In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

Wang Anshi is 23 years old this year. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 19 and was the top scorer. He served as the chief inspector for half a year and was later appointed as the magistrate of Yin County.

He worked diligently in the local area. Although he was 20 years old, he completed the tasks required by the examination law in an orderly manner and even better. He cracked down on illegal landlords and tyrants, confiscated the landlords' land, and rented it to tenants at a low price as official land.

At the same time, he repaired water conservancy and promoted education. He had visited the school built by the court in the county many times to talk about the importance of learning. Although he had never studied mathematics, physics and chemistry before, he still studied it personally and now has a lot of research in mathematics and physics.

Therefore, under such outstanding political achievements, in the three-yearly personnel inspection, Liangzhe Road ranked him first in the county-level county magistrate selection, and he got the opportunity to go to the Bianliang Examination Court for selection and promotion.

It happened that the court was going to check the number of troops across the country this year. When Wang Anshi was waiting for the court to send him to a new place to serve, he was captured by the Minister of War Fu Bi and became an imperial envoy stationed in the camp.

Before departure, Zhiyuan Zhao Jun personally went to the Ministry of War and explained to the envoys going to the military camp one by one, telling them to make sure to check the military situation and ensure military discipline. If there are any problems, they can take immediate action to arrest the offenders.

If the other party resists, they can be executed first and then reported without going through the court, but they must explain the details afterwards and submit the investigation report in its entirety, and they also need to be personally questioned by the Political System Institute to prevent accidental injuries.

This was the first time Wang Anshi saw the rumored Zhiyuan. At that time, Zhiyuan spoke at the meeting to encourage them. He looked at this young second-in-command of the Song Dynasty below, and he admired and admired him.

Because he heard that Fan Zhongyan was able to defeat Xixia and Liao, and Zhiyuan was behind him.

Moreover, after the reforms in the past few years, the changes in various places can be seen, and Zhiyuan is also helping Fan Zhongyan. It can be said that the new policy can now change the Song Dynasty in full swing, and Zhiyuan should account for at least half of the credit.

Therefore, many young scholars regarded him as a role model, believing that a man should be like the prefect, in charge of national affairs, and have the courage to reform and break the old.

Wang Anshi was no exception, so he took Zhao Jun's instructions and more than ten imperial guards and headed towards Hebei Road.

The place he was going to was Daming Prefecture.

There were nearly two thousand imperial army camps in the Song Dynasty, of which 638 were Tokyo camps and the remaining more than 1,300 were grain camps. However, in the wars in the past few years, the army was frequently mobilized. After the war, some troops were transferred back to Bianliang, and some continued to stay in the local area.

Therefore, if the wing army is included, there are more than 1,900 camps stationed in other places. In addition to the Tokyo camp, which was presided over by Fu Bi, more than 300 patrol imperial envoys were responsible for 6 to 7 camps each, which was still very hard.

Among them, Wang Anshi was responsible for 7 cavalry camps of the Xiaowu Corps of Daming Prefecture.

The most outrageous thing about the Song Dynasty was that dozens of camps of a corps were not in the same place. For example, the Xiaowu Corps had 20 grain camps, seven in Beijing Damingfu, six in Dingzhou, three in Zhendingfu, and one each in Xiangzhou, Xingzhou, Huaizhou, and Mingzhou.

The design of the entire military system can be said to be chaotic and completely unsystematic.

It was midsummer, and Wang Anshi's team had just left Bianliang and had not yet reached Fengqiu when the number of people had increased by more than ten. Zhao Jun ordered the Imperial City Division of the whole country to cooperate with the imperial envoy's guards to protect their safety.

The Imperial City Division of Jingji Road had the most soldiers. The Imperial City Division guards of Kaifeng and Jingji Road would escort them out of Jingji Road, and then they would be picked up by the local Imperial City Division.

In addition, the local censors had to cooperate with the operation.

For example, when the imperial envoy entered a camp, the local censors of the censors would take away the battalion commander, deputy commander, head of the battalion, deputy head of the battalion, and other middle and lower-level officers, and the imperial envoy would communicate directly with the soldiers.

The entire operation was very rigorous, and multiple departments cooperated to ensure that the imperial envoys of various routes completed their tasks smoothly.

When Wang Anshi left Huazhou and was about to cross the Yellow River at Baima Ferry, he looked east and saw countless civilians building river embankments on both sides of the river downstream of the ferry.

"That's the fish pond."

Xue Gan, deputy commander of the Huazhou Imperial City Division, saw Wang Anshi staring at that side and said with a smile: "In the past two years, the court has been repairing the river and building more embankments, saying that it is to store water and flush sand to relieve the urgency of the river flooding."

Wang Anshi nodded and said: "Since the Han Wang Jing repaired the river, the river has been calm for more than 800 years, but since the Tang Dynasty, it has become more and more flooded and disaster-prone. It is time to repair it well."

In recent years, the court's policies have tended to be governance, which is a good thing. People's livelihood has also been much more stable, which makes him very pleased with the changes in the court.

