For Qin Feng, the only enemy in his heart was Qi. Qi was really considered to be a big land, vast territory, rich and abundant, and numerous people. Although the dynasty has been passed down for more than a hundred years and has accumulated a day, its foundation is extremely powerful after all. Not to mention anything else, if Qi wants to fight to the fullest, it will be no problem to mobilize millions of people in a moment.

Now the emperor of Qi, Cao Tiancheng, is also a successful king. He is not wise and powerful, but he is also a top figure. He saw that Qi was suffocating his illness early, and even scraped his bones to heal his wounds. The current achievements of the Ming Dynasty can be regarded as based on the policy that Qi was determined to eliminate domestic policy and must first stabilize the country.

Once Ma Tiancheng completes all reforms and cleans up inside and outside, Qi will inevitably burst out with terrifying energy.

And then, it was time for the Ming and Qi countries to compete.

Therefore, Qin Feng had to speed up his pace. When stabilizing the domestic situation, he swallowed Qin and planned Chu and strengthened his strength as much as possible. Only when he confronted Qi again would he have a good idea.

The Ming Dynasty did not have many soldiers and horses, and the full battle was only more than 100,000. Although each of them had excellent combat power, the number of people was only a little. As the territory grew bigger and bigger, these soldiers were already in short supply, but Qin Feng was unwilling to expand his army on a large scale.

The Ming Dynasty implemented a high salary system for the army. The soldiers' salaries were extremely high, and the various weapons and equipment built for the soldiers were always striving for profit, striving to ensure that the soldiers under their command could block ten. Under such a system, the military expenditure spent by more than 100,000 troops was extremely terrifying.

If the army is to be expanded on a large scale, then the military pay will first crush the Ming Dynasty's finances, and reduce the salary of officers and soldiers in order to form more troops. This stupid method is not considered by the monarchs and ministers of the Ming Dynasty. If you really dare to do this, you are afraid that the current army will be in full swing.

It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but it is difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. If you let him eat the delicacies of mountains and seas, it will naturally not work.

The army cannot be expanded on a large scale, but the form facing the Ming Dynasty clearly tells every knowledgeable person that the future battle with Qi will be a long-term process, so Qin Feng and the big men of the Zhengshitang can only find another way.

The soldier retirement system was created under this background.

Raising soldiers to the people is Qin Feng’s boldest decision. When these soldiers retired, they allowed them to carry their own armor and weapons back to their hometown, which was said to be rewarding for merit. In fact, the deepest meaning is that when the Ming Dynasty needed to recruit troops on a large scale, these soldiers could return to the team with a command.

The retirement system has been implemented for two years. A large number of veterans have retired and re-entered the new army. After three years, the soldiers who have been rotating in the military camp have been in a rotating manner. Before they knew it, the Ming Dynasty had almost released almost all the veterans.

The retirement of these people saved a lot of military expenditure for Daming. You should know that in the Ming Dynasty, military pay was the biggest expense. In order to motivate soldiers to fight, the soldiers were divided into levels. The higher the years they stayed in the army, the more military pay they received. Now, the few people can get extremely high salary as soldiers, unless those who have special skills but the army really cannot do without them. Cultivating such a newcomer takes a very long time to do so.

Most of the retired veterans returned to their hometowns, took off their armor, put down their swords and guns, picked up hoes again, or started other businesses. In order to effectively manage these veterans, the Ministry of War has set up special departments in all counties, counties and townships, called reserves. Every time the slack season comes, these departments will organize retired veterans and a large number of young and strong men to conduct military training. In order to ensure that the skills of these veterans do not deteriorate, they will lead the new, so that more new people can learn real skills from these veterans. Once recruited into the army, they can become qualified soldiers in a very short time.

Although the retirement system has just been implemented for three years, the number of soldiers that the Ming Dynasty can recruit has doubled, and it can also ensure that the combat effectiveness of these soldiers will not be worse than that of the active service. The Ming Dynasty, which tasted the sweetness, is naturally enjoying it. It not only saves money and food, but also ensures that the Ming Dynasty's military strength has steadily increased. Such a good thing is to only seek more.

As for the retirement of a large number of veterans, which triggered some social security problems, compared to the income of the court, it can be ignored. There are thorns there, and there are some evil deeds that will arise when the strong control is lost. No matter how bright the sun is, there are shadows that cannot be illuminated. It is impossible to be perfect.

Of course, the court did not fail to think of some ways to minimize such bad influences. For example, the Tianwu Escort Business can be regarded as such a product.

