"Of course, I'm just saying that, and I don't really intend to do that. Even if I do, I will use it on the Mongolian ships, and this is the next question I want to say, Zheng Xiang, please take a seat. Let me go on to say, the current war situation in Sichuan, Xiangyang, and Huaixi is not very favorable to our dynasty, the Mongolian army is too mobile, and our defensive measures are not done well. In order not to make Zheng Qingzhi too frightened, Hong Tao quickly turned the topic to the war between the Southern Song Dynasty and Mongolia. It's good to show off your strength, but if it's too intimidating, it can sometimes be counterproductive.

"The virtuous nephew has a good plan?" Zheng Qingzhi was really attracted by the second topic thrown by Hong Tao, and the reason why he tried his best to deign to see Hong Tao was to borrow Hong Tao's power to redeem the decline on the front line. The last time he regained Sanjing, he suffered a big loss, this time he wanted to work hard again, to see if he could get enough capital from the war, only by getting enough say on this issue, his career can be more stable.

"It's very simple, I'm here to help the imperial court take on some logistics and transportation tasks, and by the way, I will block the Han River and Huaishui, except for Sichuan, I can't go, as long as the other places are along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the middle and lower reaches of the Huaishui, my fleet can reach. It was the most convenient and cost-effective way to transport food and grass by boat, and it was also possible to transport a small number of cavalry units to counter the logistical supply of the Mongol army, making it difficult for the army in front of them to sustain themselves. The imperial court only needs to let the heavy troops garrison Sichuan, drag the Mongol army, and prevent them from continuing to pull out the camp and seize the village, then we will not lose this war, and it will not have any advantage for Mongolia to drag it on. Hong Tao didn't talk nonsense this time. explained his overall plan to Zheng Qingzhi first. Let him have a general idea. Then move on.

"Brother Wen is afraid that he has already demonstrated to Zheng Xiang the thing of cement, as long as it can be delayed for about a year, this kind of thing will be continuously transported from the sea, and when the time comes, the city wall on the defense line can be reinforced with cement, and a strong city can be built in ten months. Relying on these fortified cities and sufficient supplies, I believe that the army of our dynasty will not be so vulnerable to a battle. As long as they can win a few battles, the morale of the army will be inspired. Step by step, the Mongol army was consumed on the front line little by little, and finally completely driven out. It's not a problem to recapture the cities that are conducive to defense, and then rely on these cities to hold on, even if you can't advance north, you won't let the Mongol army go south so easily, I don't know what I'm talking about under Zheng Xiangyi? Hong Tao told Zheng Qingzhi about the specific prospects of cooperation, and then stopped, waiting for the other party to consider and digest it.

"It's a great plan, but it's also the most involved. There is no precedent for this in our dynasty. With foreign troops entering our country to help in the war, I am afraid that this matter will have to be discussed in the long run. It doesn't happen overnight. Zheng Qingzhi understood, and he intuitively thought that what Hong Tao said was more feasible, but there was a principled issue, that is, the ownership of the Jinhewan fleet.

"This is also easy to do, doesn't my dynasty have a private army, Yue Daguan and General Meng are all private armies, you might as well let Brother Wen also set up a private army of sailors, so that the bosses in the court will no longer be picky, right? The Tan family is also the people of the Great Song Dynasty, many of these sailors are Tan family members, and the captains of each ship are also served by the Tan family and the Han people in the north, so they should not be considered foreign troops. As for what should happen to this sailor after the war, I will say something unpleasant, it is probably more in the interests of the court that they will disappear into the sea silently than joining the court sailors, what do you say? There was no such person as me from beginning to end in this matter, and the maritime merchants served the country, volunteered to contribute to the ship, contributed money, and shared the worries of the court! Brother Wen wandered overseas, returned to the imperial court despite all the difficulties and dangers, and also brought advanced foreign sailor tactics, and scattered all his family wealth to ask for his life for the country, and formed a private army to resist foreign invasions! Zheng Xiang was moved by the loyalty of the people of the Great Song Dynasty and the ministers of the imperial court, and he tried his best to promote this matter! One hundred and ten years later, our dynasty is still undefeated, how should those history books be written at that time? No matter who catches the pen, we can't forget this war that is a matter of life and death for the country, right? As long as we win this war, the names of General Wen and Zheng Xiang will not be forgotten. Don't forget, Brother Wen is a Confucian general, he is not a martial artist! Hong Tao felt that he had entered a higher realm of fooling people, even the prime minister of Nima could fool, and the more he talked, the more he got into the mood, and he himself believed a little bit of what he said.

