Chapter 319: Catch the ducks and put them on the shelves

According to the complete version of the plan drawn up by Yuwen Chengye, the world would probably be divided into 640 military prefectures, of which the densely populated Guanzhong would have the largest number of prefectures, with 261 prefectures, and it was entirely intended to use Guanzhong as the foundation.

But the world is not yet stable, and the Tang Dynasty can only control half of the world.

Moreover, the situation and military conditions in various places were rather complicated. Finally, after repeated research and discussion by the prime ministers and generals in the central government, the plan was finalized.

The current total military strength of the Tang Dynasty is approximately 500,000. Among them, there are more than 100,000 troops in Guanzhong, and the troops in Liangzhou, Longyou, Shuzhong, Jingzhou, Luoyang and other places add up to more than 100,000.

The original tens of thousands of people in Jianghuai, plus the Wagang Army, the surrendered soldiers of the Eastern Army and the navy, totaled 200,000.

These armies were a mixed bag, with good and bad elements mixed together.

After the reform, the armies were distributed as follows: four guards in Guanzhong, two guards in Luoyang, two guards in Huainan, one guard in Yuzhou, one guard in Jingzhou, one guard in Yanzhou, and one guard in Xuzhou.

In addition to the Weifu Army, there are also state and county troops. The number of troops varies according to the population, area, cultivated land, etc. of each county. In addition, each county can recruit civilians to serve as archers and local soldiers, similar to a militia organization.

Basically, it is to massively compress the troops controlled by various states and counties and expand the size of the central army.

However, the border prefectures and counties are somewhat different from those in the interior. In addition to the county soldiers, Longyou Liangzhou and many border prefectures will also set up military towns, garrisons and other military facilities in the desired places. A town has 2,000 to 3,000 people, led by a town governor.

The size of the garrison is determined by the location of the commander and colonel.

Each guard had one supreme general, one great general, two guard generals, and several governors.

Among them, the title of General is obviously an honorary title, and the title of Grand General also depends on whether he has specific orders. The two Guard Generals are the ones who actually manage military affairs.

The number of people in one guard is about 25,000, and the number of people in twelve guards is 300,000.

One guard was in charge of 25 Zhechoufu, which were divided into three levels: upper, middle and lower. The upper level had 1,200 people, the middle level had 1,000 people, and the lower level had 800 people.

Each prefecture has a Zhechong Duwei as the chief, and two Guoyi Duwei on the left and right as deputies. Each military prefecture has four to six regiments, each with 200 people and a school lieutenant.

Each regiment has two brigades, each with 100 men, and each brigade has a brigade commander.

Each brigade has two teams, each with 50 men and a captain. Each team is divided into five fire teams, each with 10 men and a fire captain.

All of these were formulated based on the household registration and land account books left by Dayan.

In addition to the twelve guards, there are four other offices: the Left and Right Guards Office and the Left and Right Gate Guards Office. The Left and Right Gate Guards Office is in charge of the imperial guards at all gates, while the Left and Right Guards Office commands the thousand-cow guards and other attendants and ceremonial guards of the emperor.

The organization left for Li Yuanhui was just four guards.

Left and right Wei guards, left and right Wu guards.

However, although Li Yuan gave the organization, the left and right Weiwei generals and the left and right Wuwei generals were all appointed by Chang'an.

Among them were Zheng Guo, the General of the Right Guard, Gao Huang, the General of the Left Guard, Li Sixing, the General of the Right Guard, and Li Yuanhui himself concurrently held the position of General of the Left Guard.

Zheng Guo and Gao Huang were basically figureheads, while the eight generals were appointed by Li Yuanhui himself.

Among them, Zuo Weiwei was in Yuzhou, You Weiwei was in Xuzhou, and Zuo and Zuo Wuwei were in Jianghuai.

After discussing with his staff, Li Yuanhui also decided on the candidates for generals of each guard.

Generals Murong Sanzang and Huang Junhan of the Zuowei Guard were stationed in Yuzhou, and their troops were mainly composed of the Wagang Army and surrendered soldiers from Luoyang.

Generals Liu Yuanqing and Chen Zhen of the Right Guard were stationed in Xuzhou. Their forces were mainly composed of Liu Yuanqing's rebel army and veterans from Xuzhou in Jianghuai.

The generals of the Left Guard, Zhu Deyu and Xiao Shizhi, and the generals of the Right Guard, Chang Yanheng and Li Xuandao, were in these two guards, which included all the elite veteran soldiers of the 18 battalions initially created by Li Yuanhui.

In addition, the newly formed 3,600 armored cavalry were taken out separately to form an army. Li Yuanhui also planned to plagiarize it and named it "Beiwei Army", which was led by Luo Shixiang and Zhang Zhen'e as the left and right commanders.

The guards led by the Six Guards of the Prince of Qi's Palace also numbered several thousand people.

