Chapter 0719 A lonely city in thousands of miles, full of white-haired soldiers
Although Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng were shocked, they could sit still.
They have been in officialdom for many years and have never seen anything like this.
They were confident that they would remember everything Kou Ji said.
Cao Wei and others had a bad premonition, but out of shame, they did not ask for paper records.
After taking in everyone's expressions, Kou Ji said with a smile: "Our military system in the Song Dynasty is too complicated, which is why many problems have arisen. Therefore, after discussing with many colleagues in the Privy Council and the officials, I decided to make it more complicated and simpler.
The first is the department number.
The number of soldiers and horses in the Song Dynasty was so complicated that many people couldn't remember them all, which led to a lot of jokes.
So after discussing with the officials, I felt that the number of soldiers and horses in the Song Dynasty could be streamlined.
After being streamlined, the Forbidden Army of the Song Dynasty no longer used the previous designation but a new designation.
They are Four Towns, Four Wings, Two Tigers, and Two Fortresses.
The four towns are Zhendong, Zhennan, Zhenbei and Zhenxi.
The four Yongs are Yong'an, Yongping, Yongding and Yongxing.
The two tigers are Tiger Ben and Tiger Power respectively.
The two fortresses are the static stop and the bao stop.
The above numbers are all forbidden army numbers.
The number of soldiers is fifty thousand.
A total of 600,000 troops.
They guarded the southeast, northwest and four borders of the Song Dynasty.
Among them, Zhendong and Zhennan are both naval forces.
Zhenbei, Huben, sits in the north.
Zhenxi, Huwei, sit in the west.
Jingsai, Baosai, located on the border of Song and Liao Dynasties.
The four armies of An, Ping, Ding, and Xing guard Xining, Taiyuan, Bozhou, and Yongzhou respectively.
In addition to the above 600,000 forbidden troops, there are three other forbidden troops stationed in Bianjing City.
They are Yulongwei, Tianwu and Pengri.
Among them, the full number of Yulong Guards is 10,000.
Tianwu, holding the sun, each with a full quota of 50,000 soldiers.
In order to prevent the Dragon Guards, Tianwu and Pengri from staying in Bianjing for a long time, they were training and could not defend the imperial city.
Every three years, 10,000 elite soldiers are transferred from each imperial army to supplement the Yulong Guard. The original 10,000 soldiers and horses of the Yulong Guard are distributed to various armies to make up for the vacancies.
Every ten years, 100,000 elite soldiers are drawn from the various imperial armies to supplement the Tianwu and Pengri armies. Soldiers and horses from the original Tianwu and Pengri armies are sent to various armies to make up for the vacancies.
This move is to ensure that the garrison in Bianjing City and the local troops in various places maintain strong combat effectiveness at all times."
Speaking of this, Kou Ji paused.
Zhong Shiheng no longer cared about his face and ordered the eunuch standing beside him to get paper and pen for him.
Kou Ji's simple words gave more information than anything he had said before.
Zhong Shiheng can remember it in his head, but the military system that Kou Ji mentioned has completely broken the inherent military system of the Song Dynasty. The inherent knowledge in his mind is not enough for him to distinguish the rationality of it.
He must write it down and analyze it carefully, clause by clause.
Then when we discuss it later, we have something to say.
Some people may think that Kou Ji’s explanation is very simple, but why does He Shiheng think it contains a lot of information?
That's because everything Kou Ji said was based on the existing military system of the Song Dynasty.
New numbers, new equipment of soldiers and horses, the deployment of generals, the dispatch of soldiers and horses, and the deployment of soldiers and horses all need to be taken into consideration.
More importantly, the new army system proposed by Kou Ji only integrated 710,000 forbidden troops, and there are still more forbidden troops that have not been integrated. How to place these forbidden troops is also a big problem.
Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others were all frowning and thinking secretly.
They were analyzing Kou Ji's words line by line, their minds spinning rapidly, but they had no intention of interrupting.
After a pause, Kou Ji continued: "After the Forbidden Army is reorganized, the three government offices and the Privy Council will be merged into one place. From now on, there will be no three government offices, only the Privy Council.
The Privy Council is in charge of dispatching troops and dispatching generals."'
As soon as Kou Ji said this, everyone present, except Zhao Zhen, almost frowned into the character "Sichuan".
