In the yamen of the Xiangjun, Du Zhongxiao, Liu Ji and Yang Ji sat in the main seat, looking at the newly arrived Dou Shunqing, Xiang Chuanfan and Yang Sui, as well as Li Fugui beside the three of them, and said: "It is really rare for Dou Dujian to be recommended by Wang Taiwei and Zhao Zi to manage the army, and he is willing to come to the camp of the Xiangjun. Yang Sui met when he was in Beizhou, and he was the first to go to prison, and he was recommended by his brother to Suizhou to Zong, and he was willing to come, and we welcome it. Li Zhizhou went to office, and he was willing to come to the camp and be a quartermaster. They are all talents that we urgently need. I have prepared wine today, and I will wash the dust for you. ”

The four of them thanked each other and sat down in the guest seat.

Du Zhongxiao said: "The army was originally organized into three divisions, and now the two divisions have division masters, and Dou Dujian is the division master of the third division. Yang and Xiang were in the Dou Capital Supervision Army, and how to arrange to discuss with the two military masters. Li Zhizhou is different from others, he is a quartermaster in the army, and he is on my side. ”

Liu Jidao: "Nowadays, all the armies are basically neat, but the cavalry lacks men and horses, and the artillery lacks people, so it is difficult to recruit people into the army for a while. Li Zhizhou, you should think more about this matter. If the men and horses can be matched before the autumn, the army will be reorganized. ”

Li Fugui arched his hand: "After returning to the promotion, the military master, and the imperial appointment, when his majesty resigned in Beijing this time, I listened to the discussion of the ministers in the city, and there were too many commissions in the military report of the camp field. The whole army is nearly 50,000 people, and in terms of numbers, it is equivalent to soldiers and horses all the way along the border. Although most of the expenses in the army come from camp and field affairs, and most of the soldiers are van soldiers, the number of people is still too many. Now that the army is not evenly matched, it is better to downsize it according to the opinions of the DPRK and the central government. ”

Du Zhongxiao looked at Liu Ji and Yang Jin, and said with a smile: "It's okay to downsize, but the establishment is still there." The number of 50,000 men in an army is to deal with the war, and the soldiers along the way should have this number, otherwise they will not be able to attack and defend freely. In the end, the box army is a camp, and there is not enough people and horses, so it is natural to save the number of people and leave the establishment on paper. ”

Among the forbidden army, leading two or three thousand soldiers is already a course middle-level officer, and then upward, unless you enter the Sanya forbidden army to be the master and the owner, there is no opportunity to train and lead more soldiers in the locality. In the end, the Xiang army is the Xiang army, in the eyes of the imperial court, the irregular army, no matter how Du Zhongxiao tosses, the imperial court regards it as an experiment, and it will not be counted in the future. Most of the officers in the army were regular officers under the camp and field affairs, and were not regular officers of the imperial court. When the official officers come, they are all super promoted, and the capital supervisor can be the master of the division and bring more than 10,000 people. In fact, under the forbidden army system, the capital prison led no more than 1,000 troops at most, and the box army was magnified tenfold.

There are more soldiers with him, and of course there is a lot of money, all of which are subsidized by the camp and the Changping Division. When the three officers came, the treatment remained the same, and the officials and powers were only in the camp and the army.

Wang Kai has been promoted to Ma Shuai, and Dou Shunqing was his subordinate when he was on Linfu Road, and there were disputes, but later he appreciated it very much. A few years ago, Dou Shunqing fought pirates on Jingdong Road, and Zhao Zi was a colleague, and this time it was the two of them who came at a price. Yang Sui is the first general of the rebellion of Wang Ze in Pingbei Prefecture, and one of the three Suis of the "Legend of the Three Sui Ping Demons" that later generations said about this matter, which was appreciated by Wang Kai and also had a relationship with Du Zhongxiao. Xiang Chuanfan is the second son of former Prime Minister Xiang Minzhong and the son-in-law of Zhao Weiji, the son of Zhao Dezhao. As a relative, there was no chance of fighting, and there were many people in the camp and the army, and there was a lot of money and food, so he could only hold on to his own pomp. 、

Li Fugui is a person who is good at discovering opportunities, and when he was the governor of Tangzhou, he had contact with Du Zhongxiao, and this time he took the initiative to be a quartermaster, and he is still a civil servant. The quartermaster is equivalent to the military transfer envoy when going to war, and according to the practice at this time, it is always a civil servant. He said that the current establishment of the battalion field and the army is too much, and it is not to represent his own opinions, but the opinions of the emperor and ministers of the DPRK and China, and Du Zhongxiao certainly cannot go against them.

