In mid-June, Liu Yan held a cabinet meeting and officially announced the implementation of military reforms within the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.
This military reform is mainly divided into two aspects. The first is to abolish the garrison soldiers and the old and weak soldiers in various towns, and retain the ranks of small flag officers, chief flag officers, hundred households, and thousand households in the garrison 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 in conjunction with the Ministry of National Defense and the General Staff Department, the military reform is divided into three steps:
The first step is to merge the existing garrison battalions with the new army battalions and reorganize them into the First Army to the Fourteenth Army of the National Defense Force. Each army is a combined army of multiple arms, including gunners, artillery, cavalry, Bombardiers, as well as various auxiliary units such as baggage troops, medical troops, and night soldiers.
The newly formed armies of the National Defense Forces are still based on teams. Each infantry team has twelve people. All have bayonets, flintlock muskets, fixed paper shells, and are equipped with the latest half-body plates produced by the Armor Supervision and Manufacturing Office. Armor and iron helmet, the armor style is based on the Jinyiwei straight armor, which is both beautiful and fully protective. Other accessories such as iron mesh boots and iron masks are also equipped in place. Each team has a captain with the rank of flag officer, and a small red flag is placed on the helmet to indicate distinction.
Six infantry teams form one flag. Each flag has a flag commander, who is the official title of the overall flag. The flag commander carries a red flag. In addition to being equipped with a flint-haired bird musket, he is also equipped with a hand musket. The strength of a flag is seventy-three. people.
The three flags constitute a sentry, with one person as the Chief of Hundreds, as the title of the Hundred Households, and a flag on his back. The sentry has one trumpeter, one drummer, six health soldiers, and one cook and transport team. There is also a training officer who is independent of the sentry commander (relatively
He served as a political commissar in later generations, responsible for boosting morale, and held the title of general flag officer). There was one pacification soldier, responsible for inspecting military discipline, and one quartermaster (part-time accountant, responsible for the distribution of materials for the post).
There are a total of 242 people in each sentry, among which the sentry commander has a riding horse, and the baggage team has four four-wheeled carriages.
The four sentries form a general, and each general has a thousand generals, who are appointed by officers with the rank of "thousand households". There is one training officer, town governor, and quartermaster each, who are all officers with the rank of "hundred households".
Each army has a flag-hand and drum troupe, a sanitary flag, a cooking and baggage flag, and is equipped with sixteen four-wheeled carriages.
Each one has an artillery flag, equipped with ten medium-sized Folan guns, six Tiger guns, and 49 gunners. It uses a new artillery cart developed by the Bingjia Supervision and Manufacturing Office, with an ammunition cart attached to the rear. The chariot has two horses, which can enable mobile combat with the army.
Each one also has a direct grenadier flag, equipped with bayonets, flintlocks and ten thunderbolts per person (carry two with you, and replenish the rest during war). In addition, there is also a night when the flag is not collected, and the commander is responsible for detecting the enemy's situation.
All officers from more than 100 households in each bureau have riding horses, and each bureau has 1,348 officers and men.
The three generals form a department, with one guerrilla general, who serves as a commander, and directly under his jurisdiction is a banner with flags, drums and horns, a training officer who leads a training team, a quartermaster who leads a quartermaster team, and a town governor. Bring a military law team. The above-mentioned officers all serve as generals, and the training team also serves as the escort of the guerrilla generals.
In addition, the guerrilla general will also have an artillery post directly under his command, equipped with thirty-two medium-sized Folang machine guns, sixteen Tiger cannons, and one hundred and fifty-two gunners. Each cannon is equipped with
A gun cart, ammunition cart, and twelve large carts are used to transport supplies.
The guerrilla general has a cavalry post, a night flag, a grenadier flag, and a sanitary flag, and is equipped with eight four-wheeled carriages, a baggage flag, and twenty four-wheeled carriages.
Such a unit has a strength of 4,842 men and is equipped with 48 artillery pieces of various types. It is a powerful force!
