During the reign of Emperor Renzong of the Song Dynasty, the total number of forbidden troops in the Great Song Dynasty reached 1,259,000, of which 826,000 were soldiers, horses, and infantry troops. With the addition of the local township army, the total number is as high as more than 1.6 million, and even if some vacancies are deducted, it is not a small number. Tens of millions of dollars are needed every year to maintain the huge expenses of the army. However, although the army was numerous, but the combat effectiveness was deteriorating, and it was at this time that Li Yuanhao of the Western Xia went through three battles of Sanchuankou, Haoshuichuan, and Dingchuan, and defeated the Song army, so he took the opportunity to sit on the throne.

After the southern crossing, in order to resist the invasion of the Jin army, the imperial court had no choice but to give the generals the right to form an army independently. It's just that Zhao Gou was bent on peace, and Qin Hui adhered to the holy will, took charge of the government and sought peace, killed Yue Fei, and collected the military power of the generals of Long, which made the quality of the Song army decline significantly.

Although the quality of the Great Song Dynasty army has improved slightly after Xiaozong's deliberate rectification, the trend of redundant troops has also gradually intensified. By the time of Xiaozong's reign, the total strength of the whole country was close to 800,000. Among them, the main force is the imperial garrison and the Sanya forbidden army, with a total strength of more than 400,000. The total annual military expenditure reached nearly 40 million, which was more than 60 percent of the financial revenue of the Great Song Dynasty in a normal year.

Last year, in order to defeat the southern invasion of the Jin army, the Great Song Dynasty also expanded its army on a large scale, so although there were several major battles and tens of thousands of people killed, the total number of troops was not reduced much. It can be said that if the problem of redundant troops is not solved, it will be impossible for the Great Song Dynasty to become truly rich and strong. Therefore, in reforming the military system, we must first start by eliminating redundant troops.

Yang Yan believes that for the time being, the regular strength of the Great Song Dynasty should only be maintained at about 500,000 to 600,000. Among them, the strength of the imperial garrison and the Sanya forbidden army remained unchanged at about 400,000. The remaining 100,000 to 150,000 or so van troops guarded other places. After that, 100,000 to 150,000 township troops were recruited to supplement the lack of local troops. When there is a war, it will slowly expand.

First of all, we must rectify the existing army, and we must get rid of all the old, weak, and useless soldiers, and those who are not lazy, and the number of troops is insufficient, and new soldiers are being recruited. Moreover, when recruiting new recruits, we must be strict in selecting and must not indiscriminately fill up the numbers. At the same time, it is also necessary to conduct strict training, strictly enforce military discipline, and build a Song army with strong combat capability.

At the same time, Yang Yan also put forward his own suggestions on the current distribution of troops in the Great Song Dynasty. After Yue Fei was killed, Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun were removed from military power. The Great Song Dynasty set up ten imperial garrisons along the Yangtze River, on the one hand to defend the borders of the Great Song Dynasty, and on the other hand, to disperse the troops of the border generals. These ten imperial garrisons were Xingzhou, Xingyuanfu, Jinzhou, Xiangyangfu, Jingnan (later changed to Jiangling Fu), Ezhou, Jiangzhou, Chizhou, Jiankang Fu, and Zhenjiang Fu. The official position of the chief general is the commander of the imperial garrison.

After Xiaozong succeeded to the throne, he also completely followed the old system. At present, the distribution of border forces in the Great Song Dynasty is roughly the same. It's just that after the capital was moved to Jiankang, the imperial garrison of Jiankang Mansion was canceled. For the time being, the defense was taken care of by the forbidden army of Jiankang Province. And Liu Fuxian and Zhang Shiyan were stationed in Haozhou and Xuyi respectively to defend the front of Jiankang Mansion.

However, Yang Yan believes that these ten imperial garrisons are basically distributed along the Yangtze River, except for the three imperial garrisons in Sichuan, the position of the seven imperial garrisons in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is too far behind, except for Xiangyang Mansion and Jiangling Mansion, the other five are actually south of the Yangtze River. Obviously, this arrangement is too passive and conservative. Moreover, the distribution of the strength of the ten imperial garrisons is also uneven, the largest number of troops are Xingyuan Mansion, Ezhou, Jiankang Mansion, and the strength of 60,000, 53,000, and 50,000 respectively, while the least number of troops is the Jiangzhou Imperial Garrison, only 10,000, and the Jinzhou and Chizhou Imperial Garrisons are only 12,000 people, and the difference can reach five or six times. Wu Xi dared to openly rebel and claim the king in Sichuan, precisely because the imperial garrison of Xingyuan Mansion was the most powerful one.

Therefore, Yang Yan believes that the overall premise of the defense line of the Great Song Dynasty should be divided into five major defense areas, from west to east, followed by Lizhou West and East Road, Jinghu North Road, Huainan West and East Road, and at the same time in the northwest region, the Great Song Dynasty obtained seven counties such as Lintao Mansion and set it as Linzhao Road, which was merged into Lizhou West Road, and Jingnan South Road was merged into Jinghu North Road. In addition, two imperial garrisons should be set up in each defense area, namely: Lintao Mansion and Chengzhou on the Lizhou West Road, Xingyuan Mansion and Jinzhou on the Lizhou East Road, Xiangyang Mansion and De'an Mansion on the Jinghu North Road, Guangzhou, Haozhou on the Zhunnan West Road, and Xuyi Army and Chuzhou on the Huainan East Road.

