Chapter 249 Those who are good at fighting have no great military exploits! (Here we go, there will be another chapter tonight!)

Author: The Cat on the Wall 1

Chapter 249 Those who are good at fighting have no great military exploits! (Here we go, there will be another chapter tonight!)

After Chen Changyou and Chen Yanzhu discussed it, they quickly sent letters respectively, and then found Zhang Heng that night.

"Ms. Zhang, we have already discussed the matter of disarmament. The charter and so on are all in accordance with your wishes. I will fully cooperate with you."

Zhang Heng was quite happy after hearing this. After three days of coming, he and Di Qing sang double recitals for three days, which was how things got to this point.

During this period, Zhang Heng seemed to have done nothing, but the wonderful thing was that those who were good at fighting did not have great military exploits.

After Zhang Heng came, he did not use force to overwhelm others, and even acted very gentle. Instead, he asked Di Qing to reveal his past through insinuations, allowing Chen Changyou and Chen Yanzhu to retreat in the face of difficulties, but did not force them. Using power to suppress others will naturally not offend people, and may even lead to resentment.

If he immediately overwhelms others with his power as soon as he comes over, even if Chen Changyou and Chen Yan succumb to Zhang Heng's power, they will inevitably have a lot of resentment in the end. After all, this grudge has been left, and they don't know when it will be over. You will get into trouble because of this.

Since Chen Changyou and Chen Yanzhu were willing to cooperate, Zhang Heng said: "Regarding the disarmament charter, we have discussed it before. The Baojie Army will lay off 40,000 people and leave 52,500 people. We will follow this charter. Implement it.”

Chen Yanzhu said with some worry: "Xianggong Zhang, isn't it the last general who is causing trouble? What should we do with the 40,000 troops that have been laid off? If such a large number of soldiers are not handled well, they may form a large group of thieves. I'm afraid there will be It will cause a big disaster."

Zhang Heng smiled and said: "Of course there is already a plan. To put it simply, if the laid-off soldiers are locals and have fields to cultivate, then the court will provide retirement subsidies to help them return to the fields;

If the soldiers are from other places, they can also return to their place of origin to return to the fields. Of course, there will be subsidies. If there is no field to cultivate in their hometown, they can make a living on the East-West Road in Guangnan. There is still a lot of wasteland that can be reclaimed. , you can divide the fields after you go there.

If they go to Guangnan East Road, the court can provide free boats to take them south. If they have family members, they can also take them with them.

The general principle is that the retired soldiers will definitely have fields to cultivate, their own houses, and they will be able to live a good life without being displaced again."

Chen Changyou was surprised and said: "How come there is such a good treatment? There was no such good thing before. Basically, we would give you a little money after being laid off, and then send you away. It didn't matter whether you had land or whether you would come back. They went to their place of origin, and now they are going to arrange their life after military service?"

Zhang Heng nodded and said: "Soldiers bleed and sweat for the country. Naturally, we cannot let them shed tears anymore. It is also right for us to do these things."

Zhang Heng thought that these measures of his would make Chen Changyou and Chen Yanzhuo feel at ease, but he saw that the two of them became even more worried.

"What? Are there any other difficulties?"

Zhang Heng was a little confused.

Chen Yanzhu smiled bitterly and said: "If you retire and get such good treatment, I'm afraid no one in the army will want to stay in the army anymore.

At that time, the Song-Xia War broke out, and in order to guard against attacks by the Xixia people, the army was greatly expanded. Most of the people who are now were expanded at that time.

After the war, most people actually want to go home, but some people are really poor and may not be able to eat when they go back. If the court takes such measures now, I am afraid everyone will want to return home.

The general is afraid that once the disarmament spreads throughout the entire army, it may be impossible to stop it."

When Chen Yanzhu said this, Zhang Heng was not surprised but happy.

If you stand from a different angle, you will see the problem differently.

In Chen Yanzhu's view, this means that people's hearts have been scattered and the troops will be difficult to lead. But in Zhang Heng's view, this not only reduces the resistance to disarmament, but the key is that it is an opportunity to improve the combat effectiveness of the army!

According to Zhang Heng's previous research, the reason why soldiers in the Baojie Army changed their minds was because of their treatment.

According to Zhang Heng's previous experience working in the Sansi Du Branch, he certainly knew the treatment of soldiers in the Song Dynasty.

Taking the soldiers at the lowest level as an example, the monthly military salary paid to the upper-class soldiers is the same every month; for the middle-class soldiers, it is five to six hundred cash per month; while for the lower-class soldiers, it is less, three to four hundred cash per month.

But this is only the basic military salary. If it is only the military salary, then being a soldier is certainly not attractive, because you can live a better life by not being a soldier and working and farming. Therefore, there are actually more benefits to being a soldier. .

For example, in terms of military rations, the rations for adults in the Song Dynasty were about six dou per month, while the monthly rations for the lowest-ranking soldiers were two dan, and the monthly rations for middle-level soldiers were two dan and five dou, which were much higher than those of ordinary citizens. level.

In addition, soldiers in the Song Dynasty were also given clothing subsidies. For example, the standard for banned soldiers was "spring and winter clothes, six pieces of silk, one or twelve taels of cotton, and three thousand yuan for clothing."

