At Liu Jin's house, Liu Jin was drinking tea leisurely and reading the latest Tomorrow Morning News.

I followed Zhu Houzhao out for almost a full month, and it was already October of the twelfth year of Hongzhi.

After being out for a month, I followed Zhu Houzhao and traveled all over the border towns of the Ming Dynasty. I also visited many guard posts, and I had a clear picture of the situation of the entire Ming Dynasty army.

It is not an exaggeration to describe it as rotten to the core. There are too many various problems.

From the highest level, it is not paying attention to it, or even deliberately suppressing it, because the civilian group is in power, and the civilian group continues to suppress military officers and nobles for their own interests. Naturally, they also continue to suppress military construction.

We suppress military expenditures, equipment updates, military training, military supply support, and many other aspects. In terms of military expenditures, we should save what we can, deduct what we can, and misappropriate what we can.

There are basically no equipment updates. Many of the armors and weapons used by the frontier troops are even from decades ago. The quality of the weapons and equipment issued every few years is so poor that it is unbearable to look at it.

In terms of artillery, the artillery issued by the Ministry of Revenue can only fire a few shots with 50% of the gunpowder. A few more shots or a little more gunpowder will explode immediately, so that the artillerymen would rather go into battle with a knife.

They were also reluctant to fire for fear of being blown up.

As for army training, that's even more nonsense. It's good to be able to practice once every ten days and a half. This is a frontier army, a force that often needs to fight against the steppe Tatars.

As for the military households, they were completely farmers, so naturally there was no need for training.

Military supplies were guaranteed. Five years ago in Hongzhi, there was a grain payment system to ensure that if you wanted salt, you had to transport grain to the border troops, thus ensuring the grain needs of the border troops.

But after the fifth year of Hongzhi, after the change from grain payment to silver payment, salt merchants only needed to pay a certain amount of silver every year to obtain salt, and then the court used the silver to purchase grain for the border troops.

It doesn't sound like there is much difference, but because the civilian group is in power, it is constantly suppressing the military generals group and constantly reducing military expenditures.

In the past, it was no problem at least to have enough food, but now, the money allocated by the court is getting less and less, and the food purchased is getting less and less.

What's more important is that the grain is in the hands of grain merchants. If you want to buy grain, you have to look at the grain merchant's color. The grain merchant has the final say on the price. Therefore, grain merchants often collude with the commander-in-chief above, and they spend a lot of money to buy the grain.

But the quality is getting worse and worse, and gradually everyone can't even eat enough.

Now it is still the Hongzhi Dynasty. In the late Ming Dynasty, this problem became more and more serious, and eventually it brought down the entire Ming Dynasty's finances.

Food is only one aspect of military expenditure, and it is also the most basic aspect. If the soldiers cannot eat enough food, you can only imagine how other aspects of military supplies can be guaranteed.

The highest level did not pay attention to it, and even deliberately suppressed it. In addition, the military household system has developed to this day and is completely rotten.

Due to the restrictions of the household registration system, this military household could only serve as a soldier, and had been restricted to this for generations. Originally, this was nothing. The key is that there was no hope of serving as a soldier in the Ming Dynasty.

The civil servant group is in power. They have no desire for external expansion at all. They are very Buddhist. They rely on their Confucius and Mencius and Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism to solve everything. That is simply impossible.

Coupled with the suppression by the civilian clique, the combat effectiveness is low, and it is a dream to hope that you can make a comeback by serving as a soldier.

If a soldier can be like the Qin Dynasty, he will have status, be able to make a comeback, and also bring substantial benefits to himself and his family. For example, if he wins a battle, everyone will receive a reward, silver, land, promotion, and wealth, etc.

wait.

Naturally, some people will go out of their way to become soldiers, and this military household is naturally superior.

But this happened to be the Ming Dynasty. Soldiers did not have enough to eat and did not have warm clothes to wear. Their families also suffered hardships. They were the ones who were in dilapidated military households.

There are no battles to fight yet. Every year the Tatars go south, hiding in the city and guarding the city. They don't dare to take the initiative. It's just a dream if you want to make a comeback by serving as soldiers.

