After discussing with several ministers of the National Defense Agency for several days, Li Chunye finally drafted a military reform plan. After it was handed over to Zhu Youjian, Zhu Youjian felt dissatisfied and asked him to take it back and revise it three times. Zhu Youjian was basically satisfied.
Since it is about military reforms, senior officials of the National Defense Agency have collectively participated in drafting the plan. Zhu Youjian is ready to directly announce and implement the plan. However, Li Chunye believes that this military reform has restored the titles of father, father, marquis, son, and male fifth. , There is a faint suspicion of improving the status of soldiers, and the pensions for casualties and soldiers are relatively large, it is best to let the officials know.
Anyway, these systems will need to be implemented by civilian officials in the future, and it is impossible to prevent them from knowing. Zhu Youjian also agreed to Li Chunye's suggestion.
At the Cao Chao meeting, Li Chunye read out the draft of military reform.
This military reform is mainly reflected in four aspects.
The first is the issue of compensation for wounded and disabled soldiers.
The New Army of the Ming Dynasty has initially established the professionalization of the military. During the period of service, the soldiers will not only provide food and weapons and equipment, but also basic salary, which is equivalent to working. In addition to providing food and accommodation, the unit also pays remuneration.
Although the salary of ordinary soldiers is extremely low, only half a tael per month, it is almost enough to feed a small number of people in the family.
If the soldiers perform meritorious service in the war, they can also get extra rewards, so that the soldiers are eager to perform meritorious service in the battle, get more war awards, and let their wives and children live better.
Since it is a war, there may be casualties. Once a soldier is disabled or dies, the life of his family will be affected. The death of a male at home is a miserable thing. In addition, life will be in a dilemma. This is the biggest problem for the soldiers. care.
In order to let soldiers have no worries, the Ming court has long established a pension system for casualties. Once a soldier is disabled or dies, the court will allocate money, food or money to ensure the normal life of the soldier’s family, so that the soldier can stay on the battlefield. Make no contribution to the country.
This system itself is not a deception to the soldiers, but a real existence. Otherwise, once a soldier knows of his casualties, his wife and children will not even have food to eat. Who is willing to fight wars with peace of mind, go forward bravely, and die for the country? Your companion’s today is your own tomorrow.
However, the pension system for the dead and wounded soldiers of Ming Dynasty has always been chaotic. Different armies and armies of different places have different pension standards, and the pensions in many places are paid by the local government, which brings opportunities for corruption. As a result, the pensions paid to households are getting less and less.
Especially after Wanli, the imperial court began to owe the soldiers' salaries and even their pensions when they were unable to make ends meet. This greatly weakened the army's combat effectiveness, and a large number of soldiers were almost equal to ordinary people.
The reform of the pension system this time is to establish a pension system with consistent national standards.
The pension standard is uniform throughout the country, which can prevent deductions in the payment process. If a soldier is killed, the army will send a soldier's death notice to the soldier's family. If the soldier is disabled, he will receive a copy after he is discharged from the hospital. There is a disability grade certificate issued by the hospital.
According to the new "Injury and Disabled Soldier Pension System", soldiers and their families can know the specific amount of the pension, the number of deaths, the first degree of disability, the second degree of disability, and the third degree of disability, in order to promote According to the Ming law, corresponding notices will be posted on the walls of each county.
Soldiers and their families have the right to know, know the specific amount of the pension, and naturally they dare not deduct it.
It turned out that the pension of the Beijing Army was relatively high, and the pension of the local Army was relatively low. On the one hand, it was because of the insufficient tax revenue of Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, the capital of the Beijing Army was more on the front line.
Now it's different. Daming's tax revenue has greatly increased to more than 23 million taels. Moreover, due to the widespread use of new firearms, soldiers' injuries and deaths have been greatly reduced, and the conditions for uniform payment of pensions are now available.
As for the fact that the Peking Division’s army goes to the front lines more, it is not a problem. Only when they go to the front lines will there be injuries and deaths, and they will be able to receive pensions. If they don’t go to the front lines, how can there be injuries and deaths? There are also injuries and deaths of soldiers during training, but they are not too many and can be ignored.
In order to ensure the implementation of the "Injury and Disabled Servicemen's Pension System", the National Defense Agency has also established a supervision committee. The supervision committee is composed of disabled servicemen. It mainly supervises the implementation of the "Injury and Disabled Servicemen's Pension System" and is also responsible for handling related matters. dispute.
These disabled soldiers who have been baptized by blood and fire on the battlefield are more aware of the pension needs of the families of the wounded and disabled soldiers than others.
The members of the supervisory committee no longer pay pensions, but are included in the pay of public servants. This will not increase the financial burden. In other words, these disabled soldiers are basically obligated to recover pensions for their companions.
As the army in the five northern provinces fights more frequently and the number of soldiers killed and injured is relatively large, a supervision committee is temporarily set up in the five northern provinces. The supervision committee is under the jurisdiction of the general army of each province. Later, supervision committees are gradually established in the five central and southern provinces.
