The prince is more stable

Chapter 193 Border Enemy Attack
Zhao Xu summoned civil and military officials to the military parade today, naturally for a purpose.

The Council of State passed the Military Service Law, but it still encountered great resistance after its promulgation.

The civil servants all understood the nature of the military service law and knew that it was intended to poach civil officials, so they were naturally unwilling to cooperate.

Many contents of the military service law had to be implemented by the court and local officials, including the selection of recruits, the treatment of soldiers, the training of local troops and rural troops, the distribution of weapons, the erection of monuments for fallen soldiers, the construction of loyalty temples in various places to enshrine the tablets of fallen soldiers, etc.

A lot of the content is related to local areas, and the nominal commanders of the Song Dynasty's wing troops and local troops are usually civil officials.

Since ancient times, it has been an absolute taboo for military strategists to have civilian officials command troops.

Therefore, there is another most important content in the Military Service Law, which is to try to delegate the power of commanding troops to military generals who are truly able to command and train troops and live and eat with the soldiers. Civilians should gradually withdraw from the barracks.

Let professionals do professional work; this is the essence of the Military Service Law.

Of course, military generals have the power to command troops and train them, but they still do not have the power to mobilize troops.

You can train however you like in the camp, but if you lead your troops out of the camp without orders, you will be guilty of treason, and the heads of your entire family will be hung neatly on the city gate for people to see.

This is also what Zhao Xu insisted on.

Improving the status and treatment of military generals and soldiers does not mean that the government and the imperial court are willing to increase risks and repeat the mistakes of the separatist regimes in the late Tang Dynasty.

Zhao Xiaoqian was very satisfied. This was enough. A line of defense should indeed be established between the court and the army.

If the army is a tiger, the former Song Dynasty simply locked the tiger in a cage. It could not hurt itself or others, and gradually lost its combat effectiveness and was raised into a pig.

Zhao Xiaoqian's military service law was to let the tiger out of the cage, but he had to put an iron chain around his neck so that he could hurt people, but he had to recognize his master.

The emperor's control over the army is still supreme. This is Zhao Xu's bottom line. The content of the Military Service Law does not violate this bottom line. This is also the reason why Zhao Xu is willing to overcome resistance and implement it.

During today's military parade, both civil and military officials witnessed with their own eyes the high fighting spirit of the soldiers of the Dragon Guard Camp, which was completely different from their previous decline. It could be said that the soldiers' mental outlook was completely transformed, and even if they were just standing quietly on the parade ground, they exuded an elite aura.

Zhao Xu and his ministers could not help but marvel inwardly.

This is the real Tiger Guards, an elite army that is invincible.

"Gentlemen, do you understand the subtleties of the military service law?" Zhao Xu asked with a smile as he looked at the ministers.

The officials remained silent. While acknowledging that the army's combat effectiveness had been improved was one thing, raising the status of military men was still a concern for the civil officials.

Zhao Xu sneered a few times and said slowly, "Do you know why the Imperial Guards are so eager to fight? There is a clause in the military service law that from now on, the imperial court can reward land to those who kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions, whether they are the Imperial Guards or the local garrison troops."

"Anyone who kills an enemy leader will be granted ten acres of land. Anyone who kills the enemy commander will be granted twenty acres of land. Anyone who kills the enemy commander in the midst of a huge army will be granted the title of founding marquis, a third-rank military officer, and five hundred acres of land..."

The civil officials present couldn't help but frown. Zhang Dun's face looked a little ugly, but he still held back and didn't say anything.

Xing Shu, the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, all land in the world has its owner. Where does the land for rewarding soldiers come from?"

Zhao Xu looked towards the north with deep eyes and said calmly: "They fought with swords in their hands. The lands plundered by the army are all king's lands. I can give them to you."

The ministers looked at each other in shock.

The official, who has always been gentle and polite, made such shocking remarks today, and the sharpness in his words seemed to be no longer concealed.

So, does the emperor want to be a martial emperor?

The ministers all had their own thoughts and complicated expressions, and no one spoke for a long time.

After a long period of peace and complacency, the civil officials of the Song Dynasty seemed to have lost confidence in expanding the territory. They sang and danced, wrote poems and essays every day in this land that had not yet been unified, as if the territory of the Song Dynasty was limited and any more would be inappropriate and against the way of benevolence and righteousness.

At this moment today, when Zhao Xu mentioned "the land plundered by the army", the ministers finally couldn't help but feel shocked.

The young emperor was ambitious and had the ambition to expand his territory.

