Song Gexing

Chapter 207 Military Rank System
Zhao Fang actually referred to the military system of later generations, with the same five levels of corps, divisions, regiments, battalions, and platoons, but he forgot that later generations also had military divisions, military districts, military commissions, and a lot of military attaché establishments.

The military system of later generations should be the most mature, but copying it will not work, because the large military regions of later generations were not feasible in ancient times.

That is actually a change in the military vassal town, but it is difficult for later generations to separate the regime, so it can be set up like that.

Don't think that the military region only cares about the army and cannot form vassal towns. That is due to the development of transportation and communications in later generations, as mentioned above.

If you try it in ancient times, power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and the local government is really powerless to resist. Could it be that government officials and arresters can fight against the army?

The Jiedushi of the Tang Dynasty were of this type. When the court had the ability to restrain, the Jiedushi behaved very well, but once the court lost the ability to restrain, things went haywire.

Never use humanity to gamble on loyalty, that will lead to death without a burial.

When Li Linfu was in power, An Lushan didn't dare to let go. When Yang Guozhong was prime minister, he dared to raise troops. Could it be that the national power of the Tang Dynasty was declining so quickly? Is the answer correct?

That's because although Li Linfu was a treacherous minister, his methods and abilities could scare An Lushan. He had no confidence that his rebellion would succeed.

If you look at the process of the Anshi Rebellion, you will understand. In fact, the imperial court was fully capable of wiping out the rebels, but it failed due to the chaos and chaos of the imperial court's planners.

If Ge Shuhan had not been forced to send troops, An Lushan would not have been able to break through Tongguan even if his head was squeezed. This is why Chen Xuanli and other soldiers hated Yang Guozhong so much.

Getting back to the topic, Zhao Fang continued: "I plan to divide the military system into two sets, one is the official position in the army, and the other is the general rank."

This is easy to understand. The military system of the Song Dynasty was originally like this. The 53rd level weapons were the grades, and the governor, commander, etc. were official positions. There was no conflict, so naturally no one questioned it.

"The Privy Council is the highest administrative body of the army, and the Dudu Mansion of the Five Armies is the supreme commanding body of the army. The three chief officers of the Dudu Mansion will be nominated and recommended by the Privy Council in the future, and the government will take effect after the decree."

Zhao Fang is going to completely change the military system. The charter that has been planned for a long time is finally available today. He still follows the military system of later generations, but just swaps the functions.

The Privy Council is regarded as the Military Commission and the Fifth Military Governor's Office is regarded as the Ministry of National Defense. However, the functions have changed. It is equivalent to using the Ministry of National Defense to control the military and the Military Commission as an administrative agency.

The reason for the swap of powers and responsibilities is that in ancient times, military power must be placed under administrative jurisdiction, otherwise the tragedy of separatist vassal towns will still happen again.

Sure enough, as soon as he said these words, the civil servants immediately became excited. This was the rhythm of bringing the Privy Council into the civil servant system, and they naturally raised their hands in approval.

But the generals were frustrated and still had to be suppressed by the civil servants.

But Zhao Fang immediately went on to say: "After this change, the three chief officers of the Five Army Governor's Mansion must be served by military officials, and all civil servants will withdraw."

The whole room exploded with a "buzz", what was the purpose of this, did the emperor want to divide civil and military affairs, and increase the power of generals.

Han Qi sighed softly and was about to go out, but Zhao Fan raised his hand to stop him and continued: "Currently, all the chief officers of the Five Army Governor's Mansion who are willing to stay must be transferred to military posts. Everyone in the Privy Council can be transferred to civilian posts, but they can retain the rank of military generals. I have re-established a military rank system for this grade, which will be implemented after the ninth grade and eighteenth grade."

This time Han Qi was not in a hurry, but asked: "What is a military rank, and how does it correspond to the ninth rank and the eighteenth rank? Your Majesty, please explain in detail."

Zhao Fang nodded and said, "Using the general, school, and lieutenant as units, there are five levels of major, upper, middle, junior, and quasi."

As he said this, he stopped and looked at everyone's reactions.Han Qi calculated silently and then asked: "This is only the fifteenth level, where are the three levels left?"

Yes, he really didn't know what names to use for the remaining third rank. The only thing he could think of was to add the rank of marshal above the general. Anyway, the first rank would not be given actual duties in the Song Dynasty.

Privy envoys and prime ministers are only in the first rank, so this is just a decoration, or an honorary title.

But as for the remaining two, he thought about using sergeants, but the sergeants of later generations were not officers. Although the salary was similar to that of low-level officers, an officer was an officer.

After hesitating for a moment, Zhao Fang said tentatively: "The ninth grade and the second level use Tiha and Dutou, what do you think?"

"Isn't this inappropriate? If we use a banned title again, will it confuse the soldiers?"

"I think it's okay. Since the new military system will naturally be announced to the whole world, there will be no problem as long as the publicity in the military is in place."

The two opinions were opposite and everyone started a discussion, but the atmosphere was very good today and a consensus was quickly reached and passed.

In fact, Tijia and Dutou in the Song Dynasty belonged to different systems. Dutou was an official position for hundreds of households in the army and belonged to the imperial army system.

The capital of Wu Song in Water Margin was written by people from the Ming Dynasty. It is misunderstood that the capital of the Song Dynasty is completely different from that of the Yuan Dynasty.

The sub-jurisdictions are local systems such as Xiangjun and Fanjun. There are sub-jurisdictions at the road level and prefecture level, but the titles are different and the powers are also different.

However, it is obvious that the official rank is higher than that of Dutou, because the units he works in are different, which is equal to the police chief or director of prefecture-level cities and provincial-level units.

Therefore, Zhao Fang now sets Tijia as the ninth rank, Dutou as the ninth rank, warrant officer as the eighth rank, second lieutenant as the eighth rank, and so on, all the way to the first rank marshal.

After seeing that everyone had no objections, Zhao Fang continued: "I have decided to decouple the military minister's eighteenth-level military rank from his official position. The military rank will be reflected in his salary. All meritorious positions of the military minister will be cancelled. The salary of the military minister will be judged by his official position and military rank. .”

This statement caused another commotion. In the Song Dynasty, there were many types of salaries, and only when you were an official could you get a high salary. If this was cancelled, the generals would be miserable.

Zhao Fang ignored their commotion, raised his hand and said, "Don't worry, I will let someone evaluate your salary. I won't starve you to death, so why worry."

The military ministers quickly shrank their heads, not daring to look at him one by one. At this time, Bao Zheng frowned and said, "If Your Majesty changes it like this, will the instructor be considered a civil minister or a military minister? If he is a civil minister, is it still necessary for the Military and Government Governor's Office to exist?"

This is the biggest problem. Bao Zheng pointedly pointed out that the original instructors were all civil servants and they were appointed according to their rank.

Zhao Fang will never abolish this system, and ideological education must not be relaxed. This is the experience accumulated over thousands of years, and only fools will give up.

"The instructor should still be a civil servant. The Military and Administrative Governor's Office can be merged into the Privy Council and changed to the Military and Administrative Department."

Everyone was in high spirits, and before they could cheer, Zhao Fang continued: "The Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies remains unchanged, and there will be another Overseas Garrison Governor's Mansion to take charge of the Song Dynasty's overseas garrison."

(End of this chapter)