Chapter 53: Talk!

When the words fell, Li Qian'er's body turned into a black shadow and disappeared into the darkness in an instant, because she already knew that the fight between the two attracted others.

After Li Qian'er left, Gu Qianyang also restrained his powerful aura, walked to Li Yiqi's side, looked at the direction in which Li Qian'er disappeared, his face was quite surprised, and he couldn't help sighing: "I didn't expect that a female streamer would have such a cultivation!"

"She is not a disciple of a family in the capital. Gu Qianyang looked at Li Yiqi with sharp eyes and asked, "Is it a master sent by Lord Jiugong from the army?"

In Shangjing, he Gu Qianyang belongs to the most top-notch group of sons, and his strength can even be side by side with some older martial artists, those romantic characters of his generation in Shangjing can be counted on one hand, and although this woman's face is overwhelming, it is very unfamiliar, so it seems that she can only be the strongest in the Annan army.

"Brother Gu has good eyesight. Li Yiqi does not deny it.

"Looking at it this way, it's me who has a lot to do. Gu Qianyang shook his head. He felt the murderous aura at that time, and thought that the target was to target Li Yiqi, so he made a decisive move.

Li Yiqi shook his head and smiled, clasped his fists and said: "Brother Gu doesn't have to blame yourself, I have long heard that Brother Gu is the number one master among the young generation of the forbidden army, I have always admired Brother Gu's name, and when I saw it today, I knew that those rumors in the Beijing Division were not all false." Brother Gu is decisive and clean, and he is worthy of being the successor of the next forbidden army. ”

Gu Qianyang looked at Li Yiqi with some surprise, although they were both children of the princely generals of the military family, there was no intersection between the two. Today is also the first time to meet more formally, this Li Yiqi admires him so much, I don't know if he really admires him, or just said some polite words.

"You two, what are you doing here?"

At this time, a black-armored general stood around the two of them at some point, and with the appearance of the black-armored general, almost at the same time, the four directions around Li Yiqi and Gu Qianyang suddenly appeared with an extremely sharp aura, which were four guards in black armor, and the weapons on these people were slightly different from those of the forbidden army, but they were more dangerous.

"Ouchi Guard ......"

Li Yiqi's face changed slightly, I don't know if it was Li Qian'er's movement in the harem that led the Ouchi guards here, if so, it would be a big trouble.

"Take it!" the black-armored general shouted indifferently.

Hearing the order, the four black-armored guards were about to make a move, but at this moment, Gu Qianyang waved his hand, took out a token from his arms with a calm expression, waved it at a few people, and said, "It's okay here, stand down." ”

"Yes!"

Unexpectedly, when the black-armored general saw the token, his expression froze, his body trembled slightly, he bowed, and left with the other four black-armored guards.

"Brother Gu, what position are you now?" Li Yiqi stared at the token in Gu Qianyang's hand and asked with some curiosity.

The forbidden army should not be able to order the Ouchi guards directly under the royal family......

"Hehe, this is the token of the Fifth Highness. Gu Qianyang did not shy away from handing the golden order to Li Yiqi, but the smile on his face disappeared.

"The Five Princes?"

Li Yiqi's face changed, and he frowned slightly, he had a glimmer of expectation, but now it is impossible.

"Huh. ”

Gu Qianyang's eyes flickered, he didn't say anything, he turned his hand and put the token into his sleeve, looked at the direction of Wenhua Hall in the distance, and said lightly: "Don't you want to know why I asked you to go to Zilanxuan for tea, I'll tell you now." ”

"Huh?" Li Yiqi's heart moved, and he suddenly said thoughtfully: "What Brother Gu wants to say, is it related to that group of veterans?"

Hearing this, a look of shock flashed in Gu Qianyang's eyes, his face was slightly solemn, and he nodded: "They are just an introduction, what I want to say is related to the military system of our dynasty." ”

"Military system?" Li Yiqi was slightly stunned, he didn't expect Gu Qianyang to suddenly talk about such a big topic.

"Do you know how many troops the imperial court has in total?" asked Gu Qianyang.

"More than six million......" Li Yiqi blurted out. He looked at Gu Qianyang with some confusion, not knowing what kind of medicine was sold in the other party's gourd.

