In the East Warm Pavilion, the doors and windows that were originally closed in winter had been opened at this time, and the cold north slowly rolled in with a biting coolness, making everyone standing in the hall feel a slight chill.

"Since you are still not sober, let the wind outside blow in and sober your mind!"

This was originally an angry remark uttered by the emperor in anger, but in today's environment, naturally no one dares to ignore it, and no one dares to close the doors and windows.

In today's Dongnuan Pavilion, from the first assistant Cui Wancai, to the privy envoy Ning Zhongyi, as well as the high-ranking officials from the top to the bottom of the Privy Council, they are all standing in the hall, some of them may be puzzled, some may be panicked, but they are more confused, and they don't even understand the reason why the emperor is angry.

Of course, among all of them, the most calm is the first assistant Cui Wancai, because he has vaguely guessed that the emperor may intend to follow this undercurrent in the army, and to purge the army, at least it should have nothing to do with the cabinet.

As the first person in the army, Ning Zhongyi, as the emperor's uncle, was originally a little sensitive in terms of identity, but at this time, he seemed to notice something wrong, and his face gradually became very dignified.

Ning Yu glanced around at everyone and said softly: "All of you here should be veterans and veterans who raised troops with the Emperor Taishang and me back then, and the rewards of fame and fortune are already there. ”

When he said this, Ning Yu's voice suddenly became low, "But what I don't understand is that you are all so noble and have so much wealth, but why do you still use these hands and feet in the army?!" ”

Everyone's hearts jumped, speechless? Then two attendants moved in a large wooden box from outside the hall? Inside were stacks of ledgers and a large number of letters, almost filling the large wooden crates.

As a matter of fact? Didn't these ledgers and letters be formed in a day or two? It's just that the time has not come before, and now the large-scale war has basically subsided? Ning Yu naturally took Dong Ce's opportunity to throw these things in front of the big guy? The meaning is simple.

It's not like I can't see anything? I can remember all the accounts!

At that moment, someone's cold sweat was left, to say that the person who climbed to this position, the body is clean and clean, it is naturally nonsense, and the small one is favoritism? Cronyism? The big ones are embezzling military salaries and embezzling military funds, and everyone has a fault to be found.

Ning Yu naturally didn't expect his subordinates to restrain their selfish desires, this was not realistic, but for him? There are some things that must not be touched by the plan - especially the coveting of the army, which Ning Yu will not agree to.

"You should know these things? I won't think about it one by one, in the past, everyone was a hero of the [infinite] fight against the country? I've shed blood and sweat for Da Chu, and I can't bear to blame too much? After you go back yourself? Let the people under your hands return what should be returned? Make up for everything that should be made up, and those who should go home to care for the elderly will be able to go home for the elderly! ”

When Ning Yu finished speaking, the privy deputy envoy Wu Yuzhang and several other privy council generals knelt on the ground, and in this cold winter weather, the cold sweat on their faces had already flowed out.

"Returning to Your Majesty, the ministers are guilty......."

Wu Yuzhang, the deputy envoy of the privy council, was originally born in the Governor's Mansion of the Han Dynasty, and later because of the relationship between the brave and fierce battles, he was also valued by Ning Zhongyuan, especially when he was dealing with the vast governor of Hu, Wu Yuzhang also personally led people to break into the Manpi Shuai Banner without fear of death, which achieved a great victory.

Ning Yu actually attaches great importance to this person, and when the Privy Council was restructured, he made him a privy deputy envoy, but this person has a greedy personality, often withholds military funds, and wantonly promotes cronies, which has long made Ning Yu very dissatisfied, but he has always looked at the face of the emperor, so that such a rough man has stayed in the center for a long time.

Wu Yuzhang's body trembled slightly at this time, he lay on the ground and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the minister is indeed guilty, but the minister's loyalty to His Majesty and to the Emperor Taishang can be seen in the sky, and I ask Your Majesty to forgive the minister's sins......."

