Chapter 681: The Times Create New Opportunities

As an important part of the Yinghua armed forces, the guards play an important role like Optimus Prime in this crisis, so naturally they have to be given a chance to appear on stage.

The phalanx behind the guards was a little strange, with gray clothes and blue pants, octagonal hats, messy steps, and barely formed a formation. Many people guess that it is the colonial army, but the colonial army has been incorporated into the guard system, or like the Funan army, it has been directly transferred to the red-clothed army, what is the origin of this phalanx?

"Jiangxi Xiangyong! Now it's called the Volunteers! They defeated the invading Tartar soldiers in Jiangxi and avenged the victims of Guangchang! ”

The emcee's explanation made everyone suddenly realize, it turned out that they repelled Tian Wenjing, but Xiang Yong had such ability, which was really amazing.

The truth of the battle of Guangchang is that the guards are in charge, and the village warrior is just an auxiliary, but in order to boost the morale of the people, the imperial court vigorously advocates the performance of the village bravery. Of course, this advocacy is not too outrageous, at least Jianchang Mansion can hold on, relying on Xiangyong.

The leader of Jiangxi Xiangyong is the Jiangxi defense envoy, Chen Tingzhi, who was newly awarded the rank of Zhonglang general, he is wearing a new-style red-clothed military uniform, his expression is grim, but his stomach is already happy and about to bloom. On the one hand, his summary of the Guangchang station, including the tactics of the column, the courage of the villagers, and the use of rifled guns, has been listed by the emperor as the latest canon of the army, which is not only compiled into the teaching materials of the army academy, but also conveyed to the officers above the command level of each battalion, so as to promote a great change in the tactics of the whole army. This glory is even heavier, and it is not available to ordinary people.

Chen Tingzhi graduated from the first phase of Whampoa, has no background, and did not show great ability when he joined the army. A few years ago, the army was not large, and he was squeezed into the place. Relying on hard work and skillful work, he accumulated rich achievements in the local area and was promoted to the Jiangxi defense envoy. But the Jiangxi direction was insignificant before, and it was far from being comparable to the Hunan direction, and he even doubted that he would never have a chance to return to the army

Facts have proved that gold always shines, and by virtue of the study of tactics in the First Battle of Guangchang, he was incorporated into the army system.

"Chen Tingzhi, a military master...... Well, that's a good name! ”

With such a vision, Chen Tingzhi's steps are particularly powerful,

Chen Tingzhi didn't know that his conclusion in the first station in Guangchang not only promoted the accelerated reform of the Anglo-Chinese Army with actual combat, but also started from the re-innovation of the system by Li Shi and the Privy Council.

Thus ended the celebration and military parade of the 10th year of the Holy Dao, and the hearts of the people were filled to the brim, and they no longer doubted that the emperor was neglecting his administration, let alone the strength of this country, and their identification with themselves and this country also reached a new level.

In line with the traditional spirit of beating rabbits with grass, Li Xi and Chaotang took advantage of the pressure of Yongzheng's southward movement and the performance of local volunteers to strike while the iron was hot, and rolled out a wider game, and many things that were planned to be done in a few years can now be done together.

First of all, there is the military reform and the issue of tactics, first there is Wu Ya's actual combat perception in Burma, and then there is Chen Tingzhi's Guangchang practice.

Li Xi and the Privy Council paid more attention to the reorganization of Xiang Yong, and it was difficult for the Burmese army to be transferred back, and Hunan and Jiangxi could only rely on Xiang Yong. The Privy Council thought more and wanted to take the opportunity to change the military system of the Anglo-Chinese country, and they believed that there were too many problems in the previous two-level system of standing army and guard.

Li Xi was very relieved that the Privy Council had finally begun to take on the overall responsibility of the matter, and this understanding was also based on the inheritance of thousands of years in China. In the ten years since the founding of the country, Yinghua has been taking the route of recruitment, and it was not until the implementation of the "Military Preparedness Law" that the military service system was rebuilt. However, there is still a lack of substance in how the military service system can be formed into a combat force and how it can be transformed into a long-term reserve system, and this is what the Privy Council considers. ..., the Privy Council's plan was to merge the Guards into the regular army and fix them as a border system. Each province selects soldiers from the township warriors to form a volunteer army, and the volunteers assume the duties of the vanguard army. As a result, the state has formed a three-level military system of standing army, volunteer army, and township brave army, which can maintain a small-scale professional standing army in peacetime, and can mobilize volunteers in wartime to rapidly expand its strength through military service.

