Zhao Jiu kept his word. After the three of them had a meal, they went directly to the mulberry forest on the bank of the fish pond to talk about matters related to the two armies.

"I am willing to write a personally signed document to the officials. After I return this time, there will never be any incidents of using soldiers in the imperial camp's right army, and there will never be any occupation of farmland. The soldiers must practice every ten days and be paid in full.

The military pay... As for the military supplies, ordnance, and the number of posts, I would like to ask the officials to forgive me. I can only guarantee that I will not cause trouble to the officials here, but the generals below are not really good - one by one.

Keep them under control." After a brief conversation, Zhang Jun, the commander of the right army of the imperial camp, pointed to the sky and the earth, almost making an oath on the edge of the fish pond. "I really don't know how to control him."

"Forget the paperwork, I can still trust Zhang Qing's words."

Zhao Jiu waved his hand from a distance, stopping a dozen servants who were busy in the mulberry forest from coming to see the gift. These people were uprooting some of the unviable mulberry trees, and then continued to transplant new mulberry trees. "Everyone in the world says that you are a person who sits in the eyes of money.

You are a person, but I knew from my time in Huaishang that you are a person who understands the real gains and losses, and you are also a person who dares to risk everything at critical times... I am willing to believe your words! As for the following things, this dynasty will continue for hundreds of years.

After more than ten years of military service, I also understand your difficulties. As long as you can do this kind of thing like Han Liangchen, I will be thankful to God."

Zhang Jun was completely relieved and handed him over directly in the mulberry forest: "In the official family, there is nothing surprising about Han Shizhong's military management. I will definitely be able to succeed."

Zhao Jiu shook his head and laughed: "I also know that Han Liangchen's military management is nothing extraordinary, but he himself is really extraordinary... Boying, ask yourself, can you fight those magical battles of his? One after another, one is three times.

A town's Jiedushi envoy plus a county prince, two towns' Jiedushi envoys, it has completely opened up."

Zhang Boying hesitated to speak.

"But don't be anxious." Zhao Jiu stopped under a mulberry tree and turned around. "On that day, Han Shizhong's subordinates were in rebellion. I went to see him in his camp and made it clear. I will make it clear to you today...

These people will follow me. First of all, they will prosper the Song Dynasty and destroy the Jin Dynasty. If they succeed, they will succeed, and if they fail, they will not succeed. If they really succeed one day, ten princes and princes can always afford to support them. The world is so big, and someone like you understands the benefits.

Characters, whether you want to be born together or have children after death, I can always handle it... The point is, our monarchs and ministers have gone through so much, who wants something, why not express it face to face like today

Say? Whatever you and I want, I can naturally give you what you want."

Zhang Jun was completely calm after hearing this, and bowed his head under the mulberry tree again, showing his loyalty again and again.

Zhao Jiu had always been impatient with this, but he became impatient after hearing a few sentences. He only woke him up, and then looked directly at Wu Jie, who had really gained a lot of knowledge today:

"Jin Qing...your place is not the same as Boying's place."

"I'm from the province." Wu Da was brave and resourceful. Although Wu Jinqing was involved in the situation when he first came to the capital, and was confused for half a day, but after half a day, he already understood everything he should know, so he hurried forward and handed over

."The imperial camp and the rear army were caused by the shortcomings of the Western Army... The officials were personally in charge of Guanxi, and under the holy authority, they disbanded the army, reorganized, and granted land. Everyone obeyed, but once the officials left, only

It can be seen from the fact that the estimated expenditure is much higher than that of other armies. They are directly intending to return to their old ways, but the minister is incompetent and cannot stop it."

Zhao Jiu stood under the mulberry tree with his hands behind his hands. He nodded at first, but then fell into a strange silence. The spring wind was strong, and a gust of wind blew from nowhere in the silence. The insects stopped for a while, and then the mulberry tree

It keeps swaying, and even the green grass underfoot is rippling together with the water waves of the fish pond.

Seeing this shape, Wu Jie couldn't help but feel a little frightened, so much so that Zhang Jun, who had just passed the test on the side, was quite gloating about his misfortune.

In fact, Wu Jie was not to blame for this, of course he was frightened.

Because no matter how approachable and honest the official appears, the other party is always an official, an emperor, an emperor, or an emperor with such authority... life and death are just one sentence.

.

At least Wu Jinqing couldn't think of any room for resistance.

After this gust of wind blew, Zhao Guanjia finally spoke, but the moment he came up, Wu Jie's heart sank to the bottom of the fish pond: "I think that the imperial camp and the rear army are not so much desolate and ill, but rather that the habits of the feudal town are hard to change.

