"Wait a minute." Li Longji keenly discovered a problem.
After waiting for a while, Li Longji asked again: "May I ask the Heavenly Master, are the military envoys, military envoys, garrison envoys, garrison envoys, etc. in major vassal towns appointed and dismissed by the Ministry of War, or are they still appointed and dismissed by saints?"
"Still appointed and dismissed by saints? What are you thinking?" Lu Tianshi said suddenly, "You Li Longji are a great talent and a great strategist. Although your son Li Heng is mediocre in ability, he is a normal person at least. But if your descendants are If there are a few irregularities and the eunuchs who are close to him are appointed as military envoys, generals or even deputy marshals, wouldn't it be like repeating the mistakes of eunuchs who messed up the government?"
The reason why the eunuchs in the late Tang Dynasty were able to disrupt the government was because they had firmly controlled the military power of the Shence Army from the beginning of Li Fuguo.
Li Longji frowned and said: "But if military generals, including Jiedushi, cannot be appointed and dismissed by saints, but are appointed and dismissed by the Ministry of War under the control of the prime minister, then wouldn't military generals, including Jiedushi of major vassal towns, also be controlled by the prime minister? In this way, the saint has no military power, and in the end he is still a puppet in the hands of the prime minister."
Master Lu Tian said: "I have already thought about this and thought of countermeasures."
"Has Tianshi Lu already thought of a countermeasure?" Li Longji said, "I would like to hear the details."
Master Lu Tian said: "The countermeasure is to adopt two independent promotion systems for civil servants and generals."
After a pause, he continued: "As the saying goes, prime ministers must start from prefectures and counties, and generals must be sent to the army. From now on, the people-friendly officials in all prefectures and counties in the Tang Dynasty must be selected from Jinshi, and all military generals must be evaluated from the soldiers of the government. Selection, and the promotion of generals must be based on military merit as the only criterion, and those who have not achieved military merit will not be allowed to be promoted."
This is walking on two legs, ensuring the upward path for poor students through the imperial examination.
The strict military system and military merit system can ensure the promotion channels for soldiers from poor families.
A strict state-owned land system can avoid the chronic disease of land annexation, and a strict imperial examination system and military merit system can avoid class consolidation to the greatest extent.
As long as these two points are achieved, the Tang Dynasty can be extended as long as possible.
It's hard to say whether it can surpass the Zhou Dynasty's eight hundred years of Guozuo, but it should not be a problem to surpass the four hundred years of the Han Dynasty. If there can be another ZTE in the middle, it is not impossible to continue for another four hundred years.
"The merit system of the imperial army?" Li Longji said, "What Tianshi means is that the imperial army adopts a mobile system. Once someone is killed in battle or old and retires, they will immediately select the best recruits from the major vassal towns to replenish them, and then include the major vassal towns. All generals, including the governor of the feudal town, must be selected from the army, and they must be promoted based on military merit, right?"
"That's what it means." Lu Tianshi said, "The military merit system can not only ensure the promotion channels for soldiers from poor families and avoid conflicts caused by class consolidation, but also avoid the situation of external emphasis and internal neglect."
"Heavy on the outside but light on the inside?" A look of disbelief appeared on Li Longji's face.
One of the major incentives for An Lushan's rebellion was that the Tang army focused on external affairs and neglected internal affairs.
It was the Sixteen Guards Forbidden Army that suffered heavy losses in the previous battle against Nanzhao, and most of the Forbidden Army soldiers were prodigal sons from Chang'an and Jingji, with low combat effectiveness. On the contrary, An Lushan held all the border troops of Hedong, Fanyang and Lulong towns. They were elites, which created a situation where the outside was emphasized and the inside was neglected, which gave An Lushan the courage to rebel.
However, if the new soldiers of the Sixteenth Guards adopt a mobile system and select the best recruits from major vassal towns, it can always ensure that the soldiers of the Sixteenth Guards maintain a great advantage over the armed forces of major local vassals and towns. In this way, the rebellion of Jiedushi can be avoided to the greatest extent, because the rebellion has no chance of winning.
Li Longji still has a bit of strategic vision, so he can naturally see the advantages of the Fubing military system mentioned by Lu Tianshi. This Fubing military system can be said to combine the advantages of the Qin Dynasty military system and the Sui and Tang Dynasty military systems, but this cannot be said. What is avoided will bring about the two major shortcomings of the military merit system of the Qin Dynasty and the military system of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
The shortcoming of the military system of the Sui and Tang Dynasties was land.
Once the land in Guanzhong is massively annexed by aristocratic families, the foundation of the military system will collapse.
