GBP Chapter 145 Officer Training (Part 2)
Chapter 145 Officer Training (Part 2)
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The group entered the lecture hall, which had been converted from a barracks, in twos and threes. After everyone was seated, Liu Ye strode in, followed by Liang Xiaoming, Shi Ying, and others.
Shi Ying said to everyone, "This is General Liu, the newly appointed military commander of Qiongzhou Camp. I'm sure you all know him."
Everyone hurriedly stood up. Some wanted to kneel down to pay their respects, but hesitated for fear that the general would not like it. Some greeted him according to the etiquette of the Ming army, while others were at a loss. The scene was quite chaotic.
Liu Ye frowned upon seeing this scene. With uniforms now standardized, military etiquette must also be standardized in the future. The spirit and morale of an army are gradually built up through many aspects.
He gestured for everyone to sit down. After everyone was seated, he sat on the platform, looked around, and said, "You are all sitting here because of your outstanding performance, and you all have the hope of becoming officers. You may wonder why you need to go to training courses and learn this and that to become a military officer. Isn't it enough to just know how to use a gun and a stick and how to kill people? What I want to tell you is that this is the difference between us and the old-style army of the imperial court."
An old-style army? Zuo Wuwei and the others perked up.
"What kind of army is the imperial army? For example, a first-rank general, whom you consider a very important official, has to kneel before a third-rank governor! A first-rank supervising commander is even more so. If a general is treated like this, then the lower-ranking military officers are even worse off. A sixth-rank captain has to kneel and kowtow before a seventh-rank censor in the Ministry of War, and as for a seventh-rank lieutenant, you are nothing but a fart in their eyes!"
These are all true. The Ming Dynasty has always valued civil officials over military officials, using civil officials to control the military. Civil officials held a much higher status than military officials, and military officials were used to this treatment. Now that these facts have been brought up without any mercy, some people who came from military backgrounds, especially Zuo Wuwei and Li Mo, began to feel uneasy. Their faces burned with shame, as if it were their fault for losing face as military officials.
"Who are the ones who fight desperately to protect our country? They are the soldiers, not those scholars who only know the Four Books and Five Classics. Where is the dignity of an army that has such a low status, that has to beg for food and pay from civil officials? How can an army that has no dignity and honor, and is not well-fed, win battles?"
A commotion arose among the crowd. Regardless of their origins as soldiers or peasants, once they became soldiers, they disliked being subservient to others and willingly accepting a lowly status. But what could they do if they didn't like it? "Of all professions, only studying is noble." Throughout history, scholars have held a high status, and this wasn't unique to the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, since the Song Dynasty, the social status of soldiers has always been lowly. The saying, "A good man doesn't become a soldier, and good iron isn't used to make nails," perfectly illustrates this point.
"I know you are unwilling to accept what I have said, but you are helpless. The idea that scholars are valued more than soldiers is not unique to the Ming Dynasty. Those high-ranking officials in the court are all scholars, and none of them are soldiers. Serving as a soldier to get paid and fight for your life seems to be the only way out. Speaking of which, the soldiers in the camps seem to be better than the military households in the garrisons. What are military households? They are all beggars who farm!"
Xu Yihang, sitting in the first row, wished he could disappear into a crack in the ground. Military households lived like beggars, and many military households in Qiongzhou were even worse off than beggars.