The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 114: Cultivating a Tiger and Wolf Army
Wanli discovered that there were problems with the border garrison system established by Emperor Hongwu, and even the entire garrison system had problems!

Emperor Hongwu may have simply wanted to save food and wages and did not take the feelings of the border soldiers into consideration at all.

Border troops need to fight the enemy desperately, and they may have to fight for their lives once or even several times every year.

They have to pay the price with their lives, but their treatment is exactly the same as those garrison troops in the two capitals and thirteen provinces who are not dangerous at all. Is this acceptable?
If there is no benefit in fighting for your life, why fight for it?

This may be the fundamental reason why the Ming Dynasty’s border troops’ combat effectiveness is getting worse and worse.

People usually pay a price in order to get something in return, and life is the greatest price a person can pay.

The border troops paid the highest price, got nothing in return, and were oppressed by all kinds of corrupt officials. What motivation do they have to fight so hard?

The border garrison system established by Emperor Hongwu really has serious problems and must be changed.

If the border troops are willing to pay the greatest price and fight to the death, then there must be the greatest reward. Otherwise, there will be fewer and fewer soldiers willing to fight to the death, and the combat effectiveness of the Ming border troops will become weaker and weaker.

So, how can we repay these border soldiers who sacrificed their lives to defend our country?

While he was pondering this, Qi Jiguang couldn't help but ask curiously, "Your Majesty, how can the military garrison system here be changed so that the lives of the elderly, children, women and children captured by the border troops can be improved?"

Wanli murmured, "It's actually very simple. It's nothing more than the word 'interest'. We must find a way to ensure that these border troops who have shed their blood and sacrificed their lives to defend their country receive sufficient benefits."

interest?

Qi Jiguang suddenly realized, "Your Majesty, do you mean to increase the rewards for military merit so that the soldiers can buy land for the elderly, children, women and children to farm?"

Why do people these days seem to only know how to increase their income by farming?
Wanli shook his head slowly and said, "No, we must confer titles and honors on meritorious soldiers, give them fiefs, and reward them with cattle, sheep, and horses.

We cannot let everyone rely on farming to increase their income, as this will only lead to more and more land mergers.

The land in the two capitals and thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty was actually enough to feed hundreds of millions of people. However, some people owned hundreds of thousands or even millions of acres of land, while others did not have a single acre of land.

The rich people with plenty of land would rather store the grain in the granary to rot than give it to the poor people who have no land. They just want to make money from the grain produced by the land and make all the money in the world.

If this is the case, how will the landless civilians survive?
In fact, there are many ways to make money, for example, raising cattle, sheep and horses. A sheep weighs more than 100 kilograms, so it is not too much to sell it for four or five taels of silver, right?
There's also wool and sheepskin, which are all valuable. Cows and horses are even more valuable. Even milking the cows, making kumiss, and so on can make money."

This does make sense, but the question is, where do we get so much pasture to raise cattle, sheep, and horses?

Qi Jiguang reminded him: "Your Majesty, raising cattle, sheep and horses is profitable, but it requires more land. A single warhorse needs dozens of acres of grassland to feed.

The land we have in our border towns is barely enough to grow food for the border troops and their families, so where do we get so much land to raise cattle, sheep, and horses?"

Wanli said without hesitation: "Isn't this easy? Expand the territory. There are countless grasslands in the north and south of the desert.

We send our soldiers out to expand our territory, and grant at least half of the conquered territory to meritorious soldiers. We also grant all the captured old, young, women, and children to meritorious soldiers, and help them raise cattle, sheep, and horses. Wouldn't it be better if we capture more old, young, women, and children, and live a better life?"

Well, it’s easy to conquer the land in the south and north of the desert, but it’s hard to defend it.

Qi Jiguang still warned carefully: "Your Majesty, the territory north and south of the desert is difficult to defend. Even if the northern barbarians are defeated, it will only be a temporary retreat. Sooner or later, they will come back. By then, the border troops will have no way to defend the vast grasslands without cities and fortresses."

You still have the old way of thinking.

Wanli shook his head slowly and said, "Yuan Jing, didn't I tell you to give land to meritorious soldiers and let the captured old and young women and children help them raise cattle, sheep and horses, so that we will have more and more war horses.

Now we only have 40,000 cavalrymen from the Shenwu Camp and 20,000 cavalrymen from the border army, but we can force the Northern Tartars to sue for peace. If the Shenwu Camp is fully equipped with 120,000 cavalrymen, and each border town is equipped with 10,000 or 20,000 cavalrymen, will the Northern Tartars dare to make a comeback?

If they dare to come back, our 200,000 or 300,000 cavalry will slaughter them without a single piece of armor left."

This becomes a chicken and egg problem.

