Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

The specific combat plan had to be kept secret, but the news that the court allowed the Liaodong army to go to war and temporarily suspended disarmament was still spread by the Liaodong high-level officials.

When the Liaodong soldiers learned about this, they were all delighted.

In Liaodong today, almost everything is for military service, and there are very few families that do not have children joining the army.

Most families rely on salaries to survive, so naturally they are unwilling to withdraw from the army.

Even if the imperial court gave priority to distributing land to retired soldiers, they were unwilling to do so.

Everyone knew the consequences of just farming and not fighting in the garrison. If you didn't want to be a serf, you'd better join the army.

So when the news of the disarmament came, there was some instability in Liaodong. Some people even thought about causing trouble, but they just didn't have time to implement it.

Now that the imperial court has decided to postpone the reduction of the army, the Liaodong soldiers feel much more at ease. The people who have been involved in the conspiracy have stopped their activities, and many of them have even accelerated their withdrawal from the army.

This is because they do not want to fight, and when they learn that they may have to fight in the battlefield if they stay in the army, they immediately choose to retire.

Although Sun Chengzong wanted to lead more soldiers to fight, he did not stop these people from retiring because he knew that these people who had no fighting spirit would be a disaster on the battlefield. It would be better to let them retire and farm, leaving only the elite who dared to fight in the army.

In particular, he knew that the Liaodong army would not be able to maintain the current situation regardless of victory or defeat after this battle:
Either reduce the size of the army according to the imperial order, or change it into a combination of professional soldiers and conscripts to save military expenses.

Therefore, he and Bi Zisu actively formulated policies to distribute the land currently controlled to retired soldiers, and included them in the military and civilian households, and every adult in the family had to serve in the military for three years.

Some soldiers who did not want to stay in Liaodong were recommended by him to go to Heilongjiang, Nanyang and other places. Whether they went north to open up or south to establish a vassal state, there were people willing to accept them.

The expected large-scale disarmament turned into a small disarmament, and eventually more than 10,000 people withdrew from the Liaodong army.

The number of troops in Liaodong was reduced to 100,000, and the organization was readjusted according to next year's combat plan.

For a time, the entire Liaodong was busy with this matter. The originally uneasy atmosphere also became stable.

After arriving in Liaodong for nearly a month, the Yingyang Army Shesheng Battalion finally lowered its combat readiness level. The officers and soldiers in the battalion were also allowed to go out and communicate with the Liaodong army.

It was under such circumstances that Zhang Yongan walked out of the military camp, but he did not move around as a lieutenant. Instead, he disguised himself as a soldier's committee member and accompanied the logistics personnel to make purchases.

After picking a few dishes at random, Zhang Yongan pointed at a pile of dishes and said:
"How much do these cost, old man?"

"If the price is right, we'll buy them all."

"You don't have to work hard setting up a stall in the wind and sun."

The vegetable seller was delighted when he heard this, knowing that he had met a big customer, and said:

"Two taels of silver will do, and you can take all these out."

Zhang Yongan took out two one-cent coins and said:

"Do you want this?"

"If it works, you can take it."

The old man took a look and said:

"Is this the money from the capital?"

"I can accept it, but it's troublesome to exchange it for silver coins."

"If you pay me some silver coins, I'll give you a few more pounds of vegetables."

"You can take all of these too, but you must take out the silver coins."

The subsidiary currency notes were mainly circulated in Shuntian Prefecture, but after Yongping Prefecture was incorporated into Shuntian Prefecture, they also began to spread in nearby Liaodong.

In addition, Shuntian Bank and Sihai Bank had already established business outlets in Liaodong, and those who received subsidiary currency notes could directly exchange them for silver coins.

Therefore, Liaodong accepts subsidiary notes, especially those who bring a lot of money, and even use five-cent subsidiary notes in whole stacks.

Compared with the silver dollars stacked in a pile, the subsidiary notes are lighter, and a stack of 100 is not very thick. They can be stored close to the body very conveniently, reducing the chances of being stolen or robbed.

Therefore, merchants in the Ming Dynasty welcomed subsidiary currency notes, and some even called for the issuance of silver dollar notes to make silver and money transactions more convenient.

However, at present, this call is not very loud, because banks in the Ming Dynasty are allowed to issue silver bills, with a minimum denomination of 100 yuan.

Although this type of silver note is usually issued by a bank or money house, and is not applicable to other banks or money houses, it is convenient enough for large-scale fund transactions.

Most merchants did not have much trust in the subsidiary currency notes, and some even exchanged them for silver coins as soon as they received them.

This old man in front of him is just like this. He doesn't believe that something that looks like treasure banknotes can maintain its value.

Zhang Yongan chatted with him for a while, and after knowing his idea, he exchanged it for two dimes and bought the vegetables in front of him.

