Hearing this, Han Qiqi said, "How did the Taiwei say that? After one army is trained, it is stationed in other places, and then another army is trained, why not? ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Xianggong, if the army is trained, if there is no war, I am afraid that it will soon fall." Military experience, not seen in war, is mostly quickly forgotten. What about going to school with books? What about the three orders? Without war, those are useless things. Only when you have really seen and experienced it in the war will you really learn it. ”

Zhang Sheng said: "It may not be so. According to what the lieutenant said, if an army does not go to the battlefield no matter how well it is trained, won't it always be unable to fight? If so, what's the use of running a military school and teaching recruits? ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, an army has never been on the battlefield, and Ren said it in a big way, in fact, it can't be fought." If there is no war, then it is necessary to simulate the war and conduct drills. The more you practice, the more realistic the simulation will be, and the better the results will be. But compared to the actual combat, it is always a little worse. We're training now, but we're really just reorganizing the army, and we don't have the opportunity to practice—"

Han Qi said: "Why don't you have a chance?" Organize a new army and let them go out for exercises. ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head: "The newly formed armies are not clear about the war. If you don't have the right enemy, how can you train it? Only when you have really looked for a battle, been on the battlefield, and know how to fight a war, can you know how to practice. When there is no war, no matter how brave the soldiers are, they really go to the battlefield, and they can't say what they look like. It is not uncommon to see that some of the enemies scattered in a hurry, but they could not defeat the enemy, and some of them were extremely vicious to the common people. Discipline is written there, and how many armies are there that can really guarantee battlefield discipline? ”

Seeing that Du Zhongxiao was serious, Han Qi looked at Zhang Sheng and Zhang Fangping, and said, "According to the meaning of the captain, if you don't go to the battlefield, can the army fight is a bad thing?" I look at the armies on the winding road of the river, and they do things in a very orderly manner, and the party is really vulnerable. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "That's because, after the camp Tianxiang army was trained at that time, the enemy army didn't know when they arrived at Hequ Road, and they won a big victory. After winning one battle after another, the morale of the army became different and changed. At that time, if the army was trained at the beginning, if it encountered a strong enemy and did not support it, it is difficult to say what the army would do in the end. This is just like people, it is tempered into steel, but it can be rigid and soft, and it can be stabilized in the end. ”

Hearing this, the others did not speak for a while. They didn't expect that Du Zhongxiao would have such an opinion on the army. Originally, I thought that the whole training was just a re-organization of the army after changing the personnel of the army according to the military system of the river meandering road. But I didn't expect that the real completion would have to go through a big battle. If you don't experience the war, how to compile it is only on paper.

Looking at the sky, Han Qi said: "If there is nothing to do today, I will serve some wine and food, and we will talk while drinking." ”

Not long after, the wine and food came up, and Han Qi raised his glass: "It's rare that we get together today and have a drink." ”

Putting down the wine glass, Han Qi said to Du Zhongxiao: "In the past, I saw that when Taiwei was on Hequ Road, he led the army to win consecutive battles, and he was undefeated and opened up a land of thousands of miles. But he never asked, what kind of army does the captain think is a really strong army? ”

Du Zhongxiao thought for a while and said: "A really strong army can't rely on the army alone, you need to have the support of the people in the world." It stands to reason that the army should come out of the common people and fight for the imperial court. In the past, the forbidden army, for various reasons, served as soldiers for many generations. These people, whose relationship with the people is weakened, are not able to fight evil wars. Only when we truly come out of the people, fight for the people, and fight for the world can we become a truly strong army. ”

Du Zhongxiao has learned this truth, in a simple sentence, from the masses, to the masses. Only when the army is linked with the people can it be indomitable and become stronger the more it fights. However, in this era, there are no conditions, and this is difficult to do. Not only is it impossible for the imperial court, but it is also impossible for the people, and they do not have such objective conditions.

