My life skills in Daming Liver - Chapter 694

c680 Changes brought about by telegraph and railroads

Compensation is not for the dead, but for the living.

The issue of balancing civil and military affairs in past dynasties is a big issue that those in power need to think about.

If too much emphasis is placed on the status of civil servants, it will lead to a weak country and loss of military competitiveness. The Song Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty in the later period are the best examples. All talents flocked to study, and being a soldier became a shameful thing. Over time, it became No one wants to be a soldier anymore, and the army has no way to recruit talents.

Although Su Ze has been building a well-disciplined army since the establishment of the Southeast, now with the expansion of the Southeast, a culture of heavy culture has also emerged.

There is nothing that can be done about this. The Ming Dynasty has been conducting imperial examinations for three hundred years, and coupled with the previous historical culture of emphasizing culture and education, it cannot be changed in just a few years.

Moreover, being a soldier will cause casualties. It is also a normal choice for children from well-off families to choose to be officials instead of soldiers.

But this doesn’t mean that Su Ze can’t do anything. Improving the treatment and pension of soldiers is also an important part.

Pensions are for the living. Only when the families who died fighting for the country are honored will the soldiers who served the country not feel cold. Pensions are also to compensate for the losses of these families. Even in modern countries, this kind of ceremony is important part of the country.

Su Ze understands that to improve the sense of honor of soldiers, honor alone cannot solve all problems, but if this honor is gone, there will be no way to maintain the combat effectiveness of the army.

In times of peace, the status of civil servants naturally gradually improves. This is an inevitable development in any era, and this trend is unavoidable.

Moreover, limiting the power of the military and preventing military personnel from interfering in politics are also things that normal governments in any era will do.

But in this case, when the influence of generals is weakened, the sense of honor and combat effectiveness of soldiers are still maintained. This is a matter of testing political wisdom.

Su Ze also sighed. Nowadays, there are more opportunities to expand territory and make achievements, and the influence of the army is also great. With his own prestige and ability, he can naturally subdue these unruly army generals.

But what about the future? Su Ze took his thoughts back and focused on the battle situation on the front line.

Although the battle lines are still tug-of-war, Mingting’s side is obviously beginning to be unable to withstand the pressure.

The power of railroads and telegraphs was also reflected at this time.

All the frontline commanders did not expect that railways and telegraphs would have such a great impact on the war, and they could not help but sigh at the Governor’s foresight.

The railways along Xuzhou can not only transport supplies, but also quickly deploy troops and transport soldiers from one position to another.

The role of the telegraph was even greater. The telegraphs set up along Xuzhou could quickly call for support. Moreover, unlike ancient communication equipment such as beacon towers, which could only convey enemy information, the transmission of telegraphs was two-way.

Telegraphs can not only convey messages to superiors and call for support, they can also communicate between armies and concentrate forces for large-scale coordinated operations.

Telegraphs allowed troops separated by dozens or even hundreds of miles to discuss tactics as if they were face to face, which greatly changed the situation on the front line.

The commander under Li Chengliang found that the military appearance and morale of the southeastern army were much better than those on his own side.

Soon the Ming court discovered that the army in the southeast was rotated. The rotation of soldiers and reserves prevented the soldiers from waiting in the trenches for a long time. This had a great impact on the mental outlook of the soldiers. The soldiers of the Ming court stayed in the trenches for a long time. Being stationed in the trenches and fighting against the rainy season and mud every day had long made them physically and mentally exhausted.

In addition to rotation, the commanders on the southeast side are also more alert in terms of operations.

Once there is a gap in troops and firepower in the Ming court, Southeast can quickly concentrate its forces to break through.

As for the Ming court’s several attacks on the southeastern positions, if they could not concentrate large-scale forces to capture them, as long as the delay turned into a tug-of-war, the troops near the southeast would quickly support them, or even launch a counter-encirclement operation.

Therefore, since the rainy season, the troops on the Ming court side have been very tired. Although there has been no large-scale collapse of the battle line, a lot of small positions have been lost. Moreover, the Ming court’s weapons and equipment losses are greater than those on the southeast side, and the personnel battle losses have been greater. What’s more, the Ming Dynasty is far more distant than the southeast.

At the end of the rainy season, Li Chengliang finally held a meeting of all middle- and high-level military officers.

The atmosphere in the entire tent was very dull. At this point in the battle, no one could get angry. Officers who knew a little bit about the situation at the rear knew that the imperial court could no longer keep up with its supplies.

Li Chengliang received a letter from his son Li Rubai. As he led the army on the expedition, the wartime model of the capital workshop did improve production efficiency at the beginning. At first, even the weapons and ammunition produced caused siltation of water transportation, and the capital’s levy was The problem of the water transport strike was solved only after the civil servants were defeated.

But this wartime pattern soon became unsustainable.

On the one hand, supplies and raw materials are gradually becoming scarce, and bad news is also coming from the grassland. Huangtai Jihan, the king of Shunyi who was enthroned by the Ming court, surrendered to the southeast. Now the entire grassland has fallen into the hands of the southeast, and trade with the nine sides has been cut off.

The supplies in reserve have been almost used up, and many workshops have no raw materials even if they start working.

On the other hand, as the war began, the capital’s monetary system collapsed even more. The new currency had completely collapsed, but there were more and more reselling of military rations and military supplies on the market.

Li Rubai wanted to investigate, but how could the people who had been involved in reselling military supplies in recent years be ordinary people? They were either generals in the army or relatives of high-ranking officials in the capital. Li Rubai did not dare to go deeper after several investigations.

Not to mention supplies such as gunpowder and shells, even military rations and uniforms were being resold. Li Chengliang was extremely troubled when he saw this news.

He looked around and saw that these were all his old subordinates who were following him. He also knew in his heart who were reselling military supplies. Li Chengliang would tolerate them doing small tricks on weekdays, but now that it was the most critical decisive battle, they were still there. These small actions behind his back also made Li Chengliang feel murderous.

But it was just a surge of murderous intent.

These people are still needed to fight the war. Since the bankruptcy of the plan to rotate generals, Li Chengliang has gradually lost control of the middle and lower levels of the army. He must rely on these generals under his command.

After a lot of verbal beating, Li Chengliang neither ordered an investigation into corruption cases in the military nor criticized anyone by name. He just raised the matter high and put it down gently.

Li Chengliang coughed and said, “The rainy season is about to pass, and we must prepare for a counterattack.”

As soon as these words came out, everyone looked at each other. Could it be that the general was confused by Mei Yu? Counterattack?