"Wait a minute." Li Longji keenly discovered a problem.

After waiting a little longer, Li Longji asked again: "Dare to ask the Heavenly Master, are the envoys of the major feudal towns and the soldiers and horses under their command, the town guard envoys, and the guards and capture envoys appointed and dismissed by the military department, or are they still appointed and dismissed by the saints?" ”

"Still appointed and dismissed by the saints? What do you think. Lu Tianshi said abruptly, "You Li Longji can be called a great talent, although your son Li Heng has mediocre ability, but he is a normal person, but if there are a few abnormal children and grandchildren in your descendants, and appoint the eunuchs around you as soldiers, horses, generals, and even deputy marshals, wouldn't it be a repeat of the mistakes of eunuchs and chaotic government." ”

The reason why the eunuchs in the late Tang Dynasty were able to mess with the government was because they had firmly grasped the military power of the Shence Army since Li Fuguo.

Li Longji frowned and said: "But if the military generals, including the Jiedu envoys, cannot be appointed and dismissed by the saints, but by the military department that is controlled by the prime minister, then wouldn't the military generals, including the Jiedu envoys of the major feudal towns, also be subject to the prime minister?" In this way, the saint's military power is equal to nothing, and in the end he is still a puppet in the hands of the prime minister. ”

Lu Tianshi said: "I have already thought about this, and I have also thought of countermeasures. ”

"Has Lu Tianshi already thought of a countermeasure?" Li Longji said, "I would like to hear about it." ”

Lu Tianshi said: "The countermeasure is that civil officials and military generals adopt two independent promotion systems. ”

After a pause, he said: "The so-called prime minister must start from the state and county, and the general must be sent from the army, in the future, all the pro-people officials in all states and counties in the Tang Dynasty must be selected from the Jinshi, and all the generals must be assessed and selected from the government soldiers, and the promotion of military generals must be based on military merit as the only criterion, and those who have not obtained military merit are not allowed to be promoted." ”

This is a two-legged walk, through the imperial examination to ensure the ascent of poor students.

The strict government military system and military merit system can ensure the promotion channel of the poor soldiers.

The strict system of state ownership of land can avoid the chronic disease of land annexation, and the strict imperial examination system and the military merit system can avoid class solidification to the greatest extent.

As long as these two points are achieved, the Tang Dynasty can be extended as much as possible.

It's hard to say whether it can surpass the 800-year Guozuo of the Zhou Dynasty, but it shouldn't be a problem to surpass the 400-year Guozuo of the Two Han Dynasty.

"The military merit system of the government soldiers?" Li Longji said, "What the Heavenly Master means is that the government soldiers will take the flow brake, and once they die or retire from old age, they will immediately be selected from the recruits of the major feudal towns, and then all the military generals, including the envoys of the major feudal towns, need to be selected from the government soldiers, and they must be promoted by military merit, right?" ”

"That's what it means." Lu Tianshi said, "The military merit system of the government soldiers can not only ensure the promotion channel of the soldiers of the poor family, avoid contradictions caused by class solidification, but also avoid the situation of external emphasis and internal lightness. ”

"Heavy on the outside and light on the inside?" Li Longji's face showed a look of surprise.

One of the major inducements for An Lushan's rebellion was that the Tang army was heavy on the outside and light on the inside.

It is that the Sixteen Guards Forbidden Army suffered heavy losses in the previous battle against Nanzhao, and most of the soldiers of the Forbidden Army were the prodigal sons of Chang'an and Gyeonggi, with low combat effectiveness, but the border troops of Hedong, Fanyang and Lulong held by An Lushan were all elite, which formed a situation of heavy external weight and internal lightness, and ended An Lushan's courage to rebel.

However, if the new government soldiers of the Sixteen Guards adopt a mobile system and select the winners of the recruitment of the major feudal towns, they can always ensure that the government soldiers of the Sixteen Guards maintain a great advantage over the armed forces of the major local feudal towns, so that the rebellion of the Jiedu envoys can be avoided to the greatest extent, because the rebellion will not have a chance of victory.

Li Longji still has a bit of strategic vision, and he can naturally see the advantages of the military merit system that Lu Tianshi said, which can be said to be a combination of the advantages of the military merit system of the Qin Dynasty and the military system of the Sui and Tang dynasties, but this will inevitably bring about the two major shortcomings of the military merit system of the Qin Dynasty and the military system of the Sui and Tang dynasties.

The disadvantage of the military system of the Sui and Tang dynasties was the land.

Once the land in Guanzhong was annexed by the family Gaomen, the foundation of the government military system would collapse.

