Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Grandfather

  Sun Chengzong chuckled and looked around the large tent, where only the two of them were present, along with the two men from the Eastern Depot. He had never thought of hiding anything from the Emperor, so he didn't have any concerns. He carefully analyzed for Zhong Jiawei: "The reason is indeed quite complicated, I'll tell you one by one."

  Zhong Jinwei nodded and listened carefully to Sun Chengzong's analysis.

  "Lu Zhi Fu himself was a civil official and did not usually lead troops. This time, for the purpose of supporting the king, he temporarily recruited soldiers from the military households, robust men, and government officials to form the army. Other leaders who supported the king were all military generals, and they also brought their usual subordinates. This is the first difference."

  Zhong Jinwei nodded in agreement.

  Sun Chengzong continued to analyze: "Lu Zhifu brought so many people out, and the government affairs of the Daming Mansion are likely to be paralyzed. It's okay to say that it was urgent to save the king at the time, but now that Jian Yu is no longer attacking the capital, the emperor is safe. Even if the emperor doesn't ask for troop reductions, Lu Zhifu will inevitably have to send back some people. As for other generals, they are all soldiers, and their impact on local civil administration is not great. Moreover, fighting is their duty. Therefore, it is impossible for the soldiers to be sent back in the same way as Lu Zhifu."

  Zhong Jinwei was puzzled now. It's not just about simply reducing the army, if that's all, it would be understandable. Lu Xiangsheng could be dismissed, but other generals couldn't.

  But now is the time to eliminate the weak, whether it's for these generals to win battles or to help the court alleviate logistical pressure, it's all beneficial.

  What Sun Chengzong just said are not particularly good reasons and cannot explain why they don't want to eliminate the weak troops.

  Zhong Jinwei said bluntly: "This reason seems to be unable to explain why they are unwilling to eliminate the weak and keep the strong."

  Sun Chengzong looked at Zhong Jinwei's honest face and laughed, then said to him: "Alright, I won't mention those secondary reasons. Let me tell you the real reason directly."

  Zhong Jinwei looked at Sun Chengzong's smiling face and suddenly had an urge to hit him, thinking that the old man was teasing him. However, Zhong Jinwei only thought about it and didn't dare to actually do it. He sincerely said to Sun Chengzong: "Please teach me, Sir Sun."

  "This is a long story, let me just tell you the most important part."

  Zhong Jinwei nodded.

  "The main reason is that Lu Zhi will not drink the blood of soldiers and take empty pay, while other generals are doing so."

  Is Sun Chengzong getting old and loves to talk too much, saying so many things before getting to the point.

  If Sun Chengzong had said that earlier, he would have understood it immediately. Zhong Jinwei slandered in his heart.

  The reason is that Zhong Jiawei should have thought of it earlier. Later, when he was online, he had seen those Ming dynasty generals who ate empty salaries and drank soldiers' blood to support their own family members. It's just that because he was in the midst of it, he didn't react immediately.

  Zhong Jinwei furrowed his brow and said in a deep voice, "This won't do, we have to investigate how many soldiers they really have."

  Sun Chengzong shook his head: "They're not fools either. On the way to Beijing, I don't know how many civilians they've caught and used as substitutes."

  Zhong Jinwei heard Sun Chengzong say this and thought of the soldiers he had seen, guessing that eight or nine out of ten were probably civilians who had been caught to make up for the missing ones.

  "Then we forcibly stipulate a method of eliminating the weak and retaining the strong, and let them follow this method to do it." Zhong Jiawei thought for a moment and said.

  "What method?" Sun Chengzong looked at Zhong Jinwei with a hint of urgency and asked with a smile.

  "Just like Lu Xiangsheng's method, weightlifting, those who can't lift will be eliminated." Zhong Jinwei said what he had thought before. This way, the old and weak soldiers should be screened out.

  "I've tried before, all those generals were opposed to it. And every single one of them had a lot to say for themselves." Sun Chengzong sighed, "Young man, things are not as simple as you think they are."

  Zhong Jinwei was taken aback, then asked: "What reason did they use to oppose?"

