<image>【Problem】Eight identical small cubes are glued together to form a large cube as shown in Figure 1. The three-view diagram of the resulting geometric body is shown in Figure 2. If Xiaoming removes a certain number of small cubes from the eight, and the remaining small cubes remain in their original positions and ensure that the new geometric body's three-view diagram remains as Figure 2, then the maximum number of small cubes he can remove is ___ ▲___ cubes.