A few days later, Liu Yan convened Tian Huixu, secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, Xun Jingyun, secretary of the Ministry of Armament, Yue Ming, secretary of the Ministry of Finance, and Chen Xinjia, secretary of the General Staff Department.

In the past, the basis of the military system of the Ming Dynasty was the guard system, but now the military reform has been implemented nationwide, except for Fujian, the country's guards have basically been abolished, and the imperial court replaced the guards with garrisons to guard the place, and the national defense army was used as a mobile force to carry out foreign expeditions.

But then a question arises, that is, how to recruit the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, whether to adopt the recruitment system that was parallel to the guard system, or to adopt the conscription system similar to the guard system?

At this time, in the cabinet office, Liu Yan did not set the tone as soon as he came up, but began to talk about the military system of the Han Dynasty to Yue Ming, Tian Huixu, Xun Jingyun, and Chen Xinjia.

In fact, the military system of the Han Dynasty is not complicated, at least compared with the military system of the Sui and Tang dynasties and the Yuan and Ming dynasties in later generations, it is still relatively easy to understand.

In the words of later generations, the Han Dynasty implemented a compulsory military system, and as long as the male was within the conscription range, he had to unconditionally obey the military service.

It is precisely because of this system that the Han Dynasty has maintained a sufficient source of troops, coupled with the strong military industry system of the Han Dynasty and the fierce folk customs, the Han army has maintained a strong combat power for a long time.

Even after the end of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty could still beat the surrounding Hu groups.

Therefore, this time the military system of the Ming Dynasty was reformulated, and Liu Yan was ready to follow the military system of the Han Dynasty and reformulate the new military system of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, in the cabinet office, Liu Yan and the Ministry of Finance Shangshu Yue Ming, the Ministry of National Defense Shangshu Tian Huixu, the Equipment Department Shangshu Xun Jingyun, and the General Staff Shangshu Chen Xinjia discussed for more than an hour.

Xun Jingyun, the secretary of the equipment department, said in a deep voice: "Pavilion Elder, now that the imperial court's guard system has been completely ended, how can the garrison troops and the imperial court's defense army replenish their troops, how do the people of the world join the army, the imperial court urgently needs a strategic system, I don't know where the pavilion elder is going to start to improve?" ”

Although Xun Jingyun, Tian Huixu, and Chen Xinjia are all knowledgeable soldiers, and they also have a lot of experience from sorting out the military system of the Han Dynasty, but in the face of Liu Yan, the three of them did not dare to express their opinions at will, and they all wanted to let Liu Yan determine the tone first, and then the three of them would check and fill in the gaps from the side, so as to finally determine the new military system of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, Liu Yan said with a smile: "Now the establishment of the national defense force and the garrison army of the national dynasty can be said to be very perfect, every army and every battalion is a composite army composed of birds, cavalry, artillery and various baggage soldiers and horses, and auxiliary personnel, and it has surpassed the surrounding departments in terms of combat power, so the existing national defense force, garrison army and army ratio and army structure do not need to be adjusted, what the imperial court needs to do is only for the national defense force, The various departments of the garrison have drawn up a conscription system that can continuously replenish the number of troops. ”

"At the same time, the intention of this reform is to stipulate the promotion system of the Ming army officers and soldiers in the form of laws, and to systematize and institutionalize the conscription system, and to make the assessment system of all departments of the Ming army strict!"

As soon as Liu Yan's voice fell, Tian Huixu, the secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, smiled and nodded, and agreed very much with Liu Yan's meaning, now all the departments of the Ming Army are all "expanded" from the original new army, but after the expansion of the army, it can be regarded as a branch out, how the officers and soldiers of each department are promoted, where the source of the army comes from, and how the Ministry of Defense wants to recruit new soldiers, these are actually inconclusive in today's imperial court.

Therefore, for Tian Huixu, the new military system of the Ming Dynasty not only needs to solve the problem of troop sources, but also to solve various problems in the army in a package.

Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the staff department on the side, also nodded slightly, in fact, he could see some of the shortcomings of the Ming Dynasty soldier and horse system at present, but he couldn't grasp the key points and couldn't think of a corresponding strategy, so he didn't report to Liu Yanyu.

Now that Liu Yan has summoned everyone to discuss this matter, it can be seen that Liu Yan has most of the overall countermeasures, and Chen Xinjia also wants to hear Liu Yan's methods, and his eyes have become expectant.

However, Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, had a trace of worry in his heart at this time, frowned slightly, and asked: "Elder Ge, if the conscription system is reformed this time, can Elder Ge be more specific?" ”

Tian Huixu, the secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, and Xun Jingyun, the secretary of the Ministry of Equipment, also nodded slightly, obviously the two of them are also very concerned about the details, after all, after the reform of the conscription system is completed in the future, it is the two of them who are responsible for specific affairs, and whether they can ensure the lasting strength of the Ming army, the two are very concerned.

So Liu Yan no longer detoured, and directly took out a strategy, which was in quadruplicate, and presented the four copies of the strategy to Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Tian Huixu, the secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, Xun Jingyun, the secretary of the Equipment Department, and Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the General Staff.

The four of them hurriedly opened it and looked at it, and after only looking at it for a while, they were shocked by Liu Yan's plan.

This time, the reform of the conscription system formulated by Liu Yan directly changed the original compulsory service to the national conscription system, that is, the compulsory military system!

According to the specific provisions in this strategy, the distinction between military service and conscription, the people have the obligation to serve conscription, and the specific rules remain the same, but the people do not have to serve in the military every year as before, but instead they are recruited by the imperial court at their expense, and all men of school age in the Ming Dynasty must spend a certain amount of time in military training every year, and all men of school age in the Ming Dynasty are used as reserve soldiers.

