The Han court founded by Liu Xiu inherited the Western Han system, but the bureaucratic system of the Western Han system was too large, which brought a huge financial burden to the Luoyang court, which had just been established.

At present, the areas controlled by Liu Xiu include Youzhou, Jizhou, Sili, Sanfu, Jingzhou, Yuzhou, Bingzhou, and Yanzhou, and it can be said that most of the Central Plains are under Liu Xiu's control, but the problem also arises, with the current financial revenue of Luoyang, it cannot support a large number of troops and a huge bureaucratic system at the same time.

The financial constraints made Liu Xiu have to make a decision as soon as possible, either to cut off a large number of troops or a large number of officials.

Now that the world is still undecided, the war is still going on, and it takes great wisdom and courage to cut the broadsword on the head of the army.

Liu Xiu was in the Qingliang Palace, and summoned the right general Deng Yu, the left general Jia Fu, the ruling Jinwu Zhu Fu, the Shangshu Ling Hou Ba, the Lantai Ling Shi Liu Yu, and the Sili Captain Bao Yong.

At present, Liu Xiu's imperial history system still lacks a royal history Zhongcheng, he first asked Liu Yu's opinion and asked: "Liu Lingshi, who do you think is the most suitable to serve as the imperial history Zhongcheng?" ”

Hearing this, Deng Yu, Jia Fu, Zhu Fu, Hou Ba, and Bao Yong looked at each other, and then lowered their eyes together.

At present, in the imperial history system, the highest official position is Lantai Lingshi, they thought that His Majesty had the intention of raising Liu Yu further, but now, His Majesty does not seem to have this plan.

Liu Xiu did not mean to appoint himself as the middle of the imperial history, and Liu Yu did not show a low mood about it.

He is a contented and happy person, I feel that he is very good to be the history of Lantai Lingshi now, he is in charge of the orchestra on weekdays, and he holds the seal, which is both easy and does not offend people, if he really wants him to be the middle of the imperial history, he may not dare to do it! Liu Yu and Liu Xiu are clan relatives, the two are of the same age, but in terms of generation, Liu Yu is younger than Liu Xiu, according to the ranking of clan relatives, he has to be called Liu Xiu's father.

He owed to Liu Xiu and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that Li Youke is qualified for the post of Zhongcheng in the imperial history. ”

Li Youben is Liu Yu's subordinate, a member of the imperial envoys, among the imperial envoys, Li You's subordinates are stunned, and they are also the most headache for Liu Yu.

Every time he received Li You's dismissal, Liu Yu was terrified, because Li You's impeachment targets were not only local officials, but also princes and nobles.

Among them, Liu Yu was most impressed by the fact that Li You even dared to impeach Liu Liang, the king of Zhao.

You must know that Liu Liang is the uncle of the Son of Heaven, and he is the person who single-handedly brought up the Son of Heaven, named uncle and nephew, who is actually a father and son.

Li You even dared to impeach Liu Liang, and while Liu Yu was frightened, he also had to admire his courage and courage.

Listening to Liu Yu's recommendation of Li You, Liu Xiu thought about it, and showed a sudden look, he smiled: "I remember, I have some impression of Li You, he has impeached King Zhao before, speaking of which, he is indeed an imperial history who dares to go up and give direct advice!" ”

Liu Yu said with a smile: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that if he can be a master in the imperial history, he needs someone like Li You!" ”

Liu Xiu nodded, looked at Deng Yu, Jia Fu and the others, and asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Without waiting for others to speak, Bao Yongxian arched his hand and said, "Your Majesty, Weichen seconded the proposal." ”

Bao Yong's father's name was Bao Xuan, and when he was mourning the emperor, Bao Xuan's official position was the captain of Sili.

Later, Wang Mang usurped the throne, and Bao Xuan was loyal to the Han family, which was not tolerated by Wang Mang, and was later killed by Wang Mang.

Bao Yong was out of revenge for his father, defected to the Green Forest Army, and followed the Green Forest Army to rebel and rebel.

It can be said that Bao Yong is one of the veterans of the Green Forest Army, and after Liu Xuan became emperor, Bao Yong's official position has been made to be a general, leading soldiers and horses, and guarding Hedong.

