Establishing the Army

"In short, the construction of the army's combat strength will be decided by you professionals. I will listen to your recommendations. At the same time, when it comes to ideological work within the army, I will have the political affairs department step up its efforts. The sole purpose is to build a powerful army."

Chen Cheng looked at the two men as he spoke.

"Furthermore, from squad formations all the way up to army level, the First Army will be assigned one or two political affairs officers. They will be the primary force behind the army's ideological development.

They will be responsible only for the ideological work of soldiers and officers, while also supervising combat commanders. They must not interfere in military command."

Chen Cheng had not discussed this arrangement with Doyle and the others, because ideological development—especially the ideological development of an armed force like the military—was the same in every plane.

He could not allow the newly established First Army to remain like a traditional noble army, obeying only its lord or commanding general.

In truth, there were no longer any lords or commanding generals on Chen Cheng's side.

Traditional armies were loyal to their lords because, beyond being soldiers, they were also the lord's subjects. There was a direct relationship of interests and rule between them and their lord.

The same applied to commanding generals, because the army's supplies, soldiers' wages, and everything else were controlled by the commanding general.

But things were different now. Although Prince Pingbei held a princely title, the North City region recruiting soldiers for the First Army was not his territory.

As for the distribution of military funds, Chen Cheng intended to make it a vertical system in the future. In other words, soldiers' pay would not pass through the commanding general,