Under the instructions of Emperor Liu, the reform of the military system must still follow the principle of slow progress and proceed with caution. Emperor Liu directly and strictly prohibits the reduction of troops in large-scale combat. In order to maintain the stability of the Han Dynasty and ensure the security of national defense, we must always let go.
in the first place.
Therefore, even if Zhao Pu, Wang Zhu, Shen Yilun and other ministers were eager to reduce the number of regular soldiers in the court, they had to follow Emperor Liu's wishes and adopt a more prudent method to complete the process of upgrading the army.
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At least Emperor Liu's unshakable attitude has completely relaxed. With a start, we can expect a good result.
The policy was drawn up by Zhao Pu, Cao Bin and other important civil and military ministers, and after the review and approval of Emperor Liu, the military reform of the Han Dynasty was officially launched on July 15, the 13th year of the Han Dynasty.
According to the reform plan, the internal and external armies of the Han Dynasty will be gradually reduced over a ten-year period, with the aim of maintaining the number of active troops of the Han Dynasty, including the Forbidden Army, at 400,000 by the end of ten years.
Among them, there are 150,000 forbidden troops, 150,000 border troops, and 100,000 local troops. Of course, this is only a rough goal. The specifics will depend on the final disarmament results.
However, no matter what, if we strive to achieve this goal, judging from the current size of the army, the court needs to abolish at least half of the army. This is definitely not an easy task. This is a systematic and major project. If you want to make the policy peaceful,
Smooth implementation takes time and also requires financial support.
According to the plan formulated by the Privy Council, starting from the thirteenth year, the army inside and outside the Han Dynasty will be reduced to a scale of 50,000 to 60,000 people every year. At the same time, the number of newly recruited soldiers will be controlled every year to achieve the goal of reducing the size of the army.
Purpose.
In fact, in the Privy Council's normal management of the country's military administration, elimination and recruitment are also maintained, but that is a normal military and administrative operation. After all, soldiers will grow old, and the older soldiers in the army also need to be younger and more mature.
Replace them with healthy people, which is a healthy and virtuous cycle.
In the past ten years or so, the number of newly recruited soldiers has basically been far greater than the number of retired soldiers. The rapid expansion of the Han army was also formed in those more than ten years.
After all, as the land area increases, the pressure on national defense and security is also increasing. Troops are needed to station everywhere, to maintain law and order, and to suppress rebellions. In addition, several wars of external expansion require additional troops and horses, and once
During the Northern Expedition, the Han Dynasty carried out the most crazy violent troops. After the war, although some were abolished, most of them were retained and became registered soldiers.
It was not until recent years that the entry and exit of the military entered a relatively slow rhythm. The number of retirees and new recruits every year has remained at a low level of about 10,000, and has maintained a balance.
Disarmament and recruitment go hand in hand, and are still the main policies for army size management. However, in the context of disarmament, the former has a greater proportion. Moreover, the requirements for newly recruited soldiers are also higher. They must have a clean background, no criminal record, and good physical health.
The quality should also be better, preferably from a good family.
According to the reform plan, in the remaining half of the thirteenth year, the disarmament action will be officially launched. The scale will not be too large at one time, and it is not required to be fully rolled out. It may even be regarded as a pilot project, and the target is selected in Gyeonggi Province.
Regional ban.
Up to now, around the two capitals of the Han Dynasty, the imperial court has stationed more than 150,000 forbidden troops all year round. If we add in the important cities, strategic passes and border guards across the country, the total strength of the forbidden troops will be more than 200,000.
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With the current situation of the Han Dynasty and the authority of the central government, the security of Gyeonggi is completely guaranteed. There is really no need to maintain such a large-scale forbidden army. One of the important reasons for this is to avoid external stress and internal weakness, which will cause an imbalance in military power.
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When the decision is made to disarmament, it will naturally be done both internally and externally. When the central military strength drops, the side armies and local armies will naturally be reduced accordingly. But once this step is truly taken, there will be no room for regret.
Originally, Zhao Pu and other ministers planned to start the rectification from the border army, and chose Liaodong as the first place, but Emperor Liu refused. In consideration of national defense security and internal and external balance, Emperor Liu chose the former.
Obviously, compared to the reform of the mainland Daozhou army, Emperor Liu should be more cautious in dealing with the border troops. For the sake of national defense security and border tranquility, he would rather postpone it temporarily and directly ask the Privy Council to deal with the border troops in the future.
