The advantage of the imperial dictatorship system is its high efficiency, so after Li Yongji's approval, the military service law was soon promulgated and officially implemented.

Military service has existed since ancient times, so the common people do not think that there is anything wrong with this law, on the contrary, because most of China is still very poor at this time, and the per capita income is very low, so even being a compulsory soldier with little income is quite attractive.

You must know that in ancient times, most of the military service was for the common people to prepare their own weapons and pay out of their own pockets, which was nothing more than giving the fields, so it was a burden to the people, but the new military service of the empire did not require you to pay out of your own pocket at all, except for compulsory conscription.

The so-called two taels of silver a month for conscripts is not directly sent to the soldiers, but refers to the soldier's food and shelter and the money for weapons and equipment, in other words, being a conscription actually has no salary, just food and shelter, but during this period you must obey the leadership of the army, in case of war, you have to go to the front line like the regular army.

Although this will take up a lot of labor and cause a burden on some families, due to the high population base in China and the small number of conscripts called up this time, only 500,000, it is a minimum conscription.

In other words, most of the people who are conscripted are at least 18 years old, have siblings in the family, and are not only children, so the burden is considered to be the smallest.

Moreover, after three years of compulsory service, you can obtain a higher social status, theoretically speaking, you can be called the master, not only will the family not be bullied in the future, it will be easy to find a job or something in the future, and even in case of good performance and meritorious service, you can also be converted into a volunteer army, then the income and treatment will be much higher.

In the past, it was said that good men should not be soldiers, mainly because it was too dangerous to be a soldier in the past, and because of poor discipline. It is often easy to become a ruffian, and even if you are not a soldier, it is easy to be a troublemaker. But in the Empire, the danger is very low, the odds of survival are quite high, and the discipline is very high, and there are even various cultural knowledge to learn to help you with literacy.

Therefore, being a soldier is almost a free entry into school, and after coming out, you can often become a more useful person.

Of course. Those are all propaganda tactics of the propaganda department, the purpose of which is to elevate the military class, so that everyone will be happy to be a soldier, have the courage to be a soldier, and no longer hate being a soldier as in the past.

Although Li Yongji did not deliberately ask for this, with the Chinese Empire's several victories in internal and external wars, especially the imperial army's near-undefeated combat record, Li Yongji deliberately elevated the status of the military. The signs of militarism have already begun to rise and can no longer be stopped.

However, this is not a bad thing for China at this time, militarism is actually the most suitable for the current China, on the contrary. If you go to the people to cook, it will definitely fall apart.

In any case, after the implementation of the Military Service Law, there was a grand occasion of enthusiastic enlistment of people in all parts of the direct jurisdiction of the Chinese Empire.

The children of the poor signed up to join the army naturally to find a good background. has a good future, and the children of the rich join the army in order to find a good support and good security.

Today. Everyone knows that it is good to be a soldier, in a certain case, being a soldier is almost the same as studying in the imperial examination before, once there is this relationship, then the whole family will be stained. Let's put it this way, it doesn't matter whether you are doing business or farming in the countryside, once someone in your family is a soldier or a regular army, then everyone has to look up to you, not to mention spiritual satisfaction, all kinds of related invisible benefits are also quite sufficient, just for these, it is enough for these people to break their heads.

Because of this, being a soldier, especially a regular army, is a big hit, but unfortunately the Praetorian Guard is no longer recruiting people in the near future, so it is not bad to be a national defense force.

Due to the limited amount of the first conscription, only 500,000 yuan was conscripted, so in order to compete for quotas, many localities have their own magical powers, and without the prompting of officials from the armed forces departments in various places, the common people themselves cry and shout all kinds of money and bribes, just to be able to recruit their own children to serve as soldiers.

This is also related to the current environment in China, because China's population base is too large, it is impossible to let all men of school age serve as soldiers, only a part of them can be selectively recruited, and in the case that everyone wants to be a soldier, the recruitment quota has become a fragrant glutton, so that the small officials at the recruitment point have a lot of power.

Therefore, in the first batch of 500,000 conscripts, there were almost no real children of the poor, all of them were children of well-off families above the level of self-cultivated farmers, and only these people could get the bribe money for the recruiting points, and if they did not give money and bribes, no matter how good the conditions were, it was basically impossible to become soldiers.

Corruption is often coexisting with power, and it is still quite difficult to completely eradicate corruption with the current system and administrative efficiency, even if Li Yongji has repeatedly ordered and reaffirmed the importance of clean government, even if the Royal General Administration of Clean Government has been set up in particular, and there are local discipline inspection committees at all levels, it is impossible to put an end to this phenomenon.

