Gao Yue knew in his heart that his set of questions about Liu Yan was mostly based on chapters and sentences, and his momentum and literary brilliance were there, but he understood the truth of "never knowing that this matter must be done", and where the real drawbacks of the border army were, only a character like Duan Xiushi could explain it.

"The scholar's argument is often pretended to be surprising for the sake of the reputation of the scholar. What the truth is, please make it clear in the next section. ”

In fact, Gao Yue still wants to understand the root cause of the formation of the situation of "arrogant soldiers and fierce generals", and remove the position of the Jiedu envoy? No, it doesn't exist, the arrogant soldiers, in fact, the root is in the arrogant soldiers and not in the fierce generals, the power and life of the middle and late Tang Dynasty Jiedu envoys are actually not guaranteed, in most cases, the confrontation between the Jiedu envoys and the central government is caused by the coercion of the soldiers under their command, and when the Jiedu envoys can not meet the requirements of the soldiers, it is commonplace to be killed and expelled. Take Duan Xiushi in front of him as an example, although the soldiers in the Anxi Court camp are now afraid of him like tigers, he has also experienced military rebellion: the soldiers killed the original Jiedu envoy, carried the bloody head, kowtowed around Duan Xiushi, and couldn't bear to kill, just because Duan was better to the soldiers on weekdays, otherwise he would have already become a ghost under the knife.

Did the Song Dynasty solve this problem? Actually, no, but I just made a world version of Fang Zhen and provided all the soldiers. In addition, according to the method of the Song Dynasty, it is equivalent to taking a strong medicine: the disease is suppressed, but the body is also crippled, which is not advisable at all.

But even if it's Duan Xiushi, he can't give Gao Yue the answer he really wants! The limit he can reach is still the "drawbacks" of the border town army, and he will not consider the root of solving the problem of Fang Town, which is what we often say, the limitations of the times.

Sure enough, Duan Xiushi was thoughtful, straightened out his thoughts, and then said to Gao Yue: "My Tang Border Army has four major drawbacks, which are the four major drawbacks?" False amounts, registrations, meritorious, and enshrinements. ”

Gao Yue held his coat and listened respectfully to Duan Xiushi's words:

"The number of troops in the world has a quota, but now the number of troops in the forehead is declining, and on the other hand, the additional soldiers are surging, which is called a void. In the long run, once there is a difficulty, the country and Fang Town have no available soldiers and troops to rely on. ”

When Gao Yue heard this, he understood, it turned out that the soldiers under the jurisdiction of all the jiedu envoys in the world had a "quota", for example, the quota given by the imperial court in Jingyuan Town was 30,000 people (Shuofang 50,000), and the clothing and food given by the imperial court were paid according to the quota of these 30,000 people, so many jiedu envoys and generals began to play "vain amounts" out of their own greed, which is what we now call "empty salary", soldiers fled, died of illness, and died, and he did not replenish them, or dealt with them with empty words. Then they took up the food and clothing obtained from these empty soldiers, and the court sent people to read it, which was also contrary to the yang and the yin, and finally led to the fact that although the army claimed to be 35,000 on the books, it could actually pull out "ten does not save five", so what should I do if I really fight? There is another way for the envoys of Zhujiedu, that is, what Duan Xiushi said, temporarily recruit "extra soldiers", also called "rights and interests soldiers" to strengthen the strength (rights and interests, expediency), most of the extra soldiers are one-time consumption, and they can go home after the battle, but the extra soldiers are not fools, and later often ask to change from temporary workers to regular workers, and once they are not satisfied, they will set off a rebellion, which is what Duan Xiushi called "vain".

"What is registration? The fictitious amount is in name but not in reality, and the registration is in fact and without a name. In order to avoid conscription, seek refuge, and be registered in the ranks, and in order to avoid drills, guards, and conquests, they will be taught to military generals and marshals, and hire people to replace them, and the military and political affairs will be disadvantaged for a long time, so that the bread sellers in the market will call themselves soldiers, so as to resist the enemy, is it not absurd? ”

Oh, there are too many fictitious amounts, and there will inevitably be a phenomenon of registration - the commanders and generals are not satisfied with just eating empty salaries, because the border army has food and clothing, and the forbidden brigade has the right to be tax-free, so many market merchants have registered their names and "entered" the army, and for this reason, they also paid the so-called "tax money" to the generals (in fact, it is a bribe), so that they can hire people to guard for themselves, so that they can continue to do business in the city, and the generals can make extra money.

"After the false amount and registration, there will be a state of merit. If you attack a small enemy, you will inevitably increase your merits, and if you face a big enemy, you will inevitably lose defeat and win. It can be said that those who lose their teachers lose ten thousand, and those who win the enemy get one thousand, so as to vain the reward, disturb the audio-visual, and delay the country. ”

Gao Yue was a little embarrassed to say this, because he heard in Beijing that when his father-in-law Cui Ning defeated Xibo in Shuzhong last year, he was suspected of inflating his merits - he obviously reported that he had killed 8,000 Xifan soldiers, but only thirteen captives could be handed over to the imperial court. However, the court seems to have acquiesced in this kind of "meritorious" move, and still rewarded the soldiers of the Xichuan Army according to the standard of great victory.

"The last is to enter the Feng, the town marshal in order to protect the power and solidify the position, more bribes to the central power, the envoy (eunuch), this is called into the Feng, the country gives 500,000 pieces of clothing, 100,000 sections will be enshrined, if there are 50,000 soldiers in Fang Town, 10,000 people will suffer from the cold, this is a fake public and private, is to strip the soldiers' clothes, feed the appetite of the powerful, try to ask the border army if they are not full of food and clothing, how to resist Dijon, protect the family and defend the country? These four drawbacks are coiled together, and they are each other's inside and outside, and it is not an overnight task to solve them!? ”

After speaking, Duan Xiushi stretched out two fingers and said sincerely: "Of these four major drawbacks, this section is accounted for by two of them, that is, there is a false amount and a registration, but there is no merit and dedication. ”

It turned out that when I checked the document book before, the quota of soldiers in this Jingyuan camp was 30,000, and there were also fictitious quotas and registered in it!

Gao Yue boldly asked Duan Xiushi: "May I ask the festival, what is the virtual registration?" ”

"One-tenth of the inflated amount, and then the tenths of the fictitious amount were all hung up to the wealthy households in Jingzhou and the capital, and a sum of money was used to raise the army and purchase armor equipment. How, after Gao Kongmu heard this, did he still have the ambition when he left Beijing?" Duan Xiushi confessed.

It is only one-tenth, that is, the Jingyuan camp can actually be pulled out to fight, and there should still be 27,000 people. In this case, Duan Xiushi is already a rare incorruptible.

Gao Yue straightened up his clothes, thought about it, and replied, "If you are not in your position, you will not seek your own government, so that the four evils of the border army mentioned by the king, the boy has already remembered it, and if he can take power in the future, he will definitely be eliminated and cleansed - as for now, I only hope to assist the king to do a good job in the internal affairs of the Jingyuan camp." ”

"Oh, then may I ask Gao Kongmu, what is the high strategy?"

"It is imperative to camp in Tuntian, Jingzhou." Gao Yue said what he had thought about.