From a fiscal point of view, this is also inevitable. The cost of maintaining the standing army is very high, with an average of 100 taels a year for a soldier, because after all, the standing army has a lot of artillery, high training expenses, and high salary standards. Raising a volunteer army is much cheaper, less than forty taels a year for a soldier.

From the perspective of the military system, the Privy Council's plan is very reasonable, but Li Xi has to consider the whole political system. For example, how to determine the amount of volunteers in each province, who is responsible for the expenses, and how to manage the command and training in peacetime, and so on.

This is not only a matter of the Privy Council, but can only be brought to the political hall and even the east and west houses to discuss together.

If you move one son, you will move the whole thing, which in turn involves the overall national politics. The Hanlin Academy, which is responsible for the national policy adviser, proposed that this is a good opportunity to promote the provincial system and implement the provincial finance. Although the Volunteer Army is a national military system, it is more often used to maintain law and order in a province and provide disaster relief and other affairs, and the maintenance expenses should be paid by the province. It is only in the current situation in Hunan and Jiangxi that a large-scale war is needed, and the state will pay for it.

The plan that has been basically finalized integrates the opinions of all parties, abolishes the guards, and sets up division-level border guards in the standing army.

Each province first determines the post of Xiangyong, the benchmark ratio is one of 20 ding, the provinces can be slightly adjusted, and tied to the poverty subsidy policy, take care of the poor, and those who are elected to the Xiangyong will have tax incentives for land and property.

On the basis of the township bravery, according to the actual needs of each province and the overall military layout of the country, the corresponding proportion will be selected to form a volunteer army and serve three years of military service. The provinces are responsible for the camps, basic salaries and daily maintenance, ordnance, ammunition, equipment, exercises, wartime allowances and logistical supplies are borne by the State, and the extra costs of expanding the Volunteer Army in wartime are borne by the State.

The plan for the formation of the Volunteer Army was that Hunan and Jiangxi, which were in a state of war, would be organized separately, and the other provinces would be reorganized into the Volunteer Army by the newly formed divisions of the current expansion. After all, with the current national strength of Britain and China, the pressure to maintain a standing army of 300,000 is still very great, and the basic military expenditure will be 30 million a year.

Fang Youxin and Ba Xu got up early and made preparations, reporting a total of 300,000 village warriors and 100,000 volunteers. This was a war mobilization establishment, which was reduced to 15,000 after the war, and the two provinces had to contribute 600,000 a year for this purpose.

According to the previous provincial fiscal planning, Hunan and Jiangxi could afford this money, but the current provincial fiscal revenue is very unstable. After negotiation between all parties, each province will have the power to set its own land deed tax, and at the same time add a land division tax. All land inheritance above a certain area is also subject to the deed tax on land transfer and sale, which is a foreshadowing for the inheritance tax in the future. In peacetime, this matter is likely to provoke criticism, but in times of war, the voice of opposition is easy to suppress and dissipate.

After the fixed maintenance fee of the Volunteers was resolved, the problem extended to the provincial finance. In order to resist the Qing soldiers, Yang Ping, the prefect of Jianchang Prefecture, made his own decision, promoted the government and the court, and put the land tax of each county in the hands of one government, creating a financial precedent of leading the county with the government, which gave great inspiration to the political affairs hall that was exploring the way of financial construction at the prefecture level.

The core idea of the fiscal division between the central and local governments is what responsibilities governments at all levels should undertake. Needless to say, the responsibilities of a province now are the coordination of the rich and the poor at the local level, the maintenance of the volunteer army, and the land management of the province. The prefectural-level units have to bear the expenses of the prefectural and county officials in the planning, so as to control the work of the subfectural counties at the administrative level, and gradually assume the responsibilities of education, medical care, and social engineering, so that the grass-roots finances must converge to the prefectural level. ..., putting the land tax under the control of the government is to collect the resources at the most basic level of society to the government level, and this direction is in line with social development. In the future, it is necessary to help agriculture and further reduce the land tax, and the prefectural level can control the trade-offs, while the county level will be too touched.

Therefore, Li Shi focused on praising the "Jianchang Mansion Experience", and asked the government hall to take this as the core to promote the construction of government-level finance. In addition to the land tax, the prefectural level also divides the business tax of some industries from the hands of the counties, which is also a measure to cooperate with social control. For example, the sale of firearms, cattle, horses, livestock, bookstores, printing industries, etc., and even Qinglou......