In particular, when the whole society thinks that bribery is normal, it will be even more difficult to crack down on corruption.

Therefore, corruption has nothing to do with autocracy or people's cooking, one is to look at the determination to fight corruption, and the other is to look at the ideological issues of your entire society.

The upper echelons only have the determination to deal with corruption, but the whole society feels that corruption is normal and human, and that cannot be suppressed.

Of course, Li Yongji hated corruption in the past, but when he became the supreme power in China, especially after learning about China's current situation, he no longer deliberately demanded absolute clean government, but only strengthened discipline within the military.

In fact, Li Yongji tried to make great efforts to control corruption and pursue a kind of honest bureaucracy at the beginning, but his cheap father and his elder brother both told him that if the requirements for officials were too harsh, then there would be almost no officials available, and then you would really become a loner.

Therefore, the current situation is to first stabilize the political power, and then as long as the bureaucratic group is relatively clean, and some honest officials are promoted to fight corruption, so as to maintain a certain degree and not delay the administration.

If the water is clear, there are no fish, and if we really pursue absolute integrity, at least in the current China, it will only turn its own administrative apparatus into a real front, and no longer have any authority.

is to understand this, plus Li Yongji's current focus is not on governing the country, and Li Yongji did lack administrative officials in the early stage. Therefore, he turned a blind eye to the corruption of local officials, and planned to wait for his own hands to free up his hands in the future, and after a large number of young civil servants appeared, he would settle accounts and slaughter fat sheep after the autumn.

However, the army is Li Yongji's bottom line, and unlike local officials, there is absolutely no room for corruption, because once the army is corrupted, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Therefore, the military service law was introduced as early as the beginning. And when the recruitment was officially compulsory in various localities, he sent a large number of members of the intelligence department to secretly monitor the recruitment situation at various recruitment points, and he was sure to report the details of the recruitment.

Li Yongji has always attached importance to the construction of intelligence departments, but due to historical reasons, the intelligence departments of the empire were relatively chaotic, and in the past, there were mainly two, one intelligence department and one military justice department. In addition, the General Staff also has some intelligence functions.

Among them, the intelligence department mainly collected external intelligence, in fact, mainly to collect information about the Manchu court and other warlords.

Originally, the Judge Advocate General's Office was only a gendarmerie organization within the army, but its powers were later expanded. It gradually evolved into an intelligence agency and a law enforcement agency, and in terms of intelligence collection, it was mainly aimed at internal intelligence.

In addition, the General Staff Headquarters has a General Military Affairs Office, which is responsible for coordinating the monitoring operations of the various units. It can also be regarded as an intelligence agency of the military.

After the peaceful reunification, there was confusion in view of the overlapping functions of various intelligence agencies. Lee Yong-gil re-planned the intelligence agency.

First of all, a CIA was created, which was directly accountable to the emperor and could collect information at home and abroad, and at the same time it was a coordinating body for other intelligence agencies, the highest intelligence agency of the empire.

Generally speaking, this CIA is mainly responsible for the protection of secret bases and external intelligence, and is usually not responsible for domestic situations. The headquarters and branches of the CIA, as well as its internal members and operations, are all kept secret, and only when it is particularly necessary can they seek the assistance of other departments, otherwise every operation will be done in secret, and their identities will not be allowed to be revealed even in China.

Secondly, a Ministry of National Security has been established in particular to address internal security issues. The Ministry of State Security is subordinate to the State Council and is a ministry-level unit directly under the Cabinet.

Finally, with regard to the issue of the armed forces, on the basis of the Judge Advocate General's Office, a General Directorate of Military Intelligence was set up, which was subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and was specifically responsible for investigating intelligence related to the armed forces of the Chinese Empire, both at home and abroad. That is, both the Janissaries and the Wehrmacht, whether regular or irregular, are under the control of the General Directorate of Military Intelligence.

In particular, it is pointed out that all gendarmerie units, which supervise the discipline of the troops, are under the responsibility of the General Directorate of Military Intelligence, and as for the Judge Advocate General's Office, it will henceforth be only an internal judicial body within the army.

In other words, the executive agency for intelligence gathering and arresting criminals was transferred to the General Directorate of Military Intelligence, and the Judge Advocate General's Office simply tried cases and detained prisoners, thus decentralizing power. Both the Judge Advocate Advocate General's Office and the Military Intelligence Bureau are directly subordinate units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

These are the three secret intelligence agencies of the empire, among them, the CIA is the largest and has the greatest power, and can coordinate with other intelligence agencies, and only the CIA has the power to directly enforce the law without trial, and is not subject to any judicial constraints, only internal constraints, and other intelligence services are somewhat restricted.

