"What do you think of the military merit system?"
After everyone sat down, Chongzhen asked lightly, and everyone fell into thinking for an instant.
"Your Majesty, the first merit system is easy to kill people for merit and is easy to rob on the battlefield, so that they fight each other. The battle merit system largely depends on the subjective factors of the commander, and it is easy to form cliques!"
"Your Majesty, both the first merit system and the battle merit system have their own advantages and disadvantages, and all dynasties have not been able to solve them!"
"etc!"
Chongzhen interrupted the words of the Minister of War and the Ministry of Punishment: "I know all this, let's not talk about it for now.
Tell me, is there any room for improvement in military merit? Apart from being promoted to a higher rank and rewarded with silver, what else can be done? "
"Your Majesty, the military merit system of the Qin Dynasty is very good, but the basis is the privatization of land. It is definitely not feasible for the court to return the land to the people."
…
"The twelve ranks of honorary officers in the Tang Dynasty are somewhat similar to our dynasty's war merit system, which requires a large number of record-keeping personnel accompanying the army..."
…
A quarter of an hour later, Chongzhen rubbed his brow and interrupted everyone's discussion again.
In this kind of feudal dynasty, it is really difficult for them to put forward suggestions for improvement.
I have said a lot, but it has always been within the framework of past dynasties, without any new ideas or breakthroughs.
"Have you ever thought that joining the army is an honorable thing?"
"If you join the army, you will regret it for three years. If you don't join the army, you will regret it for the rest of your life?"
After listening to Chongzhen's two words, everyone looked at each other with strange thoughts in their eyes.
If these two sentences hadn't been uttered by the emperor, they would have pointed their noses and cursed - you're fucking entertaining us, aren't you?
These days, apart from going to the army to earn a living if they don't have enough to eat, or being forced to join the army, how many of them take the initiative to join the army?
You can't get military pay, you can't get a future, you don't have enough to eat, you may die at any time, you don't think it's glorious to join the army until your brain is kicked by a donkey!
Will you regret it for the rest of your life? Don't look for them just like Amitabha.
"Then have you ever wondered why?"
Why? Everyone was silent again. The reason was very clear. They were a little embarrassed to speak.
Li Banghua stood up instantly: "Your Majesty, I have been ordered to rectify military affairs for the past year. The main reasons are as follows:
Military pay does not match the pay, military pay is withheld, military achievements are falsely claimed, commanders do not act, corruption is common, middle and high-level military officers are hereditary...
The most important thing is that the sergeants are just hanging around. When there is no war, they just make a living, and when there is a war, they try to escape.
As for the honor and dignity that His Majesty spoke of, they had no idea what they were. "
"You all know these issues. I have been on the throne for a year, and I have never seen you have any regulations in this regard!"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me for being stupid!"
Seeing everyone kneeling down in unison, Chongzhen sighed.
He also knew that when it came to the military, not to mention ordinary ministers, even Sun Chengzong and Yuan Keli were very cautious.
One is the fear of being jealous by the emperor, and the other is that any military reform requires sufficient money and land guarantees, which are obviously not available before the emperor's inspection.
Chongzhen stood up and walked slowly with his hands behind his back.
"This time in the Longjingguan battle, the reward and pension were five million taels. I am thinking about what benefits these rewards will bring to the court after they are awarded.
I've been thinking hard, but I'm afraid it won't do any good except making the lives of the soldiers better.
Even if they are grateful, it is only temporary and may disappear after three to five months. So is the silver reward useless?
I don't feel sorry for the money, I feel sorry for the mismatch between the harvest and the money spent.
If things go on like this, the soldiers are fighting for the reward of silver. If there are major natural disasters in the next few years, and foreign enemies happen to invade, and the national treasury is empty, will the soldiers still fight or be willing to fight?
What I am more worried about is that in the future, the Mongols and Jiannu will be pushed aside. Without a war, how can the army maintain its combat effectiveness? "
Chongzhen's words were full of worry.
Historically, during the seventeen years of Chongzhen's reign, there were half droughts and half floods, as well as plague and so on.
Although preparations are being made now, and the Ministry of Household Affairs is stockpiling a large amount of grain, returning land to the people, promoting land and sweet potatoes, etc., the future is uncertain, and worries are not unreasonable.
What he was most worried about was how to maintain the surrounding combat power. The Ming army was so powerful during the time of Taizu and Chengzu, but it became useless after a few years of ease.
Listening to the emperor's words, all the ministers were shocked.
They did not expect that before the foreign enemies were completely defeated, the emperor would think about what would happen a few years or even more than ten years later.
Looking at Chongzhen standing at the door of Wuying Palace with his hands behind his back, everyone felt full of shame.
The most important thing is that they have no way to change it.
"My dear friends, I have some ideas and have done something about this. You take a look first, and then we can talk!"
"My dear friend, give me a copy of the stuff!"
Wang Chengen walked behind the screen on one side and took out a stack of booklets.
Looking at the booklet, everyone felt ashamed again.
"Concept of Commending the Ming Dynasty's Military Meritorious Service and Honors"
This was the name printed on the front page of the booklet, and everyone looked at it slowly with curiosity.
Part One: Classification of sergeants;
To professionalize sergeants, it is planned to divide sergeants into seven levels according to their military age, from bottom to top: recruits, regular soldiers, guards, fourth-level sergeants, third-level sergeants, second-level sergeants, and first-level sergeants;
Corporals are ranked based on their years of service in the army... Sergeants must at least be literate and familiar with...
PS: Please don’t substitute reality. This kind of thing is very sensitive. Just understand the general meaning.
Part 2: Military Age and Military Pay;
Part Three: Military Positions and Pay;
…
Everyone looked at the concept of military exploits and could no longer take their eyes away. This book seemed to have infinite magic power, attracting them, but also shocking them.
They didn't expect that a sergeant level could play so many tricks. According to the concept, to reach the first level sergeant, one would have to stay in the army for at least twenty or thirty years.
For a sergeant to stay in the army for twenty or thirty years, this was unimaginable in the military of previous dynasties.
"Your Majesty, I am a little confused about the rank of sergeant. Please clarify my confusion!"
"My dear friends, the first three levels of sergeant are those that can be promoted when the time to join the army is up. But at the level of sergeant, military age is only the most basic mandatory requirement.
The most important thing is to understand technology. For example, if you want to be promoted to sergeant as an artillery soldier, you must have a certain level of proficiency in the structure, launch, maintenance, etc. of the entire artillery.
The recruits need one stick of incense to fire one time, but the sergeant can operate it three times, five times, etc. within one stick of incense, or in other words, the sergeant can shoot wherever he points!
It is even said that because they have been in contact with artillery on the front line for a long time, they can compile a set of information and even improve the technology.
They have the opposite role to Xu Guangqi and others. They value practice and explore new theories from practice.
I call this kind of sergeant the King of Soldiers, which means the king among soldiers.
Perhaps a certain commander-in-chief, deputy commander-in-chief, and commander are all sergeants brought out by them, and they have to call them "boss" when they see them in informal situations.
Perhaps after the entire military affairs of the Ming Dynasty were reorganized, there would be fewer generals than generals.
Think about it: one first-level sergeant will bring out five second-level sergeants, one second-level sergeant will bring out five third-level sergeants, and one third-level sergeant will bring out five fourth-level sergeants.
If the artillery soldiers in the army are all fourth-level sergeants, they can maximize the power of firearms and achieve the greatest victory with the smallest amount of instruction. "
Everyone was stunned by Chongzhen's explanation.
Soldiers improved their firearms, and the general called him the leader of the soldiers...
If this is the case, can the soldier still be called a common man? Is this still a soldier?
