Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Lower the rank of hereditary officials, reduce the hereditary land of the Beijing guards, and encourage migration abroad.

After these three measures, the military farms in the capital were enough to be divided. However, it was not a good thing for the hereditary officials of the capital's military garrisons.

The one hundred to three hundred mu of hereditary land that each hereditary official had was far from enough to make up for the losses caused by their migration.

At this time, Qian Sheng was worried that Fuyuwei would move away from its current location, and the family business passed down from his ancestors might need to be abandoned.

Especially regarding the military farms in the garrisons, no matter how much is occupied now, it must be redistributed according to the level of hereditary positions.

He said with concern:

"In addition to the military farms in the garrisons, many hereditary officials in the capital also purchased land privately."

“What should be done with these fields after the garrisons are relocated?”

Gu Yanwu smiled and said:

"As long as the title deed is clear and the transfer process is legal, the court will recognize that the land belongs to them."

"But in terms of taxation, you have to pay the property tax. The property tax rate will be calculated together with the hereditary land allocated by the court."

"And the total cannot exceed one thousand acres. This is the limit for everyone."

"If you want to break this restriction or pay less tax, you can separate the households for the children of the family and let them live independently as military and civilian households."

"It can also be used as a family sacrificial field, or donated as a school field, and it can also be used as public land to pay the tithe."

This was the policy determined after discussion by the Privy Council. The land allocated to the hereditary officials of the Capital Guard was too little. If they were not allowed to own private land, these people would probably protest.

Therefore, they were still able to retain their private land, but they had to abide by the 1,000-acre limit and pay land taxes according to the court's policy.

Currently, the Ministry of War is discussing with the Ministry of Revenue to determine how to levy taxes on the private land of hereditary officials.

Qian Sheng felt relieved when he heard this. At least the court did not have such strict rules that officials were not allowed to own other properties.

However, considering that most of the private land owned by hereditary officials was occupied by the military farms, and some families owned more than 300 mu of land, he felt that this policy would definitely be resisted, and those hereditary officials with large amounts of land would definitely feel resentful.

After expressing his concerns in a subtle way, Gu Yanwu pondered for a moment and said:

“In fact, there are ways to preserve more land.”

"The hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard are allowed to purchase land corresponding to their ranks."

"The land allocated to centurions and trial centurions is 500 mu, and the land allocated to commanders is 1,000 mu. This is based on the land allocated to the hereditary officials of the three guards of Zhuolu."

"But after transferring to the Jinwu Guard, there will be no specific guard post. In the future, there will only be an honorary title, or preferential treatment corresponding to the level."

After explaining the difference between the Jinwu Guard hereditary officials and the ordinary guards' hereditary officials, Gu Yanwu also said:

"Your Majesty wants to transfer those hereditary officials who do not want to serve in the guards to the Jinwu Guards, give them some preferential treatment, and let them make a living on their own."

"But the ministers in the court were not happy about this. They believed that the hereditary positions of officials who did not serve in the garrisons should be completely abolished."

"Only those who passed the imperial examinations and made contributions and were awarded titles by the imperial court in the past could obtain the hereditary title of Jinwu Guard, just like the ministers today."

It would have been better if this matter had not been mentioned. After Qian Sheng heard it, he immediately became angry.

Because after hearing about the treatment of the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guard, he was very moved.

Although the hereditary officials of the Jinwu Guards were only honorary positions and had no military households to enslave, after the reform of the guard system, these hereditary officials in the guards could no longer arbitrarily drive the military households.

The difference between the two in this respect is about to disappear. As a hereditary official of the guard, he has no more power.

What made him even more tempted was that since the Jinwu Guards were not in the guard post, they did not need to serve in the army all the time. The children of the family could do whatever they wanted without any restrictions.

This means that hereditary officials are no longer required to serve in the military, and their descendants no longer have to risk their lives on the battlefield.

Even if he needed to buy the ancestral land himself, Qian Sheng felt that he could accept it. He did not care much about the 100 acres of land that the hereditary hundred households of the Beijing Guard could only be allocated.

So he complained:
"Why can't the hereditary officials of the Capital Guard be transferred to the Jinwu Guard?"

"Those civil officials are too overbearing, aren't they? They think the Jinwu Guard is their own private territory."

Then he asked expectantly:
"What if I voluntarily downgrade? Can I transfer to the Jinwu Guard?"

"For example, if I am now a centurion and can be promoted to deputy thousand-householder, can I downgrade to a lower level and transfer to the Jinwu Guard as a centurion?"

Gu Yanwu really didn't know this, because the rules of the Privy Council had not yet been formulated in such detail.

He said to Qian Sheng:

"The Privy Council has not discussed this, but the last option they offer to hereditary officials is to give up their hereditary positions completely and become military civilians in the future."

"Except for the fact that males need to serve in the military for three years after reaching adulthood, there is no difference between them and civilians in other aspects."

If it was before Gu Yanwu mentioned the Jinwu Guards, Qian Sheng could barely accept this choice and would even consider it.

