So far, no one has ever said that Li Chao is a villain and treacherous minister who welcomes the throne. Even those who don’t like Li Chao very much have to admit that he is a truly capable person, can be civil and military, and is a heroic and upright person. The ability and courage he shows to command and govern the country are beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Many people believe that if it weren't for being too young, this Saved Shizai was two years younger than the emperor. If Li Chao was ten years older, then there was no doubt that Fang Xuanling's position as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat would be Li Chao.

Even if the head of the court is Fang Qiao and Fang Xuanling, if you really want to say that the emperor is most trusted and trusted, then Li Chao is well deserved.

At the Zhengdan dynasty meeting, the emperor confiscated Pei Ji and Feng Deyi and exiled him. Li Chao became the only one left among the three dukes. The only one who was granted title among the three dukes and three divisions in the court was appointed as the Shangshu Ling, and became the most dazzling one among the eleven prime ministers.

Everyone was looking forward to seeing what this prime minister who had been waiting for a long time would do after he entered the Shangshu Province.

Imperial City.

Secretariat.

The central organization of the imperial court was established in the Secretariat.

The yamen of the Secretary of the Central Committee is actually similar to the original Shangshu Provincial Government Affairs Hall. It has five rooms, a prime minister's public housing, and a complete staff team. This is not only a place where prime ministers gather to discuss matters, but also their permanent office space.

Large conference room, conference round table.

A vase is placed in the center of the round table, with fresh plum blossoms inserted on it.

There are twelve chairs beside the round table, and hot tea has been poured in front of each chair. Behind this round table, two rows of chairs are placed next to the walls on both sides. These chairs are reserved for the prime minister's staff, and some places are prepared for the ministers attending the meeting.

A sound of footsteps came.

The emperor walked in front, and while walking, he was talking to the Shangshu Ling Li Chao beside him, followed by other prime ministers, and followed by the staff of the fifth house.

Li Shimin entered the conference room and saw this special circular conference table and smiled.

"Wen Yuan finally brought you the round table in the Ministry of Revenue to the Zhongshu door, but this table is also very good. I sit together and get closer to discussing matters."

Although the conference table is round, it also has primary and secondary.

The emperor was of course sitting at the top.

Then there are all prime ministers on both sides. Although they are all prime ministers, the prime ministers are also ranked one after another. The chiefs of the three provinces are ranked first, and then the deputy chiefs of the three provinces are ranked first, and the Shangshu who serves as prime ministers among the six ministries. There are also Shangshu who serves as prime ministers among the six ministries. The Shangshu who serves as prime ministers among the six ministries also ranked first, the Ministry of Personnel ranks second, and the Ministry of War ranks third.

The only prime minister Wei Zheng is not from the Three Provinces and Six Ministry. He is from the Censorate, so when ranking, he ranked last.

There are no famous brands on the table, but everyone has found their own position very tacitly, and no one is sitting in the wrong place. In the officialdom, it is very important to find their own position.

Li Shimin leaned on the chair and was very satisfied with the chair. The backrest was very high, and there were armrests on both sides, lumbar pillows and headrests. The most amazing thing was that the angle of the backrest of the chair could be adjusted, and even the height of the chair could be adjusted. If you want to be high, you can be tilted.

Even the Supreme Master behind Li Shimin was very interesting. He played there for a while and tried it all, and finally found the best angle to make it more comfortable to lean on it.

"Wen Yuan, needless to say, this chair must also be from your Li Ji's furniture factory."

Li Chao also adjusted a suitable angle to lean on it.

"Okay, eunuch Wang, let me tell you all the generals to come here."

The meetings under the Secretariat were usually eleven prime ministers, and most of the emperors would attend. But sometimes, when they were talking about certain things, they would call the ministers of the department.

Today, the emperor directly called the twenty generals from the North and South yamen.

The army of the Tang Dynasty is divided into two major systems: one is the Nanyawei Prefecture Army and the other is the Beiya Imperial Guard. The Nanyawei Prefecture Army has a total of twelve Guards and four governments, while the Beiya has four armies and one battalion.

The twelve guards in the southern Yai, of which the twelve guards commanded the soldiers of the guards in the world, but the four guards did not command the soldiers of the foreign guards, but were only responsible for the palace guards. As for the four armies and battalions in the northern Yai, they were commanded by the permanent guards.

Each guard has one general, so there are now twenty generals. The newly built Shenji camp is led by General Shenji.

The emperor directly called these generals, and what we were going to discuss today was obviously about the army.

As the Minister of State and the Prime Minister, Li Chao knew what he was going to discuss today. Regarding this, Li Shimin had discussed it with him and Fang Du in private.

The military and political affairs of the Tang Dynasty were actually very distinctive. They held small meetings for big events and large meetings for small events. The bigger the meeting, the less they would discuss those big events. Generally, when they were taken out, they would have a result. Those major matters were discussed by the prime ministers at the meetings under the Secretariat, and even directly in Li Shimin's imperial study, the three giants discussed with the emperor.

Just like today, Li Shimin had reached an agreement with the three giants first, and then he took it to the meeting under the Secretariat, discussing with all the prime ministers, and calling twenty generals to attend.

Twenty generals entered one after another and saluted the emperor and the prime minister. General Shenji was not qualified to participate in this meeting because he had few soldiers and horses.

