Daming: The most ruthless tyrant in history

Chapter 664: Bright Star

The Ming army was stationed in Jinshan Old Camp, a special camp.

"Boss, you said there was something urgent that required us to be called back!"

After Li Kuo finished describing his military exploits, he glanced at the pile of heads in the distance, frowned, and walked towards an officer, "I'm just two heads away from getting the treatment of a general. When this war is over, even if I don't want to be transferred to a post outside, I can still accumulate military ranks and enjoy military treatment temporarily. Then I can collect the reward money and military merit land first."

"I don't know."

The officer shook his head and then looked at Li Kuo and punched him on the shoulder. "You should be content. You have fought in a few battles and have been treated as a flag officer. Now you have almost jumped to the level of a captain. You are only two heads away. Is this difficult for you?"

Li Kuo started laughing.

"The amount of the reward is another matter."

The officer continued, "But the military merit lands are a full 100 mu. When you are a captain, the lands can be connected into a whole piece. After a battle, you will become a real landlord."

"It's okay, it's okay, I can't compare with you."

Li Kuo said with a grin, "After this battle, you should be promoted to lieutenant general. I have heard that all the troops stationed in Liao who have reached the rank of lieutenant general must first go to the capital to study at the Royal Military Academy as soon as they are sent to lead their headquarters. Those who perform well in the short-term class will stay at the Royal Military Academy for one year."

"Where did you hear that, kid?"

The officer raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "How come I don't know about this?"

"Well, I have a fellow villager who knows a few more words and works as a clerk in the Military Merit Department under the Liaodong Governor's Office." Li Kuo glanced around and then said in a low voice.

"This is a decree issued by the Military Affairs Council. In addition to what I mentioned, I heard that two military academies are being planned to be built in Liaodong. One is located in Shenyang, called the Liaodong Army Military Academy, and the other is located in Jinzhou, called the Liaodong Navy Military Academy. But why is it called the Navy? Shouldn't it be called the Navy?"

"I don't know."

The officer shook his head.

However, at this time, the officers' minds were all on the Military Academy.

This matter is really novel. When the Royal Military Academy was first established, it caused quite a stir.

Now Liaodong is planning to build a military academy, one for the army and one for the navy. Although this has never happened before, any discerning person can see that this must have been specially set up by a decree issued by the martial emperor in order to improve the status of officers in command of troops.

This is indeed a good guess.

As the war continued, in order to ensure that the war-driven reforms could be implemented steadily, Zhu Youxiao decided to build military academies in batches in northern Zhili, Liaodong, Shandong, Sichuan, Guizhou, Hanzhong and other places. In addition to the special army academy, the coastal areas would also have special naval academies. As for the inland provinces, they would have their own army academy.

The establishment of provincial military academies marks the overall reform of the Ming army, which will move forward step by step. The above-mentioned special military academies will strictly abide by the unified arms, unified teaching materials, unified disciplines, unified examinations, and unified rotations to train military talents in various places.

The newly established military academies in various places will be under the jurisdiction of the Military Affairs Council.

The teaching staff, food and salary expenditures, and talent reserves of the Military Academy are all under the full responsibility of the department under the Military Affairs Council to ensure the smooth operation of the Military Academy.

The establishment of a provincial military academy is not only for the purpose of deepening military reform, but also for the purpose of further improving the system of rewards for military merit.

The Tianqi Dynasty wanted to carry out the imperial decree to reward titles in order to promote in-depth reforms in the army and boost the status of the Ming Dynasty's military generals. However, titles and rewards cannot be granted indiscriminately, otherwise the value of titles at all levels will be reduced.

Under the clear instructions of Zhu Youxiao, the Ming Dynasty's nobility titles were clearly divided into five levels: 'Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron'. Each level of nobility was divided into first, second, and third classes. In addition, it was further subdivided into hereditary, hereditary for five generations, hereditary for three generations, hereditary for one generation, and non-hereditary, in order to regulate the imperial decree and award of nobility titles in the Ming Dynasty.

There are clear standards on how to grant rewards.

Each level and grade of nobility must go through a rigorous selection process. If any of the criteria are not met, it will be necessary to accumulate merit later.

If the value of the Ming Dynasty's noble titles is preserved, the overall level of the Ming Dynasty's nobles can be maintained at a high level, so that there will not be unqualified people among them. In this way, among all the Ming army units participating in the war, only a very small number of people can be awarded titles based on their merits, and the rest of the meritorious groups must also have corresponding rewards, otherwise how can the Ming army cultivate the spirit of daring to fight?
In addition to the imperial titles based on merit, there are also corresponding promotions based on merit.

