"That's also a way," Mr. Zhao said.

He has never been interested in the reduction of troops. I also know that there are some problems in the army, but I am not in a hurry, and I can't be anxious because of these problems, which is definitely not the performance of a smart superior. At this point, Zhao Zhen likes Zheng Lang very much.

They all want to use talents, Wen has Zhang Liangxiao, He Fang, Du Weizheng, Wu has Han Xin, Wei Qing, Li Jing, who doesn't want to, where can Guan Jian find these talents? Therefore, the way of employing people is to make use of their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, and they will be used. There are some problems in the country, but the focus is on adjustment, rather than looking for talent. The same is true of the army, if there is a problem, to solve it, to arbitrarily cut troops, he has never been very interested.

Therefore, Zheng Lang's means are good, and the timing is correct. In history, many ministers called for the reduction of troops, but in the end of Zhao Zhen I, the army has always remained at more than 1.2 million people, and Zhao Zhen cannot be attacked for his old system and does not want to forge ahead. Guan Jian was still in the northwest, did not achieve major victories, lacked convincing, and the more he lost, the more he did not dare to reduce the number of troops. The officers and soldiers of the Central Plains were incompetent in their response to the insurgents, fearing that the border would be lost and that there would be chaos in the Central Plains. In addition, because it has not been possible to disarm, and there has been no measure of labor relief, disasters have continued, the army is saturated, the number of displaced people increases, and the increase of displaced people is prone to chaos, so after the outbreak of several uprisings, the number of forbidden troops in the Central Plains and Jiangnan has increased.

The reason why Zheng Lang went south was that Wang Lun was not seriously harmed, and he was forced to Hezhou by the officers and soldiers and wiped them out. But the army used was different, as many as nearly 10,000 people before and after, so he went south, more than 200 people against more than 200 people, and Zhao Zhen reflected on the bloody facts.

took great pains to survey the forbidden army in the capital with Sanya and Kaifeng Mansion, brought thousands of people into the palace, let Zhao Zhen witness it with his own eyes, and created the armor protection law, so that Zhao Zhen felt at ease. At least it will make Zhao Zhen have an idea in his mind, after this move, the army will not only not decrease, but increase. With a sense of security, Zhao Zhen will agree.

As for this kind of subsistence allowance law, it will waste the country's money, Zheng Lang has not considered it, it will not be wasted a lot, and it is exempt from the forced labor and taxes of the poorest people, for the soft-hearted Zhao Zhen, he will definitely agree.

The effect was achieved, but it was not over, Zheng Lang said again: "Your Majesty, the soldiers have few combat effectiveness, and their main duty is only to be responsible for some forced labor, and the reason why they are bloated is that the original intention of the imperial court is to support the people. But Your Majesty, there are more and more disasters, may I ask if Your Majesty dares to use the box army to contain the displaced people again? ”

Zhao Zhen smiled bitterly, that would be a big mess, if there is no restrained containment, one million troops will not be enough.

"The ancestral law is not to expand the army, but to save the people, Your Majesty, your lords, am I right?"

"Exactly, Xingzhi, can there be a good plan?" Fan Zhongyan said.

"Yes, there are already serious problems with the box soldiers, there are too many containments, if they are used for forced labor, the treatment is not as good as the forbidden army, the motivation is insufficient, and the manpower of large-scale projects is insufficient, so they are involved in the capture of thieves and lack of morale and combat effectiveness, so Wang Lun only has more than 200 people, nearly thousands of miles long, and no one dares to resist in more than a dozen state armies. The minister came up with a way to replace it. ”

"What's the method?"

"City defense, water conservancy and roads. At the beginning of the use of troops in the northwest, the city defense was mostly damaged, and the people were urgently ordered to repair it, regardless of whether the people were engaged in agriculture and production, which affected the lives of the people. There are also all kinds of water conservancy, if it is built in ordinary times, there is no labor, there is no financial resources, not only to build, but also to repair, after the water conservancy construction is successful, it must be maintained from time to time. and road blockages, which also make many places closed and backward. However, if the disaster is properly used, it is an opportunity to organize the disaster victims, use labor for relief, build city defense, water conservancy and roads, and the imperial court only pays food and clothing for relief. First, it saved people, and second, many destroyed city defenses, some water conservancy, and roads were built one after another in the disaster year. It is impossible to have a catastrophe every year, and when the year is good, it can benefit the people and repay the court. Why not have it both worlds? In fact, the minister used a similar method in Taiping Prefecture, please think twice. ”

"You can try it."