"To be exact, it is 6,322,577 people, which is the exact number of all the registered generals and non-commissioned officers counted by the Ministry of War last month. ”

In the night wind, Gu Qianyang looked up at the night, and muttered: "Liaodong Metropolitan Protectorate, Anbei Metropolitan Protectorate, Northwest Metropolitan Protectorate, Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, Annan Metropolitan Protectorate, Haizhou Metropolitan Protectorate, these six major bordering foreign capitals add up to a total of more than 4 million, plus the local protectors of the three prefectures of Huangzhou, Yuzhou, and Yuzhou, including the 200,000 forbidden army, a total of more than 6 million. ”

Li Yiqi's eyebrows raised slightly, but he didn't interject.

He thought of an incident that had happened in his previous life, but he wasn't too sure about it now.

"Despite this, the imperial court still has to cut troops,......" Gu Qianyang sighed a little from the bottom of his heart. After that, he took a deep look at Li Yiqi and asked, "You say, what does this mean?"

"Sure enough!"

Li Yiqi's heart shook slightly, knowing that his guess was right.

Those who know a little more know that the population of the Great Xia Dynasty was 60,000 people, and the soldiers were 6 million. On average, for every 100 people, the tax has to support one soldier, which is already a huge burden.

Every time a well-trained Great Xia soldier who practiced martial arts was a lot of money. In addition to military salaries and rations, the army must also be equipped with sophisticated weapons, armor, war horses, and other standing military assets...... Six million soldiers, this is the limit of the Xia Dynasty's national strength calculated by the ministers of the two Confucians, the Three Princes and the Nine Secretaries, and the Six Ministries of the Wind Pavilion.

With more than six million, the treasury can be maintained for a short period of time, but after a long time, it will be a reckless act of destroying the country.

In his previous life, Li Yiqi had heard that the imperial court had moved the idea of reducing the number of soldiers to reduce the pressure on the treasury, and he remembered that it seemed to be proposing to reduce the number of troops in each prefecture by about one-fifth starting from Anxi...... It's just that this matter was later blocked back by a combination of multiple forces.

Li Yiqi recalled it carefully, and felt a little strange in his heart: "No, the matter of cutting troops in the imperial court should have happened when it was close to the imperial examination, how could it be brought up so early?"

He clearly remembered that the time when this incident happened should have been about a year later......

"Brother Gu, where did you learn about this?" Li Yiqi looked at Gu Qianyang, his eyes revealing a trace of strangeness in the depths of his eyes, but his face did not fluctuate much.

"Naturally, my father said it. Gu Qianyang replied coldly: "The six departments are advised, led by the Ministry of War, starting from the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate, and each Metropolitan Protectorate will cut one-fifth of the troops. ”

Li Yiqi's eyes flickered slightly: "What General Gu Yuan said?!"

Gu Yuan is one of the three commanders of the 200,000 dragoon forbidden army, the general of the forbidden army, his status is almost half a step away from the capital of the Nine Great Protectorates, and his martial arts cultivation is not weaker than these people. His words will not be groundless. Cutting one-fifth of the troops also confirmed his memory of the previous life, and listening to the tone of Gu Qianyang's words, it seemed that this matter had been settled, Li Yiqi couldn't help frowning: "What happened?

"Not yet, but the Third Prince, the Eighth Prince, and the Grand Master are all trying their best to contribute to this matter...... Gu Qianyang said calmly: "If no one else stands up, the matter of cutting troops is probably imperative." ”

As soon as Gu Qianyang's voice fell, the surroundings immediately quieted down, and Li Yiqi's eyes flashed with a hint of understanding and understanding, he probably understood Gu Qianyang's purpose for asking him out.

Li Yiqi was silent for a while, and after a long time, he glanced at Gu Qianyang in front of him, and asked in a calm voice: "So, you chose the Fifth Prince, hoping to use his power to veto this matter, right?"

"Half of the reason is because of this. ”

Gu Qianyang's eyes flashed with complexity, and he said faintly: "You have also seen that those veterans who came down from the battlefield are all disabled. Once each of the prefectures is reduced by one-fifth of its troops, the pressure on the soldiers on the frontier will be even greater, and I am afraid that the casualty rate will increase exponentially in addition to Anxi, including the Annan Protectorate guarded by the Nine Princes. ”

"I once joined the battle of the Di people in the northern frontier of the Anbei Metropolitan Protectorate, and the Northern Di barbarians over there were naturally strong, well-trained, and extremely good at riding and shooting. In our Korean army, only those elite troops can compete with them in horsemanship and archery, and the rest, in terms of combat effectiveness, I am afraid that there are less than five or five. Gu Qianyang's tone was quite worried, as if he had seen the serious consequences after the Great Xia cut troops.

