Chapter 5 Military System

Quantitative change causes qualitative change.

Before this incident today, although Jiajing knew some of the situation, he did not take it seriously, because in his opinion, it obviously varies from person to person.

A capable minister and the soldiers under the generals who can fight, as long as they are given full power, the army will become able to fight. Such things are common in history. At the beginning, Jiajing also thought so. Why can Zhou Mengchen stay in Datong every time he fights? This may not be without this reason.

Since the current situation in Datong is caused by capable ministers and famous generals, Jiajing may not want to break this situation in his heart in order to live a stable life.

But now it is different. Zhou Mengchen destroyed a country in more than ten days, and it was as fast as thunder. Even though Zhou Mengchen stood in front of Jiajing now, Jiajing still felt a sense of trance in his heart. He suddenly understood that before the army of the late emperor, that is, Emperor Zhengde, had arrived in Nanjing, he heard that King Ning was destroyed by a small governor and more than 10,000 militia. That kind of shock.

No, Jiajing has little knowledge. Now such war examples are found in China's history, but not in the history of the Ming Dynasty.

It even gave Jiajing a different style of painting. Such wars were very suitable during the Han and Tang Dynasties, but in this dynasty it was a little unharmonious.

Jiajing has also been thinking about this question in recent years. Is Zhou Mengchen too capable of fighting? Or is it another factor? This question directly affects Jiajing's judgment of Zhou Mengchen. If Zhou Mengchen is too capable of fighting, it is a kind of magic weapon that has not been born in a thousand years. The magic weapon of the Ming Dynasty, then Jiajing must consider Yan Song's opinion, which is to confer Zhou Mengchen as the Duke of the Kingdom and place it in Beijing to support him. Whenever there is something wrong in the world, Jiajing will let Zhou Mengchen fight. Zhou Mengchen takes good care of his health, and maybe he will be able to become a veteran of several dynasties in the future, Guo Ziyi of the Ming Dynasty.

If it is another reason, it is worth Jiajing's more thinking.

Zhou Mengchen did not know that this issue directly affected his future, but he also understood that this issue was very important. It was directly related to the construction of the Ming army. Zhou Mengchen relied on his re-hidden influence. No matter whether the Qingcheng area is a province or several towns in the future, it would not be able to get rid of Zhou Mengchen's influence. Even if Yang Bo was the Minister of War, he had to control the 100,000 Tiger Ben army, the best way was to follow Zhou Mengchen's policy. Otherwise, the future path might not be so smooth.

But this is just this new land, and there is Datong, what should I do if there are other places?

Moreover, Zhou Mengchen did all the reforms in Datong. In fact, there was no conclusion. To put it nicely, it was because Datong was broken and a cheap strategy in the war. After all, before Zhou Mengchen went to Datong, Jiajing granted the right to act particularly cheaply, not only the right to act cheaply in military affairs, but also in many aspects of the internal affairs of the military system.

However, this state of doing things cheaply will eventually end. It is impossible for this to happen all the time.

It’s like a child registering a household registration. Before, the child was a black household, but he couldn’t always be a black household. The only difference is that the child is never killed, but the new policy can be changed.

Zhou Mengchen solemnly told him all the reforms of the army.

After hearing this, Jiajing pondered for a moment and said, "Is this the system of military service?"

Zhou Mengchen said: "Your Majesty is wise, I have referred to the system of the government soldiers. In my opinion, there are only a few types of military systems. One is the private military system, which means that the soldiers are generals. Although there are military troops, they are not national soldiers. The reason why I am so sad that the garrison system must be reformed is that the military military system of the court is the military system of the court, but now it cannot fight. From the military station to the civilian recruitment, the so-called camp soldiers have too many empty salaries, and some troops have reached more than 50%. There are too many empty salaries, and the army cannot fight. In order to perform national tasks, the generals support their families. Even if they use a general, they are not the ability of the general, but their families. Now there are signs. Although the military troops in the future become weaker and weaker in the future, this situation will become more and more serious. At that time, it will be a situation where Tai Ah is in reverse. As a minister of the country, I must share your worries for Your Majesty and the court."

After hearing this, Jiajing's breathing became a little bit rapid.