It seems that it has been many years since an emperor with such an enterprising spirit was seen. The last time was during the reign of Emperor Taizong. However, after the defeat at Gaoliang River and the signing of the Treaty of Chanyuan, the monarchs, ministers and army of the Song Dynasty seemed to have been completely broken and could never stand up again.

So, this generation of officials has mutated their genes and become tough again? Looking at the ministers with complicated expressions, Zhao Xu slowly said, "The military service law is still imperfect and needs to be revised. The court's military pay, the status of soldiers, the rewards for military merit, etc., still need to be improved."

"What I want is an invincible army of tigers and wolves, to sweep the world for me and conquer those who are disloyal. In my lifetime, I hope to see China unified and the barbarians submit."

"If you are unwilling to assist me, please retire and return home. If you are willing to assist me, please put aside your prejudice against military men and implement the military service law smoothly. Any official, whether in the court or in the localities, who dares to disobey the law and go against it, will be severely punished."

…………

Midnight on October 23rd, the first year of Shaosheng.

Shimen City, the border between Song and Xia.

Shimen City is an old city from the Tang Dynasty. It has a dangerous terrain and is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Xixia established itself as an independent country. Under the deliberate instigation of the Liao Kingdom, the relationship between Xixia and the Song Dynasty became increasingly tense, with frequent frictions and even small-scale wars on the border.

In the sixth year of Yuanyou, Zhang Jie (jie, second tone) was appointed as the governor of Huanqing Road and the governor of Qingzhou as a scholar of Longtu Pavilion. After taking office, Zhang Jie proposed to the court that the Western Xia was greedy for profit and afraid of power. If it was not severely punished, there would be no cessation of hostilities on the border between Song and Xia.

So Zhang Qie proposed the cannibalization method.

Using Shimen City as a stronghold, they continuously built bunkers and fortresses in the direction of Xixia, slowly advancing by the method of cannibalization.

During the Yuanyou period, the Empress Dowager was in power, and the old party's influence was widespread in the court and the country. The old party advocated compromise and concessions to foreign countries, using appeasement and annual gifts as a means to appease the territorial ambitions of foreign countries towards the Song Dynasty.

The cannibalization method proposed by Zhang Yu was also a necessary measure under the political environment at that time. He could only take a defensive stance by building bunkers and fortresses while avoiding violence as much as possible.

This method of building bunkers and fortresses is indeed a good idea for the Song Dynasty.

At midnight in late autumn, the northwest wind was biting cold. While the scholars and common people in the Central Plains were still admiring the golden fallen leaves, the northwest Shimen City was already freezing cold.

Midnight on this day was as calm as usual.

A group of soldiers squatted in the bunker, huddled around a bonfire, shivering and cursing the damn weather, then joked with each other and gossiped, wondering whether the government would put two pieces of meat in the roujiamo when eating it, and that they would be big pieces of fat.

In the howling cold wind, some subtle movements were perfectly concealed.

In such horrible weather, even the vigilant Song Dynasty border troops relaxed their guard.

Ten miles away from this bunker is the territory of Western Xia. The two countries are now in a state of hostility, but in such weather, the enemy will probably not come to attack in the cold wind, unless they have taken the wrong medicine.

However, the Western Xia Kingdom did take the wrong medicine.

Amid the howling of the cold wind, a series of quiet footsteps came silently to the base of the bunker's wall.

Without any warning, a sharp arrow shot out with a whoosh, shooting down a Song soldier who was standing guard on the city wall above the bunker.

The arrow was incredibly accurate, obviously shot by a sharpshooter in the army. The Song soldier was hit right in the throat and fell headfirst off the city wall without even being able to make a sound.

The Song soldier who was shot held the arrow stuck in his throat tightly with both hands. Blood gushed out of his throat. He wanted to scream desperately, but he couldn't make a sound.

Using the last bit of his strength, the Song army grabbed a stone on the ground beside him and smashed it hard at the arrow nest on the top of the city wall.

A muffled bang was finally heard amid the sharp howling of the cold wind.

Someone in the Song army who was sitting around the campfire in the bunker heard the noise and immediately raised his hand alertly, while the rest of the people immediately stopped talking.

"Who?"

A Song soldier looked out carefully from the arrow embankment, and was immediately shocked when he took a glance.

Outside the city wall, there was a dense mass of black heads, all wearing fur hats and fur coats, carrying scimitars and spears. Each of them had green eyes, and they were like a pack of wolves foraging in the deserted wilderness, staring at the bunker that was like a thorn in their eyes.

"Xixia bandits are attacking! Enemy attack! Hurry up and light the beacon!"

(End of this chapter)