In addition, Liu Yan changed the age of military service for men in various prefectures and counties in the Ming Dynasty to fifteen to fifty years old, thus expanding the scope of the Ming army's military resources to a very terrifying number, thus ensuring an endless supply of soldiers for the Ming army.

In the strategy formulated by Liu Yan, all men between the ages of 15 and 50 in the provinces, prefectures, and counties of the Ming Dynasty were required to participate in the training organized by the offices of the conscription departments set up by the Ministry of National Defense in various counties during the slack period for three months.

After that, the imperial court will register all the trained birds, cavalrymen, sailors, artillerymen, etc. as prefectural and county soldiers, and the roster will be reported to the conscription department at the prefectural and provincial levels, and finally reported to the enlistment department of the Ministry of National Defense for archiving.

The county soldiers are essentially the reservists of the Ming Dynasty, and these soldiers and horses are assessed every two years, and the outstanding ones are promoted to the garrison; The garrison is assessed every two years, and the outstanding ones are selected to enter the departments of the national defense force.

At the same time, Liu Yan also made a provision that the soldiers of the garrison troops in various parts of the Ming Dynasty only need to serve in the military for two years, and after two years, the imperial court will pay a one-time retirement pension, which is three times the monthly military salary.

The same is true for the Defence Force, where officers and men in all units, with the exception of officers, are for a two-year period. Of course, once the two-year period expires, if the soldiers are very strong, the army can also extend them.

In addition, if it was a time of war, the retirement of all units of the Ming army was suspended, and it was not mentioned.

In this way, the soldiers of the various departments of the Ming army can ensure that the cycle continues, and the retired soldiers can also join the army again, which can not only ensure that the various departments of the Ming army are not from becoming the private soldiers of the generals, and prevent the various departments of the Ming army from becoming rigid and degenerate in combat power for a long time, but also let the Ming men receive military training on the largest scale, and enhance the martial arts of the people.

As for the men who are registered as the county soldiers, during the three months of training, the imperial court will also provide money and food, and the county soldiers have a monthly salary of 30 Wen, 10 catties of rations, and 1 catty of salt, which is not much, after all, the prefectural and county soldiers are only trained for three months a year, which is considered part-time, which can reduce the burden on the men of the people and increase part of the income of the people.

Needless to say, the salaries and treatment of the soldiers of the garrison and the national defense army are already generous enough according to the current standards, and the imperial court will also take care of the families of the soldiers to solve the worries of the soldiers.

At the same time, the selection and assessment of all Ming army officers and men are responsible for the recruitment department and the drill department of the Ministry of National Defense, and finally report to the Ministry of National Defense Shangshu Tian Huixu for review.

In this strategy, Liu Yan also deliberately added a clause, that is, whether it is the garrison or the national defense army, all the equipment of soldiers and horses is directly supplied by the imperial court, and no general is allowed to build his own military equipment.

Nowadays, the Ministry of Equipment has built military bases all over the country, in addition to Lingshanwei is currently the largest military base in the Ming Dynasty, in North Zhili, South Zhili, Shanxi, Huguang and other places, each province has built a large military base.

At the same time, there are arsenals of different sizes in all provinces and counties of the Ming Dynasty, according to Liu Yan's plan, the Ming Dynasty is also to imitate the armament system of the Han Dynasty, to reserve a sufficient number of troops throughout the country, as long as the source of troops is sufficient, at any time in all parts of the country to pull up a considerable number of well-equipped troops!

Of course, this is also very expensive to do, even with the current Ming Dynasty's sufficient financial resources, it is only gradually implemented in various places north of the Yangtze River, and the south of the Yangtze River is only implemented in Nanzhili and Huguang, which shows that this move is costly.

Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Tian Huixu, the secretary of the Ministry of National Defense, Xun Jingyun, the secretary of the Equipment Department, and Chen Xinjia, the secretary of the General Staff, held this strategy for more than half an hour, and Liu Yan did not urge a few people during this period.

After a while, several people finished reading it one after another, but they were still frowning and seemed to be preoccupied.

Liu Yan looked at the appearance of the four people and asked, "What?" What's wrong with this strategy? ”

Chen Xinjia, Tian Huixu, and Xun Jingyun did not speak, but looked at Yue Ming, the secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Yue Ming couldn't help but shake his head when he saw this, and then stood up and said in a deep voice: "Ge Lao, my subordinates are worried that once this strategy is implemented, the imperial court's annual military expenditure will increase sharply, although the financial resources of the imperial court are still sufficient, but now the imperial court is too big, and there are too many places for all parties to use money, and their subordinates are worried that once this compulsory military system is implemented, the imperial court will be dragged down by huge military expenditures." ”

The rest of the people obviously had concerns about this, and they all nodded in agreement at this time, as for the issue of imperial court expenses, it was indeed better to let Yue Ming speak.

But what the four of them didn't expect was that at this time, Liu Yan didn't care about the skyrocketing military spending caused by the implementation of the compulsory military system, but said: "Money is not a problem!" Now the new policy of Daming has been basically implemented, and only a few provinces such as Fujian have just started, but the problem is not big. It can be seen that the financial and tax revenues of the imperial court will continue to increase, and the prince will continue to open up financial resources for the Ming Dynasty, so you don't have to worry about money! ”

"In addition, in the strategy of the compulsory military system, the subsidy to the national government and county soldiers, although it seems to greatly increase the burden of the imperial court, but on the other hand, it also increases the income of the people in the world, as long as the people have money in their hands, the economy of the Ming Dynasty will slowly develop, and in the long run, the court's commercial taxes, customs duties, land taxes and other revenues will also increase, and ultimately they are the result of benefiting the country and the people, so you don't have to worry about this."