Scientific research and teaching make Ouyang Xuan passionate, but he is always interrupted by sudden military and political affairs. Although Li Shuang is in charge of the daily government affairs of the Perak Army, and Huang Dagen, Cao Ergou, Yu Zhu and others are responsible for military affairs, the amount of military and political affairs has increased exponentially since he came down from the mountain, and the difficulty of governance has also doubled. There are still many important things. Ouyang Xuan needs to make a decision, or a military and political joint meeting needs to be held to decide. Although it is advocated to hold fewer meetings and hold short meetings, there are still many meetings waiting for Ouyang Xuan. Because the matters discussed at these meetings are so important, involving major politics and people's livelihood, and are related to the foundation of the Perak Army's governance. In early June alone, he presided over two joint military and political meetings. Fortunately, the lengthy meetings were not in vain and several key matters were decided.
The first is the naturalization system. At present, the population under the rule of the Pili Army has reached 200,000. In addition to the natives of western Sichuan, these people also have many immigrants from other places, and there are also many Yifan people. Attracted by preferential policies and a stable environment, the population under the rule of the Perak Army continues to grow. Who is a citizen of the Perak Army and who can enjoy the preferential policies of the Perak Army has become a controversial topic. Ouyang Xuan adheres to the idea of integrating Chinese and barbarians, and believes that as long as they live in the territory and are registered, and recognize the philosophy of the Perak Army, they are all citizens of the Perak Army and can naturally enjoy various benefits. His idea was considered too permissive by others, and the plan that was ultimately adopted was far more stringent.
The Military and Political Joint Conference defines Pili citizens as: those who agree with the philosophy of the Pili, are proficient in Chinese or have made contributions, fulfill various obligations of the Pili, and have been registered can be called citizens of the Pili. This definition excludes a considerable number of people from citizenship, especially barbarians and prisoners of war in labor camps. For those who do not have citizenship, the joint meeting also stipulated that they can rent land or go to industry, mining or work. After living in the Perak military area for three years and being able to speak Chinese, they can be registered as registered citizens. The joint meeting also explained the circumstances of contribution, that is, seniors with skills in politics, military, economics, science, medicine, etc., can become citizens even if they cannot speak Chinese. The Yifan soldiers in the regular army of the Perak Army meet this condition.
The second item is the land-acre system. When they first came down from the mountain, the Perak Army had already passed the relevant land-acre system and realized the goal of land to the tiller. They even used grain to attract refugees to settle the land. Land was also used to reward meritorious service and disabled soldiers. This system is premised on a large amount of ownerless land, but it is also controversial. The reason why Jiang Yuan Chang Yuan betrayed was because he held thousands of acres of land deeds, but was not recognized by the Perak Army, and tried to defect to the Mongols to regain land ownership. In addition, aspects such as land sales, inheritance and use were not clear, so Li Shuang took the lead in formulating a new land-acre system.
The new land-mu system still adheres to the land equalization system and the prevention of land annexation proposed by Ouyang Xuan, and clearly does not recognize the title deeds of barren land. A parallel system of contracted fields and permanent fields will be implemented for the cultivated land under the administration. That is to say, if the land is fat and thin, each adult man can be granted 30 to 100 acres as contracted land, and the number can be reduced to half for children and women. It will be adjusted with the increase or decrease of the population, but the contracted land for each household shall not exceed 1,000 acres. As public land, contracted land can only be cultivated and cannot be inherited. What can be inherited and bought and sold as private property is Yongye Field. In addition to buying and selling, the main sources of Yongye farmland are military merit, scientific and technological inventions and other rewards, or pensions and disability compensation. Each household must not exceed one thousand acres.
The third item is grassroots governance. Chang Yuan's rebellion was mainly due to his unsatisfied personal desires, but it also reflected the weakness of the grassroots governance of the Perak Army. If his superiors could be more precise and if the management system could be more stringent, Chang Yuan would not be able to form a gang and threaten so many people to participate in the rebellion. As the saying goes, "the general is incompetent and the three armies will be exhausted." Drawing lessons from past mistakes and providing lessons for the future, the senior leadership of the Perak Army unanimously agrees that grassroots governance must be strengthened, especially the selection and use of grassroots officials and managers.
The most basic unit of the Perak Army is the settlement point, and the higher levels are the townships and counties. According to the new system, in addition to the county magistrate, each county also has six departments: military, criminal, household, ritual, industrial, and civil servants, which are respectively responsible for armaments and military affairs, justice and prisons, finance, taxation and commerce, education and health, industry and mining, and official management. Most townships were located in large settlements. In addition to the township chief, there were only four officials: soldiers, households, rites, and workers. The settlement points are still set up as before, and the settlement chiefs are still elected by the people, but they must meet new standards. Since the Perak Army will be in a state of war for a long time to come, the new system clearly stipulates that village chiefs and township chiefs must have military experience and be literate. When selecting county and township officials, in addition to assessing the corresponding professional knowledge, those with military experience will also be given priority.
The fourth item is the military system issue. At present, the Perak Army combines a standing army with a basic militia. The joint meeting believes that the integrated farming and fighting model should have appropriate distinctions between the standing army and the basic militia. Zeng Yong and others drew on the military system of the Tang Dynasty and the recruitment system commonly used by the Song army, and proposed a plan to professionalize the standing army and professionalize the basic militia. They also proposed to control the number of militiamen, which was approved. At present, there are only 5,500 people in the four brigades of the Perak Army's standing army plus the troops directly under the general staff, but there are as many as 50,000 militiamen participating in the training, including many weak young men and white-haired elderly people.
According to the new military system, the current number of standing forces remains unchanged, and weapons and equipment are still uniformly provided by the military supplies department. Soldiers of the standing army specialize in training and combat, and are no longer engaged in production activities except under special circumstances. The land allocated to them is cultivated by the village where they are located, and the labor of their family members is reduced. According to Zeng Yong's suggestion, the number of basic militiamen is controlled at around 20,000, and the mode of integrating farming and warfare is still adopted. The labor service is reduced and the required clothes, food and cold weapons are purchased by oneself. The firearms required for daily training and wartime needs are purchased by the militiamen. Provided uniformly by the munitions department.
The new military system may seem like soldiers suffer more than the civilian population, but this is not the case. Although the people under the rule of the Perak Army did not pay for grain, they still had to perform a large amount of labor during the off-farm period, such as bringing their own grain and tools to build roads, ditches, and fortresses, which were also very heavy labor. It's just that these labors are nothing compared to the Mongols' massacre and plunder and the bone-breaking and marrow-sucking exploitation of other state officials. Ouyang Xuan and other senior leaders of the Perak Army are not willing to increase the burden on the people, but under the current level of productivity, this is the only way to maintain operations and fight against the ferocious Mongols.
As soon as the new military order was issued, the soldiers of the standing army were emotionally stable, but it caused panic among the militia. There is no other reason than that there are too many people who want to stay in the basic militia. According to the Perak Army system, even if you do not become a standing soldier, there are many benefits to becoming a basic militiaman. Politically, it means that you have the qualifications to be an official. Economically, it means that you can be exempted from labor service. It also means that you can obtain Yongye Field through military exploits. . Based on combat effectiveness and military needs, half of the basic militia establishment this time was allocated to the industrial, mining and reclamation sites along the river. There were not many places allocated to the rest of the places. As a result, other settlement sites have requested to increase their establishment quotas, which made Yu Zhu, who was in charge of this matter, very anxious and in a hurry for a long time.
