The affairs of the navy can be messed around and pestered as a prophet, but the affairs of the army are very different.

Navy, navy, more people's mentality is to cuddle the grass and beat rabbits.

No matter how bad it is, there is still a navy that can protect the sea frontier.

Starting from scratch is most of the time easier than reforming on the old system.

There are too many problems faced by the army's military reform.

First of all, the most serious problem is what to do with the old army and the new army?

Taking history as a mirror, we can know the rise and fall. The lesson of the previous dynasty is here, Emperor Taizu was actually dismissed as a postman, and then laid off and re-employed as a soldier, but the result was not paid, so he reversed.

Experience is here, and it's impossible not to learn from it.

Dashun is a conscription system as a whole, and there is no problem with this.

At this time, the conscription system was restored, and it was purely a desire to destroy the country.

Who is a soldier? Who is not in the army? All of them are soldiers, and the conscription system of 200 million people is to fight the Zenith in this era?

Not all of them are soldiers, are they rich people as soldiers or poor people as soldiers? Conscription into "Stone Trenchers", or Zhuangding?

The poor are conscripted, which is to starve the whole family to death; The homesteaders became soldiers, which accelerated the bankruptcy and land annexation of the homesteaders; Rich people become soldiers, and some of them have a way to change the day.

Conscription was no play, at least not until land reform. Land reform is 100,000 times more difficult than military reform, and carrying out land reform for the sake of military reform is like boiling a pot of water to catch the sun first.

In view of the experience of the previous dynasty in not paying military salaries to soldiers, relatively speaking, the military salaries issued by Dashun's recruitment system are still enough to live.

In particular, the children of the poor are very enthusiastic to go to the army and eat with their mouths.

However, problems also arise.

The life of ordinary people is not so good, and being a soldier is a good way out.

Since being a soldier is a good way out, and Dashun is not bad for soldiers, at least there is a medal treatment. So if the father didn't save enough money for the landlord, of course, he hoped that his son would take his place and continue to be a soldier.

After being a soldier for a long time, the people in the army are familiar with it, and when they really want to recruit and replenish the soldiers, they must give priority to the sons of veterans to become soldiers.

The most important thing is that Dashun does not have a system of demobilizing troops at all, and one of the first issues to be considered in order to carry out military reform this time is to dismantle a number of troops.

So, who to remove?

If the local chief official is allowed to be dismissed, if the chief official is a good person, when the dismissal is made, the young and strong will definitely be removed first.

Qingzhuang has been laid off, and he can still find some other work to do and eat with his mouth.

The old, weak, sick and disabled, laid off, and left it alone, isn't that forcing people to death?

In these years, it is still mainly based on digging in the soil, and what kind of life the people who have been laid off depend on is a big question.

If you can't afford to eat, it's the other way around, you Li Zicheng can become an emperor if you don't pay a soldier, why don't I dare to give it a try?

The secretary of the military government did not raise questions on the issue of redistributing powers and responsibilities in this military reform, but first raised questions on the issue of dismantling the old army.

"There is no problem with the formation of a new army. But the troops that existed before, should they be raised or not? ”

"If you raise it, if you train another 200,000 new troops, the treasury will definitely not be able to raise it."

"The ordnance was served, according to twenty taels per person, which is four million taels; The annual military salary is another four million taels. plus training consumption and so on, 10 million taels a year. This can't be raised anyway. ”

"If you don't raise it, how will the old army be abolished?"

Liu Yu has been prepared for this for a long time, the affairs of the army are different from those of the navy, the navy wants to be a prophet, and the army's military reform must be made clear one by one.

"Now in the whole country, not counting the government soldiers and light cavalry of Zhichong Prefecture, there are about 500,000 troops. There are very few people who can really fight. ”

"If we can completely dismantle and replace the new army, it will not be achieved overnight, and it will be even more difficult to ask for delay."

"The training office that is separated is not subordinate to the military government, nor is it subordinate to the local envoys and the general power of the town guard, but is directly responsible to the superiors."

"They go to the barracks and select the soldiers according to their amounts. In this way, it is guaranteed that the selected recruits are young and strong, because they are responsible for the recruits who come to receive them, and not for the local garrison officers. ”

The military government Shangshu interrupted Liu Yu's words.

"I don't think there's any problem with the selection of troops and the responsibility of the superiors, and it is true that the relationship in the process of dismissal can be eliminated. I want to ask the eagle uncle, it is the selected soldiers, all of them are old and weak, what should I do? Is it possible to make them have no livelihood? ”

"Many soldiers are succeeded by their fathers. Although it is a recruitment, I Dashun has my own national conditions here, and it is better to be a soldier than to be hungry at home. These people have no land, no crafts, and can only serve as soldiers. ”

"If these people don't deal with it well, they will only be afraid of change."

