Ming Dynasty man

Chapter 257
Li Jing said solemnly: "Because the officers and soldiers have many restrictions when fighting, if the prince is willing to listen, Li is willing to explain in detail for the father-in-law."

"General Li, please speak, Wang is all ears." Wang Chengen said.

Hearing that Wang Chengen changed his title, Li Jing smiled, and then said seriously: "First of all, it is the military supervision system. I don't understand why the emperor sent his internal officials to the front line to supervise the army. Is it because he is afraid that the generals will not be able to fight, or that the generals will not be able to fight?" False reporting military achievements, or is it because the general will not obey the order? I want to ask my father-in-law, if the general can’t fight, can the internal officer know how to fight? If the internal officer can fight, wouldn’t it be over if the internal officer is the general? If the general lied about his military achievements or disobeyed orders, would it be useful to send a supervising army? Will a general who dares to do so be afraid of the supervising army?"

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "I don't know if the princes know how to fight, and I don't know how many of the supervisors know how to fight. If they don't know how to fight, then don't give them the power to command the army. Playing with the lives of soldiers.

Wang Gonggong, the soldiers are not stupid. After suffering a loss, will they still be willing to obey the military orders commanded by the supervisor behind the scenes?Soldiers who have suffered a lot will doubt whether the military order was issued by the supervising army, whether the military order is correct, and even worry that those stupid orders will kill them. It is true that they will all be skeptical.Excuse me, how can such an army win the battle? "

Wang Chengen heard silently, he is not unaware of the disadvantages of supervising the army, but the system of supervising the army has been around for a long time. This system is wrong?
Shaking his head, Li Jing continued: "The second problem is that civil servants lead the army in battle. I admit that there are indeed civil servants in Ming Dynasty who can fight, and some civil officials are as good at commanding battles as the ancient famous generals, but I want to ask Father-in-law, how many civil servants are there? Not everyone can mount a horse to kill the enemy and dismount to govern like Mr. Yang Ming."

Having said that, Li Jing sighed: "My lord, as far as I know, only Duke Kaiyang and Duke Jiehuan can be regarded as great military masters in this dynasty, but unfortunately they have not been reused. Um... Yuan Chonghuan and Yuan Dushi are also counted. He knows how to fight, but it's a pity that his strategic vision is too poor. In addition, Governor Hong Chengchou is also considered a soldier, but Governor Hong's authority is too small, and he is only limited to Shaanxi."

Sighing, Li Jing shook his head and continued: "Aside from these few, who else knows how to fight? Xu Dingchen, the governor of Shanxi, transferred soldiers here and there to make the officers and soldiers exhausted, but he didn't know what the purpose was. In the end, he was beaten into a mess by the rogues. And Yang He, I'm afraid Yang He didn't even know how to arrange troops, but the emperor actually let him command the troops. To put it bluntly, I'm afraid the rogues would still laugh at the court's inability to employ people after winning the battle, and just arrange some idiots to go Command the battle."

Wang Chengen felt embarrassed when he heard this, he was pointing at the monk and scolding the bald donkey.

The imperial court arranged a bunch of idiots to go to war, who was in charge of the court, naturally it was the emperor, and the emperor sent a bunch of idiots to encircle and suppress the bandits, so the emperor was also an idiot.

Taking a sneak peek at all the people present, seeing that there was no surprise on their faces, some of them couldn't stop admiring, to show that what Li Jing said was reasonable.Wang Chengen secretly sighed.

Wang Chengen didn't believe that everyone here couldn't hear Li Jing's meaning of mocking the emperor, but so many people didn't criticize Li Jing, which shows that the status of the emperor in the hearts of these officials is far inferior to that of Li Jing, or that these officials are no longer loyal to the emperor. up.

In the past, Wang Chengen thought that Li Jing was covering the sky with one hand in Pingyang Mansion, but now he discovered that it was not Li Jing who was covering the sky with one hand, but that Pingyang Mansion had become a monolith. Judging from the current situation, as long as Li Jing is in Pingyang Mansion, everyone here is the same.

Wang Chengen suddenly felt a little regretful. He came to Pingyang Mansion to pass the decree and passed by Taiyuan. At that time, the governor Xu Dingchen, the chief envoy and the left and right political representatives wanted to accompany him. At that time, he considered that he came to Pingyang Mansion this time to ask for Li Jing. These people were present. , There are some things he can't bear to say, now it seems that he should let Shan Xu Dingchen and the chief envoy Si Yamen accompany him to Pingyang Mansion.

If these people were present, at least the officials of Pingyang Mansion would not support Li Jing so blatantly.

However, Wang Cheng'en didn't say anything, and it's useless to say something, so it's better not to say anything.

Wang Chengen knew what the purpose of his trip was, and accusing Li Jing at this time was tantamount to not planning to complete the task Zhu Youjian had given him. Wang Chengen could tell which was more important.

In addition, although Li Jing did not respect the emperor very much, what he said was indeed right. Although Wang Chengen was loyal to the emperor, he could not say that Li Jing was wrong.

Seeing Wang Chengen's expression showing a trace of embarrassment, but then his expression was calm and composed, as if he didn't know the meaning of Li Jing's words, Li Jing secretly sighed in his heart, knowing that Wang Chengen was indeed a character.

