In mid-June, Liu Yan convened a cabinet meeting and officially announced the implementation of military reform within the scope of the two capitals and 13 provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

The military reform is mainly divided into two aspects, the first is to abolish the guards and the old and weak soldiers in each town, and retain the ranks of small flag officers, chief flag officers, 100 households, and 1,000 households in the guard system as military ranks; The second is to prepare for the establishment of garrisons in various places.

According to the military reform strategy formulated by Liu Yan and the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff, the military reform is divided into three steps:

The first step was to merge the existing battalions of the garrison with the battalions of the new army and reorganize them into the 1st to 14th armies of the Wehrmacht.

The newly formed armies of the National Defense Force are still basic combat units, each infantry team is 12 people, all bayonets, flintlock birds, using fixed paper shells, equipped with the latest half-body plate armor and iron hat helmet produced by the Armor Supervision Office, the armor style refers to the Jinyi Wei straight armor, which is both beautiful and has full protection, and the rest of the iron mesh boots, iron masks and other accessories are also equipped in place. Each team has a captain, who is the rank of a small flag officer, and a small red flag is inserted on the helmet to show distinction.

Six infantry units are a flag, each flag has a flag commander, the rank of the general flag officer, the flag commander carries the red flag, in addition to the flint bird gun, will also be equipped with a handcuff, a flag strength of 73 people.

Three flags for a sentry, set up a hundred total of one person, for the rank of one hundred households, back the flag, the post has a trumpeter, a drummer, six health soldiers, a cooking and baggage team. There is also a discipline officer who is independent of the sentry commander (phase

As the political commissar of later generations, he was responsible for boosting morale and serving with the rank of general flag officer), one of the pacifying soldiers, responsible for checking military discipline, and one quartermaster (part-time accountant, responsible for the deployment of materials for the outpost).

There were 242 people in each post, of which the captain of the post had a horse and the baggage team had four four-wheeled carriages.

The four posts are a general, and each of them has a thousand generals, who are filled with the rank of 1,000 households, and one instructor, one towning officer, and one quartermaster, all of whom are filled by officers with the rank of 100 households.

There is always a flag-bearer, a drum and bugle corps, a sanitation flag, a cooking and baggage flag, and 16 four-wheeled carriages.

Each always has an artillery flag, equipped with 10 medium guns and 6 Huzun guns, with 49 gunners, using a new type of gun carriage developed by the Armor Supervision Department, and a rear ammunition car, each gun car uses two horses, which can realize mobile combat with the army.

Each always had a grenadier flag, armed with bayonets, flintlock pistols, and ten Sky-Shaking Thunderbolts per person (two with him, and the rest were replenished during wartime). In addition, there is always a night that does not collect flags, and is responsible for detecting the enemy.

All the officers of more than 100 households in each general had mounted horses, and each of them had 1,348 soldiers.

The three are generally one department, with a guerrilla general serving with the rank of commander and envoy, a banner and a horn under the direct jurisdiction, a training officer with a training team, a quartermaster officer with a quartermaster team, a pacification officer, and a military law team. The above officers are all appointed as 1,000 generals, and the responsibility of part-time guerrilla general escort in the training team is to do so.

In addition, the guerrilla general would also directly subordinate an artillery post, equipped with 32 medium-sized Franc cannons and 16 Huzun cannons, with 152 gunners, each of whom carried a gun

A gun cart, ammunition trucks, and twelve large carts were used to transport supplies.

The guerrilla general had under the command of a cavalry post, a night flag, a grenadier flag, and a sanitary flag, and was equipped with eight four-wheeled carriages, a baggage banner, and twenty four-wheeled carriages.

The strength of such a unit is 4,842 people, equipped with 48 artillery pieces of various types, and the combat power is formidable!

The department and above are battalions, with the rank of commander and envoy as the battalion general, under the jurisdiction of three departments, the staff general directly under the banner and drum horn one flag, with the rank of a thousand as a training officer, with a training flag, one quartermaster, with a quartermaster flag, one pacification officer, with a military law flag, directly under a cavalry general, a night sentry, a grenadier post, a sanitary sentry, a baggage sentry.

In addition, the general also directly supervised an artillery general, equipped with 48 medium guns of the Franc machine, 48 Hongyi cannons, and 48 Huzun guns, each of which carried a gun wagon, ammunition trailer, and 50 carts for transporting materials.

As a result, each battalion has a strength of 17,602 troops, which is completely capable of accomplishing a single strategic combat mission.

The formation above the battalion level is the newly added army, which is led by a chief officer and is equipped with a deputy chief soldier.

The chief soldier and the deputy general soldier are directly subordinate to a banner and a horn, a training officer with a training post, a quartermaster officer with a quartermaster post, and a town officer with a military law post, all of which are filled by the rank of 1,000 households.

There is an artillery battalion directly under it, just like the artillery battalion of the new army, equipped with 144 Hongyi cannons, Franc machine guns, Huzun cannons, and rocket artillery vehicles, and each artillery piece carries a gun carriage, ammunition trailer, and two others

Hundreds of carts are used to transport supplies.

It is directly subordinate to a cavalry department, a night non-collection department, a grenadier department, a health department, and a baggage army, and the strength of a national defense force is 48,098 men.

In this way, basically an army is the peak strength of a military town of the Ming army in the past, and it can completely achieve the offensive and defensive tasks in a strategic direction.

After the reorganization of the new army and the garrison force is completed, the second step in the military reform will be, that is, the new type of training for the newly formed national defense force.

If we really want to divide the era, the Ming National Defense Force after the reorganization should already be at the same level as the Anglo-French coalition army during the Opium War, so the tactics should also be changed accordingly.

