Then came another major event, that is, the reform of the army and the establishment of military cantonments.

"A plan to build the strongest army in the world."

The generals were not much surprised to hear Tong Yuan's goal, if the Xiliang Army said that it was the second in the world, no one would dare to call it the first, Tong Yuan's goal was completely in line with the ideas of the Xiliang generals.

"Based on this, we want to build a full-time assembly of 5,000 people."

At this time, everyone was surprised that most of the armies of the Eastern Han Dynasty were county soldiers, that is, soldiers and farmers. Only the central Xiyuan Army and some Han and Hu elites such as the Flying Bear Army, Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry, White Horse Yicong, Huangzhong Yicong, etc., are completely out of production.

However, except for the West Garden Army, it is difficult for most of the others to exceed 3,000 people. The main reason is that all the princes are not so rich, even if they are strong and wealthy like Eryuan, they are also taking the route of being both soldiers and farmers, and the first in scale.

Tong Yuan could see the doubts of the generals, and said calmly: "With the strength of the Dong family, it is no longer a problem to feed these five thousand soldiers and horses, and the more important thing is how to continue to improve, especially in the three aspects of ideology, training and equipment."

"These 5,000 people are responsible for the daily campaign, and the rest of the soldiers and horses and tuntian households in the tuntian generally do not move lightly, and even if they fight, they will not stay far from the tuntian, so as to ensure a stable grain production."

The generals understood this development idea, which is to build a strong army of appropriate size and ensure economic development as much as possible. But it's hard to do.

"In the next month, I will review the ministries and personally select these 5,000 people."

Yang Feng knew that he needed to show loyalty at this time, and said: "Tell the general, the last general completely agrees with the general's method." Most of the more than 4,000 people under the command of a certain are displaced people from Hedong, and they all have this experience because of the famine and the fact that the cool officials can't survive. If they can farm steadily, they are very willing. ”

The other officers of the Xiliang Army also expressed their full cooperation.

Tong Yuan smiled: "So good! Captain Yang's subordinates are strong and well-versed in the geography of the state, so I plan to leave 15,000 to 2,000 elites as part of the main army, and the rest will be assigned to the military tun. ”

Yang Feng hugged his fists and said, "No!"

As for the Xiliang Army from Xu Rong and Hu Zhen, Tong Yuan planned to completely incorporate Xu Rong's mounted cavalry. However, most of the rest of the men and horses were assigned to the military cantonment and served as grassroots management, responsible for training, production and other tasks.

The Xinxi Liangjun was also reviewed and selected by Tong Yuan and others. As for the Dong family, they plan to leave a few, and the rest will be transferred back to Dong Bai's side and continue to be kept as a ministry.

Finally, after ensuring that the whole army, whether armed or in the military camp, has sufficient food, the arrangement will be made and let each department first screen out those who are willing to join the military camp.

The news came back to the barracks, and there was no negative reaction. After all, many soldiers were originally farmers, and their main goal was to have land to cultivate, to have a family, and to have enough to eat.

Two days later, Tong Yuan inspected Yang Feng's soldiers and horses.

To his surprise, more than 4,000 people in Yang Feng's department, a total of 2,500 were inspected, and nearly 2,000 people volunteered to join the army.

Tong Yuan did not explain what he wanted to inspect in advance, and the first step was to let the whole army stand in a military posture after breakfast. Of course, this is what he learned in military training in later generations, and he initially screened out those who were too poor in discipline and in poor health.

Dozens of Dong Jiahu were responsible for observing the military formation, one person was in charge of one team, and one team of fifty soldiers and horses.

In less than a quarter of an hour, there were people talking to each other, making loud noises, and a few people were so tired of standing that they sat on the ground to rest. Hu Cong and the team led a little discipline, but they were still repeatedly banned.

Tong Yuan couldn't cry or laugh in his heart, this kind of soldier has been on the battlefield for a long time, and his combat power is good, but his perseverance and discipline are too poor.

Such soldiers and horses are estimated to fight a smooth battle, and it is very ferocious, but once the situation changes, or the war is stalemate, they are afraid that it will be difficult for them to implement the tactics in place, and they will even smear oil on the soles of their feet.

An hour later, twenty or thirty people fainted. It was not yet noon, not the hottest time, and there was no order to keep them from moving at all as if they were military training. In other words, when it is allowed to wipe sweat and move feet, there are still people who can't support it.

In the end, a total of more than 300 people performed too poorly, really had no sense of discipline, and made repeated mistakes after being stopped. Are these guys and those who fainted directly into the military camp? Tong Yuan thought about it for a while, and just asked Hu Cong to write them down for the time being, and in some other follow-up projects, maybe someone would perform better.

The next item is a batch of cross-country long-distance running. Tong Yuan arranged for the whole army to collect 3,000 pieces of two-grade armor, and after the soldiers rested at noon, they began to run long distances. This time, he has arranged for Hu Cong to write down the names of his hometowns, and the last 500 will also be included in the ranks to be determined.

This time, Yang Fenghe and his subordinate army Sima did not participate, but Tong Yuan personally participated, he believed that his physical fitness was very important in the future marching and fighting, and being with the soldiers could also improve the cohesion of the whole army.

