads, but he also wants to establish artillery squads, giving them a resounding name: the Artillery Corps.

As for the special forces, Zhu Yunwen’s requirements are even stricter. He demands the selection of four thousand elite soldiers from the four hundred thousand-strong Beijing garrison for special training, truly picking the best of the best.

Minister of War, Ru Huang, looked at the lengthy document of nearly ten thousand characters, his hands trembling slightly. He raised his head and glanced at Tie Xuan, who still wore a look of astonishment and admiration on his face.

“Did the emperor really draft this?”

Ru Huang couldn’t believe it.

If the current emperor possessed such foresight, the Ming Dynasty would flourish in both culture and martial prowess!

A true era of prosperity was on the horizon!

And when that time comes, his name will surely be recorded in the annals of history!

Tie Xuan gradually regained his composure, nodding emphatically. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “The emperor’s actions are undoubtedly feasible. The path to a strong military will be accomplished in our hands. Now I understand, this is the true confidence behind the emperor’s decision to reduce the army by a hundred thousand!”

Ru Huang lowered his head and glanced at the strategy for new recruits, shaking his head slightly. He said, “As the Minister of War for nearly a decade, I have never come across such profound insights. Our emperor first implemented the Cabinet, rectifying the court, and now he is implementing the strategy for new recruits to forge a new army. It seems that our monarch has far-reaching concerns.”

Tie Xuan collected the document and looked at Ru Huang with seriousness, saying, “This matter requires consultation with the Duke of Wei.”

“The Duke of Wei? Only the Duke of Wei?”

Ru Huang was taken aback.

Tie Xuan looked at Ru Huang and suddenly realized the situation.

In theory, although the emperor trusted the Duke of Wei, Xu Huizu, it was not right to completely disregard the Duke of Cao, Li Jinglong. But the emperor had never mentioned Li Jinglong at all.

This meant that Li Jinglong did not have the emperor’s favor.

Tie Xuan frowned slightly and said, “We will follow the Emperor’s orders. As for other matters, they are not within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.”

The power struggles within the Five Army Commander’s Office did not extend to the Ministry of War.

Tie Xuan did not want to get involved in them. He only wanted to refine the strategy for the new recruits and train the capital army as soon as possible.

In the Wuying Hall, side hall.

Based on his memory, Zhu Yunwen roughly sketched a world map. Looking at the direction of South America, his gaze then turned towards Europe.

In the 31st year of the Hongwu era, around the year 1398 AD,

Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio had passed away several decades already, but the European Renaissance was still ongoing.

The Hundred Years’ War between England and France was likely still being fought.

Capitalism in Europe was beginning to emerge, and in a few more decades, the Age of Discovery would unfold.

The time left for the Ming Dynasty was not much.

Zhu Yunwen was well aware that if naval power and maritime exploration were not given importance, China would become a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society over four hundred years later. At that time, foreign powers would ravage and exploit the land of China at will.

Zhu Yunwen did not want such a history to repeat itself.

However, embarking on long voyages was not an easy task.

One major factor was the lack of funds.

Zhu Yunwen had visited the imperial treasury, and while it was filled with wealth, it did not belong solely to him.

In fact, many people believed that the imperial treasury was the emperor’s personal property. Strictly speaking, this view was incorrect.

During the reign of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor, he believed that the whole world belonged to him, so why would he need to set aside private funds?

‘drawing a snake and adding feet to i^[1]TL’s note: its Chinese idiom, meaning: spoiling things by doing something unnecessary.

“Emperors consider the world as their own family, and the wealth of the world should be used for the benefit of the world. Why should there be a distinction between public and private? Emperor Taizong of the Song Dynasty also held the same view!” these are Zhu Yuanzhang’s original words.

Zhu Yuanzhang believed that the downfall of the Song Dynasty was related to the imperial family’s establishment of the internal treasury, which used national resources for personal use.

Therefore, during the early Ming Dynasty, the internal treasury was essentially the national treasury.