At the beginning of the founding of the Song Dynasty, the reason why the three Yamen and the Privy Council were set up to control the troops and generals respectively was because they were afraid that the power of dispatching soldiers and generals would fall into the hands of one person.
Now that General Kou Ji had all the power of dispatching troops under the Privy Council, they naturally felt uncomfortable.
Kou Ji looked at everyone and continued: "From now on, the Privy Council will only be in charge of the Imperial Army."
When Lu Yijian and others heard this, they looked confused and did not understand the meaning of Kou Ji's words.
Kou Ji added: "After the Privy Council takes over the three yamen, it will confiscate all the tiger talismans. In non-war times, the imperial army must be dispatched through the Privy Council's military seal. One seal is divided into two parts, with the official holding half and the privy council holding the other half.
If it is necessary to dispatch troops and generals, the two seals need to be combined into one, and the troop dispatching document must be stamped before dispatching.
During wartime, when the imperial army is dispatched, the officials will issue tiger talismans at all levels."
Lu Yijian and others all stared wide-eyed.
The final result of Kou Ji's move was that Zhao Zhen truly gained military power in the world, and at the same time, Zhao Zhen and the Privy Council jointly held military power.
The current privy envoy is Kou Ji, which means that Zhao Zhen and Kou Ji will share military power.
What are the two doing now?
innovation!
What will you do next?
Completely revolutionize the Song Dynasty!
Now when the two of them are innovating the military system, they firmly hold the military power in their hands. What is their purpose?
Lu Yijian and others knew this well.
They are preparing for future innovations.
Lu Yijian and others are almost certain that Zhao Zhen and Kou Ji will definitely make concessions in other aspects of the military system in the subsequent discussions.
But on this point, the two of them will never make the slightest concession.
Kou Ji guessed what Lu Yijian and others were thinking through their reactions, but without further explanation, he continued: "The above is the military system involving the Privy Council.
Next I will talk about the military system involved in the Ministry of War.
Once the new formation of the Forbidden Army is completed, many Forbidden Army officers will inevitably be left behind.
At that time, the remaining Forbidden Army officers and soldiers will be incorporated into various garrison armies.
We, the Song Dynasty, set up a garrison on every road we established.
The quota is 10,000 people.
It is controlled by the Ministry of War.
Military pay is distributed by the Ministry of War.
Each chamber, vassal, government office, city guard, and rural troops and horses were all abolished.
Each prefecture, state, and county has established government soldiers, state soldiers, and county soldiers.
The number of government soldiers is 1,000, the number of state soldiers is 800, and the number of county soldiers is 500.
The above military forces are all under the jurisdiction of each prefecture, state, and county yamen, and each prefecture, state, and county yamen also have corresponding officials.
The registration belongs to the Ministry of War, but the military salary is distributed by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and the salary is the same as that of the three-class yamen servants in each line.
After the three-level troops and horses of the prefecture, state, and county were established, the remaining troops and horses were transferred to the three squads of each government office.
The number of government officials in the third class of the county government office is set at thirty.
The number of people in the state government office is set at ninety.
The number of people in the government office is also ninety.
After replenishing the three squads of government officials, the remaining soldiers and horses will be returned to their original places and returned to the countryside."
When Lu Yijian and the others heard this, they couldn't react at all. Their brows were knitted together, and their minds were in a mess. The more they thought about it, the more confused they became.
The proposal put forward by Kou Ji has a great conflict with the existing military system and official system. It is very serious.
Every conflict that collides in their minds can form a huge spark, and eventually the sparks join together and turn into a sea of fire, burning their heads into a ball of paste.
"Help...help me get the pen and ink..."
Lu Yijian couldn't bear it anymore, so he called the eunuch beside him to help him get pen and ink.
Lu Yijian started, and the others no longer held on, and started asking the eunuch for pen and ink.
When Zhao Zhen and Kou Ji saw this, they looked at each other and smiled knowingly.
All of what Ko Ji said was discussed between the two of them and the officials of the Privy Council.
The aim is to put all the troops and horses where they should be.
From now on, the 710,000 Forbidden Army troops will not only guard the imperial city, but also sit on the border and fight external affairs.
Other than that, do nothing.
In the words of later generations, they belonged to the field army.
Can act as an expeditionary force when necessary.