Those who can serve as generals are the first-class generals in the court.

However, there is another feature, that is, the generals of each guard are basically part-time jobs.

For example, Qin Qiong was the general of the Left Guard and also served as the governor of Guanzhong Dao.

The generals sat down.

Li Shimin looked around the prime ministers and generals and said, "Yesterday, I checked the Tang Dynasty's military records with the chiefs of the three provinces and found that the Tang Dynasty's military soldiers now have 500,000, and the Northern Yamen has 50,000. This number is not small. I remember that during the Sui Dynasty, the total number of soldiers on the government in various places in the Sui Dynasty reached more than 600,000."

Although this number is less than the 600,000 to 700,000 when the Sui Dynasty was prosperous, it is not small. Fortunately, there are so many soldiers, of which 500,000 are the soldiers of the palace. One advantage of the soldiers of the palace is that they are farmers in their spare time and soldiers in wartime. Even in wartime, only some of them will be drawn to fight.

In addition to wartime, the expenses are high, and the military soldiers do not need additional expenses in peacetime and have less military expenditures.

However, if you want hundreds of thousands of soldiers to maintain their combat effectiveness and make them stable, the court will not have no capital.

The most basic thing about the government military system is to grant land without taxes. Ordinary people also have to pay rent and mediocre land, and now two new taxes on households and land have been added. However, the government military in the imperial court does not need to pay rent and mediocre land.

In addition, when a war is established, the functions and rewards can be promoted, and the titles and officials can be awarded, and the fields and money can be rewarded. Therefore, the soldiers of the palace have always had a high fighting spirit.

Since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, wars have occurred frequently, but few defeats have been lost, precisely because of these systems.

"The government soldiers who were in Jinyang raised their troops all gave land. However, only some of the government soldiers selected during the Wude period were granted sufficient land. In the Zhenguan period, the imperial court also fought a big battle and recruited many new soldiers, but most of them did not give land. These government soldiers and soldiers were not given land for the sake of the Tang Dynasty's birth and death, and I cannot treat them unfairly."

"Now that the war has subsided, a minister reported that the court should abolish some troops in the palace and maintain a total of 200,000 to 300,000. I asked Wen Yuan, and Wen Yuan opposed this. I also felt that what Wen Yuan said was reasonable."

"Wen Yuan told me that the court not only cannot lay off the government troops, but also needs to increase the government troops. According to Wen Yuan's plan, the total strength of the court will reach 800,000."

Several prime ministers exclaimed.

With 800,000 troops, what is this to do? Are you trying to be powerful and powerful?

Xiao Yu couldn't sit still.

"Your Majesty, I am against the expansion of troops. Now that the war has subsided, I will not withdraw my troops at this time, but instead of retracting troops, I would like to ask what I am going to do? How much money and money do I need to raise 800,000 soldiers? The current fiscal deficit of the court is still high. What should I use to support so many soldiers now?"

Li Chao smiled and said to Xiao Yu, "Please be careful not to be upset."

"When you are at peace, you should be aware of danger. Forget the war, you will be a danger. Although there is no war today, the border troubles have not been eliminated. Don't forget that Tong Yehu is the unified grassland, and he will fight at any time. At this time, it is not a wise move for us to withdraw troops instead of stepping up our military preparations."

"But you said it easy. If you raise 800,000 soldiers, what should you use to raise?"

"Don't worry, since I, Li Chao, dare to tell His Majesty that I, Li Chao, have a way to support my troops."

The expense of raising 800,000 soldiers was very high, but fortunately, the Tang Dynasty was not the Northern Song Dynasty.

The Song Dynasty implemented a professional army system. Their soldiers were professional soldiers and regular soldiers, and those who were in the army were professions. Therefore, the military expenditure of the imperial court was huge.

However, the Tang Dynasty was different. The Tang Dynasty had a system of military troops. Although the Northern Ya was also a permanent army, it was small in number and was mainly based on the system of military troops. The system of military troops was equivalent to the nature of a militia, and it was used as a military army in peacetime and as a military army in wartime.

Even if there are one million soldiers in the palace, they usually take turns to serve the ranks, and only one-some of them are in the ranks or in the training.

Even if you fight, you won’t be all drawn at once.

Of course, it does not mean that the government soldiers can be selected infinitely, and the government soldiers also have to cost. The cost is land. Once the government soldiers are selected, they are lifelong and must serve until they are 60 years old. The land distributed to him cannot be recovered until he dies. During this period, the military fields owned by the government soldiers did not pay any rent, and for the court, there was a lot of less land tax.

A mansion soldier means a family.

If the Tang Dynasty had 800,000 soldiers, it would mean that 800,000 households would become unschooled households. If a soldier had 100 acres of military fields, the Tang Dynasty would have 80 million acres of land without paying for land taxes.

For the court, the government system reduced a lot of military expenditures, but also reduced a lot of tax revenue.

Eighty million acres of land are not a minority.

However, there is good news now. As the Tang Dynasty regained many territory, and with the implementation of the imperial court's feudal system and the immigration system to garrison the border, many nobles and clans have replaced their land to the border, and the poor in the Central Plains have also moved a large number of people to the border, which has reduced the population in the Central Plains and increased the land in the hands of the imperial court.
Chapter completed!