Chapter 64 The core of welfare treatment is military fields

  （0064）

  The matter of "equal land and tax exemption" was handed over to the relevant personnel of Sheng Xia Zong, while Zhang Zhun plunged into the expansion of the Fushan Protection Team. This time, the expansion of the protection team is quite large, he must do his best to ensure that every detail in between is done well, so that the combat effectiveness of the protection team continues to improve rather than decline.

  The organization of the Ming army was basically a system of five levels: squad (10 men), company (50 men), battalion (150 men), garrison (750 men), and regiment (3250 men). The numbers in parentheses are combat soldiers, excluding officers and auxiliary troops. Including officers and auxiliary troops, each regiment had around 4000 men. Why is it similar to the five-five system? Because each battalion only controlled three companies.

  Zhang Zhun's intention was to implement the five-five system from top to bottom, with each corps governing 5 divisions in the same way. As a result, the number of soldiers in each corps increased to 250, the number of soldiers in each battalion increased to 1250, and the number of soldiers in each regiment increased to 6250. Of course, this is what happened later. At present, the guard team has been expanded from its original eighty people to around four hundred people, with the lower-level units still being teams.

  After adjustment, Fushan's guard team has a total of nine teams. The original eight partners were expanded into eight teams, and the team leaders are Yang Qiang, Yang Zhiyuan, Yang Hongwen, Yang Junjie, Hao Linyong, Yin Fengyi, Zou Mingjia, and Li Jiaxi. The deputy team leaders are Zhang Yatie, Wu Xinshui, and others. This expansion's biggest highlight is the addition of a firearms team, with Yang Zixuan as its leader.

  The original squad leader and squad deputy became team leader and team deputy, and the original guard soldiers naturally became new squad leaders and squad deputies. According to standard equipment, each team should have 50 soldiers excluding officers, but in fact, every team was not full and had vacancies. The team with the largest vacancy was naturally the musket team. These will be supplemented slowly later. Four hundred people were detached, which was almost the limit of Mount Fuji.

  On the 22nd of April in the seventh year of Chongzhen, early in the morning, all the young and strong men from various villages who were determined to join the guards under the protection of Fushan gathered at the Hongshitang training ground. They had to pass Zhang Zhun's assessment before they could join the guards. Early that morning, the atmosphere at the Hongshitang training ground was solemn, with a sea of people surging forward. At a glance, it was all black heads as far as the eye could see.

  Peng Fei was also among the candidates for assessment. No one had a stronger desire to join the Guards than him. Following him were nearly a hundred young men from Majiatun, if he himself couldn't get selected, then in the future at Majiatun, forget about holding your head up high.

  Apart from these young people, there were many parents and relatives gathered around the Red Stone Beach, pointing and commenting excitedly. They were either the parents of these young people, coming to watch their children take the test, or simply onlookers who had come to see the commotion. Because of some rumored news that had spread from somewhere, it was said that the Guard would be holding a grand flag-raising ceremony.

  Before this, the flag-raising ceremony of the Imperial Guard was rendered magnificent and unprecedented by Lin Bin and others. Everyone couldn't help but run to take a look, which broadened their horizons. In those years when they went to Liaodong to fight against the Tatars, many people from Fushan participated in it. They were eager to see what difference there was between this flag-raising ceremony and the Ming army's ritual of offering sacrifices to the flag.

  In fact, even the parents of Yangjia Village were allowed to watch the training of the Yangjia Village Guard for the first time at close range. In the past, the guard's training was closed and no outsiders were allowed to watch. Last time they only watched the flag-raising ceremony and did not see the real training of the guard. Now it is different, Zhang Quan announced that this morning there will be a training demonstration, allowing everyone to see the combat effectiveness of the guard at close range.

  As expected, early in the morning, the guard troops conducted a half-hour assassination exercise. Eighty people were divided into several small groups to show off their assassination skills. Although they used bamboo guns wrapped in cotton cloth to cover up the murderous aura of the bamboo guns, the powerful and neat assassination movements still gave the audience a great shock. Yang Kai De and others were very satisfied. The power of this stab, even if it's a Tartar, may not be able to withstand it, let alone some Ming army units that are as fragile as tofu dregs?

  In addition, Yang Zixuan's team also demonstrated the power of firearms. Three Lüdm?l rifles became the brightest stars on the training ground. At a distance of 100 meters, three Lüdm?l rifles concentrated their fire on a block of limestone, shattering it into powder. Not to mention accuracy, this destructive power alone was shocking. Even Yang Kaidi and others who had been to the Liaodong front line had never seen such powerful firearms.

  "If we had such powerful firearms back then..."

  Many elderly people who survived and returned from the Liaodong front line couldn't help but mutter to themselves.

  They just didn't know that the arquebus had already appeared in the Wanli period and could be domesticated, and Zhao Shi-zhen had mastered the manufacturing technology. It was only because of the corruption and short-sightedness of the imperial court that they missed such a sharp firearm. However, the key factor in war is still human. No matter how powerful the firearms are, if they encounter those incompetent commanders of the Ming army, they can only serve as logistics officers at best.

