The military judge replied in a loud voice, "Whoever sits on the stolen goods and commits a crime, if he has more than ten horses, will have a hundred rods and three years' imprisonment." ”

Du Wenhao was simply stunned, turned his head and said in amazement: "There is no death penalty for even corruption and bribery? How? ”

"Returning to the general, there is no corruption, there is bribery and perversion of the law, one foot and one hundred rods; One horse plus one class, fifteen horses twisted. ”

"That's pretty much it. Commander Guo, you sent the soldiers back to Yi without authorization, one hundred rods according to the law, plus the number of false embezzlement monthly salaries, one hundred rods, a total of two hundred rods, it is estimated that you don't want this back. Whether the internal organs in it can still be used or not, you weigh it yourself. To say or not to say? ”

Guo Ce's body trembled, but he still bowed his head and remained silent.

Du Wenhao's eyes rolled and said: "Commander Guo, this officer knows that you have concerns, this false number of sergeants, the embezzlement of the moon, and the rod of a hundred, the two combined, anyway, you can't survive." It's better to lose your car and don't open your mouth, and others can help you take care of your family. Right? ”

Guo Ce's body was shocked, and he slowly raised his head and glanced at Du Wenhao. In his heart, he was surprised that this young general's eyes were sharp, this was the big calculation in his heart.

Du Wenhao said: "You tell me, what's going on, I may be able to show mercy and spare you death." ”

A hint of joy flashed in Guo Ce's eyes: "Is the general's words true?" ”

"There is no joke in the army!"

"Good! Humble and trustworthy generals. I say! ”

Guo Ce sighed: "When I came, the roster of soldiers handed over to me by my predecessor was this number, and there was a shortage of more than 150 people, and they were not declared to fill it, but they still received salaries according to 500 people, and the monthly salaries of more than 150 people who were falsely received were divided into three parts, one was handed over to the commanders of the military department, and one was divided among the brothers in the whole battalion. The remaining one was divided into three parts, one for me and the deputy commander, one for each and one for each team, and divided equally among the heads. ”

"Hehe, that's fair. Falsely pretending to be the number of soldiers, pretending to receive the monthly sparry for personal sharing, so bold! Are you not afraid of the king's law? ”

Guo Ce hung his head and said: "I know that this matter will be exposed sooner or later, so I think that everyone is doing this anyway, and they will not be unlucky enough to be bumped into." I didn't expect to be bumped into. ”

Du Wenhao's heart sank: "What did you say?" What is everyone saying? What do you mean? You say this is also the case with other armies? ”

Guo Ce nodded: "If the general doesn't believe it, you can go and investigate it yourself." Some battalions are short of personnel and have more people than us! It's been like this for decades! ”

Du Wenhao's head boomed, and many things that he had never understood suddenly became clear in an instant! - Why did the Song army concentrate superior forces to fight against the Western Xia, but it was still defeated repeatedly, it turned out that the so-called superior strength of the Song army was largely only the advantage of the imaginary number of the army, in fact, none of these troops were full. The imaginary numbers in terms of quantity were offset by these shortages, and the real number was not superior to that of Western Xia.

Then it was absolutely wrong, and he only came into contact with the army now, didn't the emperor know about such a thing? Besides, the last time I led a 5,000 forbidden army to the west, it was a real 5,000, and there was no shortage of personnel, what is going on?

Du Wenhao turned his head to look at Xu Huaqiang, the captain of his personal guard: "Is that the case?" ”

Xu Huaqiang nodded slowly: "General, this is basically the case. ”

"Then why didn't the 5,000 forbidden army lack personnel last time we went west?"

Xu Huaqiang said with a smile: "The general has not counted them one by one, how can I know that there is no shortage of personnel?" It's all the number of people who listen to their reports, and the lack is short, but it's just not as outrageous as their army. Because during the reign of the first emperor, the troops that lacked a small number of troops were reduced. The army we went out to fight at that time had not been reorganized for a long time, so although the new shortages were not reported, the shortages were not too serious. ”

"How much is actually missing?"

"I don't know about this, there were two corps at that time, a total of 5,000 people, I only know that our battalion was only short of a dozen people at that time."

"As the commander of the battalion, you, like them, also received the monthly salary for the number of missing personnel?"

Xu Huaqiang was a little embarrassed, knelt down on one knee and clenched his fists: "I'm sorry general, I was wrong, but this is a common practice in the army, and I still have military commanders above me, if I don't do this together, I will be dismantled and replaced immediately." However, the general can investigate that all the fictitious monthly salaries of our battalion are used to supplement military expenses and pay additional pensions to the families of the fallen soldiers. These are well documented, and the last general will never fill his pocket! ”

Du Wenhao nodded: "I believe you." You followed me in the bloody battle in the Western Regions, and saw with your own eyes your loyalty and fearlessness, and you will never lose your righteousness for this little profit. Get up. ”

"Thank you, General!" Xu Huaqiang stood up and stood aside.

Du Wenhao asked the commanders of the various armies of the Sanya who followed him one by one, and he also admitted with a red face that there was a shortage of personnel in their respective armies and that they had a false monthly salary. It's just that the amount varies and the purpose is different, and most of them say that they are used to subsidize military spending, and there are accounts to check. There are also a few who are ashamed to admit that they have been private.

