He looked at Yu Mingyuan and the Minister of the Ministry of War. After listening to his words, one looked ashamed and the other looked helpless. Huang Qiong said in a deep voice: "I also know that the interpersonal relationships in the guards are complicated. Now the guards have become a gathering place for the children of some noble families. Especially in some wealthy places, the military envoys and the governors , these positions in thousands of households are almost monopolized by the descendants of the nobles. Those people are connected with each other, and they are all prosperous and prosperous, which is quite difficult to deal with. "
"Don't worry, I won't make it too difficult for Yu Aiqing. Don't they think that the guards are safe and the oil and water are rich enough? Well, from now on, not only the elite soldiers of the Four Battalions and the Xijing Battalion will have to rotate with the border troops, they will It is also necessary to select the best soldiers and horses from all the road guards to rotate with the border troops. Moreover, the entire deployment of soldiers and horses of the guard army needs to be greatly adjusted. Instead of setting up soldiers and horse envoys in one or several prefectures, the guards and horses should be gathered together and selected along the way. Important towns and important places are concentrated and garrisoned. Each town is divided into general soldiers and food and salary commanders."
"Today, the salaries of the guards will no longer be paid by various groups, but will be uniformly allocated by the imperial court. I also know that this matter is a difficult task. Among the military attachés of the guards, quite a few are from noble families. The number. Coupled with the military attachés and soldiers who do nothing all day long except sneaking around, even extorting money, kidnapping wealthy households for ransom, it can be said to be extremely difficult to sort out. But Yu Aiqing, the Guards If we don’t rectify it, big trouble will happen when it is really used in the future.”
"When Yu Aiqing was in charge of the Northern Front Operation, the Shandong Road and Hebei Second Route Guards were also mobilized by Aiqing. I don't need to say more about their performance, right? In this counter-insurgency operation, the troops who fought were so There are many military attaches with outstanding military exploits. When will they not be used at this time? If we don’t promote those who have made outstanding military achievements, why should we promote those who are dim? As for those soldiers who cannot be trained, they should be dismissed. In addition, the rotation of military attachés must also be regular. We can't stay in the Guards for ten to eight years."
"Those guards, I don't ask for their real combat power. They are stronger than the four major battalions and the Xijing camp. For them, I also know that I am forcing them. But at least when the imperial court mobilizes them to fight, they must have fighting strength. Especially for the southern routes, compared with the four major camps, which are mainly composed of northern soldiers, and the Xijing camp. Those who have been stationed locally for a long time, the local guards are more adaptable to the local climate. This time they went south because of the climate incompatibility. , the combat power of the elites entering Guangnan’s East and West Second Road has been reduced by at least 40%.”
"As a result, Guo Chen and Zhao Wuhe did not dare to attack with force. They were afraid that the officers and soldiers below would lose their physical strength too quickly due to the hot weather and would not be able to sustain them in a tough battle. If the guards in the south could all be organized, , at least congenitally better than the elites of the four major battalions, and can adapt to the battlefield faster. Jiangnan and Liangjiang have always been important tax areas for the imperial court. Every year, the imperial court’s income, Jiangnan Road and Lianghuai account for 70%. Fighting in Jiangnan, Those Guardsmen who were born and raised locally are more adaptable."
"Therefore, the Guards must be rectified, and they must be rectified severely. This time the treasury has received so much money, part of it can be allocated to demobilize those soldiers. If this is not possible, some veterans who can still be reformed can be transferred to the treasury Ding, Yanding, Caoding? As long as you think more about it, no living person will die from suffocating in urine. There are also four battalions of elite soldiers, and a rotation mechanism must also be developed. One period is two years. Each period cannot be mobilized There are less than 10,000 troops and horses stationed in key areas from Jiangning Prefecture to Nanchang Prefecture."