However, this shortcoming has been solved through the state-owned land. The cultivated land in Guanzhong and even the entire Tang Dynasty has been nationalized, and five trades have been strictly prohibited. The foundation of the military system will never collapse again.
However, the shortcomings of the Qin Dynasty's military system are difficult to solve.
What were the shortcomings of the Qin Dynasty's military system? Only the first level theory!
To put it simply, if the standard for measuring military merit is too rigid, it will easily lead to soldiers fighting for heads on the battlefield and thus delaying the opportunity for war. It is also easy to kill good people and take credit for their merits.
Lu Tianshi seemed to have guessed Li Longji's worries and said: "You don't have to worry about this. The military merit system of the Tang Dynasty must not be as rigid as the Qin Dynasty's military merit and nobility system, but should be more flexible. First of all, the head must not be used as the criterion for judgment. Secondly, general merit cannot simply be equated to the number of beheadings. For example, those who engage in logistics and transport food and fodder, make plans and suggestions, lead the army, or sneak into the enemy country to spread rumors, these can all be counted as military merit. In short, do not do it Keep it simple and make a comprehensive decision considering the contributions of all parties.”
"This..." Li Longji said, "I'm afraid it's difficult to quantify."
The reason why the Qin Dynasty's military merit system was so simple and crude was for the sake of praise.
But if according to what Lu Tianshi said, doing logistics can be counted as military merit, making suggestions, leading the way, or even sneaking into the enemy country to spread rumors can be counted as military merit, then it will be difficult to quantify and the standards will become vague.
Once the ruling standards become vague, it is inevitable that there will be a shady case of bending the law for personal gain.
Lu Tianshi had also thought about this problem, and then said: "That's it, general merit is divided into four levels, first, second and third grades plus special grades. Special grades will not be given unless the country is destroyed. First grade merit cannot be given lightly unless it is a great victory. Generally speaking, They are second-class and third-class, and can only be given to a small number of soldiers with the best performance. These are soldiers. The promotion of generals adopts another method, and is comprehensively determined based on the scale of the battles won, the size of the results, and the number of battles won."
After a pause, Lu Tianshi continued: "In a word, under such a military merit system, the soldiers of the Sixteenth Guards of Chang'an must be the elite of the Tang Army, as well as the captains and generals of the Tang Army. They are all warriors who come from the military and have experienced hundreds of battles, otherwise it would be impossible to rise to the top."
"Wonderful!" Li Longji exclaimed in admiration, "What's more important is that the residences and even family members of these lieutenants and generals are in Guannai Road and even Chang'an. Even if they lead their armies to fight thousands of miles away, they will eventually return to Chang'an. Come, and even if there are a handful of ambitious military generals who want to rebel regardless of the lives of their families, there are not many soldiers who are willing to follow him, thus minimizing the hidden dangers of Jiedushi's self-esteem in supporting troops."
"Yes, that's the truth." Master Lu Tian said.
Li Longji nodded happily and said, "That's good."
"However, there is still a limit that must be placed on the emperor."
Lu Tianshi continued: "It is true that the emperor is the marshal of the world's military forces. It is also true that he can send troops to the Sixteenth Guards of Chang'an and the Jiedushi of any local vassal town. However, in order to prevent future emperors from If someone who has made great achievements in the war launches a war indiscriminately, the local governor of the vassal town should be given the right to seal and refute."
"Ah, this, the right to refute?" Li Longji said, "Does it mean you can resist the decree?"
"Yes, you can resist the decree." Lu Tianshi said, "The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty grew up in the forbidden palace. He neither fought at the border nor had the luxury of sleeping in the open during long marches. What's even more troublesome is that he may not understand the dangers of war. , so they have no idea about the consequences of launching a war, but the military governors of the feudal town are from the military and have experienced hundreds of battles. They will have a relatively clear idea of whether to launch a war, at least better than the emperor. Do you have any objection to this?"
What can Li Longji say about this, he can only cross his hands and sing: "Well, I have no objection to this."
"Okay, that's it." Lu Tianshi said happily, "The descendants of the Li family have the title of marshal of the world's military forces. The prime minister of the political affairs hall will not dare to despise them, let alone bully them. Otherwise, they will really drive the emperor into trouble." If it makes the local military governors or the generals of the Sixteenth Guards unable to stand it anymore, they can directly deploy troops to suppress the prime minister."
"Suppression? Can't be dismissed?" Li Longji said in shock, "Isn't the prime minister appointed and removed by the emperor?"
"Of course." Lu Tianshi said, "The prime minister can only be selected through court recommendation."
"However, the governor of the feudal town and the generals of the Sixteenth Guards are appointed and dismissed by the emperor."
