Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 145: Set the Rules Before Opening the Camp
"Below the commander, because we don't have any deputy governors or assistant officials in Henghai Guard yet. So, I will directly say the salary of a thousand households. The annual salary of a thousand households is one thousand taels!"
“Hiss~~~”
"The annual salary for a hundred households is five hundred taels!"
“Hiss~~”
"The annual salary of the general flag is three hundred taels."
"Hiss~"
"The annual salary for a small flag is one hundred taels."
“…”
"Ordinary soldiers, newly enlisted, receive two taels of silver per month, and after that, for every year of service, the salary will increase by five cents, up to a maximum of five taels per month."
Looking at the people who were already in a daze, Zhu Youdong smiled and said, "My fellow soldiers, are you satisfied with this salary?"
"I dare not. Your Highness has been so kind to us. Thank you, Your Highness!"
"Hmph!" After one of the centurions stood up and expressed his opinion, the commander Ma Chengzhao snorted fiercely, scaring the centurion to sit down. After that, Ma Chengzhao said, "Your Highness, this kind of salary is really too generous. I am afraid that if it is really implemented, other military towns will also ask the court to give the same treatment, which will cause trouble to the emperor. Secondly, I am afraid that such a high salary cannot be sustained for a long time. Uh, what is the saying? Oh, it is easy to go from simplicity to wealth, but it is difficult to return to simplicity after wealth. Your Highness, if we pay the military salary like this in the first year and can't afford it later, the soldiers and generals will soon be corrupted."
"Ma Dusi's words just now are full of loyalty." After praising him, Zhu Youdong did not laugh at Ma Chengzhao's irregular use of allusions in front of so many people. Instead, he stood up and said, "Let me talk about the second point first. You all just came to Jiangnan and may not know much about my money bag. In my opinion, even if this amount of military pay is doubled, I can afford it!"
According to the 5,600 soldiers assigned to Henghai Guard, even if all of them were fully staffed, the current expenditure for this area would only be 134,400 taels per year. Even if all of them received the maximum salary of 5 taels per month (which was impossible), it would only be 336,000 taels. In fact, even if the salaries of officers at all levels were added, the annual expenditure on military pay would be around 200,000 taels, which should be the norm.
Zhu Youdong's original industries, after distributing dividends to shareholders, had a balance of about 2 million taels. After deducting the expenses of Fangshan Laboratory, Fangshan School, Chongming Shahai Navy, etc., the annual surplus was 1.2 to 3 million taels. At the beginning of this year, after perfumes, pocket watches, and especially penicillin were launched, plus the share from Xujia Haimao, Cao Sanxi estimated that after distributing various dividends every year, the profit would be close to 5 million taels!
And now Cao Sanxi is in the next room talking with the business representatives of many officials in Nanjing, to integrate all the officials and businessmen in the Yangtze River Delta to form a super trust. Once this goal is achieved, the annual profit will exceed 7 or 8 million taels.
Therefore, although a salary of two hundred thousand taels is very expensive, it will not really make Zhu Youdong embarrassed.
Moreover, as a time traveler, Zhu Youdong knew very well that if he did not give high salaries to the soldiers at this time and let history develop freely, in the original historical plane, Emperor Chongzhen would have to pay tens of millions of military salaries every year for the warlords in Liaozhen!
And what did tens of millions of dollars in military pay get in return? Constantly losing troops and territory, allowing the enemy to continuously enter the heart of the capital. Or perhaps beheading a few hundred people is considered a great victory?
"As for the first point that Madusi mentioned, well, if there are border towns that are dissatisfied with this matter, I will make a three-year agreement with them. After three years, I, Henghaiwei, will conduct drills with these dissatisfied border towns. If those border towns win, I will pay them and give them the same treatment. If they lose, hehe, then I will trouble the generals of those border towns to take off their official uniforms for me! Everyone, do you have confidence?"
"have!"
"Don't worry, Your Highness. With such generous military pay, if we lose in the drill three years later, we will kill ourselves!"
"Well, very good." This time there were more responses, and Zhu Youdong was very satisfied: "Okay, since everyone has no objection to the military pay, I will continue."
"Your Highness, please give your instructions."
"Everyone, such generous military pay is not for taking it without doing anything. After you take office, I require you to do two drills every day, and each drill must not be less than an hour. A training outline will be issued later, and each thousand households must strictly train their soldiers according to the training outline!"
"Yes, I will take your orders!"
In modern countries, the navy's salary is definitely higher than the army's, and the food is better than the army's. Zhu Youdong is now in the navy of Chongmingsha, and the monthly salary of ordinary soldiers is also two taels, while Li Guozhu, a guerrilla, is much higher than Ma Chengzhao, the commander. Not only that, the navy has additional subsidies for sea training and mission execution, while the army does not.
This is of course determined by the characteristics of the military, and Zhu Youdong is also accustomed to following the methods of later generations. In addition, the army also has other subsidies.
"During normal field training, soldiers do not receive subsidies. If there is a war, they will be given an extra month's salary as travel expenses before they set out. During the war, Henghai Guards do not calculate military merits and distribute rewards based on how many heads a single person takes. Instead, they evaluate the completion of combat objectives based on the units of 100 households, and then reward them according to the rules formulated in advance. Well, Mr. Yuan has already formulated these rules, and you can take a look at them later."