  "Those soldiers who can't lift their guns aren't necessarily weak, they might be good at scouting out the enemy, or be skilled with firearms, or be expert in firing cannons, or maybe have other skills, and so on."

  Those old men and children in the barracks can defeat Jian Yu, and I'm still related to him by surname. Zhong Jinwei was furious, these people are really shameless.

  "Nowadays, people say: 'Let them be, if they want to cut it off, then so be it.'"

  Sun Chengzong let out a bitter laugh, then said to Zhong Jinwei: "Zhong Xingbo, it's not that easy. Don't look at the military camp, which is densely packed, but the soldiers who can be controlled by me are just these few people in the central army account. The others are all brought by those generals, and they are now reluctantly listening to me, one because of the imperial order, and two because of my face."

  "What's it to you?" Zhong Jinwei asked.

  "When they're forced to, they learn from Zu Dashou." Sun Chengzong was actually quite embarrassed to say it out loud, after all, the soldiers of Zu Dashou's Gengning Army were once under his command.

  Zhong Jinwei was speechless now. At this point, he really couldn't force them. If they all followed Zu Dashou's example, those who should be laughing would have been scared silly.

  It won't do, there must be a strong and powerful army to intimidate these warlords, and the military system must be reformed as soon as possible. When I go back, I will definitely advise Emperor Chongzhen to make the Imperial Guards into a strong army, without armed forces in hand, everything is just empty talk.

  Sun Chengzong looked at Zhong Jinwei and said, "This is what I told you when we were gathering the troops. This group of people are all generals, they can only be coaxed along. They're late, and I don't dare to enforce military law on them either."

  Zhong Jinwei wanted to comfort Sun Chengzong a few words, but also felt that he didn't know where to start.

  The big tent suddenly fell silent, and Gu Bai Chuan and Wang Peng stood behind the guards, looking at each other, not daring to speak.

  After a while, Zhong Jinwei still felt uneasy and asked, "Isn't there a good way to deal with them?"

  Sun Chengzong looked up at the top of the big tent and sighed: "It would be better if it were Commander Qi."

  Zhong Jinwei listened to Sun Chengzong mention Qi Jiguang, and thought of his strict military discipline, and couldn't help but agree: "Yes, General Qi's troops were indeed strict in their military discipline. It is said that when he was first transferred to the north, on a rainy day, all the soldiers went to take shelter from the rain, but General Qi's troops stood still in the rain without moving."

  Just as they were talking, Zhong Jinwei suddenly had an idea and said to Sun Chengzong: "Sir Sun, I've thought of a plan that will leave those warlords speechless and help them eliminate the weak and keep the strong."

  Sun Chengzong was also excited, what, really have a way, my beard has been thinking of pulling out for a long time, but I haven't thought of a good idea, you are just a young man and you've already come up with one.

  Then Sun Chengzong felt and said: "Quickly, tell Lao Fu about it."

  Zhong Jinwei analyzed to Sun Chengzong: "Mr. Sun, those warlords are not saying that the weak may also be strong soldiers, but rather strong soldiers who do not require physical strength."

  Sun Chengzong nodded and said: "They indeed used this reason to make things difficult for me."

  "So the strong and powerful troops and their so-called weak troops have a common point, we just need to follow this common point to eliminate the weak and keep the strong, isn't that enough?" Zhong Jinwei said with satisfaction.

  Sun Chengzong really wanted to hit Zhong Jinwei, and now he's pretending to be a good guy in front of me. He doesn't know that I have the emperor's trust, so what's the hurry? But he forgot that just before this, he was still going around in circles with Zhong Jinwei, not getting to the point. Now he's gotten his retribution.

  Sun Chengzong loudly shouted: "Zhongxing Bo, stop rambling on and quickly tell me your plan. Don't come up with another useless idea, hurry up and let me weigh whether it's feasible or not."

  Gu Baihe and Wang Peng exchanged a glance, then looked at Zhong Jinwei, wondering what he had in mind. The two of them were also very curious, just thinking secretly earlier, but couldn't think of any good way.

  Zhong Jinwei's ears were buzzing from the loud voice, how can this old man's voice be so loud?! Better speak up quickly.