The various armies established by various roads are responsible for suppressing local rebellions, exterminating local bandits, suppressing major riots, and helping various governments, states, and counties deal with some military problems that are difficult for them to deal with.
As for the soldiers and horses in various prefectures, states, and counties, they are mainly responsible for maintaining local security and are almost equivalent to external government officials.
It is somewhat similar to Wu Te in later generations.
There is no need for the officials to say much.
According to common sense, when Zhao Zhen and Kou Ji were reforming the military system, there was no need to fill people in local government offices, which would only increase the consumption of money.
The reason why they did this was to prepare for subsequent reforms.
A large part of the reason why the imperial power did not go to the countryside lies with the civil and military officials in the yamen at all levels, as well as the three groups of yamen servants.
Most of the civil and military officials at all levels of yamen, as well as the three classes of yamen servants, are the children of local wealthy households or local powerful people.
They not only controlled the speech of the court's subordinates, but also controlled local control.
Some inactive officials have basically been sidelined by them since they took office.
Zhao Zhen and Kou Ji did this just to add sand into it.
When the inherent tiger on the ground meets the dragon across the river who is assigned to various places, there will inevitably be a conflict in the distribution of interests, and the two sides will inevitably fight to the death.
The soldiers assigned to local areas are definitely not the opponents of those local powerful people.
Therefore, when necessary, Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen will secretly instruct local soldiers and horses to participate.
all in all.
As soldiers were assigned to serve as government officials, the situation in the Song Dynasty's civil affairs would be completely muddied.
It will be much easier for Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen to do their work then.
More importantly, the two of them supported the soldiers who were assigned to the local areas, and those soldiers would naturally speak for them.
The two of them can be regarded as having people in the place.
The local area will not be completely controlled by those powerful people.
Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen not only made plans one by one when dealing with the emperor's relatives and Wu Xun, they also did the same when reforming the military system.
Of course.
After the two of them agreed on this matter, they knew that the nails they planted in the military system would definitely be discovered.
But the two of them are not worried that their military system will not be implemented.
All military reforms are top-down.
First, organize the imperial army to stabilize the four directions and the entire Song Dynasty.
Then proceed to implement roads, prefectures, prefectures, and counties.
Penetrate the soldiers and horses bit by bit.
The last step is to allocate government servants.
At the stage of allocating government officials, the troops and horses of the government offices at the road, prefecture, state, and county levels have been fully deployed.
If the local powerful people resist this matter, the imperial court will have enough reasons, and soldiers at all levels will join in to suppress the local powerful people.
Force local powerful men to bow their heads and admit soldiers into the yamen.
If local powerful forces cause rebellion, the pacification department at the road level can quickly assemble soldiers and horses within the territory, assemble a large army, and press against the local area.
It can be said that this move is more conducive to maintaining local stability than the one soldier and three auxiliaries in the military system of the Song Dynasty.
If the yamen at the road level cannot deal with the rebellion of the local powerful, they can also call on the four Yong-prefixed imperial troops stationed in the four directions of the Song Dynasty nearby.
Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen placed the four forbidden armies of Yongding, Yongping, Yongxing and Yongan in Xining, Taiyuan, Bozhou, Yongzhou and other places respectively.
It acts as a two-sided supporter.
Internally, we can quickly rush to help all directions, and externally, we can quickly rush to help all directions.
To suppress internal pressure, the four Forbidden Forces with the prefix "Yong" can quickly join forces with local soldiers and horses to assemble a force of no less than 70,000 soldiers and horses.
Fifty thousand elite soldiers, leading more than 20,000 local soldiers, are enough to quickly suppress local civil uprisings.
Externally, the four Forbidden Army prefixed with Yong can quickly assist the four Forbidden Army prefixed with Zhen, as well as the two Forbidden Army prefixed with Sai.
Whether they are rushing to aid the Song and Liao border areas, the northern border areas, or the western border areas, they can quickly gather 150,000 elite troops.
150,000 elite troops are enough to deal with any enemy attack from either side.
What's more important is that if the four Forbidden Forces with the prefix "Zhen" go on an expedition, the four "Forbidden Forces" with the prefix "Yong" can quickly take over from them and assume the important task of guarding the border.
All in all, in terms of troop deployment and distribution, Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen racked their brains to come up with a relatively sound and stable military system.
Zhao Zhen and Kou Ji racked their brains to come up with the profound meaning of troop deployment, but Lu Yijian and others have not yet thought of that part.