Estimating their weight, Zhang Yongan said:

"The food in Liaodong is really expensive. It's even more expensive than in the capital."

"Fortunately, our salt and vegetable silver has increased, otherwise we really can't afford it."

The old man looked at him and guessed their origins. He said:
"What is not expensive in Liaodong?"

"There's a lot of money in this place but few goods, so the prices are naturally going up."

"How much salt and vegetable money do you get per month? Do you give it directly to the hands?"

Zhang Yongan didn't know the concept of inflation, otherwise he would quickly understand why prices in Liaodong were so high.

In Liaodong, the amount of wages paid by the army increased, but the supply of materials did not increase accordingly, so the prices of various goods naturally went up.

As a result, the salary in Liaodong could not be reduced, because if it was reduced, the soldiers would find it difficult to survive.

This is also the problem that Zhu Youjian is committed to solving. In the past two years, he has been asking the Royal Trading Company and the Four Seas Grain Company to transport supplies to Liaodong to reduce inflation.

However, the results are not significant at present, because it is impossible to rely entirely on other places for the daily necessities of hundreds of thousands of people, especially fresh products such as vegetables, which cannot be transported from thousands of miles away.

Only by recovering Liaodong and expanding territory can this problem be completely solved.

Zhang Yongan couldn't think of this at the moment. He was just chatting with the old man, wanting to know more about the situation of the Liaodong army.

He said to his father-in-law:

"Our normal payment for salt and vegetables is 20 cents a month, but now it has doubled to 40 cents because of the expedition."

"This money is not deposited into the account like military pay, but is given to the squadron's quartermaster, who makes purchases under the supervision of the soldiers' committee, and the remaining food money is evenly distributed as pocket money."

"I am the soldier committee member of the squad, supervising the cooks' purchases."

This series of new terms made my father-in-law completely confused.

After asking carefully, I learned that the soldier committee is a representative elected by the soldiers, with a certain proportion of new recruits and veteran sergeants. They are responsible for safeguarding the interests of the soldiers, and even elect the sergeant major from among them to participate in the squad meeting.

This made the old man envious:

"You, the Royal Guards, are now considered to be soldiers."

"It's not like us soldiers, who usually have to do this and that for the officers. If we don't obey, we will be punished, and some are even beaten to death."

"It is said that 'good iron is not used to make nails, and good men do not join the army'. It's not that there are no jobs, but who would be willing to be a soldier." The old father-in-law was full of grievances when talking about this, because one of his sons had been bullied in the army because he offended an officer.

This time, the imperial court allowed Liaodong soldiers to retire and gave them land. The father-in-law thought that since his son had the skill of growing vegetables, the land he was given would be a good place for him to grow vegetables, so he wanted to let his son retire.

But his son insisted on going to war to gain merit and take revenge, and was unwilling to withdraw from the army.

He was so anxious that he went to the military camp whenever he had time to persuade his son to retire:
"It's not easy to achieve merit. You have to risk your life."

"What's more, his superior is greedy for money and profit. If he really has any merit, it will be taken away. How can it be his turn?"

"Ugh……"

The father-in-law sighed. He really didn't want his son to go to war, and he didn't want to see the merits his son had fought for with his life being embezzled by his superiors.

Zhang Yongan frowned when he heard this, realizing that the Liaodong army still had many old habits.

This is a point that can be used. He said to his father-in-law:

"We are not the Imperial Guards. The real Imperial Guards are the Imperial Camp."

"But they, like our Yingyang Army, can be called a new army."

"The new army now has a collective system. Everything must be discussed together. The sergeant also has one vote in the collective meeting."

"When reporting military merit, it must be approved by the Chief Petty Officer."

"I dare not say that there is no greed and false reputation in the new army, but it is definitely much less than in the old army."

"If you complete the reorganization of the Liaodong Army before going to war, you won't have to worry about your credit being taken away."

As the old man listened to Zhang Yongan's explanation of the various new military systems, he began to yearn for this more fair army and sighed:

"If only the Liaodong Army were like you guys, I wouldn't have to worry about my kids being bullied."

"That bastard is really disobedient. He refused to retire even though I asked him to..."

After a long and rambling complaint, the old man's eyes suddenly lit up, and he looked at Zhang Yongan and said:

"You are the soldier's commissioner, so you are an official at least, right?"

"Can you transfer my boy over to serve as a soldier in your place?"

He wanted to transfer his son to the army of the man in front of him, at least he would not be targeted by the officers.

Zhang Yongan was amused and said:

"I am a soldier's commissioner, so of course I belong to the soldiers."

"It's not up to one person to decide on the deployment of troops, let alone just one person."

"But I can go back and ask if the Yingyang Army is still recruiting."

