Jiuyi Mountain.

Mengzhuling Pass.

Two peaks stand together, and one city connects the sky. In other words, this is actually a nine-single city composed of several castles.

Li Ji stood silently at the gate of the Pass, looking out from afar with a wind.

The sunshine in May is a bit dazzling and a little hot. This is the sunshine in Lingnan. Although he is still in Lingbei, the climate is much hotter than the Central Plains.

The military appearance commander Li Daen rushed over and was behind his military guard.

"Master, why did he refuse to order an attack?"

Li Daen's tone was very unkind.

"Observation?" Li Ji did not look back, "In front of this heroic pass, we were like dogs biting hedgehogs, and we had no idea how to get down. Before we found a good offensive plan, attack was to die. More than a thousand soldiers had already died in this mountain and were injured by more than a thousand. I don't want those young soldiers to die in vain."

"Is that true? Can't you find a good offensive strategy, or do you, Li Ji, don't want to find it at all? I think you are deliberately delaying time and you are dereliction of duty!"

Li Daen pointed at Li Ji angrily.

The military appearance envoy is to supervise the military. His duty is to supervise the military, which is different from the military governor. The military governor is the chief general, and supervising military is just to supervise the military. But the eunuch who supervises military represents the emperor.

The emperor did not want Li Ji to collude with the enemy or even indulge the enemy. The emperor also hoped that the army could invade Lingnan as soon as possible and recover Guangzhou.

But now Li Ji’s behavior these days is what he most intolerant.

He already suspected that Li Ji secretly communicated with the prince.

"Li Ji, the day before the war started, you sent a letter to the rebels and asked to meet Zhang Zhongjian alone in front of the battlefield. What did you say? Did you secretly discuss the matter of colluding with him?"

Li Ji, who was wearing golden armor, just sneered.

The golden armor on him was given by Li Shimin, and Li Yuan also gave him a piece of golden armor back then.

His current seal is also given by Li Shimin.

As the prince of the Eastern County, the Privy Councilor, and the commander of the Southern Expedition.

Now a eunuch is here to accuse him of colluding with enemies, accusing him of dereliction of duty, and accusing him of not being able to fight.

"Li Jianjun also followed His Majesty through the army. Don't you know that on the battlefield, one word can survive ten thousand people, but it can also destroy ten thousand people? Li Jianjun told me, in the face of this dangerous village, how should we attack and capture this city?"

Li Daen's face flushed.

He did stay in the army, but he was just an eunuch who served the emperor. He didn't know how to marching and siege cities and plunder the land. Even if he was an outsider, he knew that this level was not easy to attack.

"Your Majesty's General Seal is given to you. You are a great soldier. Don't tell me that you are helpless? Are you willing to trust Your Majesty?"

Li Ji sneered.

"I once made a suggestion that the army of five routes should be launched to attack Lingnan with the force of Mount Tai. Force the Southern Army to divide its troops to defend and disperse its troops. The court can defeat each with its military advantage."

"I also planned to wait for 100,000 troops to gather here, and then use artillery, crossbows as cover and shield array heavy armor as front drive to win this pass in one battle."

Li Ji's two plans were both countermeasures to the actual situation of Mengzhuling. Unfortunately, Li Shimin did not agree, and he wanted to fight quickly.

The result is that Li Ji is now under the strong army.

"Give me another ten days, and after the artillery, ammunition, arrows and subsequent troops arrive, I will launch a strong attack."

"Ten days?" Li Daen asked.

"Ten days!"

"Okay, then our family will give Li Shuai another ten days. If you can't take Mengzhuling again in ten days, don't blame our family for being merciless and submitting to Your Majesty."

······

The vast sea.

Blue sea and blue sky.

The plum wind falls in May, which is a trade wind. In the past, when navigation technology was not enough, trade winds were a must-rely rely on for ocean navigation. Many merchant ships had to wait for a year before the trade winds came south.

But now, although it is May, there is a southeastern trade wind. But Zhang Chao still leads his fleet and sails north at Guangzhou Port.

It can sail against the wind.

With arms wrapped around Zhang Chao, he stood on the deck of the flagship.

Behind him were the cabinet members who stayed behind the court.

When Li Ji, Zhang Zhongjian and Cui Yan were in a stalemate in Jiuyi Mountain, no one expected it.

Zhang Chao actually led a huge fleet, led the prince, the cabinet, and the entire state-regulatory court to quietly head north.

The navy mobilized by the imperial court was gathering in Hangzhou Bay and preparing to go south to Guangzhou.

They are still gathering and preparing.

However, Zhang Chao had already taken the fleet from Guangzhou, and his target was Hangzhou Bay.

That navy was just one of the goals, Zhang Chao's goal was Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and even the next step was Jiangnan, Jiangdong, Huainan, and Huainbei.

Zhang Chao is preparing to capture the southeast, the Jianghuai River and the entire coastal area.

There is no need to wait for the emperor to attack.

They can also counterattack the Northern Expedition.

