After sending the four people away, Chen Qing breathed a sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. He no longer thought about technology, but began to devote himself to thinking about the restructuring of the army.
The Song Dynasty learned the painful lessons of the Tang Dynasty's Anshi Rebellion and the separatist rule of vassal towns, and thus formulated a system in which civilians controlled military power, which ultimately led to the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty.
However, if the Tang system is restored and military generals are given control of the military, stability can still be maintained in the early stages of the dynasty. However, once in the middle and late stages of the dynasty, ambitious generals will inevitably appear. Once the generals take control of the military and the court is unable to control it, there will be troops.
The ambition of self-reliance has been like this in all dynasties. The key is not the generals, but the decline of the dynasty itself.
The rulers of the Song Dynasty could not see through this and always put the blame on the generals. Why did An Lushan not have the idea of rebellion in the early stage but gradually developed it in the later period? It was because the government military system was completely eliminated and the national strength could not afford the huge border army salary.
, the imperial court continued to delegate government and financial power to Jiedushi, allowing them to raise their own military salaries, and Anlushan had his own army.
Therefore, it does not depend on whether civilian officials or generals hold military power, but whether one's own national strength can control the border troops.
In the reform of the military system, Chen Qing still considered setting up three systems, one is the local state military system, one is the border garrison system, and the other is the Chinese military system. The maximum is to control all military positions. In the future, there will be many people to control. This is the biggest benefit.
It means that military power can be dispersed.
But we must also appease Yang Zaixing, Liu Cui and the other early generals who led the army. They can be separated from the army, continue to be promoted in rank and title, serve as Twelve Generals in Jingzhao, and set up a general palace. Once there is a need for war,
, they will lead the army to go out. This army will not belong to them, but will be temporarily allocated and arranged by the Privy Council. After the war, the soldiers will return to the camp and the general will return to the government. This is what the Tang Dynasty did. The army and the generals were completely
separation.
The key is to give them honor and status. You can imitate Li Shimin's Lingyan Pavilion and leave portraits of the heroes forever, so that they can safely hand over military power and break away from the army. You can even let them serve as civil servants, such as serving in the Privy Council.
Another thing is to clarify the relationship between the Military Department and the Privy Council. The Military Department is in charge of the local state military system, in charge of recruitment and retirement placement of soldiers, and pensions for fallen soldiers. It is in charge of the awarding of honorary officers, military examinations and military academies, as well as the recruitment of civilians, and the temporary requisition of civilian supplies.
, in charge of the army's real estate and also responsible for the army's farmland.
The Privy Council is equivalent to the emperor's military secretariat. It controls the border garrison and the central army, manages the documents and files of soldiers and generals, is in charge of the attendance of soldiers and generals, promotion and military training, military mobilization, and is in charge of money and grain, the storage and distribution of military supplies, and the payment of military salaries.
, war staff planning, and military intelligence systems.
Chen Qing then held a discussion with the generals. The generals basically agreed with Chen Qing's restructuring plan. In fact, the generals were more concerned about their own immediate interests, the succession of titles, the official position and salary system, as well as the issue of their children's officials, the system
On the other hand, they don't really care.
In addition, in terms of salary distribution, Chen Qing is planning to launch an account system. The Privy Council will create an account for each soldier at a government-run counter, and deposit their salary into the account every month. Soldiers can go to the counter to withdraw money, or their family members can withdraw it.
This way, there is no need to distribute cash through layers, and avoid layer upon layer exploitation by superiors and empty pay. This is the best measure to protect the interests of soldiers.
This has also won the unanimous support of the generals. Everyone knows that soldiers are the foundation of the army. Protecting the interests of soldiers is related to the morale of the army, which is the key to winning the war.
Now that they have an army of 600,000, no one can guarantee that the middle and low-level generals will not deduct soldiers' salaries, so Chen Qing's plan won the unanimous support of the generals.
