Ma Kuo came and went in a hurry and regarded state affairs as his sole concern, which really shocked Zhao Jiu.

However, he did not stop the other party from returning after all, because feelings are feelings, and as an official, he always has to do things... If he really indulged in feelings, he would have been so angry when the three major cases came out.

It was impossible to stop at using a knife to cut Zhao Ji's congratulatory form to pieces. How could he come out to inspect the army and meet with Ma Kuo?

Even further, five or six years of experience in governing has indeed allowed this ordinary engineering college student to hone something.

For example, Zhao Jiu actually hates Li Guang and Ma Shen, but his reason keeps telling him that Li Guang is actually qualified for the specific position of Yushi Zhongcheng. He is supposed to play the role of criticizer, and Ma Shen

Even if he hides his sectarian opinions, he is one step ahead and hides the blame within his own job... From the perspective of an official of the Criminal Department, this person is undoubtedly qualified.

What's more, this person had indeed maintained meritorious service in Hubei before.

In addition, there is the problem of two new ministers, Lu Benzhong and Ren Baozhong. Frankly speaking, Zhao Jiu knows the faults of these two people. One is incompetent, which is fully consistent with the status of the eldest son of the fourth generation and the third prince family; the other is immoral and also

Fully in line with the setting of the military clan leader of an ethnic minority in a small remote country.

These two people, placed in Zhao Jiu's family five years ago, would have... certainly not been able to tell which one of them was incompetent and which one immoral. If they had been placed in Zhao Guan's family three years ago, they would probably not have been able to get close to these two people from the beginning.

Opportunity.

However, the current official understands in his heart that being without virtue and incompetence does not mean that he is useless.

At a time when honorable nobles and the royal family are facing widespread suppression, Lu Benzhong's identity naturally has a certain political influence. Coupled with Lu's special status in Yuanxue and his relatively good reputation, then he should be set up and kept by his side.

Of course it doesn't hurt to help.

In a similar way, Ren Baozhong, a bald old man, not to mention his rich military and political experience, but his status as a veteran of the Hengshan Party Xiang family is enough to give him a chance to survive in the center of power.

Of course, everything must have a steelyard... To put it more closely, the dead Yang Zheng was also very useful, but his head was chopped off; Liu Guangshi was also very useful, but he was drained like a chicken.

Blood...Everything must have a degree, and more importantly, a line. The same is true for people.

Back to the present, although Ma Kuo left, he left an unmistakable message. This person who may know the Jurchens best and has the most say in the Northern Expedition put forward a clear concept-that is, once

The offensive and defensive forces are changing. Want to defeat the Jurchens in Lianghe? We need 300,000 soldiers.

This serious reminder, or warning? Of course Zhao Jiu recognized it. However, what Zhao Guanjia recognized was the general truth, and what he recognized was after the offensive and defensive changes. The Song army's combat power, which can barely maintain the confrontation on the Yellow River, is insufficient at the moment. There must be a

Obvious improvement? Otherwise, it is very likely to fall short.

Then this obvious increase in combat power? The most intuitive form of expression is from 200,000 to 300,000.

In fact, of course it can be quantity? But it can also be quality? It can also be the right time and place, or even a breakthrough weapon technology.

From another perspective, Zhao Jiu had already begun to make similar preparations. For example, as the finances improved year by year, and Qu Duan's imperial cavalry could not recruit enough troops, at the end of the previous year

, at the beginning of last year? He had already acquiesced to Yue Fei's troops to slightly expand his troops after pacifying Jingxiang? And the establishment of the imperial camp's former army last year had already broken through the original framework of 35,000 and reached the 40,000 mark.

.

As for the Han Shizhong, Wu Jie, Qu Duan, and Wang De tribes? After the expedition to Xixia, they were allowed to retain the more than 10,000 elite party troops they had acquired in total. In fact, each of the tribes had actions that exceeded the original limit.

The overall establishment of the battalion army actually exceeded the 200,000 mark after the Western Xia War.

In a word, no matter what, there is already a consensus that the combat effectiveness of the field corps must be qualitatively improved.

Moreover, after Ma Kuo left, Zhao Jiu, who had obtained the answers he wanted during his trip, also left Heyin, but still did not return to the capital. Instead, he continued to patrol along the river in Tokyo City under the extremely nervous eyes of the capital.