Beiqian did not rush to enter the Northern Expedition, that was to stabilize Lingnan. Now Lingnan has been stable and all parties have united. Now, it is time to ride the wind and waves and set sail for the Northern Expedition.

"The Tang Dynasty has an army of 800,000." Ma Zhou stood beside Li Chao, looking at the groups of seagulls under the blue sea and blue sky, full of emotion.

"There were thousands of vassals and lords in the Tang Dynasty, and the lords also commanded tens of thousands of knights and hundreds of thousands of militias. But so what?" Hanlin Dean Yang Shidao sighed.

More soldiers may not necessarily be useful.

During the Sui Dynasty, Yang Guang also had many soldiers and generals. When he conquered Liao, he even summoned one million troops. The Sui Dynasty originally had six or seven hundred thousand government soldiers, but in the end he summoned more than one million troops.

However?

Dead in the second generation of Sui Dynasty.

There were indeed many soldiers in the Tang Dynasty, but the system of the government troops actually prevented the entire army from being invested quickly. Although the emperor's Northern Imperial Army was a permanent army, he had to guard the capital and could only send a small part of them.

Of course, the most important thing is that these soldiers nowadays do not have so many truly willing to charge for the emperor.

Moreover, the emperor did not have so much money and food to mobilize more troops.

Otherwise, Li Ji would not bring 100,000 troops.

And the navy will not have completed the assembly until now.

In comparison.

The Southern Army is now implementing another completely different military system.

Under Zhang Chao's promotion, the court now implemented a recruiting system. This military system is more similar to the imperial guards of the imperial court, but it is very different.

The difference is that the true core of the recruitment system promoted by Zhang Chao is actually the composition of professional officers and professional non-commissioned officers, plus conscripts.

Every man aged 21 to 30 is obliged to participate in the recruitment physical examination. Once selected, he will need to serve three years of compulsory military service.

In the past three years, they have been sent to the military camp, received training from non-commissioned officers, and also learned some culture. If they perform well and have excellent qualities, they can be converted to non-commissioned officers after assessment.

The non-commissioned officer is the real professional soldier. From low to high, he is a corporal, sergeant, sergeant, and 4321 sergeant chief.

In the Southern Army, non-commissioned officers serve as managers, train soldiers and serve as team leaders.

Sergeant chiefs at all levels serve as assistants to officers at all levels, and are in positions such as coaches and deputy positions.

As for officers, they must go through military academy training and then start from lower-level officers like platoon companies. Their task is to command combat.

Training and management of non-commissioned officers, and combat commands are returned to the officers.

The seventh-level non-commissioned officers also have their own terms, basically every three to five years. If they cannot be promoted, they will be discharged from the army after at most two terms. Zhang Chao does not agree with the lifelong soldier officer, believing that the fixed position will not only affect the normal promotion at all levels, but also prone to the stability of the entire non-commissioned officer team, and prone to the generation of soldiers and so on.

Even the same is true for officers. A graduate of a military academy starts from the platoon leader in the army. Generally, he can be directly promoted to the company commander after three years of serving, which is almost 100% entries. After three years of serving, the company commander should also be promoted to a higher level.

Zhang Chao also formulated a system to match the position of an officer and the rank. This rank is not the original Wusan rank, but is specifically affiliated with the officers, and there are not so many ranks.

From the second lieutenant to the general.

Except for the platoon-level officers, each position corresponds to the first-level military rank. If the position remains unchanged, the rank will not change. The captain is the company commander, the major is the deputy battalion commander, the lieutenant colonel is the battalion commander, the colonel is the regiment commander, the brigade general is the deputy division commander, the major general is the division commander, the lieutenant general is the rank of commander, and the rank of general and marshal are the military rank.

The biggest advantage of this military rank system is that it is clear rank, convenient for management in peacetime, and easy for command in wartime. The Southern Army emphasizes clear rank, emphasizing that subordinates must obey superiors to ensure the needs of military management and combat.

The rate of promotion of second lieutenant to lieutenant is 100%, the rate of promotion of lieutenant to captain is basically maintained at 98%, the average promotion rate of captain at least is 90%, the chances of promotion from major to colonel are gradually decreasing, and the promotion of generals is fully abiding by the principle of "retreat one advance one" for generals.

The theory is that the top non-commissioned officer will be promoted to the first-class sergeant commander, and each branch of the service will have a special sergeant commander to serve as a senior military consultant.

Non-commissioned officers and military officers are completely incompatible.

Conscripts can be promoted to non-commissioned officers, but non-commissioned officers will never be promoted to officers.

Military officers are specially trained by military academy, and even start training from young people. Although non-commissioned officers will also enter non-commissioned officer schools for further training, they will not be transferred to military officers.

Non-commissioned officers are the cornerstone backbone of the army, while officers are the leaders.

As for soldiers, they were rotated every three years, and a small number of soldiers were promoted to non-commissioned officers, and the rest returned to their hometowns.

During the three years in the military camp, there will be some allowances. After the military is over, the second enlistment will not be summoned unless there is a war.
To be continued...