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Zhao Ta's thinking was simple and clear, but the two tasks of streamlining the army and streamlining the administration were not smooth, and the progress was very slow, he was in his eyes and anxious in his heart. The reason why he uses Li Gang as his prime minister is that he is honest and dares to act; Second, we should have the courage to do things, dare to set a historical precedent, and establish a strong leadership collective. However, things were not as simple as he thought, and there was still an undercurrent in the DPRK and China that blocked the change, and they took advantage of the reduction of personnel and officials to incite some people whose interests were touched to find all kinds of excuses to confront the new policy.

Now there are a large number of nomadic robbers in Jianghuai, Shandong and Lianghe, they rob homes, raid states and plunder, and rob the boats have affected the country's economy and the stability of the regime, but the courtiers are arguing endlessly, and some people even hide the truth from Zhao Ta, but they don't know that Zhao Ta still has an efficient intelligence system hidden in the shadows, and what can be hidden from his ears and eyes.

Zhao Ta's case contained a detailed information about the wanderers, and Zhao Ta carefully read it, and after the turmoil, the rogues were mainly composed of several types of citizens:

The civil anti-gold armed forces, these people were the backbone of the local township soldiers before they went to the sea, and they had the proud resume of King Qin of Kaifeng Prefecture. There was also the regular army that was defeated in the battle against the Jin soldiers, and as many as tens of thousands of people came to jump ship en masse, and when they took off their uniforms, they became bandits.

After the invasion of the Jin army, a large number of people moved south, forming a large group of displaced people, who lost their land and became an alternative type of resident who deviated from the normal trajectory of life - blind streams. As a high-risk group that affects social security and stability, these people take risks in order to survive. The light ones play the edge ball of not being blamed for the public, and simply 'solve' the problem of food and clothing. The heavier ones have become happy and vengeful, eating meat in large pieces, and dividing gold in large scales.

Then there are the ordinary people who are coerced by the robbers, and every time the robbers capture a place, they often use the method of catching strong men to coerce the local young and strong to join the army, so as to strengthen the momentum. Everywhere they went, they plundered the people, killed the old and weak, and the strong filled the army, and they actually studied under the Jurchens, and drove the militia in front of the enemy, which was called the 'Dare to Die Army'.

Although the war between the Song and Jin countries and the decline of the country were the main reasons for the proliferation of soldiers and bandits, the improper pacification and mishandling of the early measures undoubtedly also played a role in fueling the flames. Some people have the dream of becoming national cadres. A person who has joined various militia organizations and contributed to the defense of Tokyo.

Because these people have had the experience of the 'underworld', they are regarded as marginal people in social security, which is not tolerated by the Song court. was dismissed early, and had to lead their troops south to beg for a living, and sometimes accepted Zhao'an. Sometimes he returned to his old business, and changed from a quasi-revolutionary soldier who was responsible for defending the land to a wanderer who made job-hopping a commonplace.

Li Gang advocated the use of both suppression and appeasement. The bandits were quickly quelled, and some people who were still in the court thought that these people had contributed to the country. You can't suppress it, you can only appease each other. And Li Gang has the shortcoming of admitting death, so he has to distinguish himself from others and argue the truth. But he was so in the hands of some people, and as a result, there was endless verbal warfare in the court, and the chaos was still there, but the matter was unresolved for a long time...

And the matter of elite soldiers also encountered problems, and the military attaché of the Song Dynasty may be called a military rank, a military rank official, a military capital, etc. There is a process of development and evolution in the sequence and classification of military attachés. There are certain similarities between military attachés and modern military ranks such as marshal, admiral and lieutenant, but there are also important differences. In modern times, military ranks are only used to distinguish the rank of soldiers within the army, but military attachés in the Song Dynasty cannot be equated with soldiers. Most of the military attachés were selected through the West Court and the Third Class Court before the Yuanfeng reform, and the right selection of the officials and the servants after the reform, and were widely granted to various civil affairs missions. Such military attachés, in the modern sense of the word, are certainly not considered officers.

"The official is based on the rank of Yulu, and the position is described", which is a false title; "The military position of the former colonel of the palace is called the military position", which is a real position. Song Zi Sanya, the ten generals who commanded the envoy to the capital, the general Yu Hou, the Cheng Bureau, and the detained officials were all military positions. Military rank can be regarded as a type of dispatch, and military attachés who are awarded military rank can be regarded as officers in the modern sense. From the perspective of the legal system, there is no restriction on the number of officers awarded for military merit, but military posts are often limited by quotas, and it is impossible to arbitrarily confer them. The military attache as an additional title of military rank was gradually combined, and the military attache series was gradually integrated into the army, which was divided and combined with military ranks, making it more complicated.

In the military, official positions and military positions should be commensurate, but there are also cases of disproportionality. The soldiers of the army sometimes have a two-level system of envoys and soldiers, or a three-level system of envoys, utility, and soldiers, which shows the difference between official positions and military positions. The so-called "official" refers to a low-level military attaché, such as an envoy, who acts as a soldier. In wartime, the strong can use the selection system to escape the battle formation by virtue of "asking for help"; In peacetime, even if "selection" is carried out, it cannot be removed from service, but on the contrary, it doubles the number of sergeants and "consumes money". Due to the existence of complex military ranks such as forbidden soldiers and box soldiers, it also increases the complexity of military post transfer.

