I don’t know when it started snowing outside, floating and falling on the branches. The servant pushed the door and came in to deliver vegetables, and the snowflakes floated in. Looking out the door, he saw snowflakes flying and the ground was already white.

Liu Chang said: "What a heavy snow! Auspicious snow indicates a good harvest, and the next year will surely be a good year!"

Ouyang Xiu said: "Since the railway was completed, the food in various places could be transported together, and there has been no major disaster for several years. As the saying goes, God fulfills his wishes, and the government is harmonious. Even God has mercy on our dynasty and this snowfall has come."

Fan Zhen said: "It is the weather to snow, so what does it have to do with national affairs? Look at the New Year is about to celebrate, and winter is about to pass. If there is no heavy snow, when will it fall again!"

Several people laughed together and stopped arguing about this. The servant carefully placed the copper pot on the table and bowed out.

Ouyang Xiu said: "I heard that eating mutton is like this, but Du Zhongcheng was like this when he was in the Volcano Army. It spread to the capital. Although eating meat like this is not very elegant, it is still cold and freezing, and it is really a unique flavor."

Everyone laughed together, saw the soup in the copper pot rolling, and they each picked up slices of meat. After drinking wine, eating meat, several people chatted while eating fruits.

Liu Chang said: "At first glance, I found it unreasonable. On the battlefield, since the fierce generals were in front and elite soldiers followed him and fought bloody battles, they could defeat the strong enemy. When the Hequ Road Army system arrived at the battalion commander and above, they no longer went to the front line and only commanded behind them. The soldiers did not have generals in front of the commander, so how could they fight against the enemy? After arriving in the capital, they knew that the soldiers had to train first, and they had to be qualified before they were incorporated into the military formation. How to fight? I learned how to fight in the new army. Not to mention that there was also a military academy, which trained generals, and everything was in order. But I don't know why the imperial guards in the capital were not satisfied after the training of the imperial guards in the capital, and they always felt that they were not satisfied."

Wang Gui said: "What the Sheren said is very true. In fact, many officials in the court, when they heard about the Hequ Road military system, felt that it was inconsistent with common sense. If Du Zhongcheng had not won consecutive battles and had won the battle, he would definitely not have been able to train. Although the results after the training were not satisfactory, they were still much better than before."

Ouyang Xiu said: "The ones that are stronger than before are the soldiers, and the other is the military formation. When the two armies are fighting, the soldiers trained by this dynasty have guns and cannons. How can the soldiers who use swords and guns compare? They are guarding the strong city and cannons, which is not difficult to break."

Du Zhongxiao said: "If you only look at the soldiers, the new military system is recruited and has been specially trained, so it is naturally stronger than before. But the new military system is not for this matter, otherwise it will be better if you change guns and cannons. The new military system is not like before, when all the affairs of the military are decided by the commanders, but every general and official has their own responsibilities. With excellent commanders, of course, the army has stronger combat power, but as long as it is not particularly bad, the army can always guarantee basic combat power."

Liu Chang said: "It is precisely because of this that the commanders in the imperial guards are very dissatisfied with the new military system. I heard that there are too few people who can learn well in the military academy. In the end, they just need to learn it."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Of course this is the case. Under the new military system, the commander becomes the commander. Unless during wartime, most of the power in the army is in the various subordinates. In military affairs, the commander decides only major issues, and of course he is dissatisfied with it."

Ouyang Xiu said: "This is human nature. Under the new military system, the soldiers and generals under their command will no longer be allowed to be entrusted by themselves, and the money and food in the army will no longer be decided by the commander. Of course, they are unwilling to do so when it comes to money and power."

Du Zhongxiao said: "In fact, since ancient times, the military system has been like this. Looking at how many officials in the army are in the pre-Qin and Han dynasties, how many are there now? Battles are very complicated, and there are no permanent officials to manage. Of course, it is not possible. Everything is decided by the commander, and the winner depends on the general. The battles that can be fought are limited. The scale is not large, and you can lead the troops to fight alone. When the scale is large, you have to cooperate with each other, and you often make mistakes. Under the new military system, the most important thing is to cooperate with each other and no longer rely on the commander to fight individually."

In fact, when the Song army reached this point, there were very few qualified commanders, and not many people who could stand firm in small-scale battles. The so-called famous generals were mostly trained in such small-scale battles. Without a unified combat plan, each department would do its own job. The commanders often disobey orders due to various concerns. Once the military discipline is loosened, they will often be defeated. If the military discipline is too strict, it will put too much pressure on the soldiers.

Ouyang Xiu said: "In this way, will the Hequ Road military system or the ancient system be restored?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "You can't say that. Part of it is to restore the ancient method of commanding troops, and another combines guns and cannons in the army to make appropriate changes and additions. I have said before that the typical characteristic of the new military system is professionalization, and no longer the commanding officers have the final say. Commanders are specialized in command, specializing in food and grass, and specializing in logistics. All kinds of officials perform their duties and do not interfere with each other. In addition, the system of transit officials, commanding officers are not that important."

