The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 369 Pros and Cons
Inside the Chinese army camp.

"From today onwards, the food allowances for all officers and soldiers in the Central Army will be increased by 20%!"

"Border troops, increase your daily rations!"

Cao Mao stood on a high place, and the messengers read out loudly the new policy that had been officially approved.

The army of the Wei Dynasty was divided into two types. Some people believe that the army began to receive salaries in the Tang Dynasty, and that the army before the Tang Dynasty had no income. This is wrong.

The military system of each dynasty has changed. In the Qin Dynasty, the army was recruited by force, and the people had to bring their own food and weapons to fight. The Han Dynasty retained this point. All the people were soldiers and forced to serve. Every adult male had to serve in the army.

By the Wei and Jin dynasties, two types of armies emerged.

The first is the hereditary military system, which is also the composition of the Wei border army. These people have been soldiers for generations. If you are a soldier, your children will also be soldiers, and your whole family will be soldiers. You don’t need to engage in other industries and can just fight with peace of mind. Cao Wei uses this method to ensure that each war zone has sufficient manpower, and there is no need to worry about there being no one available if tens of thousands of people die.

These people had no food or wages, but the temple was responsible for feeding them and preventing them from starving to death. They worked for the temple, and the temple allowed them to survive, that was all.

The second type is the conscription system, which was mostly used by the central army of Cao Wei. The conscription system was not a product of the Tang Dynasty. It can be traced back to the Warring States Period. The Wei State selected the strongest men to serve as soldiers, gave them high food and wages, and made them professional soldiers.

The Later Han Dynasty also had a recruitment system, and usually both the conscription system and the recruitment system were adopted at the same time. By the time of Cao Wei, all three military systems existed.

The central army is recruited and needs to be given food and wages. The border army is a hereditary soldier and is only required to be kept from starving. The soldiers guarding the border are conscripts and are not given food or weapons. They are required to bring their own things to complete their duties.

The soldiers gathered in the camp, and as they listened to the messenger's announcement, they all had joy in their eyes.

The latest regulations are not just about increasing food and wages, but about improving the treatment of soldiers in all aspects.

These included promoting meritorious military households to become farmers, strictly prohibiting them from coveting military food and supplies, prohibiting them from seizing military merits, and ensuring fair rewards and punishments.

Cao Mao's decree this time was very serious and there was no room for compromise.

With the support of many generals, it would not be easy for those who wanted to oppose secretly.

The bureaucrats of Cao Wei dared not say it, but the generals were still very powerful. As for the generals in the central army, if the parasites in the army dared to offend them, they would be simply tired of living.

Cao Mao was not worried about this at all.

In addition to standardizing military discipline and increasing "salaries", Cao Mao also provided many welfare benefits.

This included rewarding meritorious individuals with land and houses, improving their food supplies, providing them with winter clothing, and even promising them that they would be given official positions after retirement.

The army gathered here, listening to the messengers roaring out one rule after another.

I don't know who started it first.

The soldiers shouted in unison.

"Long live your Majesty!!!"

"Long live your Majesty!!"

Listening to the roars of the soldiers, Cao Mao stood on the general's platform with a smile on his face.

Don't think that improving the welfare benefits of the soldiers will increase the national treasury expenditure. In fact, after cleaning out the parasites and reducing corruption, the government even made a profit!

The current situation in the Wei Dynasty is so outrageous. Most of the ministers of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, whether they are capable ministers or villains, whether they are generals or governors, have one thing in common.

Greedy for money and extravagant.

If you read through the entire Book of Jin, you will find out how difficult it is to find a few honest and simple ministers!

Even the ones at the beginning of the biographies were so unbearable.

A great clan no longer bound by morality has brought about such a disaster!
The army of the Wei Dynasty was the hardest hit. In order to prevent local generals from becoming too powerful, Emperor Wen made thoughtful arrangements. Two of the arrangements were: the food supply for the local troops was actually the responsibility of the local governor, and the generals could not interfere; while the distribution and statistics were done by officials in the temple. The same was true for the central army; the food was directly issued by the Shangshu, and the execution process was carried out by the Censorate, and the army was responsible for receiving it.

Emperor Wen believed that this would allow the court to control local armies through logistics, but he did not realize that this would give ministers a good opportunity to exploit and embezzle in layers.

Because of the complex and cumbersome food supply in Wei, it became a difficult task to thoroughly investigate the whereabouts of the food.

This resulted in the governor eating a batch, then the officials eating after the governor had eaten, then the generals eating after the officials had eaten, and finally the amount of food left in the hands of the soldiers was seriously lower than the allocated quota. They often had to prepare for war on an empty stomach.

This problem is actually not that difficult to solve. As long as the general is not greedy and keeps an eye on the distribution of food, it will be fine.

It’s just that the generals in the past didn’t have such ability or such mindset, and there was no one to urge them anyway.

But nowadays, the generals in various places, strictly speaking, are not so despicable.

So far, at least in the central army, Cao Mao's improvement of the army's welfare has been very effective. As for the local areas, we can only hope that the local generals can have some morals.

