Four hundred and twentieth chapters persuasion (four)
Count Rostovtsev folded his hands and fingers on the armrest and listened quietly to Dmitri's story. He had no intention of interrupting, as if he was a quiet and handsome man.
After a long time, Dmitri finally finished what he wanted to say. Then he raised his head and looked at Count Rostovtsev with gleaming eyes, and asked sincerely: "Count, what do you think of my suggestion?"
Count Rostovtsev finally moved, like a marble sculpture that suddenly came to life, as if it had thawed out of the ice.
He replied slowly: "Objectively speaking, your opinion is very reasonable. Our army does have these stubborn diseases, and your method can also alleviate a series of problems caused by these stubborn diseases!"
Dmitri frowned slightly unconsciously, because he felt that his method was not to alleviate stubborn diseases, but to eliminate these problems. Could it be that the wise Count Rostovtsev could not see the benefits of his method?
?
Count Rostovtsev seemed to have read through Dmitri's mind. He asked slowly: "Your method is like that, but there is one most important problem!"
Dmitri asked a little unconvinced: "What's the problem?"
Count Rostovtsev smiled slightly and said: "The problem of serfdom!"
Dmitri was stunned, not understanding what Count Rostovtsev wanted to express, but before he could ask the question, Count Rostovtsev gave the answer:
"You mean to implement a universal conscription system to replace the current recruitment system, right?"
Dmitri nodded. He had made it very clear just now that the current recruitment system is a piece of shit and must be changed.
Count Rostovtsev tapped his fingers on the armrest and replied slowly: "Then the question comes! Where are you going to recruit troops?"
Dmitri was stunned. He was about to say that the conscription was not among the vast number of Russians, but when the answer came to his lips, he suddenly remembered a big question. That is, did the vast number of Russians include serfs?
If it is included, then the serf owners will definitely quit, because these serfs are their private property. In the past, when recruiting soldiers, the state paid for the use rights of the serfs purchased from them. But now they will be taken away if they don’t get a dime for recruiting soldiers.
Property, how can you agree to this?
Well, if the scope of conscription does not include the vast serf class, then the problem arises again, because 60% to 70% of the Russian population are serfs. Apart from these and the aristocratic group, the number of remaining "free people" is too small
, can’t support a sufficient army at all, and Russia’s land area is so large, too few troops are not enough, okay?
In other words, if Dmitry's military reforms are to be implemented, the interests of the serf owners will be touched first. This is simply taking food from the tiger's mouth, okay?
Dmitry suddenly broke into a cold sweat, because his reform was tantamount to declaring war on the majority of serf owners. With the current strength of the conservative forces, it would be easy to tear him alive. If he said that he would implement his plan rudely, first of all
We must abolish serfdom!
Count Rostovtsev smiled and said slowly: "It seems that you have realized what the problem is? If you want to carry out the reforms you want, you must abolish the serfdom system, otherwise everything will be impossible!"
Dmitri nodded palely. Only now did he understand why there was little response when he promoted his reform policy at the military academy, and why after he discussed this issue with Crown Prince Alexander, the Crown Prince didn't like to talk to him.
Where are the roots?
I'm afraid that in the eyes of Crown Prince Alexander and his colleagues, his approach was not fundamentally different from that of the Decembrists. He was just attacking the serfdom system in a different package.
Dmitri suddenly smiled bitterly. He used to find it strange that his views on political issues were no worse than Duke Baryatinsky's, and he could often put forward some thought-provoking suggestions, but Crown Prince Alexander always treated him with aloofness.
.
He always thought it was because Baryatinsky had a better personal relationship with Crown Prince Alexander. Now it seems that in the eyes of Crown Prince Alexander, he is probably an invisible Decemberist. And Nicholas I hated December the most.
As a party member, naturally, no matter how capable he is, Crown Prince Alexander would not dare to get too close to him. This is for fear of getting angry!
After a while, Dmitri sighed dejectedly and admitted: "Count, it seems that I am Meng Lang. These opinions of mine are really just to make people laugh. It seems that changing the conscription system is a dead end. I was wrong!"
Count Rostovtsev was still so calm because he knew that Dmitri still had not recognized the reality and thought that as long as he opposed the serfdom system without knowing it, he could implement other reforms. It can only be said that this child is really naive.
ah!
Sure enough, Dmitri added: "Since changing the conscription system is a dead end, it seems that the only way to make adjustments is from the army's command structure first!"
Count Rostovtsev remained calm because he knew that this unlucky boy wanted to do something stupid again. Is it that simple to move the superstructure? Naive!
"I think we should learn from Prussia and set up a general staff!"
Count Rostovtsev smiled, because Dmitri guessed exactly the same as him and was indeed prepared to take this path of separating military affairs from government and military orders.
To put it simply, the so-called separation of military, political, and military orders means the separation of the organizations that maintain troops and those that use them. The organization that maintains troops is responsible for peacetime recruitment, training, and management functions. The organization that uses troops is solely responsible for combat command, control, and coordination.
The military and administrative departments are responsible for formulating military policies, army development plans, education and training, officer assessment and promotion, and reserve management and other administrative matters. The military command department is responsible for the army's combat establishment, combat readiness, combat mobilization and other specific military operations.
To put it simply, one is responsible for peacetime management and formulation of overall plans, while the other is responsible for fighting wars. The military and administrative departments can be managed by civilian personnel, while the military command department is managed by professional soldiers.
In later generations, the national defense system of the Western system basically followed the routine of separation of military orders and military affairs. The Minister of Defense or the Navy, the Minister of Army was responsible for military affairs, and the chiefs of general staff of the Army and Navy were responsible for the military orders department. Each performed their own duties and worked together to be responsible for the head of state.
The benefits of this are obvious, but the problems are also obvious for Russia in this era. In the simplest terms, it has greatly weakened the powers of the Minister of War and the Minister of Navy. The current Minister of Navy and Army is responsible for military, political and military orders.
, they are in charge of everything, and from now on they will no longer have the power to command the troops. Do you think they can be happy?