Chapter 3319 3321【Reform Flag Affairs】

 First, the Eight Banners soldiers were corrupt and degenerate, leaving the court with no available soldiers; second, in order to support these wastes, the court had to spend a large amount of food and salary every year. Therefore, it is imperative to reform flag affairs.

 In fact, both the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties tried to reform flag affairs, such as allowing bannermen to return to the northeast to garrison, lifting the restriction that bannermen were not allowed to engage in farming, and granting bannermen fields to cultivate, etc., but the results were not great.

After those bannermen were sent to the northeast, they actually came back. Because there were so many people who came back, they couldn't be killed, so in the end they had to let it go. When the bannermen were given land and cattle, they actually gave away the cattle, land Sell ​​it for money, but don't go farming.

 The issue of flag affairs has always troubled the Qing court. It was not until the Revolution of 1911 that the bannermen finally began to learn to be self-reliant after they completely lost their support.

 But in fact, to be fair, not all bannermen are playboys. They only know how to carry birds in cages, eat, drink and have fun. That's the treatment reserved for upper-level bannermen.

 The life of the lower-class banner people is actually extremely hard. Because the bannermen had to serve as soldiers to get paid, on average one person had to support seven or eight people, which was not a wealthy situation. If there were no men in the family and no food and wages, they would have to starve to death.

By the middle of the Qing Dynasty, bannermen who could no longer survive remained anonymous and farmed and worked secretly. Many even smuggled to Nanyang to avoid being caught.

This is just like the Yuan Dynasty. On the surface, the Mongolian people were the ruling class and had the highest status among the four classes of people divided at that time. But in fact, the lives of the lower-class Mongols were extremely difficult, and they were even sold into slavery.

 Therefore, Xiang Nan must reform the flag affairs, and the flag affairs must also be reformed. Otherwise, not only will the country spend tens of millions of taels to support them every year, but the lower-level bannermen will not be able to survive at all because they are exploited by the upper-level bannermen.

 …

 Xiang Nan’s first step in reforming the flag affairs was to remove the bannermen from their flag status and become ordinary people.

 The so-called Baoyi originally refers to the lower-class members of the Jurchen tribe, non-blood related families, clan members and some relatives of the clan adopted and accepted by the ruling family. Later it was extended to prisoners of war, indentured servants and convicted persons.

 In short, it is the slave class.

But as the saying goes, the seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister is a servant of the royal family, and his status is naturally noble. Baoyi can also be an official, his daughter can enter the palace, and she can also participate in the draft.

 Let these Baoyi leave the banner and become ordinary people, then the court will no longer have to bear their livelihood, and it can save the court a lot of money.

 After Baoyi leaves the banner, he can take away his family property, fields, etc. And in order to make it easier to take care of your livelihood, you can also receive food and salary for three more years. But after that, he will be self-reliant and take care of his own livelihood, and the court will not give him any preferential treatment.

 Furthermore, after Baoyi denaturalized and became a citizen, the political rights he originally enjoyed were also lost.

For example, Baoyi people, like bannermen, were given preferential treatment when taking part in the imperial examination. As long as a person succeeds in the examination, he or she will have an official position. In comparison, even if the Han people succeed in the examination, they will basically have no official position and will have to continue to take the Jinshi examination.

Another example is that Baoyi is the same as the bannermen. Even if they break the law, they will not be under the jurisdiction of the local government, but will be handled by the banner association organized by the bannermen. Bannermen in the capital who committed crimes were handed over to the infantry commander's yamen, and nobles who committed crimes were turned over to the clan's mansion. And because they are of the same clan, it is inevitable that officials will protect each other.

 …

Such a policy of renouncing nationality and becoming a citizen caused protests from many Manchu ministers, but that was all.

Xiang Nan has been in power for more than six years, and he dare not say that the superior and the subordinate are one and the same, but there is no one among the courtiers who dares to compete with him. After all, he has been emperor for more than a hundred years in total, has extremely rich experience in governing, and has no eyelashes. He knew exactly what those ministers had planned and what changes they had made.

Moreover, the key is that he has built a quite powerful force with the new army he has formed in recent years. In addition, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Household Affairs have made so much money in recent years.

Xiang Nan now has soldiers and money, and it is useless even if the ministers collectively oppose him. He is not Chongzhen, and he will be ignored by civil servants. He was a master who really dared to kill people, and he dared to slaughter civil servants again when he was in a hurry.

What's more, only some Manchu ministers protested against Baoyi's decision to deregister his nationality for the people, but the vast majority of Baoyi, a large part of the Manchu ministers, and all the Han ministers supported it.

 Because they are not blind, they can see that the bannermen have become cancerous in these years. Not only was he corrupt and unfit for usefulness, but the most important thing was that he couldn't survive.

Only the upper-level bannermen benefited. They received food, salary and silver from the court, while the lower-level bannermen exploited the lower-level bannermen. It can be said that they eat from both ends and occupy both ends.

 In this case, renouncing one's nationality and becoming a citizen would be a good thing for the lower class and the court. Those who suffered were only those upper-level bannermen who wanted to take advantage of the card, and they were in the minority. Even if it makes trouble, it won't cause much trouble.

The number of people who are out of place will reduce the number of people in the flag people by about half, at least to save two million silver for the court each year.

 …

 Xiang Nan’s second step in reforming flag affairs was to remove the restriction that banner people were not allowed to work, farm, or do business.

In fact, the upper-class bannermen are all doing business. For example, the famous corrupt official He Shen owns **** shops, silver shops, lumber shops, medicine shops, wine shops, grain shops, hotels, antique shops, celadon shops, gray tile shops, and car shops. There are more than 100 furniture shops and sedan shops in total. Not only is the business done, but the business is also very big.

Moreover, even if those upper-class bannermen do not do business on the surface, they will invest in some industries privately, and even lend interest, open gambling stalls, open brothels, etc.

Only those lower-level bannermen are not allowed to work, farm, or do business. They can only borrow a small amount of food and salary, or become slaves of the upper-level bannermen and survive.

For example, the banner soldiers were often extorted from many sources by the generals of the Eight Banners, including deprivation of soldiers’ pay and extortion of large profits. There are also generals who send corvees privately and use soldiers to do household chores such as carrying water, driving carts, and herding horses for them.

 Because the bannermen are equivalent to reserve forces, they are not allowed to leave their base without authorization. Violators will be punished by military law. This further restricted their movements, which meant that the lower-level bannermen were imprisoned slaves, and their lives were naturally miserable.

 So Xiang Nan also canceled this restriction. Anyway, he is now adopting a recruitment system. Several military academies recruit young and strong men from the society who are eager to serve the country, regardless of Manchu or Han.

  The old Eight Banners system is on the verge of being eliminated, and he no longer needs to select soldiers from among the Eight Banners soldiers.

And Xiang Nan was not worried that the Han people would overthrow the Qing Dynasty as soldiers.

The simplest example is that when the Taiping Rebellion rose, it was the regiment training army led by Han Chinese such as Zeng Guofan and Li Hongzhang who were responsible for its annihilation.

 And the banner people were not born to support the Qing Dynasty. For example, during the Tianli Rebellion during the Jiaqing period, one of the troops actually invaded the Forbidden City. Among them are bannermen, and even upper-level bannermen who serve as generals and leaders.

 (End of this chapter)