Smiling, Wang Chengen said: "What General Li said is indeed reasonable. According to General Li, how should we get rid of these ills?"

Li Jing said with a smile: "It is not difficult to solve these ills. The difficult thing is whether the emperor has the determination. Let me talk about the issue of supervising the army first. The imperial court set up the supervising army. In fact, it is worried that the generals who command the troops outside will hold their own and refuse to obey. Orders. To solve this problem, the imperial court must first have a strong army capable of intimidating the local area. With this army guarding the center, the local area will not dare to move. At this time, there is no need to set up a supervisory army.

If you are worried that the commanding general will lie about military achievements and violate military discipline, then arrange a law enforcement team to station in the army, and all violations of military discipline will be dealt with by the law enforcement team.

The combat troops belong to the Ministry of War, and the law enforcement team belongs to the Military Law Department. The duty of the Military Law Department is to supervise and investigate all violations of the military law by the Ministry of War and its subordinate troops.

Since the law enforcement team has no affiliation with the combat troops, collusion between local forces and law enforcement teams can be avoided to the greatest extent.In addition, the law enforcement team is only responsible for military discipline and does not interfere with the command of the general. "

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "Actually, some frauds cannot be eliminated by supervision. To prevent illegal activities, strict laws must be relied on. In addition, the salaries of soldiers and generals must reach a certain level. Let them know that even if they don’t do those illegal things, they can live a good life, and there is no need to take the risk of losing their jobs to do illegal things.”

Seeing Wang Chengen's pensive look, Li Jing smiled and continued: "Let me talk about the issue of not needing civil officials to lead the army. The imperial court has always used civil affairs to control military forces. Civil officials have always looked down on military generals, let alone Soldiers. As everyone knows, if there are no generals and soldiers guarding the frontier, how can they enjoy peace?"

Shaking his head, Li Jing sighed, and then continued: "Soldiers have no status, they are looked down upon by others, and their salary is still low. How can they devote themselves to defending their homes and the country? Therefore, if we want to change this situation, we must first improve the status and status of soldiers. The military salary makes everyone willing to serve as a soldier and is proud of being a soldier.

Secondly, the imperial court held martial arts exams, but they didn't pay much attention to them. I remember that the imperial court held martial arts exams in the fourth year of Chongzhen, and selected and promoted more than a hundred people. I wonder if these people have been reused?I am not valuing military over culture, but I think that the country should not underestimate military equipment. I think both civil and military should be given equal weight, so that the country can be safe in the event of war.

Wang Gonggong, the country has established academies in various places, and there is even a Guozijian in Beijing for those literati to study.May I ask if the imperial court ever established a martial arts academy?Cultivate military personnel for the country?If there is such an academy to train talents for the country, then how can there be a group of literati who do not understand military affairs to lead the battle in wartime? "

Wang Chengen listened silently for a long time before he sighed and said: "General Li's words are indeed reasonable, but if General Li's approach is followed, the imperial court will need to pay a large sum of money, but the treasury is empty now, how can there be money to do these things?" ?”

Li Jingjing nodded and said: "Wang Gonggong is right, it really takes a lot of money to do these things. But I don't know one thing, why does the dignified Ming Dynasty have no money? As far as I know, the annual tax of the imperial court is only 400 million taels , but the actual collection was only 200 million taels. Over the years, Liao’s and Bian’s salaries have been continuously increased, but they are always unable to make ends meet. Instead, the people are forced to rebel. I don’t know if the emperor and the ministers of the court have thought about why this happened. This situation? Have you considered these problems deeply? Have you thought about how to solve these problems?"

Staring into Wang Chengen's eyes, Li Jing said solemnly: "Maybe someone has thought about it, maybe someone knows the reason, but no one has ever thought about how to solve these problems, including the emperor. If these problems are not resolved, the court will never accept it." If taxes are not raised, the treasury will never have money, and the method I just mentioned will never be implemented.”

Wang Chengen looked at Li Jing for a while, and said seriously: "Please tell me, General Li, why Daming can't collect taxes, and what is the real reason?"

Li Jing smiled and said: "The reason is very simple. The gentry do not pay grain and taxes. However, a large amount of land is in the hands of the gentry, so the land tax cannot be collected. In addition, the merchants who earn the most money pay extremely low taxes. , but the country has never thought of collecting taxes from merchants.”

After a pause, Li Jing continued: "I'm not bragging. The annual tax paid by Pingyang Mansion is the highest among all the Ming mansions. Do you know how I did it?"

Wang Chengen hurriedly said: "I would like to hear the details."

Li Jing smiled and said: "Because in Pingyang Mansion, I set a very high tax rate. I divide the land tax into three classes. The tax amount for ordinary people under [-] mu is one tax per ten, and the tax amount for ordinary people from [-] mu to [-] mu is ten tax." The tax is two, and the tax is three out of ten if it exceeds [-] mu. As for the commercial tax, I don’t need to talk about it, right?”

Wang Chengen nodded, the business tax paid by Li Jing ranked second in Daming, no one dared to say it ranked first.

According to Huang Ruliang, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the annual net profit of the Jingji firm in Beijing should be about 100 million taels, and the tax paid should be more than 10 taels.However, the commercial tax established by Daming at the beginning of the founding of the country was [-] one tax, and it was basically not collected in the later period.

(End of this chapter)