Fox of France

Chapter 61: , Preparations for military reform

   For some time after that, Joseph was so busy that he could barely touch the ground. He and Kano have to worry about the recruitment, organization, equipment, and logistics of the army.

   Prior to this, all countries’ armies were recruited. It takes a lot of money to recruit an army, so the scale is naturally quite limited. Until the Thirty Years' War, the size of the European armies was still small. Later, King Frederick II of Prussia began to play the conscription system, which turned the little Prussia into a military power.

   Of course, the soldiers who want to recruit are willing to fight for the king, and the king must satisfy the soldiers. Therefore, Frederick II engaged in national education and patriotism, and slowly transformed his subjects into citizens. This also allowed the Prussian soldiers in his hands to bravely fight with almost all the military powers in Europe at the same time with the least amount of military pay in the Seven Years' War.

   But it also comes at a price. That is, subjects have no rights and no many obligations; while citizens have many obligations, but at the same time they also demand many rights. If you want to turn your people into a pack of wolves, there is a prerequisite, that is, you must feed them meat!

During the time of King Frederick II, Prussia gained a lot of profits through a series of victorious wars. In other words, he made the cake bigger, so all the classes were divided into more than before. With the cake, everyone is in harmony. But when King Frederick II died, the situation changed. There is no longer a good cook in Prussia who can keep making cakes bigger and bigger, so the distribution of benefits becomes a zero-sum game. Then the rulers of Prussia discovered that the subjects are much better than the citizens. ... So Prussia began to turn back, and by the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the once prestigious Prussian army had become the Five Scum.

   But in France today, there are no worries about turning subjects into citizens. Because in the revolution, "subjects" no longer exist. That being the case, why not change the recruiting system to a universal compulsory military service system. In this way at least, the number of troops can be greatly increased. Considering the population of France, it is not impossible to make a million troops when necessary. If so many troops can be mobilized, the whole of Europe can only tremble under the brilliance of France. Which king would dare to mess with the affairs of France?

   Of course, it's not enough just to recruit soldiers, there are more things. For example, conscripted conscripts have a limited time to serve, which means that compared to soldiers from other countries, these soldiers may have lower combat skills.

   In addition, the reason why conscription saves money is because the soldiers are paid less, which will also affect morale. In order for soldiers to maintain their morale without much money, in many cases, they need to be educated in patriotism, and their social status must be improved, supplemented by some other benefits, such as future generations. Dongda’s military pay is not high, but to join the army, many times you have to go through the back door. There are these factors.

"There can be no glass ceiling for civilians in the army." Joseph said, "Even a private soldier, if he performs well, he should get a chance to be promoted. Well, those soldiers who perform well in training and missions should be admitted. Opportunities to study in military academies."

"Glass ceiling?" Kano smiled, "This statement is very vivid. Now it is a new era, and such glass ceilings shouldn't really exist. But if all people have the opportunity to enter military schools, the number of military schools is The scale is not enough."

"We can divide military academies into several levels. The lowest level is set up at the company level of the army. In addition to daily work, the company commander is also responsible for the most basic cultural education of the opponent's platoon commander. At least. It’s not uncommon for them to see the military orders. Once the conscription system is implemented and the number of the army is expanded, it’s not uncommon for a large number of platoon leaders to appear unrecognizable. Just like the strength of the Roman legion, it is largely due to Like the low-level officers of the high-quality ten captain rank, if our squad leaders are all fools and illiterate, their understanding and execution of commands will not be very good. The combat effectiveness of the entire army will be greatly reduced. Therefore, I think even the first level must have education aimed at cultural literacy.

  Of course, this kind of education can rely on the company's own strength and does not require specialized educators. We only need to be responsible for the assessment and link the result of the assessment to the promotion of the company commander. "

   "This is a good way." Kano smiled, "It's just that those company commanders will scold you in the future."

   "No, they will only scold you." Joseph said, "You are the supervisor, I am just your deputy."

   "Then let them scold it," Kano said.

"Then it is the military school for the platoon leaders at the company battalion level. We call them the junior officer training school. We teach some of the most basic things. After they finish their studies, we can let them serve as the company. There are higher-level positions. Then there are schools for higher-level commanders. These schools all need teachers. Well, some older officers can be teachers in them." Joseph added. He made the word "older" extraordinarily important.

