Jiang Dahai's battle record was dazzling.
All the pirate ships were sunk, and the pirate leader, Liu Mazi, was captured alive by him and presented to Xiao Ruxun. Other than 106 heads, the rest of the pirates sank to the bottom of the sea. Sixteen of his sailors died in battle, and twenty-three were injured. That was all.
Jiang Dahai's reputation rose in the navy from then on. After the older generation of sailors were all killed in battle, he led the new sailors who had grown up as refugees. These were all officers and soldiers of the navy that Xiao Ruxun had singlehandedly raised. Their lives were all given to them by Xiao Ruxun, and they were extremely loyal to Xiao Ruxun. They were very trustworthy.
In the end, Jiang Dahai became the chief military officer of the navy. He was only 27 years old. Of course, the average age of the navy was 27 and below, so they were quite young. Many children in their teens also eagerly joined the navy. The reputation of the navy was actually above that of the army.
This also caused dissatisfaction among some of the army officers. They also longed for war to show their existence, and the traditional concept of the army being supreme made them very unhappy.
Xiao Ruxun knew that the day of war with the Burmese natives was not far away, but before that, he had to get rid of the Spanish, make them pay tribute, and seize a share of the spice trade. He had to further establish the rules of the Nanyang business game, and establish his own position. This would make it easier for him to focus on dealing with the Burmese natives.
Jiang Dahai was absolutely loyal to Xiao Ruxun. Before he set off, he even asked Xiao Ruxun for instructions on the direction and strategy of the war. Xiao Ruxun laughed and said that he could decide for himself, but in the end, he still did not decide for himself. When they were almost at the Luzon coast, he asked for instructions again.
Xiao Ruxun only now understood Jiang Dahai's clumsy way of expressing his loyalty, but the clumsier it was, the purer it was. This young man who had been born as a refugee had no backing or foundation, and could only rely on himself. Even the entire navy officer group was promoted by him. He had no backing, or rather, only one backing, and that was himself.
Sometimes, it was necessary to let the army directly accept the command of the supreme leader, let them know the existence of the supreme leader, and let them get used to directly accepting the supreme command. This was the experience of the Song Dynasty after the chaos of the late Tang Dynasty.
That was why the early Song Dynasty had such a strange thing as a formation map that bound the hands and feet of the general. Later, in the Republic of China, the chairman of the committee often commanded beyond his rank, bypassing the army commander to command the division commander, bypassing the division commander to command the brigade commander, causing a certain sense of chaos in the army.
But regardless of what should be said, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Guangyi's original intentions were correct. Since then, the Song Dynasty no longer had a Yellow Robe on them, and the commanding power of the Central Army had always been in the hands of the Chairman. No one could replace his position.
Things like the Five Dynasties Period where the emperors would take turns to do the job, never happened again. From then on, the army was suppressed and could no longer take the initiative to support the emperor.
Even our Party has to use the political commissar to strengthen the Party's leadership over the army, not the chief military officer's leadership over the army. From this, we can see the importance of directly controlling the morale of the grass-roots troops.
When Xiao Ruxun was a general, he hated it when someone above him told him what to do. He was afraid that his command would be interfered with. Fortunately, Zhu Yijun's other strengths were not obvious, but he did a very good job of not doubting people and not using people he suspected.
Generally, even if he was not satisfied with the commander he chose, he would not interfere with the command during the war. He would even change the commander at the last minute. Generally, he would appoint the commander before the war. He would not interfere during the war, and after the war, he would continue to do the job if he was qualified. If he was not qualified, he would be removed and replaced again. He did not interfere with the command during the war.
In this regard, he did a much better job than Chong Zhen. That was why the Ming Dynasty did not collapse in Wanli, but in Chong Zhen.
However, he was still unable to bypass the civil officials and directly control the military power. He could not even get familiar with the army. If he only relied on the righteous name of the emperor to mobilize the army, no one would work for him at the critical moment.
Now that Xiao Ruxun was the ruler of the land, because there had been no war in Burma for three years, he began to worry that his army had been separated from him for a long time. He was not used to his command and even forgot about his existence. He only listened to the command of the generals and even developed into their private army.
It was only now that Xiao Ruxun deeply understood that it depended on the situation to use people without doubting them. In this era, it was impossible for a ruler to completely trust the general who led the army. The army was the foundation of everything. Only by controlling the army would one have the right to speak.
Xiao Ruxun was a general to the Ming court, so he hated the command of the court. However, as the ruler of Burma, he could not be at ease to let his generals lead the army on his behalf.
Xiao Ruxun stipulated that generals were not allowed to leave the barracks for no reason. The high-ranking generals also had to live in the barracks with the soldiers. If they left for official business, they would naturally have his order. If they left for private business, other than the few highest-ranking generals, the rest had to report to each level to maintain the discipline of the generals and the army.
Therefore, he could only frequently inspect the training of the army and personally promote the officers at the bottom level to get familiar with them. He wanted to buy people's hearts and maintain his exposure. He even repeatedly directly gave orders to a unit to carry out special operations to observe the reactions of the officers in the army.
Their reactions were good and basically satisfied Xiao Ruxun. No matter what rank the generals were, they would listen to his orders and take his orders as the highest priority. They could even violate the military rules set by the high-ranking officers.
The high-ranking officers also did not complain. At most, they only asked for confirmation when they met and asked if Xiao Ruxun could inform them in advance to avoid misunderstandings.
It was not easy for them to set the military rules, but in the end, General Xiao broke them with one sentence. This was not good.
Xiao Ruxun would always smile and say that it was good. He would definitely change next time. However, after that, he still did things his own way. Later, the officers at all levels got used to it. When they saw Xiao Ruxun's personal guards and personally written orders, they would directly move out without asking for instructions. The generals were also used to it. Since it was someone else's army, he could also directly command them.
Of course, during wartime, he would definitely not do this. That was the path to defeat. The Emperor of Song did not think that during peacetime, he would directly command the army to conduct exercises and personally reward them to buy people's hearts. However, during wartime, wasn't it asking for trouble and interfering with the general's command?
He used this method to maintain his influence in the army, especially in the army. And because the navy officers were all personally promoted by him, he would also personally reward them after the war and even personally matchmake the marriage of the high-ranking officers, so he was not worried about the navy's loyalty.
For example, he was the matchmaker for Jiang Dahai's marriage. Jiang Dahai had no parents and no one told him about marriage. He was still a bachelor at the age of 25, spending every day with the Left and Right Mistresses. It was very bitter.
After Xiao Ruxun found out about it, she personally came forward and found the daughter of a good family that Jiang Dahai had his eyes on. The wedding was also personally presided over by Xiao Ruxun. Jiang Dahai was so grateful that he shed tears. If not for the fact that he was older than Xiao Ruxun, he would probably be willing to be Xiao Ruxun's godfather.
Under such circumstances, Jiang Dahai was very respectful to him and listened to all his orders. If he was told to go east, he would not go west. Only this kind of person could make Xiao Ruxun feel at ease and give him the right to command.
"Big Sea, don't worry about me. When it comes to water battles, I'm a real layman. This time, I'm just here to get some experience. You command, I won't interfere. I'll just sit here and watch you win this battle."
Near the coast of Luzon Island, when they could vaguely see the unidentified battleship with the Monocle, Xiao Ruxun patted Jiang Dahai's shoulder and sat on a chair. His expression was calm, and he did not say a word.
Jiang Dahai relaxed and nodded. He took a deep breath and waved the flag.
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