However, this shortcoming has been solved by the state-owned land, and the cultivated land in Guanzhong and even the entire Tang Dynasty has been nationalized, and the five trades have been strictly prohibited, and the foundation of the government and military system will never collapse.

However, the shortcomings of the Qin Dynasty's military merit system were difficult to solve.

So what were the shortcomings of the Qin Dynasty's military merit system? Primary!

To put it simply, if the standard for measuring military merit is too rigid, it is easy to cause soldiers to compete for their heads on the battlefield and thus delay the fighter plane, and it is easy to kill the good and take the plunge.

Lu Tianshi seemed to guess Li Longji's worries, and said: "You don't have to worry about this, the military merit system of the Tang Dynasty must not be as rigid as the military merit system of the Qin Dynasty, but should be more flexible, first of all, it must not be used as a discretionary standard, and secondly, it cannot be simply equated with the number of beheadings, such as those who engage in logistics to transport grain and grass, make suggestions, or lead the way for the army, or mix into the enemy country to spread rumors, these can be counted as military merits, in short, do not simplify, A comprehensive ruling should be made taking into account the contributions of various parties. ”

"This ......," Li Longji said, "I'm afraid it's not easy to quantify." ”

The reason why the Qin Dynasty's military merit system was so simple and crude was to make it easy to evaluate.

If, according to Lu Tianshi, engaging in logistics is counted as military merit, and making suggestions, leading the way, or even blending into enemy countries to spread rumors can be counted as military merits, then it will be difficult to quantify, and the criteria will become blurred.

Once the adjudication criteria become blurred, it is inevitable that there will be a shady curtain of bending the law for personal gain.

Lu Tianshi had already thought of this problem, and said at the moment: "In this way, the general's merit is divided into four levels, first, second, and third class, plus special class, special merit is not given for destroying the country, and first-class merit cannot be given lightly unless it is a great victory, it is generally second class and third class, and only a small part of the soldiers with the best performance can be given, this is a soldier, and the promotion of military generals adopts another method, which is comprehensively determined according to the scale of the victory, the size of the results and the number of victories. ”

After a pause, Lu Tianshi continued: "In a word, under such a military merit system, the soldiers of the Sixteen Guards of Chang'an must be the elite of the Tang Army, as well as the captains and generals of the Tang Army, and they must all be fierce generals who were born in the army and have experienced a hundred battles, otherwise it is impossible to be promoted." ”

"Wonderful!" Li Longji praised the festival, "More importantly, the mansions and even family members of these captains and generals are in Guannei Dao or even Chang'an, they are thousands of miles away with their army, and they will eventually return to Chang'an, and even if there are a very small number of ambitious generals who want to rebel regardless of their families, few government soldiers are willing to follow him, so as to avoid the hidden danger of supporting the army to the greatest extent." ”

"That's right, that's the reason." Lu Tianshi said.

Li Longji nodded happily and said, "That's fine." ”

"However, there is still a restriction on the emperor."

Lu Tianshi continued: "It is true that the emperor is the marshal of the world's soldiers and horses, and he can send troops to the sixteen guards of Chang'an and any of the local feudal towns, which is also true, but in order to prevent the indiscriminate launching of wars among the emperors of later generations, it is also necessary to give the local feudal towns the right to refute them." ”

"Ah, this, the right to refute?" Li Longji said, "It means that you can resist the decree?" ”

"That's right, you can resist the decree." Lu Tianshi said, "The Tang Emperor grew up in the forbidden palace, neither went to the border to fight, nor did he sleep in the open for a long march, and what is even more troublesome is that he may not understand the truth of the danger of war, so they lack a concept of the consequences of starting a war, but the envoys of the feudal town are born in the army and have experienced a hundred battles, they will have a relatively clear idea of whether they can start a war, at least much clearer than the emperor, there is no objection to this, right?" ”

What can Li Longji say about this, he can only sing with his hands crossed: "Well, I have no objection to this." ”

"Alright, that's it." Lu Tianshi said happily, "The descendants of the Li family have the title of Marshal of the World's Soldiers and Horses, and the prime minister of the political hall will not dare to despise them, let alone bully them, otherwise he will really force the emperor to be in a hurry, so that the local feudal envoys or the generals of the Sixteen Guards will not be able to stand it, and they can directly transfer troops to suppress the prime minister." ”

"Repression? Can't be recalled? Li Longji was stunned and said, "The prime minister is not appointed and dismissed by the emperor?" ”

"Of course." Lu Tianshi said, "The prime minister can only be produced through Tingtui. ”

"However, the envoys of the feudal towns and the generals of the Sixteen Guards were appointed and dismissed by the emperor."