Lin'an City, vertical arch hall, monarchs and ministers deliberate.

Zhao Gou sat upright in the hall, holding a piece of music in his hand, and there was a servant standing beside him.

His Royal Highness sat several people on the left and right, and their official robes were either purple or red.

"Zhang Aiqing, is this really the case in the Wuzhou General Election Battalion?"

Zhao Gou picked up the piece of music in his hand, and judging from the expression on his face, he didn't know whether he was surprised or happy.

Zhang Fu replied: "Your Majesty, the actual situation is indeed as the minister played. The ministers stayed for seven or eight days before and after the camp for the selection of generals, and the more than 40 forbidden troops practiced for five or six hours a day, and their morale was high. ”

"Qin Aiqing, you should have read this letter, right?"

Qin Hui replied slowly: "When they came back from Wuzhou, the minister asked them to tell them to report truthfully, and not to add salt and vinegar." ”

"Now that you have understood, what does Qin Aiqing think about the selection of generals?"

"The minister thinks that at present, the election of generals lives up to the expectations of the court and the emperor, and should be commended."

"There is no urgency in the matter of awards, and we will discuss them later. However, how to deal with the troops in front of the palace discussed by the ministers in the court yesterday, do you have any ideas? ”

Zhao said nothing, but no one in the hall made a sound, like a sculpture.

"In the middle of the store, those armies are under your control on weekdays, and now that they have a problem, you should also say something."

Seeing this, Zhao Gou began to roll call.

Yang Cunzhong said: "Your Majesty, the minister is guilty!" The ministers are not strict, and they are willing to receive punishments, and please resign from the command of the former division of the palace! ”

"Not allowed!"

Zhao Gou's face changed, and he refused to resign without hesitation.

"You are you, the garrison is the garrison, how can it be mixed up. I want you to be corrupt in the armies stationed abroad, take presumptuously receiving food and salaries, and neglect training, so I will say that the troops stationed abroad are forbidden, and don't get involved in other things. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Yang Cunzhong responded, and then replied: "The corruption and negligent training of the troops stationed abroad have been around for a long time, and it is not only in the past two years, and it has accumulated disadvantages and it is difficult to return, and the reason is that the commander and the commander are greedy for pleasure, and if they want to change the status quo, the minister thinks that all the military commanders and commanders should be removed and the generals should be re-selected." ”

"Well, that's a good idea. Wu Aiqing, what do you think? ”

Zhao Gou continued to roll call,

Wu Ling, the governor of the Privy Council and the signing of the book, replied: "Your Majesty, the military generals do not love money or lust, they must have a plan, if they treat the soldiers like brothers, such as making private soldiers, twist up and down into a ball, and form a piece, it will be a disaster for the imperial court." Since ancient times, military generals have rebelled, which is not uncommon, and the harm is so great that it is difficult to write about it, and the reason for this is because they have a plan. Life between heaven and earth, or for fame, or for profit, or for power, or for wealth, or for sex, you must always have something. When it comes to military generals, if they are not for money or sex, then they are seeking power, for greater selfish interests, if their selfish desires are inflated, they will inevitably peep into the imperial power in the end, are there few such people in all dynasties? On the contrary, the money-greedy and lustful generals cannot gather people's hearts, so they cannot make big waves. Therefore, the ministers thought that the generals of the forbidden army stationed abroad would be greedy for money, so they would be greedy for money, and they would not have to worry about them, and with this handle in hand, the court would be able to restrain them, even if they were greedy for a little money, it would be better than the harm caused by their rebellion to the country. ”

As soon as these words came out, the hall suddenly became cold, and Yang Cunzhong's face changed in an instant, and he was restless.

"It's understandable that the generals think that they love money, but if all the generals are greedy for money and lustful, the army will have no combat power at all, since there is no combat power and no use, why does the imperial court spend so much money to support them every year? Just so that they don't rebel? In this case, why not disband all the army, if it is disbanded, there will be no generals to rebel, and the court can save a lot of money. In the opinion of the ministers, since there is a serious shortage of these forbidden troops stationed abroad, seven or eight out of ten of the non-commissioned officers are old, weak, sick and disabled, and they neglect training, and the generals of the unified army are only greedy for money and do not care about military affairs, they should all be dismissed or assigned to the local van army, and in this way, it will be a good thing for the court and the localities. ”

Because of the election of generals according to Chawu Prefecture, Zhang Fu, who was called to the palace today to participate in the deliberations, immediately refuted Wu Ling and put forward his own suggestions.

Zhang Fu's suggestion was very bold, and everyone was shocked when they heard it.

"All dismissed? Qin Aiqing, how is Zhang Aiqing's discussion? ”

Zhao Gou's heart moved, there are dozens of forbidden armies stationed abroad, which spend a lot of money every year, but they belong to training, and they are all old, weak, sick and disabled, and have no combat power at all, so they should really be rectified.

Qin Hui raised his eyes to look at the look on Zhao Gou's face, and then replied: "The treasury is not abundant, and the annual military expenditure is huge, and as far as the minister knows, most of them go into the pockets of the generals of the unified army. The Great Song Dynasty claimed to have 500,000 forbidden troops, garrison troops, and border troops, but in fact, there were less than 300,000 soldiers, and more than 200,000 soldiers' salaries were fraudulently received by generals every year. Now Jingxiang'e wants to build embankments, the two Zhejiang provinces need to rest the river, the West Lake needs to be dredged, Sichuan and Shaanxi need to repair water conservancy, Taixue needs to be expanded, the government school, the state school, and the county school must be rebuilt, and the imperial court needs money everywhere. The minister thought that as long as the back route of the forbidden army stationed abroad was properly arranged, it should not be difficult to revoke the dismissal. ”

"Since Qin Aiqing agrees with Zhang Aiqing's proposal, you Aiqing will discuss how to supervise it."