Ning Yu stepped forward impatiently, kicked Wu Yuzhang in the chest, and said angrily: "If it weren't for me still wanting to save some face for the Emperor, how could I let go of a greedy villain like you?" Don't worry, I won't kill you, but don't stay in the center anymore, hand over all the greedy proceeds to Dali Temple, and then go home and think about it behind closed doors. ”

"Yes, yes, thank you for your grace not to kill......."

Wu Yuzhang and the others struggled to kowtow in a row, and then retreated in Ning Yu's disgusted eyes, but after this action, the expressions of the ministers present changed slightly, among which Cui Wancai's face was with a relieved smile, while Ning Zhongyi frowned slightly.

Sure enough, before Ning Yu could continue to speak, Ning Zhongyi stood up and saluted with both hands, but he looked like he had something to say, but to everyone's surprise, Ning Zhongyi did not want to intercede for Wu Yuzhang and the others.

"Your Majesty, although Wu Yuzhang and others also have some credit to my Great Chu, but after all, the merit is merit, and the past is excessive, he has made meritorious contributions to the Great Chu, and His Majesty has also rewarded him with the title, and now that he has violated the law of the country, how can he let it go easily?"

Ning Zhongyi was obviously dissatisfied with Wu Yuzhang for a long time, and said coldly: "Even if the Emperor Taishang knows the mistakes made by this generation, he will never easily disturb this person, and he will not thank the world if he doesn't kill him!" ”

"The Privy Council makes it impossible to say this!"

Cui Wancai sighed slightly, he looked at the other party's puzzled eyes, and could only explain softly: "If you only kill this person, it will be okay, I'm afraid that you won't be able to get to the root of it, but if it is delayed too widely, something will happen." ”

Ning Yu was more or less unhappy in his heart, he snorted lightly, and said, "It's easy to kill him Wu Yuzhang, but the problems in the army are not so easy to solve....... In the final analysis, our military system still needs to be reformed, at least the original set of the Han Army, but it is not sustainable. ”

In fact, since the end of the large-scale war a year ago, Ning Yu has deeply thought about the current problems of the Fu Han army, the most critical of which is that the increasingly large Fu Han army has become a huge monster, devouring a lot of resources, and has a great impact on the development of Great Chu.

And in this monster, there are not a few Wu Yuzhang parasitic inside, if you just get rid of these people, then you can only solve the appearance problem, and there will be more Wu Yuzhang in the future.

In the past, when the world was conquered, in order to unite all forces and overthrow the rule of the Qing court as soon as possible, the Fu Han army basically had an attitude of not refusing.

In addition, at that time, the Fuhan Metropolitan Governorate was still very weak and did not have a stable talent training mechanism, so it was very difficult to replace high-quality officers, and it could only be short-term and quick training through the training channels of officers in the follow-up, and this method could only cultivate some basic qualities of officers, and it was difficult to carry out in-depth military education.

Now it is different, the regular military academy in Dachu has been established, and high-quality officers are being trained in batches, although these people are now in low-level positions in the army, but the spiritual outlook they show is far stronger than these old schools in the army.

Therefore, in Ning Yu's view, the external environment in which large-scale wars will not break out in the next ten years is naturally very suitable for the reorganization of the Fuhan Army.

Regarding the emperor's idea, Ning Zhongyi's attitude was very clear, "Your Majesty wants to reform the Han army, and the ministers will naturally help you, and you will never say anything." ”

Ning Yu pondered lightly before he spoke: "This matter should not be rushed, I am ready to think about it again." ”

........

When the emperor dismissed everyone, Cui Wancai also left the palace, but he did not return directly to his mansion, but went directly to the cabinet yamen, only to see Li Fu had been waiting inside with a smile for a long time.

"Hehe, this time the trouble in the West Courtyard is not small......" Li Fu's voice was somewhat gloating.

Cui Wancai sighed softly, of course he knew where Li Fu's exclamation came from, to put it bluntly, in the past few years, the status of military generals is far higher than that of civilian officials, especially on issues like knighthood, the number of military generals every year is almost more than ten times that of civilian officials, which also arouses the envy and jealousy in the hearts of civilian officials.

And the most important thing is that the cabinet of the East House and the Privy Council of the West House will also attack each other on the issue of financial income every year, and everyone wants to eat more and occupy more, but the contradiction is getting deeper and deeper.