From point to point, Yongzheng's southern invasion provided an opportunity for Yinghua to further promote social change, which was difficult for Yongzheng to imagine.

Of course, the real threat brought by Yongzheng's southern invasion is not small, and it must be solved with all efforts. After arranging the Volunteer Army and the financial reform of the provincial government, Li Shi's attention returned to the military.

Before the parade, Li Xi decided to change the army's uniform, which seems to be an image project, but the form determines the content, the uniform has a very great impact on the army, how many good men are running for that red coat to join the army, and improving the uniform form is also the premise of the regularization and standardization of the army.

The color of the new uniform has not changed much, but it has established two levels of formal dress and regular uniform, because it has not yet entered the era of skirmishers, and the training uniform is exempted, and only undershirts and pants are issued as training clothes. The military parade is a ceremonial uniform, and the regular uniform is worn for daily life and combat. Of course, in the era of queuing for shooting, many officers and soldiers liked to wear ceremonial uniforms, and this problem would only be changed after becoming the focus of sniping rifled guns.

The army dress is still red and blue, and the rank is marked on the collar. The color of the regular clothes is the same, but there is less decoration, the hem is higher, and the rank mark is on the shoulder. The navy is special, the dress is pure white, and the regular dress is blue and blue pants. The Fubo military dress is white and red pants, and the regular dress is blue and red pants. The regular dress of the volunteers is gray and blue pants.

The color of the military uniform is indeed a little mixed, but the main color is very clear, and there is a summary among the people, but where the red clothes are the army. But where the blue clothes are the navy, the Fubo army is also the navy, and the gray clothes are the volunteers. Another more recognizable sign is the straight-brimmed hat for the Army, the short-brimmed yarfor for the Navy, and the Octagonal hat for the Volunteers.

I have to say that the volunteers picked up the army's old hats, the army's old pants, and the colonial's old shirts, which also hit the morale of the volunteers and officers a little......

Li Shi took the opportunity to change his costume and also sorted out the medal and medal system. There are two categories of medals, one is the qualification commemoration, including the "Qingtian Medal", the "Founding Medal" and the qualification medals of various important battles. The other category is the military merit medal, and the highest medal is currently the "Heroic Medal", which is dedicated to the war dead. At present, only the earliest Zheng Hongyuan, Lang Songliang, Zhang Hanjin, and Huang Shen, who died in the Songjiang battlefield, and more than 20 people, these people have also entered the National Martyrs' Shrine.

Heroic martyrs are not so easy to be, and only the dead can get them, so ordinary officers and soldiers expect to get the "Heavenly Punishment Medal" and "Holy Martial Arts Medal", especially the latter, it is difficult for the Heavenly Punishment Society to enter, and most of the officers and soldiers enter the Holy Martial Arts Society. The "Holy Martial Arts Medal" is the highest commendation for ordinary officers and soldiers, and several people from the Sixth Praetorian Guard Division have won this meritorious service, including Gui Zhen, the division commander.

Under the "Holy Martial Arts Medal" is the "Hero Medal" that rewards general military exploits, also known as the "Dragon Head Medal", with such a Dragon Head Medal, it is really a hero in everyone's eyes. Under the "Heroic Medal" is the "Medal of Valor", known as the "Haw Par Medal".

Originally, Li Xi was going to learn from Lao Mei in his previous life to make a medal similar to the Purple Heart Medal to reward all the wounded officers and soldiers, but the Privy Council said that now the medal is precious, and it should be made so fine and beautiful, even if it is only made of copper enamel, it will cost several taels of silver for one piece, and Li Xi had no choice but to give up. ..., the medal is not simply a medal, winning the "Hero Medal" means a knighthood, and Yinghua's title is actually a pension. But all officers, or sergeants with enough years of service, have knighthoods, but the Hero's Medal can increase the rank, and various benefits such as schooling, tax reductions, etc. are waiting. These awards used to be available, but now they are tied to the medal system and refined and improved, and the army is full of fighting spirit, and everyone wants to earn military merit medals.

The officers and men have a new look and a sufficient fighting spirit, but the situation in front of them does not allow for optimism.

In Hunan and Jiangxi, there are two large battalions of Yongzheng, plus Jiangxi and Hubei soldiers, with a total strength of nearly 200,000, of which nearly 100,000 are modern troops that have undergone reorganization and training. If the situation in Jiangnan is also included in a chess game, the combat strength of the 100,000 banner battalion and the green battalion in Jiangnan is weak, and it can almost be ignored, but Nian Qianyao's 20,000 Hangzhou soldiers cannot be ignored.

