Therefore, Zhang Xiu first tried a new military merit system in the Yongliang Army, and in Huainan, he implemented a new policy of clean government in response to the serious corruption of the bureaucracy during the reign of Yuan Shu.

Let's talk about the military merit system first. Soldiers go into battle to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions, and then they are rewarded and promoted. This is a means of motivating soldiers to fight bravely since the beginning of human war, and it has always been the most important and basic means of motivating and killing the enemy.

However, in China's long history of warfare, the military merit system was born from clan society and tribal warfare, developed in the rise and succession of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and was only formally written in the hands of the Qin State in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In what can be called the most famous change in ancient times, the military merit system was officially written. In the hands of Shang Jun, the Qin State established a system of cultivation and warfare with the system of military merit and the encouragement of cultivation as the core!

If it is said that it is because of the encouragement of cultivation and weaving that the national strength of the Qin State is strong enough to rival the six countries, then the military merit system can be said to be the absolute guarantee that the combat effectiveness of the Qin army crushes the six heroes.

For the time being, we will encourage farming and weaving. Let's just say that this military merit system is of epoch-making significance in the history of Chinese warfare!

This is because the rewards for military exploits in the past were all based on the subjectivity of the commanders, and they were quite arbitrary.

To put it simply, a soldier has made meritorious contributions to the enemy, but he may not be able to get a reward. Or that they have been rewarded, but the amount of the reward is uncertain. If the commander is in a good mood, has a stingy personality, and is well-considered, then the soldiers who fight at the bottom will receive many rewards. But if the chief officer is in a bad mood, stingy by nature, and lacks consideration, then it is likely that you will kill the enemy and still drink the same porridge and rice porridge as usual.

This is called subjectivity.

Each person has their own subjectivity, and each person's subjectivity is not constant and is often affected by various factors. Therefore, relying on the subjectivity of the commander in charge to be responsible for rewarding military merits is really quite arbitrary and uncertain.

Shang Ying's military merit system was proposed to solve this problem. Only by stipulating the rewards for killing the enemy and making meritorious contributions in an objective and explicit manner can we achieve fairness, justice and openness!

This system is to tell all the Qin soldiers that as long as you go to war, you will definitely be rewarded if you kill the enemy. Regardless of whether the military commander rewards you after the battle, take the ears of the enemy soldiers you have killed, and find the country to honor the rich reward!

There is no doubt that the military merit system is quite objective and fair, so it is not surprising that it can stimulate the warlike desire and combat effectiveness of the Qin soldiers to the greatest extent.

In fact, it was the Wei State that implemented the military merit system earlier than Shang Ying, and even the Chu State Wu Qi Reform Law also implemented the military merit system earlier than the Qin State. However, Shang Ying was the latecomer, and not only established the most complete and robust military merit system, but most importantly, the policy of heavy agriculture and the military merit system complemented each other to build a farming and warfare system.

If you compare it, you can see how powerful the military merit system of the Qin State is based on the heavy agricultural policy. Wei relied on the military merit system to become the strongest country in the early Warring States period, and Chu relied on the military merit system to expand its territory to the first of the seven heroes. But none of them have the overarching political and economic reforms to match. And the Qin State, which has an overall political and economic reform, swept away the Six Kingdoms after the implementation of the military merit system!

Facts have proved that rewards for military exploits are a must. But first of all, your country must have money and food for reward. Obviously, Li Kui of Wei and Wu Qi of Chu did not have such comprehensive changes as Shang Ying, and did not help their own countries establish a developed feudal economic and political system. As for the Qin State, with a strong economic foundation as the backing and a sound and advanced political bureaucratic system as a guarantee, it is natural that the power of the military merit system has been brought into full play.

To put it bluntly, the military merit system is actually very simple to formulate and operate, but if you don't have money, food, and land as support, and without the political system and government to protect you, no matter how good it is, it's all a floating cloud.

This is the main reason why Zhang Xiu only implemented the military merit system in the Yongliang army first. It is really because Huainan's economy is still in the recovery stage, relying on Hebei's millions of old grain, it can only ensure its own food, and cannot ensure the long-term implementation of the military merit system.

Of course, there is another factor, that is, to regulate the military style of the Yongliang Army.

In fact, in Dong Zhuo's era, the Xiliang Army implemented the "military merit system". At that time, the reward for the military exploits of the Xiliang soldiers was to condone their burning, killing, and plundering!

That's right, you read that right! This is Dong Zhuo's version of the special military merit reward system! After every battle, Dong Zhuo would connive at the soldiers and horses to plunder the Quartet, in fact, it was fundamentally out of consideration for the reward of military merits!

In fact, every prince will consider the issue of military merit rewards, after all, it is directly related to the loyalty of military soldiers. It's just that Dong Zhuo himself is tyrannical and wolfly, and the way he finally chooses "reward" is different. And judging from the performance of Xiliang Bing, it seems to be very successful!

It's just that when Zhang Xiu comes here, he naturally can't continue the vicious circle of these brutal and unkind evil deeds. The perpetrator of violence will eventually die by violence! This sentence is what Zhang Xiu said most often to his subordinates.