For example, the conscription operation after the implementation of the Military Service Law is a good target for training because it involves both the military and local government affairs, so it is the first time that the three major agencies have joined forces to monitor it.

As a result of this joint venture, the situation at all the recruiting points was secretly monitored by intelligence officers, so that all the cases of accepting bribes and benefiting were also clearly investigated.

In the end, when this information was put in front of Li Yongji, there was not only a detailed name of the corrupt person and the number of bribes received, but even a relevant report on why this was so.

According to CIA investigators, the reason why recruitment corruption is happening so quickly is mainly related to the conditions for the selection of compulsory soldiers in the military service law.

In the past, because the regular army was basically a conscription system, there were strict restrictions on the requirements for soldiers, such as age, height, eyesight, literacy rate and other hard indicators, there were not many people who could meet all the standards, and during that period of recruitment, Li Yongji did not have a high prestige among intellectuals. The wealthy class has not turned a corner, and has not thought about letting their children serve as soldiers, so they are basically children of the middle and lower classes, so it is relatively fair.

Later, when the country was established, it was also divided into regular army and irregular army, but that was artificially divided later, and the main body was still the original old army.

For example, the Praetorian Guard is the original elite army, and the Wehrmacht is mainly the local green battalion soldiers that were originally absorbed, not to mention the National Guard. The main body is those construction corps.

With the rise of Li Yongji, with the improvement of the status of soldiers, with the preferential treatment of these regular and irregular soldiers, with the obvious improvement of the economic level and status of these soldiers and their families.

Especially after the founding of the People's Republic of China, everyone found that many retired soldiers became magistrates after arriving in the locality, such as the director of the public security bureau, the mayor of the town, the head of the township, and the like. The fact that the status was once again elevated, but the old intellectuals and bureaucrats were suppressed, attracted the attention of the mainstream class, and everyone began to see being a soldier as a success. A way to change one's fate, or even a better way to get promoted than taking the civil service exam.

So far, the empire has been established for a long time, and any discerning person in China knows it. The foundations of the Chinese Empire were so strong that no one could challenge the imperial government, so the mainstream affluent class no longer sat on the sidelines. They began to hope for a better social status in the new dynasty to protect their wealth and power.

However, the civil service examination and the internal affairs examination are too cumbersome and complicated, so joining the army and turning to politics is a shortcut to the south, and it is precisely because of this that the first batch of regular army places, even if they are compulsory soldiers, are so recruited.

The entire social atmosphere of supporting the army and joining the army has been established, and it will not change, so if the people of the intelligence bureau build yì, if they simply push down and start over, even if they can stop it for a while, there will be no fundamental changes, and in the end, it will still let the wealthy class benefit first, so if you want to avoid this situation, it is best to formulate some hard conditions like the previous recruitment of elite soldiers.

It should be said that in the past, in the era of conscription, it was better because there were hard restrictions, but according to the newly promulgated military service law, as long as healthy male citizens who have reached the age of 18 are allowed, there are no conditions, which expands the qualifications for military service and also opens the door to bribery.

The reason why bribery is so rampant is also related to the low qualifications for joining the army.

However, if some restrictions are reintroduced, such as strict regulations on height, eyesight, and physical fitness, and if we also increase the literary examination, that is, to examine the literacy rate of soldiers, in other words, since it is impossible to avoid being seized by the superior strata of military resources, it is better to simply recruit a group of excellent soldiers.

As for the issue of fairness, this intelligence officer also suggested that he could add a component index to the rigid recruitment conditions, that is, different quotas should be given to different strata, such as some quotas for families with an annual income of 100 taels of silver, some quotas for families with an annual income of less than 100 taels of silver, and so on, and then look at the class to eat.

Finally, the intelligence officer also said that although the conscripts were only three years old and their salaries were very small, they also took up a lot of state finances, and the conscription was divided into two situations: general recruitment and special recruitment.

The so-called general recruitment is to recruit soldiers in proportion to their family composition, and they do not charge money, but only look at hard conditions.

As for special recruitment, that is, spending money to buy soldiers, in other words, if you can't get into ordinary recruitment, you can spend money to buy a place for compulsory soldiers and send your children to become soldiers.

This man also calculated an account, saying that the conscription of 500,000 conscripts, according to the average monthly consumption of two taels of silver per person, the average cost of each person in three years is 72 taels of silver, and 500,000 people will spend 36 million taels of silver in three years, which is also a large amount.