Therefore, in the next training, new tactics such as large horizontal formations, linear formations, and hollow squares must be put on the agenda.

The third and most difficult step in the military reform was the establishment of new garrisons in the Ming Dynasty, two capitals and 13 provinces.

According to Liu Yan's estimates, there are 140 prefectures, 193 prefectures, and 1,138 counties in the Ming Dynasty.

This does not take into account the acropolis, the cities of thousands of households, the cities of hundreds of households and the passes of the original system of guards in various places.

It is really a huge project to establish garrisons in various places.

Therefore, Liu Yan decided to dismantle the soldiers and horses of the guards and rectify the battalions in various localities, and to advance the matter of preparing for the establishment of garrisons in various localities, and it is best to gradually promote it in various localities.

As for the strength of the garrison, Liu Yan decided to distinguish it from the Wehrmacht, which was the largest garrison

The formation is a battalion, the specific strength is the same as the national defense force, the Ming Dynasty has two capitals and thirteen provinces, and a battalion of the garrison army is set up in each of the two adjacent prefectures, which is responsible for the garrison of all the passes, guard cities, prefecture cities, and state cities within the province.

In this way, Daming will gradually build 70 garrison barracks in the future, with a strength of more than 1.23 million troops.

This will be a huge expense, and the heavy military spending figures have made the Ministry of Defense Shangshu Tian Huixu also jaw-dropping.

However, Liu Yan insisted on his opinion, an empire as large as the Ming Dynasty could not do without a strong standing army. This more than one million troops was not established overnight, and it took a lot of time to gradually build, so the financial pressure of the imperial court would not be immediately highlighted, and Liu Yan still had time to develop the economy and open up financial resources.

After all the steps were deployed, Liu Yan held a meeting with the cabinet for several days, that is, to improve the detailed rules for the military reform.

"Elder Ge, these more than 1.23 million soldiers are too troublesome to recruit!"

Liu Yan did not answer directly in the face of Tian Huixu's complaints, but directly took out a draft, Tian Huixu and everyone took a closer look, and it was written on the cover: "Daming Military Service Law"!

Liu Yan said: "After the military reform, the Ming Dynasty will implement a compulsory military system, that is, all men in the Ming Dynasty are obliged to join the army!" ”

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, what is this for? Isn't this to emulate the tyrannical Qin's tactics of farming and warfare?

Liu Yan explained: "Starting next month, the "Daming Military Service Law" will be promulgated and implemented, and all provinces, prefectures, and counties will separately register and make a register of men between the ages of 15 and 45 under their rule, starting in March every year

A one-month conscription. ”

"After the military reform, the salary of the national defense army is set at six silver coins per month for ordinary soldiers, and four silver coins per month for the garrison army, and the above is increased gradually, and whether it is the national defense army or the garrison army, it is three meals a day, meat every two days, and meals every ten days......

Liu Yan talked about the preferential treatment for more than ten days, and then asked: "You said, this kind of treatment, the counties register men, will the people cooperate?" ”

Everyone nodded, and Yue Ming even said with a smile: "Don't say that you are fifteen to forty-five years old, even if it is an expanded sixty years old, the people will not have an opinion!" ”

"If the army is conscripted every year, will the people join the army enthusiastically?"

"Of course, it will!"

Liu Yan smiled and said, "That's right! The term of military service in the garrison is three years, and for every three years of service, you can receive a one-time retirement fee of ten silver coins, and you can return to the field with disarming, so as to ensure that most of my Ming men have experienced military drills, and can ensure that my Ming martial arts prevail, and also reserve a large number of reserve soldiers for the imperial court! ”

Tian Huixu suddenly realized that the "Ming Military Service Law" drafted by Liu Yan seems to be tyrannical, and all men of school age in the Ming Dynasty are recruited as soldiers, but in fact, it provides rich treatment, which can make the people who join the army rich from then on, and can solve the problem of the shortage of soldiers in the imperial court, which can be described as a good way to kill two birds with one stone.

Everyone immediately unanimously passed, and after drawing up the charter, it was reported to Emperor Chongzhen Zhu for approval.

When Emperor Chongzhen saw this military reform strategy, he was also shocked, and said to Liu Yan, who came to report: "Now that Li Chuang has been destroyed, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is also dormant, and there is a new army under the command of the elder of the pavilion and a garrison

The army of more than 100,000 is enough to recover Liaodong and stabilize the world, why bother so much! ”

In this military reform strategy, the cost of reorganizing the battalions of the new army and the garrison army alone has already reached 4.78 million taels of silver, and if the entire military reform strategy is completed, at least more than 59 million taels of silver will be needed.

Liu Yan explained: "Your Majesty, don't worry, military reform is not something that will be completed overnight, and it may be delayed for several years, or even more than ten years, so this huge expenditure will be spread evenly over each year, and the financial resources of the imperial court are still guaranteed." ”

Emperor Chongzhen also knew that now the imperial court had the various industries handed over by Liu Yan and the tax support of Shandong, which could be regarded as a surplus, but in the face of such a huge expenditure, Emperor Chongzhen still muttered in his heart, and said: "Although the soldiers and horses in various parts of the Ming Dynasty are not as effective as the new army, they can be rectified a little, why should they all be dismissed and reorganized, and they must rebuild a million garrisons?" From my point of view, will there be a life-and-death battle to fight in the future? ”

Liu Yan clenched his fists and said, "Your Majesty! Now, although Li Chuang was destroyed and the Manchu Qing Dynasty was also hit hard, the world is so big that not only the Ming Dynasty itself. My enemy of China is not only the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the matter of military preparation must be vigorously rectified, and Your Majesty is invited to play it! ”

Emperor Chongzhen was shocked when he heard this, Liu Yan's gaze was never limited to Da Ming!