In the Song Dynasty, there is no law. Chapter 284 of the main text: The rules need to be changed. Although Fan Zhongyan is also the prime minister, he has not been in the Political Bureau often recently.
Because he was responsible for some issues concerning the military reform, he often had to communicate with the Ministry of War and the Privy Council to build a new system for the entire army.
According to Zhao Jun's plan, the first step was to eliminate the corrupt elements and the old and weak in the army, maintain the number of standing guards at 400,000, and maintain the number of local garrison troops responsible for maintaining deterrence against ethnic minorities at 200,000.
In this way, the Song Dynasty army had a nominal number of 1.259 million soldiers, but in reality there were only more than 800,000 soldiers, or only 600,000. The rest were either retired or found new jobs.
Then the hierarchy was reformed, with one du (city) consisting of 100 men, five du (city) forming a battalion, five battalions forming a school, and three to five schools forming an army. Each level also had permanent du (city) chiefs, battalion commanders, school lieutenants, and generals.
The overall reform tended to be similar to the military system of the Han Dynasty, and also the military system of the Song Dynasty, which was changed from military to school and from wing to army. As a result, the number of soldiers in an army ranged from 7,500 to 1, with the general responsible for maintaining daily training, the Privy Council responsible for mobilizing troops, and the Ministry of War responsible for promotions, rewards and punishments, and logistics.
When a war breaks out, a temporary group army general is appointed, similar to an army commander, commanding three to five armies in battle. Above the group army general is a general, which can be understood as a marshal and is responsible for the combat command of the entire war zone.
If the Liao Kingdom came to Hebei to start a war again, Fan Zhongyan would continue to preside over the war. He would be equivalent to the marshal in charge of the battle, Zhang Kang would be equivalent to the commander of the army group, and Di Qing would be equivalent to the commander of an army.
If Fan Zhongyan had an army of 200,000 under his command, it would be equivalent to commanding five or six armies or twenty legions.
This not only makes it easier to coordinate and command, but also makes it easier to fight. It also allows the generals to frequently train their soldiers in the army, so that there will no longer be a situation where the soldiers do not know their generals and the generals do not know their soldiers.
But planning is planning, and actual implementation is not that simple.
Rebuilding the entire military system may take a long time, so Fan Zhongyan must always be in charge of the overall situation. He has recently been running back and forth between the Ministry of War, the Privy Council, and the Bianliang garrison camp.
However, today he suddenly ran back to the Constitutional Yuan and said that something big had happened.
This made everyone feel nervous.
"Are the Liao people attacking again?"
Lu Yijian asked hurriedly.
During this period of military reform, the prime ministers were most worried about an attack from the Liao people.
After all, this is indeed the weakest time for the Song Dynasty.
If the firearms army cannot stop the Liao people, then the ordinary Song army, which is currently undergoing reform and lacks a large number of middle and lower-level officers, will be in big trouble.
The only good news was that there were many cannons in Hebei Road, and most of them were piled up on the city walls. Even if the Liao people attacked, there was no need to worry about the loss of Hebei.
"no."
Fan Zhongyan shook his head and said, "It's the Xixia people who are attacking us."
Zhao Jun slammed the table and said, "Li Yuanhao is really brave. I guess I didn't hurt him last time, right? Now he dares to cross the border again."
"That's not the case."
Fan Zhongyan laughed and said, "He did not invade our border."
Everyone rolled their eyes, and Yan Shu gently advised, "Xiwen, next time if you have something to say, just tell us everything directly, don't be so surprised."
"All right."
Fan Zhongyan immediately explained the situation.
Finally, he said, "I've analyzed it and believe that Xixia is trying to use the attack on Qingtang to test our situation. If we can't send troops to help and defeat them, I'm afraid the Liao Kingdom will also move south."
"Well, this is a problem that can be easily guessed. It is even possible that the Liao Kingdom was behind the Xixia's attack. Let's see the strength of our army."
Zhao Jun thought for a moment and then said, "Our latest news is just the Xixia invasion, but that happened over ten days ago. No one knows what the situation is like in the northwest right now, but to prevent any unforeseen events, we must prepare immediately."
"Plan to go to war with both Liao and Xixia at the same time."
Lu Yijian gave a bitter laugh and shook his head, saying, "If possible, I really don't want to start a fight."
The Western Xia were coming with great force. Although they had deployed many troops in Shaanxi, it was definitely too late for temporary defense, and they had to immediately do a good job of command and dispatch.
The current situation is that the Song army is in a weak period. If the border troops do not respond in time and allow the Western Xia to capture Lanzhou and other places and launch a siege on Qingtang, then the ally Zuo Siluo will be in trouble.
So the Song Dynasty must be saved.
This was also to prevent the Western Xia from finding out their true strength and then joining forces with the Liao Kingdom to march south.
There had been less than four years of peace, and war was about to break out again. This was another major problem for the domestic economy and governance of the Song Dynasty, which had just begun to improve.
"There's nothing we can do. If they want to fight, then we'll fight. Since they dare to break the contract, they must bear the consequences of breaking the contract."
Zhao Jun pondered for a moment and said, "Old Fan, mobilize for war immediately. We'll consult the emperor this afternoon. You should first lead the reorganized army to Hebei to prepare for the battle against the Liao. Regarding the Western Xia, let Pang Ji continue to go."
"What do you think?"
Fan Zhongyan asked.
"The Xixia's fighting capacity is inferior to that of the Liao. The imperial court will definitely transfer its main forces to Hebei, so the Xixia will focus on defense."
Zhao Jun said, "After we defeat the Liao Kingdom, we will turn around and deal with the Western Xia. This time, we must destroy the Western Xia."
"War of annihilation?"
"Well, what else can we do? This guy has already jumped on our heads."
A cold look flashed across Zhao Jun's eyes.
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