"I see......"

Li Yiqi glanced at Gu Qianyang deeply, it turned out that the other party invited him to go to Zilanxuan for tea, the purpose was to let himself see it with his own eyes, and then ......

"Lord Taibao, he should have the most say in this matter. Li Yiqi couldn't help but ask.

In the matter of cutting troops, in addition to Emperor Xia, the three princes have the greatest right to speak. Taifu is the emperor's teacher, the nominal head of the three princes, according to common sense, it should not be biased towards either side of the two families of soldiers and Confucians, but since the Taishi of the head of the civil officials has come forward, then the Taibao should also press a bargaining chip for the soldiers. Taibao is one of the three dukes, the status is not under the Taishi, and the most important point is that although the Taibao is civilian, but the successive Taibao are all held by the military generals of the martial arts. If the Taibao stands up and speaks, it can completely offset the influence of the Taishi, and the rest depends on the game of others.

"Lord Taibao, he ......" Gu Qianyang heard this, but his face became a little ugly, as if he thought of something unpleasant.

Seeing this, Li Yiqi frowned slightly, and couldn't help asking, "Brother Gu, ......?"

The expression on Gu Qianyang's face changed and changed, and after a long time, he said quietly: "I won't tell you, if the soldiers are consistent with the outside world, this matter will be much easier to handle." ”

"You mean...... How could it be ......?" Li Yiqi was slightly shocked in his heart.

Gu Qianyang's two words caused a huge shock in his heart.

The salaries and silver for the soldiers do not need to be borne by the generals themselves, on the contrary, cutting the troops is equivalent to directly cutting the strength in their hands, and the probability of losing the battle will increase, how can the generals of the soldiers allow this kind of thing to happen...... Incredible!

"If it weren't for my father's participation in the early dynasty, his face would be extremely gloomy when he came back, and I don't know why. Gu Qianyang couldn't help but shake his head and sighed: "It's still thanks to that sycophant who is the first sycophant in my court, if it weren't for him, Lord Taibao wouldn't have come forward without face." ”

"I'm towards the first sycophant?" Li Yiqi looked strange, thought for a while, and asked tentatively, "You can't be talking about that adult, right?"

"Who else could it be besides him!" Gu Qianyang sneered.

"Big Brother Gu, the status of a tall man is high, don't talk nonsense. Li Yiqi shook his head with a smile in his heart. He knew that Gu Qianyang was an arrogant character, but he thought that the other party was so open-mouthed, and the 'sycophant' in the other party's mouth was a character of the same level as his grandfather Li Jiu.

It's dangerous, there's no one else here......

"Hmph. ”

Gu Qianyang sneered, looked at the Taiji Hall with deep eyes, and said in a deep voice: "I'm not talking nonsense, I still remember that day I met you on the street and told you that there was a demon beast in the capital." ”

"Yes. Li Yiqi thought about it and nodded silently.

"Then Gao Yunzhi specially ordered someone to catch it from the hinterland of the demon clan, a demon beast with the blood of an ancient fierce beast, saying that it is to use its blood to refine the pill, but it can live long every year. ”

"Look. As he spoke, Gu Qianyang lifted the sleeve of his right hand and glanced at Li Yiqi: "This is what the beast left." ”

Li Yiqi stared at it, and then found that there was a wide and long scar on the back of Gu Qianyang's bronzed-skinned right hand, which was tilted down from the elbow joint to the palm, although the wound had scabbed, but the scar looked seven or eight inches long, which looked a little hideous and terrifying.

In addition to that beast, Gao Yunzhi also sent 60,000 slaves from the Sassanid Kingdom, saying that it was a tribute to His Majesty to build a palace. ”

"The kingdoms of the Western Regions are very weak, but they are extremely rich. In addition to the 200,000 Anxi capital protectors, he even formed a 200,000 alien mercenary army, known as invincible. In the middle of the court, he tended to be inflammatory, and even wrote to His Majesty that the land of Anxi was impregnable, even if it was a reduction of 100,000 troops. ”

"He is a student of Lord Taibao, and he took the initiative to write a letter to express his support for the reduction of troops, so how can Lord Taibao speak again. When Gu Qianyang said this, a trace of anger flashed in his sharp eyes. The move of the Anxi capital to protect Gao Yunzhi was tantamount to a betrayal of the entire Great Xia soldiers.