strictlysupreme Chapter 852 Hierarchical Partition
Chapter 852 Hierarchical Partition
Chapter 852 Hierarchical Partition
Zhou Shangwen was promoted by the emperor and became one of the emperor's favorite generals.
However, Zhu Houzhao hardly allowed him to participate in political affairs. For example, in the previous currency reform, there was no drama for him.
Although he has not yet explicitly stipulated it, the isolation between military and political affairs is actually very obvious.
In the eyes of the literati, this means that the emperor holds power and the army cannot intervene, so naturally the emperor will do whatever he wants.
But from another perspective, why did so many smart people in ancient times evolve into such a weirdo as a literati leader?
The reason is simple,
The emperor's position is actually that of a single man, facing the world with one person. For him, the most important thing is to ensure that no one can touch him.
But warriors are really bad in this regard.
The literati have Confucius and Confucianism, but they should be restrained first. Lords, ministers, fathers, fathers, sons, don’t say you are rebelling against the emperor. You are rebelling against your elders in the countryside. Look at it.
But warriors don’t study and have a hot temper. They like to solve problems with their fists when they fight and kill. They don’t have so many ideological frameworks. When you are happy, you are the king’s father. You have suffered great grievances. What the hell is the king’s father? The emperor takes turns to do it. , Come to my house this year and start an army to do it!
From this aspect, it is good for civil servants to lead troops.
Of course, that would definitely not be good externally.
To sum up, if we want to strengthen our rule internally and stabilize imperial power, we should emphasize culture over military power. If we continue to expand externally and strengthen export, we should improve the status of generals.
Again, no system is perfect or always correct.
Just like the Tang Dynasty's military system, when it was powerful, it was simply awesome. This group of perverts existed specifically for killing. There was no need to doubt the combat effectiveness of the Tang army.
But because the logistics support is "self-prepared", in the end it starts to become too big.
The so-called recruitment system is good at the beginning, because recruitment involves selection, and the selected soldiers are all good soldiers who can fight. But under the recruitment system, generals and soldiers have been in contact for a long time. If this evolution continues, the army will only know the generals and not the court.
Then when the emperor of the Song Dynasty came, he separated the two.
Generals and soldiers don't have much friendship in normal times, so when there is a war, they just go out together.
Of course, the textbooks of later generations are easy to criticize, saying that "the generals don't know the soldiers, and the soldiers don't know the generals", which leads to low combat effectiveness of the army.
This is just a matter of standing and talking without back pain. The artificial reason is that generals do not know soldiers. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, generals knew soldiers. That turned the emperor into a high-risk profession.
The correct system must be the one that suits the times.
It is good to establish a system based on your own conditions and the goals you want to achieve.
At the moment Zhu Houzhao was facing, the Ming Dynasty was beginning to expand in all aspects including economy, currency, colonial consciousness, and ideological emancipation, so it was natural that it would start to focus on the outside world.
Externally, we cannot always be defeated.
And since we want to win, we have to let the soldiers use their talents freely.
So he wanted to slowly change the logic of literati suppressing warriors.
Of course, this does not mean that from now on, the military will be allowed to ride on the heads of the literati. That's okay, the entire military government will be formed.
The meaning of turning around is to reduce the constraints of civilian officials on military commanders.
As for the Duke of Yue, Zhou Shangwen, he really didn't understand what the emperor said about making the Ming army better. In his opinion, what other opponents did the Ming have?
"Your Majesty, this humble minister is stupid. I wonder if your Majesty can explain it more clearly?"
Zhu Houzhao looked at him deeply and said, "Dong Yue, can I trust you?"
Zhou Shangwen stood up in fright when he heard this, "Why did your Majesty say this? I am loyal to Your Majesty!"
"Okay. You have been fighting for a lifetime, so I definitely don't understand things like arranging troops, commanding troops, and so on. But even if I am a layman, I also understand the impact of changes in weapons on the shape of war.
For example, there are explanations for how many cavalry, how many infantry, and how many spear throwers there are in a guard post. But now that guns and artillery are coming, the Ming army still maintains the garrison of 5,600 people as its basic combat unit. Is this appropriate? "
Zhou Shangwen became serious, "What your Majesty said is the key to running an army, and it is definitely not what a layman said."
"No need to flatter, that's what I want to express. You can take this matter back and consider it carefully. I believe that firearms must continue to develop, and the troops must be reorganized to maximize the power of firearms. But the current Ming Dynasty The restrictions on firearms were obvious. Spears and scimitars were still the mainstream, and cavalry charges still showed their power.
Therefore, in some places, such as the vast northwest, where firearms transportation is limited, cavalry and infantry are still the biggest reliance. If the battle is defeated, the remaining troops will not be able to fight without firearms, which is a joke. And taking advantage of this reform, I still have a few ideas that I want to implement together. Since you are here today, I will talk to you about them. You are the Duke of Yue, the general with the most outstanding military exploits in my past twenty years, and the highest prestige in the army. If I don't tell you, who should I tell?
However, these changes involve some very sensitive matters. Before the official announcement, you must remain tight-lipped and not reveal even a single word to avoid unnecessary discussion. "
Only then did Zhou Shangwen understand why the emperor had just asked if he could believe him.
He immediately expressed his stance solemnly, "Although I am a vulgar warrior, I still understand that if I don't keep it secret, I will lose my virginity. Your Majesty's words today have reached my ears but not my mouth. I dare to guarantee it with my head on my neck."
"You don't have to be so serious. I don't want to be Song Gaozong and kill his most capable general."
Zhou Shangwen was in a slightly more relaxed mood.
