Chapter 296: This Is a Plan to Swallow Up the Miscellaneous Troops!

"The new armies of the various guards subordinate to the Central Capital Regional Military Commission, four brigades and one battalion in all, comprise 6,800-odd mounted and foot combat troops on the rolls, and 3,600-odd cooks and transport troops not on the rolls. There are 3,000 horses and over 2,000 mules, all fully prepared. Armor, weapons, and all military equipment are sufficient for use. We request the Central Capital Regional Military Commissioner, Duke of Overcoming Difficulties, to review the troops!"

More than ten thousand soldiers and civilian laborers accompanying the camp had already formed ranks on the great parade ground inside Bozhou city belonging to Wuping Guard. Wang Jun, a Chiliarch of the Central Capital Regional Military Commission's Training Office, galloped up before the horse of Zhu Chunchen, the Central Capital Regional Military Commissioner, and reported to him in a loud voice.

At present, the Overcoming Difficulties New Army was divided into two broad categories: the division-level new armies directly subordinate to the Grand Marshal's Office, and the guard-level new armies under the jurisdiction of local Regional Military Commissions, Regional Commanders' offices, and princely establishments.

The division-level new armies consisted of the five already-formed divisions — Vanguard, Rear, Left, Center, and Right — plus the First Division, currently being organized and trained under a numerical designation. Apart from one division already on its way to Dengzhou and Laizhou, the remaining five divisions were all stationed around Nanjing. They had not moved north but were undergoing rigorous training.

According to the "New Army Regulations" just promulgated by the Grand Marshal's Office, the officers and men of the division-level new armies were all "long-march" soldiers. Ordinary soldiers had only three days of leave per month to return home and reunite with their families; the rest of the time they had to remain in camp at all hours, with two to three drills a day and standing ready to march at any moment — this was even harsher than the "996" of later ages!

However, the new army's treatment was worthy of "996": the basic monthly pay was two taels of silver, guaranteed to be paid on time and in full!

Meals were three a day, every meal all you could eat, with meat every other day. To guarantee quality, officers and men were supplied together, and it was all free.

In addition to full pay and full rations, new army officers and men who served ten years, or whose meritorious service reached a certain standard, could all be granted merit farmland. Merit farmland started at fifty mu. Those who had joined the Overcoming Difficulties New Army before the Nanjing eunuch-party rebellion were all granted paddy fields in Jiangnan. Those who joined afterward were granted dry fields north of the Huai, starting at fifty mu.

Moreover, all merit farmland was tax-exempt for life — only in the year after the death of the grantee, or twenty years after death in battle, would it convert to private land owned by his heirs. But the portion of merit farmland above fifty mu had the nature of office land, meaning it could be increased or decreased according to the rise or fall of one's office!

Although the treatment standards of the guard-level new armies were not as good as those of the division-level new armies, they could still be called generous.

First, the pay scale of the guard-level new armies was two grades lower than that of the division-level new armies — that is, only from the rank of Commandant upward did one begin to receive pay equivalent to that of a Strongman in the division-level new armies: two taels of silver a month.

Second, during their periods of active service, the guard-level new armies had to provide their own rations — they could prepare whatever they liked to eat.

Third, the guard-level new armies' land grants reached an average of one hundred mu per man — regardless of rank, all received one hundred mu, and this one hundred mu was not merit farmland but office land. Office land could not be converted to private land, nor could it be directly inherited by sons and grandsons. Only when a son or grandson could enter guard service could he inherit the office land.

Of course, the guard-level new armies also had their own retirement and pension regulations. In most cases money was given; in some cases land could be granted. However, meritorious men in the guard-level new armies would not be granted land within their own guard; instead they would be transferred into the division-level new armies as officers or men and granted land elsewhere.

Although the treatment was somewhat inferior, the guard-level new armies also had advantages over the division-level new armies. First, they operated on a rotation system — that is, working hours were short, not "996." In theory they served in rotation, and during the busy farming season they could even take collective leave. In wartime, of course, they still had to "work overtime," and the "overtime pay" would naturally not be lacking.

Second, they were close to home — in principle they served in their own prefecture or a neighboring prefecture and would not go too far, unlike the division-level new armies, which would be shifted all over the country.

Precisely because of these advantages, serving in the guard-level new armies was still a good job. Therefore, in the five prefectures where guard-level new armies were currently established — Fengyang, Runing, Dengzhou, Laizhou, and Qingzhou — the supply of recruits for the guard-level new armies was very well assured.

For example, within Fengyang Prefecture, the four Huai-bei guards under the Central Capital Regional Military Commission, under the direction of Regional Military Commissioner Zhu Chunchen, had all recruited quite robust guardsmen — the methods used for the Fengyang land inventory and recruitment were still those designed by Li Yan, the same methods used to reorganize the Dengzhou and Laizhou guards.

