Chapter 39: Candidates, Listen to the Question

(Begging for monthly tickets)

(Begging for monthly tickets)

Zhu Youjian stood holding a wolf-hair brush suspended in midair, long without setting it down.

What the superior favors, the inferior will pursue to excess.

The fault lay not with the military Zhuangyuan Wen Zhi himself, but with the system that selected him.

Whatever sort of man this system wants, those below will cut their feet to fit the shoes, molding themselves into that shape.

And now he was on the verge of establishing a new military academy system — even if only for three hundred File Leaders.

So what should this military academy system look like?

Zhu Youjian drew a deep breath; his suspended wrist plunged down sharply, the brush tip slicing across the paper without the slightest hesitation.

Question One: Strategic Simulation (10 points)

A general leads thirty thousand troops, all crack soldiers.

The enemy has two hundred thousand, their formations in disarray, yet their commander is rash and gives chase.

How should our army destroy them?

He had taken Han Xin's battle against Long Ju, changed names and appearances, and left only the purest battlefield elements.

He was curious to see how these low-ranking officers of the Great Ming would answer.

Question Two: Army Ideology (10 points)

You are a Company Commander in the Capital Camps, commanding five hundred men.

If your superior officer withholds empty pay slots and embezzles military funds, then afterwards shares thirty percent with you, how should you handle it?

What answer this question gets, in truth, hardly matters.

What matters is that every time they answer this question, they pass through an ideological seal once more.

Once is not enough, then ten times; ten times not enough, then a hundred times.

A moment's discipline may be useless, but so long as he persists — daily lectures, monthly lectures, yearly lectures —

and at the same time supplements them with harsh laws and meticulous oversight, he refuses to believe this crooked trend cannot be reversed!

As for the oversight agency and its personnel — a vague plan had already taken shape in his mind.

From the corner of his eye, Zhu Youjian's gaze drifted casually past Luo Yangxing, standing in silent attendance at the great hall's entrance.

This youth from a hereditary Embroidered Uniform Guard family had been summoned into the palace days ago, to be used as a chess piece to intimidate Tian Ergeng.

Now serving as a Grand Han General before the imperial presence, he stood guard on duty every day, meticulous and exacting.

A wicked grin crossed his heart.

You little brat — don't think We don't know that in days to come you surrendered to the Manchu Qing.

Though you committed no great evil that outraged heaven and man, on the strength of that "loyalty" alone, We shall make sure you taste some bitterness in this lifetime.

The thought flickered past; he continued writing.

Question Three: Tactical Simulation (20 points)

You are a Company Commander, ordered to lead five hundred troops, setting out from Jinzhou to construct a new fort on the left bank of the Daling River to serve as a screen.

Describe in detail your methods of march preparation, encampment, and scouting patrols on the move.

In selecting officers, the most important thing is cultivating tactical-level ability at the bottom.

Strategic-level ability — once these officers have fought their way out of the battlefield, they can naturally go on to study at a higher-level military academy.

How can it be done the way the Great Ming does it, completely backwards — studying rocket science in school, then tightening screws on the job. Truly putting the cart before the horse.

Question Four: Military Supply and Logistics (15 points)

You are a Battalion Commander, with a thousand men under you.

You are ordered to force-march from the capital to Xifengkou (roughly four hundred li) within eight days.

How much grain and fodder do you carry? How much gunpowder and munitions?

How much grain and fodder is assigned to the baggage battalion? When does it set out? On what day do you rendezvous?

Question Five, Question Six…

Zhu Youjian wrote on in rising excitement, fully entering the state of a wicked exam-setter, brush flying and ink splashing, utterly exhilarated.

Only when he had filled two whole pages in one breath did he suddenly catch himself and stop writing.

He looked at the questions on the paper, each one practically perverse, and could not help a rueful laugh.

He had become obsessed.

These were merely three hundred File Leaders with a rough grasp of letters, not a staff course at some future National Defense University.

He shook his head, picked and chose among the dozen-plus questions he had written, and finally settled on four of relatively lower difficulty.

"Xu Yingyuan," he called out.

"This slave is here."

Xu Yingyuan strode in swiftly from outside the hall, bowed, and awaited orders.

"Post this examination paper. Give them two hours to answer."

"As decreed."

Xu Yingyuan carefully received the sheets still carrying the scent of ink and withdrew.

Zhu Youjian let out a long breath, leaned against the edge of the imperial desk, and rubbed his somewhat aching wrist.

The weariness from reviewing memorials this morning had, after this bout of thoroughly satisfying question-setting, been swept clean away.

Being an exam-setter — truly an unspeakable pleasure!

He relaxed for a moment, but soon a surge of vigilance rose in his heart.

Zhu Youjian, O Zhu Youjian — never take the so-called knowledge of later ages and look down on the heroes of the realm as weeds. The warning of Wang Mang is not yet distant.

