Song Dynasty Cannon Fodder Counterattack Record

Chapter 77

Chen Lin handed several memorials to Li Buqi, and Li Buqi was furious after a brief look.

Zhang Fangping of Zhijianyuan said: "For the marginal cavalry, one horse can support five soldiers. Xi Rong has good horses, and the terrain is dangerous and narrow. I can't compete with them. Keeping more horses is not enough. It is useless. Ask for the millet." He also said, "One horse in the border town will be given as three pawns. Since they are too weak, they will not be allowed to run against the enemy. Usually, the millet will be empty and will be sent by people at every turn. If the horse army is stationed on the border in the future , the speed is enough to patrol outside, and a little steppers are used to return, and the dispatch is relaxed, this is the same."

Li Buqi has never seen such a fool to disband the cavalry because of the wrong method of using the cavalry and poor management.

Song Qi, who knew Chenzhou well, suggested "lossing horses and benefiting steps", which means reducing cavalry and increasing reinforcements.But the reason was that "the minister expects that the imperial court will attack the captives, and they will not pursue them in depth. They will beat them and go away, and they will stop when they reach the border. However, they can be used without waiting for horses."

This means that he is not ready to fight Xixia at all, and wants Da Song to put on a passive appearance of being beaten.I didn't expect such a stupid person to exist.

There is another one who believes that "Khitan and Northwest are born of horses, and the people are accustomed to riding and fighting, and this is the product of heaven and earth", and the Song Dynasty "has a powerful crossbow", so "I can't do anything with my long skills, and I can fight against others. It is unheard of that nature can win people.” He believed that Song people used bows and arrows to maximize their strengths and avoid weaknesses, and did not advocate learning and training riding and archery skills.

Seeing that Li Buqi had read it almost, Zhao Zhen said: "I also remember the tea horse trade, so I want to reduce the tea given to the Xia people. It's just that all the ministers think that raising horses is no different from my combat power, so it's better to get rid of them as soon as possible." Let the soldiers and the people rest."

It seems that the emperor still has ideas, that's good.Li Buqi thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty, you know that if the Song Dynasty had no cavalry, it would be like a person who could only be beaten and could not fight back. Xia Bandit has few generals, and I guess whether it is Sanchuankou or Haoshuichuan, Yuanhao is the same. To mobilize the most powerful soldiers. The reason why he dared to do this was because he didn't have to worry about our Great Song army attacking other places. If there was a strong cavalry at that time, Yuan Hao would have to divide his troops for defense, and he would definitely not be able to gather all his troops to attack our Great Song. Please think deeply, Your Majesty."

Although Zhao Zhen didn't understand military affairs, he knew that since his ancestors valued cavalry, it must be reasonable to set up a herdsman to raise horses, so he also wanted not to give Xixia tea, and exchanged tea and horses for some horses to enrich the cavalry.However, the ministers were eager to cease the war and wished they could immediately agree to the conditions of the Xixia people, so they wrote letters saying that the war horses were a drag.Hearing this kind of argument too much, Zhao Zhen's soft ears made a mistake again.

But fortunately, there is Li Buqi beside him now, and he advocates the tea-horse trade, so the emperor summoned Li Buqi.

Seeing Li Buqi's resolute attitude, the balance in Zhao Zhen's heart tilted back to Li Buqi's side: "Is that so?"

Li Buqi went on to say: "Several officials only saw that the cost of raising a horse can raise several infantry, but they didn't know that the role of a cavalry is sometimes not as good as several infantry. And horses don't need to be paid by the army. If you die, you don’t need a pension. The death of a horse will not have a big impact on morale, but the death of two infantrymen and their companions will panic. These officials have never thought about it.”

"That's true. It's just that if you don't give tea to Xia Thief, you're afraid that the war will continue. Alas, the treasury is empty and the people are suffering. If there is another war, the court will really be unable to support it."

Seeing this indecisive emperor Li Buqi was also speechless.

I feel that there is basically no way to prevent the passage of the conditions of the peace talks. Li Buqi can only settle for the next best thing. There are more and more, and maybe Xia Thief will buy more tea in the future.

As long as Fanren bought tea, the imperial court could always trade tea horses.Just to trade tea and horses, the court must control the circulation of tea to ensure that no unscrupulous person sells tea to Yuan Hao privately for profit.Therefore, the boy suggested that His Majesty set up a promotion department - the Tea Horse Department, to be in charge of the sale of tea to Liao, Xia, Tubo and other places.Since this promotion officer is working on the border, he can inquire about internal and external news, and can also serve as His Majesty's eyes and ears. "

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a "tea secretary" who specialized in inspecting the tea trade and collecting local intelligence on a part-time basis, but in Li Buqi's opinion, the Song Dynasty needed such an organization to collect information, otherwise everyone would be blind to the situation on the border and say nothing With one mouth, all decisions are made indiscriminately.

In fact, Zhao Zhen has always been very curious about the world outside the palace, and has never refused multiple channels of information, especially "internal and external news" must include the situation of the frontier generals, which is conducive to monitoring the generals leading the troops.So the emperor clapped his hands and said: "This method is good. It is only the supervisory officials who take the horse and bear it, but they are powerless to know the things below and the Xia bandits. It would be much more convenient to have such a tea horse."

Speaking of this, Zhao Zhen thought of something, rolled his eyes and asked, "How is your military training strategy written?"

Li Buqi said: "It has been basically completed, but I still want to polish it."

But Zhao Zhen said: "Show me first. If what you say is feasible, then the commander can be placed under the tea company. It is not too much to appoint a middle-ranking official, and I can personally intervene."

This emperor is still a little clever.Li Buqi hurriedly said: "Yes, the minister copied the manuscript and sent it."

"No, let Wang Zhongzheng take it with you."

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Zhao Zhen was immediately attracted by the strategy written by Li Buqi.Select good families from all over the country to break up and join the army, so it will be difficult for the region to be a bond to instigate rebellion.

Each group of soldiers served for four years, and every year a quarter of the soldiers in each army retired and a quarter of the recruits were recruited.And Li Buqi's long-term plan is that the recruits first train in the new barracks for one year and then join the army, so that the contact time between the soldiers and the officers is short, and it is even more difficult for the officers to lead a group of unfamiliar soldiers with different origins to rebel.From the emperor's point of view, this is the "more garrison law" with a new look.

This method is better than being more defensive. Every year, a quarter of the top ten generals retire. This means that even the leaders of the small army are replaced, and this army will not be able to form a group to rebel.

Li Buqi also set up a teaching order for every 2000 people in the military camp, and the civil servants would be in charge.The duty of this teaching is to educate the soldiers with loyalty to the emperor and patriotism.

Literati have always boasted that they are educated and understand the truth, so they are reliable.Then let the sons of a good family learn some principles of loyalty and patriotism, it must not be easy to rebel!Also, letting literati enter the barracks is equivalent to planting the emperor's eyes and ears in the army.The emperor thought Li Buqi's design was very good.

The emperor thought it would be economical to form an army like this all the time.In addition to food, the conscripted soldiers have very low military pay. As compensation, they only need to exempt one member of the soldier's family from hard labor during the four-year service period, and the soldiers are exempted from hard labor for eight years after retirement.The death benefits for soldiers are not high, only the soldiers’ families need to be exempted from 16 years of hard labor.

This is so cheap.The emperor couldn't help but be moved.

Note: The method of changing the garrison is that in the Northern Song Dynasty, the forbidden army was stationed in the capital and the outer counties, and the internal and external rotations were rotated. It is guaranteed that Song Taizu's yellow robe will not appear again.

(End of this chapter)