On the Yinghua side, counting the two Praetorian Guard divisions transferred back, the two frontier divisions reorganized by the Guards, and the two armies of Huben and Shenwu, the regular army is only about 50,000, and if you count the volunteers, the total strength is only 150,000. Moreover, the artillery is insufficient, and the lack of mule and horse transport capacity makes it difficult to maneuver in a large area. There are only two battalions of the Eagle Yang Army in the Jiangnan Xing Battalion, and although Longmen can also pull up at least one division of volunteers, it can only be garrisoned and unable to attack.

The situation is not very grim when it is almost as fast as a one-to-one ratio of troops, and I think that Li Xi was in Hunan with 30,000 to more than 100,000. However, the 100,000 volunteers only received training in loading and shooting targets, and Chen Tingzhi's report on the battle of Guangchang showed that without the support of the regular army and the rifled guns, the current volunteers were not the opponents of the Qing soldiers.

So another new problem arises, the stock of rifled guns is insufficient. The rifled guns prepared for the Burmese army were not wanted by the officers and soldiers before, which allowed Jiangxi Xiangyong to take advantage. Now that Wu Ya has asked for all the transfers, there is no room for it.

The main production line of Foshan Manufacturing Bureau and Dongguan Machinery Bureau is still smoothbore guns, and the previous rifled guns are the output accumulation of nearly two years. It is too late to immediately change production and arm 100,000 volunteers.

The formation of the Volunteer Army was roughly decided before the parade, and the lack of rifled guns was also highlighted. Li Xian had a headache, but the Privy Council said that this matter is easy to handle, and didn't the previous "Military Armament Law" relax the restrictions on civilian firearms manufacturing? Technicians will be sent by Foshan and Dongguan to sell machines, support the civilian firearms industry, and increase production on a large scale! Even if the quality is lower, as long as it is a rifled gun, it can allow the volunteers to exert their combat power.

Even Li Xi is admiring himself, he is really taking precautions.

In response to the tide of military expansion, the military industry of the Anglo-Chinese country has also grown rapidly. Technicians from Foshan and Dongguan rushed to various places to instruct potential workshops to set up firearms companies and set up production lines. Originally, there were already many gun factories in the country, and they had basic experience in the production of firearms. With technical support, I still use the good iron of Foshan Iron and Steel, and I get started quickly. The extra rifling process is also done by the rifling machine in Dongguan, just pay attention to quality control.

Building a company, building a production line, and buying a machine all require capital, so what should I do? It is easy to do, Foshan Manufacturing Bureau and Dongguan Machinery Bureau invested in the purchase of shares in these companies and treated them as subsidiaries. If you don't want others to invest in the shares, you can also take the order to find various banks for loans.

By the end of January of the 10th year, the production lines of more than a dozen firearms companies had started one after another, and the eight-year-old rifled guns, known as "made in the province," were rapidly converging to the front line at a rate of two to three thousand pieces per day. But after all, it was an emergency start, the technology level of each company was different, and the quality of this batch of "provincial manufacturing" was also uneven, and the front-line volunteers complained.

But there are guns for all, and before the Qing soldiers attack, not to mention 100,000 rifled guns, 200,000 can be made.

This wave of war preparedness has affected not only the military industry, but also many people, including the Privy Council, and even Li Xi himself, have not noticed that just such a thing as the army's redress is not only promoting the development of the weaving industry, but also making great changes in the social atmosphere of the Anglo-Chinese country.

When Li Xi read from the newspaper that Guangzhou Xiguan Weaving Workshop was openly recruiting headhunters, and the job was to recruit female garment workers, he was a little stunned.

Li Xi naturally didn't know that the one million taels of orders he sprinkled for the army's costume not only made the cloth industry in the country eat to death, but the existing garment industry couldn't swallow this pie at all, and it was necessary to expand production capacity.

However, the existing labor force in the country is already very tight, and there were precedents for the use of female workers in the cloth and garment industries, and it is also an inevitable trend to recruit female workers on a large scale.

Li Xi was a little nervous, he did not know whether the existing country could accept the change of women generally going out of the family. After all, the female general at the parade is a topic of conversation after dinner, but her daughter and wife show up to make money, can the hearts of this people stand it?

J