Although it is ambiguous, Zheng Lang is already very happy, at least for more than a year, the Junzi Party has the upper hand, no matter what happens in the future, once the army is reduced one after another, will the old ministers still swim against the current, regardless of the national finances, and expand the army again?

He also said: "Your Majesty, Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan wrote a book, and selected ten generals and other low-level generals from the army, but in fact, the generals in the army also have problems, and most of them are incompetent and cowardly. The minister was on Jingyuan Road, and once put these generals and Ge Congmin aside, causing some controversy. It really can't be used. Your Majesty, I have just witnessed with my own eyes why there are so many incidents of empty quotas, deductions, and prestige in the army, all of which are caused by the cowardice, incompetence and insatiable greed of generals at all levels. The reason why the country has a high salary is because it is to support the honest and the soldiers, not to feed this group of silverfish. If Your Majesty thinks that this group of silverfish should be raised, the minister should not say anything. ”

"Zheng Qing, what do you say?"

"There is a way, the country's 800,000 forbidden army, there are actually more than 2,300 commanders, and the ministers speculate that at least 780,000 people are empty, taking advantage of the opportunity of disarmament, and merging camps. Let the infantry battalion reach 500 and the cavalry battalion shall reach 400, and there shall be no need to disarm, and at least more than 400 generals below the command level shall be reduced. ”

"The minister also thinks it's appropriate," Du Yan said.

In a battalion, there are not only commanders, but also commanders and deputy commanders, and there are capital heads and deputy capital heads below, Ma Jun is a military envoy and deputy soldier and horse envoy, a hundred people are a capital, and there are more low-level military positions such as military heads, ten generals, generals and generals, Cheng Bureau, and detaining officers. Their military expenditure is almost equal to that of the remaining grassroots soldiers, and the reduction of a battalion of grassroots generals is equivalent to a reduction of half of the military expenditure of a battalion.

They are grassroots generals, and there is not much turmoil. There is really a way, and you can't cut it if you want to. Moreover, the position of the warrior is low, and there will not be much controversy. This is the reason why Du Yan agrees.

"What about these?" Zhao Zhen pointed to a large stack of thick dossiers and said with a headache. Is this the fifty battalions, or is it a problem that has been hastily investigated, and if it is extended to the entire Song Dynasty army, what will the army look like?

This is good, the further back the worse it gets, in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, nearly 300,000 forbidden soldiers in the capital ate empty salaries and only 30,000 people left, that is ...... Zheng Lang didn't say anything about this, and there was no need for Zheng Lang to say, Yu Jing stood up and said, "Your Majesty, what else can I do?" Does Your Majesty want to destroy the inheritance left to you by your ancestors? ”

"Your Majesty's benevolence is the foundation, and the intentions are good, but benevolence is the foundation, and righteousness is also necessary," Ouyang Xiu never said bad things about the emperor, so he took out a passage of Zheng Lang's words and said: "The righteousness is the manifestation of benevolence, and the small righteousness is the great benevolence, and the benevolence and righteousness complement each other to constitute the perfect benevolence." Your Majesty must not be kind for the sake of a woman. When these problems come out, the imperial court should strictly investigate and deal with them as appropriate. In addition, the malpractices in the army, such as withholding, greed for ink, eating empty quotas, usurping the property of low-level soldiers, wives, and using soldiers for private service, will be severely punished. ”

Zhao Zhen was still hesitating, and Wang Gongchen shouted: "Your Majesty, do you want to sit back and watch the country perish?" ”

The sound was like thunder.

He was the middle of the imperial history, and he sat very forward, Zhao Zhen was so drunk by him that he shuddered, gritted his teeth and said: "Zhuqing, let's discuss, legislate and severely punish these situations, and in addition, the law of reducing troops can be implemented in Shaanxi first, and the law of protecting armor can be implemented in Gyeonggi to see the results." ”

"Whoa."

Han Qi, Fan Zhongyan and Zheng Lang glanced at each other, and there was some joy in their eyes.