Regarding Huang Qiong's request, when he was the envoy of Henan Road, he was ordered by Huang Qiong to reorganize the Henan local guards. After a few years, the entire Henan Road and half of the guards could barely fight. But he tortured himself to the point of exhaustion. Now that he mentioned the matter of rectifying the Guards, Yu Mingyuan couldn't help but his face turned like a bitter gourd, looking somewhat frowning. He didn't even know if he would survive until his youngest son grew up after taking this job.
Looking at the frowning Yu Mingyuan, Huang Qiong smiled and said: "Yu Aiqing was ordered by me to sort out the Henan Road Guards. Over the past few years, I was exhausted mentally and physically. But this moment, the other moment, and now I have You can provide support for Yu Aiqing. Aiqing is now also the envoy to the Privy Council and the commander of the Imperial Palace. The Duke of Dingguo who I personally conferred is naturally not the same as the Henan Road Festival Envoy back then. Therefore, Yu Aiqing, you can just go ahead and do it. If you can do it well, then do it."
After Huang Qiong finished speaking, he knew that he couldn't accept this job, and Yu Mingyuan was right about what the master said, so he had no choice but to accept it. However, Huang Qiong did not let him fight alone. Let the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Household Affairs fully support him and fully authorize Yu Mingyuan. In a word, it can be said that everything that should be given is given, and the rest depends on what Yu Mingyuan does. During the counter-rebellion period, except for the period when Yanshan Prefecture commanded the army and fought against Bei Liao, most of them were in the central command center of Yu Mingyuan, who was in charge of military aircraft.
We also know that the guards on all roads have reached the point where they are no longer capable without rectification. At present, except for the guards on Guangnan East-West Second Road, Jiangnan East-West Second Road, and Huguang South Road. It was composed of surrendered rebels and recruited recruits. The guards on Fujian Road and Zhejiang Road were waiting for reorganization. In other words, the three guards of Shanxi, Longyou, and Shaanxi who had been reorganized by the He family and this master were barely in the same shape. The roads in Huaibei and the guards in both Sichuan were still in a state of decay.
Among them, Shandong Road and Huaibei Road are the worst. Because it has been a land of peace for a long time, there is not only a huge shortage of guards. Last year, the Northern Liao Dynasty mobilized all its strength to conquer the border. Facing a long defense line stretching from Jizhou in the east to Yunzhou in the west, Yu Mingyuan, who was really short on troops, once thought of mobilizing part of the Shandong Guards to go on an expedition. After all, as an important coastal defense area, Shandong Road has a total of 14,000 guards. Even if they can't be deployed as combat soldiers, there is still no problem in being deployed as auxiliary soldiers.
In this way, at least part of the troops placed in the logistics can be freed up to fully deal with the elites of the Northern Liao Dynasty on the front. As a result, 30% of the 10,000 troops and horses mobilized fled before setting off. The rest barely made it to Yanshan Mansion, but it was because they were scattered and their weapons and armor were in tatters. The only seven hundred cavalry were actually only on paper. Even simple tasks such as escorting grain and grass cannot be completed. Yu Mingyuan barely scraped together a thousand so-called elites from the remaining seven thousand troops and horses. I want to garrison at the passes around Jizhou.
Thinking that these people did nothing, they just used it to set off beacon fire when they discovered that the Liao army was detouring to attack. As a result, just after leaving Yanshan Mansion, the most elite guardsmen on the Qianshan East Road had not yet arrived at Jizhou. They encountered a group of Northern Liao cavalry that had penetrated in. They only heard the sound of the horseshoes of the Northern Liao cavalry. This Qian's so-called The elites made the birds and beasts disperse on the spot. The deputy envoy of Shandong Road Jiedu, who led the army into battle, brought more than twenty personal soldiers with him. Lost alone on the battlefield, no, to be precise, in the clearing in the mountains.
