Chapter 934 Disarmament

August 20th, Shanhai City, Summer Palace.

On behalf of the Privy Council, Minister of Military Affairs Du Ruhui reported to Ouyang Shuo the "Army Reorganization Plan (Draft) on Appropriate Dismantling and Downsizing of County Level 1 Guard Divisions" drawn up by the Privy Council.

This round of disarmament is only aimed at the 16 counties in the four major provinces. The garrison divisions of Zhili County have already been abolished. Yizhou County, Qiongzhou County, and Xingzhou County are all islands and are not included in the list of abolitions.

There are a total of 16 full-staffed garrison divisions in the 16 counties, with a total force of 216,000, which is equivalent to the first-level establishment of three legions. At the same time, three full-scale army groups were stationed in the four major provinces, with a total strength of 1.05 million.

Such a large army size is not only unnecessary, but also puts huge pressure on the government's finances and the local government. When it comes time to slim down appropriately.

Proposed by Ouyang Shuo himself, the Privy Council drew up this round of disarmament plan.

In the four major provinces of Yunnan, South Sichuan, Lingnan, and Southern Fujian, each province only retains one garrison division, and the territory to be expanded in the future will be equipped directly according to the standard of one garrison division per province.

The affiliation of the garrison divisions retained in each province will also be transferred from the Privy Council to the provincial governor's office, and the provincial governor will command and dispatch them. In this way, the contact between the county guard and the local security forces was also cut off, making the governor of the province the only civil official with the right to deploy troops within the province.

This institutional arrangement is very beneficial to maintaining the authority of the governor.

Among the four newly appointed governors, Bai Hua, Fan Zhongyan, Huo Guang, and Xun Yu, none of them were incomprehensible in military affairs, and commanding a garrison division was more than enough.

Previously, Mulanyue and Pei Ju also had a little knowledge of military affairs, which was already a basic requirement for the governor.

Of course, the governor of the province took over only the command power, and the appointment of officers of the garrison division brigade commander and above, military records, weapon and equipment supply, and combat training management were transferred to the theater command.

In wartime, the theater commander also has the right to bypass the provincial governor and directly mobilize the garrison division. What the theater command had to do was to report to the Privy Council before deploying troops.

It is equivalent to saying that the Privy Council basically let go of the local garrison divisions and concentrated on the field army.

Because it is four to one, this round of disarmament will abolish twelve garrison divisions at one time, with a total of 162,000 people. The garrison division is a formal formation, and its treatment is the same as that of the field army. Therefore, it must be properly resettled after it is abolished. It cannot directly transfer unqualified soldiers to other jobs like dealing with prisoners of war.

To this end, the Finance Council allocated a special fund of one million yuan for the resettlement of the disarmed troops.

Some of the soldiers removed from this round of layoffs will be transferred to yamen servants, and they will be enriched in the internal affairs departments of the governor's yamen, county yamen, magistrate's yamen, and magistrate's yamen, further improving the local government servant system.

Especially the governor's yamen that has just been established needs to be equipped with at least 3,000 to 4,000 yamen servants.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the yamen service system can roughly absorb more than 30,000 people, less than one-fifth.

There are also some soldiers, especially the military officer level, who will be converted to civil servants and enter the agricultural system, construction system, internal affairs system, and customs system to enrich the local government.

Especially the internal affairs and customs, most need the transfer of experienced officers.

The newly established Customs Department and Border Department of the Tax Administration urgently need a group of military officers to be transferred to inspectors and inspectors in the civil service system.

Another part of the soldiers were transferred to [Shushan Iron and Steel Group], [Huaxia Shipping Group], [Huaxia Textile Group], and [Huaxia Construction Engineering Group] and other enterprises.

In particular, [Shushan Iron and Steel Group], which is in urgent need of expansion, urgently needs a group of steel workers who can endure hardships and stand hard work. The group alone can absorb 50,000 ordinary soldiers.

As far as the engineers in the security division are concerned, the [Huaxia Construction Engineering Group] that is being formed is a perfect place to go.

[Huaxia Shipping Group] needs to recruit a group of soldiers and transfer them to the maritime escort team.

Through the above several methods, the placement problem of most of the soldiers was solved, and the remaining 30,000 soldiers were given a considerable transfer fee according to their military ranks, allowing them to fend for themselves.

Fortunately, the business of the dynasty is booming now, and these soldiers don't have to worry about finding jobs.

As soon as they got the news, the three imperial merchants came here to recruit a group of demobilized soldiers to serve as guards in the chamber of commerce. These soldiers are several times stronger than the strong men recruited by the caravan from the private sector.

There are also soldiers who, after changing jobs, rely on the changing jobs to make a living by themselves and start businesses.

All in all, this round of disarmament not only reduced the size of the army to a certain extent and reduced the burden of defense expenditure; it also greatly supplemented all aspects of the dynasty, especially human resources, and consolidated the bureaucratic system, which can be said to benefit both sides.

If not, the Finance Institute would not have given out millions of resettlement fees.

The above is only on the surface. In the dark, a group of soldiers who "made a living" and "started their own businesses" were actually quietly recruited by Shanhaiwei and became a new group of spies.

