"Hong Chengchou, do you have any questions about the content of the imperial edict?"
"Return to your majesty, I don't have any!"
"No?"
Chongzhen became interested and said with great interest: "Then tell me why you arranged it like this?"
"Your Majesty, first of all, the edict is to warn the ministers. After all, the span is too big.
The second is to hold the title of Censor of Qiandu. Firstly, I am not qualified enough. If I hold it too high, I may be criticized by others. Secondly, if I do well, I will not be promoted in the future! "
"You are very confident!"
"Your Majesty, this has nothing to do with self-confidence or whether you can do well, but everything must be considered comprehensively. Don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of what may happen.
With the wisdom of His Majesty and the meticulousness of the cabinet, he would not make such a mistake! "
Hong Chengchou bowed his hands towards Chongzhen and continued: "As for the scope of authority, it is only about military affairs. I heard that your Majesty has withdrawn the governor of Xuanfu and established a new chief secretary. The military power of Xuanfu belongs to the commander-in-chief.
The Chief Secretary is only responsible for civil affairs. This is to separate military and political affairs.
Yesterday, I said that if your Majesty wants to achieve peace in the world, he will divide the scholar-bureaucrats' duties and listen to them.
Just now, His Majesty told the Chief Envoy Zheng that there will no longer be a governor of Shaanxi, and that all government affairs except Hedong and Hexi will be vested in the Chief Envoy alone, which verified what I thought. "
"As long as you understand!"
Chongzhen sighed secretly, this man is really smart. When he hears this kind of 'injustice', he doesn't get angry, but analyzes it first. This is extremely rare.
"You're only right about one thing!"
"Your Majesty, please give me your instructions!"
"What do you think of Jiubian and various health stations!"
Hong Chengchou's face became solemn, his pupils tightened, he was silent for a while and then said in a deep voice: "The armaments are corrupt, the soldiers are fleeing seriously, the generals are corrupt, and the combat power is inflated..."
"It's not that there are no capable sergeants in the frontier army and guard posts, it's just that they were recruited by the generals as their domestic slaves."
"Most of the hereditary generals are mediocre and incompetent, and no one will fight for military glory.
Official positions are fixed and there are no vacancies. No matter how hard the soldiers work, they can't be promoted, so they simply don't work hard. "
“Finally, there is dual oppression, both public and private. Military households and sergeants are severely oppressed. Half or even 70% of the food in military camps is handed over.
It seems that he has entered the national treasury, but in fact he has entered the private warehouses of generals at all levels.
There is no difference between military households and slaves, which leads to serious flight and military settlements being abandoned!
The military pay is insufficient, so the sergeants can only be deducted. In the past, they were given six dou per month, but now they are not even given four dou. If they don’t have enough food and no military pay, no sergeant is willing to work hard! "
"Such phenomena as this..."
Hong Chengchou asked more than a dozen questions in a row, each one tearing off the fig leaf of Weisuo and Jiubian.
"The reason why Your Majesty asked me to take charge of military affairs is because you want me to rectify Shaanxi's military equipment?"
At this time, Hong Chengchou finally realized that Chongzhen asked him the purpose of the Jiubian and Weisuo systems.
"Any ideas?"
Hong Chengchou was silent for a quarter of an hour before he slowly breathed out.
"Your Majesty, I believe that we should reorganize the towns behind the First Guard Station and implement the strategy of having better troops and simpler administration.
At that time, Taizu formulated the system of guard stations because the situation was unstable when the country was just founded. Guard stations were not only to solve border troubles, but also to deter the hinterland, and at the same time solve the problem of military pay.
But today is different from the past. The guard station has been completely corrupt, and the court also knows it, otherwise the recruitment system would not have existed.
In this case, there is no need for the health system to exist, or there are not so many of them.
The reason why I say that the frontier town is behind the guard post is because when the border town moves, it is easy to cause trouble, allowing foreign enemies to take advantage of it.