Not to mention getting better, it is difficult to support a family and live a decent life. This is the current situation of military households in the Ming Dynasty.

Originally, if you were a military household, you would still have a few acres of land, but now, the land of military households has basically been occupied by thousands of households, hundreds of households, general soldiers and the like, and it has become their

Like domestic slaves, working as cattle or horses, they will be exploited by thousands or hundreds of households above them for generations.

To sum up, being a soldier in the Ming Dynasty has no advantages and no less disadvantages. Naturally, even if the system is completely rotten, what kind of combat effectiveness do you expect such a Ming army to have?

"It is also a miracle that the Ming Dynasty was able to persist for more than a hundred years under Emperor Hongzhi."

Putting down the copy of the Ming Dynasty Morning Post, Liu Jin couldn't help but sigh.

A huge empire, with a population of nearly hundreds of millions, and the largest economy of this era. The combat effectiveness of the Ming army is not even comparable to that of the fifth scum, and any of your neighbors can come and bully you.

There are Tatars on the grasslands in the north, and there are Japanese pirates on the southeastern coast. Even the Tusi tribe in the southwest has never stopped. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, they were even replaced by Miteqing. I have to say that it is really ridiculous, lamentable, and sad.

ah.

"Emperor Hongzhi took back the general power, and I don't know how the military system will be changed. If it is just to take back the general power, it is of little significance. It cannot really change everything about the Ming army. History will still repeat itself."

Then Liu Jin thought about the present, because he had traveled through time, so many things had happened in the past few years, and Emperor Hongzhi had also taken back his general power.

From then on, the emperor no longer needed to go through the Ministry of War to use his troops. He could directly mobilize all the armies of the Ming Dynasty. From this point of view, it was a good thing.

The Ming Dynasty's army became what it is now, and these civilian officials played a major role in suppressing the military generals and noble groups to the point of frenzy.

There was even an incident in history where a third-grade military general had to kneel down to a seventh-grade civil servant. This is a real thing that happened. This shows how heartless the civil servant group is.

The military power was returned to the emperor, and civilian officials no longer held military power. Naturally, the generals and nobles group could slowly recover, and the Ming army was expected to become stronger again.

But in essence, this is just a matter of military power, and it cannot fundamentally change the problems of the Ming army. If the military household system is not changed, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army will not be improved. It is impossible to say that every war will be carried out

Fundraising is motivated by money.

"Smelly boy~Smelly boy~"

Just as Liu Jin was thinking about it, the rough voice of the British Duke Zhang Mao came, and he had already shouted before the people arrived.

Soon, Zhang Mao walked in quickly. He came to Liu Jin's house so many times that every time he came, he went straight to Liu Jin's study and didn't even go to the living room.

"Mr. Zhang~"

Seeing Zhang Mao, Liu Jin quickly saluted.

At the same time, I was also guessing the purpose of Zhang Mao's visit. It was probably for the purpose of reforming the military system.

In the past, Zhang Mao was very leisurely. As a prince, he came to Liu Jin every day just to get rich. He also bought a lot of properties with Liu Jin, and now he is extremely rich.

But Zhang Mao has been very busy recently. Emperor Hongzhi did not trust the civil service group and began to pay attention to the military officers and nobles. As a representative of the military officers and nobles, he was also reused by Emperor Hongzhi.

He is still doing the work of worshiping ancestors, but he is also more involved in major court affairs. His presence is indispensable in every discussion.

He also had to participate in a lot of various major events, so he naturally became busier.

Now Zhang Mao, Li Dongyang, and Liu Jian have also been entrusted with important tasks by Emperor Hongzhi to take charge of the reform of the military system, so the whole person is also busy and confused. The key is that he does not know where to start.

As usual, I came to see Liu Jin as usual, wanting to consult Liu Jin's opinion and see if Liu Jin, a disciple of a master, had any good suggestions.

"No need, no need~"

Zhang Mao waved his hand, then sat down, thought for a while and said: "You brat, you already know about the change of military system."