The disarmament plan must be more detailed.
Reducing the number of registered officers and soldiers in the imperial court will certainly greatly reduce the financial burden on the imperial court and will be beneficial in the long run. However, this process is not simply about reducing the number of troops and retiring the soldiers.
In order to reduce long-term financial pressure, it will face a heavier burden in a short period of time. The reduction of troops is not free. At least, tens of thousands of troops retire every year. How to arrange these officers and soldiers, the court needs to pay a certain price to appease and take care of them.
Emotions, otherwise it will cause dissatisfaction among the troops and unrest among the people, which will cause big problems.
Those who have been laid off are all professional soldiers. In the army, in addition to receiving education on loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, they are also trained in military skills and fighting. Tens of thousands of people are transferred to civilian jobs in waves. If they are not handled properly, it will have serious consequences for social security.
threaten.
In the early years, the imperial court basically made arrangements for the reduction of officers and soldiers. In addition to giving money and land, they also tried their best to arrange a position in the local area, either as an auxiliary soldier with a lower salary, or to return to the hometown.
But now it’s no longer possible. The official team of the Han Dynasty is already large enough, and there are not so many positions. At the same time, the scale of the reduction of troops is also large. Calculated at 400,000 people, even if there is a ten-year buffer, even if it is only the lowest position
It is impossible to free up 400,000 positions in official affairs.
Therefore, the current treatment for retired officers and soldiers of the Han Dynasty is far worse than before, and in order to appease people's hearts, they can only think of financial solutions.
For this reason, Emperor Liu asked the Financial Secretary to allocate two million yuan every year, which was managed by the Privy Council, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Household Affairs. They were specially responsible for the retirement of officers and soldiers. Compensation was given according to the size of the military position. This was regarded as severance pay.
In order to relieve the pressure on the Financial Secretary, Emperor Liu agreed to borrow money from internal funds. The original loan has not been paid back in full after several years, which means Emperor Liu does not charge interest.
However, this time, Emperor Liu was more proactive and did not talk too much. He focused on military affairs. Although two million yuan a year was not too much for the court, the cost of disarmament for the court was more than just a "severance pay"
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Most of the people of the Han Dynasty are still very simple. The same goes for the army. They have been trained for a long time and have strict discipline. They may have some complaints when faced with the abolition, but direct resistance is unlikely. Of course, the premise is that they are given
The treatment is adequate and you must show sufficient sincerity.
However, for another group of people, we cannot simply rely on money to appease them. In the Han military system, if captains and above are considered officers, then the scale of layoffs of 50,000 people means that thousands of officers will be "unemployed" every year.
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Naturally, we cannot demand that they go home and farm like ordinary soldiers. The higher the military rank, the more so. In addition to money, they must also be given power. Transferring them to local government offices as officials is the best way to deal with them.
There's a solution.
This not only continued to strengthen the court's control over local areas, but also because those who could serve as officers in the army could be regarded as talents of the Han Dynasty. It was also a loss for the court to abandon so many talents with management capabilities.
Of course, this also brought a new test to the court's administrative management, that is, the court had to secure more than a thousand additional official positions every year to meet the arrangements for retired officers.
This may be a bit troublesome, but it is only a minor trouble after all. Zhao Pu almost patted his chest and assured Emperor Liu that the matter could be solved. The solution Zhao Pu planned to adopt was to conduct a purge of local officials to free up enough
s position.
In Zhao Pu’s words, the military’s affairs are not just the military’s affairs. The reform of the military also requires the coordination and support of the whole country. The military has begun to carry out reforms and upgrades, and the bureaucracy should follow closely and follow suit.
, to make adjustments to those who are old, corrupt, and those who have nothing to do with their bodies, this is the consistent requirement of the imperial government, and it is also in line with the principle of official governance.
Of course, no matter how beautiful the words are, the fundamental reason is to cooperate with the reform of the military system and facilitate the proper arrangement of retired officers. Emperor Liu still fully agreed with this. He felt that Zhao Pu was worthy of the prime minister's status as a prime minister with the overall situation in mind and his determination to reform.
Emperor Liu was also experienced in this regard. In his early years, in order to gather power and cultivate the imperial party, he used various reasons to remove some veteran ministers and nobles from the imperial court to make room for young and promising people.
And it is easy for latecomers to appoint and control.
