At night, in the former Caoyun Governor's Yamen Pacification Envoy Office, under the oil lamp, which was a little too dim compared to the lights of Houcheng, looking at Qian Lei who came in with him, Zhu Mingzhong smiled.

"Okay, you Qian Bingqi, I didn't expect to see you so much, as soon as you kid came, you solved a problem for me!"

Because it is an old acquaintance, Zhu Mingzhong seems extremely casual. And the tone seemed very close, although the way the two people knew each other was somewhat unique, it did not prevent Zhu Mingzhong from treating him as a confidant.

Even because of this, he was left in Changzhou at the beginning, and after Jiangbei gained a foothold, he recruited Qian Lei from Changzhou to his side as soon as possible.

"Junmen, that's the lower official who solved your problem, and this idea is clearly your own idea."

When Qian Lei looked at Zhu Mingzhong, he still looked sincerely frightened. He didn't dare to take credit, so he hurriedly returned the credit to the military gate.

As a master, you must strictly grasp the proportion. In particular, you must pay attention to your own identity, and you can never be proud of your achievements, because everything that the master has depends on the proprietor.

"Oh? My idea? ”

Although he knew that Qian Lei's suggestion was similar to the compulsory soldiers of later generations, Zhu Mingzhong, who was still a little puzzled, asked in surprise.

"When did I say that?"

At this time, Zhu Mingzhong was really a little puzzled, when did he say the method of "forcing soldiers with taxes"?

"Junmen, you are a noble person who forgets things, when you recruited troops in Jiangyin earlier, you never complained, this recruitment is really too expensive, not to mention, and it is not easy to recruit, and it is even more difficult to recruit elite soldiers. He also said that our China is going back more and more, the ancestors of the Spring and Autumn Period, all countries conscripted soldiers, how can there be a military salary, the conscription of all countries is to take the world's soldiers, the countries take the grain, take the world's grain, the people all follow it, but now, even if we take the silver to collect, how can we recruit satisfactory soldiers? It's so difficult to even recruit a few good children, let alone strong children from good families. ”

In this way, it seems that I really complained about the ancient Chinese conscription system.

Therefore, when the lower officials had nothing to do, they looked through the history books, and later found that this was really the case, not to mention anything else, that is, the government soldiers of the Tang Dynasty, but they were also played by the people, and even they had to bring their own swords, food and grass. And how can the people dare not obey, this recruitment prospered in the five dynasties, flourished in the Song Dynasty, and from the day when we recruited troops in the Central Plains, most of the time those Tartars in our Central Plains and the north fought together, they were all down, counting forward, and the previous dynasties were not beating them as if they were playing, even if they were not counted forward, that is, Emperor Gao was not playing Tartars at that time......

Although the words were a little exaggerated, Qian Lei's words still made Zhu Mingzhong nod slightly.

"Indeed, although the conscription system can be recruited to Ding Zhuang, but it is extremely financially expensive, there is a Song Dynasty, the forbidden army is not less than one million, and its country's financial resources are exhausted by these million soldiers, so that the imperial court does not have sufficient financial resources to buy horses and buy weapons."

Nodding slightly, Zhu Mingzhong agreed with Qian Lei's view, the conscription system consumes the country's financial resources, which is the most common view in later generations, so in wartime, countries often implement the conscription system, and one of the resurrection symbols of the so-called classical militarism is the implementation of the conscription system. One of the symbols of the decline of both ancient Rome and ancient China was the replacement of conscription by conscription.

Just as ancient Rome recruited barbarians to serve as the main force of the Roman legions, which led to the decline of the ancient Roman Empire. The recruitment of alien soldiers in the Tang Dynasty also led to the decline of the Tang Empire.

"Isn't this the truth, if the Song Dynasty could use the salary of the million forbidden army to buy horses and buy weapons, how could it be that Liaojin could not be defeated? The key is this military salary, this military salary has exhausted most of the world's financial resources, there is no money to buy horses and equipment, and even the Northern Expedition has no money. Although there are soldiers, and more than half of them make people eat empty salaries, the Warring States and Han and Tang Dynasties, how can there ever be a saying that they eat empty salaries? Since there was no military salary to order millions of soldiers back then, why is it that the recruits are not willing to come now? ”

As soon as Qian Lei said this, Zhu Mingzhong's brows raised slightly, and he became more and more interested in Qian Lei's words, after coming to this era, although he tried to establish a modern military system and overwhelm the Manchu Qing through institutional victories, he never thought that the answer was in the Spring and Autumn Period, in the Warring States.

After thinking about it for a while, Zhu Mingzhong finally figured out what the problems that had been bothering him for many years in the latter world. Why, after the Song Dynasty, China was not able to form an overwhelming advantage over the northern nomads most of the time. It's not that China doesn't have the strength to form an overwhelming advantage over them. It's that China is no longer using its power in one place. Huge military payouts depleted the country's wealth.