"Wang Shijun, after crossing the river, you will reach Liyang. The Liyang Imperial City Division will meet you, and I will send you here."

Xue Gan bowed.

"Thank you!"

Wang Anshi returned the salute and then boarded the ship with his guards.

The ship slowly sailed away from the dock.

Xue Gan and his men stood on the shore and watched, waiting for the boat to cross the river before leaving.

Shortly after he left, about four or five men holding whistle sticks and cow-ear sharp knives on their waists came from the road.

The group looked into the distance, and the leader frowned and said, "We don't know where the imperial envoy is. Can we catch up with him? He has probably crossed the river all the way here."

The imperial envoys left the capital secretly. The local government and the Imperial City Department along the way received the order from the Political System Council, requiring them to receive them. The places they stayed were all post stations for receiving court officials, and they were protected by soldiers from the Imperial City Department.

This is not the information age of later generations, where you can have a mobile phone to locate you.

With the little energy Jiangmen Xungui had, he was not qualified to obtain the travel routes of the imperial envoys. Even if there were a few who colluded with the local officials and knew the routes, they would not be able to attack the inn under the protection of the soldiers of the Imperial City Division.

So they can only use stupid methods.

Go all the way to the camp where your subordinates are to be investigated. If you encounter him, you will see if there is a suitable opportunity on the way. If you don't encounter him, you will wait near the military camp and wait.

Although the battalion commander has transferred a class of officers, there are still some junior officers such as Sanzhi and squad leaders who can be used.

As long as we investigate clearly where the imperial envoy lives, there may be opportunities we can take advantage of.

"No matter, let's go first."

Another person said: "This job has a narrow chance of death, but everyone follows the yamen through life and death. If the yamen collapses, we will also die. This is the only way."

After saying that and waving his hands, everyone immediately followed him, hired a boat at the ferry, and crossed the river in a mighty way.

By June 11, Wang Anshi had passed Liyang and entered Daming Mansion.

The magistrate of Neihuang County and the commander of the Imperial City Department came to greet him. Afterwards, he stayed at Neihuang Guanyi for one night, and on June 12, he set off again for Daming City.

At the Maling Road crossing outside the south city of Daming Mansion, the Yellow River had not yet burst its banks at Shanghukou, and it was still following the old Eastern Han Dynasty route. Therefore, Daming Mansion at this time was on a plain and was not flooded by the changed Yellow River.

The vast plains are full of barren land, and some are even close to desertification. The court on both sides of the Wei River is organizing people to build canals to irrigate the land and create new cultivated land.

In the Maling Crossing area, more than 20 military camps were built side by side in the wilderness along the west bank of the Wei River. They were surrounded by fences and were made of wood.

There is a market town nearby, only a few kilometers away from Daming City. You can vaguely see a street around it, which is quite close to the bustle and bustle.

When Wang Anshi's team was in Neihuang, the Neihuang Imperial City Division had already notified the Imperial City Division of Daming Prefecture. As an important place in Beijing, Daming Prefecture had an Imperial City Division Qianhu Office, which governed the entire Daming Prefecture and more than 200 people in the city.

Commander Yao Bin, left-behind censor Wang Tengyun and Daming County magistrate Song Hui came to greet them. Although this errand was a major task valued by the Political Yuan, Wang Anshi's rank was not worthy of the governor of Daming Prefecture, the envoy of Hebei East Road, and the transshipment officer. The messenger is waiting for a senior official of the fourth rank to come over.

"You have come a long way and worked hard."

"It's hard work for the three of you."

After both parties saluted, they introduced themselves.

Then Song Hui said enthusiastically: "Why don't you go to the city and go to the post house to rest for one night and enter the camp tomorrow."

Wang Anshi smiled bitterly and said: "It's our duty, there is nothing we can do. You two still need to receive other envoys, you just need to send me to the camp."

Naturally, the more than 300 envoys did not set off at the same time. They were preceded and followed. The local governments might receive one wave in a few days. It was indeed quite busy, and he did not want to disturb the local officials.

"In that case, we will send the envoy to the camp."

Song Hui didn't bother much. Since the other party didn't want to go to the city to eat, it just happened to save some money.

Now everyone went all the way to the camp.

At this time, all the military camps had already gathered people, and started training hahahahaha.

Although the lower-level soldiers have no connections, they hang out here all year round. They work outside, do business or go out to play during the day, and return to the camp to sleep at night. Naturally, they also get to know many local officials.

These officials were well-informed, and they quickly found out about the errands assigned to them. Therefore, considering that their boss had recently been transferred and they also knew that an imperial envoy was coming, they naturally had to resort to deception.

But this is obviously a bit funny. Everyone knows the virtues of the local army of the Song Dynasty.

Yao Bin saw the dust and smoke billowing from the cavalry camp in the distance, which seemed to be training, and he laughed and cursed: "These guys have started training since the envoy arrived."

"The garrisons all over the country are the same. We have the Jianchang Army and the Linjiang Army around Linchuan. I saw them when I went out to study. The military camps were empty during the day, and they went back to sleep at night."

