There were 8,000 soldiers in Nanning, which finally made Gao Pangshi a little relieved. But what he didn't expect was that the surprise was not over yet, because Ni Zhonghua said again: "These 8,000 people are all Han'er officers and soldiers under the direct jurisdiction of the imperial court." , In addition, we also have wolf soldiers squads that can be called upon if needed."
Gao Pingshi was startled when he heard this: "Wolf soldiers... Ban soldiers?"
Ni Zhonghua thought to himself: Gao Zhizhi really doesn't know much about our Guangxi. He actually doesn't know about the Wolf Soldier Squadron?
But thinking about it, he never dared to say it out loud, so he said with a smile on his face: "Yes, yes, we in Guangxi, to be honest, the guardsmen are not very useful for a long time. Generally speaking, they are It is rare for guards to send out soldiers outside their jurisdiction. Usually if there is a war that requires a large-scale deployment of troops, the main ones to be mobilized are the squadrons, and the Guangxi squadrons are divided into two categories."
Gao pragmatic asked: "What are the two major categories? Han troops and wolf soldiers?"
"You are wise!" Ni Zhonghua was also completely shameless. He could be "wise" in this way, but he still said seriously: "In Guangxi, in the early days of the Republic of China, the Han army's squadrons came from three major sources, namely Huguang, Guizhou and Guangdong, but later there were many troubles in Guizhou, so during the Xuande period, the Ban Army was no longer sent over. Now the Han troops among the Guangxi Ban Army mainly come from Huguang and Guangdong."
"How many people are there?" Gao pragmatically asked.
Ni Zhonghua said: "According to the situation, I don't know that the number of squad troops is actually uncertain, or it is often adjusted. At the beginning, there were usually 10,000 Huguang squad troops coming to Guangxi in turns, and then it gradually decreased to 5,000. But since Guangxi When chaos broke out, the number of people began to increase again. Since Guangxi only put down the Bazhai Rebellion last year, there are still 8,000 Huguang troops in Guangxi at the moment."
"Oh... what about the Guangdong squadron?" Gao pragmatically asked again.
Ni Zhonghua said: "The Guangdong squadron has always been composed of ten or sixteen corps such as the Guangzhou Siwei, Nanhaiwei, Qingyuanwei, Guanghaiwei, Huizhouwei, Chaozhouwei, Jieshiwei and Xiangshanwei. At most, there are two There are more than 10,000 people in this class. In the fifth year of Longqing's reign, rebellion broke out in Guangxi. The number of officers and soldiers in each class of the Guangdong Guard Station was more than 4,600, and the number currently remains at this level...maybe a little less, but There’s probably another eight thousand or so.”
Very good, two 8,000, that is 16,000 regular field troops, barely enough to look at.
Gao pragmatic asked again: "Then what's going on with the Wolf Soldier Squadron?"
Ni Zhonghua said: "The situation of the Wolf Soldier Squadron is very complicated. The main reason is that the strength of each chieftain is very different, so the court's requirements for their deployment are very different. For example, for Sicheng Prefecture and Siming Prefecture, For the big chieftains, the imperial court required them to send out a thousand troops at a time and replace them every three years; while for some small chieftains, the requirements would be lowered as appropriate. For example... well, for example, Xincheng County only sent out 150 people per squad. , every two years, and you can even take a year off if you don’t have a shift. Anyway, this is quite complicated, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to explain it for a while.”
Oh, there's no need to say it so clearly.
Gao pragmatically said: "Then tell me a general situation. How many wolf squads are there in Guangxi now?"
Ni Zhonghua smiled bitterly and said: "According to the official position, his humble position is only that of General Liu Qing. When it comes to the whole province, I'm afraid it's not very accurate. I can only make a rough calculation... there are about 1,780 people, and there should be at least 15,000 regular classes." .”
"Permanent duty?" Gao Pragmatic asked, "Does that mean there may be temporary recruitment?"
Ni Zhonghua suddenly raised his head and said proudly: "That's natural. If there is an order from the imperial court, they will naturally be ordered to recruit. The fifteen thousand is just a rule."
