Li Jing saw that the emperor did not agree, and guessed that the emperor had the intention of promoting young generals, so he no longer asked to go on the expedition.

Before Li Jing left, Hou Junji also came, and he said: "Your Majesty, Tubo is a big country, and it is extremely difficult to deal with!" The minister wants to ask for orders to participate in the war, and asks the emperor for permission. ”

These old ministers in Li Shimin's era were all loyal and courageous, and this heart of loyalty to the country moved Li Su very much. He said:

"Lord Hou, the conquest of Tibet is still a small matter for the Tang Dynasty. Now that you are the prime minister, you are in charge of the center, and you are still working on such small things as fighting on the front line, which is overkill.

In the next step, the imperial court's promotion of the reform of the military merit system and land reform are all things that affect the whole body, and the imperial court needs you to sit in charge, at this time, how can you leave? ”

When Hou Junji heard about the war, his heart itched, but when he saw that the emperor was so important to him, his heart was warm, so he didn't say anything anymore.

Hou Junji and Li Jing were just about to say goodbye and leave, but Li Su stopped them, and he said: "General, Lord Hou, have you read the plan for the reform of the military merit system, and what do you think?" ”

Hou Junji said: "Your Majesty, now that the war is imminent, it seems that this is not the time to discuss the reform of the military merit system, and it will affect the morale of the officers and soldiers. ”

Li Su said: "It is precisely because the war is imminent that it is all the more necessary to do a good job in the reform of the military merit system, otherwise, after this war, the number of meritorious service will be more than thousands." According to the previous military merit system, the imperial court had to give a large amount of land for reward.

Now the land of the imperial court has begun to become tense, and if it continues like this, the imperial court will not be able to afford it. ”

Hou Junji said: "After conquering Tibet, isn't it okay to distribute the land of Tibet to those meritorious soldiers?" ”

Li Su said: "This is not a way, the land must be concentrated in the hands of the imperial court, you think about it, how did these gate lords and clans in history come to be?"

Their roots are formed on the basis of the feudal system, a large number of meritorious officials, constantly get the feudal land, when these meritorious officials, after owning a large amount of land, they will reduce their dependence on the imperial court, relying on these lands can be self-sufficient.

When these people began to rely on land, they would try to increase the land in their hands, so they began to annex land by various means, and gradually formed a new clan of gatelords who depended on land.

When a large number of gatekeepers appeared, they began to fight again for the sake of profit, and the whole society would fall apart and fall into chaos.

Therefore, the land must be firmly in the hands of the imperial court!

Individuals can own land, but the ownership of land must belong to the imperial court, and the amount of land owned by each peasant must also be strictly limited to prevent the formation of a large landlord class. ”

Li Jing nodded and said, "The emperor is right. In a country as big as the Tang Dynasty, the only way to make the regime stable for a long time is to implement a centralized system.

Historically, countless powerful countries have adopted the feudal system, which made the centralized power dispersed and unable to control the various feudal forces, which led to the demise of the imperial court.

The old minister had already thought about it and decided to return all the land given to the old minister by the imperial court, except for the homestead. ”

Hou Junji said: "In this case, the minister is also willing to return the land allocated to the minister by the court to the court." ”

Seeing the attitude of Li Jing and Hou Junji, Li Su was very satisfied.

Next, Li Su organized seminars at all levels of the military, and even found some grassroots soldiers to solicit their opinions, and finally formed a new military merit system.

On the basis of retaining the original welfare benefits, the main improvements in the new military merit system are:

1. The evaluation of military merits is no longer the personal decision of the commander. Units at or above the level of the military must form a military merit evaluation group, and when evaluating military merit, it is necessary to extensively solicit the opinions of the soldiers, and finally the military merit evaluation group will collectively discuss and make a decision.

This article is deeply supported by the broad masses of officers and men at the grassroots level.

On the battlefield, the soldiers were not afraid of hardships and dangers for their meritorious service and were not afraid of bloodshed and sacrifice. However, they are afraid that they will not be recognized for their meritorious deeds, and they will even be falsely claimed by others.

The new military merit evaluation system, to a large extent, avoids the above-mentioned situation and can basically achieve fairness and justice.

2. Officers and men who have received awards for meritorious service are no longer rewarded with land, but with monetary and in-kind rewards. If a soldier does not have land in his name, he can be given land according to the standard of the land sharing system.

With the development of industry and commerce in Datang, people's concepts are also changing, and their dependence on land is no longer as serious as before.

After the promulgation of the new military merit system, it did not cause any waves in the army, and the vast number of officers and men basically had no objections, and it was regarded as a smooth landing.

The implementation of the new military merit system greatly relieved the imperial court.

In the past, after every war, the imperial court needed to take out a large amount of land to reward meritorious soldiers, and this pressure was too great. Now it is changed to in-kind and monetary rewards, although there is also pressure, but it is much easier than rewarding land.

In order to motivate the soldiers to fight bravely, Li Su proposed that in this war against Tibet, each unit should take the division as a unit, and two-thirds of the captured spoils would be owned by each unit and distributed by each unit itself. The remaining 1/3 of the loot was handed over to the imperial court.

In the past, this ratio was reversed, and 2/3 had to be handed over to the imperial court.

After the news reached the troops participating in the battle, the soldiers cheered.

Wei Zheng walked on the streets of Chang'an and saw people talking and laughing on the streets, not affected by the war with Tubo in the slightest, unlike ten years ago, when people heard the news of the war, they were panicked.

In the past ten years, the national strength of Datang has developed rapidly, all foreign wars have achieved brilliant victories, people are full of confidence in the imperial court, and the news of the war is no longer a source of disaster and fear, and has become a topic of conversation after dinner.

Wei Zheng's heart was full of joy, this was the Tang Dynasty in his mind, powerful, rich, and peaceful.

Wei Zheng is very glad that he lives in a great era, since the Tang Dynasty entered the Zhenguan era, in the first half, Li Shimin was wise and martial, leading the Tang Dynasty into a period of peace and stability.

Li Suqing came out of the blue and led Datang into a period of rapid development. As a courtier, Wei Zheng was able to give full play to his talents and realize his ideal of saving the country and helping the people. This is the court environment that the ancient sages dreamed of.

Wei Zheng returned home, had dinner, asked the servant to make him a cup of strong tea, spread out the pen and paper, and began to write an article entitled "On Several Ideas for the Reform of the Imperial Court's Land System."