   Kano immediately understood what he meant. He smiled and said: "What is the older one, that is to leave those politically unreliable officers there. This is also a way. Apart from these, do you have any ideas?"

   "I have another idea." Joseph said, "We may also be able to reduce the time that soldiers serve..."

"How is this possible?" Kano's eyes widened. "Mr. Bonaparte, I know you mean to save money. However, the service time of conscripts is inherently short. In this way, the time for military training is naturally limited. Inadequate, the soldiers’ combat skills are worrying. If the service time is reduced, how can the military quality be guaranteed? And if the time continues to be reduced, then we have to keep training soldiers, and this expenditure will be high instead."

"Mr. Kano, retirement is not the end." Joseph explained, "All the retired soldiers, their names will be recorded in the National Guard's list and become a member of the National Revolutionary Army. In this way, we don't have to because Maintaining a huge army will consume too much money. And those soldiers who have undergone training, we put them in the National Self-Defense Army, then there is no need to spend government money, but a certain amount of training and certain skills can be guaranteed Level. Once there is a war, we will be able to recall them from the National Self-Defense Army back to the army."

Kano listened and did not speak immediately. Instead, he lowered his head and thought for a while, and then said: "This idea of ​​yours is very creative. But it involves a lot of complicated things. We have to add them together, but I think this The method is worth studying..."

   Although Joseph was teaching in military academy, he was really a renunciation in the military, but some experience in later life gave him the opportunity to pretend to be B in front of real experts. His suggestion is very common in later generations, but it is just a reserve force. But in this era, it is definitely a great idea.

   However, there is still a huge gap between creativity and practical solutions. But to build a bridge on it, a lot of meticulous work is required. In these aspects, Joseph is really not very proficient. But Kano's ability in this area is really outstanding. He is not only quick and delicate in thinking, but also rich in experience, so he can handle all kinds of things with ease. For many things that are very difficult in the eyes of others, Kano can arrange them in an orderly manner. Plus Kano is strong and energetic. In many cases, he can work close to twenty hours a day.

"This guy's ability to work is already strong, coupled with this kind of hard work, he can use at least ten people alone! And he has to be ten experts! This guy is not a person at all!" In the letter to Napoleon , Joseph described his boss like this.

"Joseph Bonaparte is the most talented person I have ever met. His head is a treasure house! I dare say that the treasure house of Alexander the Great in the legend will not be richer than the treasure house in his head. No matter when, no matter what the problem is, as long as you go to him, he can always take out the same magic weapon that can solve the problem from that treasury. But Joseph Bonaparte is also the favorite and the best I have ever seen. Lazy person. As long as he can be lazy, he will seize every opportunity to be lazy.

   But I said he is good at being lazy, but it is not derogatory. He can always find a simpler way to avoid complicated work. For example, at UU Reading www.uukanshu.com, he uses mathematical methods to build models for various tasks and then coordinate them. Thereby greatly improving the efficiency of execution. Then he can use the time saved for other things. To be honest, seeing him in such a state of work, I am envious and jealous. I have to work more than ten hours a day, and there are still many things too late to do, and this guy, at most eight hours, still has time to study mathematics, and even publish one or two papers from time to time!

   In addition, Bonaparte has a rare advantage, that is, cleanliness. You know how many tricks can be played in matters related to logistics. It was a different person, in Bonaparte's current position, and he didn't know how he would get rich. But Mr. Bonaparte is quite self-disciplined, and even some of the benefits he deserves according to the gray rules are very reluctant. I dare say that if it weren’t for worrying about not taking these things, it might cause dissatisfaction among others and cause trouble to the work, I’m afraid he wouldn’t even take them..."

   This is Kano’s evaluation of Joseph in a letter to his teacher Monge. (Of course, Kano misunderstood Joseph about integrity. The first reason why Joseph was "corrupt" was counseling, and the second reason was that he felt that using this job, he could know a lot of inside information. It has already allowed him to make money legally. Just like a county guard in New Yorkshire, a later Citi state, he was said to not even get his salary during his tenure, but his personal assets legally turned over several times during his tenure. ) In short, Joseph and Kano are very satisfied with their partners. And their work is indeed well implemented. By May of the following year, a set of plans including conscription, military academies, and reserve services had already begun trial operation in Paris. The Marquis of Lafayette is very satisfied with their work and is ready to spread this model to other parts of the country.

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