Gao Pangshi suddenly made a calculation in his mind: This is not bad. With the Han soldiers and the Wolf soldiers, there are 30,000 field troops here. Although the guards in Guangxi are also corrupt, according to what Zhang Ren said before Judging from the situation, it is estimated that 10,000 or even 20,000 people can still be used by multiple people, which means there are only 40,000 to 50,000 usable soldiers.
Although it is more than half less than the theoretical garrison troops of hundreds of thousands in Guangxi, regardless of the book data, as long as these 40,000 to 50,000 field troops are used properly, unless they are of the level of the Cen and Huang families, rebellion, otherwise it should be enough to solve the internal problems in Guangxi.
Then why do we need to go to war to quell the rebellion in the Eight Villages? We have to gather an army of 100,000 to fight? What the hell is this? Without an army of 100,000, is it too weak to be powerful? Isn't this ridiculous?
Anyway, there are only Jiang Xin and Ni Zhonghua at the moment, and Gao Pragmatic is not afraid of "making the family scandal public", so he directly raised this issue.
Unexpectedly, Ni Zhonghua, who was always willing to answer high-level pragmatic questions, remained silent this time and just looked at Jiang Xin.
Gao Pangshi was a little surprised, but he still looked at Jiang Xin. Jiang Xin knew the reason why Ni Zhonghua did not dare to say anything. As a military attache, it was really inconvenient for him to say some things. There was no other way. Jiang Xin had no choice but to answer: "On the stage, this Let’s start with Ban Jun’s system.”
Gao pragmatic nodded: "You say it, I am all ears."
"Although the squadron's combat effectiveness is good, it is actually...not very useful." Jiang Xin first set the tone.
Gao Pingshi didn't speak, just frowned slightly and continued to look at him.
Jiang Xin coughed lightly and said, "That's what happened..."
He was really forced to have no choice but to tell the inside story.
It turns out that the ban army system has actually caused many disputes between Guangxi and Guizhou, Huguang and Guangdong, and the fundamental reason lies in the conflict between the jurisdiction and use rights of the Ming army and the military material supply system.
This must first start with the support of the Ban Army in the Ming Dynasty. In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang tried to solve the army's supply problem through farming. He stipulated that every banner army should have a farmland of varying sizes. A military person has a land ranging from 80 to 90 to 100 acres, and the land is recorded as a garrison. The military is not allowed to sell it, and the people are not allowed to buy it." The grain collected is used to support the officers, soldiers and their families.
But in fact, even during the Chengzu period when the Ming Dynasty had the highest grain collection, the Weisuo army did not achieve self-sufficiency. If the border villages are included, the actual role of the military villages in the early Ming Dynasty should be more than "enough to supply half of the army's food" A little smaller.
The effect of farming in Guangxi was particularly poor. In the 29th year of Hongwu, due to insufficient military pay for the newly established Nandan, Fengyi, Qingyuan Guards and Fuchuan Qianhu Posts, the imperial court ordered all sergeants to farm to supply military supplies. However, due to The primary task of the army is to protect the homeland and the country. All the elites of the banner army are deployed to defend the city against the enemy. Farming can only be done by the remaining soldiers. As the banner army dies or flees, the remaining troops must be replenished to prepare for the defense. The labor force needed could no longer be guaranteed, and the fields in the guard stations were either abandoned, occupied by powerful men, or allowed to be rented out. It was inevitable that the camp administration would be corrupted.
The insufficient supplies of the army have no choice but to be borne by the prefectures and counties. This is not only the case in Guangxi, but also in other governors and chief secretaries.
As early as the 10th year of Xuande, the imperial court stipulated that "the Weishuocang of the world belongs to Fuzhou and County, but the places where there are no prefectures and counties of Liaodong, Gansu, Ningxia, Wanquan, and Coastal Weitsuo remain the same."
By the early years of the Jiajing period, the guard station had become almost hopelessly eroded. The military supply of various armed forces across the country was basically borne by administrative agencies. The gains from the guard station's farming could only guarantee part of the expenditure of the guard station's officers and soldiers.
For the squadrons in Guangxi, except for the Wolf Soldiers squadron, which is supported locally, the Huguang, Guangdong and Guizhou squadrons are responsible for their own expenses.