For Shanhaiwei, aren't these soldiers who have been on the battlefield and seen blood the best spies? Especially the scouts among them were basically booked in advance by Shanhaiwei.

Some veteran soldiers were quietly recruited by the shadow guards under Shanhaiwei.

This round of disarmament can be described as a feast for the dynasty to divide the cake, and it is really wonderful.

Because this round of disarmament involves more than a dozen key departments, a disarmament team will be established under the leadership of the cabinet, with Jiang Shang, the chief minister of the cabinet, as the team leader, and Du Ruhui, the minister of military affairs, as the deputy team leader.

The team members include Zhang Tingyu, the Deputy Minister of Administration, who is mainly responsible for the staffing of civil servants during the transition process; Di Renjie, the Deputy Minister of the Interior, who is mainly responsible for the resettlement of government servants and the internal affairs system; The question of transfer fees.

In addition, nearly ten senior officials, including the Director of Construction, the Director of Agriculture, the Director of Civil Affairs, the Director of Public Security, the Director of Finance, and the Director of Taxation, are also on the list.

The four governors who were still in Shanhai City were naturally involved.

Disarmament is easy to say, but it is an extremely complicated matter to implement. According to the calculations of the Privy Council, if it can be settled within three months, it is considered efficient.

…………

After the disarmament plan is approved by Ouyang Shuo, it will take effect immediately.

In this way, at the end of August, a massive disarmament campaign was launched in the territory of the four major provinces of the Great Xia Dynasty. Teams of soldiers often appeared on the official roads in the territory, which attracted the attention of the outside world.

As a "superstar", Da Xia's every move is likely to provoke the sensitive nerves of others.

This time is no exception.

Regarding this, Ouyang Shuo didn't think of deliberately concealing it.

In just three days, the news that the Great Xia Dynasty had voluntarily reduced its army by 200,000 spread like wildfire, making headlines on the front pages of major media. No one knows what happened to the extra forty thousand.

Anyway, in order to attract attention, those unscrupulous media don't mind a little "exaggeration". In the words of literati, this is called rhetoric, not deception.

Regarding Da Xia's disarmament, there were naturally mixed reviews.

Praisers believe that Daxia's initiative to abolish the local garrison this time shows its extreme confidence in domestic security. Facts have also proved that no army has invaded the territory of Daxia in the past two or three years.

Every big war in Daxia is a foreign war. Thinking about it this way, Daxia really doesn't need to place a large number of security forces inside.

Others believe that Daxia's abolition of the local garrison is not only self-confidence, but more importantly, it shows that Daxia is further deepening the dynastic governance system and carrying out internal self-renovation.

Such actions are a sign that the governance level of Daxia has risen to a new height.

Throughout the 5,000-year history of China, in every prosperous dynasty, the army was concentrated in the capital and the frontiers, and there were very few troops stationed in other places, mainly focusing on agriculture and commerce.

Only in this way can the common people forget about the war, concentrate on production, and increase their happiness index.

The Great Xia Dynasty is heading towards a prosperous age!

Naturally, there are not a few detractors, who think that Great Xia's disarmament is too self-confident. Once the flames of war reach Great Xia's territory, they will have to swallow the bitter fruit for this round of disarmament in the future.

…………

Just when the outside world was disturbing, the Great Xia Army made a new move.

On August 22, the Third Army and the Fifth Army of the Longxiang Army stationed in the mountainous area of ​​southern Yunnan Province suddenly moved northwards on the grounds of "changing defenses".

In addition, the Baotao Army stationed in South Sichuan Province, and the Huben Army stationed in Lingnan Province and South Fujian Province all showed signs of gathering at the border.

This unusual military transfer immediately attracted the attention of interested people.

Some people even linked this matter with Daxia's disarmament, and people couldn't help but wonder whether Daxia's so-called disarmament was just a smoke bomb to cover up the real whereabouts of the army? !

Many people worry that this is a sign that Daxia is preparing to fight abroad again.

But who is the opponent that Great Xia wants to eliminate this time, [Northern Sichuan City-State], [Shunan City-State], or [Yanhuang League]? No matter which one, it seems that none of them can withstand Daxia's iron hoof.

All of a sudden, the world was in turmoil.

The cloud of war once again enveloped the wilderness of China, making people suffocated.

[Northern Sichuan City-state] and [Shonan City-state], which are most likely to be attacked, are like ants on a hot pot. They are panicked, people's hearts fluctuate, and even prices begin to fluctuate.

The lords of the two major city-states met frequently to discuss countermeasures.

The current Great Xia is really not something they can fight against, even if the two major city-states join forces, they are not sure.

Some good people have predicted that after this battle, there will be no more city-states in China, and it will formally evolve into a warring state pattern of separatist regimes. Except for one prince, the remaining lords will all withdraw from this wilderness hegemony.

The bloody vassal struggle for hegemony is gradually approaching.

Just as such news was rampant, one shocking news after another kept coming out.

Almost at the same time, Great Xia allies such as Stone City, Luofeng City, Western Chu, and Jiangchuan Province mobilized their troops to gather at their respective borders.

This time, China is really in chaos!