Chapter 717 Jiang Qingzhi Takes Action
The Ming army was a nearly closed system.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, this system was still functioning normally... This was what Xu Wei said, but Jiang Qingzhi said that there was a tendency of nepotism in the military when the country was founded.
The difference is that the generals in the army at that time had fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, and most of them were talented. Therefore, even if they relied on connections to get promoted, even if they were appointed based on nepotism, they could guarantee that the promoted generals would be competent.
But in the middle and late stages, the army had not experienced a major war for decades, and the soldiers had become watchdogs. If the tallest of the short men was chosen, it would be fine. If they still followed the old ways... nepotism, it would inevitably bring disastrous consequences.
As a result, the army was filled with incompetent people.
"One soldier is a scoundrel, and the generals are all scoundrels!" Jiang Qingzhi pointed at Qin Yuan, "I ordered Qin Yuan to lead the army to fight. How many people are waiting to see the joke? How many people are waiting for me to be slapped in the face?
Yes! The border troops are just like this, they are useless. Even if there are guards from Beijing accompanying them, the commander is a coward. It would be a miracle if they didn't lose this battle. But who lost now?" Jiang Qingzhi asked, and everyone bowed their heads wherever he looked.
Jiang Qingzhi felt that Daming was ill and almost terminally ill.
"Why did the border troops fear the enemy like a tiger in the past?"
"It's all because of the bears in the same den!"
Jiang Qingzhi pointed at Zhang Da and said, "I'm talking about you, Zhang Da!"
Zhang Da lowered his head and said, "Yes."
"I know this is the rule in the army." Jiang Qingzhi softened his tone, "If you, Zhang Da, stand out, the generals below will find a way to sideline you."
"Uncle!" Zhang Da thought that his benefactor wanted to use him as a scapegoat, but unexpectedly he was trying to exonerate him.
"Just like in the officialdom, those with high moral character are often excluded."
This is the case with Tang Shunzhi.
So Old Tang simply resigned from his official position and returned home to study.
Out of sight out of mind.
"Where is Huang Bai?" Jiang Qingzhi asked.
Huang Bai came in and said, "This subordinate is here."
"Come here." Jiang Qingzhi nodded.
Everyone turned around and looked at Huang Bai.
He is tall, but looks a little depressed and has a low voice.
"Hello, Uncle." Huang Bai bowed.
"The last time I came to Datong, it was also at the General's Mansion. I explained the military strategy and the generals listened. But the next day, the same thing happened. To be honest, I was quite disappointed."
Jiang Qingzhi looked at the generals, his eyes filled with a look of disappointment, "Since you have learned the art of war, you should put it into practice. You should at least practice and test it right away, or figure it out for yourself! But the second day, the Japanese general quietly inquired and found that most of them were just lazing around! With such an attitude, even if the military saint became your teacher, he would be helpless!"
The generals lowered their heads, some blushed with shame, but most were numb and indifferent.
"Just when Benbo was disappointed, he accidentally saw a military camp conducting a drill, and they were using Professor Benbo's method!"
who is it?
The generals looked up.
Jiang Qingzhi said: "I saw that the soldiers were training well, and it was obvious that they had learned the essence of what I taught. Then I made some inquiries and learned that the general in charge of the army was..."
Jiang Qingzhi pointed at Huang Bai, "Qian Hu Huang Bai!"
"Uncle!" Huang Bai has always been puzzled as to why Qin Yuan dared to hand over the right wing to him, and he is even more puzzled as to where Qin Yuan's good impression of him came from.
He even thought that Qin Yuan valued him because they were in the same boat.
"Among the entire Datong border army, only Huang Bai put his knowledge into practice." Jiang Qingzhi said, "I later made some inquiries and learned that Huang Bai was also quite outstanding in his early years. I don't know why he fell into decline later..."
Jiang Qingzhi looked at Huang Bai and asked, "Why don't you fight back when you're being bullied?"
Huang Bo hesitated.
