That day, the entire army competed in archery competitions from early morning until late. Some soldiers even stayed overnight on the school grounds, and the competition was not completed until the next day.
Zhang Yue read the data in the newspaper below and found that more than 17,000 enlisted soldiers were proficient in shooting bows and crossbows, but more than 5,000 enlisted soldiers were unqualified. This was really shocking.
Most of these soldiers did not complete the five arrows within the specified time.
This is not a rule that Zhang Yue came up with on his own. The Song army has strict regulations when approaching battle. In field battles, martial arts always have clear military regulations. When approaching battle, it is difficult to respond in a hurry. The maximum is three rounds, short.
The troops have been received.
In other words, you are generally only given the chance to shoot three arrows.
At the same time, strict regulations were imposed on crossbowmen when going into battle.
The thief is still far away from the formation. Anyone who shoots randomly will be killed!
Anyone who hears the sound of drums before the battle, closes the bow and crossbow without firing, or fires but fails to use all the arrows (most people shoot three arrows, but the opponent only shoots two arrows), or those who abandon the arrows will be beheaded!
Those who have already taken arrows to look back will be killed!
This is evident from this.
Therefore, soldiers who could not complete the five arrows within the specified time were judged to be unqualified. However, in the past Song military review, the assessment was not so stringent, so more than 5,000 soldiers who entered the army were unqualified, which really shocked everyone.
Soldiers who join the army are also fighting soldiers.
After the Song army implemented the art of war, unqualified soldiers who joined the team were eliminated as soldiers who did not join the team, and soldiers who did not join the team were eliminated as soldiers who did not join the team.
Some soldiers could not even draw the lowest seven-dou bow and the two-stone one-dou bow.
After Zhang Yue saw this round of shooting, he couldn't help but shake his head. Do we need to eliminate 5,000 soldiers from the 17,000 soldiers? This disarmament is too great.
Therefore, after the archery practice, many generals came to Zhang Yue's tent to complain.
After the implementation of the Art of War, the situation in which the soldiers did not know the generals and the generals did not know the soldiers was changed. The generals trained the soldiers and horses with one hand and went into battle with the other. In this way, the responsibility fell on the generals.
Generals from all over the Daming Prefecture came over one after another to find reasons, such as the soldiers not having enough to eat, so they were unmotivated.
It was too dark, so I couldn't see clearly.
I was too nervous last night and didn't sleep well.
Or just flatten it out and say that you haven’t practiced. You can figure out how to do it. My grandfather went through life and death with Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong. My grandfather made great contributions to the imperial court and shed blood under the city of Chanzhou.
.
Zhang Yue looked at the last group of people and laughed directly. Isn't this the person who came to give away someone's head?
Directly dismissed!
Emperor Taizu and Taizong?
Now the world is ruled by the "Shen Zong" emperor. What can you tell me about the old Huangli? Upstarts like Zhang Yue who came from a poor family were sent by the emperor to avoid old friendships. He would handle matters that the emperor couldn't lose face for.
Of course, some generals said that Zhang Yue's method was not 'scientific' and did not fully respect their opinions.
What's more, they are worried that Zhang Yue will gather power through this reduction of troops and horses, and then covet side merits in order to seek undue rewards. Some people even threatened to go to Beijing to file a lawsuit against Zhang Yue.
Once people touch their own interests, all kinds of opposition will arise.
Wu Chong suppressed these rumors directly on behalf of Zhang Yue without causing any waves.
Wen Yanbo chatted with Zhang Yue with a smile, and Zhang Yue said: "I understand what the generals mean. If you don't eliminate the weak, it will not be enough to keep the strong. As the Duke said before, only when the soldiers can fight can I dare to talk. I can't.
War means we can’t talk about it.”
"The Liao Kingdom knew clearly that our military preparedness in Hebei was weak, and that's why we dared to be so provocative."
"But it's not easy to act too hastily!" Wen Yanbo was still conciliatory, "Liao soldiers are pressing down on the border, and the morale of the army is not easy to be shaken at this time."
Zhang Yue said: "Those unqualified soldiers must be withdrawn first, and then they can be challenged. At the same time, those who are not of the same age must be eliminated. For generals who are unqualified in the first round, they must be dismissed and punished by three or five."