After full communication with the generals, the reform of the military system began to be carried out. However, this is not something that can be promulgated and implemented immediately. It needs to be done step by step, and the time for implementation is not completely mature now.
The top priority now is to seize Fujian Road.
At present, Fujian Road has been hit hard by Chen Qing, and that is Quanzhou. After several years of governance, Quanzhou has become the state with the largest population in Fujian Road. Due to low taxes, cheap prices, and many opportunities to make money,
A large number of people from Fujian Province continued to pour into Quanzhou, bringing sufficient labor force to Quanzhou's shipbuilding, tea making, cotton rolling, textile, oil extraction, sugar pressing, porcelain making, as well as various planting, commerce, and storage industries.
Overseas trade and other industries are all booming.
Of course, Chen Qing did not dare to take it lightly. In order to prevent the imperial army from going back and taking Quanzhou, Chen Qing sent troops to Quanzhou three times. At present, the garrison in Quanzhou has reached 30,000 people. The chief general is the deputy capital Tonghu Yantong.
The imperial army on Fujian Road numbered 20,000, led by Liu Ziyu, the pacifier of Fujian Road. Liu Ziyu also served as the governor of Fuzhou, and all 20,000 troops were stationed in Fuzhou.
It is actually easy to seize the Fujian Road. Defeat Liu Ziyu's army and capture Fuzhou, then the entire Fujian Road will be within easy reach.
That morning, an overwhelming number of large ships appeared in the sea off Quanzhou. They were 30,000 troops heading south from Shandong Road, commanded by Liu Qiong and Tang Qian. Chen Qing originally wanted Gao Ding to lead the army south to capture the general of Fujian Road, but
Liu Qiong repeatedly asked for orders and issued military orders. He would never miss important military and national affairs just because Liu Ziyu was his uncle.
Chen Qing thought twice and finally appointed Liu Qiong as the general to conquer the south, Tang Qian and Hu Yantong as the left and right deputy generals, and commanded an army of 60,000 to seize the Fujian Road.
One after another, large ships docked, and groups of soldiers disembarked from the ships and quickly lined up on the pier. At this time, Liu Qiong and Tang Qian also disembarked from the ships. Hu Yantong hurriedly greeted them, cupping his fists and saluting: "
I am humble enough to see you, General!"
Although the two had a close friendship in martial arts back then, now that it was a formal occasion, with so many soldiers watching, Hu Yantong still had to meet each other with superior and subordinate etiquette.
Liu Qiong smiled slightly and said: "Brother Huyan, I haven't seen you for a long time. It seems a lot darker!"
Seeing Liu Qiong's relaxed tone, Hu Yantong also relaxed and said with a smile: "Quanzhou is by the sea, and the sea breeze blows every day. Of course, the skin will get dark easily. I don't believe that after a while, my dear brother will understand."
"Men! It doesn't matter what the black spots are. Where is the military camp? Let the soldiers go to the military camp to rest first. On the way here, the sea was rough and rough. Many soldiers were severely seasick. General Tang and I also vomited."
"The camp is three miles ahead. You can see it if you walk straight ahead. Let the soldiers go first! The two generals also go to rest."
Liu Qiong turned around and shouted: "The soldiers of the first battalion will go to the military camp to rest after finishing their formation. There is no need to wait."
Basically, the soldiers of a large ship are a battalion, led by a commander. Five hundred soldiers follow the commander to the camp to rest, and are led by specialized soldiers.
Liu Qiong was really seasick and in low spirits, so she went to the camp with Tang Qian to rest.
At this time, on the mountain a few miles away, a middle-aged man and several young men who looked like waiters watched from a distance as the Western Army soldiers disembarked from the boats and lined up. The groups drove to the camp in a mighty manner. They counted the number of soldiers.
, at this time, a man ran up the mountain and said to the middle-aged man: "I found out that the commander-in-chief of the Western Army is Liu Qiong."
The middle-aged man nodded, "Prepare the carrier pigeon to be sent to Fuzhou!"