This is the difference between the forbidden army and the Xiang army, although in the northwest, the opinion of the marshals is that the township soldiers and the Fan soldiers are better than the forbidden army, but the rank of the military general is linked to the number of subordinate forbidden troops. Status determines how many forbidden troops to bring, and other soldiers and horses do not count.

An army of 50,000 people is completely a soldier all the way, and Du Zhongxiao also feels that this number is too huge. But if you calculate it, if you define the army in the first way, that is, the limit that a military general can lead troops, it is almost this number, no matter what, the establishment will be set up first. No matter how large the number is, it is not something that the permanent military generals can decide, and there must be a commander sent by the imperial court to carry out unified command. In this way, the commander of the first army is actually equivalent to deploying all the way along the border now. And then up, it is the commander of the strategic envoy level.

After serving tea, several people drank tea while discussing the views of the DPRK and China on the rectification of the camp and field affairs. The general opinion is that the number of the first army set by Du Zhongxiao is too much, and after such a reorganization, how many armies are left in the world? Another point is that there are too many artillery and cavalry, and it is good to say that artillery can make its own, and there are no horses in the Song Dynasty, so how can so many cavalry be made?

Du Zhongxiao was quiet, and finally asked: "Since you have come to Yingtianxiang Army, you will be a family in the future, what do you think of what the DPRK and China say?" ”

Dou Shunqing crossed his hands: "Back to the promotion, the last general is only a prisoner, there are no more than 1,000 soldiers, and I really don't know how to have more than 10,000 soldiers and horses." ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded, and said to the three generals: "It's okay, in the past two months, you will go to the formed army, start from the grassroots level, and get familiar with it little by little." The capital supervisor led a thousand soldiers, which is actually about the same as the current battalion of soldiers. It's not just the numbers, it's the practice of fighting, all of them are soldiers and horses fighting in formation. As for intelligence, marching, supplying, retreating, chasing the enemy, they are not taken into account. In the future, these things must be learned, otherwise they will not be able to take charge on their own. The biggest difference between the military and the previous establishment is that the battalion level fights in formation, and the upper levels must be able to take charge of the enemy on their own. It's not easy, and there's a lot to learn. ”

Dou Shunqing said: "The last general has been on the border for many years, intersected with the enemy, and fought with the enemy several times, so he is no stranger to these. ”

"That's good, that's good." Du Zhongxiao said as he stood up. "There's a wine feast in the back, let's take a seat."

When everyone arrived at the back office, they sat down separately, and Du Zhongxiao led him to drink a few glasses of wine, and said: "You are new here, and you will arrange accommodation with your entourage and the officials of the camp and field." Next to the town, it's easy to buy anything. Take the time to take a trip to Fancheng, from here there is a train, it is very easy. There is a shopping mall opened by the Tsunehei Division, and all kinds of goods are available, so let's stay with peace of mind. ”

Xiang Chuanfan said with a smile: "When the last general was in the capital, he talked to the surrounding people, and they all envied the prosperity of Jingxi Road. It's just that because of his identity, it's not easy for the general to go out of Beijing casually. This time I came to Suizhou, and my relatives instructed me to buy a lot of goods. ”

The whereabouts of relatives are restricted, and they live in the capital, and they can't go out of the city casually without their will. The iron supervisor of Yingtianwu and the shopping mall of Changping Division have brought earth-shaking changes to Jingxi Road. Especially after the railway was opened, Luoyang on the north road, Xiangzhou on the south road, and the iron supervisor in the middle, became one of the most prosperous places in the world. On the contrary, Kaifeng Prefecture, because it was independent of the economic system, commerce was far behind.

Now the rich and noble families in the capital often take the Liangjing Railway from Kaifeng to Luoyang to play, which has further driven the prosperity of Luoyang. The railway, which is the busiest in the world, was just changed to another track last year, connecting the political center on one side and the commercial center on the other.

The fact that many officials are willing to come to the camp and field affairs and the promotion department is not unrelated to this. Du Zhongxiao's status is comparable to that of the chief of the road at this time, and it is inevitable that there will be concerns about many promising officials who will become officials under him. For so many years, there are only two criminal officials in the camp and field, and Chang Pingsi has been reporting it for several months, and he has not yet designated a subordinate officer.

These Changping Divisions make too much money, and the court arranges subordinate officials, hoping to have status and ability. Those who have the ability and status, and they don't want to be under Du Zhongxiao, and they have been in a stalemate for a long time. It was not long ago that it was finally decided to set up a permanent judge.