[You asked: "Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty has a total of eight million standing troops, garrison troops, garrison troops, war preparation troops... etc., although after the great disarmament, the troops were reduced to 650. Ten thousand, Kechen feels that this total force is still a bit too much."]
[His Majesty pondered: "Why, you Yu Qian think that the Ming Dynasty has too many troops and too many conquests, and you want to persuade me to rest and recuperate?"]
[You said solemnly: "The Ministry of War does not have the word "harmony" in its eyes. There is only one war. In the Ming Dynasty, there was no Ministry of War to seek peace!"]
[Nine years ago, you once wrote, "May your Majesty restrain your warlike heart, start a new life with the people, and show kindness to the world." Times have changed, and nine years later, you have already gone through many hardships. Wherever your Majesty's sword points, the Ministry of War will kill. ! 】
Zhu Di was happy, this is right, the Ming Dynasty should be so tough!
Throughout the ages, they have left different impressions on future generations.
The impression of the Qin Dynasty is the great ideal of creating a great unification; the impression of Liu Han is the tyranny of the Eastern Expedition and the Northern Expedition; the impression of Li Tang is the prosperity of all nations; the impression of the Song Dynasty is the send-off and blessing of cowardice.
And Daming always gives people a sense of poverty and beauty...
Ahem, Daming gives people a tough style!
This is my Da Ming!
Talk about peace? What a nonsense!
You have millions of troops. Do you dare to negotiate peace with me, Ming Dynasty?
"I understand what you mean. You just want to say that the Ming Dynasty has enough troops. With four to five million troops, it can sweep across the world. Keeping so many troops will consume too much national power." His Majesty said, " I am also aware of this matter. Even though the Ming Dynasty's national strength has surpassed that of any other dynasty, the eight million army is still too heavy a burden on the Ming Dynasty, so I carried out a major disarmament and reduced this number to six hundred. Five hundred thousand."]
[It is true that even if the Hengjing Dynasty is now unprecedentedly powerful, the burden brought by a total force of eight million is still too heavy. 】
[The Ming Dynasty continued to expand its territory, incorporating twenty southwest countries into its territory. While assimilating foreign ethnic groups, it moved the Ming people to different places. The population of the Ming Dynasty increased sharply. 】
[With more people and more troops, management problems will arise. If we still follow the previous system and use the empty shelves of the Fifth Army Governor's Office and the Ministry of War to manage it, it will obviously be impossible to manage it. With such a large army, once there is discord in management, it will cause huge disasters. 】
[As the Minister of the Ministry of War, you know very well that it is impossible for the Ministry of War alone to manage these eight million troops, and even if it can be managed, the shortcomings of the Ministry of War's own excessive power will be revealed. The eight million army is no longer just the spear and shield of the Ming Dynasty. It is a coal mine. A spark will make the coal mine burn hotter and hotter until it burns the Ming Dynasty to ashes. 】
[The Anshi Rebellion brought about by the left general An Lushan and the eunuch Shi Siming during the Tianbao period plunged Li Tang, who was at its peak, into irreparable decline. For an extremely powerful country, the most deadly thing is not foreign aggression, but internal strife. Today's Ming Dynasty in the Hengjing Dynasty is so similar to Li Tang in the Tianbao Dynasty. 】
Zhu Di nodded, this was also what worried him the most.
"A strong army is an invincible blade, but if the blade is too sharp, I'm afraid it will hurt you."
The eight million army, even if reduced to 6.5 million, is still an extremely huge number.
The most typical example is that it reached its peak after experiencing the "Government of Zhenguan" by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the "Government of Yonghui" by Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, the "Government of Macro Zhenguan and the Kaiyuan Dynasty" by Tang Xuanzong and Li Longji. The complete prosperous Tang Dynasty.
However, during the An-Shi Rebellion, the capital of Chang'an fell, and the Tang Emperor fled. The flames of war broke out into chaos, causing this extremely powerful empire to decline from prosperity to recovery. After the An-Shi Rebellion, there was no longer a prosperous Tang Dynasty.
The biggest factor that caused the Anshi Rebellion was the excessive power of local warlords.
The sergeants recruited from the government military system were bribed and won over by local generals, and the warlords from other provinces were intertwined and inseparable. The Jiedushi system established by the Tang Dynasty at the border made the power of the warlords more and more expanded, so that the warlords had their own land, their people, their soldiers, and their wealth, leading to a situation where the warlords could not lose the big one. .
The border troops of the Tang Dynasty continued to expand and accounted for more than 80% of the country's military strength. However, the army truly under the emperor's jurisdiction was not only insufficient in strength, but also far from comparable in strength to the border troops. Exposed.
Although the Ming Dynasty did not have the Tang Dynasty's Jiedushi system, Zhu Di actually had a substitute based on his own analysis.