Only if I can teach them to restrain themselves and train more than ten generals effectively, I can guarantee that they will be promoted to first or second class."
When Wen Yanbo saw that Zhang Yue had given him face, he was also very happy and said: "Good."
Zhang Yue said: "The thirty-seven generals of the Hebei Fourth Road are all organized in this way, and the thirteen generals of the Hedong Road are also organized in this way."
When Zhang Yue was on Xihe Road, he had 50,000 troops and three generals. On Hedong and Hebei Road, there were 50 generals, with each general ranging from 10,000 to several thousand.
Later, Zhang Yue issued another document, asking Zhang Zhi, the magistrate of Daizhou, to concurrently serve as the judge of the Xuanfu Division of Hedong Road, responsible for the training of soldiers and horses on Hedong Road. This is to go into battle and fight with father and son soldiers, to fight tigers and brothers, and to promote talents without avoiding relatives.
Later, Zhang Yue sent Cai Bian, Xu Xi, and Chen Guan to Gaoyangguan to pacify the envoys, to the Zhending Mansion to pacify the envoys, and to the Yingzhou pacification envoys to conduct troop reduction and training respectively.
As for the weapons supervisor, Shen Kuo sent the newly made 3,000 divine arm bows and various crossbows and arrows to Hebei.
After Shen Kuo was sentenced to the War and Weapons Supervision, he appointed craftsmen as officials. At the same time, he carried out reforms in the prison, which really improved the efficiency of work. The officials also ordered the Military Weapons Supervision to give priority to replenishing the needs of Hebei's troops and horses. Zhang Yue also urged him urgently.
Therefore, Shen Kuo asked the ordnance supervisor to work overtime to rush the ordnance production to Hebei.
The use of cavalry and chariots to defeat the enemy is of no use now.
Using bows and crossbows to control the enemy has always been the kingly way of the Song army.
After the latest divine arm bows were equipped to the Hebei Song Army, the Hebei Song Army was particularly excited. You must know that in the past, these divine arm bows were used first by the Shaanxi Song Army.
Now with the arrival of Zhang Yue, the Divine Arm Bow has also been deployed to the Hebei Song Army.
Even the Jin people were afraid of this weapon. Jin Wushu said that he was most afraid of the two weapons of the Song Dynasty. One was the heavy axe, and the other was the divine arm bow, especially the divine arm bow. The rest were not of concern.
General Zhang Yue directly equipped the three or five best generals with the divine arm bow in this training, and at the same time, the war horses were prioritized. This is to strengthen the stronger and the better.
Rewards without punishment are useless.
For the three or five position generals with poor training performance, not only will they not receive any rewards, but they will also be challenged twice. The position generals will be demoted, demoted, or even dismissed. At the same time, some redundant soldiers will also be eliminated. If they don't care about themselves, I will do it for you.
Come on, if you don't train your troops, I will train your troops for you.
This is to grasp both ends and promote the middle.
The area of attack should be small to avoid making too many enemies, and kindness should not be given indiscriminately, otherwise it will have no effect.
After sorting out these things, it took Zhang Yue more than three months, and news came from Han Zhen's negotiations here that the Liao Dynasty had a very tough attitude towards negotiations, and at the same time it had lost patience with the Song Dynasty's procrastinating progress.
Zhang Yue told Han Zhen that he would arrive at Zhending Mansion for further discussions with the Liao Kingdom.
At the same time, Zhang Yue ordered the construction of gates and fortresses in Xiongzhou and other front lines.
You must know that this is what the Song Dynasty made clear during the Song-Liao negotiations last year, that is, the Song Dynasty cannot build guancheng in prefectures and counties close to the Liao Kingdom's front line.
However, Zhang Yue took the initiative to change the agreement and said that he would hold negotiations with the Liao State in Zhending Mansion.
The Liao Kingdom also seemed to know that Zhang Yue was the Prime Minister of the Song Dynasty and the most trusted minister of the Song Dynasty officials.
So at the end of the eighth year of Xining, the Liao Kingdom also sent a team of extremely high-level envoys to Zhending Mansion to negotiate with Zhang Yue.