Chapter 235 Military Reform Conference

The people present in the apse are obviously divided into two factions, and as the number of supporters of military reform gradually increases, some people in Jia Rudao's faction began to hesitate, and they all moved their eyes to Jia Nidao's face,

With the support of the envoys of the four major theaters, the voice of support for military reform has obviously prevailed, and power comes out of the barrel of a gun, which is an eternal truth, and the total number of troops in the hands of the four major envoys has exceeded 200,000, which is three to four times that of the Lin'an Forbidden Army.

I saw that the time had come: "Ladies and gentlemen, there is no need to discuss whether or not the military reform is necessary, this is my established policy, whether you agree with or oppose the opinion, please turn your thinking to how to carry out the military reform, and then, I will talk about my vision for the future of our army." ”

Now that the military reform has become a fact, everyone has also pricked up their ears and listened carefully to my talk about the future ideas.

Of course, Jia Nidao, who looked angry and numb, may be the only exception.

"First of all, I will tell you my views on the current situation, everyone, you should know that the main enemy facing our dynasty is Mongolia in the north, and the rest such as South Vietnam in the south, Chenla (now Cambodia), Siam (now northern Thailand) and other countries are not enough to cause harm to our dynasty, since the annexation of Dali by Mongolia, our dynasty has really fallen into the situation of being attacked on both sides, the frontal Jianghuai defense line is needless to mention, everyone knows, in addition, the Mongols can also attack our Korea's Guangnan West Road and Central Sichuan through the land of Dali, once the Guangnan West Road is lost, The Mongol cavalry would then be able to attack our hinterland from the south to the north, and there would be no danger to defend in between. ”

Lu Xiufu said: "This is indeed the case. ”

I nodded: "The battle of Song and Mongolia is inevitable, one mountain does not tolerate two tigers, either he dies or I die, this is a life and death situation, for the prospect of this war, I am divided into three steps, the first is from now to the end of 1267, this is the preparation stage of my dynasty, but also the preparation stage of the Mongolian Kublai Khan, during this period, both sides will focus on accumulating strength, whether it is military or financial resources, to prepare for future wars; The second step is from the end of 1267 to the end of 1268, about a year, this is the phase of stalemate, during this time, we need to defend the main body, need to rely on the city, protect the territory of our court, and try to consume as much of the living force of the Mongol army as possible in the defensive battle, the third step is that we will launch a large-scale counteroffensive, at that time, our army will divide the army, the northern expedition to the Central Plains, and recover the great mountains and rivers lost by our dynasty in one fell swoop. ”

I continued without a pause: "Therefore, for this military reform, my preliminary plan is as follows: first, I will reorganize the current more than 300,000 troops of our army into six major theaters, and expand the number of troops to 500,000 within three years, among these six theaters, in addition to the existing four theaters, I will add the Guangnan theater, the purpose of which is to prevent the Mongols from attacking Dali in the southwest, and the other theater is the Lin'an theater as a mobile one, the purpose of which is to prepare for the future Northern Expedition, that is, The soldiers of the Lin'an theater will be mainly attacking, Guangnan and Lin'an, the two major theaters of war are from the existing forbidden army, and at the same time, I will dissolve the forbidden army, in the future, the army of our Great Song Dynasty will no longer have the border army, the forbidden army, and the box army, and the regular army of our dynasty will only have the only establishment of the Great Song Royal Army, the army is called the Great Song Royal Army, and the naval division is called the Great Song Royal Water Division. ”

The Great Song Dynasty, I have been emphasizing the imperial power, this era should be the era of imperial power, what phase power, the posterior power should be an appendage of the imperial power or should not exist at all, the imperial power I represent is the imperial power with the modern consciousness of eight hundred years later,

Jia Rudao silently said in his heart: "It's coming, Zhao Yu'er has finally made a move." ”

Fan Wenhuan also knew that the forbidden army was the foundation of the Xiangquan faction, and hurriedly played: "Your Majesty, once the forbidden army is disbanded, it will face a serious shortage of soldiers to defend Lin'an, please think twice." ”

Of course, I know what Fan Wenhuan really thinks: "Fan Aiqing, I have thought about this, if the Mongolian cavalry penetrates the four major theaters and directly attacks my whereabouts, and Lin'an is in no danger to defend, then I don't want to do it, the emperor, I thought, I have to ask the four envoys on the front line, do you want to see the Mongolian army coming to Lin'an." ”

"The ministers swear to defend the border land to the death, and never let a single soldier of the Mongol army enter the territory of our dynasty."

"Okay, with your assurance, I can rest assured that I will hand over my back to you Aiqing."

"Your Majesty can rest assured, the ministers will never live up to Your Majesty's high expectations."

I laughed, looked at the four envoys, and continued: "Second, I will set up the Imperial Forest Army, which is composed of 10,000 people, and the Royal Forest Army of 10,000 horses will take on the important task of guarding Lin'an, and I will personally command this army, half of the soldiers of the Imperial Forest Army come from the current forbidden army, and half will be re-recruited, and third, I will expand the establishment of the Military Affairs Academy, and the academicians of the Military Affairs Academy will temporarily be served by Lu Xiufu, Li Beiyang, Fan Wenhuan, Fan Wenhu and the four system envoys, whose role is to act as my military counselor, and secondly, to act as me and the Privy Council, Before appointing the president of the Military Affairs Yuan, Lu Xiufu was appointed as the secretary of the Military Affairs Yuan, temporarily in charge of the affairs of the Military Affairs Yuan; fourth, in addition to continuing the original urban defense training, the officers and men of the major theaters should also begin to conduct training in offensive projects, and at the same time, special operations teams should be formed in various localities to infiltrate enemy-occupied areas and carry out armed struggle behind enemy lines; fifth, I established a military university in the Lin'an Association to train generals at all levels of our court. The above six points are my initial ideas, so let's share your views on this. ”

Li Tingzhi said: "Your Majesty, the minister has a play. ”

"Well, Li Aiqing, please speak."