The secretary of the military government also knew very well that this matter was mentioned by the emperor, and in the end, the emperor made the decision. Therefore, if you say a thousand ways and ten thousand, you should grasp one thing: easy change may lead to your instability, you have to think clearly.

If you have money, the conscription system is the easiest to solve, spend money to raise it, and raise it until you die.

The problem is that there is no money.

Dashun's annual financial revenue is only 30 million taels, a series of changes have not yet been implemented, and there is no hope of raising the annual income to 40 million in a short period of time.

There is a potential for land tax, and the policy of not raising taxes but verifying the acres of land plus apportioning the land into the acres is not a problem, and it is not a problem to mention 45 million.

But this difficulty is much greater than that of the military reform, and the emperor does not dare to touch it for the time being, at least before the military reform, Liu Yu estimates that he will not dare to touch it.

Liu Yu naturally guessed this question a long time ago and thought about it carefully.

"Now that I have recovered the Western Regions and the Northeast, there has already been a Hetao. These places are all good places to open up wasteland and grow grain. ”

"Those who have been laid off will either have no land or continue to receive a salary for two years, and after two years, the state will no longer care about it."

Or, go to the northwest, northeast, Hetao and other places to reclaim wasteland. According to a soldier's salary of two taels of silver for one month, the salary for three years is seventy taels of silver. ”

"These seventy taels of silver can be used to buy cattle, farm tools, and migration expenses."

"Some migrated to the Western Regions, and the other part migrated to the coast of the Whale Sea, such as Vladivostok, the Ussuri River, Heilongjiang and other places. It can not only be solid, but also allow them to have some work. ”

"I have a charter for going to the shores of the Whale Sea to reclaim the wilderness. Rye, buckwheat, oats, etc., from the Rakshasa country, can be grown there. In addition, soybeans, potatoes, etc. can be planted, thousands of miles of uninhabited, as long as you are willing to do it, land is not a problem. ”

"It just so happens that the Western Regions are newly established, and some immigrants are also needed. You can choose from these layoffs, and the money is supposed to be spent. Wouldn't it be abolished, and the Western Regions wouldn't spend money on immigration? It's a great way to kill two birds with one stone. ”

On this point, he had already spoken to the Emperor in the previous recital.

When I was in Weihai, I also kept paving this road.

Immigration is a matter of spending less money later on.

In the early stage, you have to immigrate, and you can't buy food locally if you have money. When the population grows, you can buy food for less money, and you don't need to transport it from the mainland.

Take the sea road to Vladivostok, and up the river is a fine river valley steppe. Above, there is the plain area of Xingkai Lake and the Ussuri River, and he has also sent people to investigate there, not a large swamp like the Sanjiang Plain, but a completely reclaimable dryland grassland.

If you go by land, it's a long road of death and life.

But if you can take the sea route, it's much simpler, a maximum of a month's journey. Vladivostok has emigrated thousands of people and hoarded large quantities of food.

The soldiers in the Songhua River and Mudanjiang areas are not short of cattle and horses, and they are short of money, so they can drive these big animals to Vladivostok to sell.

The place is remote, and there is no possibility of marketing the grain. Before the large-scale reclamation of the Western Regions, the price of grain there was the lowest, because it could not be shipped and sold.

Immigrants can ensure that local food is sold, and it can make food profitable. In addition to the official reclamation, since food is profitable, there are more people who spend money to buy "population", which is unofficial immigration, or human trafficking.

The money of the imperial court, the official immigrants, spent silver to buy local grain.

The local people, who sold grain to get silver, bought unofficial people from Liu Yu as "long-term workers", and continued to expand the planting area and breed cattle and horses.

With a two-pronged approach, the speed of immigration is faster and the cost is lower.

Having controlled the coast of the Whale Sea, the lands further north were sooner or later Dashun. In addition, Hokkaido, to the east, is also a place where food can be grown, and it is all enclosed and occupied, and it is impossible to do it without a population.

Of course, these retrenched soldiers cannot go to work as long-term laborers for the locals, and they cannot change a horse for a person.

So the price is a little higher.

His offer to the emperor was that he could immigrate 10,000 men a year, and the price was 60 taels of silver for each man. Counting family members, the cost price of each immigrant has been pressed to twenty taels, which is quite low.

In the next three years, the number of immigrants per year can be doubled, and the resettlement fee can be reduced to about 50 taels.