"I am here today, just speak." Jiang Qingzhi glanced at the generals, and no one dared to look at him.
Zhao Wenhua glanced at his adoptive father and wondered if Jiang Qingzhi was trying to use the incident between Qin Yuan and Huang Bai to launch another purge in the army?
But this is not the right timing!
Altan's army is approaching Datong. Even if there are any problems at this time, they have to be suppressed for the time being.
Everything has to serve the war.
Why did Jiang Qingzhi do this?
Yan Song looked calm, unlike Zhao Wenhua's short-sightedness. He thought of the process of Emperor Jiajing and Jiang Qingzhi working together to cleanse and rebuild the Beijing Guards.
After the reconstruction of the Beijing Guards, some people said that the next step would be the Nine Frontiers’ turn.
Some people also said that the Nine Frontiers were important areas and should not be touched lightly. If they wanted to rectify the situation, they had to start from the south.
After all, the only problem in the south is the Japanese pirates. No matter how powerful the Japanese pirates are, they are not a big threat to the Ming Dynasty... This was said by a big boss of the Five Military Commandery.
Yan Song narrowed his eyes and vaguely remembered something in his mind.
What did Jiang Qingzhi and Emperor Jiajing mention at the beginning...
The southern garrisons were infiltrated by local forces, and the relationships were complicated, making them difficult to clean up.
north……
The defenders in the Gyeonggi region...
wrong!
Yan Song suddenly remembered something.
After the purge of the Beijing guards, the Ministry of War was preparing to draw troops from all over the country to rebuild the city, but Jiang Qingzhi suggested that troops could be drawn from the north, from the area surrounding the capital.
The reason Jiang Qingzhi gave at the time was that Altan Khan was eyeing them covetously, the south was far away, and the southern soldiers were not adapted to the northern climate... distant water cannot quench nearby thirst.
Now it seems that this is not just a case of distant water not quenching immediate thirst.
The soldiers drawn from the north entered the Beijing Guard, and their strength was clear at a glance... Then, the situation of the entire northern army was also revealed.
One of the reasons why many people opposed the subsequent reorganization of the northern army at that time was that the matter was too complicated. Just figuring out the actual situation of the northern garrison would take the Ministry of War four or five years.
However, Jiang Qingzhi took advantage of the opportunity of rebuilding the Beijing Guards to successfully find out the true situation of the northern army.
I remember that many of the generals who were transferred here were beaten back.
It was at that time that Jiang Qingzhi also realized that most of the generals in the northern army were incompetent and that there was nepotism in the army.
The last time he came to Datong, he probably came with the intention of exploring!
After discovering Huang Bo's talent, Jiang Qingzhi did not promote him, but forbeared. It was not until this war that Jiang Qingzhi helped Huang Bo rise through Qin Yuan's hand.
It's a mule or a horse, pull it out and run around.
Huang Bai became famous in one battle, and Jiang Qingzhi took the opportunity to expose the shortcomings of the border army.
The key point is that the Prime Minister Yan Song is also there!
As the most important minister in charge of the Ming Dynasty, how could you, Prime Minister Yan, remain indifferent when you hear of such serious malpractices in the army?
Yan Song took a deep breath and laughed at himself in his heart: I have been hunting geese all my life, but I didn't expect that today I would be blinded by a goose.
Jiang Qingzhi is shooting at the target from a distance, forcing me to express my position!
Even when Jiang Qingzhi proposed to rectify the malpractices in promotions in the military, Yan Song had to stand up and express his support.
What a great Jiang Qingzhi!
Yan Song said gently: "Huang Bai, please tell me now."
Since it cannot be avoided, we must strive for the greatest benefit.
Yan Song spoke out decisively... I support this matter!
Huang Bai's lips moved a few times, and he said, "Prince, Lord... At the beginning, I was dissatisfied with many malpractices in the army, and reported them to my superiors many times. Who would have thought that I would be scolded by my superiors instead."