Sometimes he felt that the emperor was more like a former soldier, and every time he spoke, he could get to his heart.
"My main ideas are as follows. First of all, it is best to cancel military households. There are three reasons. First, you have seen many high courts in the capital. Li Bai said that my talents will be useful, but in this world people and People are different. Just like you, your father is not as good as you in fighting. But under the military household system, I am a soldier and my son is also a soldier. This is really too rough.
Secondly, due to the lack of official governance and the prevalence of corruption, ordinary soldiers born in military families in the Ming army have been living in poverty for a long time. Yang Jiong of the Tang Dynasty said that it would be better to be a centurion than a scholar! But what about my military household in the Ming Dynasty? I am afraid that I will be looked down upon by others! And I, a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, would rather be a scholar than a centurion! You don't look down on it on weekdays, but on the battlefield, you ask people to fight for it. Why?
Third, under the military household system, soldiers are hereditary, which is rigid and redundant, and full of old, weak and disabled soldiers. Doesn’t the Duke of Yue think that our Ming army is too bloated? "
Because the family was a military household, they were born to be soldiers, and the imperial court stipulated that soldiers must be paid, which resulted in the Ming Dynasty's army being very large.
At present, the total number of troops in the northern frontier army, the capital camp in the capital, and the garrison in the interior exceeds two million.
But do these two million really have that kind of fighting power?
The actual situation of the Ming army now is to pick a few good vegetables from the rotten vegetable field and raise them first.
"In addition to the military household system, I also have another idea, which is to separate military affairs and government affairs. Civilian officials will act as civil servants, while military officials will focus on training and preparation for war. If the two are confused, sometimes even I will feel confused. Military affairs are independent In the future, the command system and hierarchy will be simplified. In this way, a truly elite Ming army can be established, which can be wielded like an arm and come and go freely. Only then can it be said to be rampant in the world and unrivaled!"
Zhou Shangwen was quite shocked when he heard this.
Because the Ming army indeed had no opponents, he never considered these issues.
The emperor told him today like he was pouring beans. How could he not be shocked?
After regaining consciousness for a while, he immediately saluted the emperor and said, "Your Majesty, Zhou Shangwen, I apologize to you! I have been leading the army for decades. In recent years, I have been confident that I have won many battles in every battle. I have become a little arrogant without realizing it. I have never been unconscious." If there is such a serious problem that Your Majesty is so worried, please forgive me!"
"I won't talk about merits and demerits today, just talk about things. Why talk so much? Duke Yue, in fact, you should have discovered it yourself. Why are you always invincible when you lead 7,000 people?
Because they have souls, they feel that following you to victory one after another will bring glory to their faces, and I will often give them rewards. Everyone envies the Fifth Army Camp, and the soldiers of the Fifth Army Camp themselves are proud of their status. When an army has such a military spirit, it is invincible. "
"What your Majesty said is absolutely true." Zhou Shangwen thought to himself, "However, it is relatively easy to separate the military and political affairs for the two things your Majesty said. But you have to think twice before abolishing military households. I, the people of the Ming Dynasty, everyone has already I'm used to this practice, but I don't know what the impact will be if I cancel it suddenly.
Not only that, once the military household system is abolished. Will the craftsmen’s households also be abolished? Where will the soldiers come from from now on? "
Zhu Houzhao nodded, "What you are saying is that I consider it this way. There is no need to worry about the source of troops in the short term. In fact, I am also planning to reduce the number of troops... Well, it cannot be said to be reduction, but to stratify and divide."
"Layered?"
"It's about three floors. First, there are various small guard posts in the interior. Some older and weaker soldiers are placed here. Their main responsibility is not to fight, but to maintain local stability. They usually catch small thieves and fight against the enemy. The day is over, just to suppress bandits. Usually we need to farm.
On this second level, some people who have military literacy and have fought in battles, but are not considered elite soldiers, should be placed in provincial capitals, important passes, and some border towns with low defensive intensity. Only under special circumstances were wars fought, and in peacetime farming was required.
Finally, there are the troops that actually fight externally. Their areas are the northwest, the Great Wall, and some overseas control areas, including the navy. There is no need to farm in peacetime, he is a real soldier. I will give them better treatment and make them respected by others.
Different functions correspond to the establishment of different troops, and various resources such as military pay, food and grass, weapons, promotions, etc. are naturally biased. At the same time, the concepts of military regions and legions were established. The territory of the Ming Dynasty was really vast, so different military regions were divided into different military regions. Legions were formed in each military region, and the legions directly obeyed the orders of the imperial court. "
Zhou Shangwen was an old soldier, and he fully understood the benefits of such a change, but he bowed his hand to the emperor in a serious manner, "Your Majesty said that the military and political affairs are separated, and he also said that the legions directly take orders from the court. How do you control the movements of these legions on weekdays? ?”
Zhu Houzhao pursed his lips. He knew what this meant. Unsupervised local armed forces could easily get into trouble. Generally speaking, this can be circumvented through personnel changes, that is, not letting one person stay in one place for too long.
But human subjective factors are the least trustworthy. For example, what should the emperor do if he trusts the wrong person?
This is the drawback brought about by this change. In fact, under this reform, the increase in the military's combat effectiveness will be effective in a short time. This is certain.
Especially the last pure field force.
They were originally selected elites who were not engaged in production but specialized in training. After half a year, they pulled out a force of 50,000 people and wandered westward from Xinjiang. Who could beat them?
But once the branches are strengthened, they can easily threaten the center.
This has not changed for hundreds of years.
(End of this chapter)