First, warriors were recruited at high pay; only then came the inventory of garrison lands, the investigation of fields, and the redistribution of land.

As for guard stations where rotation troops were no longer stationed, they would be taken over by the Grand Marshal's Office Military Farm Guards, and their original establishments would be gradually abolished, with the land and civilian households managed instead by the various prefectural military farm offices (not under prefectural jurisdiction).

This, of course, was another vast new policy. If all the military fields, official fields, and hidden fields in the territory directly administered by the Ming court where no guards were established could truly be brought under the jurisdiction of the Military Farm Guards, then the land rent collected by the Military Farm Guards alone would be enough to support His Highness the Crown Prince's northern expedition to the Central Plains and the unification of all under Heaven!

Comprehensive reorganization was naturally not something that could be accomplished overnight, but the reorganization of the four Huai-bei guards of Fengyang Prefecture had been very successful.

More than six thousand stalwart soldiers from west of the Huai, who had already received their land and also a resettlement allowance (ten taels per man), were now fully armored and carrying passable weapons — in principle, the equipment of the guard-level new armies was the same as that of the division-level new armies, but for now there were not enough serviceable firearms, so they had to make do with long spears, bows and arrows, and sword-and-shield. Armor was in even shorter supply; fewer than three in ten officers and men had found ancestral armor to wear.

Of course, the weapons and armor of the guard-level new armies were also self-provided. The Grand Marshal's Office gave each guard-level soldier a subsidy of ten taels of silver to go dig up some ancestral antiques and forge some of their own.

Firearms existed too, mainly crouching-tiger cannons. Each brigade (one guard formed one brigade) was equipped with twelve of them — good enough to make a bit of noise.

These guard-level officers and men were now drawn up in four brigade squares. The crouching-tiger cannons, polished to a shine and oiled, were placed at the very front of the formation, reflecting dazzling light in the sun. The few warhorses were all held by cavalrymen and lined up neatly.

Although these guard-level officers and men had only undergone intensive training for less than a month, because the training intensity was very high and they themselves had some foundation, they now looked quite presentable.

Zhu Chunchen rode a tall, large horse, fully armored, and skillfully rode around the four brigade squares once, his heart full of the feeling of bringing glory to his ancestors — ha, the Duke of Chengguo's house had finally produced another commander capable of leading troops into battle! His ancestors, seeing him like this from heaven, would surely be very pleased!

Then he rode back to the side of Governor of Henan Lü Daqi and Governor-General of Fengyang Ma Shiying, and said to them with a smile, "Well? Compared with Commander Liu's and Commander Xu's troops, our Fengyang new army isn't weak, is it?"

Weak?

Ma Shiying and Lü Daqi both understood military affairs, and each had a not-inconsiderable governor-general's headquarters battalion and governor's headquarters battalion. But compared with this new army recruited from the Fengyang guards before their eyes, theirs were truly far inferior — at the very least, the other side's ranks were orderly, and they could stand ramrod-straight on the great parade ground in full armor for two double-hours!

It was said that this army could also carry loads of several dozen catties, march a hundred li a day, and upon arrival still dig trenches and build fortifications.

This kind of endurance alone was comparable to the household retainers of the various garrison armies. The only question was how they would perform on the battlefield.

"Duke of Chengguo, the Fengyang troops have truly been trained!" Ma Shiying gave a thumbs-up. "Who would have thought that in just one short month you could produce seven thousand crack troops? The Duke is indeed worthy of being a descendant of famous generals!"

Lü Daqi also said, "If we could have a hundred thousand such crack troops, our Great Ming's restoration would surely succeed, would it not?"

Zhu Chunchen waved his hand and laughed. "They were just granted land, given silver, and had their families brought under control. What kind of famous general does that make? These seven thousand officers and men just look good; in a real fight they may not be of much use.

But no matter — this time we are not really going to fight the Tartars. We are only escorting Governor Lü into Shangqiu!"

It turned out that Zhu Chunchen had not only led the reorganization of the four Fengyang guards, but had also been ordered to march — though his objective was not Northern Zhili, but rather Shangqiu County and Suizhou in Guide Prefecture. The former was Liu Liangzuo's base; the latter was Xu Dingguo's lair.

Now Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo had both been duped by Zhu Cilang into going to Northern Zhili, so the opportunity had come for Zhu Chunchen and Lü Daqi.

Zhu Chunchen had 6,800 new army troops, and Lü Daqi had 2,000 governor's headquarters troops — 8,800 combat troops in all, enough to deal with the men Liu Liangzuo and Xu Dingguo had left behind in Shangqiu and Suizhou.

(End of Chapter)