, I want to return to the old vassal and town structure."

The word "vassal town" is not an unprecedented term. When Li Gang was in power, he once regarded this as a national policy. At that time, envoys were established and envoys were flying all over the world. The main commanders generally had to concurrently serve as local envoys and then raise their own military pay.

Recruit soldiers and horses yourself.

And I have to admit that that measure was absolutely correct at the time. It gave the Song Dynasty court, which was in exile at the time and only had 20,000 to 30,000 poor soldiers and horses, a chance to breathe, and thus developed multiple field groups.

It provided the most basic military strength for the subsequent defense and foothold of the Zhao and Song Dynasties.

Han Shizhong's imperial camp left army, Zhang Jun's imperial camp right army, Yue Fei's imperial camp front army, and Zhang Rong's imperial navy navy. In the early stage, they were all troops that relied on their own territories and camps to survive, especially Li Yanxian's troops.

Because it maintains the only protrusion on the north bank of the Yellow River, it has been controlled by the military and government until now... Even the imperial camp army directly controlled by Zhao Jiu must have more than half of them diverted from those early "vassal towns".

At that stage, these commanders collected their own taxes, recruited their own soldiers, and built their own workshops to build ordnance... This is how the iconic copper surface of Han Shizhong's elite troops came from, and Zhang Jun was reluctant to pay the soldiers to get the 'iron surface'

This derisive nickname was also a thing from that time.

At that time, these commander-in-chiefs even appointed officials and generals themselves, just to report to the court as a routine matter.

But the problem is, that was in the past.

After the victory at Yanling, the Zhao Guan family returned to the old capital. The first thing they did was to gather the commanders and ministers from all ministries, and then absorb the soldiers and horses left behind by Zong Ze in Tokyo. Then, after the finances were somewhat improved, they began to organize the imperial government.

The camp army did not hesitate to increase taxes and fees, but also seized personnel from each department of the imperial camp, thereby taking back the financial power of each department.

From then on, the military salaries of various ministries had to be allocated from the central government.

Moreover, this process of taking back power with the return to Tokyo as the turning point was continuous and gradual. After the military pay, it was the local officials' dispatching rights that were taken back, the imperial camp and the Chinese army were continuously strengthened, and it was Han Shizhong's conscription that caused public resentment and rebuke.

Yue Fei was most impeached by Li Guang and Li Jing for asking for ordnance materials. It was Qu Duan, the most domineering general, who was escorted to the court by a royal censor. It was Wang Xie, a scum, who was executed at the banquet. It was Lian Zhang Rongbu, a group of water thieves.

All those who were born were reorganized after the Battle of Dongpingfu.

Finally, after the Yaoshan War, the last Western Army was integrated into the imperial camp system, and the imperial court also granted land to retired and meritorious soldiers in Kansai and Henan.

Even now, after Han Shizhong moved to Guanxi, the Huaixi areas are undergoing similar arrangements under the direct responsibility of Liu Ji.

There is no idle day in this central court.

So, when all the troops are turning into vassal towns, the emperor says that your troops actually want to return to the vassal town structure. What's going on?

"I have no intention of receiving such kindness from Your Majesty!" Wu Jie was in a daze and could only reluctantly hold his hand, but his slightly trembling voice clearly showed that he was already a little flustered and lost his temper at this time.

At this time, Zhang Jun no longer took pleasure in others' misfortune. He just remained silent and looked coldly at the opponent, an old friend of the Western Army.

"I'm not talking about you, but I'm saying that the Western Army has always been a vassal." Zhao Jiu certainly wouldn't let the other party get it wrong. "Furthermore, I probably know that because of our policy of defending the inside and the outside, the Western Army has always been

It seems docile, not as unruly as the Five Dynasties Tang Dynasty vassal town... But in fact, in terms of internal system, in my opinion, the Western Army is still in the state of a real vassal town, otherwise why would there be all kinds of vassal control methods? "

By the way, Wu Jie and Zhang Jun are both old Western soldiers. Although what Zhao Guanjia said was a bit awkward and too strong to make sense, the two of them still understood instinctively because they knew from the bottom of their hearts that the methods of vassal control mentioned by Zhao Guanjia were

What.

For example.

Thanks to the long-standing military and political guiding ideology of the Song Dynasty, which is the so-called military logic of guarding the inside and ignoring the outside, in theory and practice, any official of the Zhao and Song Dynasties, as well as the center of the court, and even the military supervisors sent by the court, as long as they

I think it is easy to obtain the command of the Western Army, or directly appoint and remove the relevant main generals.