Why Han Qi and Fan Zhongyan only said Hebei and Shaanxi, this is also a sloppy eye, Shaanxi in the Yongxing army does not have many soldiers and horses, mainly concentrated on the edge of the four roads, but the edge of the four roads have successively cut a large number of troops, of which Jingyuan Road is the most ruthless, 70,000 imperial court stationed in the forbidden army, 10,000 soldiers, after reduction and sacrifice, only more than 48,000 people remained. The other roads also successively reduced many soldiers. The key point is that there is also rotation, some of the soldiers have been rotated back, and a large-scale rotation will be carried out soon. Equal to one cut, it is close to double the strength. It was all the way to Shaanxi, and the actual number of troops involved reached more than 300,000, equivalent to two-fifths of the total strength of the Song Dynasty. If Hebei Road is included, it will reach more than half.

Among the four people on the edge of the edge, Han Qi was the least interested, but he didn't like the current situation of the Song Dynasty, even if he increased his troops, he would increase the number of archers and local soldiers, what was the use of these old, sick and disabled soldiers in the army? Dozens of ministers began to deliberate.

Zheng Lang said the general direction, but the details are still controversial.

Zhao Zhen had a headache when he heard this, beckoned Zheng Lang to him with his hand, and asked, "Zheng Qing, I am still a little worried. ”

"Your Majesty, don't worry, the minister is in the capital, and I guarantee that the northwest will no longer be a Kou, even if it is a Kou, the scale will not be very large, because the Western Xia national strength is weaker and the situation is more embarrassing, unless Yuan Hao does not want to establish a country. In fact, he wants to be a vulture and a son of heaven, and he will not ignore the country. The officers and men laid off were all old, weak, sick, disabled and incompetent, and these people not only failed to increase their combat effectiveness in the army, but on the contrary, dragged down the entire army. Your Majesty, think about it again, why is there more and more troops in our DPRK, but the combat effectiveness is getting weaker and weaker? That's why. The territory of the Tang Dynasty was almost more than three times that of our dynasty, reaching the Green Mountains in the west, reaching Persia at one time, reaching the central and southern parts of the city in the south, and reaching Xiaohai in the north, and the maximum garrison was only three or four hundred thousand. If there is an army, it is a government soldier. Now the armor protection law is the government soldiers. Moreover, when the war comes, the strong people can be drawn from the Baoding and the box soldiers to enter the forbidden army, and these people are about twenty to thirty years old, which is the prime of life, far from being comparable to the current forbidden army. In fact, the combat strength of our DPRK army is not weak, but has increased several times. Looking at the finances again, if we cut 300,000 or 400,000 old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers, we will reduce expenses by more than 10 million yuan in salaries alone, and if we add all kinds of welfare, weapons, and wear and tear, it will be 20 million. It may not be the income of the imperial court, the finances are abundant, and with His Majesty's love for the people, it will inevitably be applied to the people and reduce taxes, so the pressure on the people will be relieved. If the ministers and soldiers are given, the ministers and soldiers will inevitably be taken care of by the court. This is the real wealth of the people. Even if the imperial court only gets one of them, five million a year, and fifty million in ten years. The treasury has 50 million in hand, in case of another outbreak of war, coupled with the ten years of relaxed environment for the people to recuperate, does the imperial court still need to worry? Why the Han Dynasty was able to defeat the Xiongnu was the decades of recuperation of Emperor Wenjing. Your Majesty, the First World War in the Northwest exposed many crises, and the crisis of immobility deepened, and our dynasty was in danger. In this regard, the voice of the upper and lower levels is very high, and when the people are excited, they will improve with the financial resources of our dynasty, and they will take a break from Wenjing for a few years. One step further is life, one step back is death, please think twice, Your Majesty. ”

In fact, Zheng Lang's thoughts are even more ambitious.

As long as it is carried out safely for ten years, the strength of the Song Dynasty may drop to more than 900,000, plus the safety prison, when one enters and one exits, it can be close to 40 million. 40 million, wherever you can use it, is also an astonishing number.

If we carry out some reforms with good surnames, it is not a dream to save more than 10 million a year.

