Northern Song Dynasty: Starting from the son of Song Renzong

Chapter 124 Three Thousand Elites
Yu Jing said in front of Zhao Xin that it was difficult to get rid of redundant soldiers.

Zhao Xin also listened.

Yu Jing originally thought that he would be scolded by His Royal Highness Prince Yu next.

only……

After this, His Royal Highness Prince Yu's reaction was surprisingly calm.

After a moment of silence.

Zhao Xin then said: "Then tell me, what is the difficulty?"

Yu Jing said, "If we simply lay off ordinary soldiers, it won't be difficult. Your Highness Prince Yu has already made preparations. You should place them in the area from Xuchang to Nanyang."

"It's just that... it's difficult to lay off the upper-level soldiers. After all, these people are the most likely to incite the people below to rebel. But unfortunately, many of them are the ones who should be laid off."

"These people have poor military discipline and are simply not qualified for their current positions."

Zhao Xin asked, "So what are you going to do?"

Yu Jing said, "If we forcefully disband them, it will inevitably shake the morale of the army. Therefore... I don't have a good solution."

Zhao Xin then asked: "Besides these people, what are you going to do next?"

Yu Jing was silent for a moment, not understanding what His Royal Highness Prince Yu meant, but he quickly replied, "We can start by laying off the old and weak in the army. For example, those over fifty years old."

Zhao Xin asked again: "What happens after the layoffs?"

Yu Jing: "Place him."

Zhao Xin asked again: "How to place them?"

Yu Jing: "..."

"For those who are old, weak, disabled and unable to take care of themselves, half of their salary will be given."

Zhao Xin: "You are even more heartless than me. You said that he is old, weak, disabled and can't take care of himself, but you only give him half?"

Yu Jing: "..."

What else can we do?
It’s good enough if we can just have something to eat.

Could it be that Your Highness Prince Yu, you still want to support them for the rest of their lives?

Zhao Xin also said: "Forget it, you really don't have that ability. I'll leave the matter of disbanding the army to you. Start with the imperial guards. Issue an order, on a voluntary basis. Anyone who is willing to return to civilian status can obtain 50 acres of land in Xuchang and Nanyang. You must record the number of imperial guards who are returning to civilian status, their military numbers, and the number of people in their families. Go and sort this out first and make a list."

After Zhao Xin finished speaking, Yu Jing was still in a daze.

Zhao Xin also said: "You can ask the government for money for the writing."

Yu Jing: “Yes!”

……

Yu Jing is back!
Everyone looked at Yu Jing.

"how was it?"

"Looking at this, I'm sure I'll be scolded!"

"An Dao, what does His Royal Highness Prince Yu say?"

Yu Jing said, "His Royal Highness Prince Yu didn't scold me. But... I can see that there is still a trace of disappointment in his eyes."

"what happened?"

Yu Jing then said, "His Royal Highness Prince Yu asked me to start with the Imperial Guards and reduce the army on a voluntary basis."

"What a cut!"

Yu Jing said, "Is this true? But... you have to help me."

"How can we help you?" Ouyang Xiu and the other three asked.

Yu Jing: "Because next, we need to keep statistics on those who were laid off. I definitely can't do it alone."

……

in the palace.

However, Zhao Zhen thought that this might be too risky.
Because... they had just negotiated peace with the Liao Kingdom. If the Liao Kingdom knew that they were downsizing, wouldn't they think that the Song Dynasty was actually very weak?

Then they began to covet the Song Dynasty again.

Zhao Xin also replied: "What are you afraid of? The Liao Kingdom has trusted our million-strong army before. We just said that this is a normal replacement of the army and we just need to replace it with a group of young people."

"Dad, your 1.25 million may sound intimidating, but don't you know whether it can be used or not?"

Zhao Zhen also said: "But at least, when the Liao Kingdom hears that we have 1.25 million people, they will at least be afraid first."

Zhao Xin said: "Actually, the real trouble is the formation of a new army."

"It is so difficult to get people who only work for money to get rid of their ugly habits." Then...

Zhao Xin thought to himself, those who have permanent property have perseverance, and those who do not have permanent property have no perseverance.

Why are these northwestern vassal people fighting more bravely than the Song Dynasty's imperial guards? In fact, the Western Xia army is more afraid of the vassal people than they are of the Song Dynasty's imperial guards.

It is because the homes of the vassal states are right there. If they don’t work hard and are occupied by Western Xia in the future, they will definitely not have a good life.

and so……

The first step is to give the new army land if they want them to be combat-ready.

But could it be that... we have to go back to the military system?

The key point is that most of the people who go to open up the land nowadays are the old, weak, sick and disabled.

It would take at least twenty years to build a powerful new army. At least we have to wait until these old, weak, sick and disabled people give birth to sons and then train them up.

So, it seems that this doesn’t work!

Moreover, those who served as imperial guards have just been discharged from the army, and you want them to be transferred back to the palace soldiers. Do you think you are being reasonable? They will definitely not be willing to do so.

As for the source of soldiers, it is really hard to find good family men like those in the Han and Tang dynasties at this moment.

Or...

Learn from Qi Jiguang and go find the miners.

The poorer the place, the stronger the soldiers you will select.

Moreover, if he is poor, your reward does not need to be too high, as he will fight very hard for you.

This kind of price-performance ratio should be the highest.

only……

In this case, what is the difference between this and the previous conscription systems?
of course!

No system can last forever.

With the resources he can mobilize at the moment, it seems that he can only find miners like Qi Jiguang to help with the transition.

Everything else will have to wait until later.

Let’s form an elite force of 3,000 people first!

Thinking of this, Zhao Xin turned his head and glanced at his father.

otherwise……

Considering his father's fear of death, he might not be allowed to demobilize his troops.

Then Zhao Xin slammed the table and said, "Dad! I want to raise an army of 3,000 people!"

Zhao Zhen rolled his eyes at him.

Zhao Xin said to himself again: "Three thousand elite soldiers are enough to change the direction of the entire battlefield. Emperor Taizong Wen also had three thousand black armor soldiers to defeat Dou Jiande. Although those three thousand black armor soldiers were definitely not all the troops Emperor Taizong Wen had on the battlefield."

"I will choose these three thousand people myself."

Zhao Zhen thought about it and calculated that three thousand times fifty strings of coins would be another 150,000 strings of coins to be spent.

This does not include the money for weapons, equipment, and horses.

"This country has limited financial resources, and you're talking about forming an elite force of 3,000 men."

Zhao Xin said, "We have to set this up. If we don't set it up, I won't be able to sleep, and Dad, you definitely won't be able to sleep either."

"Anyway... aren't the Imperial Guards being disbanded? We can just use the money saved from the disbandment to build a new army."

Zhao Zhen was also speechless.

Therefore, the country has not reduced its expenditure at all.

of course!

Don't panic. Zhao Xin has actually already started asking Zhang Kang and Teng Zongliang to find ways to make money for him.

The two have started to plant mulberry trees and cotton in large quantities in Xuchang and Nanyang.

In the first one or two years, the mulberry trees and cotton have not yet grown up, so the yield may be very low.

But after the third or fourth year, you can have a very stable income.

Just think about how much wasteland there is in Xuchang and Nanyang, and how many mulberry trees and cotton can be planted there.

By the time……

If we add in the taxes paid by the people five years later, it will become very easy to support these three thousand elite soldiers.

(End of this chapter)