Even the so-called generals of the Western Army have never dared to be overly domineering towards the court. As long as the central government wanted to, they could easily use legal means to complete the rise and fall of these generals... When the Song Dynasty was at its weakest, Zhao

Jiu could still cut off Liu Guangshi's head and freeze it into ice pimples because of his support. However, Qu Duan, the only one who showed his domineering attitude toward Zhao Guan's family, was not a serious senior general, and he was easily kidnapped by his own subordinates.

Sent to Tokyo.

But the paradoxical thing is that you can easily replace these generals, execute and punish the relevant generals, idle and abandon certain families, and even directly send cronies from the central government to replace them, but there is always a concept of "Western Generals".

Typically one goes, another comes, another comes, and another comes soon.

Not only that, both Zhang and Wu climbed up from the bottom. They knew very well that it was not just the phenomenon of generals at the top, but also the middle and bottom levels below, as well as unique, strange, but unique phenomena within the Western Army.

And extremely stable internal mechanism:

The so-called you are a gangster from Yan'an Prefecture, he is a Tibetan from the stronghold on Huanqing Road, this one is from a good family on Huanqing Road, and that one is an offshoot of a down-and-out general; you have been in the army for fifteen years, and he

The benefactor of the family served as a strategic envoy, and an old friend of this family was suddenly convicted by the court. How much money did that person use... Each has its own tradition and explanation.

At the top, there are generals based on family inheritance, and at the bottom, corresponding factions and hierarchies are formed based on regional origin. Finally, when combined together, they become a complex military and political interest group with a strong sense of exclusivity and self-survival.

And this kind of military and political group, even if it is not a feudal town on the surface, is actually the same as a feudal town in terms of internal and final performance... When it goes to the battlefield, the first is to protect its own strength, the second is to grab credit, and the third is to reward money.

Third, the combat effectiveness will of course be greatly reduced.

"If the official said that, it actually makes sense." Although he was definitely not targeting himself, Wu Jie was still cautious when talking about this topic, because everyone can see that Wu clearly has the potential to become a great general in Kansai. "

But how to deal with it?”

Under the mulberry tree, Zhao Jiu also raised his head and frowned: "Actually, I have thought about it for a long time. The army is a natural system. It is impossible to completely eliminate the ills with military discipline and punishment... But there are some key points. One is not to use

Soldiers work in agriculture and trade, that is, they do not touch any money except national rewards and salaries. This is a top priority... For example, before Jingkang, the Hebei Forbidden Army was well-developed in handicrafts and was famous all over the world for making money for the generals. Is this a good thing? "

Zhang Jun and Wu Jie each looked at each other, but neither of them interrupted.

"I know what you mean... It's not possible right now, because the national finances are still somewhat insufficient, and your workshops and military camps cannot be taken away easily; and in the future, there will be an expedition to the north, and we may have to continue to farm and cultivate, or

It's appropriate." Of course Zhao Jiu knew what they were thinking, so he said frankly. "So, this matter will be left until the world is settled, and it won't have much to do with you. I'm just saying it at this time."

Only then did Zhang and Wu say yes.

"One must have two." Zhao Jiu turned around and walked deep into the mulberry forest, and continued to say with his hands behind his hands. "Secondly, I think it is a big thing that the promotion of military officers cannot be fundamentally controlled by the court... If we can imitate Tai

The system of learning three schools is to organize a military academy and divide it into three levels. At that time, not only those who want to be generals will come to me to be a military school student, but also those who are promoted to generals will come to attend school for one year, and those who are promoted to school officers will also come to attend school for one year.

It is best for young men who want to join the army to take the military academy directly. When they reach adulthood, they can go out to join the army and start at a higher level. There is no harm in that."

"This is a brilliant policy by the officials!" Wu Jie is known to like reading. This time he listened smoothly, but he couldn't wait to praise him directly. "If you do this, all officers will study and learn, and they will naturally be better than ordinary officers...

…And the official’s entry into the army as a Jinshi before was actually a foreshadowing.”

"It's not just that." Seeing Wu Jie's sudden flattery, Zhang Jun couldn't bear it and hurriedly followed behind him. "When the officers leave the school, they can also take the imperial examination and rank in what order. How can all the officers in the world do this?

Aren’t they all like Jinshi and become disciples of the emperor? After becoming a disciple of the emperor, who would form cliques in private and curry favor with the generals?”

When Zhao Jiu heard this, he was not happy but worried, and said directly: "That's true, but I don't have the money, and I don't have the time... If there is no Northern Expedition, based on the current financial situation, it is estimated that it will take three to five years to have enough money to handle all these things one by one.
To be continued...