Wang Anshi smiled bitterly and shook his head: "No wonder the academy wants to vigorously reorganize the army this time. The troops are already very redundant, and the military discipline is still so lax. If Fan Xianggong hadn't trained a good army by himself, I would have sent them into battle. The Song Dynasty is in danger.”

Song Hui smiled and said: "One good thing is that these people are quite honest. Even if they enter the city, there are few troublemakers."

"Oh? Are they so obedient?"

"If you are disobedient and are expelled, won't the superior officer have the opportunity to take advantage of corruption and false pretense?"

"Hahahahaha."

Wang Anshi was almost amused. He didn't expect that this could be considered as a contribution to local security.

But this was also something everyone knew at the time.

Starting from the Zhenzong Dynasty, there were civil servants in the imperial court who often wrote letters saying that "the military records are untrue", "the old numbers were removed without being kept for inspection", so that "the numbers of the soldiers were all useless", "the generals were wasted and accepted", etc. question.

Therefore, during the Jingde reign of Zhenzong, he once checked the specific number of troops.

But now, the number of the Holy Emperor's troops has grown too fast. In just twenty or thirty years, the Forbidden Army has doubled, from more than 400,000 to more than 800,000.

Coupled with factors such as chaotic military registration, poor supervision, and numerous deserters, the number of shortfalls has skyrocketed.

This time the court also sent them to strictly investigate the matter.

Several people were walking and chatting.

After a while, they arrived at the military camp.

At this time, all the officers in the battalion were transferred away, and only some casual officers and squad leaders were still there.

Wang Anshi and Wang Tengyun, the censor who was responsible for supervision, stayed with more than ten guards, settled in the original battalion commander's barracks, and began to inspect.

The rest went back.

It happened to be Shen Shi in the afternoon, about three o'clock, and Wang Anshi looked at the military camp.

As a camp for the first battalion, the accommodation area is not large, but the school grounds cover an area of ​​more than ten acres. Because this is a cavalry camp, there are stables at the rear.

The squad leaders who came over, such as casual duty officers and squad leaders, nodded and bowed to receive him.

They have dark skin, rough faces, flattering smiles, and a sense of the common people. They don't look like soldiers fighting in a war, but like ordinary people in the city.

Looking at their frightened faces, Wang Anshi said with a smile: "Don't panic, everyone. This time the court is counting the number of people, it is also to reform the shortcomings, so that everyone will not lose their livelihood."

"Yes Yes Yes."

Everyone responded with a bitter smile.

Although they don't have much to eat, there are still one or two leftovers exposed between the fingers. Now that the court wants to check the military status, it is also life-threatening for them.

"Okay, let's go to the barracks first."

Wang Anshi said.

The group entered the battalion commander's barracks.

The battalion commander divided the barracks into two floors, an inner and outer one, like a small courtyard, and also had a front room for offices.

He asked the guards to stand guard in the front yard first, and then asked the clerk in the camp to bring the military registration.

The military registration is divided into two parts, one is in the military department and the other is in the camp.

Wang Anshi took the military registration of the barracks he needed to check from the Ministry of War, and now compared it with the actual situation.

However, he did not do the job immediately. Instead, he first summoned the more than ten casual duty and shift leaders for questioning.

The question is also simple, that is, how many people are in the camp, how many weapons and equipment are there, and whether there is any data on the inventory.

In addition, they also asked the Shangguan whether he had withheld pay or mistreated him.

These people seemed to be unified and gave similar answers.

Wang Anshi was not surprised, and then he began to compare military records and check for gaps in both sides.

It didn't take long for the problem to become apparent.

The number of soldiers on both sides is the same, but the content inside is different. The one in the camp has traces of alteration.

Because registration in ancient times not only recorded identity information, but also recorded appearance.

The military status in the Ministry of War is completely different from that in the battalion.

Wang Anshi called for a question, and the man carefully replied that the Ministry of War records were from before, and that the person's appearance had changed later.

Wang Anshi smiled and did not expose the other party's lies. The matter of free money was the acquiescence of the Song Dynasty. There was nothing that could be done about Taizu's fault, so he did not continue to investigate. He only needed to do a good job in investigating and writing a report.

He didn't bother to ask at that moment, he just comforted the other party, and then continued to read the documents stored in the army, checking for any gaps in the information inside.

The official left uneasily. As soon as he left, everyone asked him what was going on. He said, "Your Majesty is still very good. He also comforted us, saying that the court will not pursue the matter of vacancies, and there may be new cases." It’s a good thing to make a living.”

"That would be great."

Everyone's hearts dropped to the ground, and then they dispersed.

However, that night, someone sneaked into the military camp and found the casual agent.

The military camp was supposed to be an important defensive area, but the military discipline of the Song Dynasty's military camp was really poor, and the other party was quite familiar with the environment in the camp.

I also know this man in person. He used to be a colleague in the army, but was later transferred by his superiors to become a servant at home.

Seeing him coming, Xianzhi was very puzzled.

But when he heard what the other party wanted him to do, he was so frightened that he returned to the camp in an almost trance.