Chapter 154 The temptation under the military reform
Li Shanchang was one of the veterans who followed Zhu Yuanzhang and fought out of the mountains of corpses and sea of blood, so he naturally understood the significance of the existence of military households.
This system gradually developed and evolved from the military settlement policy implemented during Zhu Yuanzhang's early uprising.
To be honest, the military settlement policy was an important factor that allowed Lao Zhu to quickly stand out from many powerful people in the early stages of his uprising.
It was precisely because of the military settlement that Zhu Yuanzhang was able to farm on a large scale when the country was in decline at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, which solved the problem of feeding his soldiers.
In the late Yuan Dynasty, it was a great kindness to allow soldiers to have enough to eat. Naturally, those soldiers would fight to sacrifice their lives for Zhu Yuanzhang.
There are two core points in this policy: the army fights tooth and nail during wartime, and guards the border and farms in its free time.
This is actually the militia.
There are many advantages to doing this. For example, the court basically does not need to consume more food and grass to raise troops. Sometimes the food army in the military camp may not be used up, and it can also replenish the national treasury.
How could Zhu Yuanzhang not like such a good thing?
So after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, he directly extended the military garrison to the entire Ming Dynasty, allowing the Ming Dynasty's three million soldiers to reclaim wasteland and guard the borders.
But the reason why the military household system has so many advantages is not because it is really perfect, but because it seriously infringes on the interests of a group.
That is the bottom military household itself.
Soldiers had to work hard both in fighting and farming, and they also had to work hard as laborers and pay taxes.
If you are about to starve to death, you will do this kind of thing. As long as you can survive, it doesn't matter whether you work hard or work hard.
But after the Ming Dynasty was established, especially after the society became more prosperous and stable, the situation was different.
The status of military households was lower than that of civilian households, and they had to work more and contribute more, and were subject to the control of their superiors, without any freedom.
Since then, military households have immediately become the most unpopular group, and are jokingly called stinky military men by the common people. Those children of military households at the bottom have trouble even marrying wives.
Because according to the regulations of the Ming Dynasty, if you are a military household, your son will still be a military household. No one wants their descendants to become military households.
But to be honest, this is not the darkest thing. By the middle and late Ming Dynasty, military fields were occupied by officers in large quantities. Military households directly became slaves of the officers. Not only did they have to work for free every day, but when the war started
Sometimes I have to copy the guy and fight for my life.
To be honest, under this system, it is inevitable that the combat effectiveness of the Ming army will be low.
No matter who is placed in the position of a military household, it is impossible for him to give life-long loyalty to his superiors.
With the army structured like this, could it be that emperors and prime ministers like Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Shanchang, who had been fighting all their lives, really couldn't see the hidden dangers?
Of course they knew, but in the early years of the Ming Dynasty in the original history, there was nothing they could do and they couldn't solve it at all.
A large number of people with vested interests have formed in the army. These people are the hereditary officers at the grassroots level of the army. If the military households and the military garrison system are moved, they will be tampering with their cheese.
These people are all holding the handle of a knife, and if they don't do it right, they will cause trouble.
Even Lao Zhu can only treat this with caution.
Zhu Biao understood very well that one generation solves the problems of one generation. No matter how aggressive Zhu Yuanzhang was, he could not really solve the problems of the next three or four generations. He was a man, not a god, and he could not really build a Ming Dynasty with a perfect system.
, so that future generations can be emperors with peace of mind.
Unfortunately, no one could provide a reasonable solution to these problems until the end of the Ming Dynasty.
Throughout the Ming Dynasty, from the emperor down to the bureaucrats at all levels, everyone was muddle along, demolishing the east wall to make up for the west wall.
Li Shanchang had many thoughts in his mind. An old man like him who had worked hard from the grassroots level quickly understood the beauty of Zhu Biao's policy.
Zhu Biao has indeed moved the grassroots military officers' cheese. After all, whether it is disarmament or reorganizing military households into civilian households, they are reducing the rights of those grassroots generals.
But at the same time Zhu Biao gave them a bigger piece of cheese.
Joining the cabinet, the civil service system under the rule of the Six Ministries, and becoming a member of the public service.
There are fifteen provinces, more than 1,400 counties, and numerous states, prefectures, and offices in the world. How many grassroots government positions can these places provide, and how many official positions can they provide?
If grass-roots government officials are given formal rank-level official positions, then the officials above them will naturally be higher in rank and receive better treatment. Everyone understands these things.