After Zhu Youdong finished speaking, there were some scattered discussions in the meeting hall below, but such voices did not last long before Ma Chengzhao stood up again and everyone became quiet again.
After nodding his head in approval at Ma Chengzhao, Zhu Youdong continued, "The housing, uniforms, weapons, and three meals a day of the soldiers and officers of Henghai Guard are all provided by the Neiku. As for their families, well, the definition of family members is limited to the soldiers' own parents, children, and wives and concubines. In short, the guards will not allocate farmland to their families, and naturally will not collect food. But as long as there are soldiers in the family, the family members are exempt from all taxes and labor service!"
"Wow~~!" The crowd below started to make noise again. Even Ma Chengzhao was shocked: This, this treatment is really too generous, right?
The current soldiers of Henghaiwei are refugees from the floods of the Yellow River and Huai River in the past few years. The most recent flood has been two or three years ago, and the refugees who are still alive now are almost all young and strong. With such generous treatment, I am afraid that these guys will marry all the unmarried girls on Jingjiang Island soon!
In those days, the social order of the entire Ming Dynasty was relatively stable. The value of one stone of grain fluctuated between 0.3 and 0.5 taels of silver depending on the season and region (the Mingshi in this book is uniformly 60 kilograms). A soldier received two taels of silver per month, and he did not have to worry about food and clothing. In addition, his family members did not have to bear any corvée or taxes, so these two taels of silver were enough to support a family of seven or eight people. And the so-called two taels of silver would continue to rise as the number of years of service increased!
Only a fool would not marry a soldier like this!
"I haven't finished yet. If someone is disabled in the war and can't continue to serve, the guards will give him a one-time subsidy of fifty taels and try their best to help him find a job. Well, I will take the lead then. From now on, I will give priority to the disabled soldiers of Henghai Guards as the gatekeepers of Nanhua Palace."
"Thank you, Your Highness, for your concern for the soldiers. We will follow your Highness."
"Okay, I will continue. For those who died in battle, their families will be given a one-time subsidy of 100 taels of silver. For those who have underage children, the Weili will provide a subsidy of 5 qian of silver for each child. The Weili will take care of the girls until they are 15 years old, and the Weili will take care of the boys until they are 18 years old."
"Your Highness, we are so grateful for your kindness!"
"Also, the court now has the habit of sending criminals to the army. After all, this is the current law of the court, and I can't say much about it. But I think that if a soldier who defends his country has no sense of honor, he can't expect much from his combat effectiveness. Therefore, those who want to join the Henghai Guard must have a clean family background. If the court insists on sending criminals to the army, then such people can only serve as menials and laborers in the army. Before their sins are redeemed, they must not be soldiers!"
After this was said, the officers in the room stood up and cheered: "Your Highness is wise!"
"Hahahaha~~ Everyone, I've finished talking about the benefits. The rules I'm going to talk about next may not sound so nice."
"Your Highness has treated us so well, how can we have any complaints? Please give us your instructions."
"Well, the next article is Article 8. It is forbidden to withhold the soldiers' pay for any reason. The pay of the entire Henghai Guard will be distributed one by one by a specialist sent by my chief treasurer Cao Sanxi. If anyone dares to withhold the soldiers' pay, hehe, he will be beheaded! Hmm? Cao Wenzhao, what do you want to say?"
"Your Highness has given us such a generous annual salary. If there is anyone who is black-hearted and wants to suck the blood of the soldiers, beheading is the least of his punishment. I have no objection to this. But what I am thinking is, if those soldiers do not perform well, do not work hard in training, and shrink back in battle, should they also be paid in full?"
"Captain Cao, your question is exactly what I want to talk about in Article 9. This guard strictly prohibits any insulting punishment on soldiers. Such punishments as cutting off hands, cutting off feet, cutting off noses, piercing arrows in the camp, etc. are all prohibited! If a soldier makes a mistake, he can only be punished with a different number of military sticks according to the severity of the mistake! Of course, those who do not obey orders on the battlefield, or even fear the enemy and do not move forward, or even flee in front of the enemy, will be beheaded! In short, this Henghai Guard can only allow soldiers to be disabled due to war, and we will never allow our soldiers to be disabled ourselves! Do you understand?"
"Yes, I will take your orders!"
"Article 10. Officers at all levels are not allowed to adopt servants under any name! All soldiers must be treated equally! If any officer is found to have adopted a servant, the officer will be sent back to his hometown and the soldier will be expelled from the camp!"
After this was stated, the officers felt somewhat uncomfortable (senior officers had such high annual salaries that it was completely possible for them to have dozens of servants), but when they thought about how well the soldiers in Henghaiwei were treated, they probably thought that no one would be willing to be a servant, so they just accepted it.
"Article 11. I know that local civil officials now give various extra incomes to their superiors and the ministries in the two capitals during festivals. I can't say much about this matter now. But in Henghai Guard, the promotion and rewards of officers and soldiers can only be carried out according to their actual contributions and military exploits. It is absolutely not allowed that loyal and brave people are not promoted because of bribery and flattery, while cunning and shameless people are promoted. I will let Mr. Yuan set up a military police team in the guard. In addition to managing the discipline and words and deeds of officers and soldiers, the focus is to investigate and deal with all kinds of corruption and bribery!"