Yang Hu in Hebei, Deng Ai in the northwest, Guanqiu Jian in Huainan, Wen Qin who was about to succeed Zhuge Dan, and Wang Ji who was about to succeed Wang Chang, these people had relatively high moral standards and probably would not do anything like embezzling military rations.

After careful consideration, Cao Mao decided to let Wen Qin replace Zhuge Dan and Wang Ji replace Wang Chang.

These two men have military talent and high moral standards.

Generals are different from civil officials. Civil officials can be talented without having high moral standards, like Xun Xu, but this is not the case with generals. Who would dare to employ a talented but immoral general like Lu Bu?

After Cao Mao announced this, Zhuge Dan, standing nearby, couldn't help but cry out. "From now on, anyone who dares to disobey military laws, withhold food, embezzle supplies, seize military merit, promote cronies, or persecute officers and soldiers will be punished without mercy!"

The messenger then shouted out Zhuge Dan's words.

"The general is wise!!"

"The general is wise!!"

The soldiers cheered again.

At this moment, Xiahou Xian's face turned pale with fright. He looked at Zhuge Dan beside him in horror, and then quickly looked at the emperor.

Cao Mao's face was calm, he just watched the scene without saying a word.

Xiahou Xian didn't know why Zhuge Dan did this. The emperor was trying to win over the army. Are you trying to compete with the emperor for military power?
Not only Xiahou Xian, but several generals in the central army were all very surprised at this moment.

The hot-tempered Wen Yang directly stopped his soldiers from cheering, asked them to shut up, and then looked at Zhuge Dan angrily.

Zhuge Dan's behavior seemed to be a demonstration to the emperor, and even seemed to be a face-to-face struggle for power.

Wen Yang was ready. As long as the emperor gave the order, he would chop off the old dog's head.

To be honest, Cao Mao was indeed feeling very complicated at this moment.

However, the Grand Marshal performed very well during his term of office, including the issue of soldiers' treatment this time, when Zhuge Dan was the first to take action and forced the ministers to agree.

Zhuge Dan did make great contributions to this reform.

However, this person was obviously a little too proud. If he wanted fame, Cao Mao could help him get it, but it would be a shame to flatter the emperor.
Cao Mao didn't say much.

When he left the central army and returned to Taiji Hall, Cheng Ji could no longer bear it.

"Your Majesty!! You should let me chop off that Zhuge Dan's dog head!"

"Who the hell is he? How dare he compete with Your Majesty for fame?!"

Cheng Ji was very angry and his face turned red.

Cao Mao smiled and said, "Isn't this success due to the contribution of General Zhuge? Why should we execute him for this?"

"You'll need him a lot in the future, so don't say such things anymore."

Cheng Ji was still angry, so Zhang Hua said to him, "Lord Cheng, the Grand Commandant's behavior was disrespectful, but he had no intention of rebellion. If something like this could cause misunderstanding, please don't say anything. Otherwise, it will ruin your majesty's plan!"

Cheng Ji then gave up.

Cao Mao and Zhang Hua walked into the West Hall. As soon as they came in, the smile on Zhang Hua's face disappeared.

"Your Majesty, the Grand Marshal cannot be indulged here any longer."

"Even if he doesn't have such thoughts, his actions today are undermining the dignity of Your Majesty."

"That's absolutely not feasible."

Cao Mao said nothing and sat in his seat. "Let's take care of the important affairs of the court first. I don't want to be delayed by other things at this time."

Zhang Hua took out the memorial and said seriously, "Your Majesty, this is Wang Xiang's confession submitted by the Secretariat."

"He spoke sincerely, reprimanded Gao Rou and the others, and was very humble."

"After meeting Wang Xiang, Xun Xi met with Guo Pei, and then went to Wang Xiang's residence again. This confession was probably prepared by Guo Pei."

"They want to protect Wang Xiang and use him for their own benefit."

"In addition, Xun Yi is very close to several of the Nine Ministers. The Minister of Imperial Clan Affairs, Cao Yu, has become his guest of honor these days. The two of them chat all day long and are very happy."

"There is also Cao Yan, the Marquis of Pingle Township. Xun Yi also often sends people to greet him."

Cao Mao narrowed his eyes again, "What do they want to do?"

"Your Majesty, I believe they probably feel that Your Majesty has gathered everyone to harm them, so they are banding together to protect themselves. Xun Yi lacks much courage and can't do anything."

Cao Mao looked at the confession in his hand and said, "Xun Yi might be like that, but Wang Xiang is not."

"If Wang Xiang leaves, things will become very troublesome. Among all the ministers today, he is the most troublesome."

Cao Mao put away the confession and said, "Keep watching Wang Xiang. Don't let him out. Just pretend nothing happened."

"What if Xun Xi and others spread the contents of the confession and incited the ministers to attack us?"

"Then let the prince die of illness."

"This person was already difficult to deal with. After the previous defeat, he has become even more experienced. I no longer have the energy to deal with a defeated opponent."

(End of this chapter)