Because being in the army is so hard, people with some family property want to save their descendants from this hardship.

Especially those of them, the lower-level centurions, some even gave up their hereditary positions and fled like the poor military households.

Just thinking about the price of donating 150,000 dan that a centurion could become a knight, Qian Sheng felt reluctant about it again, thinking that even if it was just a nominal title of Jinwu Guard, it would be better than giving it up completely.

Thinking that the hereditary officials of the garrison could be transferred to the Jinwu Guard, Qian Sheng decided that after he returned, he would contact the hereditary officials of Fuyu Guard and other garrisons, and together they would request the Five Military Commandery to allow them to transfer to the Jinwu Guard.

Gu Yanwu, who was unaware of Qian Sheng's idea, continued to persuade him to migrate outside the Great Wall.

It was just that Qian Sheng's Fuyuwei had originally moved to the capital from the outskirts of the Great Wall. He knew from his ancestors' experience what a hell of a place the outskirts of the Great Wall were. If there were other options, he would not choose this path.

Therefore, Gu Yanwu's persuasion did not have much effect.

In the end, he had no choice but to give up and sent Qian Sheng away with a sigh.

As for Qian Wu, whom Qian Sheng wanted to visit, Gu Yanwu did not let them meet until the end because Qian Wu was in training and the content of the training was confidential.
-
In the training ground of the Yingyang Army, Xu Guangqi, Sun Yingyuan, Zhang Yongan and others were watching the soldiers training.

The weapon they used was the trapdoor gun designed by Lu Xiang.

After being adopted as a standard weapon, the Equipment Department and the Inner Court's weapon workshops quickly modified a batch of the original muskets for use in training the new army.

Sun Yingyuan, Zhang Yongan and others selected a group of soldiers who could adapt to this weapon quickly, striving to form combat effectiveness as soon as possible.

The Yingyang Army has also been on a state of combat readiness, ready to attack if unrest occurs in the capital.

It can be said that Zhu Youjian attached great importance to the reform of the garrison system and was even prepared to suppress resistance by force and enforce it.

Deep down in his heart, he certainly hoped that some hereditary officials would rebel so that he could take them down with justification and reduce the burden on the court.

Gu Yanwu knew very well the purpose of the Yingyang Army's war preparations. After seeing Qian Sheng off, he went to report to Xu Guangqi who was in charge there, and told him about the content of his conversation with Qian Sheng and his views on this centurion of Fuyuwei.

Xu Guangqi heard that Qian Sheng approved of most of the measures, but was very angry about the difficulty of the hereditary officials of the guards being transferred to the Jinwu Guards. He pondered and said:

"It seems that the qualifications for becoming a Jinwu Guard will need to be slightly relaxed."

"This way, the reform of the guard post will reduce some resistance."

"I will write a memorial to Your Majesty and let the Privy Council discuss it."

While talking about his own plan, Xu Guangqi also appreciated Gu Yanwu's explanation to Qian Sheng and told him:

"Your opinions can be compiled into an article."

“After the decision to restructure the guards was made, it was published in newspapers such as The Guardian.”

"Especially the options and solutions for the officials, we need to explain them clearly."

"Hereditary officials who are interested in making achievements should be encouraged to go to foreign garrisons or even open up territories." "Hereditary officials who seek stability should be allowed to cultivate land with their hereditary land."

“Those who are demoted but unwilling to accept it are encouraged to go abroad.”

"If you don't have the guts, just accept the demotion."

Xu Guangqi did not think there was much problem with such an overall policy.

What needs to be relaxed is the loophole for the Jinwu Guard, so that those hereditary officials who do not want to stay in the guard post can be transferred to the vacant Jinwu Guard.

Thinking about this, Xu Guangqi left the training ground to write a memorial. Gu Yanwu did not rush to write the article, but during the interval of the soldiers' training, he told Qian Wu, who had been promoted to second lieutenant and led a squad, about Qian Sheng's visit. He asked him again:
"How does the trapdoor gun work?"

"Can you adapt to this new musket?"

"If something like the Jingxi Rebellion happens, do you have the confidence to put it down?"

Qian Wu held the musket in his hand and said confidently:

"Of course I have confidence!"

"The trapdoor gun is much more convenient than the old matchlock gun, and training is very simple."

"If a rebellion were to occur in the west of Jing, I am confident that I can lead a small team and defeat a thousand rebels."

"If the enemy had no cavalry and artillery, no one in my squad would have died."

With an effective range of 15 meters and a firing rate of up to rounds per minute after becoming proficient, Qian Wu feels that the valve gun in his hand is a combination of a bow and a crossbow.

As long as he fought outside the range of the enemy's arrows, he was confident that he could defeat the enemy without losing a single person.

Not to mention a small disturbance like the Jingxi Rebellion, he had the confidence even when facing the Jianlu.

It can be said that after the replacement of the new muskets, the Eagle Army was full of confidence, and they were eager to train, ready to establish meritorious service on the battlefield and obtain hereditary titles.

