Zhang Renguan serves as the deputy commander and has six battle camps with more than 3,000 people under his command. In the past, this was the number of soldiers and horses that a commander could lead, and a deputy commander usually had several commanders under his command.

Can command tens of thousands or more soldiers.

But by the New Song Dynasty in Jiangning, this number had greatly shrunk.

Through military reforms and the formal implementation of the Recruitment Law, the Xiang Army was completely abolished, and the size of the army of the New Song Dynasty was greatly reduced.

During the Old Song Dynasty, it was said that the forbidden army had 800,000 people, and the Xiang army numbered millions.

Now, the total number of the entire Forbidden Army is less than 300,000.

And 200,000 of them were deployed on the front line of the confrontation with the Liao Kingdom and its servant countries.

Although the number of people is small, the combat effectiveness is rising sharply.

In Xiao Cheng's view, the current new army, if randomly selected, may not be as good as the Guangrui Army led by the great powers back then, but it is still enough to reach the level of the Hebei Frontier Army.

The total number of Hebei frontier troops at that time was only about 50,000.

As for the Upper Fourth Army around the capital, they were said to be the elites from across the country, but they were really not flattering when it came to fighting. Xiao Ding's ten cavalry defeated a hundred cavalry, and then Wang Zhu led a sentry of infantry and defeated hundreds of Upper Fourth Army's.

With multiple infantrymen, the gap between them can be seen.

Therefore, in Xiao Cheng's opinion, the current combat effectiveness of the 300,000 new troops has exceeded the combat effectiveness of the entire Old Song Dynasty.

What's more, there are also many new weapons.

The number of troops has decreased, but the expenditure on the army has not decreased.

In the past, the military expenses that Old Song Dynasty used to support 800,000 imperial troops and millions of Xiang troops were now spent by Xiao Cheng on the new army.

Apart from military benefits, various allowances, rewards, etc., a large amount of funds were used for the training and equipment of the army, which further improved the combat effectiveness of this army.

It is better to use the best than to use too much, which is one of Xiao Cheng's principles in running the army.

An indiscriminate army will not only fail to save lives at a critical moment, but may also cause serious problems.

It's better to remove all these unsafe things, so that you can at least have the same benefit and be aware of it.

On the whole, it seems that military expenditures have not decreased, but if we look at the overall situation, Xin Song Dynasty still saves a lot on many hidden expenses.

For example, take the military’s logistics supply system.

Because of the significant reduction in the army, the logistics supply system has also been greatly reduced. In this era of people carrying oxen and horses, providing logistics supplies for millions of people and providing logistics supplies for 300,000 people are completely different concepts.

Especially during war times, this gap will be more obvious.

What once took one million people to accomplish, now 300,000 are more than enough.

All in all, it actually saved a lot of money.

Of course, old-school officials such as Si Junchao were worried that something would happen if the number of troops was too small and that they would not be able to withstand the Liao attack. This could only be tested in the next battle.

In the past, raising millions of Xiang soldiers was a way for the old court to prevent the people from becoming refugees and becoming a disaster. To put it bluntly, the court used money to support these people, and then the officials turned these Xiang soldiers into money-making enterprises for themselves.

Tools or people are maintained by the imperial court anyway, and they don't even have to pay wages.

But now, these young people are no longer consumers of money and food, but have become wealth creators.

More workshops require more workers, more farms require more workers, more land needs more people to cultivate after it is recovered, and more caravans also require more people to fill.

Between this entry and exit, another huge amount of wealth was created.

Even old-school officials, even Xiao Cheng's opponents, have benefited greatly from these reforms. Now these people have basically changed their concepts.

In other words, what they opposed was Xiao Cheng.

Instead of opposing the changes brought about by Xiao Cheng, this policy was implemented.

Except for a very small number of people, most people have benefited from this reform process.

Even if Xiao Cheng really steps down one day, the policies he implemented will still be implemented.

And this is exactly what Xiao Cheng dreams of achieving.

It is undesirable to have people die and the government cease to exist.

A long-term policy that can be sustained and a long-term plan that can be sustained and implemented are really important to the long-term development of a country.

Therefore, even if Xiao Cheng's political opponents, such as Si Junchao and Liu Mingyi, were ousted by Xiao Cheng, they still retained their political treatment and still had a certain say in major decision-making processes.

Even when they speak, they more often express objections or doubts.

This actually made people in Xiao Cheng's camp very unhappy.

But Xiao Cheng remained calm.

Having objections and questioning voices can help us make things more perfect and better.

If it really becomes one voice and no one speaks out when there are shortcomings and mistakes, then by the time these shortcomings and mistakes appear, it may have already led to a major crisis.

The existence of opponents is necessary.

Moreover, maybe at some point in the future, we will also become opponents!

We also need to give ourselves a chance to make a voice in the future!