Therefore, if we want to abolish them, we must first reform the Jingying and Liangjiazi troops, and then gradually dismantle them in various places, and it will take about 10 years to complete the complete set of military reforms.

As for going to the Western Regions to reclaim the famine, this is the established policy of the imperial court. Since the emperor vetoed the plan to recruit the Hui peasants to reclaim the land to save money, it was certain that the Han people would be moved, and the retrenched soldiers were available.

The Ili River valley is above the 400 mm isoprecipitation line, and it is definitely a good place to grow grain and cotton, not at all a piece of yellow sand as imagined.

Anyway, they have to emigrate, and they have to spend money anyway, so it is better to take this opportunity to dismantle the old army in the Shaanxi and Gansu regions, which is to kill two birds with one stone.

This is also a major factor in the emperor's motivation for military reform, and the longer it drags on, the more difficult it will be to deal with it.

Just take advantage of the opportunity of pacifying the immigrants in the Western Regions and solve it together.

Liu Yu fought well in the Western Regions, leaving a large amount of planned military spending, which was not spent, and it can also ensure that the financial resources in the past few years are enough to support this whole set of plans.

It is necessary to move the interests of some people and also let some people get benefits, so that it is possible to popularize the entire military reform.

The emperor knows in his heart where the basic plate is, and he also understands what the military reform should and should not be moved, so there is no need to discuss it today.

But outside of the basic market, there is a very special interest group.

In response to Liu Yu's answer, the secretary of the military government raised another sharp question about this very special interest group.

"These soldiers are dismissed, or it can be said that it is easy to say. And what about the officers? ”

"Ying Suo Bo wants to change the military system, the officers are all from the military academy, and Shang Ke, who was born in Wude Palace, said. There are also some of them who did not come out of the Wude Palace at all, or they were shaded, or hereditary, or they came up step by step with military exploits. ”

"The country's army of 450,000 should be reduced to 200,000. There must be many officers who are redundant, and what should be done with these redundant personnel? ”

"These people have contributed to the country, but because they do not meet the qualifications of military reform, they must be abolished? Wouldn't this chill the soldiers? ”

"Besides, what if these people are dissatisfied, and if they agitate a little, and cause trouble?"

Liu Yu replied: "Officers have grades, and a certain rank will still be in charge of the army, such as four grades or more." As I have already said, in military reform, it is necessary to train an army with a system, and to separate soldiers and generals, and even if a military general who does not know how to fight can be undefeated if he has a general staff department responsible for drawing up plans and fighting in a step-by-step manner. ”

"If the fifth grade is below the furnace, if the military academy is returned, if it can be qualified, it will be given priority to be retained, and if it is not qualified, it will be transferred to the reserve, or retired."

"Such as the sentry commander, etc., the military rank system can be used excessively. Some sentry commanders can be converted into veterans, but retain their ranks, and their salaries and salaries are assessed by their ranks. But no longer as an officer, but as a soldier, he received his original salary. ”

"Military ranks are determined according to grades, and those who are not qualified are transferred to the reserve. The salary is paid at the rate of one-third. ”

"If you fail to pass the furnace and fail the assessment, and you are unwilling to give up drinking the blood of soldiers, you still want to be an official...... Then there is no way. Kill chickens and monkeys to set an example. ”

Or, turn to a civilian position. For example, it is no problem to arrange to go to the Western Regions, Liaodong, Whale Sea, Mongolia and other places to reclaim the desert and defend the border. ”

The military government Shangshu smiled: "Ying Sabo said simply, how many people will this touch?" ”

"Not many people. Master Shangshu should not forget that the camp school system and those born in Wude Palace are all literate and understand arithmetic and geometry, and it is easy for them to learn the new drill tutorial. ”

"Those above the fourth rank continue to be in charge of the army, practice and camp, etc., all rely on staff officers, and have no impact on them. Even if you don't understand, there are people who can take the place of command. ”

"Those above the fourth grade are not moved, and most of the people below the fifth grade are literate, and it is not difficult to return to the furnace and re-learn."

"The rest will either be abolished or converted to military ranks according to merit or merit. According to the rank of the military, priority will be given to the tuntian offices in the Western Regions, Mongolia and other places. ”

"Besides, it's not a one-time thing. The drill code and the new army book have already been compiled. It's not that you can't understand it, but the assessment will be at that time. ”

"Divide it into ten years and change slowly, why not?"

"Reform is meant to touch the interests of many people. In the past 80 years, the military system of Westerners has already progressed like this, if it is not reformed, what will happen 30 years later? ”

"The tactics of the dynasty have fallen behind. The formation of spears and arquebuses is really something from thirty years ago. The old one doesn't work anymore. ”