They were very enthusiastic about the foreign titles that the Ming officials looked down upon. They were confident that they could open up their own territory with this kind of firearms.

Gu Yanwu appreciated this confidence very much, but still asked with concern:

"Are there any difficulties? Don't be shy to ask."

"As a guard, my job is to help you solve your problems."

Qian Wu scratched his head and said with a chuckle:

"There is a problem. My brothers in the army often ask if they can have more bullets."

"Now we use sub-guns for training, and we have to reload them ourselves after firing. It's really too troublesome."

"Without enough bullets, we won't be able to kill many enemies on the battlefield."

This is a new problem that emerged after switching to metal fixed ammunition.

The manufacture of sub-guns was easy, as the Ming Dynasty had rich experience in manufacturing sub-guns for Portuguese cannons. Although the sub-guns for valve-type guns had higher requirements, they were not difficult to manufacture.

However, the manufacture of bullets is troublesome. On the one hand, the brass used is expensive, and the shell rolling technology is not mature.

Therefore, the number of bullets distributed has always been relatively small, and most soldiers are trained with reloadable iron muskets.

This type of sub-gun is not only heavy, but also requires soldiers to manually reload it after firing. As a result, there are many accidents.

Especially iron sub-guns are not well lubricated and sometimes need to be oiled before they can be smoothly pulled out of the chamber.

In addition, there are differences in the amount of powder charged between iron muskets and brass bullets. Soldiers generally hope to be issued more brass bullets to use for training and preparing for combat.

Gu Yanwu took note of this problem and planned to raise it with the Equipment Research Institute when he had time.

Especially the problem that the iron bullets were not able to extract shells smoothly, he felt that the Equipment Institute needed to make great efforts to improve it.

Knowing the price of copper, he did not think that brass bullets could be popularized on a large scale. Iron muskets might be more suitable for Ming soldiers.

Thinking about this question, Gu Yanwu said to Zhang Yongan, the chief of staff in charge of training, after the new round of training began:

"Have you noticed that reloading a sub-gun can easily cause problems?"

Zhang Yongan frowned and said:

"Of course I've noticed this, but if we don't reload, where would we get so many ammunition for training?"

"Anyway, it was more troublesome for them to reload the matchlock guns in the past. It's even easier to reload the sub-guns!"

Apparently in his opinion, this wasn't a big deal.

Gu Yanwu had suffered from the pain of overloading the gunpowder and knew that it was not easy to reload the sub-gun. He suggested:
"Reloading a sub-gun is a delicate job. I think the ordnance officer should be responsible for this."

"Select a few more soldiers who are good at re-equipping to assist them."

This can reduce the workload of most soldiers in reloading their muskets. After thinking about it, Zhang Yongan said hesitantly:

"If we give it to just a few people, it will be a heavy burden on them."

"And reloading the sub-gun is an important part of the training. If they don't do it normally, how can they become proficient in it?"

Gu Yanwu immediately refuted Zhang Yongan's idea:
"The reloading of the sub-guns is only temporary. When more are produced in the future, who will reload them?"

"After the transfer to the ordnance officer to lead the team full-time, it can also reduce the training burden of the soldiers."

"The probability of problems with the reloaded sub-gun will also be smaller."

Zhang Yongan sighed:
"The probability will be reduced, but it cannot be completely avoided."

"I am worried that if something goes wrong with the sub-guns that the ordnance officer is leading to reinstall, it will cause a major incident in the army."

"In the past, everyone reinstalled it themselves, and if there was a problem, they took their own responsibility."

"If the armorer leads the team to re-equip the equipment, who will be held responsible if something goes wrong?"

This question left Gu Yanwu speechless.

If we only consider unifying logistics and simplifying training, it would be simplest to have specialized personnel take charge of reloading sub-guns.

However, since the reloaded sub-guns are not for their own use, problems are likely to occur if those people are not careful.

Even if strict management is implemented to reduce the chances of problems, once an accident occurs, it will be the responsibility of the disabled soldier to find the repairman.

This is why Zhang Yongan always let the soldiers take responsibility for reloading their own muskets, just like they used to reload their muskets.

Lamenting the complexity of this matter, Gu Yanwu thought about the choice the emperor gave to the hereditary officials of the guards and said:
"Then let the soldiers choose for themselves!"

"They can reload it themselves, or they can be lazy and hand it over to the armorer."

"At the same time, you must sign a letter of responsibility and take full responsibility for any consequences if something goes wrong."

The right of choice advocated by the emperor should be used in this regard.

At the same time, strengthen the management of reloading work and eliminate sub-guns that may have problems.

If a soldier feels that some sub-guns are particularly suitable for a certain musket, he can mark them and apply for matching preservation...

Various relevant systems were gradually established during the training process.

The skills of using the new musket were constantly improved in this process. Even the musket itself was improved a lot to better meet the needs of actual combat.

Soldiers and officers alike are getting familiar with the new muskets. They are ready to be used on the battlefield and will make a big splash in the future. (End of this chapter)