On July 16, Jialan received an imperial edict that the Eastern Expedition ended and the emperor wanted to return to the court. The Longwei Army was the selection leader and set off to return to Zhuo County first.

The Dragon Guards were filled with resentment.

In this battle, the Dragon Guards charged forward and almost destroyed Goguryeo with their own strength. However, because Goguryeo's economic collapse at the end of the war, it fell into a great famine, and its wealth was exhausted. In addition, Pyongyang and Wugu were destroyed by fire, the Long Guards' plunder was very limited. Since we could not make money in the war, we retreated and hoped to be promoted and promoted. Unexpectedly, the war ended almost two months ago. Not only did we not receive any reward from the emperor, but we heard that the emperor wanted to disband the Dragon Guards. Isn't this the emperor going to kill a donkey and destroy a bridge across the river? The emperor and the court were too unkind? We fought to destroy Goguryeo. If we had no credit, we would work hard, right? How could we treat meritorious ministers like this? Such a heartless and righteous person is so cold. Who will work hard in the future?

After returning to Huaiyuan Town, he learned that the emperor and the palace had also arrived in Huaiyuan, and the soldiers were thinking again. He thought to himself whether the emperor had considered that the Dragon Guard Army had made great achievements and had to go to the army to comfort themselves and give the award? Everyone was looking forward to it. However, the expedition army immediately returned to the court, and the Dragon Guard Army was the first army to withdraw from the country. Is this the so-called reward?

The soldiers were angry, but apart from private abuse, they had no other means of venting anger, so they had to carry their bags and embark on the way home.

Galan was worried and frowning, not knowing how to explain to his brothers, nor how to comfort the soldiers' emotions.

The heart was like an arrow. At the end of July, the Dragon Guards arrived in Peiping. Galan knew that it would be even more trouble if he delayed it. He had to give a reasonable explanation to the soldiers and properly place these warriors who followed him to conquer the battlefield.

In fact, for the soldiers of the Dragon Guard, no explanation is compatible with substantial rewards. Money and official titles are indispensable. However, the emperor and the central government did not reward based on their own political interests, and even abolished the establishment of the Dragon Guard. This practice certainly hit the Dragon Guard. However, it also hit the morale of the imperial army. It would be fine if there was no reward for merit, but it would drive the meritorious soldiers out of the army. This practice would inevitably arouse resentment from the soldiers in the army, and the authority of the emperor and the central government would also decline sharply in their minds.

This is obviously not the emperor's original intention, nor is it what Pei Shiju is willing to see. No matter how heinous crimes the Dragon Guards committed during the Eastern Expedition, they could not conceal their outstanding achievements in destroying Goguryeo. Therefore, even if the political opponents in the court criticized the bloody killing of the Dragon Guards, they did not dare to do too much, so as not to shoot themselves in the foot, and it would be fine if they could stop.

What is the right time to stop? The Emperor and Pei Shiju first transferred to Galan from the northwest and established the Dragon Guard under heavy resistance. In a sense, it is to cultivate their own strength in the army, and it can also be understood as a means of forcibly seizing military power. Galan led this army to create miracles in the third Eastern Expedition in quelling Yang Xuangan's rebellion, and built outstanding achievements, and won the face of the Emperor and Pei Shiju. If this situation is allowed to develop, the Emperor and Pei Shiju will definitely be able to establish an army with the Dragon Guard as the core in the army that is completely loyal to them.

This practice undermined the principle of separation of military and political affairs, harmed the interests of the military, and also harmed the interests of the nobles of the aristocratic families. So this is absolutely not allowed. The Xiaoguo Army is already a special existence. The military and the nobles of the aristocratic families have given the emperor enough benefits. If the emperor took this opportunity to form a huge Long Guard Army directly under the central government and seized more power from the military, it would inevitably arouse strong opposition from the military and the nobles of the aristocratic families. At this time, the empire was worried about domestic and foreign troubles and the political crisis was very serious. The emperor had to compromise and disband the Long Guard Army. In this way, the conflict with the military and the nobles of the aristocratic families was eased, and hoped to exchange for support from the political opponents' support for the central government's many strategies such as quelling civil strife and restoring national strength.

At that time, the emperor wanted to build the Dragon Guard because of his own interests. Now the cancellation of the Dragon Guard is also because of his own interests. As for the Dragon Guard, it was just a political tool for the emperor to win his own interests from beginning to end. Since it was a political tool, of course, it would be used when needed, and throw it aside when not needed.

However, it is precisely because of the current internal and external troubles of the empire that the reforms implemented by the emperor, aiming at centralization, encountered unprecedented resistance. Not only did it difficult to advance, but it also showed a trend of big steps and retreat. Local rebellions arise one after another, the army is not good at suppressing rebellion, and the central government's control over local and military is becoming weaker and weaker. This is obviously a best example of the regression of reform.

Under this background, what does the emperor and the center with the reformists as the core need most? It is of course the army, it is absolutely loyal to its own army. So the contradiction arises. On the one hand, the emperor and the center have to disband the Dragon Guard under political pressure, while on the other hand, the emperor and the center are based on their own political interests and urgently need more and more troops as loyal to their own army like the Dragon Guard.