Moreover, it is easy to work in these places, and you can get more salary. You don’t have to guard the border and live a poor life. It is estimated that the poor soldiers will break their heads and squeeze in.
"Your Highness, do you mean to separate the county yamen's jail officials from the administrative system of the county yamen? Set up another yamen?" Li Shanchang asked.
"That's the idea!"
"Of course, the chief can no longer be called a pian. I think it's better to rename him the Inspection Department completely."
"Inspection departments are established in each province, prefecture, state, and county, and are under the unified jurisdiction of the Ministry of Punishment."
“The county-level inspection department is one level lower than the county magistrate and is subject to the dual supervision of the state-level inspection department and the county magistrate. However, his real superior department is the superior inspection department, so he will not only be under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate, but also be under the jurisdiction of the county magistrate.
But it won’t completely become a vassal of the county magistrate and can handle cases independently!”
"Wonderful!"
"Your Highness, this is a wonderful idea."
Li Shanchang never forgets to flatter him when he talks about things.
"This is similar to the administrative system of the Metropolitan Procuratorate. In this way, the Inspection Department is not only subject to double supervision and jurisdiction, but also has independent work space. In addition, the Inspection Department is recruited from the army to serve as officers, and it also has military personnel.
With Fang as the backend, the inspection department will no longer be restricted by anyone when hunting down robbers locally, and can completely free up its hands and feet to do things. In this way, the efficiency will be greatly improved."
"The imperial court's jurisdiction over the grassroots will also be brought to a higher level."
Zhu Biao smiled when he heard this and added: "The most important thing is that all the generals in the army have basically practiced the thirty-six postures of body training. Even those soldiers who have been brushed off have a strong foundation in martial arts. These people can catch criminals in the local area."
It will be more convenient!”
In fact, there is another benefit that Zhu Biao did not mention, that is, these army sergeants will definitely promote the Thirty-six Exercises to their relatives, friends, children, nephews, and descendants, and then these people will spread it to a wider range!
In this way, the thirty-six postures of body training will gradually become popular among the entire people in the future.
Although Zhu Biao did not explicitly advocate this matter, he acquiesced to it.
Now that there is an animal husbandry base like Zhen Mo Xiao World, the restrictions on meat have been greatly improved, and with these monster meats, the strength of the warriors in the army will once again usher in a new round of rapid progress.
Coupled with the nationwide promotion of two improved varieties of rice and various high-yielding crops.
At this time, it is most appropriate to decentralize the thirty-six physical exercises to the people and start an era of martial arts training for all.
The future Ming Dynasty will be an era of warriors, not immortal cultivators.
This is the unanimous idea of Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao.
In short, this wave of military reform is a win-win or even win-win situation. No party will suffer losses, and naturally there will be no trouble.
In addition to the fact that the imperial court had to allocate a large amount of treasure money to fund the construction of the Inspection Department.
Of course, this is still a small problem for Zhu Biao.
Even if the treasure banknotes are not enough, it doesn't matter. He has already thought of issuing Ming national bonds directly with the national credit of Ming Dynasty as an endorsement!
When the time comes, are you afraid that you won’t have any money to use?
nonexistent!
News that the military system was to be reformed quickly spread from the imperial court to all directions.
At first, grassroots generals everywhere were a little panicked, thinking that the imperial court was going to remove them, but soon after the officials who came to read out the policy explained it over and over again, everyone took it to heart.
It turns out that the plan is not to remove them from their posts, but to adjust them, and maybe even promote them.
This quickly calmed down the panic in the military camp.
Three months later.
The right guard of Gaizhou, the capital of Liaodong, has a residence of one thousand households.
Qianhu Shen Jin and his subordinates Deputy Qianhu and Qianbaihu were sitting together and also discussing the military reform of the imperial court.
"Brothers, what do you think of this military reform?" Shen Jin glanced at everyone below and asked.
"Brother, we all think it's a good thing anyway!"
"We have been fighting with our heads tied to our belts for half our lives. This time His Majesty and His Highness the Crown Prince have graciously given us a chance to retire, so of course we must seize it!"
"Yes, that's right. If you work in the Inspection Department, you don't have to stay in the frontier and suffer. You can also enjoy the colorful world in the mainland. Even if you get old and can't work in the future, you will still have a portion of the royal food to eat. What's more?
What’s so hesitant about!”