, Yuanwu, Yangwu, Suanzao, Xucheng, Shaoxing... It can only be said that this Zhao official seems to be really focused on patrolling the river defense and inspecting the troops.

Moreover, compared with Zhang Rongjun's previous caution, compared with the previous years when the inspections stopped at high-level officers and serious shortages of personnel and corruption, this time, Zhao Jiu obviously adopted a more stringent approach when inspecting Li Qiong's Ministry.

, direct way.

A large number of middle and low-level officers were directly expelled for their bad habits of serving soldiers and violating the boundaries of occupying soldiers' fields. However, a total of hundreds of troops with more than 10,000 people were punished in five places, and more than 30 of them were directly

Behead.

This made countless officers below Li Qiong panic for a time, thinking that this official was coming for them. They could only say that fortunately, Zhao Guan's family had gained the prestige they should have in the past five or six years, and no one dared to jump over the wall like in the past.

Defected.

After inspecting Li Qiong's tribe, Zhao Guan's family did not follow the advice from Tokyo and return to the capital. Instead, they directly crossed Shaoxing in the increasingly cold winter and continued eastward, entering the Henan area of ​​Kaide Prefecture.

From here, we actually set foot in the defense area of ​​Yue Fei's Imperial Camp.

Not long after Yue Fei came back, he was far away in Qizhou. Zhao Jiu did not notify him in particular. In fact, he came with a cautious attitude. He also wanted to see with his own eyes how good the military discipline of Yue Fei's department was, which was recognized as outstanding. The so-called

How powerful is the legendary Yue Family Army... You must know that this is the first time that Zhao Jiu has come to inspect the imperial army, or rather the Yue Family Army.

But after actually walking down the road, to be honest, Zhao Jiu only had four words of feeling, that is, it was ordinary.

The so-called mediocre means that he can't see anything that is completely eye-catching and has obvious characteristics that break through the times... There is no specific military equipment and equipment. From the perspective of the deployment of sophisticated troops, the Yue Family Army seems to be inferior to Han Shizhong's troops.

Those sluts from the elite basic troops do not have any outstanding military appearance in formation. Not to mention the neat lines of the honor guard of the three armies in later generations. It is just that they are physically strong. They are obviously not as good as the Imperial Guards and even Wang De's relatives.

Army; for the same reason, the officers in the army are not as simple as officers and soldiers. The officers of the Yue Family Army are well-paid, and it is also common to buy properties in garrison areas. This is even not as harmonious as the grassroots officers and soldiers of Zhang Rong's Department.

But on the other hand, there is nothing wrong with this official... There is no phenomenon of enlisting soldiers; there is no obvious issue of salary; of course there are vacancies for sergeants, but they are all openly marked on the documents, who is invited?

On leave, so and so just chose to withdraw from the army due to injury. Of course, not everyone wears armor, but only seven or eight out of ten. Some archers and logistics sergeants are not eligible for armor, but that is because of the number of armors distributed by the court.

that's it.

The rest of the army conducts drills every three days, performs exercises every ten days, and eats meat every few days, and they all follow the order.

Everything is so ordinary and everything is so clear. When the combat personnel are summoned, it is clear at a glance. When the logistics account books are escaped, it is also clear at a glance.

Frankly speaking, Zhao Jiu was a little disappointed.

But among the entourage, including Lu Benzhong and Fan Zongyin, Wang Yan, Liu Hongdao, and Ren Baozhong, they looked extremely shocked. Moreover, as the imperial commander marched eastward and inspected more and more garrison points of the imperial army's former army, this kind of surprise also became more apparent.

It became more and more intense, and in the end, these senior officials who were considered military governors simply fell into an unbelievable posture.

Even Zhao Jiu was gradually getting a taste for it.

In other words, he had sensed the taste from the beginning, but he didn't show it because he had unrealistic ideas at the beginning. In the feudal era, an army with as many as 40,000 to 50,000 soldiers could maintain control across the entire front.

This kind of ordinaryness is a miracle in itself.

You know, this is 40,000 to 50,000 people!

It is common sense that an increase in the number of troops will inevitably lead to management chaos and a decrease in average combat power. At this time, it is particularly important to maintain the lower limit of the troop's combat power.

There is no doubt that Yue Pengju was a talented man in the management and combat of large corps, and he may even be the only one in his generation.

Not to mention anything else, if his Zhao Guan family could reach this level and make all the 200,000 troops in the royal camp look ordinary, then he would dare to try to cross the river now.