It is impossible for the army in other provinces to have no supreme commander. If there is a supreme commander, there will be hidden dangers. Lao Zhu's previous plan was to have the supreme commander be a member of the royal family, and the same was true for the vassal king when he left town.
[In order to deal with the hidden dangers of the army, His Majesty made a drastic decision: starting from the third year of Hengjing, all provincial commanders and envoys were transferred to other provinces to serve in other provinces, the governors of the five military governors' offices were transferred to other provinces, and the metropolitan governor's office was reestablished. 】
[This is a very bold policy. The predecessor of the Fifth Army Governor's Office is the Generalissimo's Office, the Privy Council, and the Grand Governor's Office. However, Taizu felt that the power should not be concentrated in one department and the affairs should not be kept under cover, so he put the general The Dudu Mansion was divided into five parts. 】
[The original intention of Taizu was good. He wanted to use the Governor's Mansion and the Ministry of War to involve each other to achieve a balanced effect, so as to ensure that military power would not be controlled by one person. The officials of the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion are served by meritorious generals, and the officials in charge have no seats. After the death of Taizu, the power of the Ministry of War has overtaken the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion, making the Fifth Army Governor's Mansion completely a decoration. 】
[His Majesty’s response is to transfer the commander-in-chief of the five armies to the outside, and change the original five armies of the front, rear, center, left, and right into the five armies of the east, west, south, north, and center. The commander-in-chief of the five armies will be reduced from the first grade. As a member of the first rank, it is under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Mansion. The Grand Governor's Office has the Left Grand Governor and the Right Grand Governor, which are the first rank. 】
[Although the rank of the Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army was cut by half, his actual power has undergone earth-shaking changes. He can directly manage the commander-in-chief of the province under his jurisdiction, and has changed from a fictitious first-rank official to a real first-rank official. . 】
[Although the Metropolitan Governor's Office has nominal jurisdiction over the world's military forces, it greatly surpasses the Ministry of War in terms of status and power. In fact, when the Grand Governor's Office was established, a large part of its power was taken back by the emperor. In the true sense, the Left Grand Governor was actually the emperor. 】
[In the end, a magical balanced situation was formed: the provincial commanders and envoys were under the jurisdiction of the Fifth Army Governor's Palace, the Fifth Army Governor's Palace was under the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Governor's Palace, and the Metropolitan Governor's Palace was under the jurisdiction of the emperor. The power of the Ministry of War has been slashed, and the Fifth Army Governor's Office has no way to check and balance them. But now that there is a Governor's Office, the Ministry of War can no longer do whatever it wants. 】
[In order to eradicate the problem of mutual protection between officials after the entire system is solidified, officials within this system will be continuously mobilized and adjusted. For example, the Left Commander of the Eastern Army, who worked in the Eastern Army Commandery for seven or eight years, will be transferred to the Western Army, and then A few years later, he was transferred to the Northern Army... and after a full circle, it was time to retire and return to his hometown. The same is true for officials in various provincial departments. 】
[If it were during normal times, this policy would be difficult to implement. Because this involves the mobilization of the Ministry of War, provinces, and even millions of troops, any changes can easily have adverse effects. However, His Majesty chose the time to implement this policy just after the end of the great disarmament, when the armies everywhere were at their weakest, so the policy of changing the army was easily implemented. 】
Zhu Di raised his forehead and said, "Damn, I don't have enough brain."
Isn't this a matryoshka doll?
The big ones hid the smaller ones, and the small ones hid the smaller ones. After the trap was completed, the problem of the excessive power of the Ministry of War was suppressed. At the same time, the Ministry of War was used to suppress the Governor's Mansion. Finally, regular official transfers were used to prevent these people from colluding with cronies.
How did the fourth child come up with such a brain, and how did he come up with such a damaging move?
Seeing this, the old man finally figured out how Hengjingchao's eight million troops came.
War is used to support war. After the annexation of the twenty southwest countries, the population increased through continuous migration and assimilation, which supplemented the army with abundant manpower. In a chain link, the Five Army Governor's Office was decentralized and the Metropolitan Governor's Office was established, and regular mobilizations were arranged. The strategy was to stabilize the imperial power and prevent the emergence of local warlords.
At this time, Zhu Di had to admit that Emperor Hengjing was far superior to him in terms of power and politics.
[You asked tentatively: "I'm afraid your Majesty's visit is not just for chatting, right?"]
[You are a brainiac, but you are not stupid. 】
["Yu Qing knows me." His Majesty said with a chuckle, "I am here to discuss with you the issues related to military households and military camps."]
[You gasped: "Does your Majesty want to abolish military households and military villages? This is not allowed, Your Majesty!"]