This is a big dye vat. Even the most honest person has only two choices when he jumps in. One is to go along with the dirty flow and blend in with the dust. The other is to just ignore it and feel annoyed, like Tang Shunzhi.
But Huang Bo wanted to change all this...
The ignorant are fearless!
As the defender of Datong, Zhang Da was well aware of everything that happened in the army, but even he was powerless in the face of such a situation and dared not act rashly.
"I was not convinced, so I made suggestions many times. I collected a lot of suggestions..." Huang Bai looked up at a general.
Datong Lieutenant General Zheng Shuo smiled unnaturally.
Huang Bai's lips moved and he tried to speak several times.
"Speak!" Jiang Qingzhi smiled and took a puff of medicinal cigarette.
Through the smoke, he looked at the expressions of the generals.
Some people looked at Huang Bai in astonishment, probably because they didn't expect that this man would dare to offend Zheng Shuo.
"Some people say that the county magistrate is not as good as the current one." Jiang Qingzhi saw Huang Bai hesitated and knew that he was worried about retaliation later. "Are you worried that someone will retaliate after Ben Bo leaves?"
Huang Bai remained silent.
"Zhang Da!" Jiang Qingzhi looked at Zhang Da and smiled gently, but Zhang Da saw tremendous anger in his benefactor's eyes.
He knew that if he didn't express his stance, not to mention his future, Jiang Qingzhi might abandon him after the war.
Zhang Da took a deep breath and said, "As long as I am here, I can protect you. Even if I leave, you are still here!"
This is not to shift the blame, but to give Huang Bai some reassurance.
Jiang Qingzhi protects his own people!
Huang Bai looked at Zheng Shuo again, "I have collected a lot of evidence of the military's malpractices..."
"Be more specific!" Jiang Qingzhi said.
"Buying and selling positions, eating salaries..."
Zheng Shuo's eyes flashed with sternness, "Captain Huang, please stop talking nonsense!"
"Yes!"
"Captain Huang performed brilliantly in today's battle. From now on, we should get closer to each other."
Several generals spoke, seemingly cordially, but there was a hint of coldness in their words.
Jiang Qingzhi just looked at Huang Bai. At this point, if Huang Bai still hadn't made up his mind, then this man would be of no use.
"Master!" Huang Bai raised his voice, "At that time, I handed the evidence to my superior, who was furious. I was overjoyed... I thought those people would be punished, but that night, I was ambushed..."
Yan Song's eyes turned cold.
The struggles among civil officials were mostly verbal attacks and physical destruction, a form of conquest that was used by Wang Pang during the Early Song Dynasty.
"Those people underestimated my ability and I escaped."
Huang Bai suddenly took off his armor.
Turn around.
"I have fought in the battlefields for many years, and the only wound on my back was caused by that time."
Several knife scars can be seen on Huang Bai's back. The most conspicuous one has red and raised flesh on both sides of the scar, which looks quite creepy.
"I escaped death, and then..." Huang Bai choked up and said, "After that, people kept provoking me, and even fighting me. Once I put up a fight, I would be attacked by everyone. When my superiors found out, they would not only not say what to do, but would also punish me every time..."
"After a long time, I know that if I continue like this, I will be killed sooner or later." Huang Bai raised his head, with grief and anger in his eyes. "I am helpless... I can't get any help from heaven or earth!"
Huang Bai waved his hands, and years of pent-up anger suddenly erupted, "Who can make the decision for me?"
"Ben!"
Jiang Qingzhi said calmly: "Someone come!"
"Uncle!"
Several soldiers came in.
Jiang Qingzhi pointed at Zheng Shuo and said, "Catch him!"
Zheng Shuo looked ashen.
Jiang Qingzhi turned his eyes and looked at the generals who had just followed Zheng Shuo to threaten Huang Bai.
"Take them all!"
Several generals looked at Yan Song with pale faces.
"Prime Minister..."
Jiang Qingzhi looked at Yan Song and smiled, "What do you think, Yuan Fu?"
Yan Song smiled and said, "All right!"
(End of this chapter)