At this moment, how to resolve this contradiction? How to achieve these two completely opposite political goals? This requires superb political wisdom. Now the Emperor and Pei Shiju have used the disbandment of the Dragon Guard Army to achieve a political goal that they are unwilling to do. Then, the other political goal they most hope to achieve requires Galan to display his political wisdom.

When Galan was in the military discussion, in front of the Long Guard officers, he analyzed and deduced the current and future political trends of the empire and the key roles of the Long Guard Army, and basically gave a reasonable explanation for the emperor and the central government's "indifferent and unfaithful" of the Long Guard Army.

Next, Galan must answer a question, where is the future of the Dragon Guard?

This future should give people hope. A future without hope is meaningless. No one will agree with you no matter how much you say, and no one will follow you with your wealth and life.

During the military discussion, Liu Heita bluntly told Jia Lan that he would take the Hebei brothers back unless Jia Lan gave him a reason not to go back.

Liu Heita is different from Feng Yi, and Lu Long and Ashina Hebao are even more different. The reason why Hebei people are willing to follow Galan to expedition to Goguryeo was to use this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a powerful army for the Hebei rebel army. Now their goal has been achieved. Just when they were helpless to return to Hebei, the emperor gave them a huge favor. Since the emperor disbanded the Long Guard Army, the Hebei people could of course go home. If Liu Heita brought such an army back, it would inevitably cause a storm in Hebei.

Galan hesitated.

There was a reason why Liu Heita and other rebel leaders agreed to their conditions, because after the third Eastern Expedition, the expeditionary army would definitely return to the country, and hundreds of thousands of troops entered the battlefield of suppressing the rebellion. The rebels in Hebei, Henan, Central Plains, Jiangzuo and other places were unable to resist at all, and would definitely be wiped out by the imperial army with a destruction.

The truth is that the expeditionary army has very limited troops. The emperor and the central government issued a gathering order to various Yingyang Mansions for the third eastern expedition, but it was not implemented. Whether it was the Yingyang Mansions in various places that were really no troops to adjust or the military intends to disobey the emperor and the central government's orders, in short, the result was that when the Long Guard Army captured Pyongyang, there were still very few troops that rushed to Zhuo County to assemble.

The army of the third eastern expedition was mainly composed of the Huaiyuan Army, the Beiping Army and the Youyan Army, which guarded the northeastern border. In addition, the imperial navy and the Xiaoguo Army directly commanded by the emperor. Therefore, even if the eastern expedition was over, there was actually no soldier and no soldier who would enter the battlefield of suppressing rebellion in the country.

How many armies did the empire have? Theoretically, after the unification of Zhongtu, the Guanlong army of the former Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Shandong army of Gao Qi, and the Jiangzuo army of the former Nanchen, combined with the army of the three places at least one million. However, this is a theoretical calculation. In fact, as the final winner, the Guanlong people would neither feel at ease with the Shandong people nor trust the Jiangzuo people. Therefore, after the unification, the main forces of the Shandong army and the Jiangzuo army were disbanded, and most of the soldiers went home to farm, and the Guanlong army were basically the Guanlong army, and the Guanlong palace soldiers were all over the world. After the unification, the Central Earth faced a powerful threat from the Northern Escapist, so the national defense strategy then turned from the inside out, defending the outside and vain the inside. Therefore, most of the elite main forces of the empire were deployed on the long border line, and some of the main forces were used to guard the two capitals.

It is not difficult to infer the actual scale of the imperial army. This is also an important reason why the empire fell into a dilemma of no soldiers on the battlefield of suppressing rebellion after the first expedition of 300,000 troops was destroyed in Goguryeo, which directly led to the empire's dilemma of no soldiers available in the battlefield of suppressing rebellion. The local army and township regiments were all limited by strong regional interests, and the time of unification was still short. Guanlong, Shandong and Jiangzuo still had fierce political and cultural contradictions and confrontation of power and interests. The foundation of unification was not yet consolidated. Once Middle-earth encountered a violent impact from a severe crisis, the foundation of unification would inevitably shake, and Middle-earth would inevitably move towards the abyss of division again.

Liu Heita didn't know about this secret. He thought that the main force of the expeditionary army was about to return to the country and carried out a large-scale suppression of rebellion to quell the rebellion. The Hebei rebel army was in danger, so he had to take the army back.

After weighing the pros and consequently, Galan resolutely decided to tell the truth about Liu Heita and other Hebei officers. However, once this topic begins, it will inevitably involve his pessimistic prediction of the future of the empire, and it will inevitably involve his idea of ​​rapidly developing his strength based on the Northeast Road. No matter how he explains this idea, he cannot escape the suspicion of self-respecting, separatist dominance, or even planning rebellion. Therefore, although some things need to be said, they cannot be said in front of so many people, and they must choose an appropriate time.

=(To be continued...)
Chapter completed!