The reform of the pension system for disabled soldiers is actually just a standardized process. Zhu Youjian’s purpose is not only to eliminate the black hole in the payment process, but more importantly, to promote the law of the Ming Dynasty. Let the common people believe in the court and the laws made by the court. The laws are there and no one can change them.
The pension system existed before, but there was no unified standard at the time, and the implementation was rather chaotic. It was a breeding ground for greed and ink. If anyone opposes this reform, it means that you still want to fish in troubled waters and make a fortune from the original chaos. Who has such courage
Greed of ink is a matter of ignorance, who dares to proceed with boldness? And still under the eyes of the emperor, Daming's "Anti-Corruption Law" is on the front of the emperor's desk.
There was no objection to the first content, which greatly improved Li Chunye's confidence. He then announced the second content of the reform.
The second content is the issue of military honor.
As a soldier of the Ming Dynasty, once there is a chance to defend the territory and open up the frontiers, who doesn't want to do meritorious service? Credit can generally be transformed into material rewards.
The National Defense Agency believes that only material rewards are not enough. It is necessary to establish spiritual rewards so that Daming soldiers can be proud of the country's meritorious service, defending the land and opening up the borders, and even develop to be proud of being a soldier of the Ming Dynasty. , The role of spirit can mobilize the spirit of soldiers more than material rewards.
Li Chunye certainly didn't know about Nazi Germany and Bushido Japan. Zhu Youjian suggested to him to inspire soldiers spiritually. However, starting from the reality of the Han nationality, Li Chunye thought of the honor system for military personnel, which made Zhu Youjian very happy, and sighed that he was "teachable".
Once a soldier receives honor, he will receive a corresponding Medal of Honor. There are five levels of Medal of Honor, and both officers and soldiers can be awarded according to their military merits. The first-level medals shall not exceed two each year.
The Medal of Honor only represents the honor of the military, no additional rewards are added, and there is no economic benefit. In addition to the cost of production, the court will not increase the economic burden.
Since there is no need to spend money, the ministers did not object, and power should be a way for the court to inspire soldiers.
Due to the negligence of the National Defense Agency, the reform plan did not specify the previous military merits. In other words, when the military honor system should be implemented, the National Defense Agency did not establish a timetable.
The previous military merits of course will not be traced back to the Meng Yuan, Liang Song and Datang. It is Daming. It has been more than two hundred years since the founding of the country. The founding generals are long gone. Will their descendants be qualified to receive this medal of honor? The ministers have different opinions.
In the end, the ministers always agreed to calculate the military commander's honorary military merits starting from Zhu Youjian's ascension to the throne.
It has been five years since Zhu Youjian ascended the throne. Daming launched two wars, one was the northern expedition to build slaves, and the other was the southern expedition for Tibetan riots.
Originally, the Medal of Honor should have been awarded by the National Defense Council, but this is the first time. In order to let everyone join in the fun, both Zhu Youjian and the National Defense Council agreed to be discussed by the ministers.
The first is the Northern Expedition. Daming has solved the country’s problems for more than ten years. This is the largest battle, the largest scale of operations, and the most lands recovered since the founding of the nation. As the commander-in-chief of the Northern Expedition, Zhu Youjian was recommended by the ministers. A first class medal.
Zhu Youjian was the emperor. He was originally unwilling to fight for merit with the soldiers, but if he was unwilling to accept this medal, other soldiers of the Northern Expedition would not be comfortable with meritorious deeds. Besides, he might personally command the troops in the future. This medal can increase the prestige in the army, think about it and agree.
In addition, Yuan Chonghuan, who led the Central Army of the Northern Expedition alone and later recovered Nuer Gandusi independently, was also awarded a first-class medal.
The First Marine Division of the North Sea Fleet made a huge sacrifice when covering Yuan Chonghuan's army through Sanchahe. The commander Li Changshan was awarded a first class medal.
There are even more people who have won second-level medals, such as Du Wenhuan of the Middle Route Army, Man Gui of the Left Army, Wei Xin, commander of the North Sea Fleet, and Hong Chengchou of the Lingbei Province who stayed behind.
The number of low-level medals is estimated to be large, and the ministers will not discuss them one by one.
The Southern Expeditionary Tibetan riot war, no matter its scale or influence, is far from the Northern Expedition. The ministers only awarded the first-class medals to the two coaches of the Southern Expedition, Mu Qiyuan and Zuo Liangyu.
In order to add a little festive effect to the Medal of Honor, Zhu Youjian announced at the time: First-level medal winners, except the emperor, do not need to kneel when seeing anyone; second-level medal winners, see officials below grade three, do not need to kneel. ; For the third-level medal winners, they don’t have to kneel when they see the official rank four or lower; for the fourth and fifth-grade medalists, they don’t have to kneel when they see the sixth rank or lower official.
In Zhu Youjian's mind, this is just a kind of etiquette, or a qualification for medal winners, without much substance, there will be no bowing ritual for later generations, and people are equal.
But in the present Daming, this is an encouragement to soldiers, and it is an honor that soldiers dream of.