When Li Cunzhen returned to the dynasty and Li Congjing took over the power of Youyun, Li Congjing put the civil reform that had been planned well into the chariot. The development of civil affairs in the land of clouds is still for the military, but when the civil affairs have begun to develop, Li Congjing has not taken action against the military.

Youyun military is also a big game of chess, and its top priority is naturally the main force of the Baizhan and Lulong armies stationed in Youzhou, with a total of more than 30,000 people. In addition, the border armies, including the town and town armies, add up to a large number.

In the land of clouds, there are more than ten states, but not all of them are under the jurisdiction of Youzhou. Youzhou, as an important military town on the northern border of the Tang Dynasty, is the bridgehead of the Tang Dynasty to defend against the Khitan, and if the Khitan army wants to go south to the Central Plains, it must first pull out Youzhou, which is an undoubted thing. However, in addition to the Youzhou Lulong Festival Envoy, there are also Xinzhou Weisai Jie Envoy and Yunzhou Datong Jie Envoy.

Youzhou Jiedu Envoy, or Lulong Jiedu Envoy, Tang Xuanzong was initially placed during the period, and the jurisdiction has changed repeatedly, and now governs Youzhou, Jizhou, Danzhou, Dingzhou, Hengzhou, Pingzhou, Yingzhou and other Kyushu.

After Li Congjing established the Hundred Battles Army in Qimen, he fought all the way to Zelu, Huaimeng, Heshang and other places, among which Huaimeng and Mengzhou were captured by him personally for the Tang Dynasty, and his military achievements were impressive, Rao is so, before that, Li Congjing was not appointed as a festival envoy. The envoy of Youzhou is the first envoy of Li Congjing. However, the first time he served as the envoy of the festival, it was the great festival that led Kyushu, and I have to say that he was entrusted with a heavy task by the imperial court and had high hopes.

Although Li Cunmiao has been indulging in pleasures recently, he has been deaf and deaf, especially the act of rewarding and giving false Liang a name, which made the original Jin army very dissatisfied, but his own imperial quality has not completely collapsed. Youzhou is an important military town of the Tang Dynasty, shouldering the burden of defending the Khitan, and its status is extraordinary, and its moderation makes it not an ordinary general to be competent. In addition, it shows that Li Cunqiao still trusts Li Congjing.

Not only that, but every monarch who has put an end to the troubled times and has great talent and strategy will also carry out changes to the original army, in order to achieve the effect of streamlining the army and improving the combat effectiveness of the army.

There are a lot of troops in Youzhou, but there are not many, and the two armies of Baizhan and Lulong, plus the town army and the border guard army in various places, cannot reach 60,000. With less than 60,000 troops, to confront hundreds of thousands of Khitan troops, the pressure can be imagined. Under the condition that Youzhou's material and financial resources remain constant at present, in order to improve Youzhou's military strength, it is necessary to increase the combat power of the existing army. Other than that, there is no alternative.

One of the most important measures for Li Congjing to improve the combat strength of the existing army in Youzhou is to eliminate the old and weak, select elite soldiers, and recruit new soldiers. And to eliminate the old and weak, you need a suitable reason. In this case, to eliminate some of the soldiers is to deprive them of their jobs, which will naturally cause their dissatisfaction. Therefore, the reason must be reasonable.

"There is a system of spring and autumn trials in the army, and now in the spring, this commander wants to hold all the military camps in Youzhou, in order to test the skills of the soldiers, and do things that are rough and fine, so as to achieve the purpose of strengthening the army." Li Congjing said to the generals at the military meeting.

The people who came to participate in the military meeting were all senior generals of the Hundred Battles and Lulong armies, including the deputy marshals Li Shaocheng and Meng San, and the main generals Guo Wei, Meng Ping, Peng Zushan, etc., including Huang Fulin, who had returned to Youzhou from Gubeikou, among them, the one with the least number of troops, and there were also 3,000 soldiers under his command. If these generals are placed in ordinary places, they are not much different from the smaller knots that lead the troops.

In Lu Long's army, in addition to Li Yanchao and Li Yanrao's brothers, there are three other senior generals. It's just that because the number of the Hundred Battles Army is twice that of the Lu Long Army, because the generals of the Hundred Battles Army who are present are much more than the generals of the Lu Long Army.

This topic is related to the vital interests of the generals, and the matter of smashing people's jobs is inevitably related to people, which is tantamount to killing parents, wives and children, and after Li Congjing threw out this issue, the generals in the field did not answer for a while.

It's still so difficult to answer, let alone actually implement it.

After a long time, Li Yanchao asked: "The military commander wants to carry out a comprehensive test within the territory of Kyushu, including the border passes, and do the work of eliminating the old and weak?" ”

Li Congjing did not shy away from it, and said: "If the army is not organized, the whole army will be fully implemented, and there will be no reason to act in one place, and not to act in one place." ”

After another long silence, Li Yanchao asked again: "How many old and weak does the military commander intend to eliminate, and how many elite soldiers do you want to leave?" When he said this, he was asking Li Congjing's bottom line.

