Chapter 815 Change of Style
The fire at Han's house was not a happy event.
At this time, the conductor Zhang Xiang had already taken off his embroidered uniform and was sweating profusely while carrying water from the well to put out the fire with a group of warriors.
It was not that Zhang Xiang wanted to save Han Rong and his son, but that he wanted to save his own political life.
If this fire breaks out and spreads to other communities, the entire Buguang Village will be burned down. Although most of the people in Buguangli were old ministers, it was not a pity to die.
But if these people are burned alive in a fire, it will definitely become a political scandal, and the Taishan Army will definitely face criticism from all over the world.
After all, a public trial is one thing, but burning alive is another, which is too appalling.
And Zhang Xiang understood that the king was definitely not willing to bear this infamy. Back then, Zulong had just killed hundreds of Confucian scholars and sorcerers, and was scolded by history books as an eternal tyrant.
Because of various political issues, the king was ridiculed by the people of the time as the reincarnation of the ancestor dragon. If such a thing happens again, his reputation may be even worse than that of the ancestor dragon.
Therefore, even if the fire reaches his eyebrows, Zhang Xiang is still putting out the fire.
Tongtongshui was pulled in, but the fire was still not under control. At this time, Zhang Xiang was in despair. He could never have imagined that such a foolproof action would end in such an outcome.
But at this moment, a large group of sergeants rushed in from outside the street, each carrying a bucket, and they continuously joined in the fire-fighting operation.
In the back, someone also pulled a water tanker with tanks of well water on it, which was parked directly in the courtyard.
Only then did Zhang Xiang see that these firefighters who joined in were the officials of the king's five major armies.
Why are they here?
……
Chang Diao was leading several generals to direct the officers and soldiers to put out the fire.
Why is he here?
The reason is simple. This time the Xiuyiwei's actions are too important. This is their first show. If they fail, it will not only be Meng Ju's responsibility, but the existence of the entire Xiuyiwei will also be affected.
The Xiuyiwei is a very important part of Zhang Chong's layout. It will serve as an important political force and maintain its influence in the future political situation.
Therefore, Zhang Chong actually paid more attention to this operation than Meng Ju, and he would not allow the operation to fail.
Therefore, Zhang Chong added a set of double insurance for the embroidered guards in action.
That is to let General Hengchang and some of his troops be deployed in the darkness at various points. If anything goes wrong in the Xiuyiwei's actions, these people will rush forward to support them immediately.
Of course, if there are no major problems with the operation, these deployed troops cannot participate in the operation.
In fact, this is Zhang Chong setting rules for the future, that is:
The army has one and only one mission, and that is to be used only on the battlefield.
Therefore, Zhang Chong hopes that the main force of the operation will still be the Xiuyiwei. This force will serve as an operational force for internal law enforcement, replacing the army and serving as a symbol of internal violence.
Zhang Chong knew very well that the army must be controlled in a cage to eliminate the possibility of the army interfering in politics. Moreover, using the military itself is too sensitive, and using it for internal operations will often cause bad external effects.
Therefore, Zhang Chong's order to those generals was not to participate if they could.
But it's a pity that Chang Diao, who was staying in the dark, had to come out. If he didn't come out, the fire would be out of control. Not to mention Zhang Xiang, even he would be guilty of negligence.
So, he quickly found the captain at the east gate of Beigong and asked him to bring a battalion of people and corresponding fire-fighting tools to hurriedly come to Han's house to put out the fire.
Chang Diao's decision was very timely. In fact, it was his decision that put out the fire.
Not only did he save himself and Zhang Xiang's political lives, but he also saved other embroidered clothes guards in Bu Guangli.
At that time, these people, under the leadership of their respective commanders, arrested the target old ministers, and the operations were very smooth.
Of course, the arrests have been made, but there are still a large number of key people staying in the residences of various ministers, sorting out the letters and manuscripts between these people.
Therefore, if the fire had not been controlled, the warriors staying in various mansions would have been engulfed by the fireworks.
However, everyone still saw the fire in the Han family residence. After a moment of panic, they evacuated Buguangli with the key criminals and letters.
……
Except for this small episode in Han's house, Xiuyiwei's first operation was undoubtedly a success.
Not only did they capture all the officials and ministers of the old era, but they also demonstrated a new function of the embroidered guards. In addition to guarding the palace, they could also apprehend key criminals.
In this way, a strong law enforcement department is complete.
