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On February 1st, Peace Town's recruitment propaganda began.
Liu San's eyes were filled with complex emotions as he watched his son, who had cut his hair into braids and kept a big bald head. He was dressed in the military uniform of the Liberation Army and was surrounded by a group of local officials, wearing red ribbons and walking in front of the recruits.
Being someone else's soldier is equal to becoming someone else's person. Liu San had a clear understanding of this, so he was full of resentment. His son, who he raised with great difficulty, didn't stay at home to be filial to his parents. Instead, he abandoned his family and ran to work for others. Liu San couldn't figure out where his son had learned it from.
But things have come to this point, Liu San had no other way. He also tried to ask Village Chief Li, hoping that the leader of the town could help him get his son back. After listening to Liu San's words, Village Chief Li sneered: "Liu San, the Liberation Army never forced people to be soldiers. It was your son who ran to be a soldier. The army even sent people to me to ask about your son's situation and your family's situation. Do you think that if you don't have a clean background, you can be a soldier if you want to? "
Liu San never thought that his son would be characterized as "clean background". This should be a compliment to Liu San, but at this time, it made Liu San feel extremely uncomfortable. Liu San cursed inside his heart: You said that my family is clean, then why didn't your son join the army! But he could only curse inside his heart. Liu San repeatedly asked Village Chief Li to bring his son back.
After another ten days, the first group of young people who joined the army in Peace Town was brought back to the town. They came back riding a tall horse. The people who led the horse were the mayor, the village chief, and some Liberation Army officials that he hadn't seen before.
Liu San's son was not the only one who joined the army in Peace Town. The mayor's son joined the army, the village chief's son joined the army, and the accountant's son also joined the army. There were also several other families with more children who joined the army. In Peace Town, there were more than a dozen young people who have joined the army. Looking closely, nearly half of the young people were from the families of officials related to the Liberation Army.
After seeing these people, Liu San felt a lot more comfortable. The officials naturally cared about their family's interests the most. If there were no benefits to being a soldier, they would definitely not let their children join the army. Next, Liu San felt happy and worried. He was happy that his son had not been cheated, but he was worried that his son would be bullied when he was with the sons of the Liberation Army officials.
But when Liu San thought about it, his son actually dared to go to the army on his own, although Liu San couldn't do anything to his son now. Thinking that this scoundrel boy would suffer a bit more, Liu San felt an indescribable joy in his heart.
At this time, all the civilians in Peace Town were gathered together. For so many years, they had never heard of anyone showing off when they were soldiers. This was not the same as if he had passed the county-level examination and needed to show off. Good iron does not twist nails, good men do not become soldiers. Especially in the prosperous business of Guangdong, being a soldier was definitely not a respectable job.
Therefore, when the commoners saw the officials in the town leading the horses for the new recruits, they began to discuss it. How fierce these soldiers were that they could force the local officials to lead the horses for them? And those people were dressed in red ribbons as if they were relying on fame, which made the commoners even more unable to understand what was going on with being a soldier.
When they arrived at the stage that was usually used for holding meetings in the town, the new recruits got off their horses. Then the officials of the Liberation Army and the town officials began to talk about the Military Welfare and Treatment Act.
"If one person joins the army, the immediate family members will pay 30% less tax! If two people join the army, the immediate family members will pay 60% less tax! "The mayor loudly announced the contents of the welfare law.
Hearing this, there was an exclamation from the crowd. Most of the people who joined the army this time had one child from each family. But there were also brothers Zhao Jiashan and Zhao Jiashui who joined the army together. There were five children in the Zhao family, four of whom were boys. Their family was allocated ten acres of land, and the income itself was not low. Now that two boys joined the army together, they only had to pay 10% of the 30% tax that they should have paid. Moreover, two brothers joined the army, so there were only five people left in the Zhao family. Each person had an average of two acres of paddy fields. The Zhao family planted mulberry trees on the pond foundation, and they also had the income of raising silkworms. The livelihood of these five people immediately improved a lot. The people were very talented in calculating these things, and everyone couldn't help but envy them.
Liu San also couldn't help but envy them. His family only had one son joining the army, and he also paid 20% of the tax instead of 30%. The family could save almost 200 catties of rice. That was a year's rations for a person. But compared with the Zhao family, Liu San couldn't help but feel that he was at a disadvantage.
But the Military Welfare and Treatment Act did not only give such a little benefit. The mayor then announced that during the service period, if the family members of the soldiers applied to work in the factory, under the same conditions, the family members of the soldiers would be recruited first.
This welfare made the people exclaim again. The recovery of the Commander-In-Chief's Office was naturally to vigorously develop the industry. Those heavy industry departments needed workers with specialized training, but the sugar factories, silk factories and other factories did not have such high requirements. After a little training, ordinary people could work in them. The countryside was divided into busy farming and slack farming. During the slack farming season, people were really idle. At this time, if they could go to work in the factory, they would immediately have another income. Over the past year, the people of Peace Town, which was very close to the city, had a lot of feelings about this.
