The peaceful days passed for several days in a row. Under Ye Mingsheng's arrangements, all the work of the Fengzhou Army was proceeding in an orderly manner. Everyone was looking forward to the arrival of the emperor's envoys, and Ye Mingsheng officially succeeded the third rank. The governor of Liaoyang and the commander of the Fengwu Army renamed the Fengzhou Army Fengwu Army and held a grand military parade to celebrate.
But here Ye Mingsheng is also secretly preparing a new plan...
In the study room of Ye Mansion, He Jingyun came to Ye Mingsheng and handed over a document and reported:
"Sir, this is the latest plan for our army's organization prepared by the General Staff. Can you take a look and see if there are any problems?"
Taking the document from He Jingyun, Ye Mingsheng read it carefully. Although there are still some remaining Zhenwu Army stragglers and armed forces such as bandit gangsters in Liaoyang, these people are just clowns and are nothing to worry about. Overall, the Fengzhou Army has captured the entire territory of Liaoyang.
Therefore, the existing Fengzhou Army's force structure is no longer suitable for the current development situation of Fengzhou Army, so Ye Mingsheng intends to adjust the Fengzhou Army's force structure to a certain extent.
But unlike usual, this time Ye Mingsheng is not looking for expansion, but disarmament!
Because of the collective surrender of the local faction of the Zhenwu Army, coupled with the change of tactics of the Cui family's Guangning Prefecture troops, and the tens of thousands of Zhenwu Army soldiers later abandoned by Wang Muzhi, these people together reduced the size of the Fengzhou Army. , has exceeded 100,000 people, reaching a scale of close to 150,000 people...
You must know that although there is no complete census of the people in Liaoyang, the approximate size is between 1.3 million and 1.6 million. This also means that if Ye Mingsheng continues to retain so many people, it will be equivalent to ten ordinary people raising one soldier, which will put a great financial pressure on the already poor Liaoyang.
Moreover, these soldiers are all young and middle-aged people, who are the main labor force of the small-scale peasant economy in feudal society. They have all gone to work as soldiers to produce crops in the fields, and they can only rely on women, the elderly and children. The lack of labor brings problems with food production. It will naturally decrease.
And this is obviously a big blow to an area like Liaoyang that is not self-sufficient in food. Less food means that people will starve to death, and social conflicts will naturally intensify. People who are not willing to starve to death will inevitably The impact and destruction of social order are like dominoes, one link after another, and the fall of one link will cause an overall chain reaction...
Therefore, in order to sympathize with the people's sentiments and maintain the peace and stability of the situation, the disarmament of the Fengzhou Army is imperative! ,
Of course, in the context of the world's strife and the coming of troubled times, and the princes of all parties are trying to recruit troops, Ye Mingsheng, who is only entering the customs to compete in the Central Plains, although taking into account the issue of maintaining stability, is willing to reduce the number of troops and horses, and is considerate of the people's feelings and reduces the number of people. Pressure, but this does not mean that Ye Mingsheng gave up these tens of thousands of soldiers in vain.
In Ye Mingsheng's expectation, the reduced forces will be transferred to reserve forces such as militia groups and rural warriors. They will be engaged in production during normal times and conduct military training in batches during slack periods. They will maintain these forces as much as possible while ensuring people's livelihood. The combat effectiveness of people allows these people to be added to the standing army to support the battle when the war comes.
In addition to considering financial and people's livelihood issues, this disarmament is also a political method used by Ye Mingsheng to target the local faction, because basically the troops of the local faction have surrendered. During the negotiations at that time, in order to defeat the Zhenwu Army as soon as possible and win the In Liaoyang, Ye Mingsheng also made some promises, such as not liquidating after the war and looking for debt...
Under the circumstances at that time, Ye Mingsheng's promises won him the support of the local faction and helped the Fengzhou Army defeat the Zhenwu Army. Basically, they peacefully liberated Dongning and Changqing prefectures, while avoiding the Fengzhou Army. While causing some unnecessary casualties, it also reduced the suffering of the people who were already devastated by the war.
However, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. It was because of the promises made by Ye Mingsheng that Ye Mingsheng wanted to take action against the local faction after the war and attack their power. He lacked a suitable excuse. If Ye Mingsheng broke his promises, This would not only be a huge blow to his own image and that of the Fengzhou Army, but would also cause a strong backlash from the entire local faction.
The soldiers and horses in the hands of the local faction are different from those of the Fengzhou Army. They are still in the form of warlords and vassal towns. Generals like Zhu Lin and Fang Dawei hold military power in one hand and financial power in the other. The army is their private army. , their source of power, but Ye Mingsheng is not Song Wenhui, and he cannot allow such an independent mountain to exist under his rule.
