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Chapter 753 New Military System 6
The uniforms of Ming Dynasty generals were divided into three colors: red for ranks one to four, blue for ranks five to seven, and green for ranks eight and nine. Don't design anything blindly, just copy it.

The red shoulder straps from the deputy commander to the left and right commanders correspond to the first, second and third ranks; the blue shoulder straps from the trial centurion to the commander correspond to the fourth, fifth and sixth ranks. The green shoulder straps from the soldier to the captain have no ranks but honors.

To be more specific, the shoulder badges of the left and right governors have a golden twelve-pointed star and a silver crescent moon, symbolizing the shining of the sun and the moon. The governor-general and deputy governor also have a golden star and a silver crescent moon, but the golden star has become ten-pointed.

By analogy, the Venus of the Dudu-Signing Clerk is only eight points, the Duzhishi is six points, the Duzhi-Jun ...

When reaching the commander level, the Venus turns into a Silver Star, and the Silver Moon remains the same, but is smaller in size. The rules remain the same, and the level of rank is still determined by the amount of sunlight.

Starting from the captain, the silver star became a bronze star, and the silver moon became a bronze moon. Three more ranks were added for soldiers below the sergeant, from the lowest to the highest: private, private first class, and corporal.

With uniforms of different colors and styles, plus shoulder patches, it is enough to distinguish between military branches and honors, but it is still impossible to tell at a glance which branch of the army a soldier belongs to. For example, the sailors, gunners, and ropemen of the navy; the cavalry, engineers, artillery, scouts, etc. of the army.

Now you can wear an armband, find a small piece of cloth to sew on your left arm, and use different colors to distinguish different types of soldiers. For example, red represents infantry, green represents cavalry, blue represents sailors, and green represents marines.

Various patterns were then embroidered on the armbands to indicate specific jobs. For example, two crossed sabers represented cavalry; two crossed rifles represented infantry; a field gun was naturally an artilleryman; and if it was sewn on a black uniform, it meant a naval gunner.

What if more branches of the military are added in the future and they cannot be clearly expressed on the armband, or if there are special branches that require more conspicuous markings, such as the military police, what should we do?

Hong Tao believes that this situation is unlikely to occur in the short term. Even if it does occur, it doesn’t matter. The right arm is still empty, so he can just sew an armband on it.

Finally, a row of Chinese pinyin letters and Arabic numerals must be embroidered on the upper part of the armband to indicate the unit to which it belongs, with the unit accurate to the hundred households.

In the string of characters L010101XXX, the first letter L stands for the Army, the following 01 stands for the Northeast Regional Military Commission, the next 01 stands for the First Guard in the Northeast Regional Military Commission, and the last two 01s stand for the th household of the th household of the First Guard.

The last three Xs are blank. After the recruits have completed their training and officially become privates, they will be assigned an Arabic number of up to three digits by the captain, and the soldiers will embroider this number themselves.

From then on, this string of characters will be the soldier's identity number in the archives of the General Staff and the Ministry of War. It will not be cancelled until he retires or dies, and will be inherited by the next soldier.

Is it necessary to make it so complicated? Hong Tao's answer is that it is absolutely necessary. If he was not too busy, he would also like to give each citizen of the Ming Dynasty a similar serial number.

When formulating rules, it is necessary to be detailed and leave as few loopholes as possible, so that it is possible to implement the rules step by step with less discounts. With this serial number alone, corruption and ghost employment in the military can be greatly alleviated. It certainly cannot completely eliminate corruption and inaction in the military, but it can raise the threshold for corruption.

Hong Tao does not think corruption can be eradicated, nor does he think corruption is the country's biggest enemy. The ancients said that if the water is too clear, there will be no fish. Corruption and laziness are an indispensable part of human nature, and they will exist as long as there are groups of people. But Hong Tao also believes that corruption and laziness need to be severely cracked down on. Although they cannot be completely eliminated, they cannot be left alone. Trying to reduce the occurrence of these phenomena within one's ability is one of the main themes of the next few decades or even hundreds of years of governance.

The first half of the 1618th year of Emperor Jingyang's reign () was very busy in the Forbidden City. Officials would come to the palace every now and then to meet the emperor and receive honors. They were all officers who had rushed back from various places, and the military reform was also proceeding in an orderly manner amid the hustle and bustle.

This was also the first time in more than a decade since Hong Tao took office that he had taken a major action that was not met with strong resistance from both the government and the opposition. It could be that the more stubborn conservatives had been wiped out in previous actions, or that the emperor was so successful in both civil and military affairs that no one dared to take the lead, or that the new policy was being rolled out over a wider area, influencing more people's thinking.

No matter what the reason, as an advocate, designer and executor of the reform, Hong Tao was very pleased. So he found a morning after a heavy rain, sat down by the Taiye Lake, picked up his fishing rod, and planned to relax.

"We don't need to use soybean meal to bait the fish today. We'll use wheat instead. Use a knife to cut the seeds and throw them near the bait spot. Let's start with 30 kilograms!" In order to get a better harvest in the first fishing trip this year, Hong Tao personally made the bait two days in advance.

Unlike previous years, this time he used corn kernels soaked in wine, and added some Chinese medicine and precious musk and ambergris. To be an emperor, besides the intrigues, there are also benefits. No matter what you want to play, you can use the best.

After more than ten years of planting and cultivation, the wheat today is significantly different from when it first entered the Ming Dynasty. The grains are fuller, the fruits are larger, and the taste is becoming sweeter and sweeter.

Moreover, many excellent varieties have emerged in various places, among which Henan, Zhili and Nanhaizihuangzhuang are the best. Each has its own taste, the planting area is getting larger and larger, and the yield is getting higher and higher.

People are increasingly accepting this foreign crop, which has gradually moved from being a simple grain tax substitute and livestock feed to becoming a staple food on the table. It is good to eat it boiled, roasted, ground into flour and steamed, or cooked into porridge.

Since it became popular among the people, it was inevitable that it could not be absent in the imperial palace. Starting this year, the Imperial Kitchen Supervisor also began to try to make various staple foods and snacks with foreign wheat after the emperor's approval.

"Your Majesty, is the wheat from the South Sea or is it tribute from various places?"

Wang Chengen also changed into short clothes, rolled up his sleeves and prepared to row the boat to make a nest for the emperor. Although this job looked simple, he never let the young eunuchs do it, he had to do it himself.

"Give me some of everything... go to the cellar and pick out the freshest and juiciest ones! I haven't been here for more than half a year, and you guys are already confusing hierarchy. Don't you know to let the elders eat these delicious foods first?"

Hong Tao couldn't wait to make a nest, so he hung a corn kernel and threw it down. In less than half a minute, there was movement. Unfortunately, the one he pulled up was a horsetail, which was quite big, about the length of a palm. But he was still scolded and sentenced to death.

(End of this chapter)