As for the tens of thousands of powerful followers of Zhang Gonglie, Zhou Qiu and others, Li Yuanhui still maintained their independent military organization and official positions, and specially asked Li Yuan for an imperial edict to give them a lot of general titles.

They were not included in the Guard House because of insufficient staffing and too much personal attributes. In addition, each of the 18 battalions of Jianghuai retained a staff of 300 people, with a lieutenant as commander, known as the "Jianghuai Warriors", as the personal army under the account, with Dou Fengjie as the commander-in-chief and the Central Guard Army.

These troops were excluded from the Wei Palace, and keeping these troops was considered another force cultivated by Li Yuanhui.

It is also considered a strategic reserve during war.

In addition, Li Yuanhui generously "gave" thousands of Guide Army soldiers to his third brother Li Xuanqing.

These thousands of people can be considered elite veterans who have participated in several major wars. However, because they are all from Jingzhou, they have parents, brothers, and family in Jingzhou and miss their hometown very much.

Li Yuanhui generously asked them to report to the Governor of Jingzhou, Wancheng, where his third brother's government was located.

A large number of his generals were promoted again because of the reform. His cousin Dou Xianjun was appointed as the governor of Liang County, his good friend Yu Zhongheng as the governor of Chen County, Yin Gong as the governor of Chenliu, Zhang Jian as the governor of Donghai, Xiahou Yuanhong as the governor of Lujiang, and Qiao Xiaojie as the governor of Yuzhang.
In addition to being governors, these people also served as local military governors, responsible for managing several local military offices. Li Yuanhui made it clear to them before they took office, asking them to focus on military affairs and leave government affairs to Juncheng.

Throughout May, Li Yuanhui was busy with the reform and relocation of the government office.

It was not until the beginning of June that we finished all these tasks. Just as we were catching our breath, the war broke out again in two directions.

On the one hand, the Qingzhou army sent troops to Langya. The prefect Qi Biao stationed in Langya was an old man from Wagang. Because the Yang family had close ties with Wagang, they also knew Qi Biao's background. There were less than two thousand defenders in the city, and they were not elite. With the help of an insider opening the gate, Langya fell quickly, and Qi Biao fled to the East China Sea in disgrace.

According to his estimation, the Qingzhou army had about 30,000 troops.

Li Yuanhui's response was to send orders to General Chen Zhen and Liu Yuanqing of the Left Guard, as well as Pei Minzhi, the governor of Xuzhou, to gather troops and retake Langya County.

In addition, while reporting to Chang'an, he also wrote a letter of thanks to his brother-in-law Chai Rong, asking him to pretend to send troops from Yanzhou to attack Qingzhou. Even if he could not send troops, he had to pretend to do so.

In another direction, war broke out in Yecheng again.

Liu Xuanji led an army of 180,000 and approached Yecheng.

Jizhou Governor Zhao Yi once again called for emergency.

Chang'an's order left Li Yuanhui a little confused.

Although he had already expected that his second brother might not be released by the old man, after all, he had made enough military achievements.

The third brother should be allowed to leave Guanzhong and go to Luoyang to lead the army and participate in the war in Hebei.

But unexpectedly, the messenger from Chang'an rushed all the way from Wugu Pass, out of Nanyang, and headed straight for Shouchun.

He was actually appointed as the host's Grand Chancellor and the chief commander of the army, supervising the various tribes in Guandong and lifting the siege of Ye County.

This appointment surprised Li Yuanhui, "Where are my second and third brothers?"

The messenger said truthfully: "The King of Qin was ordered to go to Liangzhou to guard against the Turks, and His Royal Highness the King of Jin was confined to his palace."

Li Yuanhui was stunned. "Under house arrest?"

The messenger whispered quietly, "Originally, Your Majesty said at the court meeting that the Prince of Jin would lead the war, but the Prince of Jin recommended the Prince of Qin. Later, the Prince of Jin and Your Majesty quarreled, and Your Majesty got angry, so he confined the Prince of Jin and issued an edict ordering Your Majesty to lead the war in the states east of Shan County."

Li Yuanhui understood now.

Originally, my dad wanted to strike a balance, letting the second and third brothers be in the court, and he would be in the local area, to check and balance each other and prevent one brother from dominating. But who knew that the third brother would directly express his support for the second brother. What should the old man do?
The second brother has already made great contributions, and now the position of crown prince is vacant. Isn't it because the old man is worried that the second brother will be too powerful to be controlled if he is reluctant to make the position the crown prince?

Even though he is his own son, the old man still doesn't want to give up the little power in his hands.

Letting my second brother go to Liangzhou, the so-called guarding against the Turks is just an excuse.

But letting him confront Lao Liu shows that his father really thinks highly of him.

But there was no other way. He had to force the issue. After the third brother caused such a scene, the fourth brother could not cause any more trouble, otherwise the old man would be furious.

I never thought that we would go to war so soon.

(End of this chapter)