Therefore, when we enforce rules now, we must turn them into routines and principles.

Because we have the heart and tolerance to accommodate opponents.

We also have the ability to solve the problems raised by the opponents one by one.

Only those with a guilty conscience and insufficient abilities will obliterate all different voices.

Xiao didn't bother to do this.

This is what Xiao Cheng said to his loyal subordinates.

These words finally reached the ears of Si Junchao and others.

It is said that after Si Junchao heard these words, he sighed and said that I am far inferior to Xiao Chongwen, and then got drunk. After he sobered up, he worked harder to find Xiao Cheng among the policies.

Problem.

Even Zhang Ren found it difficult to understand the meaning of these things for a while.

He currently leads more than 3,000 men to garrison in Yongqiu, which is the most advanced position among the entire Song Dynasty army. It can be said that he penetrates directly into the core area of ​​the Puppet Zhao State and is very close to Tokyo.

When a war breaks out, Yongqiu will inevitably bear the brunt.

Jiangning judged that the large-scale conflict with Liao would be after October, because at this time, the Yellow River was frozen, and a large number of Liao's troops and supplies would cross the Yellow River more conveniently and quickly.

But for Yongqiu, this time point must be greatly advanced.

Their protrusions will naturally be a thorn in the opponent's side. How could they not be pulled out first before launching a large-scale attack?

Of course, the main force of the Liao people has not yet arrived, and it is the slave states of the Liao Kingdom that will complete this work.

For example, the king of Song, Zhao Suo, and the king of Zhao, Quzhen, are currently in Tokyo.

After Zhao Suo returned to Tokyo, he used his status to recruit hundreds of thousands of troops. Among them were the private armies of the wealthy gentry families in Henan. The combat effectiveness of these troops was really not low.

Zhang Ren's army was subordinate to the Bai Yu Army, and now the Bai Yu Army was placed under the command of the central army, which meant that Wei Wu was now considered Wang Zhu's subordinate.

But because Wei Wu's White Feather Army was far away from the central camp, it was closer to the eastern camp. In fact, Wei Wu became a connecting hub between the two columns.

The imperial court was determined to build the Jingxiang Theater and the Jianghuai Theater into a war complex. To this end, Lu Wenhuan, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, was appointed as the general manager to unified command and coordinate the several theaters.

With the buffer and connection between Wei and Wu, the unified actions between the two war armies can be better coordinated.

Zhang Ren's staff of three thousand men is quite luxurious. His deputy, the commander Ren Zhong, was from the Hebei frontier army. He was once a subordinate of Yelumin, the king of Zhenbei in the Liao Kingdom. He fought desperately to resist Yelumin in the battle across the river.

In the end, I only escaped with my life. This person is actually better than Zhang Ren in terms of experience and qualifications.

However, because of his background, there are some obstacles on his way to promotion.

As for Zhang Ren, he is the one supported by the chief minister, and he is also the son-in-law of a veteran of the White Feather Army. In the White Feather Army, which is composed of old cousins ​​from Guangxi as the backbone, Zhang Ren will certainly receive more care.

It only took Zhang Ren less than five years to be promoted from a soldier to deputy commander.

Although promotion and dismissal are very fast in the military, this speed is still very scary.

However, Ren Zhong was at ease.

First of all, he had a lot of experience. Whenever he thought of hundreds of his robes who died fighting on the Yellow River, Ren Zhong felt that he was blessed by God that he was still alive, so there was nothing to fight for.

Secondly, Zhang Ren knows how to be a good person. As a general with both civil and military skills, Zhang Ren does a very good job in winning over people. He is subtle and restrained, making the people he wins over feel comfortable. As for Ren Zhong, he is really good at winning over people.

Follow Zhang Ren's tactics.

So the two of them teamed up and made this team of more than 3,000 people lively and harmonious.

Of course, there is another key personnel in this team, military judge Wu Zheng, a pure Guangxi native and veteran Bai Yujun.

He is not only in charge of military law and discipline, but also in charge of logistics. Of course, according to private rumors, this person is still someone who knows Qiuyuan. However, this cannot be said on the table, and can only be speculated.

"We couldn't get some bronze cannons!" Ren Zhong regretted, "The more than ten oak cannons we have here can only fire two or three shots at most, and then they are useless."

"They are just some consumables. Once they are used up, they are useless. Old Ren, think about it. Those bronze cannons are so heavy. Each one weighs several thousand kilograms. You said you worked so hard to get them to us and waited for us to retreat.

What should I do when the time comes? Can I take it with me?" Zhang Ren spread his hands and said.

"Why do we have to withdraw? It's not like we can't defeat them!" Ren Zhong was a little dissatisfied, as was Wu Zheng. Both old soldiers couldn't figure out why the above strategy was like this.
To be continued...