Because from a certain point of view, Dong Zhuo actually died in his own hands. For a long time, Dong Zhuo thought that his connivance and protection of his subordinates could be exchanged for the greatest loyalty, but in the end, under the connivance and protection, personal selfishness can only grow crazy! Lu Bu, the righteous son who is regarded as his own son, stabbed him to death because of a maidservant, and the first thought of Li Dao Guo Yan, who is regarded as a humerus, after his death, was not to avenge him, but to directly disperse the group and share the luggage, and go back to their respective homes to find their own mothers!

Whoever does evil will perish with evil!

Therefore, Zhang Xiu must reverse this long-standing incorrect "reward" practice, so Zhang Xiu first implemented the military merit system in the Xiliang Legion, in order to lead the Xiliang soldiers to a virtuous circle. If one day he is cut down by his own subordinates for personal gain, it will be a shame and a big loss.

After talking about the necessity of implementing the military merit system, it is necessary to mention the foundation for supporting the military merit system -- the development of economic production.

After all, if you want to reward, you must first have money and food to use to reward, right? If killing an enemy soldier can only reward one copper plate, I think no one will be willing to hunt down the enemy's deserters in the future. Catch up for a few miles, you can slash and kill an enemy, get a copper coin for the reward, and then eat a meal of five copper plates, well, you should chase it for me, at most I will pay you two coins!

The millions of grains and grass from Hebei really solved Zhang Xiu's urgent need. But the grain will always run out, and production must be developed to ensure the normal operation of its own forces.

So there is a sentence that is still very practical - development is the last word, and the economy is the center!

Of course, so far, Huainan has done its best in resuming production and developing production. In the early days of occupying Huainan, they made a big effort to settle fields. A considerable amount of fertile land has been reclaimed, and many water conservancy projects and infrastructure, including Shaobei, have been repaired. This is also an important guarantee for Huainan to be able to survive the world.

and the later food plan supply system, which was even more difficult to maintain the last glimmer of hope and confidence of the people of Huainan for life, and helped Huainan through the most difficult years.

After the Battle of Shouchun, Zhang Xiu streamlined the army and always maintained the size of the army at about 150,000. Compared with the Yuan Shu period, it was less than half, and the number of Huainan soldiers dropped from more than 300,000 to about 100,000. Some of the remaining 200,000 were killed and wounded in the battle, but most of them were laid off by Zhang Xiu and incorporated into the Tuntian Army under the command of Li Tong, a general of Diannong Zhonglang, who was responsible for the reclamation of Tuntian, the construction of water conservancy and the development of production.

Now, after Hebei has supported large-scale grain and grass, Huainan has finally begun to restore and develop agricultural production.

Of course, in these production policies, Zhang Xiu's role is crucial. After all, the major he studied in university in later generations was economics, and it was no problem to deal with such a simple economic model in ancient times.

However, it must also be recognized that these are all step-by-step plans, and if we want to manage our own forces well in this troubled world and crush them economically, we must have an advanced economic policy.

However, any economic policy must be protected by a corresponding political system and other superstructures. There have been countless reforms in Chinese history, the most famous and successful of which is the Shang Dynasty Reform, which achieved a comprehensive political and economic reform and introduced the Qin State into a new era!

Most of the famous reforms in ancient times, such as Li Kui's reform, Wu Qi's reform, Hufu cavalry shooting, Chao Cuo's cutting of the domain, Wang Mang's new policy, Qingli's new policy, Wang Anshi's reform, and Zhang Juzheng's Wanli New Deal, were mostly failures, or rather incomplete successes. The reason for this is basically that the focus is only on political reform or economic reform, which makes the reform limited, and even leads to the final failure.

Zhang Xiu, who is familiar with history, naturally cannot let these repeat themselves in himself. Political and economic reform must go hand in hand, and it is crucial that the gun is in hand at all times!

How to say it, whether it is in peacetime or troubled times, Taizu's sentence about the power coming out of the barrel of the gun is very representative. It's good to work with a gun in your hand! Violent machines are best used!

Speaking of political and economic reform, it is natural to mention Zhang Xiu's "great achievements" in eradicating the wealthy class in Huainan!

Because the clan of the family is strong, it not only represents the political power of one side, but also represents most of the economic wealth. Cutting them on is in line with a two-pronged approach!

Fortunately, in turbulent and turbulent times, it is the time when reform is most likely to succeed. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when annexation and invasion wars were frequent, the Seven Heroes all achieved varying degrees of success in reform. Guan Zhong and King Qi Wei of Qi, Shen Bu of Han, Li Kui of Wei, King Wuling of Zhao of Zhao, Wu Qi of Chu, King Yan Zhao and Le Yi of Yan, and Shangjun of Qin all obtained varying degrees of benefits.

However, in the Taihean era and the reunification of the country, the success rate of reform was outrageously low. Chao mistakenly cut the feudal domain and caused the rebellion of the Seven Kingdoms, provoking himself to be killed as a scapegoat; Wang Mang succeeded in usurping power, but a reform immediately led to an uprising from all sides, and was finally overthrown; Wang Anshi and Zhang Juzheng both made good changes at the beginning, but after the reform was deepened, they couldn't grasp it, and it also provoked a counterattack from vested interests. There are many examples, but almost none of them have been successful.

Therefore, the current environment of separating the heroes is the best external environment for Zhang Xiu to carry out reforms. Coupled with Zhang Xiu's meticulous and step-by-step plan, the powerful clans of the clan in Huainan were divided and suppressed until they were finally swept to the end by the iron-blooded policy, which seems incredible, but in fact it is a matter of course.

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