This time, it was a long-distance run from south to north along the Dayu River in the prefecture. The Dayu River is twenty miles west of the county seat of Haoyang. From the northwest of the county to the township cliff, flow through several villages, and finally in the southwest into the Luoshui, its water flow is very clear, the scenery is pleasant.

This time, the selected section of the road is about 30 miles up and down, and 50 people patrol the road on horseback and keep an eye on the finish line. This time, everyone knew that this was to test the ability to march urgently, and no one slacked off, especially the last time they knew that their performance was not very good, and this time they were eager to try.

Before the time, the long-distance run started on time, and Tong Yuan's physical strength was good, obviously stronger than himself in later generations.

He didn't exert his strength at first, so that everyone could see that he was running with everyone, and after about a mile, he began to exert his strength. In the time of another half of the incense, it was already clearly ahead, leaving the large army behind far away.

Tong Yuan is a little strange, it stands to reason that Haoqiang's children do eat better on weekdays, and they are tall and big, but their endurance and hard-working ability should be far inferior to these soldiers born of white wave thieves.

He knew very well that Yang Feng's soldiers had eaten well in the past two months, and there would be no lack of physical strength. So your body is very strong?

I have to say that this long-distance run is far more interesting than going around the playground in the future.

Along the Dayu River, you can shuttle through the mountains in the west of Jayang City, and because the mountain streams are clear and clean, you can drink and replenish water at any time. In addition, the trees are shading, but they are not as dense as the south where they live, so they can just shade the sun without hindering the progress.

Shuttling between the mountains and forests, you can also go to the comfortable and clear river water to wash when you run hot, and you can see the fish shadows flashing in the river from time to time on the shore, and the forest has been filled with the cheerful songs of birds. If only it weren't so hot, the environment of this era is really amazing.

After a quarter of an hour, Tong Yuan passed a waterfall and came to a slightly open road. The two sides of the river are suitable for farming, but there is not a single acre of fertile land, and the scenery here is pleasant, suitable for picnic camping.

Tong Yuan thought to himself that this county could retain a part of the natural area and not have to reclaim all of it as grain fields. The trees in the north are not as dense as in the south, but this is the Loess Plateau near later generations, and it would be nice to prevent this area from becoming what it will be in the future.

Ahead of a wooden bridge, five or six servants, men dressed as servants, were trying to lift a carriage out of the mud of the river. The first impression was that when the carriage passed the bridge, the bridge broke and the car fell into the river.

Observing again, this group of people was a total of three troikas, and there were more than ten riders in the entourage. The last car fell off the bridge as it crossed. Although the river was not deep, the mud still trapped the carriage in it, and it was obvious that the horses on the shore could not pull it out.

Tong Yuan didn't plan to come forward to help immediately, but because he was far ahead in the long-distance run, he also took a break to observe the situation.

Got a female dependent? He casually picked up a wooden hairpin with exquisite texture and cultural heritage from the river. According to common sense, rich families mostly use hostas and silver hairpins, and wooden hairpins are commonly used by ordinary people.

But the material of this wood is obviously quite extraordinary, not only does it look thick and deep in the daylight, but also has a faint fragrance. "Yes, after soaking in water, you can still maintain the fragrance of the material itself."

Tong Yuan was about to return the hairpin to the convoy, when a forty or fifty-year-old housekeeper in the convoy ran over anxiously and said, "This military master, the little old man's surname is Lin, and those of us who are in a hurry have encountered an accident, can you help me and others call some people to help?"

He knew that he was wearing two-grade armor and was tall and big, so he might be mistaken for a Xiliang soldier rather than a mountain bandit, after all, there were still few bandits in the Sanfu region in the first few years.

"Haha, I'll try it first, if it doesn't work, there will be some brothers in the back who will be there in a while, and they will definitely be able to carry the car out."

The old housekeeper hurriedly thanked: "Thank you very much, dare to ask the military master is Xia Yang soldiers and horses?" We really don't have much money to thank, but we know some old people in Chang'an, and we will come back to thank you when we return. ”

"Where to use thanks, let's carry the car out first."

Tong Yuan saw that the four or five servants standing on the river beach just now couldn't lift it, and he didn't think it would work, so he tried it first. When the soldiers arrive, let everyone move out.

He walked into the river and it felt good to soak his legs and feet in the clear, cool water of the river on a summer day. Looking at this car up close, it was just an ordinary dome carriage, and the entire space was at most 1.5 cubic meters in later generations, and something was loaded to break the bridge.

"Old Lin, dare to ask what is so heavy in this car? It even crushed the bridge. ”

Tong Yuan's voice was not small, and he suddenly saw Steward Lin and the servants with embarrassed expressions on their faces.

"This ...... It's just plain books. The bamboo slips are very heavy, so there is this accident. Now the books have been snatched out to dry, but just getting into the car to move the books has caused the car to sink deeper. This Steward Lin stumbled and stumbled, obviously covering it up.

Tong Yuan looked up, and sure enough, on the boulder more than ten steps away, several maids were drying books. He ignored it and continued to work with several domestic servants.

However, a dignified young woman beside those maids was slightly unhappy when she heard Tong Yuan's words just now.

She sat in the car full of books in order to memorize the book for a while, even if it was because of this incident, how could it be said that the bridge was crushed by the heavy pressure, it should be that the bridge was in disrepair and almost caused danger.