After drinking a few glasses of wine, I felt a lot of emotion when talking about the experiences of everyone over the past few years. Everyone has heard of Du Zhongxiao's achievements, and many of them have been used as role models. In the second year of Qingli, Du Zhongxiao became the chief censor of the Censorate and Wang Gui became the bachelor of Hanlin. It is rare.

Wang Anshi raised his glass to Du Zhongxiao as the judge of the herds: "When I was in Suizhou, I waited for Xiaoti to go all the way to calm down and build a farm and farming business, which would make the road of wealth and use. Isn't it easy to make many great contributions in the north after a few years? Isn't this an ordinary thing to pacify Hequ Road and pacify the Western Regions? Especially pacifying the Western Regions is a great cause of the prosperous Han and Tang Dynasties, and it is really not easy."

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's just an opportunity to meet it, just to be at the right time. Without the foundation of the Han and Tang Dynasties, the Western Regions would not be so easy to pacify. Although the news of the Central Plains has been cut off for hundreds of years, the Western Regions have finally been homeland. When the troops arrived, everything was still easy."

Everyone laughed together, saying that Du Zhongxiao was modest, drank a glass of wine together, and asked about Du Zhongxiao's story of pacifying the Western Regions.

Du Zhongxiao said: "It's not that I am humble, but that's true. Now we are different from the Han and Tang Dynasties. After building railways, it's not so difficult for the army to go to the Western Regions. The army uses muskets and cannons, and other troops are not familiar with it. The army enters the Western Regions, and Gaochang is defeated without a decent battle. Hei Khan concentrates his army to fight. Once the battle fails, the entire army is wiped out, and he has no ability to fight anymore. We occupy Yutian, to put it bluntly, we just run and walk while singing. It's time to be life. At this time, as long as we don't have any problems, there is no one around that can match the imperial court."

Wang Gui said: "As far as Xiao said, there is no problem with the court's intention to use military force against Dangxiang?"

Du Zhongxiao thought for a while and said, "There should not be any problem. As long as we use our strengths and our weaknesses to attack the enemy, what obstacles will Dangxiang use to block? But if we have absolute advantages, there may still be accidents. In the battle between Dangxiang, the most important thing is to strictly observe our duties and fight steadily."

Wang Gui shook his head: "To be honest, the court did not go so smoothly when it was discussing the use of military forces against Dangxiang. Many ministers opposed it. He believed that although Xiao led his troops to win consecutive battles, others might not have the ability. More than ten years ago, the court fought against Dangxiang, and more defeats were more than defeated."

Du Zhongxiao said: "This time and another time cannot be compared with each other. Now the imperial army, as long as it has been practiced in the military academy and acts cautiously during combat, it will not fail. Of course, there are always accidents in everything, but accidents cannot hinder the imperial court's plan."

These civil officials knew not much about the changes in the imperial army in recent years, except that they only knew how to use muskets and cannons instead of crossbows. Today, they happened to have the opportunity, so they asked Du Zhongxiao about the changes in the army now.

Du Zhongxiao introduced the current situation in the army and said: "The biggest change in the current army of the court is that one is to use guns and cannons, and the other is that the command system has changed. For many officers, many people only see the changes brought by guns and cannons with their eyes. But they don't think about it carefully, and can't figure out how to do it in the face of these changes. The result is that they use old methods and manage the new army, and they are not adapted to it."

Su Song said: "After the entire army was reorganized, old officers were used as new officers, of course."

Du Zhongxiao sighed: "This is impossible. The old army is there, so we must not miss them. In recent years, many wing troops have been transformed from imperial guards. Those who do not want to join the army and fight have already left, and the remaining people control the army. It will take more than ten years for the military academy to maintain a high quality so that the new people can slowly replace the old people. This time is very long, not a day or a night."

In fact, it is not that slow to do it, but there is no comparison group in this era. No matter what, as long as the Song army advances, it is the most advanced. Under this situation, it is easy to have repetitions and cannot be explained clearly.

Speaking of the army, everyone discussed that Du Zhongxiao led his army north a few years ago, and even made contributions, he was amazed.

Han Zongyan said: "In those days, if Xiao led his army south and followed the Taiwei Di to pacify Nong Zhigao, he would definitely not have made great achievements today. He could only blame the Khitan for being confused and actually took advantage of the victory to take Tanglong Town, so that the general general army of Xiao would go north and make military achievements."

Du Zhongxiao smiled and said, "This is because the Khitan is not lucky. After Yelu Chongyuan was defeated, the king of the country led a large army to attack Tanglong Town. As a result, the garrison was too close to the place where the artillery was commanded by Yao Shouxin. A round of artillery was lost. Without the Khitan king's sudden death, the Khitan would not have two emperors joined together."

Everyone laughed when they said this. Su Song said, "Speaking of the two Khitan emperors, they have been together for three or four years, but they have not decided the winner yet. It is precisely because of this that the court has been working hard in recent years and is not afraid of foreign enemies."

