Follow Zhu Yuanzhang to conquer the country

Chapter 40 Strengthening Internal Control and Setting Military Pay
  "It's both surveillance and protection!"

"I'm worried that someone will win over our brothers because Mr. Zhang's existence cannot influence me to be used by them, and then force Mr. Zhang to join in the same trend. In the end, we will all become people who can be played by them however they want. .”

"This is also what Mr. Zhang meant. When Mr. Zhang explained to us the meaning of building a wall high in his nine-character motto, he took the initiative to remind us to strengthen surveillance, saying that this was also building a wall high."

"So, Mr. Zhang really has no reservations about us, and is willing to take the initiative to remind us to strengthen internal surveillance."

"Including the fact that he asked the brothers to express their thoughts before, and then reminded us that since the brothers all want to have wives and children, it means that someone will marry and collude with them because they know that they have such needs!"

Zhu Yuanzhang spoke to Xu Da.

Xu Da nodded after hearing this, and then continued: "But Mr. Zhang is the only one who is afraid that the superiors will not know what the brothers really think, and allows the brothers to speak out on their own initiative. This shows that Mr. Zhang does not deliberately want the superiors to ignore the brothers' thoughts. , so that you can take this opportunity to marry your brothers and form a secret party?"

"Exactly!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and then smiled at Xu Da: "It's you Xu Da after all."

Xu Daze cupped his hands and said, "Then let's follow the instructions from our superiors and select brothers who understand to do such a thing!"

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded.

This afternoon.

Inside the former Daruhua Chimasli Mansion, which was temporarily set up as the General Manager's Mansion.

"Ascend!"

"Since you want the rebel officers and soldiers not to accept gifts from the gentry, and you want them to have good military discipline, you can't just rely on your three chapters of the agreement, including what I said before about the so-called population being their greatest wealth now. You have to give them real benefits. OK."

"otherwise."

"Over time, their military discipline will still be corrupted. Even if the military discipline is not corrupted, they will inevitably feel unbalanced because they see that the wealthy Qihu family are still rich and prosperous, but they are still alone after conquering Chuzhou City."

"So it is necessary to establish a military pay system as soon as possible, as well as a reward system to encourage those who have good military discipline and perform well on the battlefield."

"We can no longer be like before, thinking that as long as the brothers have enough to eat, we have to make the soldiers not aware that they are fighting for the property and life safety of the rich. We have to let them know that they are fighting for their own lives to become happier and for the common people's lives to become happier. To become more and more happy and kill the enemy with all one's strength."

"besides."

"Since the superiors admit that their desire to have wives and children is in line with family relations, they should be satisfied. They should immediately organize unmarried girls from good families in the city to match them. At the same time, this will also prevent some of them from outstanding officials from getting married with unworthy families, so that The entire rebel army’s righteousness for the people of the world will be tainted.”

Since the main officials had already been appointed, Zhang Cheng raised the important matters in front of Zhu Yuanzhang now that the officials were basically settled.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Yes, this is a top priority."

"In Mr. Zhang's opinion, how should military pay be drawn up?"

Zhu Yuanzhang then asked about Zhang Cheng.

"The first thing we should consider is how to pay the military?"

"Nowadays, there is an overflow of treasure money, so it cannot be used as military pay."

"Gold, silver, and copper coins are suitable, but right now we don't have enough, so we can only temporarily use grain and cloth as military pay."

"But in the future, we must have our own currency. This is to facilitate transportation, and to promote industry and commerce. It can also avoid a period when the soldiers were responsible for the military pay, and profiteers manipulated the price of grain and cloth to make the soldiers pay what they wanted. The value of the grain and cloth devalued invisibly, and then profit from it, causing dissatisfaction among the soldiers."

"This also naturally prevents the powerful rightists who hoard a lot of grain and cloth from being able to directly control our rulers by controlling the price of grain and cloth."

Zhang Cheng then expressed his thoughts.

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang nodded repeatedly: "It seems that distributing military pay in kind does have great disadvantages. We should have our own currency as soon as possible."

"Yes."

"But this is a matter later. For now, we can only use food and cloth as military pay, and then we can pay for it later." Zhang Cheng responded.

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and still smiled: "We never thought that currency is so important. From this point of view, Hu Yuan's excessive printing of treasure banknotes is indeed a foolish move!"

"It's no wonder that two brothers, Shanchang and Guoyong, want to recommend you, Mr. Zhang, to be the magistrate of the state. I have to admit that Mr. Qian Zhang does know a lot about politics!"