However, because of his previous commitments, Ye Mingsheng needs to be more clever and subtle in order to combat the forces of the local faction. Disarmament is the best way that Ye Mingsheng can think of. He can hold high the banner of caring for the people and stand on the high ground of morality. , in order to combat the power of the local faction.
On the surface, it seems that both Ye Mingsheng's original old troops and the local forces that have defected will be disarmed and reduce their troops. Even compared to the forces of the local faction, the number of troops cut off by Ye Mingsheng's old troops is Want more.
But this is just Ye Mingsheng's cover-up. In fact, all the reduced troops from various ministries will flow into the reserve forces such as the militia and rural warriors, and these reserve forces are firmly under Ye Mingsheng's control.
The plan given by He Jingyun is expected to reduce the current strength of the Fengzhou Army of 150,000 to about 80,000, which means that the number of troops will be reduced by almost half. In the large structure of the Fengwu Army, There are five division-level units, and the strength of each division varies according to the tasks it undertakes···············
Ye Mingsheng was quite satisfied with the new organizational structure given by He Jingyun, so he kept this plan and prepared to carry out the most important thing on the basis of this plan - personnel transfer!
In the Fengzhou Army, Ye Mingsheng controlled the personnel power. The transfer, appointment and removal of officials at the commander level and above required Ye Mingsheng's approval. Therefore, He Jingyun would never dare to offend in this regard. As for the personnel under his command this time, Regarding the transfer, Ye Mingsheng already had his own ideas.
First Division General Yuan Song and deputy general Ma Zhongjun were stationed in Changqing Mansion, with six battalions and 18,000 troops.
Second Division General Lin Huaiwu and deputy general Fang Dawei were stationed in Dongning Prefecture, with five battalions of 15,000 troops.
Third Division General Guo Zhiping and Deputy General Cui Desheng are stationed in Fengzhou and Posuo Prefecture, with six battalions and 18,000 troops.
The fourth division general Peng Ce and deputy general Tang Kai were stationed in Guangning Mansion, with three battalions of 11,000 troops.
General Ye Tie and deputy general Zhang Meng of the fifth division were stationed at Xuantu Mansion and Lelang Mansion, with five battalions of 15,000 troops.
The transfer of these people seems simple, but it can be said that Ye Mingsheng thought carefully and spent countless efforts before making the decision!
Although Ye Mingsheng believed in the loyalty of Yuan Song, Lin Huaiwu, and Guo Zhiping to him, as the saying goes, don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the unexpected. Therefore, Ye Mingsheng also planned for a rainy day, hoping to reduce the risk of internal hills that would threaten his position in the future. .
This time, he re-matched the original generals of the Fengzhou Army. For example, this time Yuan Song's deputy general Ma Zhongjun was once a subordinate of Lin Huaiwu. Lin Huaiwu's general Fang Dawei was a native who surrendered. Ye Tie's lieutenant Zhang Meng was once a subordinate of Yuan Song...
This is only the transfer of high-level military officers. There are more transfers of middle- and lower-level military attachés. This will of course affect the combat effectiveness of the army. But now that the Fengzhou Army has basically pacified Liaoyang, there should be no large-scale battles in a short time. There will be time. You can slowly adjust and restore your combat effectiveness.
There are two very special people in this personnel transfer. One is the general of the fourth division, Peng Ce, and the other is the deputy general of the third division, Cui Desheng!
Although Peng Hai's surname was Peng, he was promoted by the Cui family in the army. In addition, he later married a daughter of the Cui family, and his son also married a daughter of the Cui family. His own daughter also married a daughter of the Cui family. The Cui family members.
Therefore, Peng Hai, who was close to the Cui family, was very trusted by the Cui family. With the help and support of the Cui family, he also reached the position of counselor general of Guangning Mansion under Song Wenhui. He used his position to secretly help Cui The Liaoyang army infiltrated Guangning Prefecture.
Later, after Song Wenhui was killed, Peng Hai directly became the Cui family's Ma Chai, assisting Cui Shao in controlling the troops of Guangning Mansion. As for Cui Desheng, you can know from his surname that he is also from the Cui family!
Cui Desheng is Cui Shao's nephew who has practiced martial arts and joined the army since he was a child. He is one of the few people in the Cui family who has military talents. He has presided over several bandit suppression operations of the Cui family in Guangning Prefecture. The Cui family's military strength in Guangning Prefecture is mainly It is controlled through Peng Hai and Cui Desheng...
This time Ye Mingsheng gave the position of a general and a deputy general to the Cui family not for nothing!