Wang Anshi said: "What other foreign enemies can there be? When Xiao is on Hequ Road, he will defeat the Khitan first and then the Dangxiang. It is a big battle. How dare they fight with us? Without those big victories, how dare the court make trouble!"

This is the fundamental reason. Du Zhongxiao defeated the Khitan first and then the Dangxiang, which had a great impact on them. In the next few years, no matter how hard the Song Dynasty struggled, neither of these two countries had the will to fight. After more than three years of integration, the Song Dynasty's national strength improved, the system gradually stabilized, and began to attack externally. Without those few major victories, the Song Dynasty would not have such a good external environment and could have large-scale reforms within.

Du Zhongxiao and a few people had not seen each other for many years. At first, they were a little restrained. After drinking a few glasses of wine, they gradually became familiar with each other and talked.

Wang Anshi said: "I built a railway supervision, a shopping mall, and a field business in Jingxi Road. In recent years, I have learned from all walks of life and built it one after another, and the court increased its income a lot. When Xiao built the railway in the north several battles and built it to the Western Regions, where did the money come from? They all came from these things. In recent years, the court's income has been several times as much as before, and it is extremely generous. Only with money can we fight against Dangxiang."

Du Zhongxiao said: "These are extremely expensive. It has been nearly ten years since the income has increased several times. In fact, it is not too much. Although the number of troops in the army is not more than the previous imperial guards, the amount of money spent in the army is still quite burdened."

Wang Anshi said: "Even if the army spends more than double the money, the remaining money in the court still has a lot of money left. In the past, when we were officials, the salary we paid was often broken, which was called a change. We own shopping malls and goods were sold in it, but it has not changed in the past two years. As far as I know, even if it is like this, the court still has the remaining money in its hands now."

Wang Gui said: "That's right, it's true now. Because of the money in hand, the prime minister intends to reform the official system and increase the manpower. However, the ministers were talking about it and could not decide which manpower to increase, so they delayed it."

Wang Anshi said: "In fact, what's the difficulty of this? Wherever the money that has increased income in recent years comes from, we should naturally increase officials. This is like a factory like the Iron Supervision, which actually makes a lot of money every year, but it only belongs to the longitude of the local officials. If the court has spare energy, it should set up special officials to be responsible for this matter."

Wang Gui smiled and said, "Where is this easy in the world? Those who make money are not necessarily those who spend money."

Han Zongyan, on the other hand, shook his head repeatedly: "This is the wrong thing in the court. People who make a lot of money should pay more money. If you can't persuade them, how can others do their best? In recent years, the increase in the court's income has mostly been based on industry and commerce, and more officials should be set up on it."

Han Zongyan was Han Zhang's nephew, also a Jinshi in the second year of Qingli, and is now sentenced to the Salt and Iron Gouyuan. All factories in the world are nominally owned by local officials, but most of them are under the jurisdiction of the Salt and Iron Head Office. From the perspective of the Salt and Iron Head Office, Han Zongyan hopes to increase the management of the factory.

Du Zhongxiao said: "This is a major event, and the prime minister should draw up a unified strategy. Reform the official system, what should be changed and what purpose should be achieved. Then all officials will discuss it to form a unified system. Without a strategy, and if the direction is not known, how can the official system be changed?"

Wang Gui said: "What you said makes sense when you know it. However, the official system has nothing but passed down from generation to generation, and each has its pros and cons, so it is difficult to determine."

Wang Anshi said: "This is wrong. Now we need to change the official system because it is different from ancient times. The money in the hands of the court is not that the people collect more taxes, but that the court makes money in the business. This has never been done before. How can we refer to the ancient system?"

Du Zhongxiao said: "What Jie Fu said makes sense. Now the court is rich, and money comes from the field affairs, not from taxes. The key to the reform is how to do the field affairs better, the court makes more money, and the people get convenience. These are all things that were not available in ancient times, and the ancient systems in previous dynasties were of little use."

When Wang Anshi was the magistrate of Shuzhou, he relied on Du Zhongxiao's actions on Jingxi Road to build shopping malls and farming services, and he knew very well. These official venues were well done and were very profitable. The court reforms should be centered on these, rather than random changes.

For officials of this era, reforms must be based on some basis, and it is best to have references. The blueprint is of course the ancient system, plus its own performance. It is a system that is organized completely according to the new affairs. That is what Du Zhongxiao did, but now officials cannot do it.

Wang Gui was a Hanlin bachelor and was very clear about these debates in the court. However, he was a noble minister of the Qing Dynasty and was not familiar with specific government affairs. He could only repeat what others said and said. He had no idea how to change it.

Su Song said: "From my experience in working in Baitingjian and Xiangzhou, it is indeed the case now. An iron prison is now very large. Just like Baitingjian, there are nearly 100,000 households and are densely populated, and it is no longer the original yamen can manage. The current method is to use a large number of officials in factories and few officials. This is just a temporary solution, not a long-term solution, otherwise the court will not be able to control it."
Chapter completed!