"It's not that there is none, but there is no military salary, before the Han and Tang Dynasties, the soldiers did not have military salaries, they even needed to bring their own weapons and food, and fulfill their responsibilities as civilians - the responsibility of serving in the army, starting from the pre-Qin people in the army, until the Han and Tang Dynasties, but all my Chinese people have the obligation to join the army! Joining the army is an obligation! Because of this, before the Han and Tang dynasties, what was the greatest overwhelming advantage of any orthodox dynasty in the Central Plains in the face of the nomadic tribes in the north? It's manpower! It's financial resources! We can put all our manpower and all our financial resources into it, so how can only a few hundred thousand, or a few million barbarians, be our opponents under the strength of the country. At that time, we were completely crushed by force. What's more, we still have a civilizational advantage! And after the Song Dynasty, we, who seemed to be huge, were simply unable to concentrate our forces on dealing with the barbarians in the north, and most of the financial resources that should have been used to strengthen war preparedness were all used to raise troops! Good steel doesn't use it on the blade at all! In this way, how can it be possible to defeat those barbarians who are all soldiers, they seem to have a small population, but they can often concentrate all their strength. And we can't concentrate even a tenth of our strength! ”

That's right, that's why!

Finally, the question that had puzzled Zhu Mingzhong all along was answered at this time. What is the core of classical militarism?

His real core is to mobilize the entire power of the whole country in the war! It's the Great Mobilization of Antiquity! Just like the 6 million population of Qin, which can mobilize millions of troops, still has no worries about military salaries and military supplies. In the Song Dynasty, the million-strong forbidden army had become a heavy burden on the Song Dynasty, which had a population of tens of millions.

This is the fundamental difference, under the system of conscription, the state can never devote all its strength to armaments! It is precisely because of this that the seemingly huge Central Plains Dynasty, under this system, the actual force invested is not necessarily stronger than that of the northern barbarians, who are all soldiers.

In fact, Qian Lei didn't think that far, his idea was very simple, that is, it would be conscription, and now it can also be conscripted. This will be said by the military gate, and the problem that I didn't understand before, this seems to have been figured out.

Just like what Mulan said in her words, "There are twelve volumes of military books, and the scrolls have the name of the master." Before the Han and Tang Dynasties, my Central Plains implemented conscription, and my Han people implemented the three-army system of farming and warfare with horses on horses and farmers on horses, so naturally there was no need to pay military salaries, and there was no burden of raising soldiers, and the government could naturally provide the best armor and weapons for the soldiers, and every time the soldiers were ordered, the Han and Tang Dynasties could call the men of the country, and then select the strongest soldiers, so that the soldiers of the Han and Tang Dynasties could not be strong? ”

This is the foundation of the Han and Tang dynasties, not because of anything else, nor because of the blood and courage of the Han and Tang dynasties, but because at that time, they implemented the military system with the highest cost-effectiveness ratio, and their strength was the strength of the establishment system! Relying on the traditional system of the three armies of farming and warfare in which the Han people went on horses as soldiers and dismounted as farmers. Once there is recruitment, it often means a sharp increase in the cost of the imperial court and a decline in control, and in the Ming Dynasty, the town camp military system is more typical, and the soldiers frequently mutiny, which makes the court miserable and anxious.

"What the military gate says is extremely true! Xia Guan only thought about how to order troops, but he never thought that this way of farming and warfare was really the foundation of a strong country."

Gently patted the sycophants of the military gate, but Qian Lei shook his head and said.

"Today is not the past, now, want to implement the horse for the soldiers, get off the horse for the farming and warfare of the three military system, it is impossible, so, the lower officials think, since the current recruitment, can not recruit enough soldiers, just like the ancient times to conscription, the family has one ding, two Ding levy one, five Ding levy two, do not follow, heavy taxes!"

Although Qian Lei had already put forward the proposal of "forcing soldiers with taxes" before, it has now been revised, and the meaning of coercion is stronger, and there was a voluntary basis before, but now it is only required that all families must have someone to join the army. Listening to his suggestion, Zhu Mingzhong still asked.

"Bingqi, what if they would rather impose heavy taxes than levy them?!"

Although Qian Lei is not a master from a formal background, what is he best at after being a master for the Manchu Qing Dynasty for so many years? It is how to oppress and drive the people.

"It's not simple, just make a book and count the troops according to Lijia!"

The "Lijia" in Qian Lei's mouth is the rural system of this era, with ten households as one first.

"When the soldiers are counted, the first ten households shall prevail, and after the draw of lots, if the person who wins the lottery does not want to join the army, the ten households will be taxed heavily, and the other nine households will hate them for not wanting to join the army, so how can they be based in the village. In this way, with hundreds of thousands of households in Jiangbei, wouldn't tens of thousands of elite soldiers come easily? ”

After saying this, Qian Lei couldn't help but feel proud, he studied ancient books, studied for so many days, and figured out such a method of conscription.

Looking at Qian Lei, who seemed to be a little proud, after thinking for a moment in his heart, Zhu Mingzhong asked rhetorically.

"If such a forced conscription is carried out, and the people of Jiangbei do not obey their words, what should they do?"