In fact, there are still various doubts about Xiuyiwei, even now.
As Zhang Chong's trusted minister, Zhang Dan "accidentally" advised Zhang Chong when he was having a drink with Zhang Chong, saying that the Embroidered Clothes Guards were still just a palace forbidden team, but they could already go without permission. If the criminal is about to be arrested, will this frighten the courtiers and the people of the world?
Zhang Chong actually didn't need Zhang Dan's reminder to know the harm Xiu Yiwei might cause in the future. But in fact, even in the Ming Dynasty when the secret service was most prevalent, the political harm caused by the Jin Yiwei was not very great.
In the final analysis, there is no judicial power, only law enforcement power. Whether it is good or evil is never a problem of the institution itself. The key lies in the users.
In Zhang Chong's positioning of Xiuyiwei, it will be divided into three main departments in the future.
One is the internal security department responsible for palace confinement and security; the other is the case-handling department responsible for promoting national criminals and special case investigations; and the last is the operations department responsible for apprehending important criminals and political prisoners.
These three departments are all under the big brand of Xiuyiwei, but they are three different organizational teams, and their offices are also located in different departments in Beigong.
Therefore, Zhang Chong is not very worried about the so-called harmfulness of Xiuyiwei, or even whether politics has degenerated into the degradation of spy rule as some people say.
Zhang Chong has been in this era for almost nine years. He has long lost the frivolous arrogance of later generations. He has a very clear understanding of the era he lives in now.
That is, in such an era of backward technological means, all politics actually revolve around two words: "rule by man."
If you choose the right person, half the job is done. If you choose the wrong person, you will make more mistakes.
During the Red Sun period, huge mass movements and bottom-up changes required various broadcasts and printed matter to spread and mobilize.
But what does Zhang Chong have now? He had nothing, and even the paper he produced was focused on printing academic products.
With the existing means, it is not easy to even organize the masses, let alone build a bottom-up mass movement.
What Zhang Chong can do now is to use the machine of the Taishan Army to continuously refine and forge the people's wisdom of this era.
After eight years of development, Zhang Chong can responsibly say that in terms of civilization and morality, the Taishan Army is the highest-level group in the world.
To give a simple example, in the Taishan Army, superiors and subordinates are equal in personality. Even if a recruit sees the commander of the first army, it is just a salute.
But in the local area, kneeling and kowtowing is simply a matter of course, even if it is explicitly prohibited.
There is a cognitive issue here. Officers who have been reformed in the military have generally recognized the equality of personality, because the military is a culture of equality, and a commander will not be much better at food than a pawn like you.
As for the local people, in their hearts, they are the most inferior group of people, almost no different from wild beasts. And those good people who are popular among the people have a human appearance. How can they be worthy of them? equality? Therefore, these people look down upon themselves.
Additionally, there is a motivation for self-preservation. After all, there is a huge power gap between the common people and the officials, so these people are willing to kowtow in order to find a new home in their hearts.
What if you meet someone who cares about you and thinks you are a rebellious and unruly man because you don't kowtow, and then wants to punish you, do you think it's unfair or not?
It is precisely the above-mentioned realities and social psychology that coexist, so if you want to let the common people stand up, it is really a long-term task.
Therefore, this is where Taishan Army transcends the times. Whether it is the life style in the military, scientific life, or the emphasis on hygiene, they are all unique to this era.
But this high level needs to be maintained. Zhang Chong can't split the Taishan Army into various places and then use a spark to drive it.
If we do this, the final result will not be to enlighten people's wisdom, but rather these small sparks will be extinguished in the dark wasteland.
Therefore, Zhang Chong changed his approach, which was to use the Taishan Army as a machine, and then recruit people from all over the country to join the army, and then return to their hometowns after three years.
During the three years these people are in the Taishan Army, the army will refine them and improve their cognition and hygiene.
After these people change jobs and return to the local areas, they will work as minor officials at the grassroots level, and the original military style will be brought to the local areas by them.
As the number of these people increases and the old people gradually wither away, it will be a matter of course for them to change their customs.
By that time, there will be soil for political transformation. Otherwise, the pace will be too big and the success will fall short. It will also be easy for future generations to think that this is a dead end road, and then no one will be willing to take it.
In fact, this is the balance between Zhang Chong’s realistic thinking and ideal pursuit of politics over the years.
This process is actually quite a bit like the path planning of later generations of military administration, political training, and constitutional government.