This was an idea that suddenly came to him, which was to recruit soldiers from the Liaodong Army.

In this way, the Yingyang Army can deepen their understanding of the Liaodong Army through these people, and at the same time better understand the Liaodong Army's tactics so as to cooperate in combat.

After the emperor decided to allow the Liaodong army to go to war, their Yingyang Army was also allowed to attack. Moreover, they were more free and allowed to choose their own opportunities to fight, giving priority to protecting Shanhaiguan and killing Jianlu's living forces.

Everyone in the Yingyang Army was eager to try and make a contribution in this war.

Sun Yingyuan and he had already made several plans and discussed how to fight.

This time, Zhang Yongan came up with an idea, which was to recruit soldiers from Liaodong to facilitate fighting in Liaodong.

After returning to the camp to discuss the matter with Sun Yingyuan, Sun Yingyuan clapped his hands and praised:
"This is a good idea!"

"With these soldiers, the Liaodong armies will not be so hostile to us, and we can establish relationships wherever we go."

"The task of monitoring the various armies assigned to us by Governor Zhang can also be completed better."

"I will go find Zhang Zhenfu now and ask him to discuss this with Commander Sun."

In his opinion, this was a trivial matter, because Kong Zhenyun's Heilongjiang Inspection Office and Zheng Zhihu's Nan'an Earldom were both recruiting soldiers in Liaodong.

I think Sun Chengzong would not care about such a small number of people and would agree to their troop transfer.

Even Zhang Daojun thought so, but when he mentioned this to Sun Chengzong, Sun Chengzong rejected it immediately:
"The Liaodong Army is going to fight a major battle with the Jianlu, so it is not appropriate to mobilize soldiers."

"We can't give you those people. If you want to recruit, you can only recruit retired soldiers."

Most of the retired soldiers retired because they didn't want to fight, and Sun Yingyuan didn't think highly of them. He said:

"Whether soldiers retire or are transferred, the organization needs to be adjusted."

"Why did Commander Sun only allow us to recruit retired soldiers and not allow direct transfers?"

Sun Chengzong glanced at him, ignored his interruption, and said:

"The soldiers were recruited after they retired from the army and had nothing to do with the Liaodong Army."

"But transferring you will cause unrest in the army."

"Your Yingyang Army offers such high salaries, what will we do if everyone joins?"

"Why reorganize them then? Why not just turn them all into the Eagle Army?"

Sun Yingyuan was speechless when he heard this, and then he realized that this was the crux of the problem.

The military pay of the Yingyang Army was set by the emperor. The ninth-level sergeants had the same monthly salary as the ninth-level clerks and ninth-level craftsmen, with a monthly salary of one to five yuan.

Then, different discounts are given according to the categories of auxiliary soldiers, combat soldiers, infantry, mounted infantry, cavalry, and artillery.

Usually auxiliary troops can only be paid half salary, with ordinary infantry receiving 60%, elite infantry and cavalry infantry receiving 70%, and cavalry and artillery receiving the highest 80%.

When it comes to the battle, the profit will increase by 20% and there will be various rewards.

The Yingyang Army's Shesheng Battalion was currently on a mission, with ordinary infantry getting 80% of their pay, and cavalry getting the full 100%. A ninth-level sergeant cavalryman would get five yuan a month.

This treatment is much higher than that of ordinary soldiers in Liaodong, especially since Liaodong soldiers have been in battle for a long time, and many of them can be rated as senior sergeants. If these backbones of the army go to Yingyang Army for higher military pay, who can the Liaodong Army rely on to fight?
Therefore, Sun Chengzong firmly disagreed with directly transferring troops, and instead asked them to recruit from retired soldiers on their own.

After listening to Sun Yingyuan's explanation, Zhang Daojun finally understood where the problem was. He smiled and said to Sun Chengzong:
"It turns out that Commander Sun also knows that some people's military pay is too low!"

“Why not first evaluate them as sergeants according to the new military system and give them more pay?”

Sun Chengzong glanced at him coldly, knowing that this person was talking about something irrelevant.

Why did the imperial court first reduce the number of soldiers when training the Liaodong army, and also recruit conscripts from military and civilian households? Wasn't it because the cost of the remaining professional soldiers was too high, and it was impossible to support an army of 100,000?
Therefore, the current Liaodong Army does not have the conditions to assess the ranks of sergeants or increase their salaries.

Only when the number of soldiers is reduced in the future can they be reorganized into a new army.

Zhang Daojun joked about it, but eventually he came up with an idea, which was to let the Northeast Pacification Office recruit people, and have those who applied transfer their military status to the Embroidered Uniform Guard.

This will not cause too much impact, because the Jinyiwei cannot recruit many people, and not everyone is willing to transfer to the Jinyiwei. (End of this chapter)