"Hehe, good, very good, even the villagers of the nearby villages were dragged to fill the number indiscriminately, in an attempt to deceive General Ben's inspection, this kind of thing, General Ben has never heard of since the army, if you talk about things here, I'm afraid that it will not only be shocking, but also shock the government and the opposition, right?"

Zhao Ziliang said and looked at the generals and captains on the parade platform with a sneer, and the generals were even more uneasy, and then asked: "General Ben is very curious, who came up with this method, is he really a genius!" How can such a person stay in the army and waste talent? He should be sent to the court to give advice to the saints and the court, don't you think? ”

A lieutenant stubbornly bowed his hand to Zhao Ziliang and said: "General, this is what Pei Lie asked us to do, if he didn't let us do this, how would we have the courage to do this?" ”

Zhao Ziliang sneered: "Pei Lie is good, it's still a little useful when he dies!" ”

Another lieutenant stood up and bowed down and hugged his fists and said: "General Mingjian, this matter is indeed done by Pei Lie and the others, and the last general will never dare to deceive the general!" ”

Zhao Ziliang held the handle of the knife and circled around these lieutenants, judges, long history, marching horses, and record officers, and saw that they were in a cold sweat.

Zhao Ziliang snorted coldly and beckoned to Brehan, who walked over and arched his hand: "What does the general command?" ”

"Prepare money, pay these villagers who are temporarily brought in to make up the number, ten cents each, and send money to let them go home, don't make it difficult!"

"No!"

Zhao Ziliang shouted again: "Where is the long history? ”

A middle-aged man who was as thin as a hemp pole trotted over and saluted Zhao Ziliang and said, "Your Majesty has seen the general!" I wonder what the general commanded? ”

"Inform the guys, prepare meals for the soldiers of the whole army, let everyone be fed, and have meat!"

Gao Shang immediately agreed: "Yes, General, the subordinate must do it properly!" ”

Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and shouted, "Where is the marching Sima?" ”

A middle-aged general came out and clasped his fists and saluted: "The last general, Xue Qianxun, greets the general!" ”

Zhao Ziliang pointed to the generals on the school field and said: "Now you command the whole army to drill, first drill the march, then practice the individual offensive and defensive combat movements, then practice tactical coordination, and finally the formation conversion drill, this general wants to see the drill of each battalion!" ”

Xue Qianxun arched his hand and said in a deep voice: "Obey!" ”

Then Xue Qianxun asked the drummer to beat the drum and began to direct the first battalion to conduct the drill, while Zhao Ziliang and other generals stood aside and watched.

Zhao Ziliang said to the surrounding generals while watching the drill: "You all tell General Ben the truth, what is the real situation of each battalion, one by one, no matter how bad the situation is, General Ben can afford it, and he will no longer pursue it, but if there are still people who deceive General Ben this time, don't blame General Ben for being ruthless!" ”

Hearing this, the generals breathed a sigh of relief, and Zhao Ziliang also knew that he couldn't kill or replace all of them, otherwise he would not be able to control the Datong Army, even if these people had not done well before, and wanted to remove them or punish them, now is not the time.

Next, Zhao Ziliang watched the generals on the school field practice, and listened to the reports of the captains and lieutenants of each battalion, and this report, Zhao Ziliang believed that it should be the real situation of the Datong Army, because he listened to it in his heart.

The roster of soldiers records that the Datong army has a total of 12,686 people, including baggage, men and civilian officials, and 2,828 war horses, but the actual situation is that the real strength of the Datong army today is only 8,852 people, and there are only 1,653 war horses, and the real number of soldiers and horses is only 60% on paper, and only 70% of the qualified soldiers and horses are qualified. There are more than 10% of soldiers who have no armor to wear at all, and there is a serious shortage of weapons and crossbows, and many weapons are rusty and gaps. This ratio made Zhao Zi's conscience feel cold.

Before he came, Tian Renwan, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, also told Zhao Ziliang that the Datong Army was the army with the largest number of troops, the most complete equipment, the strongest combat effectiveness, and the most vigorous morale in the entire Hedong Army, but in Zhao Ziliang's view, if the Datong Army can be called the strongest existence in the entire Hedong Army in this situation, then the other armies and county soldiers are only afraid that they will rot into scum, and with the situation of empty salaries in the Datong Army as a reference, the strength of the entire Hedong Army on paper should have 55,000 soldiers and horses. In fact, there should be less than 35,000 people in the sky.

The situation is much more serious than Zhao Ziliang imagined before he came, in terms of the combat effectiveness and morale of the Datong Army now, if you want to take them to battle, you are afraid that you will have to collapse just after making contact with the enemy!

Zhao Ziliang listened to the real and detailed reports of these generals, and felt panicked, and took a few deep breaths and spit it out before feeling more comfortable.

was already very unhappy, and after seeing the training of the soldiers of each battalion and each department, Zhao Ziliang's mood was even worse, and after enduring the unhappiness of visiting the drills of all the soldiers, Zhao Ziliang gritted his teeth and ordered all the departments to return to the camp to standby, and the captains of each battalion stayed to discuss matters.

In the hall of the captain of the first battalion of the Datong Army, Zhao Ziliang sat on the big chair and looked coldly at the generals on the left and right sides below.