Qi Jiguang still carefully reminded: "Your Majesty, first of all we must have such a large grassland to support 200,000 or 300,000 war horses. Otherwise, how can we get so many cavalry without enough war horses?" Isn't this simple?

Wanli said without hesitation: "The three plains in Hetao alone have tens of millions of acres of grassland. It is definitely not a problem to raise hundreds of thousands of war horses. If we take over Hetao, we can raise horses and rob them at the same time.

At that time, we will first train hundreds of thousands of cavalrymen, attack everywhere, and go to the grasslands south of the desert to rob them of their war horses, cattle and sheep.

In this way, we will become stronger and stronger, and the Northern Tartars will become weaker and weaker. Once the Northern Tartars are weakened to a certain extent, we will expand our territory, conquer both the southern and northern deserts, raise more war horses, and train more cavalry."

Do you still want to take over Hetao?

Qi Jiguang couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Your Majesty, didn't you come here to negotiate peace with the Tumed tribe? After the negotiations, are we still going to attack Hetao?"

Who will negotiate with them?

I was just teasing them.

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "They are now fully alert to us, so it is difficult for us to take action. If we use force, there will definitely be heavy casualties.

We can't afford to waste the few troops we've managed to gather. We'll use the opportunity of the peace talks to lull them into a slumber. When they've let their guard down, we can launch a surprise attack and steal their cattle, sheep, and horses."

Uh, so you came here to deceive them!
Well, all’s fair in war.

Qi Jiguang nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

Wanli continued to ponder, "After we take over Hetao, we can reform the border garrison system. In the future, dukes and nobles who have been promoted due to military merit will be given fiefs, cattle, sheep, and horses, and prisoners will be made slaves. They will also be allowed to support a certain number of personal soldiers to manage the fiefs.

The current dukes, marquises and earls are not enough. We must also add viscounts and barons, and establish a specific system of nobility.

If an ordinary soldier kills 100 enemies, he will be promoted to baron, granted a thousand households of border garrison and 10,000 acres of land, and can recruit 100 personal soldiers. In wartime, he will be a thousand-man commander and lead 1,100 men to assemble and fight.

If an ordinary soldier kills 200 enemies, he will be promoted to Viscount, appointed as the commander of the border garrison, and granted 50,000 acres of land. He can recruit 500 personal soldiers. In wartime, he will be a guerrilla general, leading 5,500 troops to assemble and fight.

If an ordinary soldier kills 500 enemies, he will be promoted to earl, appointed as the deputy commander of the border army, and granted 100,000 acres of land. He can recruit 1,000 personal soldiers and serve as a lieutenant general in wartime, leading 11,000 troops to assemble and fight.

If an ordinary soldier kills a thousand enemies, he will be promoted to the title of marquis, appointed as the commander-in-chief of the border army garrison, and granted 200,000 acres of land. He can recruit 2,000 personal soldiers and serve as the deputy general in wartime, leading 22,000 troops to assemble and fight.

If an ordinary soldier kills 5,000 enemies, he will be promoted to Duke, appointed as the commander of the border garrison, and granted 500,000 acres of land. He can recruit 5,000 personal soldiers and serve as the general in wartime, leading 55,000 troops to assemble and fight.

We calculate the military merit of a general based on the total number of enemies killed by all his troops, but the number of enemies killed to be awarded a title must be multiplied tenfold.

That is, if you lead troops to kill 1,000 enemies, you will be promoted to baron; if you lead troops to kill 2,000 enemies, you will be promoted to viscount; if you lead troops to kill 5,000 enemies, you will be promoted to earl; if you lead troops to kill 10,000 enemies, you will be promoted to marquis; and if you lead troops to kill 50,000 enemies, you will be promoted to duke.

Also, if you want the title to be hereditary, the number of enemies you kill must be doubled.

As for the number of cattle, sheep, horses, old people, children, and women as rewards, that depends on the situation. We will divide as much as we can."

Oh my god, that’s it!
Upon hearing this, Shan Sinan couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Your Majesty, is this really the case? Then everyone will surely be vying to serve as a border soldier. I even want to lead the Imperial Guards to achieve great things."

Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "Your Majesty, your words are true. This is settled. The Beijing Army will also follow suit. Everyone should rush to serve as soldiers of the Border Army and the Beijing Army. The combat effectiveness of our Beijing Army and Border Army will become stronger and stronger."

It's not as simple as getting stronger.

Qi Jiguang said with some concern: "Your Majesty, this will train a force of tigers and wolves. The Beijing camp and the border troops will probably go crazy and kill. Such a tiger-like force will be difficult to control."

Is not it good?
The Ming Dynasty now needs such a powerful army to expand its territory and completely solve the problem of the northern barbarians.

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "That's all right. We only allow absolutely loyal generals to lead the troops to achieve great things. Anyone who is disloyal will have no chance to achieve great things."

(End of this chapter)