Later, the Red Mei army captured Chang'an and killed Liu Xuan, and Liu Xiu sent an envoy to Hedong to persuade Bao Yong to surrender.

At that time, the road from Hedong to Chang'an had been completely cut off, and the news was not clear, and Bao Yong did not know that Liu Xuan was dead, and after seeing Liu Xiu's envoy, he did not believe what the envoy said, and immediately asked Liu Xiu's envoy to be imprisoned.

Then he personally sent someone to Chang'an to inquire about the news, and only then did he confirm that Liu Xiu's envoy was right, Chang'an had fallen, and Liu Xuan had indeed been killed.

After learning the news, Bao Yong cried, dismissed his subordinates, and finally took only a few henchmen and staff, with envoys, to defect to Liu Xiu.

Liu Xiu was very happy to learn that Bao Yong had come to return to Shun, because Bao Yong had tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command, and Liu Xiu was in urgent need of soldiers and horses at that time.

After seeing Bao Yong, Liu Xiu found out that this old brother only came with a few generals and staff.

Liu Xiu asked him, where did the tens of thousands of troops under your command go?

Bao Yong bluntly replied that all the soldiers and horses under his command had been dismissed by him, and he did not want to use the tens of thousands of brothers under his command to seek high-ranking officials for himself.

After Liu Xiu heard this, his nose was almost crooked, but people had already come to join him, and the dismissed soldiers and horses could not be recovered, what else could he say?

Bao Yong, who Liu Xiu took in at the end, was later appointed as the lieutenant of Si Li.

To say that this Bao Yong really has a deep affection for Liu Xuan and is loyal.

Liu Xiu buried Liu Xuan's bones in Baling, and when Bao Yong inspected Baling, he also went to Liu Xuan's cemetery to clean Liu Xuan's grave, and knelt on the ground and cried.

At that time, the officials who followed Bao Yong were stunned and stupid, and they almost didn't hold their heads.

Naturally, the news soon reached Liu Xiu, and after Liu Xiu heard it, he was furious, and immediately issued an edict, summoned Bao Yong, and reprimanded him.

Bao Yong's reply was that His Majesty was to follow the legacy of the first emperor and restore the Han family, and Weichen was loyal to the first emperor and loyal to the Han family, so why did His Majesty reprimand Weichen?

Liu Xiu was speechless by Bao Yong, and although she was angry, she had no choice but to give up in the end.

Bao Yong, the captain of the division, is such a master.

During Liu Xiu's reign, there was a large court in the court, and there was a small court beside him, which was composed of three institutions, one was the Yushitai, the other was the Shangshutai, and the other was the Sili Captain.

Although Liu Xiu is often angry with Bao Yong, Liu Xiu trusts Bao Yong and uses him very much.

Liu Xiu saw that Bao Yong also supported Li You as the middle of the imperial history, and he looked at Deng Yu, Jia Fu, and Hou Ba, and asked, "What do you mean?" ”

Deng Yu took the lead in saying: "Li Youzhongjun is directly admonished, and he is qualified to be the middle of the imperial history!" ”

Jia Fu and Hou Ba also bowed and said, "Weichen seconded it." ”

Seeing this, Liu Xiu clapped his hands and said, "Okay, this matter is settled." ”

At this point, Hou Ba in charge of Shangshutai, Li You in charge of the imperial envoy, Bao Yong in charge of Sili, and the three giants of the small court around Liu Xiu are all gathered.

Next, Liu Xiu raised the issue of the financial constraints of the imperial court.

Bao Yong took the lead and said: "The county has county soldiers, the county has a county army, the state capital has a government army, the imperial court also has the Beijing division army, so many soldiers and horses, it really consumes a lot of money and food." ”

Jia Fu frowned and said: "The world is undecided, and it is inevitable that the local government and even the imperial court will deploy troops on a large scale!" ”

Bao Yongzhengse said: "The reason why a large number of county soldiers, county armies, and government armies were set up at the beginning was to exterminate and pacify the thief armies in various places, but now under the rule of His Majesty, the thief army has been sharply reduced, and the county soldiers, county army, and government army are really redundant. ”

There are many county soldiers in the county, there are many county troops in the county, and the state capital also raises many government troops, which is Wang Mang's head.

During Wang Mang's reign, the world was in turmoil, and rebel armies in various places rose up one after another.

