Chapter 209 Xiao Guo
After all, he is the emperor who immediately conquers the world and seizes the dragon chair by mutiny. Li Shimin is more sensitive to military power than anyone else. Since Wude, Li Yuan and the prime ministers have been working **** how to nationalize and regularize the army. In the ninth year of Wude, the twelve guards system was finally established again.
The military power in the hands of the princes and clansmen was also transferred to the Twelve Guards.
After Li Shimin succeeded to the throne, he has been going in the opposite direction. First, the north gate garrison camp was replaced with its own old part of Qin Wangfu, and then a hundred cavalry were selected, and then the soldiers and horses guarding the nine gates and six streets were removed from the left and right guards and the left and right Wuhou guards. Town Fusi.
Step by step, the emperor is building an army of the Son of Heaven that is completely separated from the Ministry of War and the Twelve Guards system.
Up to now, the Baiqi Division and the Zhenfu Division have been established side by side, the Left and Right Habayashi Army and the Left and Right Jinwu Guards have been established, and the Beiya Forbidden Army such as the Left and Right Tunying and Qianqi Camps have become more complete.
All these adjustments are only for Li Shimin to personally hold these forbidden troops.
They are the pro-army directly under the emperor, and neither the prime minister nor the Ministry of War has the right to mobilize command and break away from the twelve guards system.
Qin Lang didn't object to this, it's normal for an emperor who mutinied himself to be insecure. After all, the emperor's mutiny has been up to now, but within half a year, there have been several rebellions. Li Yuan, Wang Junkuo, and Wang Shen rebelled in Youzhou, the clan Li Xiaochang and Li Youliang rebelled, and Li Yi, the king of Yan in Jingzhou, rebelled. For Li Shimin, this still deeply threatens and bothers him.
"I want to recruit loyal, brave and strong soldiers to fill the imperial army, what do you think?" Li Shimin asked Qin Lang.
Actually, in Qin Lang's opinion, Li Shimin's thoughts are actually following Yang Guang's old path. After Yang Jian established the Sui Dynasty, he established the system of twelve guards and four mansions of the Great Sui Dynasty, which made the Sui Dynasty's control over the army unprecedented.
The Sui Dynasty will enter the guard, the soldiers will return to the government, the soldiers will be separated, and the government soldiers will be naturalized. These systems can be said to have directly removed the backbone of the Guanlong aristocratic group.
The military aristocrats of Guanlong were brilliant for several generations, but after the Sui Dynasty, they lost their long-term direct military power and were prevented from having the possibility of owning local soldiers. Therefore, although they seemed to be still high and noble, they were actually powerful The powerful political force united by the head of the Daibei Army and the Guanlong tyrants directly lost their roots, which was also the root cause of their decline in the Sui Dynasty.
When it came to Yang Guang, he was even more radical. He set up a new stove directly outside the twelve guards and established the Xiaoguo Army.
The Xiaoguo Army is completely the Emperor’s Forbidden Army.
The emperor directly controlled this army, led by General Lang and others. The soldiers were no longer separated, and they did not listen to the command of the Ministry of War. It also allowed the emperor to command these armies more directly.
However, the overly radical reform happened when the Sui Dynasty collapsed, so this Xiaoguo did not play the role of protecting the emperor in the end, but killed the king at the critical moment.
It is because of Xiaoguo's special command system that it is not subject to heavy jurisdiction and restrictions like the twelve guards, so that Xiaoguo's generals can easily kill the king.
But it cannot be said that Xiaoguo failed. After all, this kind of recruiting forbidden army has really existed for a long time in history.
The failure of the Xiaoguo Army in the Sui Dynasty can only be said that the time was too short, and it encountered a bad time.
Of course, the biggest feature of a forbidden army like Xiaoguo Army is recruiting, professional soldiers, and standing army. This kind of army will have strong combat effectiveness, but it is also prone to corruption. Green camp and so on are a virtue. There is another big trouble, that is, if the forbidden army stationed in the capital for a long time is not careful, it will easily develop in the direction controlled by eunuchs.
Because this kind of imperial army is the emperor's private army, emperors like Li Shimin are fine. If there are some incompetent descendants of emperors in the future, or some emperors who are too young, they will often appoint their trusted family slaves to command the imperial army, and Not to generals with foreign surnames.
In all dynasties, eunuchs were the emperor's domestic slaves and private individuals, so it was always easier to gain the emperor's trust.
The eunuchs in the Tang Dynasty commanded the army and intervened in politics. In fact, the Kaiyuan Emperor Li Longji started from the most prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty. The **** Gao Lishi was named a general and directly commanded the flying dragon soldiers. After the Anshi Rebellion, the emperors of all dynasties were very wary of the generals who commanded the army, and wantonly reused the eunuchs around them to take over the imperial army, which eventually became the long-term ownership of the imperial army by the **** group, and even gave them the ability to abolish the emperor.
"Huailiang?" The emperor looked at him suspiciously.
Qin Lang came to his senses and thought far away.
"I want to use recruits to serve as the imperial army to replace the soldiers of the Fanshang. What do you think?" The emperor's mind is obvious. Since the imperial army is to be separated from the twelve guards system, it is best not to use the soldiers of the twelve guards.
"Very good." The emperor's question actually meant that he had already made a decision, so Qin Lang had nothing to object to, and it was useless for him to object.
