Nan Ming Sun Never Sets

Chapter 250 Recruitment
Bai Mingxiu really cannot lack mercenaries from the system now. Although mercenaries are not the majority in number, these mercenaries with high tactical literacy and full experience are the main officers and non-commissioned officers in the Ming Dynasty Restoration Army.

Bai Mingxiu didn't really treat mercenaries as pure tools of war. He still let the mercenaries have their own lives and paid them their own wages.Although in theory, as long as he supports these mercenaries, they will fight for Bai Mingxiu and will not rebel, but Bai Mingxiu recognizes their contributions and hopes that they will have some savings after retirement so that they can build their own lives .

After occupying the entire southern region, the expansion of the Ming Dynasty Restoration Army did not stop.Now the Ming army has an army in the early 20s, and Bai Mingxiu obviously still needs to take over the north, and send troops to the propaganda divisions to protect the interests of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty Restoration Army had 1200 million taels of military expenditure from the Lizheng Yuan, and Bai Mingxiu allocated as much as 1800 million taels of special military expenditure. It can be said that it is very rich.On this basis, the Ming Dynasty Restoration Army is preparing to recruit new soldiers to expand its strength.

Li Dingguo, who was promoted from the commander of the South China Military Region to the commander-in-chief of the army, participated in the national defense conference in Shanghai. However, Bai Mingxiu did not participate in this defense conference. The new minister of the Ministry of War, Zhao Xu, presided over the conference.

Zhao Xu was the company commander of the U.S. Army infantry company in World War II in "Battlefield 1942" that Bai Mingxiu first summoned. He had served as the chief instructor of the training base in the Restoration Army for a long time.After the Battle of Huguang, Bai Mingxiu readjusted the Ministry of War and the Daming Rejuvenation Army, and also removed himself from the position of Secretary of the Ministry of War and handed it over to Zhao Xu.Although Zhao Xu was only a company commander, Bai Mingxiu discovered very early on that Zhao Xu was very capable.When he was able to observe the potential of talents, he identified that Zhao Xu had the ability to command the internal affairs of the army and was good at training troops, so he was promoted to this position.

The army also knew very well that officers like Zhao Xu and You Long belonged to the more trusted people around His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

This does not mean that Bai Mingxiu gave up direct control of the army. People like Zhao Xu, who came from system mercenaries, have unlimited loyalty to Bai Mingxiu. Controls are no different.

There are three headquarters under the Ministry of War: the General Staff Department, the General Political Department, and the General Logistics Department. The Ming Army does not have a General Armament Department, because the power and responsibilities related to equipment are still in the General Logistics Department, and the equipment of the Ming Army itself is not very complicated.The chief of the general staff Tian Guangquan, the chief political officer is Bai Mingxiu's newly recruited general Lu Xin, and the chief of the general logistics is Zhang Xianyu.

The military commanders are Army Commander Li Dingguo and Navy Commander Shi Ji.

Minister of the Ministry of War, Zhao Xu, did not wear military uniform when he attended the meeting. Although he was from the military, strictly speaking, the Minister of the Ministry of War was still a civil servant, so Zhao Xu wore formal attire.The rest of the generals are in military uniform, and so is Shi Ji, except that her military uniform is a small skirt.

"Since we issued the conscription notice in thirteen provinces and one city, the response has been far lower than expected. According to this level, it is estimated that it will be difficult for us to recruit the target quota this year, which is 24512 people." That's how Zhao Xu started his article. Said, "I think we should review our working methods. The military system of the Ming Dynasty has undergone a thorough reform. We have changed from the military household system to the conscription system, but in the actual process, what we are actually doing is recruiting soldiers. There is no effective propaganda. , and it has not changed the general public's perception of 'good men don't serve as soldiers, good iron doesn't nail', which is very difficult for us to carry out our work."

Finally, Zhao Xu added: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not follow up on the conscription work carefully. It was entrusted to our Ministry of War and the headquarters of the two major military services. This task was not well completed, and we have no way to explain it to the Crown Prince."

Li Dingguo sighed and said: "If you want to say that you have a lot of ideas, you must ask the prince, but what Zhao Shangshu said is also reasonable. The Ministry of War must be able to deal with the problem by itself. Otherwise, what is the use of Daming raising our soldiers?"

Li Dingguo is now thinking more and more like modern people, and what he cares about is not just about defeating the Manchus. Anyone can know at this time that the Manchus must be finished. What will Daming do next? Govern the world.

In the war of more than a year, the real casualties of the Ming army were not many, and the troops were constantly expanding, but these soldiers mainly came from the surrender troops of the Qing army and Bai Mingxiu's mercenaries, and only a small amount came from the Qing army. Yu Yijun or people who came to join the army.For the Ming army to develop healthily, a stable conscription mechanism must be established.

Zhang Xianyu said: "In fact, the prince is making things difficult for our Ministry of War. Speaking of which, we have a conscription system, but he does not ask us to conscript, but conducts actual recruitment. The prince's consideration is that during the period when the war of restoring the country is still going on , Forced conscription is similar to Latin America, and it will weaken the combat effectiveness and justice of our troops. In the future, when the country is completely restored and education for military service is popularized in a few years, our work will probably be much easier by then."

It was Sister Lion who had a unique vision, and she said directly: "There are 5000 million people in the whole south, and the number of hidden people is probably even more. Now it's just asking the Ministry of War to recruit more than 2 people, and it's hard for you adults. I think the method is still wrong. The prince’s temporary recruitment is still reasonable. The best soldiers are those who really want to join the army and dedicate themselves to fighting to drive out the Tartars. Moreover, ordinary people are afraid of death and fear of being a soldier, and even more I feel that being a soldier is suffering, and there is no good income. But the reality is not the case. The salary of the Ming Dynasty Restoration Army is very high, and there are various benefits. The life in the camp is enough to make ordinary farmers envious. In the final analysis, it is because Most people don’t know this, and look at our Ming Dynasty Restoration Army from a traditional perspective. There are even some people who think that we still implement the system of soldiers for generations, and after becoming soldiers, they will be soldiers for generations, and generations will be poor.”

Lu Xin agreed: "Commander Shi is quite right. We haven't done a good job in our propaganda work, but if we want to spread such a big propaganda, we're probably beyond our capabilities."

Sister Lion said: "Strengthen military-local cooperation, these things must be done by people in the government office. Moreover, we must target our real target group - the farmers' children in the cooperative. These people have benefited from the Prince's new policy. The group with the strongest appeal to the imperial court, and many of them are also very poor, so the conscription activities of the Ministry of War cannot be completed by setting up a stall in the prefectural city, but go to the villages below to meet ordinary people and go to the village. Talk to the agricultural cooperative."

Zhao Xu recorded while listening, and praised: "As expected of someone close to the prince, Commander Shi's ability is indeed extraordinary."

But when Sister Lion heard this, she turned against Zhao Xu with a cold face: "Hmph, Zhao Shangshu's words are wrong. I am me, and the prince is the prince. You can't praise me or the prince with your words. You don’t need to be foiled by others.”

Zhao Xu was very embarrassed.

(End of this chapter)