Li Congjing had already been prepared, he took out a booklet, handed it to the generals in front of him, and said: "This is the standard for passing the test, those who fail to pass will be eliminated from the barracks, and those who pass will be reorganized and retained." ”

Li Yanchao and the others took the booklet and looked at it, their faces changed slightly, and after the generals finished reading it, Li Yanchao hesitated and said: "Military marshal, is such a standard a little higher?" ”

Li Congjing didn't give Li Yanchao room to bargain, he said: "Soldiers, national affairs, life and death, how can you not be cautious?" Skilled in arches and horses, there is the qualification of battlefield conquest, the battlefield wins, the soldiers die less, the country depends on it, the station is defeated, the soldiers are more dead, the land is lost, the lives are devastated, the country is in danger, this sincerity can not be ignored. General Li thought it was difficult for General Li to pass the test today, but was it really difficult? Ten arrows and six arrows, the battle formation is based on evidence, this is the basic skill of soldiers, and there is no room for half a discount! ”

Li Yanchao wanted to say something, but under Li Yanrao's signal, he finally chose to be silent.

Li Congjing took Li Yanchao and Li Yanrao's demeanor in his eyes, and said to Li Shaocheng, Meng San, etc.: "The Hundred Battles Army is the army built by the marshal himself, led by the marshal from the beginning, and now the marshal intends to reorganize the army in Youzhou, and the elite soldiers will fight strongly, and the Hundred Battles Army will bear the brunt. In the army of a hundred battles, the gentlemen are all the commanders and pro-army, and the gentlemen are the first to be reviewed. After saying this, the book was passed back to Li Congjing's hands, he paused, and his tone was stern by two points, "Elite soldiers and strong troops, where the determination of this solid commander lies, and where the confidence of Youzhou to resist the Khitan lies, is to try all this time, and never allow half a point to make mistakes." "Looking at Li Yanchao and other generals of the Lu Long Army, "Three days later, all the gentlemen will start to try, what is the mind of the commander, you will know at a glance." ”

Seeing that Li Congjing was so ruthless, he first attacked his own pro-army, and Li Yanchao and the others had no second word, and hugged their fists and promised.

In a high-gate compound in Youzhou City.

An old man and a young man sat opposite each other. Fei Gaozhang put his hands in his sleeves, his eyes narrowed slightly, and asked Zhang Yilou, who was sitting in front of him, "These days, you have been following Wei Xingming, participating in civil affairs, and hearing and witnessing all affairs, how is it." ”

Zhang Yilou thought for a while and said: "Mr. Wei has been surveying the number of farmland and water conservancy in Youzhou these days, making detailed calculations, visiting the people, and behaving in a decent manner, there is nothing to say. Judging by his demeanor, it is nothing more than the word "people". Counting the people's affairs, I have already done it in the late autumn of last year, and this time Mr. Wei has done this again, and there is no different strategy, and I think the result will not be much different from the late autumn of last year. ”

Fei Gaozhang nodded, his demeanor was still suitable, "Counting the people is the cornerstone of civil affairs, but whenever there is a major move of civil affairs, all of them must first count the people, so as to know the bottom of the people's feelings in a place, so that civil affairs will not make mistakes." Mr. Wei's move seems to be ordinary, but in the ordinary, there is something unusual! ”

"What's unusual, please ask the teacher to teach me."

Fei Gaozhang's expression remained unchanged, and he sighed: "As you said before, in the late autumn of last year, I have already done the things of counting the people in Youzhou, so in this way, the state capital has civil details." What does Mr. Wei say that he does not use the results of the people's calculation as the basis for his implementation of civil affairs? This shows that Mr. Wei has a big plan. If there is no big move in the future, why bother to do it again today? He clearly distrusts the results of the state government's last year, and wants to get a more realistic situation. On the first floor, you treat each other, and in less than two months, when Mr. Wei's results come out, it will be very different from the data of last year's people. ”

"In this case, will you not offend the officials of the state government? If Mr. Wei's results are different from those of last year, doesn't it mean that the state officials are incompetent? Zhang Yilou's face changed slightly, and he asked thoughtfully.

"Those who seek great things are not informal, if not, how can the old man say that Mr. Wei's plans are very big, and there must be big moves by civil affairs?" Speaking of this, Fei Gaozhang opened his eyes, his eyes blazing, "Think about it, Mr. Wei does not hesitate to save face for the state officials, but also wants to recount the people, isn't he going to do great things?" ”

Zhang Yilou's face was worried, he looked at Fei Gaozhang, "Teacher, you presided over the people, if this is the case...... Isn't it to your detriment? ”

Fei Gaozhang snorted, "Mr. Wei wants to count the people and carry out civil reform in Youzhou, which is a good thing, and he can't do it unless he is dedicated to the welfare of the people." On the first floor, you have to remember that if everything is beneficial to the people, we should support it, and how can we hold a grudge because the other party is acting in a way that is extreme? This is not the work of the Ming officials! ”

Zhang Yilou said that he was willing to be taught.

Fei Gaozhang looked out the window and sighed: "When the military marshal first arrived in Youzhou, he had a series of defeats of the Khitan barbarian thieves, and because he had 'three strategies to care for the people' in Pingzhou, it can be seen that he loves the people, so civil and military, it is worthy of being called 'the blessing of the clouds'." If that's all it takes, the people around the marshal, whether they are generals of a hundred battles or a retinue of scribes, are all heroic, talented, or good at fighting, can win on the battlefield, or are good at political affairs, and can work for the benefit of a place. How can such a person make the people disrespectful and return to their hearts? ”