At that time, the rebel army was not one or two, but there were countless of them, and the Jingshi army directly under the leadership of the imperial court could not be pacified even if it broke its leg, and the imperial court could only quell the chaos through the local army led by the local government, which led to a surge in the number of county soldiers, county troops, and government troops.

Now that Liu Xiu governs the world, the rebel armies have been pacified, and all parts of the country are peaceful, the county soldiers, county troops, and government armies are too redundant, and the existence of these armies has also greatly consumed the financial resources of the county government, county government, and state government, and thus weakened the financial resources of the central court.

After all, Jia Fu is a military general, for military generals, soldiers and horses are the capital, and now Bao Yong advocates reducing soldiers and horses, so that he has a sense of cutting meat.

He said faintly: "The Jingshi army will also lose the battle, and every time the battle comes, there will be a large number of casualties, and how to make up for these deaths depends on the local army to replenish the soldiers!" ”

After a pause, he said meaningfully: "In addition, the local army does not just eat dry food, Your Majesty Shengming has already ordered the local army in various places to be self-sufficient, and the money and food they consume is not large!" ”

Bao Yong shook his head and said: "Although the effect of the local army's tuntian is good, it is not very good, and the money and grain consumed every year are still huge. ”

As he spoke, he looked at Liu Xiu and arched his hand and said, "Weichen often inspects the place, and he knows the shortcomings of the local army, and he also asks His Majesty to be aware of it." ”

Liu Xiu is the emperor immediately, and the soldiers and horses are the foundation for him to compete for the world and even gain a foothold in the world, and now he wants to reduce the army, which is also a very difficult decision for Liu Xiu.

After thinking about it, he looked at Deng Yu and asked, "What does Zhonghua think?" ”

Deng Yu thought about it and said: "At present, there are enough soldiers and horses in the Jingshi Army. ”

When the Luoyang Imperial Court used the most troops, it was able to maintain the western, southern and eastern expeditions at the same time, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, and the money consumed to support the Beijing army alone was astronomical, not to mention that it also had to support a larger number of local troops.

Tuntian can indeed solve some problems, but it cannot solve them fundamentally.

In addition, Zhu Fu's proposal for the leasing of public land has also greatly reduced the tuntian used by the local armies.

These are all problems that the imperial court urgently needs to face, the Beijing division army plus the local army, the amount is millions, how can the imperial court raise it?

Zhu Fu continued: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that not only the local army will be greatly reduced, but the local officials will also be greatly reduced.

At present, there are dozens of large and small officials in a county government, and there is no need at all, as long as the county order, county commander, and county lieutenant can be retained.

As for the county government, the officials are even more complicated, and Weichen thinks that the governor can not be set up, and only keep the Taishou! ”

Taishou has a system of officials, and a system of officials is complicated and a waste of resources, and in Zhu Fu's view, the system of captains can be completely abolished.

Hearing Zhu Fu's words, everyone present frowned in unison, feeling that Zhu Fu really dared to say it, and now he actually advocated cutting off the captain.

In fact, in private, Liu Xiu and Zhu Fu had already discussed this matter whether there was a need to preserve the county government's lieutenant system.

The result of the discussions between the two was that there was no need to keep it.

The county taishou is the number one leader of a county, in charge of the military and political power of a county, and the lieutenant says that he is in charge of the military, but in fact he still has to listen to the taishou, so what is the difference between staying and not staying in this lieutenant system?

However, it is not a trivial matter to cut down the system of county captains, this is tantamount to changing the ancestral system, and Liu Xiu must also test the water first to see how much resistance there is.

He looked around at the crowd and asked, "What do you think of what Zhijinwu said?" ”

Everyone looked at Zhu Fu and then at Liu Xiu, and understood in their hearts that it seemed that the proposal to cut down the Du Lieutenant was actually His Majesty's intention.

Deng Yu said: "The abolition of the lieutenant is a great change in hundreds of years!" ”

Everyone present nodded their heads, and it was indeed a matter of great importance.

Jia Fu said: "Your Majesty, Weichen thinks that this matter should be discussed in the court. ”

Liu Xiu said with a smile: "Of course, such a major matter must be discussed in the court, but before discussing in the court, I want to know what the monarchs mean!" ”