In addition to the above-mentioned fixed military salary and military rations, soldiers in the Song Dynasty also had various subsidies.

After a newly recruited sergeant was tattooed in the Song Dynasty, the government issued clothes, shoes and the first payment of salary, which were the so-called assassination gifts. If the family members of the fallen sergeant joined the army, the amount would be doubled.

In the Song Dynasty, a suburban sacrificial ceremony was held every three years, and rewards were given to hundreds of officials and troops. A suburban reward was approximately equivalent to the salary of a Forbidden Army Commander for one and twenty months, which was indeed a very considerable income. .

As for the annual cold food, Dragon Boat Festival and Winter Solstice festivals and other fixed festivals, the government will issue special payments to soldiers. In addition, there are various temporary special payments. This money is regarded as festival expenses. Although it is not much, it is also part of the income. Partially, a little adds up to a lot.

In addition, there are snow-cold money, firewood money, and year-end cold money. These are subsidies given to soldiers to purchase firewood during the severe winter.

For armies like the Baojie Army, because they were working hard as border guards, the court would issue hemp shoes and silver coins as subsidies to the border guards, called silver shoe money.

In addition, there are other types of subsidies such as salary, military transfer money, coupons, etc. Added together, each soldier may have an income of fifty or sixty dollars a year.

If it really comes to war, there is a special kind of military reward, which is military reward. If you kill the enemy and make meritorious service, be injured in battle, be well-trained, etc., you will be awarded military reward.

According to the provisions of "Rewards", military rewards for Xiang soldiers and forbidden soldiers are divided into five grades: "Ten pieces of silk, ten pieces of money are the first grade, seven pieces of silk, eight pieces of money are the second grade, five pieces of silk, five pieces of money. Guan is the third class, silk is three pieces, money has three strings is the fourth class, silk is one piece, money has three strings is the fifth class."

Therefore, in fact, serving as a soldier in the Song Dynasty was a good way out, but the rules were rules, and implementation was another matter.

When Zhang Heng was in the Third Division, the money was really spent, and not even half a penny was less. If it was less, the army would cause trouble, but how much of the money fell into the hands of the soldiers?

Zhang Heng conducted an in-depth investigation among the soldiers and found that the reason why the soldiers wanted to go home one by one was because the money they could get was too little.

They can only get about a monthly military salary, and this military salary is also discounted. They can only get a few hundred coins every month, while the rest of the salary, military money, vouchers and other subsidies come from

I have never received it. What is the reason? Naturally, it was taken away by the generals above.

Soldiers don't have enough income, so they naturally don't want to stay in the army and suffer, so naturally they don't want to talk about combat effectiveness.

But this time the disarmament has given soldiers more choices. They can choose to retire and return home. Then there will be fewer people in the army, but things still have to be done. In order to keep these soldiers, the generals have to find ways to retain people.

Whatever they use to retain people, they will naturally implement the benefits.

As soldiers' treatment improves, they will naturally be willing to contribute. In this way, the goal of disarmament will be achieved.

Before Zhang Heng came, he had already determined with the court ministers that this time the reduction could only lay off personnel, but military expenditures would not be reduced. So for the generals, their interests may not be greatly reduced, and they only need to make small changes.

Just a little compromise.

In this way, the overall number of troops has decreased, but the combat effectiveness has increased.

Thinking of this, Zhang Heng said with deep meaning: "You two, the Baojie Army will lay off 40,000 people this time, but military expenditures will not be reduced.

The military expenditure originally provided for 92,500 people now only needs to be paid for 52,500 people.

Therefore, I don’t need to say much about how to retain people, right?

If you can't retain people in this way, then don't blame me for being ruthless.

You can discuss with the generals at all levels in the army who you want to keep out of the 52,500 people, and I will only take away 40,000 people."

Chen Changyou and Chen Yanzhu looked at each other and seemed to be relieved.

Chen Changyou couldn't believe it and said: "Is it true that military expenditures will not be reduced? Isn't this disarmament just to reduce military expenditures? Can the princes of the imperial court agree?"

Zhang Heng smiled: "Yes, I can be sure that this is the case. However, I cannot guarantee what will happen in the future. If in a year or two, the imperial court wants to reduce military expenditures, it will be beyond my control.

.”

Chen Changyou laughed when he heard this and said: "As long as we don't cut it this time, it will probably be more difficult to cut it later. Haha, the big-headed soldier can't be kneaded at will."

Chen Changyou was naturally confident in saying this. It was difficult to reduce the military expenditures of the army casually. Without a suitable reason, he would not dare to move at all, otherwise these troops might rebel.

This is what Zhang Heng said. This time he will not cut military spending through disarmament. He can only guarantee this. But if someone wants to cut military spending in two years, it will not be my responsibility, but you should be able to handle it yourself, right?

At this point, both parties have sorted out their various interest relationships.

The key to presiding over disarmament is to straighten out the interest relationships. As long as the relationships here are straightened out, the biggest resistance will be eliminated.

But this does not mean that disarmament is complete. It is not that simple. The next things are not only trivial, but also very complicated!
Chapter completed!