"To be honest, the changes in the mainland are not small now. I went back to my hometown to visit relatives on vacation last year and was almost blinded by it. If I could be assigned to be the director of the inspection department in a more prosperous state or county, I would laugh out of my dreams!
"
Everyone kept talking and laughing, but Shen Jin looked calm, and the discussion gradually became quieter.
There was a clever Baihu who couldn't help but smile and flatter him: "I think he is like Brother Shen. He is a fifth-grade Qianhu, and he also has military merit. If he takes the initiative to apply for transfer, he will at least be the director of the inspection department of the first government.
If I can continue to move around, go to a richer city, and then be in charge of a prison, then it will not be simple to enjoy the world, don't you think so?"
"Yes, yes!" Everyone laughed again.
"I won't go!" Shen Jin shook his head silently.
"And I advise all brothers not to be blinded by these petty gains and lose sight of the real key nodes?"
When everyone heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other, not understanding what Shen Jin meant by this.
"Brother Shen, tell me in detail, brothers are all illiterate roughnecks, how can they understand the twists and turns of the imperial court!" Deputy Qianhu Ma Biaohan said with a smile.
"Don't you see? There will be big moves in the follow-up to this military reform. This is just the beginning."
"The transfer policy of the Inspection Department was issued in conjunction with the military's order to abolish military households and lay off soldiers. To put it bluntly, this is weeding out the weak!"
"You can carefully read the regulations sent to me above. All soldiers over thirty years old who are not motivated will be automatically placed on the application list. All those who are injured will also be given priority."
"If that's not enough, then we will implement a last-place elimination system to eliminate the weak ones based on their performance in the military."
"I have never heard that such a good thing is for the weak. If this is true, then all the officials in the court must have lost their minds."
"Tell me, is this possible?" Shen Jin asked.
Everyone shook their heads when they heard this.
When Shen Jin said this, he couldn't help but grinned and continued: "That's all right, I can be 100% sure. Regardless of the good benefits and benefits of the inspection department being transferred to the inspection department, as long as you can stay, the benefits and benefits in the military will only be better in the future.
better."
"At the very least, there will be a pension policy, and it will definitely be extended to all soldiers, so that no one will have any worries!"
When everyone heard this, they all hesitated.
Although the welfare benefits of the inspection department are good, what Shen Jin said is not unreasonable!
Seeing that everyone was silent, Shen Jin once again dropped a bombshell: "I will tell you another top-secret news I got from above. The imperial court has obtained a kind of meat called monster meat, which can increase the speed of warriors' cultivation and help warriors break through the martial arts.
The role of bottlenecks!”
"The quantity of this kind of meat is huge, and it is very likely that it will be distributed to every army sergeant as part of his salary in the future."
"I can tell you clearly that this thing will only be supplied to the military now. Don't even think about it if it goes to the Inspection Department!"
Everyone couldn't help but take a breath when they heard this.
Even though it has been more than 20 years since the spiritual energy was revived, treasures of heaven, materials and earth are still rare but hard to come by, especially those that can improve one's cultivation level.
There is simply no such thing on the market, and even if it does exist, it will be snapped up immediately.
Most of the treasures of heaven, materials and earth were monopolized in the hands of the imperial court, which was used to reward meritorious soldiers.
For example, the Shen Qianhu in front of me once conquered a different world because he was selected, and he made great achievements in it and received a pill.
It was with the help of this pill that he broke through from the peak of Rong Jin to the current level of energy transformation.
As for the people below, let alone eating similar heavenly materials and earthly treasures that can improve their cultivation, they have never even seen them.
Now I suddenly heard that in the future, the military may treat this kind of thing as salary and pay it to everyone every month. No one can resist this temptation.
After all, compared to high-ranking officials and high salaries and glory and wealth, the most tempting thing for these military generals is this kind of good thing that can actually improve their cultivation.
This is the foundation for a warrior to settle down and live his life.
Not to mention that if you can break through your innate talent and become a ninth-grade martial artist, you can also receive preferential treatment from high-ranking officials, generous salaries, and even increase your life span.
Which one is less important and which one is more important is clearly distinguished by everyone.
"For the sake of all of us brothers, I will only say this once. If you feel that you are sure of breaking through the innate ability, you can stay and rush. If you feel that there is little hope, or if you are tired of fighting and killing, you can go for inspection.
Si Yanglao."
Shen Jin looked around at everyone, and his eyes became calm again: "As for the way forward, it depends on your brothers' own choice."