Above the headquarters is a battalion, with the rank of commander of the capital serving as battalion staff general, under the jurisdiction of three departments. The staff general is directly under the banner of flags, drums and horns. There is one training officer with the rank of thousand general, who carries a training flag, and a quartermaster who carries a military supply officer. The flag is composed of a governor and a military flag, directly under the command of a cavalry commander, a night guard post, a grenadier post, a health guard post, and a baggage guard post.
In addition, the general is directly under the command of an artillery general, equipped with forty-eight Folan medium-sized cannons, forty-eight Hongyi cannons, and forty-eight Huzun cannons. Each cannon is equipped with a gun carriage, ammunition carriage, and fifty large vehicles. Used for transporting supplies.
As a result, each battalion has a strength of 17,602 men, which is fully capable of completing a separate strategic combat mission.
The organizational structure above the battalion level is the newly added army, which is led by the chief military officer and is equipped with a deputy chief soldier.
The commander-in-chief and the deputy commander-in-chief are directly under the command of a flag, drum and horn, a training officer with a training post, a quartermaster with a military post, and a town governor with a military sentry, all of which are filled by Qianhu.
Directly under an artillery battalion, just like the artillery battalion of the New Army, it is equipped with 144 Hongyi cannons, Folan machine guns, Hu Zun cannons, and rocket launcher carts. Each artillery piece has a gun cart and an ammunition cart, and another There are two
Hundreds of carts were used to transport supplies.
Directly under the jurisdiction of a cavalry department, a night guard general, a grenadiers general, a health department general, and a heavy equipment general, the strength of a national defense force is 48,098 people.
In this way, an army is basically the peak strength of a military town in the Ming army in the past, and it can completely accomplish offensive and defensive tasks in a strategic direction.
After the reorganization of the new army and the garrison is completed, the second step of military reform is to conduct new training for the newly formed National Defense Force.
The future National Defense Force will be an army that basically uses firearms as its main combat weapons. It is different from the cold weapon army and the alternating hot and cold army. If we really want to divide the era, the Ming National Defense Force after reorganization should be the same as that of the Opium War in later generations. The British and French allied forces are of the same equipment level, so their tactics must also undergo corresponding changes.
Therefore, in the following training, new tactics such as large horizontal formations, linear formations, and hollow square formations must be put on the agenda.
The third and most difficult step in the military reform was to establish new garrisons in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.
According to Liu Yan's estimate, the Ming Dynasty's two capitals and thirteen provinces had 140 prefectures, 193 prefectures, and 1,138 counties.
This does not include the acropolis, Qianhusuo city, Baihusuo city and various passes of the original guard system in various places.
It is really a huge project to establish garrisons in various places.
Therefore, Liu Yan decided to dismantle the garrison troops and reorganize the troops in various places, and proceed simultaneously with the preparation of local garrisons. It is best to gradually promote it in various places.
As for the strength of the garrison, Liu Yan decided to distinguish it from the National Defense Force. The largest number of the garrison was
The organizational structure is a battalion, and the specific strength is the same as that of the National Defense Force. In the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty, one garrison battalion was set up for each two adjacent prefectures, responsible for the garrison of all passes, guard cities, prefecture cities, and prefecture cities within the prefecture.
In this way, Ming Dynasty will gradually build 70 garrison camps in the future, with a military strength of more than 1.23 million people.
This will be a huge expenditure, and the heavy military expenditure figures made Tian Huixu, Minister of Defense, dumbfounded.
However, Liu Yan insisted on his opinion. An empire as huge as the Ming Dynasty could not survive without a strong standing army. This force of more than one million troops was not established overnight. It took a lot of time to gradually build it up. Therefore, the financial pressure on the imperial court would not be immediately apparent. Liu Yan still had time to develop the economy and develop financial resources.
After all the steps were arranged, Liu Yan held several days of meetings with the cabinet to perfect the details of the general's reform.
"Mr. Ge, it is too troublesome to recruit these more than 1.23 million soldiers!"
