"No adults! I am not familiar with the path when I first came here, and the guards in the village are unreliable, so it is safe to set up a village alone. Hearing the order, Fu Ji didn't have any opinion, and when she got on the horse, she had to continue to open the way. Miao Kui's face was nervous, and he reached out and grabbed Hong Tao's reins, a little bit of a sense that he would not let him go without listening to the dissuasion.

"What do you mean by that?" Hong Tao is more humble on this issue, although Miao Kui has never really been on the battlefield, but he has been on the side, and he has been in the forbidden army for so many years, he should still know all kinds of things in the army, and there is no loss if he listens more.

"The border fortresses are not all guarded by the forbidden army, but also the walled city of the van army. At the end of the general, this place is neither close to the side nor closed, and it is not a dangerous place, and it is designated as the place where the grain is transported in the field of the chamber servants. The source of the soldiers in the box service is complicated, the military discipline is sloppy, and there are thefts and looting from time to time. Officials with female dependents, carriages and horses, rash entry into the village must be controlled by others, subordinates are inconvenient to guard. ”

Miao Kui really has a very good reason, he may not have much experience in fighting, but he has a lot of treasures about these arms in the Northern Song Dynasty, and he has heard countless things about him in various places.

After Miao Kui's explanation, Hong Tao finally understood the actual composition and efficacy of the forbidden army and the box army, and why the Northern Song Dynasty court wanted to get another box army out in addition to the forbidden army.

The Xiang Army, which is what Miao Kui called the Xiang Army, should know what kind of army they are when you listen to the name, and the service and labor are also ......

That's right, the Xiangjun is a unit specially responsible for labor, much like the construction corps of later generations, specializing in all kinds of military and civilian construction, reclamation, craftsmanship, transportation, foot delivery, water conservancy, mining, and so on.

This policy has been in place since the early Northern Song Dynasty, and it basically replaced the conscription of people. Therefore, the Xiang army still played a positive role at the beginning of its establishment, and it largely exempted the people of the Song Dynasty from the suffering of labor.

For example, in Kaifeng City, the East and West Eight Divisions, Cattle and Sheep Divisions, Imperial Courtyards, Arsenals, Houyuan Workshops, Houyuan Craftsmen, North and South Workshops, Ayajin Courtyard, Bow and Crossbow Courtyard, East and West Water Mills, East and West Kilns, Imperial Kitchens, Imperial Kitchens, French Wine Depots, Oil Depots, Vinegar Depots, Buku, Bu Yi, Ma Di Pu, etc., are all implemented by the Forbidden Army and the Xiang Army.

Another example is this Tongchuan Fort, which is also garrisoned by the Xiang army. Why are you so sure that Miao Kui also said that it is not in front of the village and behind the store, it is neither close to the border nor a traffic artery, why should it set up a military fort? There is only one reason, food!

In other words, this military fort was not used for war, but for reclamation. Let's put it bluntly, it is for the central forbidden army stationed here to grow food.

Huangzhou is located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with sparsely populated mountains and ravines, and the traffic is very inconvenient. Hong Tao has already tasted this himself, he has walked more than 300 miles for several days, there are horses and carts, and he hasn't even finished half of the journey, and he is as tired as his grandson.

In such natural conditions, how can the logistical supply of the border garrison be solved? Especially with food, no matter how elite the troops are, they will not have enough to eat. However, the cost of transporting grain directly from the Guanzhong area to the plateau is a bit high, and it is also susceptible to climate influences.

So the Northern Song Dynasty court thought of a way to get food on the spot! In other words, these central forbidden troops stationed at the border no longer rely solely on the rear to transport food and supplies, but adopt a self-sufficient way to reduce the logistical pressure.

However, the combat units still have the military task of defending the border, and they cannot take all their production off to farming, so what should they do? At this time, the Xiang army is useful, they are originally a labor force, and farming is one of their own jobs, not only can they concentrate on farming, but they are also better and more refined than the forbidden army.

Therefore, in many border areas, there will be a kind of military forts far away from the border, which are basically tuntian or mining and smelting, which is equivalent to the closest logistics base to the border.

However, there has been a problem in China since ancient times, that is, good policies often do not achieve good results. Isn't it often said that there are policies and countermeasures; The scripture is a good scripture, but the crooked-mouthed monk recited it crookedly.

The Xiang army did not escape this strange circle for many reasons. First of all, its military sources are very complicated, not only the weak soldiers eliminated by the forbidden army, but also many displaced people. If it's just these two kinds of people, it's nothing, and the most troublesome thing is that there are still a lot of supporting troops in the Xiang army!

