The Holy Emperor of Ming

Chapter 179 Military Discharge Assessment
When Liu Jian and others heard this, they did not dissuade His Majesty.

If Your Majesty wants to make trouble, then go ahead and make trouble.

As long as it is not completely unrealistic, they are willing to believe it. After all, His Majesty has never really failed.

"As for martial arts training and teaching, I already have the best candidate.

You don't have to pay attention to it for now." Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

Everyone was a little curious, but didn't ask too much and just answered yes.

“The community schools in Jin must be established as soon as possible.

The Ministry of Rites and the Cabinet should determine and prepare the teaching materials, teachers, etc. for the community school as soon as possible.

There is also the environment of community schools, which orders officials in Jin to do their best.

Children are the future of our Ming Dynasty."

"First, we need to organize the community school. Next year, we also need to prepare for the county school. Students for the county school can be recruited publicly. As long as they pass the assessment after five years of community school, they can enter the county school and choose courses to study."

“Finally, you don’t need to worry about the Imperial College, since you don’t understand those professions anyway.

I will find someone to do it." Zhu Houzhao said seriously.

"Yes." Everyone responded helplessly.

Then everyone went back to work.

Zhu Houzhao was even more busy, he found the old man and said directly: "Old man, I want to create a basic martial arts and pass it on to all the soldiers in the army.

After these soldiers have learned and retired, they will be able to teach the children in all the community schools in the Ming Dynasty.

Not only that, after the soldiers in the army have learned this basic martial art, the outstanding ones can be taught more advanced martial arts.

These soldiers who have learned more advanced martial arts can serve as martial arts teachers in martial arts county schools after they retire.

Hahahaha, I am so awesome to have come up with such a great idea."

After just a moment's thought, Duke Zheng understood what Zhu Houzhao meant.

He had no intention of saying anything more and just focused on this basic martial art.

"According to your majesty's wishes, this basic martial art is most importantly suitable for children to lay the foundation.

Then the best way is to combine Tai Chi Thirteen Forms and Arhat Fist.

The thirteen Tai Chi forms emphasize understanding, while the Luohan boxing emphasizes perseverance and physical fitness.

The combination of the two should be balanced and suitable for laying the foundation for most children.

It is also a good way for soldiers to strengthen their bodies. Duke Zheng pondered and immediately gave a method.

"It's just as I thought, old man. Let's create it quickly." Zhu Houzhao was overjoyed and said proudly.

Duke Zheng would not expose her, so he smiled and nodded.

Half an hour later, Zhu Houzhao ran away alone, leaving Zheng Gong alone to continue thinking.

The reason, of course, is that Zhu Houzhao was too busy.

The matter of the Imperial College and the issue of the retirement of military officers and soldiers should also be settled.

These all need to be resolved by Zhu Houzhao personally.

Two days later, the Cabinet and the Ministry of Rites submitted another memorial, drawing up detailed arrangements for community schools and county schools.

Children start attending community school at the age of seven and learn three subjects.

Classics, arithmetic, history.

Those who excel in their studies can enter the county school.

The county school offers six subjects, with classics and history being compulsory.

There are also four subjects: medicine, business, mechanism, and craftsmanship, and you can choose any one to study.

It takes six years to study in the county school.

Those with excellent academic performance can enter the Imperial College for further study.

His Majesty said that he would be in charge of the Imperial College affairs, so Liu Jian and others did not say much.

After reading the memorial, Zhu Houzhao called Liu Jian and others, and after some discussion, he was convinced.

Let’s just do this for now. Once the teaching materials are ready and the teaching staff are in place, it will be officially implemented in Shanxi.

Of course, there are still many problems before this.

The remuneration of teaching staff, and the career prospects after learning these subjects.

Let’s not talk about the former for now. As for the latter, relatively speaking, more people would definitely prefer to take the imperial examination and become an official.

Among those subjects, except business studies, which can now be taken part in the imperial examinations, the other subjects cannot be taken part in the imperial examinations.

Zhu Houzhao did not explain it too clearly. He just said that he would not leave them with nothing to do, and then he made the decision in a strong manner.

After this matter was decided, the Ministry of Rites became extremely busy. Even just the Jin area was enough to keep them busy.

Zhu Houzhao turned his attention to the basic martial arts and retirement issues of the military officers and soldiers.

A few days later, Zhu Houzhao and Zheng Gong jointly created a new basic martial arts.

Compared with Tai Chi Thirteen Forms and Arhat Fist, this style of boxing is a bit mediocre, but it is definitely more suitable for most people.

When one has cultivated to perfection, he will be able to fight against ordinary people and defeat ten at a time.

It lays a good foundation for the subsequent practice of internal energy or physical training.

Zhu Houzhao thought about it and decided to name it Shengwu Boxing.

Afterwards, he called Li Jing, Gu Xichao, Zhou Shanmin and several dukes again, and after several discussions, they decided on the issue of the military officers' retirement.

From now on, new recruits must be discharged after eight years of service.

If you don't want to retire, you can, as long as you demonstrate the corresponding ability.

As long as you are strong enough and pass the assessment, you don't have to retire.

There will be an assessment every five years, and the assessment results will determine whether one will make progress, regress, or even be directly discharged from the army.

Ordinary soldiers will receive a retirement pay of twenty taels of silver after retiring.

The policy of exempting a family from corvee labor is no longer in place, but if one has made contributions, the family can continue to be exempt from corvee labor, and can even receive rewards every year, depending on the size of the contribution.