But if these 500,000 people are recruited for 300,000 ordinary conscripts and 200,000 for special conscripts, then the situation will be different.

According to the investigation, the quota of the first batch of conscripts has been speculated to the price of 200 taels of silver for a quota, and it is calculated according to 200 taels of silver, if each of the 200,000 special recruits has to pay 200 taels of silver, then 200,000 people can pay 40 million taels of silver, not to mention that there is a surplus to raise 500,000 conscripts, and it is a one-time levy, even if the bank collects interest, it will not be a small amount in three years, not to mention that the government can do more things with these 40 million taels of silver.

"This man named Wan Yan is very interesting, he looks more like a businessman." Li Yongji smiled and said to Shen Shiming. "Old Shen, what do you think of him?"

"Your Majesty, Weichen thinks his opinion is good." Shen Shiming nodded, "With this method, we can save a lot of expenses, and not only will we not lose money in recruiting soldiers, but we will also make money." ”

"But don't you think it's a little strange that it costs money to be a soldier?" Li Yongji frowned and said, "Moreover, if you are a conscript." There is no salary to be paid, counting consumption, the average person only has about two yuan per month, if you want to go to the battlefield, it will be a little more, but it will not go much. In this way, a person who has been a compulsory soldier for three years only costs 72 taels is enough, and 200 taels of silver to buy a place? What the hell do they think? Is there really so much to being a soldier? ”

"陛xià. Of course, there are many benefits to serving as a soldier in my Chinese Empire. Shen Shiming said with a smile, "To tell the truth, our dynasty was first established. His Majesty does not use the old court, this is a new imperial examination, and it is a new official system, and many people are not used to it.

We also don't use the old people. Therefore, there is a shortage of manpower in the local government, and in order to give orders, we have to send many retired officers and soldiers in the army to the posts of local officials.

In addition, your majesty treats the soldiers very highly. There are also many preferential treatments for the families of soldiers, and our imperial army has won successive battles, and being a soldier not only has a lining, but also has enough face, so in today's country, joining the army is already a very popular thing, and everyone is proud to join the army as a soldier.

Even if it is not for these benefits, if there is simply a soldier's family, others will not dare to bully casually, so those people broke their heads to become soldiers, which also shows that everyone recognizes the rule of His Majesty and the glorious concept of being a soldier.

Therefore, let alone two hundred taels, even if there is a quota of three hundred taels, those people will definitely do it. Hey, why didn't I think of this in the first place, I actually let a little guy think of it, a mistake, a mistake. ”

Seeing Shen Shiming shaking his head there, Li Yongji smiled: "It's just that, I'm just worried that if I do this, it will make people uncomfortable, after all, no matter how you look at it, spending money to be a soldier always feels like going through the back door, which doesn't seem fair." ”

"Your Majesty is too worried." Shen Shiming said with a smile, "Although these people are specially recruited soldiers, they are all treated equally after becoming soldiers, but whether you spend money or not, they are all mixed together, if anyone can't endure hardship, they can also be criticized and expelled from the army, once they are expelled, the money will not be returned." ”

"You, you've really fallen into the eyes of money." Li Yongji scolded with a smile, "Even the army depends on money." ”

"Why don't you look at the money?" Shen Shiming said, "This soldier is to spend money, this military uniform, food, and guns and ammunition, which one doesn't cost money?" How can you afford to raise soldiers without money? Actually, this military service, according to the ancient law, you have to bring your own weapons, we are only responsible for food, and now we are responsible for all this, what if they pay a little money?

If you want me to see, if you follow this method, you can simply recruit 1 million conscripts, 500,000 is ordinary conscription, and the other 500,000 is special recruitment, and the quota for special recruitment will be collected according to 200 taels of silver per person. ”

"What do you want?" Li Yongji immediately struck him and said, "Two hundred taels of silver is not a small amount, even in our direct jurisdiction, if we can take out so much silver at one time, it will not reach 500,000 people." ”

"Why not." Shen Shiming said with a smile, "Your Majesty, you underestimate the wealth of the people too much. Our direct jurisdiction is the essence of the empire, and in the past two years of His Majesty's governance, the wind and rain have been smooth, the prices are low, the life of the common people is getting better and better, and there is more and more silver, if they are allowed to pay two hundred taels of silver to buy a place to be a soldier, it should still be very easy.

Not to mention anything else, let's just talk about this recruitment fraud case, which is 500,000 recruits, but almost everyone who joined the army spent money, although not everyone gave 200 taels, but it has been explained from the side that there are still many rich people among the people. ”

"That's true, but if you recruit a million people at a time, it will hurt the people."