The basic living supplies of the Weisuo Banner Army are provided by the military strategists themselves. This is a unified regulation in the Ming Dynasty. For example, "Guangxi has a vast territory and there is no time for bandits to attack. If there is a levy and the horse power is insufficient, please select a guard with sufficient strength as before." The flag army...is ready for deployment, and the other two Ding are exempted from serving to assist the main army." In other words, the court actually only gave some other "preferential benefits".
In the 10th year of Zhengtong, "Guizhou and Huguang Dusi, in the nearby Guangxi Guards Station, picked up rich people and Ding Guanjun went to **."
The rations required for Huguang's 10,000 squad troops every year are provided by the Chief Secretary of Huguang. "The Huguang Guards allocate 10,000 officers and soldiers to garrison Guangxi in turns. The rations used every year are provided by Huguang."
Guangdong is even worse. Not only does it have to provide military supplies and wages for its own garrison, but it also has to "assist" Guangxi's food and wages every year. For example, last year, "Guangdong Xiejiwu Town was ordered to release grain and wages to Wuzhou Prefecture. Since the governor's office was moved to Guangdong, the annual salary and wages were collected and stored in Zhaoqing Prefecture. Guangxi should be relieved of the annual military and food officers to go to Zhaoqing Guan Branch. Governor Liu Yao instructed Thinking it was inconvenient, he appealed to the Chief Secretary of Guangdong, and anyone who assisted in collecting the salary money of Wu Town would be sent to Wuzhou Prefecture to prepare for the dismemberment. This will always be the rule."
In this way, since most of Guangxi's regular financial expenditures are still provided to Guangdong, the so-called "Guangxi's regular supply of 100,000 yuan goes out of the Eastern Province every year", not to mention the Ban Army's marching and monthly rations.
Faced with this serious imbalance in the relationship between responsibilities and rights, officials in Guizhou, Huguang and Guangdong are unwilling to accept it. In addition, due to the harsh environment in Guangxi, the Ban Army was not accustomed to the acclimatization and there were many escapees. The Central Committee repeatedly emphasized that the Ban Army should "serve the original quota", which brought huge difficulties to the clearing work of the Huguang and Guangdong Ban Army. .
Therefore, on the one hand, officials in both places hope to reduce or cancel the shifts on the grounds that the garrison army has suffered a heavy reduction in personnel and it is difficult to make up for the shifts.
On the other hand, when Ban Jun was in Guangxi, he was not very willing to obey the orders of local civil and military officials in Guangxi. Although he did not dare to openly disobey orders, it was commonplace for him to defy orders and procrastinate.
When Jiang Xin said this, Gao Pragmatic understood a lot of things at once. For example, why the governor of Guangxi could not handle the Bazhai Rebellion on his own, so he had to work with the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi to intervene - first of all, the Guangdong squadron refused to obey, and in addition, Guangxi had no money, and the governors of Guangxi and Guangxi did not come with the reward money. Are you willing to show your true strength?
Even if I say a thousand words, it still hurts because I don’t have money!
Gao Pragmatic sighed and thought to himself: Zhu Yuanzhang, an old farmer, has broken the system...
Looking at this Banjun's problem from a pragmatic perspective, in fact, as long as the financial system is changed, there will be no trouble at all.
For example, if there is a war in Guangxi, the military expenses and other expenses for the Ban Army's battle will be directly handed over to Guangxi itself. Of course, Guangxi has no money, but the Central Committee can allocate funds. The Central Committee directly allocates funds to Guangxi, and Guangxi uses this money to deal with the rebellion. , doesn’t this mean nothing happens?
As for where the central government will get the money... Huguang and Guangdong can just hand it over to the central government.
What, you’re saying this hasn’t changed at all? Huguang and Guangdong still contribute more work and effort?
That is of course, but the problem is that in this way there will not be such conflicts at the local level. As for whether Huguang and Guangdong will be dissatisfied with the central government... What can you do if you are dissatisfied?
The reason why the center is a center is that it should have financial jurisdiction over local areas and should have the power to allocate finances at any time. This is a symbol of the authority of the center, and it is also a guarantee!
As a result, according to Zhu Yuanzhang's method, the central government actually removed himself, leaving the provinces below to argue.
If you can improve your administrative efficiency, it would be crazy!
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I’ll finish the promised eight thousand first, and I’ll try my best to make up the remaining two thousand today… I don’t like being in debt.