That is to use the army to wipe out the world in the early stage, and then use the army as a seed machine of ideas to civilize the people of the world.
Then, when people's hearts are enlightened, various forms of congresses can be prepared at the local level, and finally there will be a national congress.
Once the training phase is over, a national constitution can be prepared, and then the transition from governing the country by people to governing the country according to the constitution can be achieved.
Only in this way can a complete political change be completed.
Of course, the above is a development blueprint. Based on the current reality of Datai, it will definitely be in the military and political stage for a long time. How long will this time last? Zhang Chong conservatively calculated that it would be at least a hundred years.
In these hundred years, the Taishan Army has been the core of Datai's core.
It is precisely because of the importance of the Taishan Army in future politics that its purity is what Zhang Chong wants to transform.
If the existence of the Embroidered Guards previously only allowed the Taishan Army to escape from internal struggles, the existence of the military's propaganda envoys also kept the army's ideology unified.
But these means are not enough, because Zhang Chong himself knows very well what problems the army currently has.
The first thing to bear the brunt is the composition problem in the army.
Among the current Taishan Army, a relatively high proportion come from Shanliao and ranger families.
Because the early Taishan Army was based in Mount Tai, those who were willing to join the Taishan Army at that time were Shanliao.
The Shanliao may sound like a Shanliao, but in reality they are just mountain bandits.
Given the living environment in the mountains, it is basically impossible to survive without robbing. In fact, before Zhang Chong and others entered the mountain, the living conditions of the entire Mount Tai were like this. When there was food, they were the people, and when there was no food, they were bandits.
Why are the powerful tribes around Taishan County so powerful? It is because of practicing in such high-frequency confrontations.
And what is the style of Shanliao? Basically, they don't worry about production, and enjoy taking risks to gain wealth. In other words, opportunism prevails.
As the Taishan Army develops and grows, these Shanliao are the core, so they also fill the middle ranks of each army in the process of growth.
In this way, the opportunistic style in the military continues to pervade.
The same is true for the errant elements in the military.
In the early days, those who could join the Taishan Army were the rangers who wanted wealth and wealth. These people dared to fight and kill, and they were also loyal.
Even in the early years, didn't Zhang Chong rely on loyalty to win over the team? And it once became his golden signature.
But loyalty is also harmful, that is, there are many small groups in the army. They talk about loyalty among themselves, and even openly become sworn brothers.
This kind of behavior messed up the laws of the Taishan Army.
In addition to opportunism, loyalty and cliques, there is another serious problem in the military, which is the familialization of the ranks.
In the military, some troops may have the same surname and above at the middle level, and they may be related to each other, which makes people think that this is "a certain army" rather than the Taishan Army.
In fact, there is nothing we can do about it. The environment in the Taishan area where the Taishan Army took root in the early days was too harsh. In the mountainous area, only in groups can we survive.
Blood relationship is the most primitive way of forming groups, and it is even more popular in the Taishan area. Clan and party affiliation are the only ties these people have to survive.
The Taishan Army is rooted here, and of course it recruits people who are closely related to the party.
During the period of growth, some outstanding military generals would send people to their hometowns to recruit their nephews to join the army, and some even had dozens of people join the army.
These people already have support and connections, and if they are large in number they can help each other, so they will naturally develop better than others.
The above is just the tip of the iceberg of the Taishan Army's problems. As the founder of this system, Zhang Chong understands the current situation of the Taishan Army better than anyone else.
It is precisely for this reason that Zhang Chong has been unremittingly solving these problems.
Over the years, he continued to reorganize the army, disrupting the original organization, and at the same time transferred generals of the Taishan Army to Yecheng to study in the senior general class to reduce their influence on the army.
It can be said that Zhang Chong has never stopped using his methods over the years.
But these are all silent means to moisturize things. Although they are effective, they still cannot replace a decisive battle.
Only a decisive battle can solve most of the problem.
So over the years, Zhang Chong has been looking for opportunities for this kind of decisive battle. But either because of the harsh external environment, or because of various reasons, the time was not ripe.
And now with the victory of the decisive battle of Yiluo, the Taishan Army is completely free from the pressure of the external environment. This time is suitable for a decisive battle to transform the military style.
It was precisely with this mentality that after Zhang Chong saw a case sent up from below, he decided to use the case as an opportunity to launch a decisive battle.
Everyone knows what Zhang Chong is going to do.