"Speak!" Li Shimin waved his hand.
Modun took a deep breath and said solemnly, "The sages of the School of Mo once said that absolute power leads to absolute corruption. Since ancient times, the plundering of the generals has never stopped despite repeated prohibitions. The truth is that during war, the power of the generals is too great. Life and death are in their hands. They can even disobey the orders of the emperor. It is precisely because the military power of the generals is too great during war that they are not restrained. This is why plundering happens so often."
"Absolute power leads to absolute corruption."
Li Shimin's expression changed. According to what Meton said, he was afraid that he would be the one with the greatest power. Then he would definitely be corrupted.
The officials could not help but sigh. Mo Jiazi's words were indeed bold. He even dared to say such things. However, they had to admit that Mo Jiazi had hit the nail on the head.
"I can say that this is not the first time the Western Expedition has happened, but it will definitely not be the last. If we want to completely solve this problem, we must divide the power," Meton said firmly.
"Divide the power!" The officials could not help but burst into an uproar. No one had thought that Mo Jiazi would want to change the military system.
The general of the Firearm Army, Zhangsun Chong, stepped out and angrily rebuked, "Nonsense! The greatest taboo for a general is to be two-faced. As the saying goes, once a military order is issued, it must be carried out. If we divide the power, I'm afraid it will only delay the battle and miss the opportunity. Sun Tzu's Art of War said … "
He had just received the position of general of the Firearm Army and did not dare to be negligent. He read military books day and night and knew that a general must be decisive and resolute. Once a military order was issued, he would carry it out courageously. Otherwise, he would only suffer a crushing defeat. It just so happened that Mo Jiazi had proposed the division of power. Zhangsun Chong could not wait to criticize it and even used Sun Tzu's Art of War as an example.
Meton looked at Zhangsun Chong and said coldly, "General Zhangsun, you have just read military books. You must not only talk about military strategies on paper. You can't win a war just by memorizing a few military books."
"Then this general would like to hear Mo Jiu's opinion!" Zhangsun Chong was so angry that he laughed.
Previously, Mo Jiazi had used the secret of gunpowder to meddle in the affairs of the Firearms Army. Now that Mo Jiazi had proposed to divide up the authority of the Firearms Army, he, as the newly appointed general of the Firearms Army, would be too cowardly.
Meton did not even look at Zhangsun Chong. He cupped his hands and said to Li Shimin, "The division of power mentioned by the Minister is to divide the power of commanding the troops and the power of governing the troops. In an army, there needs to be a general and a deputy general. The general commands the troops and the deputy general governs the troops. During a battle, the general is responsible for commanding the troops and killing the enemy. No one dares to disobey his orders. Once the battle is over, the military power will naturally return to the deputy general. The deputy general is responsible for managing the daily affairs of the army, being responsible for the military discipline of the soldiers and recording the military achievements of the soldiers and soldiers. This division of power will not affect the general's marching and fighting. With the deputy general's supervision and checks and balances, the general will not act arbitrarily."
"The power of commanding the troops and the power of governing the troops." Meton finished.
Suddenly, Li Shimin's eyes lit up. In this way, it would not affect the marching and fighting of the army, but also completely solve the situation of the general being in power.
Moreover, this method seemed to be able to maintain the stability of the army. Usually, the general did not have the military power and did not have the power to mobilize the troops. Naturally, it was impossible for him to rebel. However, the deputy general did not have enough power. Even if he commanded 100,000 troops, he did not have the qualifications and strength to rebel. This was indeed a good plan.
"Also, the Minister believes that the reason why there have been repeated cases of robberies in the army is related to the education in the army. For a long time, the soldiers only cared about fighting, but did not understand the military law. Even if they violated the military law, they would be dealt with afterwards. If there are regular military judges in the army who often teach the military law to the soldiers and stop them in time when they find that the soldiers violated the military law, then the robberies would not spread to the army. This is a way to completely eliminate robberies, instead of punishing the soldiers who have done meritorious deeds to deter the military discipline, instead of punishing them without teaching." Merton said.
"Punishing them without teaching?" Li Shimin could not help but frown. The army was indeed a group of boorish men. Not only were they illiterate, they were also very reckless. If they were taught the military law and knew the consequences of robberies, then there would not have been cases of 100,000 soldiers robberies.
"The two Minister found that the Tang dynasty did not have a formal military law. Moreover, the law used to judge soldiers and ordinary people was the same in the Tang dynasty. There was also no formal military court. Things in the army were very special and could not be handled or judged the same as civil law." Meton suggested.
The civil and military generals could not help but sigh. The division of power between the general and the deputy general, the military judge, the compilation of military law, the military court, everything that Mo Jiazi did would have a huge impact on the army. More importantly, these methods were feasible. Not only Li Shimin, even the generals were persuaded by Mo Jiazi.
"Military law and military court! This plan is feasible! Fang Xuanling, I will leave this matter to you! "Li Shimin nodded slightly.
Fang Xuanling could not help but sigh. He suddenly knew that there would be a lot of work to be done on the 《Law of Zhenguan》 compiled by him. The completion of the 《Law of Zhenguan》 would probably be delayed.
Modun said, "Your humble subject has been studying the theory of contradiction and has discovered that good and bad are often one and the same. Although it is wrong for the generals of the Western Punitive Expedition to plunder, it is because of the imperfections in the military system of the Tang Empire. However, if the imperial court uses this as an opportunity to reform the military system and completely solve this problem, it may be a blessing in disguise."
"Better late than never! We all agree with Mo Jiazu's reform of the military system. " The acting Minister of War, Li Ji, was the first to speak. Hou Junji and the generals of the Western Expedition were all military men and must be saved. However, the premise of saving Hou Junji and the others was to admit that there were loopholes in the military system of the Tang dynasty.
Li Shimin was excited. He did not really want to kill Hou Junji and the others, but he wanted to teach the arrogant Hou Junji a lesson. At the same time, he wanted to give an explanation to the other countries and protect the reputation of the Heavenly Khan. Not to mention, he accidentally got the plan to reform the military system, which reduced the anger in his heart.
"Previously, there were some loopholes in the military system of the Tang dynasty, which caused the generals of the Western Expedition to fall deeper and deeper. I am also responsible for Gao Chang's matter. If I don't ask for the right and wrong of the wrong and punish them, it will be a punishment without teaching them a lesson! The generals of the Western Expedition have performed meritorious deeds for the country. Although they were wrong, they should atone for their crimes with meritorious deeds. Pass down the order, the generals of the Western Expedition are to be released immediately. "Li Shimin ordered.
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Daozong accepted the order and hurried away.
"Your Majesty is wise!" The generals kowtowed one after another. Although the civil officials were unwilling, it was not like they did not gain anything. Once the military system of the Tang dynasty was reformed, it would be better to restrain the generals.
Meton could not help but sigh. Li Shimin only asked Hou Junji and the others to atone for their crimes with meritorious deeds. The previous meritorious deeds were naturally written off. He did not copy the previous dynasty's method of winning over the ministers. However, this might be Li Shimin's confidence. He believed that he could intimidate the generals. As for whether he had a secret plan or not, Meton did not know. He just hoped that this time, Hou Junji would not follow the old path.
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