When writing this topic, I remembered a chat with an old comrade who was an officer of China's first generation of strategic nuclear submarines (an old military academy undergraduate), who was about to retire from the physical fitness, and said that he had eaten a good pair of soldiers for many years and slept on a pillow. At that time, their treatment was undoubtedly the highest in the whole army, the navy was in the same door, they compared the targets of fighter pilots, and they were absolutely high, and the living conditions of the base were very good. So, both in the past and now the treatment of the Navy is very good.
When the Beiyang Marine Division was established, Li Hongzhang was still more worried about the source of soldiers, afraid that no one would want to be a navy. Why? Li Hongzhang said: "Worried about the left marshal in Gansu, the generals' reluctance to go west is seen in Beiyang. "I was worried that when Zuo Zongtang led the army to the northwest, the officers and soldiers were afraid of suffering and were unwilling to go west. However, he did not expect that not only did the situation that Li Hongzhang feared not have happened, but many soldiers of the Green Battalion, and even the children of the Eight Banners, had asked to become soldiers in the Water Division. In order to be able to become soldiers in beiyang, they even did not hesitate to invite guests to give gifts, which was called "inner door horse" at that time. The answer lies in - the Beiyang Marine Division's high salary!
The marine division is different from the army and has a high technical content. The officers of the Beiyang Marine Division are divided into war officers and art officers (commanders and technicians). The officer refers to the captain (pipe belt) and the first, second and third mates of each ship, and the art officer refers to the captain of each ship. The "Beiyang Marine Division Statute" stipulates that both war officers and art officers must graduate from regular military schools and undergo professional study and training before they can serve. This is the first time in China's military history.
The same was true of the soldiers of the Beiyang Marine Division. According to the Beiyang Naval Division Statutes, soldiers must understand ship knowledge. Because there are dozens of professional and technical soldiers on the ship, such as: flag soldiers, cabin soldiers, oil soldiers, torpedo soldiers, torpedo smiths, fire soldiers, electric light soldiers, boiler soldiers, foreign gunners, paint soldiers, sail soldiers, carpenters, blacksmiths and so on. Therefore, in order to summon various technical talents to serve as soldiers in the Beiyang Marine Division, it was decided to adopt the "high salary system" in the Beiyang Marine Division. The "Beiyang Marine Division Charter" explains: "The Navy is a great plan to protect the country and its prestige, and it is not appropriate to be stingy from the province. The Chinese Navy was created, but the salary was not full, and it failed to quote the market treatment of the British and other navies. However, the soldiers and soldiers of the warship have been involved in the wind and waves all year round, and they are extremely laborious, which is very different from the situation on land and water in the Green Camp. You can't help but be extra considerate and make overall plans. ”
Let's make a comparison between the salaries of the Army's Green Battalion and the Marine Division in the same period:
First, the green camp is an army based on the Han people after the Qing army entered the customs, because it is marked by the green flag and the battalion is the organizational unit, and it is called the "green camp" by the qing army.
(1) The salaries of the officers of the Green Battalion are many, which are divided into four types: silver, salary silver, vegetable candle charcoal silver, heart red and paper silver.
1. The annual income of the Green Battalion Admiral (equivalent to the commander of the provincial military district) is 2605 two 6 yuan and 9 cents silver. Among them, the silver is 81.693 taels, the salary silver is 144 taels, the vegetable candle charcoal silver is 180 taels, the heart red paper silver is 200 taels, and there are also 2000 taels of Yanglian silver.
2. The annual income of the chief soldier (commander) of the Green Battalion is 2011 two silver;
3. The deputy general (equivalent to the deputy commander) is 1177 two 4 money silver;
4. The staff general (equivalent to the division commander) is 743 two 3 gold silver.
(2) The salary of the soldiers of the Green Battalion is called salary, and because it is measured in months, it is also called monthly salary. According to the provisions of the Green Camp Salary Regulation, the Green Camp's salary is paid in 3rd class
1. Cavalry and clerks are the first class, with a monthly branch of silver 2 two, a meter of 3 buckets;
2. Infantry for the second class, monthly silver 1.5 two, meters 3 buckets;
3. The rear service soldiers are the third class, with a monthly branch of silver 1 two, and a meter of 3 buckets.
4. The green battalion marine division is also divided into three grades: horses, infantry, and rear service troops, which are the same as those of the land troops.
In fact, the actual salary of the soldiers of the Green Battalion is lower than this number. Because there are also a variety of deductions.
Second, in accordance with Li Hongzhang's instructions, the Beiyang Marine Division revised the Navy's salary system and divided the officers' salaries into two parts: one was the "annual salary," that is, the basic salary, which accounted for 40 percent of the officers' total income; and the other was the post allowance, which was then called the "ship salary," which accounted for 60 percent of the officers' income.