"Your Majesty, the minister suggests that the establishment of our army, be arranged in order."

"What do you mean, Li Aiqing, to put it bluntly."

"Your Majesty, in the future, our dynasty will only have the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty Royal Army, and the minister means that each army must have its own number, for example, the number of our army is more than 300,000, divided into nearly 30 compartments, then the corresponding is from the first compartment to the thirtieth compartment."

"I understand, for example, a certain capital under the rule of your Yangzhou Army, the full name can be called the number of battalions and battalions of the Great Song Dynasty Royal Army, right?"

"Your Majesty, that's exactly what the minister meant."

Li Tingzhi's suggestion was the same as the establishment of the army in later generations, and I said without thinking: "Well, this method is feasible and accurate." ”

Lu Xiufu then played: "Your Majesty, since ancient times, Fei Mo is greater than raising soldiers, but the number of troops is too small, the minister has studied the recruitment system of our dynasty since Taizu, during the Renzong period, the minister Su Shi once proposed the use of compulsory military system, men under 30 can be recruited into the army, and they can retire after ten years of service, and the minister thinks that this method is feasible. ”

"Conscription." I remembered the two types of conscription systems that were popular in later generations, the compulsory military system and the volunteer military system, both of which had their own advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages of the compulsory military service system lie in the short service time of soldiers, regular conscription and discharge, so that soldiers are often rotated, which is conducive to the renewal of standing army soldiers, which can not only keep the soldiers young and strong, but also reserve soldiers; At the same time, it can also enable more people to serve on active duty, and the burden of citizens' military service obligations is fair and reasonable, but its shortcomings lie in the short service time, it is difficult to master complex military technology and equipment in a comprehensive and familiar way, and can only be retrained in reserve organizations to meet the requirements of qualified reservists under modern conditions, of course, there is basically no complex military technology and equipment in ancient times, but the experience of veterans cannot be replicated.

In our country, since 1978, we have adopted a military service system that combines compulsory soldiers and volunteers, which is of great significance for strengthening the modernization of the squadron, improving the combat effectiveness of the troops, and accumulating reserve soldiers.

I thought for a while and said: "Lu Aiqing's suggestion can be adopted, but it still needs to be improved, and the simple compulsory military system also has shortcomings, that is, once a war occurs, the actual combat experience of veterans is irreplaceable, and even becomes the key to victory or defeat, therefore, I think that the compulsory military system can be combined with the existing recruitment system, and according to the needs of the army and the principle of my own voluntariness, a part of the compulsory soldiers can be changed to assassins (professional soldiers), so as to retain the backbone of each department, this matter will be handed over to the Military Affairs Yuan for detailed discussion, and I will be given a perfect plan within a month." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, Your Lordship."

The veteran Zhao Kui said: "Your Majesty, the minister has a concern. ”

"Lu Guogong, please have something to say."

"Your Majesty, since our dynasty crossed to the south from Gaozong, horses have become the foundation that restricts the development of the cavalry, if you only rely on the city to fight a defensive war, it is acceptable, once you want to go north, there are not enough cavalry, it is difficult to compete with the Mongols in the field."

"Zhao Aiqing, your concerns must also be the concerns of most soldiers, in the era of cold weapons, the attack power of the horse army is indeed far better than that of foot soldiers, however, with the development of firearms, the role of the cavalry is bound to become smaller and smaller, of course, it will take a long time for firearms to be put into war, which is one of the reasons why I will launch a counteroffensive after three years."

"Firearms, will they be so effective?"

I know that most people don't believe it, even if Wen Tianxiang, Lu Xiufu and even Li Tingzhi and others who know the musket don't fully believe it, I smiled and didn't explain: "Ladies and gentlemen, regarding the military reform of our dynasty, you can play it to me at any time or transfer it through the Military Affairs Yuan, and the steps for the military reform will be formulated by the Military Affairs Yuan, and the report will be reported to me before the end of this month. Today is the Double Ninth Festival, because of the first emperor, I did not have a big feast, so please eat at will in the palace, Xiao Qi. ”

Xiao Qi at the door said: "The little one is here." ”

"Is it already arranged in the next room?"

"Back to Your Majesty, everything is ready."

"Okay, Xiao Qi, notify the imperial dining room and serve the food."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Ladies and gentlemen, please move."

"Yes, thank you for the banquet."

"Master." Seeing that Jia Nidao didn't seem to respond, I shouted again, "Master." ”

Jia Rudao seemed to have just come back to his senses, and then he responded: "Ah, Your Majesty, the old minister is here." ”

"Master, wait a moment, I still have something to discuss with you alone."

"Yes, the old minister obeys."

After everyone left, I looked at the expressionless Jia Ru and said, "Master, I still call you that, if it wasn't for the minister's strength back then, it is still a question whether I can successfully ascend the throne." ”