I heard that most of the fictitious monthly salaries were used for army construction, although it only increased the blessings of officers and soldiers, which could still be reluctantly acceptable to him.

Since this is a common phenomenon in the military, the so-called law does not hold the people accountable, and can only be changed from the system, and one of them cannot be punished too much, then it is a bit unfair. Du Wenhao sighed and said to Guo Ce and Yan Bing, who were kneeling on the ground: "Okay, you guys get up first!" ”

After the two of them got up, Du Wenhao looked around at these senior generals of the three yas, and said in a deep voice: "A considerable number of soldiers in the army have been drawn to engage in business, and the shortage of personnel is serious, and the problem of false claims is prominent. The army lacks training, and its combat effectiveness is greatly reduced. How can such an army win a war? It must be rectified! This is the task entrusted to me by the Empress Dowager, and it is also the responsibility of this general. However, how to solve these problems depends on the concerted efforts of all the generals. As for what to do about these issues, you all give me a good idea with your head. Give you three days, put your proposal in writing, and give it to me in three days. In three days' time, I will convene a meeting of the commanders and envoys of the various armies to study these issues on a special topic. Do you hear that? ”

"The last general commands!" The generals knelt down on one knee and replied. Listening to the voice, it was a little lacking in qi, it was obvious that Song Shenzong was determined to reorganize the army, but the effect was still unsatisfactory, and they were still generally skeptical about whether the young Sanyadu could rectify these chronic problems.

Du Wenhao naturally heard this, and his heart was a little heavy. With a group of generals, he continued to inspect the next stop.

The second stop was the county's Xiang Army, the third commander (battalion) of the Bridge Road Army.

Since they were making a temporary surprise inspection, the group rode to the door of the barracks, but they did not see any soldiers on duty at the gate of the barracks. Shaking the reins and riding in, the huge barracks was deserted, only a few people sat in the shade of the trees in the far corner.

Du Wenhao shook the reins and rode over, and saw clearly that it was four or five gray-haired veterans, with their backs bent, sitting on a stone bench drinking a bowl of tea and chatting. Seeing Du Wenhao and others coming in, although he didn't know it, he saw Du Wenhao wearing the uniform of a second-grade general, and the rest were also high-grade generals, they were all frightened, and stood up tremblingly: "See the generals." ”

Du Wenhao asked, "What about your commander?" ”

"The commander is ......, where is the commander?" The old man turned to ask the other veterans.

One of them, a little younger, said, "Go to the county government to discuss cleaning up the river." ”

"Yes, yes!" Several old men nodded together.

Du Wenhao frowned: "What about the deputy commander?" What about the leaders and captains of each city? ”

Several old men gathered together to return to Yi for a while, and replied: "The deputy commander has already led the two people back to Yi and left, and it is estimated that they will be back in ten days and a half months." In the other three capitals, one is cleaning the river, one is building a post road, and the other is on an errand in the yamen. ”

Du Wenhao couldn't cry or laugh: "On an errand in the Yamen? Isn't there a government servant in the yamen? Do you still call the soldier to go on an errand? ”

"Hehe, what the general said is extremely true. It's just that the master of the yamen said that he couldn't be busy, so he sent a temporary use, which was used for a while, and there was no end to it. The former son Kaifeng Mansion Yin came, and he also transferred three people to serve him. ”

Du Wenhao looked around at the drill ground with potholes and green grass and piles of various debris, and asked, "Don't you usually train people and horses?" ”

The veteran soldier laughed and said, "General, we are all busy with this and that, and we don't even have time to get together, how can we practice?" Besides, we have all trained to fight, what do you want to do with the forbidden army? ”

This old man relied on the old and sold the old, but he dared to speak, Du Wenhao asked, "How many people are there in your camp?" I'm asking about the actual numbers. ”

The veteran soldier didn't hide it at all, and said: "The total number of soldiers is five hundred, but in fact there are only three hundred." ”

"The nearly two hundred people in the void also receive the moon?"

The veteran soldier glanced at Du Wenhao, then turned his head to look at the few behind him, and saw that they all looked blank on their faces, so he said: "Received, the moon is divided by the officials." ”

Du Wenhao nodded: "Thank you for the old man's righteous words." ”

Leaving the Xiangjun barracks, Du Wenhao inspected several surrounding forbidden army barracks. The results are much the same as the previous ones.

When it was almost dark, he returned to the capital with all the generals with a heavy heart.

When he got home, he was lying on the bed sullenly, and Yingzi told him to eat, but he ignored it.

Pang Yuqin came, sat on the edge of the bed and asked, "Xianggong, have you encountered something troublesome?" ”

"Hmm."

"Can you tell me? Say it and figure it out together, maybe it won't be annoying. ”

"You don't understand!" Du Wenhao regretted it as soon as he said this, looked up at Pang Yuqin, and sure enough, his expression was gloomy, he was busy doing it, hugged her, and whispered what he saw and heard when he inspected the ordnance station and the forbidden army and the box army outside the city today, and finally said: "My Great Song Army is like this, as the supreme leader of the Sanya, I really don't feel good in my heart, and I don't know where to start." Seeing that he was about to fight a big battle with Western Xia, he had no available soldiers in his hands, so he was depressed. ”