"Since returning to Beijing from Liangzhou, I have been thinking about the kind of reward and punishment measures to be adopted to improve the positive attitude of soldier training, and in addition to official business, I have consulted the opinions of some veteran generals in Beijing in many ways, and I think that it is imperative to draw on the training methods and reward and punishment measures of the Northwest Battalion in the forbidden army to carry out military training in the 24 forbidden armies and the Tianxia Guards.

After the squire of the military department finished speaking, several veteran generals came out one after another to express their agreement, and they all agreed that the current quality of the army has reached the point where it cannot be tolerated, and if a comprehensive purge is not carried out, the army, which is the guarantee of the state, will first have major problems from within.

At this time, Gai Yanshou, the general of the Shangzhu State who was first in line on his right hand and had just retired from the Hedong Xing Battalion, stood up from the stool and stepped forward and said slowly, "Your Majesty, the old minister seconded the proposal, the old minister is already a lot old, and he is not afraid to say something unpleasant in front of His Majesty." ”

"Speaking of which, when the Great Qi was founded, the old minister was already a sentry commander under the command of Emperor Taizu, who had been in the army for more than 50 years, and witnessed the changes in the Great Qi army throughout the process.

After Gai Yanshou finished speaking, Emperor Gaozong immediately said, "General Gai Lao sat down and said slowly, I think you and Li Xiang have the most say on the issue of the army, how to rectify the discipline of the army and improve the combat effectiveness of the army, your opinion is the most important, even if you don't say it, I will force you to express your position." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty Longen, this old bone will not be too much of a problem to stand for an hour, since Your Majesty values us old guys so much, then I will open the topic and talk about it, as long as Your Majesty does not dislike the old ministers for being verbose, and if there are deficiencies, Li Xiang will make up for them!"

Li Zongxiong immediately got up and said, "Okay, Elder Gai, you say first, how to purge the army will be led by our two old guys!" ”

"Let me first talk about the number of troops, from the beginning of the founding of the country to the present more than 50 years, the development of the army can be said to have gone through three stages. The first stage was from the founding year of the founding of the country to the third year of Zhizheng, and the number of troops basically remained at about 500,000, and it was these 500,000 troops that it was difficult to raise their heads for more than 20 years after fighting the Khitan in the north, Tubo in the northwest and Goryeo in the east; The second stage is the 10-year period from 3 to 12 years, and Daqi is in a ten-year period of peace, and the number of troops has basically not changed; The third stage is the thirteenth year of Zhizheng to the present, because of the thirteen years of relations with the Khitans after suffering a big defeat, Daqi invested the strength of the whole country in the fourteenth and fifteenth years of Zhizheng to carry out the largest expansion of the twenty-four forbidden armies, the total strength of the country suddenly from more than 500,000 to more than 800,000, this is not the end, from the sixteenth year of Zhizheng to this year's more than ten years, the number of forbidden troops and guards is still growing, until the end of June this year in the register of 1030,000. ”

"In this way, our first question arises, why can more than 500,000 troops be invincible in the world, but 1 million troops have rare victories, is it because our opponent has multiplied its combat strength after decades of development?"

"The answer is obvious, it is not that the enemy's combat power is increasing exponentially, but that our combat power is declining exponentially, because everyone knows that the grassland people have grown up on horseback since ancient times, and they are born warriors, and their army's combat strength will basically not change greatly over the years, and the enemy's combat strength has not changed much, which can only show that our combat strength has been declining exponentially in the last two or three decades."

"That's why our veterans in Beijing think that military training is imperative."

Gai Yanshou breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "Second, I want to speak for a few adults in the household department, on the surface, it is reasonable that the current state tax expenditure on the supply of the army should be about twice that of the beginning of the founding of the country, but the actual situation is far from what we imagined. There is a certain comparability, but the results surprised me, and the military expenditure for the three years was more than three times that of the five years of Jintong. ”

"I can't help but have a trace of admiration for the adults of the household department, the military expenditure alone has increased by two times, and the tax revenue of the three years of Zhihe has only increased a little more than double that of the three years of Jintong, how the adults of the household department have boiled their hair gray and achieved a balance between dismissal and new income throughout the year."

Speaking of this, the three heads of the household department solemnly bowed to Gai Yanshou together, and whispered, "Thank you, General Gai, for your understanding." ”

"In this way, our second question arises, whether there is a serious problem of corruption in the army, and whether the time has come for us to clean up the situation of corruption and empty salaries in the army."

"Your Majesty, my two questions are finished, if there is anything wrong, please ask Your Majesty and all the adults to raise it, as for how to solve the problem, it is not my old business."

When Gai Yanshou finished speaking, there was silence in the Zichen Palace, not only the courtiers, but even Emperor Gaozong was a little moved, General Gai's analysis was indeed in place, and it could be said that the problems existing in the current army were to the point, but what everyone sighed was not this, it was the kind of high wind and bright festival that General Gai showed in the analysis process, you must know that everyone has more or less short-term behavior, and their subordinates will try their best to cover up even if they have problems, and today's Gai Lao is so angry that he uncovers his own shortcomings, You must know that today's Daqi army, to put it bluntly, is one acre and three points of land for Li Zongxiong and Gai Yanshou......

However, a few people have understood that the power and glory of a pillar of the country like General Gai Lao have reached the limit, and some things have already been seen, knowing that the fate of the family has been tightly tied to the fate of the country, and only if the country remains peaceful and prosperous, their family can obtain more long-term benefits.

In the silence, I saw Li Zongxiong take a step forward and bow to Emperor Gaozong and said, "Your Majesty, General Gai Lao has analyzed the situation of the army very well, these two problems are the problems that urgently need to be solved in the army at present, I think that two things should be started immediately after the New Year's Festival, for the problem of corruption, I suggest that the household department should be the main department, the official department, the Dali Temple, and the military department to jointly form an anti-corruption team to carry out a joint investigation in the twenty-four forbidden armies in advance." ”

"As for the training of the army, I don't think it's in a hurry to make a decision now, and we will discuss it after the military parade on the eighth day of the first lunar month."

At this time, Yang Yan, the left prime minister, who had not spoken since the beginning of the court meeting, asked aloud, "What does Li Xiang mean by this, why wait until after the military parade?" ”

"Yang Xiangmingjian, just now Sima Shilang proposed to learn from the training methods and reward and punishment measures of the Northwest Camp in the forbidden army to carry out military training in the twenty-four forbidden armies and the Tianxia Guards, I think I also have to let the Holy Lord and the ministers see how this new type of military training is, and whether there is any need for other forbidden armies and the world's guards to learn from. Because Sheng Shang and Yang Xiang also saw it, yesterday's 200-mile urgent document of the northwest camp said, 'The northwest camp went to the capital to participate in the military parade are the three brigades that have just completed the new training.'" ”

"Oh, it's still Li Xiang's thoughtfulness, Shengshang, Wechen seconded Li Xiang's suggestion, but Wechen also has a small proposal, the verification of corruption in the army may only be led by the household department or there is a certain degree of difficulty, my proposal is for Li Xiang to personally serve as the patrol ambassador of the army's corruption verification, and give the Son of Heaven sword, cheap and other privileges, in order to effectively ensure the smooth implementation of the army's corruption verification."

"Your Majesty, Yang Xiang's proposal seems to be inappropriate, if I am the patrol ambassador, there are many colleagues or subordinates in the army, and the inspectors will inevitably not be able to let go of their hands and feet, Shengshang, Weichen proposed that Yang Xiang be the patrol ambassador."