Although Zhu Yuanzhang implemented the internal treasury system, it lacked effective supervision and management. Additionally, due to Zhu Yuanzhang’s lack of education in economics, there was a tendency to print money without linking it to gold or silver reserves.

By the time of Zhu Yunwen’s reign, the state of the national economy had already deteriorated to some extent.

In the later period, Zhu Yuanzhang also recognized this issue. For example, he made adjustments to officials’ salaries by changing them from salary notes and salary rice to only salary rice.

There was no choice, as paper money was not widely accepted.

Moreover, in the Ming Dynasty, a significant portion of tax revenue came from agricultural taxes, which essentially meant collecting grain as taxes.

During Zhu Yunwen’s reign, having three million taels of silver in the central treasury was considered decent. Of course, if we consider grain as a form of currency, the income would be over ten million taels of silver.

Indeed, a significant portion of the money and grain was allocated to support the military. The military forces of the frontier regions, the capital city, and the local areas all required funding for their maintenance. Additionally, government officials also received salaries.

Especially for the princes and imperial relatives, many of them lacked any real abilities but still received substantial salaries, sometimes even more than the ministers of the cabinet.

With such expenditures, the national treasury would often be depleted by the end of each year.

Zhu Yunwen sighed, realizing that if they were given a few more years of peaceful development, the economy of the Ming Dynasty could improve. However, in the current situation, could true peace be achieved?

As for Zhu Di, the formidable figure, would he choose to resist to the end or submit?

This was something Zhu Yunwen couldn’t determine.

“Industry and commerce,” Zhu Yunwen murmured to himself. If they couldn’t lift the restrictions on industry and commerce, relying solely on the agricultural output of the peasants to make Ming Dynasty prosperous would be almost impossible.

However, in the Ming Dynasty, there were no merchants.

Zhu Yuanzhang had a strong hatred for merchants and even issued the command “Those who do not engage in production can be captured and killed.” It can be said that among the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, the Ming Dynasty had the lowest status for merchants.

This may be related to Zhu Yuanzhang’s background. Additionally, his family members were harmed by unscrupulous merchants, which further fueled his belief that merchants were as detestable as corrupt officials and needed to be severely suppressed.

During the early Ming Dynasty, there were only official statuses for soldiers, farmers, and craftsmen. The concept of a merchant class simply did not exist.

The policy of “focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce” became a fundamental state policy for Zhu Yuanzhang.

The biggest challenge in changing this policy is not Zhu Yuanzhang who already rests in the Xiaoling Mausoleum, but rather the deeply ingrained Confucian ideology of “focusing on agriculture and suppressing commerce.”

Government officials preferred stability and the development of the agricultural economy.

As for merchants? Today they are in the capital, tomorrow in the northern part, and the day after tomorrow they might be doing business at sea. How can we possibly manage them?

They should stay rooted in the land, tightly controlled and managed, shouldn’t they?

Moreover, if merchants continue to accumulate wealth, it will result in a concentration of riches, leading to a shortage of wealth in the country. How can the common people survive?

Perhaps these were the sentiments of officials during that era.

However, history has proven that outdated systems cannot restrain the mighty force of economic laws.

Ming Dynasty merchants found ways to navigate through these restrictions. For example, they would affiliate themselves with certain registered statuses. They would first buy a piece of land and make it clear that they were farmers, merely engaged in agricultural activities. But as for why they engaged in business, should they not be allowed to pursue additional sources of income?

If that was not feasible, they would collaborate with military households and assume military status. They would have their son or nephew join the army on their behalf. He was soldier, who dare to interfere with his business?

These merchant collectives, disguised under different identities, became significant drivers of the Ming Dynasty’s economy.

They still carried heavy shackles on them, indeed.

Zhu Yunwen understood that merchants needed to be legalized, as it was the key to unleashing the market’s potential.

As for how this fierce bull of commerce would move, it would depend on how it was guided.

However, now was not the right time, because Zhu Di was about to enter the capital.

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