"No, your majesty." Shen Shiming said, "According to statistics, our high-yield crop yield advantage is obvious, plus we also import a large amount of grain, grain prices are already the lowest in the history, if this year's bumper harvest, then I am afraid that many small farmers will lose money, in the future either change to other cash crops, or change to do something else, such as going to the city to work." Serving in the army is obviously a better way out than working, so for the poor, there will be no problem with 500,000 fewer people.

As for those who spend money to buy a spot. Since they can come up with two hundred taels of silver, they naturally don't have to worry about the problem of one less laborer, don't you say? ”

"That's right." Li Yongji frowned and thought about it, "But if a million people are recruited, the management cost will go up, and a person will not be just two taels of silver." ”

"It's okay." Shen Shiming said with a smile, "First of all, the cost of this million people is paid little by little over three years, and the special recruitment fee is levied at one time, and the difference between three years, this ten thousand taels of silver can do a lot of things." It's not a little bit of money.

Second, these million people are all national defense forces, and they have to be stationed in various places, and according to the regulations, when the national defense forces are stationed in the autonomous provinces, they have to eat the local finances, and we can just put our troops and horses on other autonomous provinces, which can not only more strongly deter these places, but also reduce our financial pressure by half. In this way, it is a lot of money. ”

"That's ......" Li Yongji touched his chin and began to ponder the gains and losses of this matter.

There is no doubt about adding a special attraction slot that costs money. It is true that it can alleviate the financial pressure, and the conscripted troops are sent to other places, which can indeed play a deterrent role in the local area, and the local government will have to bear half of the military expenses. It can also weaken the place even more.

However, there is also a hidden danger in doing so, that is, once the opening is opened to spend money to become a soldier. Will it open the floodgates of corruption in the army?

After all, Shen Shiming said that if it is two hundred taels of silver for one person, five hundred thousand people are ten thousand taels of silver, such a large amount of money, with the personal quality of this era, once the collection begins, it is impossible to completely eradicate corruption.

It is very likely that the government has issued a target of 10,000 taels, but when it actually goes to the local recruitment point, it can receive more money privately.

For example, if you raise the price on the basis of two hundred taels of silver, even if it is only one tael or two taels higher, such as two hundred and one taels, this is not a small amount.

These small kickbacks are very difficult to detect, and even if intelligence personnel are sent to monitor them, it is impossible to completely eradicate them.

What's more, the first time it was because they were defenseless and their methods were a little rougher, but if they were on guard, they would have a large number of people after all, but the number of their own intelligence personnel was limited, and it was impossible to eradicate corruption completely.

"Majesty!" Seeing that Li Yongji was still thinking, Shen Shiming hurriedly said, "What I said earlier is only for immediate interests, in fact, one million people eat, drink, and lazar, as well as guns and ammunition, this is not a small expenditure, this huge expenditure can drive many related industries, such as stimulating our arms production, clothing, shoes and hats, stimulating agricultural production, etc., all in all, it is also taken from the people and used by the people." ”

"Well, yes, that's right, you can't waste food because of choking." Li Yongji nodded.

Indeed, although not opening up can reduce the occurrence of corruption, but in this era of undeveloped people's wisdom, it is impossible to completely eliminate this situation, so instead of craving corruption in details, it is better to weigh the pros and cons from a higher perspective, as long as the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

Anyway, it's just a matter of conscription, once you enter the army, you have strict discipline and military law, as long as you don't fall into combat and can be completely loyal to yourself ideologically, that's enough.

"Okay, let's try it first as you say, and then talk about it if it doesn't work."

"Thank you."

"So, what are you going to do with this recruitment fraud case?"

"Your Majesty, that's what Weichen thinks." Shen Shiming said, "The recruits in front of you are not counted, they are all overturned and restarted." The arrest of all the officials who committed the crime, the conviction of those who should be convicted, and the raiding of the house must reflect the dignity of the national law and show the spirit of His Majesty's promotion of clean government, and at the same time, all the bribes collected before can be returned to the state treasury.

However, for those soldiers and their families who spend money to buy quotas, we can open the net, and we can put the blame on those criminal officials, and give them a chance to compete again to become soldiers, and there is no discrimination.

In other words, they can compete for a regular spot, or they can re-compete for an expanded slot, and in any case, we don't suffer, don't you? ”

"Mm-hmm, yes, yes." Li Yongji nodded, "I think it's okay, just do it." (To be continued......)