On the other hand, there is nothing wrong with recruiting the imperial army. The imperial army became the source of turmoil after the middle and late Tang Dynasty.
Sure enough, the emperor immediately threw out many plans.
Not only did he want to set up Habayashi and Jinwu Guards, but he also planned to adjust the inner guards of the twelve guards who were previously stationed in the imperial palace.
Twelve guards except the left and right guards have three guards and five mansions, and each guard has a Yi mansion. There are a total of twenty inner guard mansions, which are also on duty in rotation. Now Li Shimin intends to use this internal guard as the basis to set up a new army title. Like Yubayashi and Jinwuwei, separate the left and right, and its duty is to guard the imperial city and guard the palace.
Qin Lang's left and right Jinwu guards were stationed in the outer city of Chang'an, and were mainly responsible for the city defense and street patrol of the outer city, as well as security and public security.
Another army is stationed in the imperial city, and the guards are placed in the palace to confine it, and it will be complete.
The Sixth Division of the Son of Heaven is completely under the emperor's orders.
The original twelve guards completely withdrew from Chang'an City and stationed in the suburbs.
Only the left and right guards of the left and right houses and the left and right prisons who are not under the command of the soldiers are responsible for the gate registration of the palace and the guards of honor and guards in front of the imperial court.
"I feel that it is better to simply separate the left and right mansions and the left and right prison gate guards from the Ministry of War. The left and right mansions can be changed to the left and right Qianniu guards to command the internal guards, guards of honor, and guards. guard."
The Ministry of War is only in charge of the twelve guards, and no longer controls the four mansions, and the twelve guards only control the soldiers of the outer mansions, and no longer controls the twenty mansions of the inner guards.
Since the emperor wants to use his private soldiers to control the entire Chang'an, then he can do whatever he wants, and the soldiers of the Twelve Guards are only responsible for stationing in the suburbs of Beijing.
In this way, there are twelve guards in the southern yamen, and eight guards in the northern yamen. The six armies are actually commanding the troops. Kingo.
Li Shimin was really happy, this is exactly what he wanted.
He smiled and proposed to Qin Lang that he should present this memorial and propose this reorganization of the Forbidden Army. The emperor's intention was clear, although it was his intention that the son of the Beiya Emperor be close to the army, he had to let someone else bring it up, because it was estimated that the prime ministers would object to this matter.
Let Qin Lang take the lead, and it’s fine for him to bet on the back. If he really can’t win the prime ministers, he can temporarily stop the army without affecting the majesty of the emperor.
I have to say that Li Shimin is getting more and more sophisticated.
Restructuring the imperial examination system, he wanted Qin Lang to charge forward, and now he wants to change the imperial army, and he wants Qin Lang to charge forward again, he really treats Qin Lang as a **** stick.
But being a courtier often has to do these things for the emperor. If you do well, it’s the emperor’s credit. If you don’t do well, it’s the courtier’s dereliction of duty. There’s no way, not only in the feudal era, but also in later generations. Well, if you do well, it's the boss's job, if you don't do well, it's your fault.
Thunder, rain and dew are all the favor of the king, you can't have a temper yet.
"The minister will submit the form tomorrow, but what is the number of troops for each army?"
You can't control 30,000 Jinwu Guards, 30,000 Habayashi, and then 30,000 Qianniu Guards. In that case, the current family background of the imperial court can't afford it. After all, this is a standing army and recruits. As for the salary, it's not like the Panshang government soldiers bring their own dry food and just take care of others' food and drink.
"What do you think?"
"Your Majesty, I think that the number of soldiers is not as high as the number of soldiers. Since it is a recruiting force, it is a standing soldier and there is no need to take turns. Therefore, the number of troops can be slightly reduced. For example, the Habayashi Army has left and right camps and a thousand cavalry camp. Then there are two thousand soldiers in one battalion. Um, how about the total of six thousand?"
6,000 people are permanently stationed, which is not a lot, after all, there is no need to take turns.
"Can!"
"The Qianniuwei can also set a quota according to this amount."
Li Shimin frowned, "There were 20 prefectures of the former guards, and the three guards were also the descendants of nobles and relatives. Have you considered this?"
"This is easy to solve. The three guards of the noble officials' children can be divided into three camps: the personal guard camp, the honor guard camp, and the Yiwei camp. The officials take turns to be on duty, and set up three battalions, each with 1,000 men, and 3,000 brave men will be recruited from the army or Minzhou to set up another three battalions as a standing reserve."
In this way, not only the way of birth for the children of nobles and relatives and high officials is preserved, but also the combat effectiveness of Qianniuwei is guaranteed.
"Good!" Li Shimin was very satisfied with this plan.
"I think that the Jinwu Guard should also reduce the number of troops. The left Jinwu Guard guards the nine gates, and the right Jinwu Guard patrols the sixth street. There is no need for 30,000 standing troops."
Li Shimin said, "The Jinwu Guard is responsible for the security of the capital and the maintenance of law and order. It needs more manpower."
"The minister thought it would be enough to set up a battalion for each gate, with 500 people for each gate, and also set up a battalion for each of the six streets, with 500 people."
"Jiumen and Six Street each set up a battalion, one battalion should be 1,000." The emperor finally said that Jin Wuwei cut half the number of troops. The six armies of the Son of Heaven add up to a total of 27,000 troops, the number is greatly reduced, and the support expenses will be greatly reduced.
(end of this chapter)