From Yanshan Mansion to the sea, this line of defense is filled with mountains and mountains. Even if there are a small number of Bei Liao cavalry who find a gap and sneak in, the number of troops will never be too large. More often, they were reconnaissance knights like sentries, or scattered knights who were scattered. These so-called Northern Liao cavalry who suddenly appeared in front of the Shandong Guards were defeated from Jizhou. He is running around here, trying to find a gap to return to Beiliao. As a result, I didn't expect to meet these thousands of Shandong elites head-on.
When they saw the thousand Qi troops, the fifty Bei Liao cavalry who had been scattered and had suffered a lot from the elite soldiers of the four major battalions could almost be said to be out of their wits at first. The initial intention of these Bei Liao cavalry was to run away. Taking advantage of the long and many legs of the Khitan horse underneath him, he quickly slipped away. Unexpectedly, as soon as the two sides met, the Qi army in front of them slipped away first. Only about twenty people were left, looking at each other in a clearing in a river valley, helpless.
I saw the guy who stayed behind again, with more than twenty soldiers around him, and he was obviously a big official. The military attaché leading the team was distraught and mustered up all his courage to rush over. And the deputy envoy Jiedu, who had just woken up from the rapid collapse of his subordinates before they could engage the enemy, also knew that he would not be spared if he returned to his post. Facing the fifty Northern Liao cavalry rushing over, they bravely fought. As a result, before the time of burning the incense, the head of the deputy envoy of Jiedu was taken back by the Northern Liao cavalry to claim credit. He became the highest-ranking military attache who died fighting on the northern front. As for others, it is similar to the five hundred Shandong Guards who guarded the prisoners of Northern Liao.
Being captured by thirty unarmed Jurchens, they were forced to break up. If it weren't for the elites of the four major battalions who changed defenses, they happened to take action to solve the rebellion. I'm afraid that Yu Mingyuan's handsome mansion will be overrun by a group of Jurchen prisoners. Yu Mingyuan, the commander-in-chief of the entire northern front, was either killed in battle or captured where he was stationed. By then, it would really become a big joke. As for the other grain and grass escorts, they were robbed completely by a group of ordinary people holding hoes and shovels.
Compared to these two things that embarrassed Yu Mingyuan, that was nothing. Not to mention the guards on Shandong Road, even the barely usable guards on Hebei Road, Yu Mingyuan did not dare to let them go to the front line. They can only stay behind and be used as auxiliary soldiers. As for the Longyou, Shaanxi, and Shanxi Route Guards, they can still maintain their ability to fight in the First World War. It was this Lord who wanted the heads of two Jiedushi envoys and a large number of officials when he was supervising the army in Longyou. While stationed in Xijing, a large number of unqualified military attachés were forcefully replaced.
As for the guards on Shanxi Road, they are barely in order now. That is the property of the He family, which was obtained with his own life. Before He Jiachang went to Shanxi, although he was old, he was still in good spirits. But within a few years of going to Shanxi, his body collapsed and he left his old life on Shanxi Road. Thinking of this, Yu Mingyuan couldn't help but sigh. Although it is said that the only ones who need to be reorganized on their side are the four guards in Huaibei, the difficulty in this is also obvious.
After leaving Wende Hall, Yu Mingyuan couldn't help but let out a long sigh when he thought of this errand, even though he knew it was his own responsibility. He would rather lead the army to the front line and fight the enemy with open swords and guns than do such a laborious and thankless job. What he didn't know at this time was whether he would die of exhaustion in office like the He family. Fu Yuanshan and Lu Duan, who came out with him, had also served as local officials, so they naturally knew how difficult this matter was.
They couldn't help but look with sympathy at this man who now had Da Qi's military aircraft in his hands. This man was the first Duke since the founding of Da Qi to be the privy envoy and the commander of the Sima Bu Army in front of the palace. It's just that neither of them cares about military affairs. Fu Yuanshan is better off. In any case, Yanshan Mansion, which is on the front line of the confrontation between Qi and Liao, has been the prefect for many years, and he knows some military affairs. Lu Duan's official career basically had nothing to do with military affairs. He knows nothing about military affairs. Therefore, both of them were really unable to help with this matter.