[The military garrison system was the lifeblood of the national defense of the Ming Dynasty. The reason why the Ming Dynasty was able to support the largest army under the poorest circumstances was precisely because it benefited from the military garrison system. 】
[For sergeants, three points are used to defend the city and seven points are used to farm crops. There are also examples such as 28, 46, 19, and half. The difference is that the fields are fertile and the areas are buffered. Let the people in the army cultivate the land to feed the army. Taizu once said proudly: "I can raise millions of soldiers without costing the people a grain of rice."]
[His Majesty shook his head: "It's not abolition, it's rectification."]
Under the guard system implemented when the Ming Dynasty was first founded, sergeants received a fixed salary every month, called monthly rations. Initially, according to regulations, rations were distributed at the beginning of the month. The standard was two shi of rice per month for the horse army, one and a half shi for the general flag of the infantry army, and one shi for the small flag. Two, one stone for the flag army.
In addition to monthly rations, the imperial court also distributed monthly salt to sergeants. The standard was two kilograms for those with family members, and one kilogram for those without. However, after the fifteenth year of Hongwu, the monthly salt was changed to treasure notes, and winter clothes and cloth were also distributed from time to time. and supplies such as cotton. Generally speaking, being a soldier during the early days of the Ming Dynasty was a source of nourishment, and it was not a problem to support a family.
However, in the middle and late Hongwu Dynasty, records of discounts began to appear, that is, not all were given, but other things were used to distribute them. After the implementation of garrison garrison, the banner army had no salary and had to rely on military fields to support itself. Even winter clothes and cotton were only issued to the banner army guarding the city, and the banner army who farmed the land had nothing.
Moreover, military households in the Ming Dynasty were hereditary. The married sergeant's wife had to live with him in the guard house. The children and grandchildren were tied to the military. After the death, the son took over and continued to work for the court in farming.
But Zhu Di felt there was nothing wrong with it, because the Ming Dynasty had always been poor and could not afford to support an army of millions. If it did not rely on the military household system, would it be possible to exploit the people to death to support the army?
When the time comes when all the people in the world turn against him, what will happen?
[His Majesty said thoughtfully: "Have you ever thought about what the sergeants will do one day when they no longer have military fields?"]
[You thought His Majesty was joking: "How is this possible? No matter how poor the imperial court is, it is impossible to take back military fields and destroy the Great Wall."]
["The imperial court will not take back the military land, but the leading generals and the wealthy gentry will meet. Land annexation has been a thing since ancient times. They will covet this abundant military land and try their best to take the military land away from the sergeants." Your Majesty. He said in a deep voice, "The sergeants have no salary and rely on military land to barely support their families. If the military land is taken away again, how will they live? Besides, military households in the Ming Dynasty are hereditary. Not only will he not be able to survive, but his descendants will also Of course, there is another possibility, that is, his descendants have starved to death together with the sergeant before inheriting the status of a sergeant. Faced with this situation, if you were a sergeant, what would you do? ”]
[You fell into silence. This was something you had never thought about. 】
Zhu Di also fell silent, because he knew that what Emperor Hengjing said was true.
The old man who has simulated history knows very well that in a hundred years, this kind of land annexation will become more and more serious. The court will also become poorer and poorer due to the land annexation by local tyrants. There is no military land and it cannot afford military rations.
After Emperor Jiajing succeeded to the throne, a Taoist official reported that the frontier troops in the Xuanfu area had not received food for several months, and their hungry eyes were glowing green. What's even worse is that some of the wives of the sergeants are engaged in the leather and meat business. This is also a no-brainer. They really can't survive. When the officials patrolling the border saw it, they felt that these sergeants who guarded the border for the Ming Dynasty were just messing around. It's too awful.
It was not uncommon for the flag troops to be occupied and their rations to be withheld.
General Xiong Tingbi of Liaodong discovered that an officer asked Dun Jun to catch fish for him, and then there were women and children guarding the Dun. This man was stunned.
Is this the fucking border army?
Even if you pull a beggar from the street to change his clothes, he will look more like a frontier soldier than these frontier soldiers!
[You were silent for a long time and asked: "How does Your Majesty plan to improve it?"]
[His Majesty smiled calmly, with a strategizing attitude, as if he was well prepared. 】
Zhu Di narrowed his eyes slightly, and he was also looking forward to Zhu Gaojie's answer.
You brat, if you don’t tell me in reality, I will expose you in the simulation!
【……】
[Yu Qian’s random identity fragment simulation ends. 】
A big question mark appeared on Zhu Di's head.
Damn beast simulator!
Are you playing this trick with me at the most critical moment?
Come on, take this simulator out, skin it, pull out the grass, kill the ten tribes, and copy the melons and vines!
How unreasonable!
