The reason why the assessment venue is set up here.
There is only one reason.
Li Chengqian really couldn't find a place to use it.
You know, the current city of Chang'an is very expensive, and even the imperial court has very few places that are spacious enough.
Apart from the large square in front of Tai Chi Hall, only Dali Temple is of some size.
As for why he didn't set up the examination room in the large square in front of Tai Chi Hall, there is only one reason...??.
He didn't want to be beaten to death by Li Shimin and Queen Changsun.
Li Shimin could allow him to fool around outside, and even allow him to act in front of him.
But he would never allow Li Chengqian to act recklessly in the palace, especially Empress Changsun.
And compared to Li Shimin, Empress Changsun's punishment was what frightened Li Chengqian the most.
Of course, it makes no sense to say that now.
On the day when the examination started, Li Chengqian also took Li Chongyi and others to conduct a major examination in the examination room on the generals who had been dispatched from various places.
The assessment items are similar to those in martial arts.
The first is a written test, in which the examiner sets questions on the spot, and the generals participating in the assessment answer the questions on the spot. The main questions focus on military management.
The examiners of the written examination were Gao Zhixing and Li Chongyi.
The second is the defense. The examiner also sets questions on the spot, and the generals participating in the assessment answer on the spot. The examination questions are about firearms. The examiners are Li Ke and Zhang Xiao.
The third is the strategy, which is easier to understand.
It is nothing more than the examiner listing several situations and asking the generals participating in the assessment to answer.
The examiner here is Li Chengqian himself.
It was also under such circumstances that the mighty general assessment movement of the Tang Dynasty officially began.
…
Inside the palace.
Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling and others gathered in Ganlu Hall.
As the monarch, Li Shimin was naturally there too.
"These young people are in Dali right now. The temple is also very busy.”
Fang Xuanling said with a smile: "When I met the prince just now, I found that our prince was so exhausted that he was sweating all over his head."
"yes."
"A total of three thousand generals came to Chang'an City this time."
"And this number is less than 30% of the grassroots generals of the Tang Dynasty."
Li Daozong also said: "Perhaps at the beginning, the prince really didn't expect that there would be so many generals in the world to be tested."
"Even so."
"It has indeed achieved some results in the past few days."
Wei Zheng looked at Li Shimin and said: "A few days ago, looking at the report submitted by the prince, it seems that our Tang Dynasty has really raised many useless people."
Listen to these people talking to each other.
Li Shimin couldn't help but shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Let's talk about the past, that is to say, Wei Aiqing's words are on point."
"This military attache assessment has indeed made me see a lot of things clearly."
"What Qian'er said is correct. Our Tang Dynasty has indeed raised too many useless people."
"And the amount of money paid to these useless people every year, as well as their daily expenses, is an astronomical figure."
"It's even comparable to me launching a war to destroy the country."
Li Shimin also said with a depressed face: "It seems that it is indeed imperative to reduce military attachés."
Hearing Li Shimin's words, several people in the hall were also stunned.
It’s just an assessment of military attachés, so why did it go off topic and go into reducing military attachés?
"Your Majesty, I'm afraid this is inappropriate..."
Wei Zheng said: "Although we reduced the number of civil servants once, judging from the later effects, it was considered a great success."
"But military officers and civil servants are different after all. Civil servants at most have a few officials under them. At home,
Behind his back there are several attentive connections."
"But in the hands of the military attache..."
That's real soldiers and generals.
If we really want to reduce the number of military attachés across the country, there will definitely be trouble.
If the protection is not complete, there will be that stubborn man who wants to challenge the power of the imperial power.
However, Wei Zheng did not finish his words.
But with Li Shimin's intelligence, it's not difficult to guess what he said next.
Therefore, Li Shimin immediately said: "Because of this, it should be reduced."
"Qian'er has a good saying. Most of these people are our old team members who came from Jinyang."
"Although their loyalty cannot be said, their character and qualifications are really far apart."
"Especially when the Japanese invaded before, the generals in Henan Province clearly had military power in their hands, but how many of them took the initiative to provide reinforcements?"
"Of course this is because the court did not issue an order, but more importantly, these guys are old, have long been afraid of the battlefield, and are tired of war."
"To put it bluntly, they are scared to death and have lost the energy they had when they were young."
Li Shimin looked directly at the crowd and said: "You are all capable of governing when you are off your horse, and you are able to fight when you are on your horse. Don't you think that at the moment, it is time for us in the Tang Dynasty to change?"
The current Tang Dynasty is like a brand new stone mill.
Although the mill was just built, the donkey is already old and can no longer pull it.
If we don't change the donkey, won't such a good grinding machine be wasted?
"Your Majesty, you are right. The more this is the case, the more drastic reforms should be carried out."
Fang Xuanling nodded and said, "But sometimes, being too drastic can hurt innocent people."
"After all, many of these grassroots generals were promoted in the past few years."
"But now we need to If we replace them, everyone will probably feel a little resentful."
Fang Xuanling shook his head and sighed: "In the final analysis, change is easy, but it is not easy to appease people's hearts."
I still remember the last time Li Chengqian proposed the Ten Principles.
It took Li Shimin three full years to calm down all his grievances.
However, despite this, Li Chengqian still suffered so much infamy and attacks, and even now, some people still scold him because of this matter.
After all, it took a lot of effort for someone to become an official, but if you turn back and become a commoner, no one would be happy with that.
"Some things, even if they arouse public outrage, are imperative."
"For example, if the military attaché is lagging behind now, if it remains unchanged, it will be us who will suffer in the future."
At this time, Changsun Wuji, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke.
After hearing his words, Wei Zheng couldn't help but said: "Master Changsun, please don't forget that our Tang Dynasty's strategy for governing the country is that the court is a boat and the people are water."
"It is true that the imperial court is like a boat and the people are like water."
"But you have to be able to protect the water before you can have a strategy, right?"
Changsun Wuji responded directly: "The weapons and tactics of our Tang Dynasty are completely different now."
"When your Majesty leads the troops on an expedition, he uses spears and bows and arrows."
"But everything is different now. We have Zhenguan firing guns and Zhenguan general cannons."
"There are also warships that can carry fifty cannons and thousands of soldiers."
"These things were something we couldn't even imagine at that time."
"If a general can't even use these things, what's the point of being a general?"
“If the people pay taxes, what’s the use of supporting them?”
Changsun Wuji said bluntly: "So, I believe that even if the people don't understand it now, they will understand it in the future..."