Zheng Lang's pace did not stop, and there was still something to come, but considering all the things, he did not release it. Once released, each item comes out, either to increase the source or to reduce the expenditure, it is calculated in millions, or even tens of millions.

Then after another fifteen years, the finances of the Song Dynasty will become a terrible number. If there is a surplus of 100 million guan in the treasury, or even a surplus of 200 million guan, is there still a lack of military spending for the recovery of Western Xia?

But can't say it.

There will soon be another opportunity to force Zhao Zhen to agree with his policy.

Yan Shu pricked up his ears to listen, but he didn't listen to anything else, only heard 20 million, his eyes lit up, and he arched his hand and said, "Your Majesty, Zheng Lang's words are extremely true." The state raises soldiers to prepare for war, not to provide for retirement. ”

"What Yan Xianggong said is the fundamental. If Your Majesty loves the people and usually acts more benevolently, then he truly loves the people. The military is the violent apparatus of the state, suppressing thieves at home and defending against aggression abroad. However, there is the Khitan in the north and the Western Xia in the west, and the imperial court sits on and raises more than one million troops, but it is not to eliminate external insults and internal troubles. Zheng Lang said. secretly called luck in his heart, and he did not make it too difficult for Yan Shu in negotiating peace with Western Xia. Otherwise, Yan Shu may not cooperate at this time.

Don't think that his words are very elegant, even his son-in-law dares to play like that, and he is also not a good person to mess with.

So he praised Yan Shu by the way.

Wang Yaochen also said: "Your Majesty, you can't hesitate any longer, Zheng Lang said that the autumn of life and death, the minister thought it was not a boast." ”

The most bitter thing is not Dongfu, but the three envoys.

And the most bitter thing for the three envoys is this money, so Yan Shu was the envoy of the three divisions and asked Zheng Lang how to make money, and when Wang Yaochen was the third envoy, he was also thinking about the way to make money. Until the outbreak of the Northwest War, the country's finances did not improve. This makes Zheng Lang cry and laugh, with the safety prison, with the income of the sugar factory, there is more than 10 million yuan a year, and there is also Jiangdong's food and taxes, where is the extra money used? I have to admit that the Song Dynasty's ability to spend money and create wealth are unparalleled in the world. You can make money, but the speed at which you spend it is more awesome than the speed at which you can make money.

Originally, he saw the bright light, but Zhao Zhen's hesitation also affected the minister's judgment.

"I didn't say anything," Zhao Zhen said weakly.

It was getting dark, and this was something that had never happened in the capital hall. But Fan Zhongyan, Han Qi, Ouyang Xiu and others were anxious, afraid that what would happen if the emperor regretted it tomorrow. So after making concessions on the details one after another, they finally negotiated properly.

In the end, Fan Zhongyan said: "Please give an edict to Your Majesty." ”

Hurriedly let Zhao Zhen clap.

Under the edict, the ministers withdrew.

Fu Bihu asked suspiciously: "Xingzhi, did you think about this day in Jiangnan?" ”

In fact, what Zheng Lang said today, Zheng Lang was also doing it one after another in the past, and it also gave the ministers some experience to learn from, so Fu Bi was very skeptical.

Zheng Lang snorted and said, "Brother Yanguo, why do you say this, I was still young at that time, where did I think so long-term." At that time, I was doing it, it was just intuition, and it was not perfect. ”

But not everyone agreed, the edict was issued, shaking the government and the opposition, but Lu Yijian called Zheng Lang to his home again and said, "Xingzhi, why don't you listen to the old man's words?" ”

Don't look at the benefits, as long as it is implemented, there will inevitably be some bad things happening. Moreover, Lu Yijian thought that Zheng Lang was wrapped up with the Junzi Party, and he intuitively judged that the Junzi Party would not become a big climate. Without him, he thinks about problems too naively, angrily, and rhetorically. Maybe His Majesty sees that the country is in danger and will reuse it, but it will not be for long.

Zheng Lang sighed and said: "Lu Xianggong, I know that you are for my good, but as a political counselor, how can I see that the current situation of the country is like this, and I am insensitive. In fact, what did I do, Ma Fa and the Exemption Law pushed Fan Han and the others to the front. Either it is the warehouse law with little controversy, or this law of military reduction that has little to do with the powerful. In my mind, these are the tip of the iceberg. ”