As long as he spends less money, Zhao Gou is happy, and five or six million is not a small amount.

As soon as the words fell, Zhang Fu immediately said: "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the Privy Council and the front division of the palace can come forward together, and the dismissal and revocation of the forbidden army establishment must start with the commanders and generals, and arrange a way for them to retreat, so that ordinary soldiers can deal with it." The situation of each forbidden army is much the same, almost all the generals of the various armies are already fifty or sixty years old, and they can be assigned a vacant post, transferred out of the army, and returned to their hometowns to settle down, and among the soldiers, the young and strong who can be retained are selected and integrated into other forbidden armies, and the rest of the old, weak, sick and disabled are abolished from the establishment of the forbidden army, and those who are willing to return to their hometowns will be sent back to their hometowns with some travel expenses to make a living, and those who do not want to return to their hometowns will be merged into the local army. As long as it is properly handled, the dismissal of the forbidden army stationed abroad can be carried out smoothly, saving the imperial court a lot of money every year. ”

"Lord Zhang, the forbidden army stationed abroad is dismissed, what about the forbidden army from all walks of life who are participating in the selection of generals in the Wuzhou general selection camp? Do you want to be summarily dismissed? ”

Yang Cun Center is very unhappy, there has not been a day of happiness in the past six months, and he has endured the forbidden army under the command of the former division of the palace and the former division of the palace for a few months, and now he has to revoke the dismissal of all the forbidden troops stationed abroad, and then even the former division of the palace will be revoked together?

As the commander of the front division of the palace, where his duty lies, he must say a few words for the forbidden army, otherwise it will be spread out, and the face of the commander of his front division will have no place to rest.

"Guogong's words are reasonable, now some troops of the forbidden army stationed abroad are still selecting generals in Wuzhou, if the imperial court dismisses the forbidden army stationed abroad at this time, what do the soldiers of the forbidden army in Wuzhou think? Once not handled properly, the consequences are unimaginable. The emperor thought that the matter of abolishing the ban on troops stationed abroad had to be discussed in the long run, and that the people of all walks of life should not be in a trance because of the mere millions of military expenses. The combat strength of the forbidden army stationed abroad is weak, and it is necessary to revoke them, but it is advisable to take it slowly, make all preparations, and make a decision before acting, otherwise rumors will spread, which is not conducive to the stability of the army's morale. ”

The atmosphere in the hall was not good, and Wu Ling hurriedly said that he would match, hoping to find allies and add some confidence.

Who knew that Zhao Gou said: "Wu Aiqing's words seem to have unfinished meanings, how it is not conducive to the stability of the army's heart, you might as well explain it." ”

Wu Ling replied: "Your Majesty, once the news of the revocation of the dismissal of the forbidden army abroad comes out from the imperial court, the garrisons in various places will inevitably be suspicious, and they will naturally doubt whether the imperial court will continue to dismantle the garrisons. Therefore, the minister thought that the matter of lifting the ban on troops stationed abroad still needed to be considered in the long run, and should not be rushed. ”

Who knew that Zhang Fu said: "Lord Wu's words are wrong, the forbidden army and the garrison army are different, and the two cannot be compared. What's more, it is not difficult to deal with this matter, just at the same time issue an edict to the garrison, explaining the reasons why the imperial court has revoked the forbidden army stationed abroad, and at the same time knocking the garrison, not to be the same as the forbidden army stationed abroad. In this way, the garrison has regained its morale as a soldier and trained its troops well. ”

"What Zhang Aiqing said is reasonable."

Zhao Gou nodded slightly, and then asked: "What should be done with the forbidden army stationed abroad that is participating in the selection of generals in the Wuzhou Election General Battalion?" ”

Yang Cunzhong said: "The minister thinks that the troops participating in the selection of generals cannot be dismissed and revoked, they are all selected from the army, and they are also the foundation of the forbidden army stationed abroad. ”

Zhang Fu said: "Your Majesty, the training of the forbidden army soldiers in the general selection camp is very hard, there is a military order in the selection general camp, you can only drink porridge if you train for less than three hours a day, and you can only eat after training for more than five hours, and the more than 20,000 people in the entire election general camp train for more than six hours a day, and the longer the training, the more rations you get." As far as the minister can see, those forty-odd teams are very energetic, and it is really not appropriate to revoke them, and they can be merged into several new forbidden armies after the selection of generals is over, and they will be stationed in important places respectively. ”

Zhao Gou's eyes lit up, and he immediately said: "Zhang Aiqing's proposal is very good, since the troops in the camp are selected to train hard, then leave them behind." ”

Zhang Fu was overjoyed, and immediately said: "Your Majesty, the minister also found some problems when he went to Wuzhou to select the general camp this time, the people in the general camp in Wuzhou are soft-spoken, it is difficult to raise grain and grass, and the grain will be cut off at the end of this month, and the court will not send people over to help, I am afraid that there will be chaos." ”

"I gave them a million guan, and the imperial court gave them 500,000 guan, how can they not raise grain and grass?"

Zhao Gou felt very surprised, and glanced at Yang Cunzhong intentionally or unintentionally.

"The person who selected the head of the battalion is only the secretary of the military case in front of the palace, and the official position is too low, and there are two other people in the battalion who he found to help, both of whom are white, and it is difficult to get the assistance and support of the state government with their identities, and it is useless to take the certificate of the household department to allocate grain and grass."

Zhang Fu said.