As an emperor, Jiajing's most instinctive thing was to be seriously concerned about his throne. When he heard Zhou Mengchen say this, he remembered many reports. Sure enough, he found that Zhou Mengchen was right. The Ming army had the possibility of private military power. Now Li Chengliang is still young. When Li Chengliang was old, he was the first among all the generals of the Ming Dynasty to support family members, known as the eight thousand family members. He was the most powerful in the world.

And this situation is definitely not a sudden collapse from the stone, and there must be a development process.

It is actually a common phenomenon for generals to earn empty salary and support their families.

For example, Zhou Shangwen. Zhou Shangwen actually also received empty salary. He used all the empty salary in Datong Town and other black and white money to the cavalry, so that he could fight against the Tatars. From this perspective, what Zhou Shangwen did was no essential difference from supporting the family servants. Because many family servants listened to the words of the chief general, and on the other hand, they also had official positions in the court.

Seeing that Jiajing did not express it, Zhou Mengchen continued to speak. He said, "There are two remaining two types, namely the recruitment system and the military service system. A typical example of the recruitment system is the soldiers of the vassal states in the Tang Dynasty, who served as soldiers and paid for their wages. Giving enough money is enough to build soldiers that can always be fought, but the disadvantages are obvious. It is not possible to use them on a small scale, but the country can use them on a large scale. Because it is too expensive. The fact that the cost of raising soldiers in the Song Dynasty was the fact that the cost of raising soldiers in the world was the fact. Not to mention anything else, it is just to take the cost of raising soldiers. One soldier is twelve taels a year. This dynasty needs at least one million troops, which is 12 million taels. The generals’ treatment of the generals cannot be the same as that of the soldiers. This series of people combined, at least 15 million taels. Once the reward of the troops is driven, it cannot be defeated by 20 million taels a year. The court cannot support it at all."

In fact, in Zhou Mengchen's opinion, it should be no problem to support 20 million yuan in military spending per year with the size of the Ming Dynasty. However, what is more problematic than the Ming military system is the financial problem of the Ming Dynasty. Zhou Mengchen will not talk about it.

With the annual income of 256 million stones of grain, salt tax and other commercial taxes, even if the additional tax contributed by Datong is added, it is the income of 300 million taels of silver. By the way, there is still an income of minting recently, but only one or two million taels of interest. These are all converted into the tax, and the annual tax is only 20 million taels.

Doing this? The court will not do anything else?

"The other is the system of military service." Zhou Mengchen said: "Overall, it is a compulsory obligation that soldiers serve in the army. The court does not spend much salary, but the court will supplement soldiers in other aspects. In fact, the Daming Weishu system is a variant of military service system. The same is true for the government system."

"The problem with this system is that it cannot last long. Learn from history. The rise and fall of the Tang Dynasty lies in the Anshi Rebellion. People think that the Anshi Rebellion was because Emperor Xuanzong of Tang trusted An Lushan, Li Linfu was in chaos, and Yang Guozhong took power. In fact, it was because the Ming Dynasty's military system collapsed, and the recruitment system was in power, so that the power of the military governor was low and the central power was already unbalanced. If there were wise monarchs and good ministers at the top, they could still be remedied, and if Xuanzong was in danger of political affairs, it would be difficult to do so."

"However, I didn't encounter Xuanzong's political affairs? The Anshi Rebellion might not have happened. But there must be chaos in other border towns, which is due to the situation."

"If the system of military troops is still there, in the early Tang Dynasty, hundreds of thousands of troops were recruited from Guanzhong to determine the world. What is the problem with An Lushan? Things will rot and then worms will grow. The opportunity will first deteriorate and then chaos will arise."

Zhou Mengchen's words actually mean something to intimidate and persuade.

Nothing else, Zhou Mengchen actually silently compared the situation of Jiajing with the situation facing Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Zhou Mengchen didn't need to be clearly stated, Jiajing could naturally think that from this perspective, Jiajing's situation was actually more dangerous than Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had at least no such serious financial crisis. But he had, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was also facing the state's economic and regulatory army. Military power fell to the local area. Jiajing was also. Even Jiajing had to face more complicated problems than Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.
Chapter completed!