A large number of veterans retired, and there are always some people who have no relatives and no relatives in them. Many veterans have nothing to do except to serve in the army and kill people. After these people retire, they cannot grow the land. They may lose money in their business and have no underwear. Over time, they will become the bottom of society, which will breed many troubles. The Tianwu Escort Business provides these people with a profitable business.

They still use knives and fists to make a living, but they just don’t wear military uniforms. The Tianwu Escort Business and management system still refer to the military’s management model. However, the imperial court used to send money and food, but now they need to make money and eat by themselves.

Whether it is the Tianwu Escort Business or the newly established Mingwei Escort Business, to put it bluntly, they are a quasi-military organization. They do not need to allocate money and food to the court, but they can do a lot of things for the court. What the court has to do is just to control them firmly without silence.

Whether it is a guard or a suppression of bandits for the court, it is just a means to restrain them.

In Qin Feng's idea, one day, these people would be ordered to be recalled to the army.

"Whether the Tianwu Escort Business or the newly established Mingwei Escort Business, the court cannot relax its supervision, but it cannot reveal any traces. It is necessary to make the skin of their civil organizations more conspicuous." Qin Feng knocked on the table and looked at Tang Zhong, the Minister of Justice, and said.

"Your Majesty, I understand." Tang Zhong nodded and said that he was accustomed to being the boss of the Ministry of Justice. Many things are not convenient for the court to do, but if he handed them over to such organizations, he could do things quickly and well. To be honest, once he aroused public anger, he could throw some people out without any burden and take the blame without hurting the court's decency.

"Suppressing bandits in the newly occupied area is a long-term job, and it cannot be completed in one moment or three moments. The Qin people are brave and the people are strong. It takes a process to make them adapt to the laws of the Ming Dynasty. After these battles, countless scattered soldiers and brave men hid in the mountains and lakes, or hidden among the people. Some of these guys have weapons, and naturally they will cause chaos. Although the Political Affairs Hall is sure to allow the economy and people's livelihood in the newly occupied area to recover rapidly in the next few years, some people want to get it for nothing, so they can't relax when suppressing bandits and robbers." Qin Feng said: "What's more, there are already many big bandits and robbers in the Qin State. With the defeat of the Qin army, our dynasty will not take care of them for a while, and they will definitely take the opportunity to cause chaos."

"Yes, Your Majesty. The two escort shops have gathered thousands of people. Although the number is not too large, it is more than enough to deal with these bandits." Tang Zhong said. "Yesterday, the general manager of the Tianwu escort shop asked for a meeting with the old minister. When they said that most of the weapons in their hands were worn out, they wanted to replace them, but they did not dare to agree rashly."

"Give them, not only Tianwu, but Mingwei also handles it. But it's not for them for free, but for them to buy it with money." Qin Feng said: "Didn't Canglang Camp just change out a few days ago? The batch of equipment they eliminated was still very good, at least better than what they are holding now."

"Yes, after I go down, I will contact the Ministry of War." Tang Zhong smiled a little on his face. He got the goods eliminated by the Ministry of War and sold them to these corpses. He could make a lot of money by replacing them. The Ministry of Justice had a little nervous expense and immediately got another deposit.

"While suppressing bandits, don't forget that there are other heavier things." Qin Feng looked at Tang Zhong with a smile, "In the past year, I heard that Chu State is not very peaceful, and bandits are everywhere. Tianwu Mingwei can also go to Chu State to open up some new markets. To help the troubled local officials of Chu State, maybe they will be grateful!"

Tang Zhong blinked a few times, and in an instant he realized that His Majesty was going to infiltrate the armed forces of the Chu State. If such a matter was handed over to the Ministry of Justice, he would naturally have to manage it well. Now the Ministry of Justice is the last seat among the six ministries. Such a great opportunity must be seized. Once done, it can greatly increase the weight of the Ministry of Justice among the six ministries.

Of course, this kind of thing cannot be done by just one of the Ministry of Justice, and the Eagle's Nest cannot be avoided. Even the Commerce Department, which is under the Ministry of Revenue, also needs to focus on winning over. Now in the State of Chu, the Commerce Department has the greatest influence, and their tentacles have penetrated into all aspects of the State of Chu. With their help, things will be much easier.

Thinking of this, Tang Zhong couldn't help but be happy. If the Ministry of Justice could directly control an armed force, it would naturally be very different in His Majesty's heart. At least he could press the Ministry of Rites down to himself first.

"If Your Majesty had no other orders, the old minister would surrender." Tang Zhong said respectfully. He felt that he had not done anything very important before, but now he looked at it. He seemed to have great potential. If these things really spread out, he was afraid that he would be busy all day and night.
Chapter completed!