"In the past period of time, you went with the Crown Prince to inspect the border troops and guards. You must have an understanding of the current situation of our Ming army. I wonder if you can tell me how this military system should be changed."

Zhang Mao is also anxious. This is a major event, not only related to Emperor Hongzhi, but also a major matter related to the interests of the Generals Xungui Group. Countless pairs of eyes in the world are watching, including the Generals Xungui Group.

I look forward to seeing Zhang Mao win more benefits for everyone.

It was really miserable to be suppressed by the civil servant group in the past. The military generals and noble group had no sense of existence and no right to speak above the imperial court.

But are these military commanders and noble groups really willing to stay like this?

Obviously it is impossible. Everyone has his own ambitions, and naturally wants to have more say and participate in the national affairs of the Ming Dynasty, instead of becoming a decoration without any say.

This matter is in his own hands. It is an opportunity for Zhang Mao to perform well. It is also a hot potato because everyone is looking at you, Zhang Mao.

If you cannot handle this matter well, you must satisfy both Emperor Hongzhi and the Military Generals Group. Otherwise, you, Zhang Mao, will never be able to gain a foothold in the Military Generals Group in the future.

Thinking of this, Zhang Mao couldn't eat or sleep well. He has been thinking about this matter these days.

But after much deliberation, I still can't come up with a good plan. More importantly, the plan I came up with is definitely not something that Liu Jian and Li Dongyang can agree with. The two of them represent the civil service group, so they naturally benefit from the interests of the civil service group.

Consider that it is too difficult for each other to come up with a solution that is satisfactory to all three parties.

So Zhang Mao also habitually thought of Liu Jin.

Of course, he didn't think of Liu Jin randomly.

He has been to Tianjin and visited Tianjin Maritime Academy. Tianjin Maritime Academy only has semi-military management. After just a few months of training, in his opinion, these students from Tianjin Maritime Academy are a strong army.

His grandson Zhang Lun went to Ryukyu and was also trained at the Tianjin Maritime Academy and fought against Japanese pirates. The letter he wrote home also described the victory in detail.

So he knew that Liu Jin was well versed in military training and would definitely be able to give him some advice.

"Mr. Zhang, to be honest, I accompanied His Highness to inspect the border army and the guard army this time, and I also had a lot of feelings."

Liu Jin thought for a while and spoke slowly.

"If His Majesty just wants to take back military power, this military reform is very simple. You can refer to the military systems of past dynasties and concentrate the military power in His Majesty's hands."

"But in my opinion, His Majesty is not just as simple as taking back military power. Your Majesty loves the people like a son. He has been watching the Tatars wreaking havoc southward and is very anxious. He is very eager to have a powerful army to protect his country."

"So I think His Majesty is not just taking back military power, but more importantly, he is building a strong army that can sweep the world."

"If you want to achieve this, then this military reform will be more difficult."

Liu Jin first briefly analyzed the purpose of Emperor Hongzhi's military reform. It was not just as simple as taking back military power. He was already quite dissatisfied with the Ming army's combat effectiveness against the Five Scums.

Every winter in the past, he couldn't sleep well. Every year, the Tatars went south, burning, killing and looting wantonly. His people were tortured, which made him, the emperor, very dissatisfied.

He had wanted to have a serious fight with the Tatars for a long time, but he had never had money before, the treasury was empty, and there was no money in the internal funds, so he couldn't even fight a war.

He could only swallow his anger and endured it for twelve years, because Liu Jin who had traveled through time made Emperor Hongzhi's pockets bulge, so he made up his mind to fight the Tatars.

If there was no money, Emperor Hongzhi would probably have to continue to swallow his anger and continue to save money. When enough money was available, he would have another battle to decide the outcome.

This was the case with Emperor Hongzhi in history. After being the emperor for seventeen years, he lived frugally and left a huge legacy to Zhu Houzhao. This was also the reason why Zhu Houzhao was able to fight with the little prince later.

After hearing Liu Jin's analysis, Zhang Mao also nodded solemnly.
To be continued...