Zhu Yuanzhang then deliberately pointed at Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong and praised Zhang Cheng.

"The superior praises you."

Zhang Cheng was modest. He was not sure whether Li Shanchang and others really didn't understand or did not understand on purpose. He just continued: "Secondly, the military pay quota must be determined!"

"In my humble opinion, military pay does not need to be too high, lest the soldiers become complacent about it, and after they have saved enough money to buy enough land, they no longer want to fight and fight, but just want to return to their hometowns to farm."

"However, it should not be too low, which will cause soldiers to feel that being a soldier is not as good as being a tenant farmer back home, so they flee in large numbers. The income should be slightly higher than that of ordinary people, so that they can support more families, or make a slight savings."

"Of course, we should also give soldiers the opportunity to earn higher income through meritorious service on the battlefield, so as to encourage soldiers to be more active in meritorious service, especially soldiers who cannot be promoted to officers for the time being. They need silver rewards to encourage them; therefore, bonuses can be Send more, and rank your merits into three grades: A, B, and C. The highest one, that is, Grade A, will naturally give you the most rewards."

"And for those who died in battle, sufficient compensation must be given to ensure that the soldiers are not afraid of death and have no worries when fighting."

After Zhang Cheng said this, Zhu Yuanzhang began to think deeply and said: "Nowadays, in the homes of poor people, most of them have a small mouth, which is only about two stones of rations. And even if the parents of ordinary soldiers are alive and have wives and children, ten Stone grains are enough. As you said, in order to be slightly higher than the common people, we set an infantry as twelve stone grains a year and one stone grain per month. If it is released, it will be discounted. And the fire gunman among the infantry Because the requirements are higher for the archers, an additional three stones will be added, and the horsemen will also receive an additional three stones.”

"As for the official schools, the annual salary for 100 households is tentatively set at 100 dan, the annual salary for infantry officers in charge of Gou and Zhenfu is 150 dan, the annual salary for cavalry officers in charge of Gou and Zhenfu is 160 dan, and the annual salary for 1,000 households is 200 dan."

After Zhu Yuanzhang said this, he asked Zhang Cheng: "What do you think, Mr. Zhang?"

"For now, a soldier's annual salary of twelve dan is quite appropriate. After all, most of the people in the world can't even afford to have enough to eat. Many people are willing to revolt just to have enough to eat."

"The same goes for official schools. They haven't increased their family members much, so they don't need much salary. What's more, there isn't much food to spread."

"So, I think the standards set by the superiors are appropriate."

Zhang Cheng then asked: "It's just that the civil servants should also set an annual salary so that they will not be dissatisfied because of the lack of salary income."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded, and then said: "As for the reward system and the pension system, let's wait until we discuss with Xu Da and others how to reward them. The pension will also be determined according to the reward system. The basic military pay will be fixed first to stabilize military discipline. .”

Zhang Cheng nodded and said yes.

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang asked Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong: "Now that the salary and military pay of Mr. Zhang and the military ministers have been decided, among the civil servants, you are the only one who has not decided. What do you think? How should the civil servants decide?"

Li Shanchang took the initiative to reply at this time: "Back to the top, according to this standard, with an army of more than 20,000 people, the annual food and salary expenditure will be no less than 300,000 dan, not to mention that we have to recruit troops next, and the subordinates still have family resources to support them. Therefore, I still don’t need a salary, I just want to devote the rest of my life to ending the troubled times, and when the world is settled, it will not be too late to ask for a salary."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Feng Guoyong.

Feng Guoyong also followed and said: "The same is true for the subordinates. There is still land at home for food and rent, so there is no need for salary and integrity for the time being. I just want to have more grain left to raise more soldiers and horses."

"In this case, before recruiting new people, we will not decide on the civil service salaries except Mr. Zhang."

"Just remember to tell us if you need it, and don't wrong yourself."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said.

Li Shanchang and Feng Guoyong raised their hands and said yes.

Zhu Yuanzhang then smiled helplessly and said: "Just now Shanchang said that according to the military pay standards we have set now, the annual food consumption will not be less than 300,000 dan, but we have already followed Mr. Zhang's wishes and have not set military pay standards. The situation is too high, but life is only slightly better than that of ordinary people. After all, being a soldier is really about making a living with your head in your belt. It is reasonable to have more income to ensure military discipline!"

"What should we do to harvest more than 300,000 shi of grain a year? Can Chuzhou City have so much grain?"

"So, it is not an easy task to make the brothers behave like bandits without robbing, and without being easily bribed by powerful right-wingers!"

(End of this chapter)