Wang Gui said: "What are the benefits of doing this? In the past, the commander was the commander, and the court had fewer troubles."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Nehan, the benefits are much greater. Before the Qin and Han Dynasties, the world was divided into feudals, and the Zhou emperor did not have much business. In the end, it was the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period annexation, and the world suffered hundreds of years of suffering. Since the Han Dynasty, it has been discovered that counties and counties have been much stronger than the county. In the past, the entire army was similar to the army's division of feudals. There were hundreds of thousands of troops in name, but they found that they were not counted when they fought."

After hearing this, Ouyang Xiu thought for a while and said, "It's refreshing to say this to the Chief Secretary. The officers of the entire commission are indeed a bit like a vassal. Although there are severe punishments and laws, they actually cannot control the army. Every time there is a big battle, there will be generals who do not fight with all their strength. The reform of the Hequlu Army Army has turned out to be like this. I didn't know much before, but there are many misunderstandings."

Du Zhongxiao said: "Of course this is the case. For the court, the internal government is the government affairs and the external government affairs. The dynasty has always been divided into this. However, the army only has commanding officers and lacks officials. Once in charge of affairs other than war, there are many problems and they have to be assigned to the Political Affairs Hall. In other words, there are too few officials in the army now, resulting in unclear responsibilities. In the past, 70% of the dynasty's annual money and food were used to support the army, and they were unable to change. If officials were added to the army, where did the money and food come from? So they kept following it."

Fan Zhen said: "Now that money and food are abundant, we can change it. However, the battle between the Zhenrong Army has been unsatisfactory for several years."

Ouyang Xiu said: "The 300,000 troops of Zhenrong Army were all old generals in the former imperial guards. Only a few people from the military academy were low-level officials, and they didn't care about anything. In fact, they did not change the military system."

Du Zhongxiao said: "If you want to change the military system, you must replace people, otherwise it will be useless in the end. If you use all the old generals, you will have to slow down."

The officers in the 300,000 army on the front line of the Zhenrong Army were not only old people in the original imperial guards, but also people promoted by the emperor himself. Just like Di Qing, the emperor could often see and promote them to officers. This result was that the emperor was unwilling to give up his previous efforts and used them to control the new army. What was the result? It seems that the speed was slower now.

Speaking of substitutions, no one spoke for a while. The Emperor of the Song Dynasty was very strict about the promotion of the generals of the Imperial Army. During the reign of Emperor Taizong, the commanders and commanders were all from the emperor and no one could interfere. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, he let go, but until now, the promotion of the Imperial Army in the capital was an absolute matter of imperial power, and other officials were not allowed to intervene. Without major stimulation, it was not easy to let the emperor go.

Most of the generals on Hequ Road were idle after being transferred to the capital, which was related to this. Those generals were promoted by Du Zhongxiao, rather than from the will of the holy people. The rewards given by the official positions were generous enough, so they were naturally not allowed to lead troops for the time being.

Due to incomplete systems, military personnel are the main means of imperial power to control military power, and the emperor cannot change it before he is not adapted to other means.

After drinking two glasses of wine, Ouyang Xiu said: "The people who are in charge of the Rong army are all old generals of the imperial guards. They are from the Holy Judgment and are the most trusted generals of the government. Even if the army has been reformed, they still have to use them to control the army. There is nothing we can do about it."

Liu Chang said: "Relying on commanding troops to control military power is not a blessing for the court. It is extremely obvious that the attack on Lingzhou is."

Du Zhongxiao said: "What are the solutions? As a minister, we should be invincible to the outside world as long as we control the army, and we should be invincible to the outside world. It is not so simple for the emperor. As long as the army is strong enough, the most important thing is to be obedient. Many things are caused by this. The emperor is not familiar with the new military system, so he will naturally not let go of reforms and can only do it little by little."

Ouyang Xiudao: "During the Qingli period, when fighting against Dangxiang, Lu Xianggong, Yan Xianggong and others once ruled the Privy Council as prime ministers to facilitate the handling of military affairs. The war now is much bigger than that at that time, but the entire Privy Council was commissioned to give power to the Political Affairs Council for convenience."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and didn't say anything. Every time the palace discussed military affairs, Jia Changchao almost used his own strength to fight against the ministers' questioning. Regarding the arrangements on the front line, the Privy Council fought against the responsibility for the arrangements on the front line, which was not without reason. The emperor did not understand military power, but under the new situation, he had enough courage to take back the military power from the Political Affairs Hall. Anyway, it was victory, it was just spending more money.

Jia Changchao was not from the imperial examination, but promoted as an attendant and was deeply appreciated by the current emperor. Jia Changchao's actions largely represented the other side of the emperor. If this were not the case, with the strength of the current prime minister Wen Yanbo, how could he allow him to control the military and political affairs with one hand?

Speaking of Jia Changchao, everyone shook their heads. He clearly didn't understand military affairs, but he was in charge of military affairs and did not allow others to interfere.

Du Zhongxiao said: "We should look at the imperial guards and military reforms. We cannot just look at how they can fight more, but also whether the court can control them. Now the court intends to let the Privy Council take charge of military affairs and not allow other ministers to intervene. However, the Privy Council has a unclear system for a while, lacks officials, and has power but cannot do good things. This is how it is. As we gradually get familiar with it, other generals and officials have fallen into the eyes of the emperor, everything will change. So in the battle of Lingzhou, the court officials just talked, and in the end it depends on how Di Qing on the front line did."
Chapter completed!