In fact, he was eyeing the Cui family's armed forces in Guangning Mansion, and wanted to take this opportunity to extend his power into Guangning Mansion.
Among the six prefectures of Liaoyang, Ye Mingsheng's Fengzhou Army successively captured Posu, Xuantu, Lelang, Dongning, and Changqing. Because they were directly captured, Ye Mingsheng's control over each of the five prefectures was All very strong.
The only exception is Guangning Mansion. Back then, with the Zhenwu Army on his side, Ye Mingsheng could temporarily make some compromises to stabilize the Cui family. But now that the Zhenwu Army has been defeated, Ye Mingsheng naturally cannot allow it. The Cui family Continue to control the government and army of Guangning Mansion.
In addition, the geographical location of Guangning Prefecture is also very special. It is the connection zone between Liaoyang and Youyan, and is the hub for Liaoyang to enter the customs from the land. Ye Mingsheng will definitely enter through Guangning Prefecture when he enters the customs by land in the future, so whether he is leaving or leaving, Whether it is political or geographical advantages, Ye Mingsheng must control the important hub of Quang Ninh Palace in his own hands...
The Cui family currently has about 30,000 armed forces in Guangning Prefecture. Ye Mingsheng plans to first reduce the army by reducing the number of 10,000 people to join the reserve force. On the grounds that Cui Desheng will serve as the deputy general of the third division, Cui Desheng will lead thousands of soldiers and horses. Guangning Mansion left for Fengzhou.
In the end, only about 11,000 men of Peng Ce's Fourth Division were left in Guangning Mansion for the Cui family, and then he asked Tang Kai on his side to take some generals into the Fourth Division. In this way, the Cui family had The strength of Guangning Mansion will also decline to a certain extent, allowing Ye Mingsheng to gradually penetrate into Guangning Mansion.
Of course, Ye Mingsheng also had another excuse for the disarmament of the Cui family this time, and that was diplomatic. The governor of Youyan, Zhao Fuqu, sent an envoy to congratulate him as soon as Ye Mingsheng captured Liaoyang. Ye Mingsheng also knew clearly what his idea was.
As one of the most powerful people in the vassal towns throughout the Great Zhou Dynasty, Shangguan Hongyuan has been trying to suppress Zhao Fuqu in these years as the chief assistant, and has repeatedly instructed the Supervision Department to secretly plot conspiracies in Youyan with the intention of overthrowing Zhao Fuqu. In the reign of You Yan.
When Ye Mingsheng concealed Xu Zhaojie's arms case in Luo'an, the ordnance that Xu Zhaojie intercepted was actually used by the Ministry of War to give Han Changchun, the commander-in-chief of Zhao Fuqu's command, to launch a rebellion to kill Zhao Fuqu. However, the news leaked that the ordnance he supported was still there. Before he arrived, Han Changchun was beheaded by Zhao Fuqu.
Over the years, it can be said that Zhao Fuqu has suffered a lot from Shangguan Hongyuan, and his head was almost cut off several times...
Now that Shangguan Hongyuan is in trouble and encountering such a big obstacle, Zhao Fuqu will definitely add insult to injury and jointly send troops to attack with several other local vassal towns to make him feel bad. In addition, like all vassal towns, Zhao Fuqu, as the governor of Youyan, is also eager to Seize more territory and expand your strength to sit on the supreme throne.
However, Youyan's geographical location is not very good. It is surrounded by grasslands to the north. Zhao Fuqu would not be tempted to compete with the Luobei people for territory. Liaoyang to the east is even poorer and cannot get much profit, so Zhao Fuqu wants to expand his strength. It would be more cost-effective to go south to the Central Plains, or to go west to capture Jinyang, merge with the state, and capture the rich areas.
Therefore, the reason why Zhao Fuqu wanted to have a good relationship with Ye Mingsheng was to prevent Ye Mingsheng from messing with him behind his back when he did something.
Regarding Zhao Fuqu's proactive overture, Ye Mingsheng was also prepared to respond positively to reduce the garrison in Guangning Mansion based on his own interests and the situation in Liaoyang.
Although Ye Mingsheng is preparing to enter the customs, he is not ready to do so now. He just won the territory of Liaoyang and needs time to digest it and integrate the manpower and material resources of all parties in Liaoyang for his own use, so at least during this period , he was not prepared to have any conflict with Zhao Fuqu...
As short as one year or as long as two years, Ye Mingsheng can complete the reforms he wants to complete in Liaoyang, and then concentrate the entire force of Liaoyang to enter the customs. With the power of firearms and system reforms, Ye Mingsheng believes that no one can stop him. Anyone who dares to disobey him will be swept into the garbage heap of history by Ye!