They were still quickly digesting what Kou Ji said.
Kou Ji did not continue to speak when they sent someone to get pen and paper.
Although he had the idea of disgusting Lu Yijian and others, he could not put it into action.
What is being discussed at the moment is state affairs, not trivial matters.
After they got pen and paper, Kou Ji slowly said: "As for the supervision of the army, the system of supervision of the army will be retained, but in the Forbidden Army, the supervision of the army will be implemented up to the battalion level.
It can be implemented at the local level to the capital level.
Moreover, civilian officials and eunuchs will no longer serve as supervisors.
The officials are preparing to revive the military examination. From now on, the supervisors in the army will be filled by Jinshi who have passed the military examination.
In martial arts, in addition to the martial arts test, a part of the literary test will also be added accordingly.
The Supervisory Army is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.
Abolish the temporary arbitrary power of the supervisory army."
"In terms of military positions, complicated military positions are banned and everything is simplified. Except for the Dragon Guards, the other chief generals of the Forbidden Army are awarded the rank of general. The commanders of the left and right wings are changed to left and right generals. The head of the Tenth Army is changed to general. The battalion is changed to general.
Captain, Dutou is still Dutou...
Each army has two generals and ten lieutenants.
Each government has troops and horses, and two captains.
The troops and horses in each county do not have official positions. They are dispatched according to the situation and are decided by the county captain..."
Kou Ji spoke very generally about martial arts, but Lu Yijian and others generally knew what Kou Ji meant.
For example, the rank of general does not mean that there is a separate official position. The imperial court has corresponding official positions. The rank of general includes the second-rank auxiliary general, the Zhengguo general, the third-rank Huaihua general, and the champion general.
.
In the past, such official positions were just promotions, but Kou Ji just turned the promotion into actual duties.
The specific ranks of the generals will definitely be set according to the existing ranks of the imperial court.
There are also corresponding official positions in the imperial court, such as generals, generals, lieutenants, etc.
Except for the generals on the left and right, the rest are on casual duty.
Kou Ji abandoned the cumbersome actual duties and directly adopted simple casual duties.
The biggest visible benefit of doing so is that the professional titles of military attachés at all levels have become clearer, and the court has thus saved a large amount of salary on tedious official positions.
After Wang Zeng heard this, he wrote it down.
Obviously he was very satisfied with the military system proposed by Kou Ji.
Wang Zeng's attitude is very simple. As long as it can help the court save money, he agrees with it and thinks it is good.
After everyone finished writing what he said, Kou Ji continued: "In terms of recruiting troops, the Ministry of War will cooperate with the local yamen to recruit troops, and the Privy Council will allocate troops."
In the past, the imperial court was very casual in recruiting troops.
During wartime, the imperial court would issue documents to local government offices to recruit troops, and then allocate them nearby.
At the same time, when each army is fighting, in order to replenish the number of troops in time, they will also set up camps to recruit troops. Some military supervisors, pacifiers, etc. can also recruit troops when necessary.
Some simply draw them directly from other troops.
Others directly took criminal prisoners, prisoners who were assassinated, etc. into the army.
In short, there were too many ways to recruit soldiers in the Song Dynasty, and the pacification envoys and other frontier officials could draw soldiers and horses from other armies, which resulted in a very chaotic number of soldiers and horses in each army. This is why the generals in the army dared to shout recklessly.
One of the reasons for bloodshed in soldiers.
As long as someone helps issue the transfer order, or someone endorses it, the soldiers and horses under each army can be in their own camp today and in someone else's camp tomorrow.
Or maybe there are only a few thousand troops in the army, but tens of thousands of people are asked for pay from the court.
The soldiers only receive a military salary, but the generals who lead the troops can get more benefits.
Some people with background in the military often made a fuss about this matter.
After Kou Ji finished explaining how to recruit troops, he said nothing more.
Lu Yijian and others were stunned for a moment.
Lu Yijian rubbed his eyebrows, stared at Kou Ji and said, "What else?"
Kou Ji was tired after talking so much. Hearing Lu Yijian's words, he smiled and said: "The other thing is the service life of soldiers and horses."
Speaking of this, Kou Ji paused and sighed: "We can no longer let our soldiers and horses die in the military camp. That would be too cruel. Since they shed their blood for me, the Song Dynasty, they shouldn't continue to shed tears.