But in fact, Zhao Jiu couldn't do this, otherwise he wouldn't be forced to patrol the river in the middle of winter.

In this way, after seeing the mediocre Yue family's army, Zhao Guan's family continued eastward, from Kaide to Puzhou and then to Dongping Mansion. During this period, they even paid a special visit to the frozen Liangshan Lake, expressed condolences to the local fishermen, and showed

The official family of Zhao and Song Dynasties behaved like a family.

In the first ten days of the twelfth lunar month, seeing the weather getting colder and colder, Zhao Jiufu sent Liu Hongdao back to Tokyo to make arrangements, but he finally entered Qizhou and came to the famous Jinan Prefecture.

Yue Fei and Wan Qixi went out of the city fifty miles to meet each other. The monarch and his ministers met each other, but as always there were not many unnecessary words to say. Even Wang Yan, who had served as a military envoy, was somewhat shaken after going through this trip, but he just kept calm.

He has a good face and does not cause trouble in front of the emperor or in private.

The inspection of Jinan Prefecture was also lackluster. It was just that there were more elite troops from the imperial camp. Zhao Jiu was more familiar with these elite troops, so he didn't bother to investigate too much.

.The only thing worth mentioning is that this official finally met the legendary mother-in-law and exchanged some experiences on raising children with her.

They probably stayed in Jinan for only four or five days, so Zhao Guan's family continued their eastward inspection. Yue Fei also led Zhang Xian's troops to accompany the Wei army and escorted Zhao Guan's family eastward. They followed the Ji River and arrived at Zizhou. Zizhou still belongs to

Yue Fei's troops were stationed, but further east in Qingzhou was where the right army of Zhang Jun's imperial camp was stationed.

However, just after entering Zizhou and before arriving in Qingzhou, an accident finally occurred - hundreds of armored sergeants suddenly came towards them and stopped them outside the imperial camp's former military garrison outside Gaoyuan City.

Guard of honor, request for an audience.

The incident happened suddenly, and everyone was careful, but fortunately, the place itself was outside the military camp, and the number of accompanying people was sufficient. Hundreds of people were invited in this way. It was unlikely to be a mutiny, so with other people

Unlike the others who were nervous, Zhao Jiu remained calm and entered the Gaoyuan military camp with Wang Yan, Yue Fei and others, and then summoned the leader of this group of sergeants.

But unexpectedly, the person who came was not looking for Zhao Jiu, but claimed to be looking for Yue Fei. Even when this person came to the hall and heard that it was an official in person, he simply lost his mind and was too frightened to say anything.

Just kowtow.

At this time, the accompanying Wen and Wu became nervous again, and Zhao Jiu finally turned his tentative gaze on Yue Pengju.

"Official family."

How come Yue Fei didn't know the root cause of the matter, it was just that it was a bit embarrassing, but until now, he didn't dare not to stand up and confront him, so he had to explain earlier. "I do recognize this person. He was recruited by me when I was in Jingxiang Pingzhong Prime Minister Yang Mo."

One of the surrendered generals was called Mrs. Guo. Later, I placed him here as deputy commander and led three hundred soldiers. However, this man had already invited himself a few months ago when I was still in Kansai.

If you resign, you will no longer be considered your subordinate..."

"I know Mrs. Guo's name. She surrendered with Huang Zuo... But what are the words for resigning?"

Zhao Jiu immediately frowned, but he instantly realized something was wrong. "A deputy commander with three hundred hometown disciples under him resigned while the coach was away. What happened? And looking at today's appearance, his three hundred disciples are just casualties.

He resigned at the same time, and he also had armor and ordnance... It was Wang Gui who stayed in Jinan to take charge of the affairs at that time, right? He was demoted to 300 soldiers, and he just let them leave directly? "

Yue Fei was embarrassed for a moment, and Wang Yan, Ren Baozhong and others also remained silent at this time, because these people with rich military careers had already guessed what was going on.

"What's going on?" Zhao Jiu blurted out in silence, but almost at the same time his heart moved slightly, as if he had woken up.

"No matter how confused the officials and ministers are, they can't really allow three hundred soldiers from Jingxiang to leave the army without permission in Jingdong with their armor and weapons." Yue Fei was forced into a corner, but he told the truth after all. "According to

Wang Gui said that at that time, Zhang Jiedu, a member of the imperial camp’s right army, moved the text, which was regarded as a smooth tone.”
To be continued...