Lei Yungong coughed twice, with a look of hesitation on his face.
"Prime Minister, I have something to say, I don't know whether I should say it or not."
Ding Wei's heart moved and he said with a smile.
"There are only you and me here. Heaven knows and earth knows that you know and I know. There is nothing that cannot be left unsaid."
Lei Yungong felt sad and looked around.
"There is no day left, there are some things that the Prime Minister needs to make a decision early on."
After saying this, Lei Yungong stood up immediately without waiting for Ding Wei to ask questions.
"Prime Minister, the palace door is about to be locked, so I won't stay any longer."
As a human being, you should keep a thin line. Similarly, you should not say too much, it is best to leave some room.
Lei Yungong still hasn't figured out the official's thoughts, so he can only give Ding Wei a vague answer.
Anyway, no matter how you understand this, you can’t be wrong.
And no matter how you understand it, it is beneficial to the officials.
Ding Wei is the prime minister, with a high and powerful position. If he can completely turn to the official side, it will definitely be a great achievement.
"The guard, walk slowly."
This time, Ding Wei did not send Lei Yungong off deliberately, but just sent Lei Yungong to the door of Nuange, and then ordered Ding Ji to send Lei Yungong off in person.
After a while, Dingji returned to Nuange.
"Prime Minister, Lei Abban has left."
"Okay, you go down first."
Ding said that he had no intention of going home for the time being. He planned to stay in Nuan Pavilion for a while to analyze the meaning of Lei Yungong's words.
There are no two days in the sky, which is easy to understand.
There was only one sky in the Song Dynasty, and that was the official family!
These words showed that the two men in the palace had already decided the winner. Although Ding Wei had already guessed it, his guess was just a guess, and confirmation was confirmation.
Therefore, we cannot say that Lei Yungong is useless at all.
But what Lei Yungong refers to by "some things"?
Headache!
Ding Wei didn't think about asking, but the meaning behind Lei Yungong's words was already obvious.
That’s all!
If he continues to ask, neither of them will be able to get off the stage in the end.
There is no need to force this kind of thing.
…
…
…
Three o'clock in the unitary hour.
Funing Hall.
As soon as Lei Yungong came back, he rushed to Funing Hall and reported to Li Jie in detail about his trip outside the palace.
The one with nothing to hide.
It wasn't that Lei Yungong didn't want to hide it, but he didn't dare.
The power of God is unpredictable!
If something goes wrong, the gain will outweigh the loss.
Besides, he asked himself and didn't say anything that could be misunderstood.
After the report, Lei Yun bowed his body respectfully and stood there waiting quietly.
Tick tock!
Tick tock!
Time passed slowly, and Li Jie didn't say a word. As time passed, Lei Yungong's anxiety almost reached its peak.
The longer the silence lasted, the more frightened he became.
Slowly, cold sweat climbed onto his forehead.
He just felt like he was standing next to a burning stove, and his whole body was getting hotter and hotter. But the official didn't say anything for a moment, and he didn't dare to move rashly.
He didn't even dare to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
On the other side, Li Jie was not silent on purpose, he was just thinking about one thing.
To be fair, he didn't care what Lei Yungong and Ding Wei said.
Even if Ding Wei knew about the affairs in the palace, what would he do?
This is not the Five Dynasties, nor the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Although the power of the prime minister is great, in the final analysis, it still depends on the emperor's face.
It is not difficult to remove Ding Wei.
Just find any excuse to let him leave Beijing.
After all, Ding Wei is not an upright official. How did Ding's family background come from?
But it would be a waste to just drive Ding Wei away.
After all, he is still a prime minister. Before leaving the capital, he still needs to shine.
What Li Jie is thinking about now is how to make Ding Wei make a last stand?
Political power comes from the barrel of a gun. If you want to take full power, military power is indispensable.
However, Li Jie is not very satisfied with the current military system.
The Song Dynasty implemented a recruitment system, and all military expenses should be paid by the national finance.
Although there is also a selection system in the army, those who are strong and capable of martial arts can be promoted from the Xiang Army to the Forbidden Army if they are assessed according to the standards of the upper, middle and lower grades.
The lower ranks were successively demoted from the cavalry army to the infantry army, and then again to the Xiang army.
Of course, if the soldiers are old and weak, their military status may also be reduced, or they may be reduced to handymen in the army.
But this selection system is not reasonable enough.
Under the old system, if there was no one to replace the old and sick, they were not allowed to stop enrolling even though they were old and sick.
Therefore, as the "Xiang Army" of the lower army, there are not a few gray-haired veterans.
These people have been supported by the imperial court for a long time. Even if there is an edict to return them to farming, most of them are veterans who are unwilling to do so.
In addition, drinking the blood of soldiers has happened in all dynasties, and the Song Dynasty was no exception.
Those honorable men and women ate the military rations and drank the blood of the soldiers.
Because of all the above reasons, even though Emperor Zhenzong of Song Dynasty had the intention of disarmament when he was in power, he had too many scruples, so every time he disarmament could only be a show-off.
However, Song Zhenzong's willingness to disarm was not very strong. After all, raising troops was an ancestral law.
Taizu once said: "My family's business is to raise soldiers for the benefit of all generations. In bad years and hungry years, there will be rebels against the people but no soldiers. Unfortunately, in happy years, there will be rebels but no rebels against the people."
The general idea of this sentence is that raising an army can benefit generations. Whenever there is a famine or other disaster, the court will recruit bankrupt farmers and restless elements into the army.
Use finance to block civil uprisings so that rebels will not gather together to form troops.
This national policy is the source of redundant troops.
The recruitment system is indeed advanced enough. Professional soldiers do not need to work in agriculture, but only need to concentrate on training to improve their combat effectiveness.
But the economy of an agricultural country has limitations.
The national finances are not enough to support an army of one million people.
In fact, if the number of the Forbidden Army Xiang Army was reduced by half, the financial resources of the Song Dynasty would still be enough to support them.
Just cutting it by half is also unrealistic.
Without the Land of Clouds as a buffer, Tokyo City is undefendable and must maintain a huge force.
Of course, Li Jie did not intend to reduce more than half of the troops at once.
He was just planning to disband some of the unqualified Xiang troops and let them return to their families and farm.
As for how the land came from, it was nothing more than reclaiming wasteland.
Although the land annexation in the Song Dynasty was very serious, it was still the early Song Dynasty, and there were still many wastelands.
As long as it is accompanied by appropriate incentive policies, such as rent exemption for three years and two taxes halved for five years.
"Three + Five", eight years of tax incentives, allowing soldiers to return home to farm, there is definitely room for maneuver.
"This matter is considered a success."
Upon hearing this, Lei Yungong immediately knelt down as if he had been granted amnesty.
"Thank you for your grace!"
"But..."
As soon as the word 'ran' came out, Lei Yungong trembled subconsciously.
"There are many old, weak and cowardly people in the army. I only hear about small points and not about exemptions."
The small division is a kind of selection system. The army routinely selects soldiers every year. The old, weak, sick and disabled who are not willing to fight or serve are usually selected.
But there are several types of selection, the most serious of which is to be released to the people.
The meaning of Xiaofen roughly refers to ‘soldiers who cannot serve for a short period of time due to illness or other reasons’.
Being selected into a small branch usually also means that there is an opportunity to return to serve in the military.
Since ancient times, Chinese people have always been focused on moderation and keeping a line in life. Therefore, the vast majority of unsuitable soldiers are selected with "small points".