When Liu Yan faced Tian Huixu's complaint, he did not answer directly, but directly took out a draft. Tian Huixu and everyone took a closer look, and it was written on the cover: "Ming Dynasty Military Service Law"!
Liu Yan said: "After the military reform, the Ming Dynasty will implement a compulsory military system, which means that all men in the Ming Dynasty are obliged to join the army!"
Everyone was shocked when they heard this, what is this going to do? Isn’t this trying to imitate the Qin Dynasty’s strategy of farming and war?
Liu Yan explained: "Starting next month, the Ming Military Service Law will be promulgated and implemented. All provinces, prefectures, and counties will have to register separately the men aged 15 to 45 under their jurisdiction. Starting in March every year, , proceed as
A month-long recruitment campaign. "
"After the military reform, the salary of the National Defense Force is set at six silver coins per month for ordinary soldiers and four silver coins per month for the garrison. The above levels increase step by step. In addition, both the National Defense Force and the garrison receive three meals a day, every two days. If there is meat, we will have a meal every ten days..."
Liu Yan talked about the preferential treatment for more than ten days, and then asked: "Do you think the people will cooperate with the registration of men in each county with such treatment?"
Everyone nodded, and Yue Ming even said with a smile: "Don't say it is fifteen to forty-five years old, even if it is expanded to sixty years old, the people will not have any objection!"
"If there is an annual military draft, will people join the army enthusiastically?"
"Of course I will!"
Liu Yan said with a smile: "That's right! The military service period of the garrison is three years. After every three years of service, you can receive a one-time retirement fee of ten silver coins and return to the field. This ensures that most of the Ming Dynasty men have experienced Through military training, we can ensure that the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty prevails, and also reserve a large number of reserve soldiers for the imperial court!"
Tian Huixu suddenly realized that the "Military Service Law of the Ming Dynasty" drawn up by Liu Yan seemed cruel and wanted to recruit all the men of the right age in the Ming Dynasty as soldiers, but in fact it provided generous benefits, which could make the common people who joined the army prosperous. It can be said to be a good way to kill two birds with one stone.
Everyone immediately approved it unanimously, and after drafting the regulations, they reported it to Emperor Chongzhen Zhu for approval.
When Emperor Chongzhen saw this military reform strategy, he was also shocked. He said to Liu Yan who came to report: "Now that Li Chuang has been destroyed, the Manchu Qing Dynasty is also dormant, and there are new troops and garrison troops under the command of Mr. Ge."
An army of more than 100,000 people is enough to regain Liaodong and stabilize the world. Why go to such trouble! "
In this military reform strategy, the cost of reorganizing the new army and garrison battalions alone has reached 4.78 million taels of silver coins. If the entire military reform strategy is completed, it will require at least more than 59 million taels. Silver coins, this kind of money and food, even if everyone in the imperial court is sold, they still can't get it together.
Liu Yan explained: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, military reform is not something that can be completed overnight. It may be delayed for several years or even more than ten years. Therefore, this huge expenditure will be spread evenly over the years. The imperial court's financial resources will still be guaranteed."
Emperor Chongzhen also knew that the imperial court now had a surplus thanks to the various industries handed over by Liu Yan and the tax support from Shandong. However, facing such a huge expenditure, Emperor Chongzhen still murmured in his heart and said: " Although the troops and horses in various parts of the Ming Dynasty are not as powerful as the new army, they can be reorganized a little. Why do they have to demobilize and reorganize them all, and rebuild a million garrison? In my opinion, will there be a life-and-death war to fight in the future? "
Liu Yan clasped his fists and said: "Your Majesty! Although Li Chuang has been destroyed and the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been severely damaged, the world is so big that it is not just the Ming Dynasty. Our enemies of China are not only the Manchu Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the matter of military preparation, We must vigorously rectify it, and I beg your Majesty to proceed with it!"
Emperor Chongzhen was shocked when he heard this. Liu Yan's eyes were never limited to Ming Dynasty!