  After the training ended, Zhang Zhun announced that the flag-raising ceremony was about to begin.

  The warriors of the Yang Family Village Escort Agency, dressed in neat military uniforms, gathered around the flag-raising platform. They stood up straight with their waists held high and chests out, showing off their most powerful side to everyone around them. Just this formation movement and posture was enough to make Yang Kaitai and others admire. In those years, they didn't even have such basic skills.

  Four spirited guardsmen, bearing a bright red military flag, slowly enter.

  The yellow six-pointed star in the middle of the military flag is particularly eye-catching under the illumination of the dawn.

  "Raise the military flag!"

  "Sing military songs!"

  Zhang announced loudly.

  Under the loud singing of "Unity is Strength", the military flag slowly rose.

  This well-known military song of later generations was plagiarized by Zhang Zhun without hesitation, made a few minor changes, and became the military song of the guard. Every day when raising the military flag, as well as every morning and evening before class began, they had to sing the military song. Zhang Zhun believed that this kind of repeated indoctrination was beneficial for enhancing the spiritual appearance of soldiers.

  The flag-raising ceremony was something that the military households of other villages in Fushan had never seen before. For a moment, the whole scene was solemn and silent. Whether it was the bright military flags or the loud military songs, they all made everyone's blood boil with excitement. Especially those young people who came to participate in the assessment were even more eager to try, as if they couldn't wait to become one of them immediately. Look at this military uniform, look at this military flag, how charming it is!

  After the flag-raising ceremony, Zhang Quan took the stage to give a speech.

  Standing on the podium, Zhang Zhun swept his eyes over everyone around him and announced the relevant benefits and treatment of the guard team.

  The first, a monthly stipend of one or two silver coins. Food, clothing, and accommodation are all free.

  Secondly, each warrior in the guard corps can obtain five mu of "military fields" after joining the army. The term of service for each soldier is five years. After five years, those who continue to serve will increase by one mu of military fields for each year of service. Military fields are not recovered after the owner's death and belong to their children or family forever. The more people in a household join the army, the more military fields they can obtain. The longer the term of service, the more military fields that can be obtained.

  Third, regarding the reward method for killing enemies. The more enemies killed, the greater the reward. The form of the reward is also military fields. Killing one enemy can earn at least one mu of military field as a reward. Killing important figures among the enemy can earn three mu or more of military field as a reward. The more meritorious deeds, the more military fields earned.

  Fourth, whether killed or wounded, there is a military land subsidy. The dead are subsidized with at least 20 mu of military land, and the maximum subsidy is 100 mu. The wounded are subsidized with at least 5 mu of military land, and the maximum subsidy is 50 mu. The higher the soldier's skill level, the more military land they receive after being killed or wounded.

  Fifthly, the disabled can still enter the injury retirement agency and continue to play a role.

  Sixthly, the number of military fields is not limited by the upper limit of fifty mu.

  "If you can chop down Huang Taiji, I'll reward you with 3,000 mu of military fields!"

  These are Zhang Zu's own words.

  The room erupted into thunderous applause.

  "In the battle with Hei Bao, we unfortunately lost three warriors and five warriors were unfortunately injured and retired! I now declare in front of everyone! Each martyr's family will receive 50 mu of military land as a reward! Each wounded warrior will receive 10 to 30 mu of land as a reward!"

  The deafening cheers erupted again below.

  Lin Bin and others all left behind tears of excitement.

  He had been informed by Zhang Zhun earlier that, based on the degree of his disability, he would be rewarded with fifteen mu of military land as a source of livelihood for himself. These military lands would never be taken back. In other words, his descendants would own these fifteen mu of military land forever. Lin Bin thought it was really super valuable to exchange one leg for fifteen mu of military land for his future generations.

  In fact, the core of a series of welfare treatments implemented by Zhang Zu was "military fields".

  Jun Tian is relative to Min Tian. According to the detailed rules of equal land allocation and tax exemption drafted by Liu Hang, Wang Mingyu and others, the land allocated to the people is called Min Tian, which will be taken out for re-allocation after the owner's death. Later, with a larger population, it may need to be adjusted again. But Jun Tian is different. Jun Tian is hereditary and does not need to be taken out for re-allocation, initially how much, later still how much.

  If a piece of land is listed as a military field and belongs to someone, then this land will forever belong to that person. After his death, the land belongs to his descendants. If there are no direct descendants, it belongs to collateral relatives. Others are not allowed to occupy in any way. The granting of military fields must be approved by Zhang.

  Using military colonies as a way to stimulate the morale of soldiers was proposed by Zhang Zu after careful consideration. For the soldiers, giving land was more attractive than giving silver. The experience and lessons of the Genghis Khan's iron cavalry showed that land was more attractive than silver. Moreover, giving land would not put too much economic pressure on Zhang Zu himself, and the saved silver could be used for other purposes.