"Gao Shiming."

"Your subject is here."

Gao Shiming materialized soundlessly at his side.

"Convey Our decree," Zhu Youjian said slowly, his voice carrying an unquestionable finality. "Dispatch orders to Liaodong, Xuanfu, Datong, Jizhou, and the other garrisons of the Nine Frontiers. From each garrison, select two capable Platoon Officers and ten vanguard warriors who have taken Jurchen or Mongol heads. Send them to the capital at once. We have great use for them."

He paused, then his tone hardened: "Tell the Regional Commanders of each garrison to make their recommendations with care. They must be warriors with genuine battle merit. Let no one try to fob Us off with makeweights and incompetents!"

"This slave obeys the decree!"

Watching Gao Shiming's retreating back, a meaningful smile tugged at the corner of Zhu Youjian's mouth.

Science — what is science?

It is the systematic study of every branch of knowledge.

Most transmigrators limit the tree of knowledge to physics, chemistry, and mathematics. How one-sided.

Military affairs have their own military science; society has its social science; the economy has its economic science.

Even those people who buy lottery tickets insist on discussing lottery science…

But the crux of this so-called science is nothing more than "empirical evidence" and "logic."

He did not understand the military minutiae of this era, and feared becoming a Zhao Kuo who could only fight battles on paper?

No matter. He could summon every man in the Great Ming who understood these things best, and let them debate, summarize, practice, and refine.

Pool collective wisdom, discard the dross and keep the essence — that would be his "military science"!

Just as his mood was surging, a thought streaked through Zhu Youjian's mind like a flash of lightning.

Li Zicheng!

Right! Li Zicheng!

One thing after another today — he had nearly forgotten this matter entirely.

Zhu Youjian's heart gave a violent leap. He strode quickly to the screen inside the hall, his eyes racing along the courier-station routes.

Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission…

Yan'an Prefecture…

There!

His finger jabbed down hard on a tiny place name — Yinchuan Horse Relay Station.

Found him!

He remembered with absolute clarity: Li Zicheng was a relay runner at Yinchuan Station.

And right beside Yinchuan Station, conspicuously, lay Mizhi County.

Northern Shaanxi… so Li Zicheng was in northern Shaanxi!

In the years of unrelenting drought to come, this place would become a living hell on earth!

No wonder Li Zicheng rebelled. Anyone, trapped in that kind of utter desolation where neither heaven nor earth would answer, would have rebelled!

Zhu Youjian hesitated for a moment.

He only remembered that Li Zicheng was a Yinchuan relay runner. For the others — Gao Yingxiang, Zhang Xianzhong — he could not recall their exact locations at all.

To rashly send men searching now felt like reenacting Wang Mang's script: scouring the whole realm for "Liu Xiu," only to be killed by Liu Xiu in the end.

But — this really was just a matter of reaching out a hand!

One single command, and Li Zicheng would be hauled right before him.

What transmigrator could possibly resist a temptation like that!

Do it! As the Heaven-Bestowed Divine Lord, issuing a few peculiar orders was nothing — his subordinates would invent their own justifications to fill the gaps.

Don't ask. If asked, it is Heaven's bestowal!

"Gao Shiming!"

Gao Shiming, who had just reached the doorway, turned back at once at the sound. "What further command does His Majesty have?"

Zhu Youjian turned around. His expression had returned to calm, but the light in his eyes was piercingly sharp.

He pondered for a moment, then said decisively: "You — personally assign your most trusted men. Go to this place."

His finger, once again, stabbed down onto the three characters: "Yinchuan Relay Station."

"Find a relay runner named Li Zicheng. Bring him to the capital."

Gao Shiming's pupils contracted slightly.

Li Zicheng? How could His Majesty know the name of a relay runner a thousand li away?

But Zhu Youjian paid no heed whatsoever to his shock.

No experience of losing his job, suffering a wrongful conviction, and rising in rebellion.

No experience of raising a banner with a roar and sweeping across Guanzhong.

No experience of being beaten down to a mere eighteen riders hiding in the mountains.

And no experience, after the great drought descended upon the land, of riding the wind with the cry "Hail the Dashing King, no grain tax to pay!"

He truly wanted to see — what kind of mettle did the Li Zicheng of today actually possess!

Beneath the so-called heroic epic — are those lifted up by it truly all heroes?

Zhu Youjian looked at Gao Shiming seriously. "Use your own name to conduct the search. Do not use Ours. Have you remembered that?"

"Your subject obeys the decree!"

"Go on." Zhu Youjian waved his hand. "And while you are at it, accompany Us to see how Our future generals are faring in their examination."

Zhu Youjian straightened his sleeves and walked unhurriedly out of the hall, a faint, expectant smile on his face.