Everyone knows the drawbacks, but once it comes to their own interests, they are all aggrieved, and one less ministry is less salary, and the gap between the civil and military also makes some military attaches unwilling to give up their civilian duties. They grinded and grinded, and many court discussions could not solve the problem, so Zhao Ta was in a hurry.

Zhao Ta has urged several times to set up martial arts, but they are all discussed but not decided, and the last thing is not resolved. Zhao Ta knew that under the fashion of advocating literature and suppressing martial arts, the Song Dynasty did not attach importance to the culture of military generals, and many military classes and military meritorious people could be illiterate. Liu Guangshi is still the son of Jiangmen, but he can't be named. Han Shizhong could not write and ink, but Yue Fei worked hard to learn culture, respected and got close to the scribes.

In fact, they regarded this behavior as the ambition of military generals, and although they set up martial arts and martial arts, they were not used to seriously cultivate military talents. Zhao Ta didn't want to talk to them, since the military department was unwilling to do it, then I would take your power, and he immediately appointed Zhao Li as the signing of the Privy Council, and expanded the military academy based on the Datong Lecture Hall.

Zhao Li immediately took action, and in just over a month, he built a staff school, an infantry school, a cavalry school, a baggage school, a military medical school, and a veterinary school in Luoyang, Xijing, and prepared to set up a naval school in Dengzhou, and began to recruit cadets in various armies to prepare for the opening of the school year after the year. Of course, Zhao Ta strongly supported it, inscribed the name of the school respectively, and allocated special funds to authorize it to select teachers and students throughout the army, and the graduating students were equivalent to the national sub-supervisors, and those with excellent grades could be directly awarded official positions.

On the issue of reorganizing the army, Li Gang held several special meetings and finally reached a unified opinion, but the result made Zhao Ta very dissatisfied, and criticized the word 'fart' and sent it back to Shangshu Province to redraft, these people followed the practice of the previous dynasties, thinking that the cavalry cost too much and the combat effectiveness was low, and the development of infantry should be given priority.

Zhao Ta's move immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the courtiers, and they wrote books one after another, quoting scriptures to debate with him, but in the end, they did not leave Fan Zhongyan's "cavalry may not be profitable since ancient times", "horses along the border city, millions of years old, if you do it, you will be extinct, and if you do it, you will be trapped in China". Shen Kuo's "thought that the Khitan horse was born, and the people practiced riding and fighting", and the Song Dynasty "strong crossbow", "give up my long skills, barely can't, with the enemy of its natural production, unheard of can win people".

Song Qi said "lose the horse and benefit the step", "the courtiers and the captives will attack each other, they will not go deep and chase after each other, and they will stop when they reach the border, but they will not wait for the horse, and the step can be used". In addition to spending a lot of money on buying horses, from the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, "counting the cost of a knight, you can support five foot soldiers", or "one horse in a border city, three foot soldiers", forming and training cavalry is naturally a huge investment. All these have become important reasons for many scholars and doctors to oppose the strengthening of cavalry construction.

The fact that the ministers did not advocate the development of cavalry was only a reflection of the short-sightedness of the scholars and doctors, and did not attach importance to the construction of cavalry, which happened to be an integral part of the Song Dynasty's traditional passive defense strategy. I thought that the Song Dynasty had the shortcomings of "few horses, and people are not accustomed to riding", "every time a thief came to do it, the court often used the enemy's strengths, and it was ten battles and ten defeats, and it was rare to win", which of course made some sense at that time.

Zhao Ta immediately criticized him, and the situation of not being good at riding and archery can be improved through training and war. When the Liao, Western Xia, and Jin held large-scale battles, they often concentrated tens of thousands or even more than 100,000 cavalry, while the infantry was only responsible for transportation, trenching and other work. As an assault force, cavalry can be used intensively and can exert great power. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Wei Qing and Huo Qubing to compete with the Xiongnu, and it was precisely by adopting the strategy of forming and concentrating on the use of large cavalry troops that he was able to penetrate deep into Hexi, drive Mobei for a long time, and achieve combat results that were impossible to achieve in the past with infantry combat.

However, it was the Song people who followed the traditional strategy of focusing on infantry for a long time, did not understand the importance of organizing large cavalry units and centralized use, and scattered cavalry in various battlefields and units as vassals of infantry. Although the cavalry of the Song Dynasty was not necessarily at a disadvantage or absolute disadvantage in terms of overall and total numbers, it was generally at a disadvantage or absolute disadvantage in various battlefields or battles. The so-called "using the enemy's strengths to make use of the enemy's strengths is to fight ten battles and lose ten times, and it is rare to win" actually refers to this kind of situation of scattered use of cavalry on the battlefield or in a campaign.

In short, it was precisely because of the lack of horses, poor cavalry training, and the scattered use in combat that became one of the important factors determining the military fortune of the Song Empire. Nowadays, Yunzhou and Hezhong are all places where horses are produced, and buying horses with a lot of money is a thing of the past, and the series of victories achieved by the Zhongxing army is a powerful refutation of their nonsense...

"Is it soft?" Zhao Ta was very annoyed by the procrastination of the work style of the DPRK and China, and Li Gang was helpless when he was elbowed everywhere, he wanted to make a smooth transition, but it turned out to be difficult step by step, he couldn't help but think... (To be continued......)