The private soldier is a monster in the Song Dynasty, every time there is a war, it will appear, and when the war is settled, the imperial court has to spend money and effort to turn these private soldiers into a regular national defense army, and the fundamental reason here has to start from the military system of the Song Dynasty. Since the establishment of the imperial system in Qin, serving as a soldier has become an obligation of civilians, and in the Han Dynasty, every healthy male civilian must serve two years of death, that is, two years of compulsory soldiering. Most dynasties still maintained the system of compulsory soldiers, but the military system of the Song Dynasty was not a compulsory soldier, but a conscription system. That is to say, the army of the Song Dynasty was, in principle, all professional soldiers, and being a soldier was a profession. To put it another way, the conscription system that was commonly practiced in Western countries in later generations was no longer the obligation of the people to the state, but became a voluntary choice of profession, in fact, mercenaries.

The mercenaries of the Song Dynasty had a strict law called the "Military Defense Order". Not everyone can be a mercenary of the imperial court, and the height must reach five feet two inches, which is almost more than one meter six and five. After a series of checks, if you pass, you're ready to eat the mercenary bowl. According to the differences in different regions every month, you can receive 300 to 1,000 yuan in cash, as well as two stone rice and two sets of clothes in winter and summer every year. In addition, there are some holiday subsidies, special subsidies, oral rolls (similar to food stamps in later generations), charcoal money, and so on.

This is just to say that the box soldiers, that is, the local troops, if you want to join the Central Army, that is, the forbidden army, then you have to develop physically. It is recorded that the Song Dynasty forbidden army had even more requirements for height, and if it was less than 1.75 meters, don't think about it, no matter how big the ability is, it is useless. There are three main types of army composition in the Great Song Dynasty, one is the forbidden army, which is one in a hundred soldiers, and the treatment is the best; The second type is the box army, which is equivalent to the local army, but also serves as a border defense task, once it goes to the border garrison, it is called the border army; The third type is the township army, which is simply the militia, which is only responsible for helping to maintain law and order in the hometown, and has to participate in the war when it catches up.

Tattooing on the face was indeed a rule in the army of the Song Dynasty, and this habit originated in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. At that time, there were constant wars, and the warlords were arresting strong men everywhere, and they were afraid that the strong men would escape, what should they do? Tattoo your face and arms to prevent your soldiers from running away, and even if you do, people will recognize you at a glance.

However, this system is not subject to all soldiers, and it is mainly aimed at the van army. Because the treatment of the box army is not as high as that of the forbidden army, it has to be transferred around, which is more difficult and easy to produce deserters. The forbidden army can't get in if you want to, and you don't have to worry about deserters, so the forbidden army generally doesn't have tattoos. There are no deserters in the township army, they are all disciples of the hometown, they are defending the hometown and the locality, where are you going to escape?

Regarding the issue of the military system of the Song Dynasty, Hong Tao, Luo Youde, and Wen Nan discussed it more than once, but in the end they did not come up with the most suitable solution. You say that the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty army is not strong, there is indeed this situation, especially the Xiang army, many of them are victims of the disaster or homeless, in order to let them have something to eat, don't wander around, they are all stuffed into the Xiang army. Some people are suitable for being soldiers, but some people are not happy to be soldiers, and they can make do with them in peacetime, but when it comes to war, before they see the enemy, they will run away first, which affects morale very much.

Another big problem is that the economic burden on a country to support so many professional soldiers is very heavy. That is, the Song Dynasty was commercially developed and relatively wealthy, and if it was put in other dynasties, Zaonima himself would have played himself to death. Even in the richest Southern Song Dynasty, it was a great test for the treasury. Cai Xiang left such a passage in "Cai Zhonghui Gongji": "Six points of the world's things, five points of soldiers, one point to the suburbs of the temple, the country's expenses, how can the country not be poor?" Why should the people not be poor? This sentence points out the drawbacks of the military system in the Song Dynasty from one side.

However, this conscription system still has its advanced advantages, it frees civilians from the obligation of military service, and makes the army more professional. It's just that this system was too advanced (in fact, many systems in the Song Dynasty were a bit advanced), and later it was not well controlled, and the conscription system and the shelter of displaced people were mixed together, which caused a huge number of troops on the one hand, and a lot of consumption, and on the other hand, there were not enough soldiers who could fight, and the funds of the treasury were wasted.

But on the other hand, if you don't have to take in those refugees, what can you do? Due to the limitations of labor at that time, many times they still had to rely on the weather for food, and once the weather was not right, there would be a famine, and if they did not give these victims a bite to eat, then they could not guarantee that they would not rebel and revolt. From this point of view, the Xiang Army has indeed played a great role in disaster relief and relief.

If we can improve the conscription system and find other reasonable ways to solve the problem of displaced people, it will not be too difficult to raise a standing army that is not too bloated by relying on the economic strength of the Southern Song Dynasty.

If it had not encountered the Mongol Empire, which had not been encountered for thousands of years, the Song Dynasty might have slowly changed this situation, or adopted a more appropriate way to adjust. It's a pity that history didn't give it enough time, first Liao, then Jin, and finally Mongolia. Wave after wave of wars left the Song Dynasty with little opportunity to improve its own system, and could only deal with it passively, coping with it and coping with it, or not coping with the past. (To be continued.) )