Shaanxi currently has 40 health stations, 24 thousand-household stations, four ceremonial departments, and three herding stations, with an establishment of 261,000 people.
However, Yichen has been in Shaanxi for nearly a year. Yichen estimates that 60% of the staff is already strong.
Among them, the sick and disabled accounted for 30% of the old people, the servants of each general accounted for 10%, and only 20% belonged to the guard. "
"I think that the military household and the sergeants who belong to the guard station and the imperial court agree with the rectification of the guard station, because they have a way out.
Those who objected were the generals at all levels and the old, weak, sick and disabled who were left to die in the guardhouses because their financial resources were cut off.
Kick these people out, even if they resist, with the fighting power of these people, the court only needs 10,000 elite soldiers to suppress them. "
"For the sake of safety, I thought that after all the cultivated land in the other six prefectures of Shaanxi is cleared and sold to the people,
With the support of public opinion, we found a reason to recruit all the commanders and commanders of the Shaanxi Guard Station to Xi'an Prefecture.
According to the results of Jin Yiwei's investigation, those with the most serious corruption were cut off.
The rest are promised to them, and as long as they cooperate, they will forget about it, and the remaining thousands or hundreds of households will not be a concern! "
After listening to Hong Chengchou's suggestion, Chongzhen's lips twitched.
The previous analysis is very good, but in the end, the style of painting suddenly changes, it is really a killer!
However, he admitted that Hong Chengchou's last suggestion was the most efficient and direct.
But he can't do this. He can kill, but he can't kill like this. After all, there are still two capitals and thirteen provinces.
The news comes out that Shaanxi has got it done, but will other provinces rebel?
"Yuan Aiqing, tell Hong Chengchou the court's strategy!"
Yuan Keli stepped forward and said softly: "Master Hong, the imperial court's strategy is to streamline guard posts, gather elite soldiers, abolish military households, and take the path of professionalizing sergeants."
After hearing this, Hong Chengchou frowned and his eyes were full of doubts.
He knew the first two very well, and they were consistent with his own ideas, but he couldn't understand the abolition of military households, and what was professionalism?
Without waiting for him to raise doubts, Yuan Keli continued: "The current idea is that Shaanxi retains thirteen guard posts. In addition to the guard posts directly under the Dusi, there will be one guard post in each of the eight prefectures, stationed near the state capital.
The remaining four guard posts are stationed in the four towns of Guyuan, Ningxia, Gansu and Yansui. When the border towns are reorganized, they will take turns replacing the guard posts in the eight prefectures.
There are also two thousand households stationed in Xi'an, taking orders from the Third Division, responsible for interstate and county pursuits, etc.! Of course, the group pastoral center must be retained, and a rough calculation is that there are 78,000 people. "
Hong Chengchou clicked his tongue when he heard this.
Good guy, the streamlining is really thorough.
In one fell swoop, two-thirds of the existing health centers in Shaanxi were wiped out.
If calculated in this way, it is estimated that commanding Tongzhi, commanding Qianshi, Thousand Households, and Hundred Households can directly cut off one or two hundred people.
Killing generals of one to two hundred, forty and five grades at once makes me tremble just thinking about it.
"In peacetime, the Thirteenth Guards Station and the Qianhu Station are not only training, they are always preparing for war, and they are no longer involved in farming and other affairs.
From now on, being a soldier is just like a carpenter, a mason, etc. It is a profession. This is professionalism. "
Hong Chengchou's eyes were full of excitement after hearing this, but after the excitement, there was some doubt in his eyes.
"But... Mr. Ge, although this can greatly increase the combat power of the sergeants, will the burden on the court be too heavy?
There are nearly 80,000 people in the 13 guard stations. The military salary plus the horse chews for the people is at least one million taels of silver a year.
This is still just a province of Shaanxi. Even if the money from selling farmland can be maintained, what will happen thirty years later? Now that military households have been abolished, this...please ask Mr. Ge to clear up the confusion! "