Starting from the lowest-level soldiers in the Ming army, if you want to climb up, you either have to endure the years, learn more literacy, and pass the military examinations. Those who perform well will be promoted first, but there is an upper limit.

Either you make meritorious contributions on the battlefield and accumulate merits to the rank of lieutenant general; or if your troops participate in the war and perform outstandingly and make outstanding military achievements, you can enter the sequence of merit-based nobility. If you meet the standards, you will be granted the corresponding title; if you do not meet the standards, you will continue to wait for the next selection.

The rewards for military merit must be strict, without any loopholes. Otherwise, the deepening reforms of the Ming army will collapse after being implemented to a certain extent.

Zhu Youxiao believed that there would be no problem in implementing the above model for 20 years. During this period, the Ming Dynasty had to promote military reforms while facilitating foreign conquests in order to change its past declining situation.

Under this general tone, Zhu Youxiao also clarified the imperial awards for titles, and that subsequent rewards would mainly be in the form of gold and silver, with no special grants of meritorious fields being granted.

To summarize it in one simple sentence, the huge group of people who were promoted based on their merits, after they reached the threshold of being granted titles based on their merits, this group had to hand over 7% of the military merit land under their names, and the court would pay silver to purchase compensation. This part was not included in the sequence of gold and silver rewards, and the purchased military merit land would be returned to the registered land to ensure that those who came later would get the corresponding military merit land and cultivate it within the corresponding years.

Since the goal is to carry out military reform, it is necessary to refine the various frameworks to prevent the Ming Dynasty from being controlled by the army in the end. Otherwise, it would go against Zhu Youxiao's original intention of the reform.

Once this kind of thing is chosen to be done, as the number of people who are awarded titles based on their merits increases, a feeling of dissatisfaction is bound to arise.

After all, the land was obtained at the cost of their lives, but now because of the imperial award of the title, the court has to pay silver to get back more than half of it. No matter how much silver they give, it is not as practical as passing down the land to the family.

Read more latest popular novels at 6.9*shuba!

However, when that step really comes, a new round of military reform will be launched, and at the same time, the reform of titles will also be launched. If you want more land, you can, then transfer your title overseas. The court will give you several times the scale of the original military merit land, and allow you to establish fiefdoms overseas.

Those who are unwilling to leave their homes must strictly abide by the laws of the Ming Dynasty!

Zhu Youxiao knew that there would definitely be people willing to go, and these nobles who were willing to go overseas would in the future be under the jurisdiction of the specially established Lifanyuan.

Under Zhu Youxiao's overall planning, the great navigation strategy involved not only the relocation of fiefs overseas, but also the establishment of fiefdoms. The former was aimed at the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, and the latter was aimed at the nobles of the Ming Dynasty. All of these were to speed up the Ming Dynasty's governance and development overseas.

When the new territory of China is established, it will be integrated with the unified China. The vast lands outside the Ming Dynasty will be handed over to the above groups for actual control, allowing them to have autonomy. In the future, they will respect the Ming Dynasty as their common master, clarify the Han cultural circle system, spread Han culture, and support free trade...

Of course, Zhu Youxiao also knew that doing so would inevitably sow the seeds of future conflict, but that was not something he had to consider.

It would be useless for him to think too much about what would happen more than a hundred years later, or even longer, as long as the Chinese civilization could continue.

"Dong Dong Dong!!!"

The rapid beating of drums immediately alerted the officers who were deep in thought. Li Kuo, who was standing beside them, said excitedly, "Commander-in-Chief, hurry up! Beat the drums to gather the generals!"

"Hurry back to headquarters!"

The officer glanced at Li Kuo and then ran quickly towards a place.

"Da da da!!"

"hurry up!!"

"Go to the commander's tent!"

At this moment, various noises were heard in various places in the old camp of the Ming army in Jinshan. All guerrilla generals and officers above the rank of general gathered in one place urgently.

When marching from Anle Prefecture to Jinshan, Xiong Tingbi clarified many military regulations, including the one about beating drums to gather the generals. Those officers above the guerrilla general in the camp who did not arrive after three drum beats would be severely punished! !

On the way to the commander's tent, many officers and soldiers were excited, especially those who were recalled. They all knew that there would be a big battle next, otherwise it would never be like this! !

(End of this chapter)