When I was in the northwest, I saw a battalion of veterans with white hair.
A lonely city thousands of miles away is filled with white-haired soldiers.
Prime Minister Lu should have heard of this allusion."
When Kou Ji mentioned that "a lonely city thousands of miles away is filled with white-haired soldiers," the expressions of everyone present became more solemn.
Lu Yijian sighed: "Of course I know that a lonely city thousands of miles away is full of white-haired soldiers. It tells the story of Guo Xin, the nephew of Guo Ziyi, the secretary of the Tang Dynasty. When Guo Xin was young, he went to Anxi to join the army. Civil strife broke out in the Tang Dynasty, and the Anxi army where Guo Xin was with followed
The Tang court lost contact.
He led his troops and stayed in Anxi for more than ten years. It was not until the civil strife in the Tang court was settled that he got in touch with the Tang court.
At that time, the Tang court was already strong on the outside and weak on the inside. It could not give Guo Xin any help and did not recall him. It only gave Guo Xin the title of Prince of Wuwei and promoted his soldiers to seven or eight levels.
But it was of little help to him and his soldiers.
But even so, he and his soldiers were still happy and still helped the Tang court guard Anxi.
But they lost contact with the Tang court again.
Losing contact this time is an eternity.
They stayed in Anxi for forty-two years, and the green young men they once were have turned into gray-haired decrepit men.
Of the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, only a few thousand died in the forty-two years of war.
In their final battle, they faced a Tibetan army of 100,000 troops.
After that battle, they were all buried in Anxi, and no one survived."
At the end of the story, Lu Yijian was very sad and even unwilling to describe the miserable scene.
Kou Ji took a deep breath and said seriously: "Their heroism deserves to be remembered by my Han family men forever, but their story can no longer happen.
If we have the ability to let the gray-haired soldiers in the military return home and enjoy their old age in peace, we must let them return home and enjoy their old age in peace.
I know that even though they are gray-haired, they have no regrets when they rush to the battlefield to fight the enemy in blood.
They have no regrets because they have no shame.
But if we let their stories reappear, we would be ashamed of them and all the soldiers in the world.
Therefore, I cannot just watch the soldiers in the army die in the camp.
I can't just watch their gray hair and shed the last drop of blood for me, the Song Dynasty.
The blood will be shed by us, not by them.
Not only do I want to set a number of years for them to serve, I also want them to return to their hometowns when they have spare energy, let them marry and have children, and let them live the rest of their lives richly.
They deserve such kindness from the court, right?
Mr. Lu?"
"Then let it be ten years! Forbidden army officers, enlist in the army for ten years! After ten years, those who are willing to stay in the army can continue to stay in the army. I allow him to marry a wife in the army, and maybe he will move his family to his side. .
The soldiers who have returned home should join the third squad or serve in the barracks of the yamen at various levels.
The court helped them find wives.
If no one is willing to marry me, I will bring someone to help them snatch her.
Li Yuanhao can do this robber, Yelu Longxu can do it, and I can do it too.
For my great Song Zhongyong, I am willing to be a robber for once!"
Zhao Zhen was infected by the words of Lu Yijian and Kou Ji, and the benevolence in his heart took over and he spoke these words.
In fact, when Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen first discussed it, they set a period of fifteen years.
Zhao Zhen personally overturned the life limit set by him and Kou Ji.
Kou Ji thought for a moment and did not refute Zhao Zhen's words.
If it were before, he would naturally not agree with Zhao Zhen's proposal.
Because most of the soldiers were teenagers when they entered the camp. Ten years later, when they were most experienced and able to fight, releasing them back home early would not be of much benefit to the Song Dynasty.
But things are different now.
He made muskets and cannons.
With muskets and artillery, soldiers can save a long time of training in martial arts after entering the camp.
Therefore, the combat effectiveness of soldiers will not decline significantly just because they retire early.
More importantly, Zhao Zhen sent retired soldiers to government offices at all levels to serve as garrison troops, which meant hiding troops from the people.
When they really need to go into battle, they can assemble quickly.
Therefore, whether Zhao Zhen's proposal is good or bad, Kou Ji can barely accept it.
Just because Kou Ji can accept it doesn't mean that others can accept it.
When Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng heard Zhao Zhen say that he wanted to be a robber, their jaws almost dropped.