Temporary merit is divided into three levels.

For the third-class merit, the whole family is exempted from corvée labor. For the second-class merit, an additional ten taels of silver are paid every year thereafter.

First-class merit, twenty taels of silver every year thereafter.

Soldiers who retire early due to disability must have made meritorious contributions and will be paid accordingly.

The same applies to those who died in battle.

Those who can survive the first eight years and stay in the army will definitely not be ordinary soldiers.

At the very least, he is a small flag chief, and he receives different treatment.

Although they have to be discharged from the army during these eight years, it will definitely damage the strength of the army.

After all, eight years is enough time for an ordinary soldier to grow into a real veteran and elite.

The retirement of such elite troops would be a loss to the army.

Moreover, if the Ming Dynasty wanted to conquer the world, it would need more veterans.

But Zhu Houzhao did it anyway for many reasons.

First, the army must remain mobile, which he learned from Emperor Wu’s Dragon Rider.

An army will only become stronger if people leave and come in; otherwise it will become stagnant.

Second, the children of the Ming Dynasty need basic martial arts teachers.

Retired Ming Dynasty soldiers are the most suitable.

Third, the existence of martial arts ensures that the army can retain truly elite forces. No matter how veteran and elite the lower-level soldiers are, if their personal martial arts skills are insufficient, they can only retire and make way.

This is the cruelty of the military, the capable are promoted and the weak are demoted.

Fourth, we cannot be reluctant to part with our veterans just because we have fought all over the world.

What the Ming Dynasty lacked was not veteran soldiers, but good systems and strict enforcement.

Fifth, soldiers also need to retire, and many soldiers are willing to retire.

Even though they have retired, the Ming Dynasty has not suffered any loss. They are still making contributions to the Ming Dynasty. We need to look at the overall situation.

There are many other reasons, big and small, that must exist for the eight-year retirement.

Not just the lower-level soldiers, but officers as well.

There is an assessment every five years, and if you fail, you will not be able to stay in the original position.

After making this decision, Zhu Houzhao took out the Shengwu boxing technique, and all the new troops began to practice this boxing technique.

Soon, the new army's demobilization system, officer assessment, and Shengwu boxing were introduced into the nine armies of the Ming Dynasty according to imperial decree.

This naturally caused an uproar.

But no one dared to object or say anything, they just felt more pressure.

The new army became more lively, and the entire army began to learn Shengwu boxing.

Zhu Houzhao also suppressed his reluctance and personally went to Emperor Wu's Dragon Cavalry to announce the retirement and assessment system.

That’s right, after thinking it over again and again, Zhu Houzhao felt that Emperor Wu’s Dragon Cavalry was no exception.

The situation of Emperor Wu's Dragon Cavalry is different. Each of them is strong enough to become an officer of the new army.

So, you can voluntarily retire after serving in the army for eight years.

Also, after five years of joining the army, those who fail to meet the standards of the Wu Emperor Dragon Cavalry will have to withdraw from the Wu Emperor Dragon Cavalry and transfer to the new army.

Those who pass the Emperor Wu Dragon Rider standards will have their personal strength assessed every two years.

The capable go up and the weak go down.

If they do not work hard and their strength declines, and they fail to meet the standards of Emperor Wu's Dragon Riders, they will still have to retire or transfer to the new army.

When Zhu Houzhao said these things himself, Emperor Wu's Dragon Riders naturally would not object or question.

There is only a sense of pressure and urgency.

Because many of Emperor Wu's Dragon Riders have been in the army for five years.

There is also an assessment every two years.

Except for a very few, no one wanted to leave the Wu Emperor Dragon Riders, especially to leave in such an elimination way.

"Brothers, the reason why I made this decision is very simple.

The Emperor Wu Dragon Rider needs to become stronger and stronger.

Starting from today, two years later, veterans who participated in the battles against the Jiannu and the Mongols will undergo the first assessment, and the five-year enlistment assessment will no longer be necessary.

For the new recruits who did not participate in these two wars, the five-year assessment will be held as usual." Zhu Houzhao said loudly.

The veterans breathed a sigh of relief, but the new recruits became more nervous.

"Yes."

The response was earth-shaking.

After Zhu Houzhao left, the training and practice of Emperor Wu's Dragon Cavalry became more arduous.

The changes that took place in the army naturally attracted the attention of many people.

Especially the Shengwu Fist, people from all walks of life in the Ming Dynasty, including those outside the Ming Dynasty, have successively obtained it.

Zhu Houzhao didn't care about this, as he had no hidden thoughts.

With so many people practicing, it is impossible to hide.

On the contrary, he hoped that more people would practice Shengwu Fist.

In this way, the strength of the Ming Dynasty will increase. For example, when recruiting new soldiers, the strength of the new soldiers will definitely be stronger.

After quickly deciding on the social schools and county schools in Jin, as well as the demobilization and assessment of the army, Zhu Houzhao immediately began to prepare for the Imperial College.

He doesn't think much of the current students in the Imperial College.

After ordering the Embroidered Uniform Guard to conduct a thorough investigation, he replaced several officials in the Imperial College.

Then he officially issued an edict to the entire Ming Dynasty.

Recruit doctors, craftsmen, and mechanical engineers to teach students at the Imperial College.

The Imperial College will open three colleges to train a large number of people to study these three subjects.

(Chapter 3, thank you for your support.)
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(End of this chapter)