The strength of each imperial garrison is between 20,000 and 25,000 people, and there is still a capital commander to manage the whole army, and a commander of the imperial soldiers and horses is set up in each defense area, and the two imperial garrisons are under control, but the commander of the imperial soldiers and horses and the imperial garrison are directly appointed and dismissed by the imperial court, and replaced. In the event of a large-scale war, the imperial court will directly appoint generals to concentrate the forces of two or three defense zones and unify the command. and mobilized the Sanya Forbidden Army from Jiankang to supplement the shortage of troops in each defense area.

In this way, the distribution of troops on the border can be more even, and the strength of each imperial garrison will be equal, and there will be no situation in which one army will dominate the situation, and the possibility of local generals supporting their own troops will be eliminated. Moreover, it can also cope with various war needs.

At the same time, Yang Yan also put forward some suggestions for revising the structure of the Sanya Forbidden Army guarding the Beijing Division, in addition to strict selection and strict training. During the reign of Xiaozong, the total approved strength of the Sanya Forbidden Army was 128,000 people, including 73,000 people in the front division of the palace, 30,000 people in the horse army division, and 25,000 people in the infantry army division. Because Lin'an is in a corner, backed by mountains and seas, such a force is basically enough to guard.

But now the Great Song Dynasty is in Jiankang, although there is also the Yangtze River natural danger as a trench, but the location has entered hundreds of miles north. The nearest place to the border is less than 500 miles. Moreover, it is necessary to be able to deploy troops to support other defense areas at any time, so Yang Yan believes that the current strength is completely insufficient, and the scale of the Sanya forbidden army will be expanded to 18 to 200,000 people, and the water army should also be increased, on the one hand, it is to control the Yangtze River valley and gain water superiority, and on the other hand, once there is a large-scale war, the Yangtze River waters can be used to transport soldiers and materials, and support other defense areas as soon as possible. And if there is a rebellion on the border, troops can be quickly dispatched to suppress it.

According to Yang Yan's assumption, the distribution of the strength of the Sanya Forbidden Army was about 120,000 people, and the infantry and cavalry were mixed, including 20,000 to 30,000 sailors and corresponding warships. The Ma Jun Division was about 30,000 people, but it was restored to the full cavalry establishment, and the elephant army was incorporated into the Ma Jun Division, becoming a separate army. The infantry division is 40,000 to 50,000 people, and a military structure dedicated to the use of firearms as weapons has been added to the infantry division. In the event of a large-scale war, the imperial court did not directly control it, but the chief generals of the three forbidden armies formed the Governor's Office, which was placed under the Privy Council, and was responsible for formulating battle plans, marching strategies, selecting generals, and then reporting to Zhongshu Province as a reference for the imperial court. Truly do their own responsibilities and do their own thing.

It can be said that this part is the most written and detailed part by Yang Yan. Not only did they try their best to correct all kinds of problems in the previous military system, structure, and distribution of troops, but they also considered as much as possible from the angle of maintaining the stability of the rule of the imperial court, and also formulated some measures to prevent the military generals from exercising dictatorship and supporting the army for self-respect. At the same time, many details are also explained, such as the criteria for selecting soldiers, as well as the methods of training soldiers, assessment, and the manufacture of weapons. It can be seen that Yang Yan wrote this military restructuring after careful thinking, gained his own practical experience, and at the same time repeatedly discussed and studied with Yang Yi and others, and spent a lot of effort and effort.

Although Zhao Chen is not very old, and he has been the emperor for less than two years, but as soon as he ascended the throne, he has been at war, so he is also somewhat familiar with the military, and he still has a certain understanding of the disadvantages of the military system of the Great Song Dynasty. Zhao Chen was also very happy with Yang Yan's suggestions, and immediately said: "Okay, I will issue an edict tomorrow to reform the military system." ”

Yang Yan said with a smile: "Your Majesty, you are anxious again, not to mention that now is not the time to implement the changes immediately, and at least let the Privy Council take a look and discuss whether there are any mistakes, and it is not too late to implement them." ”

Hearing Yang Yan say this, Zhao Chen was also a little embarrassed, and said: "There are too many things in the imperial court, can't I deal with them all right away?" ”

Yang Yan said: "Governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh, neither can you be too hasty, nor can you relax and slack, only just right, can you do things well." This is true for the implementation of the new law, and the same is true for the reform of the military system. Moreover, we must be more careful in changing the military system, because if we want to reduce some of the soldiers, it means that the reduced soldiers will lose their positions, and naturally some people will be dissatisfied, so if you don't pay attention to it, it will inevitably cause changes, once it causes a camp roar, such as the Huaixi Mutiny of that year, it will shake the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty. ”

When Zhao Chen heard this, he couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart, and said: "What my brother-in-law said is, so according to my brother-in-law, how should the reform of the military system be carried out?" ”

Yang Yan said: "First change the Sanya Forbidden Army, then change the Imperial Front Garrison, and finally change the national garrison." Then he further explained: "Changing the forbidden army first can ensure the safety of the Jiankang Imperial Court and have enough troops, and once an accident occurs when changing the imperial garrison in various places, you can also be prepared and calmly send troops to pacify it." After the Sanya Forbidden Army and the Imperial Front Garrison were all changed, it would be much easier for the garrisons in other places. ”

Zhao Chen nodded and said, "Brother-in-law is still thoughtful, so when did you start to change the military system of the forbidden army?" ”

Yang Yan said with a smile: "It looks like it's going to be the end of the year, so I have to wait until after the official wedding!" After the beginning of the year, my grandfather will hand in his resignation, and then he will transfer Li Zhaofu back to Jiankang and take over the front division of the palace, and you can start. ”