"During the busy farming season, if the army goes to the countryside to help the people do farm work, the family members of the soldiers will be given priority!" The mayor continued to announce the benefits that the soldiers had. And this benefit was even more shocking.
Last year, the Liberation Army had gone to the countryside to help the local people do farm work. The military discipline of the army was strict, and they did not offend the people. Therefore, the soldiers that the people in the town saw were all young men, and they were all strong laborers. If this rule could really be implemented, it was equivalent to the family members of the soldiers getting temporary work for free during the busy farming season. The benefits were too great. Many people were not willing to let their children be soldiers. In addition to looking down on the profession, they were also worried that their families would lose strong laborers. Now that the strong laborers might not be lost, many people looked at the young soldiers and their families with eager eyes.
At this time, the mayor invited the officer of the Liberation Army to give a speech, and the officer told the people about the "Three Laws and Eight Points for Attention" of the Liberation Army. He also talked about the idea that the Liberation Army was a people's army. Of course, the officer naturally had to explain the idea of a modern nation-state. The Commander-in-Chief's Office was a political power to protect the people, and the purpose of forming the army was to defeat the Manchu Qing and defeat the foreigners who invaded China.
When the Liberation Army promoted "Chinese", "Motherland", "Chinese", and "Foreigners" in the town, Liu San also went to listen to it. Liu San was very clear that Guangdong had Tujia and Hakka people. The conflict between the two sides was fierce, and people often died in battle. Liu San really could not understand using the term "Chinese" to refer to the people on both sides.
Foshan was a very important city in Guangdong, and Liu San had seen foreigners two or three times. More than a decade ago, when the foreigners attacked Guangzhou, Liu San also heard about it. It was just that the Liberation Army used the term "foreigners" to refer to foreigners, and they used the term "Chinese" to refer to their own people. Liu San did not understand why at all.
As for the "Motherland", Liu San had no concept of it. The Qing Dynasty was the Qing Emperor's Qing Dynasty. What did the Qing Dynasty have to do with a commoner like Liu San?
But at this time, listening to the narration of the officer of the Recovered Commandery Manor, Liu San had some other ideas. His son was a soldier, so he would stand with the Recovered Commandery Manor from now on. In other words, Liu San was no longer an ordinary person, but a person who had some relationship with the imperial court. Although his son was just an ordinary soldier now, if his son could get an official position, the Liu Family would change from an ordinary person to an official.
Although he had no confidence in such a future, Liu San really could not help but have some longing.
Other people were more concerned about whether they could get benefits from such a system. Liu San knew that there were children of the mayor and village head among the people who joined the army this time. The people in the village also saw that the children of the mayor and village head had joined the army. After the officer finished his long speech, some people with many children in their families asked if their children could sign up for the army now.
The purpose of the officer's trip was to show the importance the army attached to the soldiers to recruit. He immediately began to answer the questions of the people with the mayor and village head, and appealed to the people to respond to the call of the Recovered Commandery Manor and let their children actively sign up for the army.
Not only in Pingan Town, but also in all parts of Guangdong, a new round of conscription was launched. Originally, the General Staff thought that the people in the mountainous areas might be more active in signing up for the army, but they did not expect that after the data was collected, the people in the areas of the Pearl River Delta who had implemented the land grant order were not worse than those in the mountainous areas. If only the total number of people in the army was counted, the number of 50,000 recruits in the plain areas was much more than the 23,000 recruits in the mountainous areas.
At the meeting of the Central Committee, Bi Qingshan, the governor of Guangdong, said with a sad face, "Governor, we will lose a lot of tax revenue!"
Vézé said with a smile, "Do you think I will only let them fight? That's underestimating the labor force. After they retire, we will arrange jobs for them. They will work in factories and mines. If many of them have the relevant cultural knowledge, we will also let them work in the administrative departments at all levels. If we don't believe in our own army, are we going to believe in those gentry who read a few lousy books and think they are so great? "
Bi Qingshan was not as optimistic as Vézé. The military service period was now set at five years. In other words, a large number of soldiers would have to wait until after five years to retire. Distant water could not quench the present thirst, let alone water that was far away after five years.
Vézé could see Bi Qingshan's attitude, and he advised, "Comrade Bi Qingshan, Guangdong has never been a province that only relies on farming. Naturally, he is blessed by the heavens. "
"What advantages? How do we solve the problem of so much food? "Bi Qingshan was not convinced by Vézé.
Vézé replied with a straight face, "We have plenty of food! After we open up the sea route to Vietnam, we can buy rice from Vietnam. With an obedient army, it will only take two to three years to develop the military industry. At that time, we can build a large number of ships to do business in Vietnam. You do the math. This is a very good deal. "
Bi Qingshan sighed and replied, "It's still too long!"
"Then we will get through this period! We will grit our teeth and get through it! "Vézé replied firmly.
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