"Now the soldiers in the army are only seventy percent on paper, the defensive armor is only eighty percent, and more than two percent of the weapons and bows and crossbows have become scrap, and morale is low. Let's talk about it, what should we do now? One by one, they stood up and said, "If you don't come up with a feasible solution today, no one will be allowed to eat or go back until you come up with a feasible solution!" ”

Zhao Ziliang put down his cruel words, which made the generals present feel bitter and bitter in their hearts, thinking that it was no wonder that this new young soldier envoy and envoy of Jiedu could sit in this position, this power and means are really not something ordinary people can have.

After Zhao Ziliang finished speaking, no one stood up to speak for nearly two minutes, and his heart couldn't help but anger rose again, he looked at the captain of the first battalion and said coldly: "Camp Master Duan, you speak first!" ”

The commander of the first battalion couldn't help but smile bitterly, stood up and arched his hand: "General, the last general really can't think of a way, you can cure the crime of the last general!" ”

"Hmph, then you stand for me, don't sit down again!" Zhao Ziliang dropped a sentence as a punishment, and looked at the people behind him, and Captain Bao Du of the second battalion stood up with his head down and said resignedly: "Generals, generals, and the last general didn't come up with a way."

"You stand for me!" Zhao Ziliang said, and looked at Captain Lu of the third battalion again.

Unbeknownst to him, Lieutenant Lu Du of the third battalion stood up and said in shame before he could ask: "General, the last general is incompetent, and he has not thought of a way."

"Bump!" Zhao Ziliang was furious, and he was furious: "Rice buckets, waste, are all a group of waste, how can you have such a way when you eat empty salaries, embezzle food and wages, and resell ordnance and materials, and now let them imagine how to solve the current predicament, why can't they think of a way?" Come on, drag these three rice buckets out of the waste and beat each of them with twenty military sticks! ”

"No!" A group of servants rushed in with their waist knives and dragged Duwei Duan, Duwei Bao, and Duwei Lu out one by one, and after a while, they heard the sound of sticks hitting and the cries of pain from the three Duwei outside the hall.

The remaining generals in the hall were even more uneasy when they heard these voices, and then the judge Zheng Shi also stood up and said: "General, if we want to change the current unfavorable situation in the army, we can immediately recruit troops until we recruit enough troops, and then ask the Jiedu envoy Tian for help, and ask the Jiedu envoy to transfer some ordnance and armor to eliminate the old and defective products, as for the drill, we will have to bother the commanders and battalion masters and the generals below."

After hearing this, Zhao Ziliang asked rhetorically: "Money is needed to recruit soldiers, where does the money come from?" As for asking Lord Tian for help, Lord Tian may allocate some of it, when Lord Tian is in charge of not only our three states, two armies and one guard, but also other military towns also need money and ordnance equipment, and it is impossible for us to have enough weapons and ordnance materials! ”

Zheng Shi was also asked by Zhao Ziliang, and he couldn't speak, it was all a matter of money, this Yunzhou City originally had the Datong Army Festival Ambassador's Mansion, but the predecessor lost all the silver money and ordnance in stock, where can I get the money now? Besides, just after the New Year, the next time is to be busy with spring ploughing, and even if you have money, you may not be able to recruit enough soldiers.

There is another problem that makes Zhao Ziliang even more worried, that is, grain and grass, from the beginning of spring to the summer harvest and autumn harvest, there are many months in between, how to solve the grain and grass needed in the army during this time? Moreover, Zhao Ziliang is now in charge of not only the Datong Army, but also the grain, grass, weapons and ordnance of the Lan Army and the Yunzhong Guards all need to be solved by him, the left-wing soldier and horse envoy, and the food and salary of the soldiers of the Sanzhou County are responsible for the local government, so he does not need to worry about it.

At this time, Chang Shi Gaoshang stood up, he felt that if he didn't stand up and speak again, Zhao Ziliang would probably take his anger out on everyone, which couldn't blame Zhao Ziliang for going crazy, he could only blame these people here for being too greedy before and messing up the entire Datong army, Zhao Zi only killed a few main characters and didn't implicate others, which is already very good.

"General, now we can't think of a way to raise money to recruit soldiers to make up for the number of soldiers, and there is no money left to give the soldiers weapons, armor, horses, grain and grass, in the opinion of the following officials, it is better to reduce the whole army, and then eliminate some old, weak, sick and disabled, leaving only the strong and usable soldiers, so that our burden will be greatly reduced, and then find a way to ask for some weapons and ordnance from Lord Tian, it should be enough to reduce the number of soldiers in the Datong Army, as for the problem of food and grass, The lower officials can find a way to solve it for two months, and the remaining insufficient part of the lower officials will have no choice! ”

Zhao Ziliang touched the eight-character nonsense and thought about it, nodded and said: "Master Gao's method is good, the art of war says 'soldiers are noble, not many', we only have more than 8,000 people now, then reorganize according to more than 8,000 people, and eliminate some old, weak, sick and disabled, how much money is still in the treasury?" Is it enough to pay severance pay to the old, weak, sick and disabled who are eliminated? ”

Gao Shang arched his hand and said: "General, there are still 4,337 guan left in the treasury, and it is enough to pay severance pay to the old, weak, sick and disabled who have been dismissed." (To be continued.) )