Although Cui Wancai was also a little comfortable in his heart, he didn't show anything on his face, but just said softly: "Your Majesty's determination this time is very great, and the military will carry out a big weight loss when the time comes, and it will not be a good opportunity for our Dongfu." ”

"This year's financial plan has not yet passed, if you can save a sum, the East government will not have to choose between those livelihood construction projects....... It's just that how it is arranged depends on what His Majesty means. ”

Li Fu thought for a moment, he stretched out his hand to dip the water stains, and wrote a number on the table, "If it can be reduced to about this number this year, we will be able to have more money." ”

Cui Wancai shook his head, stretched out his hand to wipe the water stains on the table, and said with a wry smile: "Your Majesty's idea is not to simply reduce military spending, but to re-blood the army. ”

"Shhh.......hhh If you look like this, it seems that there is really a lot of it. ”

Cui Wancai stood up and sighed softly: "The most troublesome thing in this matter is not money, the reason why Your Majesty chose to do this in Beijing is to minimize the impact, if you do it in Nanjing, it will touch the interests of too many people, and among these people, there are many old ministers back then." ”

"I heard that the Emperor Taishang will go out to patrol the southwest in the spring."

Li Fu smiled slightly, "After the news from the capital is transmitted to Nanjing, I am afraid that the Emperor Taishang has already set off, and even if they want to gossip at that time, it will be impossible." ”

Cui Wancai bowed his head lightly, and then said softly: "The reason why Your Majesty did not severely punish Wu Yuzhang is also telling them that the current matter can be turned over, but they have to cooperate well, otherwise they will really have to wait until Your Majesty is ruthless, and it will not look good in the future." ”

Li Fu snorted coldly: "If they knew what it meant to do a good job, they wouldn't be like this now, I heard that they can't even tolerate the Eagle Battalion, it's really unreasonable." ”

Cui Wancai shook his head, "After all, these are all matters of the West Courtyard, and the East Mansion does not need to be too deeply involved." We'll wait and see what gets better. ”

"It's ...... anyway"

As a matter of fact, the turmoil caused by the Imperial Council was even more far-reaching than many people had imagined, and even a series of reports of maladministration within the military appeared in the internal newspapers of the officials of the two capitals.

However, in the report, it did not mainly attack the corruption of high-ranking generals in the army, but aimed at one point, that is, the relevant system of the Han Army, which is detailed and directly hits the pain point of the problem, which is obviously from the hands of extraordinary people, at least ordinary people can't see the crux of the problem.

The content in it is actually not complicated, but it points out a very simple problem, that is, the current military merit field system of the Fu Han army needs to be improved, that is, the report believes that the military merit field system can stimulate the combat courage of soldiers in wartime, but in peacetime, it is not enough to reflect this, but it will repeat the mistake of the Ming Dynasty, that is, the complete collapse of the guard system.

The main feature of the guard system itself is to maintain a large number of troops at low cost through the way of tuntian, in the words of Zhu Baba, that is, "I raise millions of soldiers, and it does not cost the people a grain of rice." ”

However, this is only an ideal state, when soldiers still need to undertake production tasks, their combat effectiveness itself cannot be guaranteed, and the hereditary military household system has turned it into a cage, a stagnant water with no entry and exit, and will naturally collapse in the environment of peace.

On the surface, this system is completely different from the Fu Han Army, the Fu Han Army obtains a soldier's service period of up to ten years in the form of military merit fields, and can be retired once the service period expires, so there will be a problem, the military merit field is directly allocated to the soldiers, if the soldiers are retired, they need to be supplemented, and new fields are needed.

Everyone knows that the number of fields cannot be endless, and that the fields in remote places are also difficult for the soldiers to accept, and perhaps there will be enough land to be distributed in a short time, so what about a long time? In addition, there are only more than 700,000 soldiers at present, so what if the army is further expanded in the future?

It is impossible for Da Chu to maintain a huge field of military merit to be distributed all the time, and there is no way to maintain the continuity of this system, so in the article, this unknown author asked a word, but it made everyone break out in a cold sweat.

"After a hundred years, who can hold the armor again?"