In the past, the forbidden army, due to the Song Dynasty's birth of five generations, usurped Zhou and became independent, deliberately keeping the army at a distance from the people. Don't say that they come from the crowd and go to the masses, they have deliberately kept a distance from the people. In such an army, after a long time, the ability of the generals is not good, and the soldiers below will naturally not be good. And without resilience, once it fails, it is irreversible.

Du Zhongxiao knew very well that there were no conditions for building a people's army, so he retreated to the next best thing and built a professional army. Let the army maintain the most basic combat effectiveness, and then rely on strong national strength to fight head-to-head battles with the enemy.

An army has its own character. It is impossible for the army to grow up just by reorganizing and training according to the new establishment and without going through the baptism of war. The original character will not disappear and will soon corrode the new army.

After listening to Du Zhongxiao's words, Zhang Fangping said: "The forbidden army is the minions of the country, as long as it can fight." The people's comfortable life is the greatest pleasure in the world, how can they fight wars! Ordinary people don't know how to fight, which is the blessing of the court. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "What you said about participating in politics is right, it is a blessing for the people not to listen to the soldiers." But there is no strong army, and many enemies are around, and this blessing is unattainable. Only when we can fight can we make peace, and only when we fight our neighbors have nothing to say can there be true peace. If you can't fight, how can the surrounding strong enemies let go of the fat in your mouth? Just like the former Tang Dynasty, when the national strength was at its peak, the four Yi came to congratulate, the national strength was weak, and the soldiers were everywhere. ”

This is a contradictory theory, which is not a profound theory for people of this era, but it is also not something that ordinary officials can recognize. Zhang Fangping obviously did not approve of this, for him, the army is the army, do his part well, and the people can enjoy peace.

It is a blessing that the people do not know the soldiers, but such a blessing can only be based on luck, depending on whether others give it to you. Only if he is a strong army in the world, and Siyi does not dare to move the idea of invasion, then will there be real peace.

Zhang Sheng nodded: "The Taiwei is right, you can make peace only if you can fight." If you can't fight, what's the use of forbearance? After the rebellion of Anshi in the Tang Dynasty, the surrounding Tubo, Uighur, and Nanzhao were all kinds of things, but there was no good class. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Yes, the imperial court must realize this. Why is there peace? Because of their own strong troops, the surrounding enemies can't get cheap to invade. Once the invasion is profitable for the foreign enemy, peace is very good. is like the alliance of Lanzhou, if you don't shoot Xiao Tzu Rin and let the Khitans know that they can't win, how can there be a later brotherly state? ”

Han Qi said: "I somewhat understand what Taiwei meant. It's just that such a strong army, there is no right time, place and people, but I am afraid that it will be difficult. ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Yes, many things are not done well if you know how to do them." You can only do the right thing according to the realistic conditions. If we can't unite all the people in the world, then we can only find a way from the army itself. Decide what they want to do, what they need to do, and choose the right people. Some people may understand the current forbidden army and fighting wars, but who understands the real war? Without going through a war that requires the best efforts of the whole world, many people still do not have a clear understanding of war. The war between the two countries is not just a knife and a shot in front of the front, but all aspects from government affairs to daily affairs. It is necessary to make all preparations in order to win the war. ”

Zhang Fangping said: "I wiped out the party last year, and it didn't take much effort. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Participating in politics, compared with this dynasty, how much territory does the party have?" What is the population? How much food is there? As long as it is normal, the money and grain can be piled up to kill the party, and there are countless things to do. Compared with the current dynasty, the Khitan can be regarded as evenly matched. Only when the Khitan is defeated can it be said to be safe. ”

For the Khitan, the sixteen states of Yanyun are only a part, and his core is Liaodong and the prairie. To the north of Hedong and Hebei Road, the vast land is Khitan territory. All the tribes of the steppe are part of the Khitan. Unlike the Jurchens, these steppe tribes are quite loyal to the Khitan, and their strength cannot be underestimated.