(1) Salary standards for officers of the Beiyang Marine Division:
1. Admiral of the Navy, the official salary is 3360 taels, the ship is 5040 taels, a total of 8400 taels, which is 3.2 times that of the Admiral of the Green Battalion;
2. The annual income of the total number of navy soldiers is 3960 taels, which is 1.97 times that of the total number of soldiers of the Green Battalion;
3. The annual income of the vice admiral of the navy is 3240 taels, which is 2.75 times that of the vice admiral of the Green Battalion;
4. The annual income of the admiral is 2640 taels, which is 3.55 times that of the green battalion staff general.
5. In addition, the Beiyang Marine Division has other income. For example, the admiralty has an expense called "ship official fee", which is generally used for: maintenance materials and man-hours in and out of the cabin above the waterline, such as the purchase of paint, oil pounds, paper, cotton yarn, abrasive cloth, coal loading and unloading, hiring people to lead the port, changing the national flag, military uniforms, purchasing sporadic items, and pipes with self-employed staff documents. This fee depends on the size of the ship's tonnage. Ships with large tonnage have more public expenses. For example, the capital ships of the Beiyang Fleet, "Dingyuan" and "Zhenyuan", each have a monthly public fee of 850 taels; the public expenses of the five ships with slightly smaller tonnage, such as "Zhiyuan", "Jiyuan", "Jingyuan", and "Laiyuan", are 550 taels each. The smaller tonnage of the "Chao Yong" and "Yang Wei" ships are 320 taels each. According to relevant materials, the senior officers of the Beiyang Fleet, Lin Taizeng, Liu Butou, Deng Shichang, Fang Boqian, Ye Zugui, Lin Yongsheng, and Qiu Baoren, all used this fee every month, which was an expense other than that stipulated in the charter.
(2) The salary of the soldiers of the Beiyang Marine Division:
1. First-class sailors earn 10 taels of silver per month;
2. The first class gun is 20 taels of silver;
3. The monthly salary of the shore miscellaneous personnel is 3 taels of silver.
Higher salaries for technical classes:
4. The monthly salary of the torpedo maker is 24 taels of silver;
5. The monthly salary of the electric lamp soldier is 30 taels of silver;
At that time, the annual income of a chinese peasant was between 33-50 taels; the annual income of the escorts of the northeast gold mines was 36 taels of silver;
The annual income of a worker in Ningbo Spinning Mill is 13-23.5 taels of silver; the annual income of a Shandong worker is 18.3-60 taels of silver. This fully shows that the salary system for officers and men of the Beiyang Marine Division has exceeded the level of middle-income families at that time.
3. Deng Shichang's salary
Deng Shichangsheng was the former pipe belt (captain) of the cruiser Zhiyuan of the Beiyang Marine Division. According to the relevant data of the Beiyang Marine Division, Deng Shichang's military attaché class was the chief soldier. In the Qing Dynasty, the military attaché's deputy commander and chief soldier were Zheng Erpin (equivalent to the commander of the lieutenant general). His salary was 1584 taels for officials and 2376 taels for ships, for a total of 3960 taels. According to the calculations of the Guangxu years, the price of rice at that time was 15 yuan per kilogram, which was 0.015 taels of silver; salt was 35 yuan per kilogram, which was 0.035 taels of silver; pork was 40 yuan per kilogram, and the silver was 0.04 taels. According to this estimate, the purchasing power of one or two pieces of silver in the Guangxu years today is 1 two = 31.25 grams, 1 gram = 6 yuan, and 1 two = 187 yuan. Therefore, Deng's annual salary is equivalent to about 700,000 yuan.
Deng Shichang died in the naval battle on September 17, 1894, and only 7 of the more than 300 officers and men of the ship remained. The Battle of Dadonggou was lost, and the imperial court was shaken. The Guangxu Emperor wept and wrote: "On this day, the world is full of tears, and there is a strong naval prestige", and gave Deng Shichang the title of "Grand Duke of Zhuangjie", posthumously awarded the title of "Prince Shaobao", and the imperial pen personally wrote an altar text and an inscription. The Qing court also gave Deng Mu a large plaque made of 1.5 kilograms of gold (1500 grams = 540,000 yuan) and allocated 100,000 taels of silver to the Deng family (equivalent to 18.75 million yuan at present) as a sign of resent.
Now film and television dramas and literary works describe some stories of bribery in the past, such as: Zuo Zongtang entered the capital to face the saint, the officers and soldiers who held the door of Chongwen Gate asked the marshal to pay 10,000 taels of money according to their official ranks, and Li Lianying also asked for bribes and later Prince Gong gave him a cushion of nonsense. To know how big Marquis Zuo's battle achievements, official positions, and honor guards are, his attendants from below to the staff generals to the general officers are all generally in the yellow coat, the janitor dares to ask for bribes from the marshal, Li Lianying dares to accept the money of the prince, do I rely on them are all stupid forks? When Li Zhongtang's lifelong Management of the Huai Army was handed over, the Huai Army's account was only 2 million taels, and the joke was really harmful!