The word thief with army was an absolute derogatory term in the Northern Song Dynasty, or a swear word. Because the military is a criminal, no matter what law you violate, you may be sentenced to the army. This is clearly stipulated in the law of the Song Dynasty, which is called the law of matching subordinates.

Compared with ordinary soldiers, the army is lower in terms of treatment and status, and the work is more difficult, which is essentially a bit like the criminals of later generations who were sentenced to labor reform, which is naturally not too easy.

In addition, there is a special place in the army, part of the face is tattooed, called the black face. However, not all military personnel have black masks, and only those who commit criminal offenses, such as theft, robbery, adultery, etc., will be tattooed to make a difference.

This is actually very similar to the household registration management file system in later generations, and there will be records in the files of those who have been released from prison, and this stain will last for a lifetime and is difficult to erase.

Just imagine, when these vicious criminals arrive at the border of the Tiangao Emperor, will they restrain the crimes they committed before? If those who have been assigned to the army for a long time and perform well can be released home, they may still have some hope and motivation to change their minds.

However, the numbered army was basically abolished from the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty, and once it was transferred, it was basically a lifetime, and there was no return. In fact, most of the troops will die of illness before they retire because of their labor intensity.

In this way, most of the troops will have no reason to repent, and they will be able to be comfortable day by day, or even worse. Especially the army in a remote place has no scruples.

But there is another question, Hong Tao doesn't understand very well, is no one taking care of these troops? The local generals of the Xiang army will not also be equipped with troops, and the proportion of the army in the Xiang army will not be too large, so should they just let it go?

"Most of the commanders of the Xiang army are people who have been convicted by the forbidden army, and their character is not good, and they are expected to strictly restrain their subordinates, and the inland state capitals may be able to do so, and the border is difficult." This is Miao Kui's answer, the box army at the cost-effective border pass has been broken from head to toe, and there are few good people.

"Not really, the Xiang army is afraid of the forbidden army, so he doesn't dare to be too ostentatious, and once the defendant finds out the truth, he will be killed on the spot, without mercy. The last general was only worried that the army here did not know our identity, so he persuaded the adults not to rush into the village. When the end of the year goes to negotiate with them, it is clear that the adults are appeasements, and they have the power of life and death, and they dare not make mistakes. ”

Seeing Hong Tao's desperation, Miao Kui felt that he might have scared this adult, and hurriedly said good things, for fear that this person's neurotic temper would be committed again, and if he slapped his ass and didn't take office, then this shit basin would have to be buckled on his head.

"My lord, Commander Miao has a point, but it's not that scary. The head of the Xiang army here is surnamed Liao, the villain has seen twice, and it is quite good, and the soldiers are also diligent in farming, and they do not do much evil. It's just ......" Seeing that Hong Tao was a little hesitant to be said by Miao Kui, Fu Ji couldn't help it, she was the most vocal about the specific situation of Tongchuan Fort.

This road has been walked back and forth four times, and each time it is still shouldered with the task of listening to the customs of the people along the way, where is the trouble, where is the better appearance and basically figured out.

"Flower shopkeeper, please talk about ......" In front of outsiders, Hong Tao and Fu Ji try to keep a polite distance from each other, how to be like employers and employees.

"I just heard that there is a Black Tiger Mountain more than ten miles northwest of Tongchuan Fort, where bandits gather, and from time to time they will go down the mountain to harass passing merchants, and even the convoy of the Xiang army transporting grain and grass also needs to pay for the road.

The servants of Tongchuan Fort have lived here for a long time, and they can be safe and sound, and they may have an affair with Black Tiger Mountain. The first time the villain led the pack team passed through this, it was less than three hours after setting off from Tongchuan Fort, and it was difficult to get out if it was not for the strong crossbows of the forbidden army, and the pack team walked fast. ”

Don't look at Fu Ji who dares to play a little temper with Hong Tao in private, but she is still very afraid of this colt in her bones, and she plays the role of an employee very well.

"This is more hateful than robbing oneself, isn't there anyone who sends troops to exterminate the bandits?" Any magistrate has a headache with the word bandit. Local insecurity itself is a sin, and if you don't do anything, you will be impeached by the imperial history.

Moreover, if we cannot even guarantee basic law and order under the rule, we will not be able to talk about development. Now Hong Tao is the parent official of the Eight Classics, and he has to deal with local government affairs not only after a little pacification, but also has to take into account public security and the military, so he is also very concerned about this matter.