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

Inside Gyeongbokgung Palace, Zhao Jun looked at the generals and nobles with a sidelong glance, his face as cold as frost.

Zhao Zhen's face was also very ugly.

They thought that they could easily impress the generals and nobles by offering them such generous conditions.

Who would have thought that they would actually refuse, and almost most of them remained silent.

What does this mean?

It means that the generals and nobles do not accept the conditions of the court.

Why is this so?

What went wrong?

Zhao Jun couldn't figure it out.

If he were in this position, he would have no military power and no real power. The court would not ignore them, so why couldn't he accept it?

There was something going on here.

Zhao Jun is no longer an impulsive young man who just graduated from school. He has long been scheming.

Therefore, facing such a thing, he was not too impatient. His eyes shuttled through the crowd for a while, and when he saw that everyone did not dare to look at each other, he suddenly laughed.

"Hahahaha."

He smiled and said, "You all misunderstood. This matter is actually just a greeting to everyone. The matter of disarmament itself is not a matter of one or two days. The court hopes to discuss it with everyone and come up with a set of rules, but it is not going to be done immediately."

He returned to his seat and waved his hand and said, "Everyone sit down and have a good meal. This matter will be put on hold for now. If there are any suggestions, the court will naturally adopt them with an open mind."

"Zhiyuan."

Shi Shouxin's grandson Shi Yuansun was afraid that Zhao Zhen and Zhao Jun would be angry, so he hurriedly said, "It's not that we are obstructing the court's reform. We have also heard about the urgent situation of the three redundancies, but this matter is about The Song Dynasty is in danger, and the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia are surrounding it. If we are not careful, it will be overthrown. We should be cautious. "

"Yes, it is not that we care about our livelihood. The court has already found a good way for us. We are not grateful for our opposition. However, I am afraid that the rash reduction of troops will cause unrest in the army, and the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia will take advantage of the opportunity to enter. I am afraid it will not be good."

"Yes, I also think it is better to be cautious. The matter of reducing the army cannot be rushed. A little reduction every year, and there will be a resettlement, so that the soldiers can feel at ease. "

"We naturally know that your majesty and the court want to eliminate the malpractices, but the road must be taken step by step, and the meal must be eaten bite by bite, and we must not be careless."

Everyone persuaded.

Zhao Jun forced a smile and agreed one by one.

The banquet ended quickly in this slightly awkward atmosphere.

In the afternoon, many generals and nobles said goodbye and left, leaving Zhao Jun and Zhao Zhen alone in the hall staring at each other.

Neither of them spoke. After a while, Zhao Zhen suggested that they go to Chongzheng Hall to hold a meeting and chat with everyone. Zhao Jun responded and went to Chongzheng Hall with Zhao Zhen.

Their daily routine is actually like this. Every morning, the morning court is not about national affairs, but about the current situation of the country.

For example, the progress of the river repair project formulated by the Political System Council, how many cases the Dali Temple, the Criminal Court and the Ministry of Police have handled this month, what expenditures and incomes the Ministry of Finance has made in the past few days, where the Ministry of Industry has planned a canal, and where the Ministry of Natural Resources has discovered a new mine.

Basically, the morning court is a large-scale work report meeting.

In the morning, the Political System Council will hold a regular meeting to discuss national affairs and development, and formulate policies for the various departments below to handle. Then it is to review the reports submitted by various departments. If problems are found, they must be adjusted and modified in time.

There will be a short break at noon, and the meeting will continue in Chongzheng Hall in the afternoon. The content of this meeting is much more relaxed. You can talk about anything, national affairs, family matters, and jokes with each other.

After all, the Chongzheng Hall meeting belonged to the internal staff, and they all knew Zhao Jun's details, so they could unify their thoughts. Even if there were some small thoughts, they could still be resolved at the meeting in the end.

It was almost time for the afternoon meeting. Zhao Zhen and Zhao Jun went to Chongzheng Hall first, and then asked Wang Shouzhong to notify the prime ministers to come.

In mid-January, the weather was still a bit cold, and the north wind was blowing. Several old men entered the house wearing big cotton jackets.

"Your Majesty!"

Everyone saluted Zhao Zhen, and then Zhao Zhen asked them to sit down.

After sitting down, Fan Zhongyan saw that Zhao Jun's face was not very good, and wondered: "Hanlong, what's wrong?"

"Old Wang."

Zhao Jun did not answer Fan Zhongyan, but asked Wang Zeng: "You said before that their vacancies were a bit large, how large are they?"

"I don't know."

Wang Zeng shook his head: "I just heard vaguely about it. Who dares to interfere in the affairs of the army?"

Zhao Jun had to look at Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen spread his hands and said, "Don't look at me. Although I control the military power, I only have the power to mobilize troops. The following matters are mainly handled by the Privy Council and the Three Yamen, so I am also in the dark."

The relationship between the Privy Council and the Three Yamen can be summarized as follows: the Privy Council has the power to dispatch troops, but not the responsibility of commanding troops; the Three Yamen have the responsibility of commanding troops, but not the power to dispatch troops.

The Palace Front Department is in charge of the names and records of the commanders of the various classes, direct and infantry, and cavalry in front of the palace. The Imperial Guards and Horse and Infantry Departments are in charge of the names and records of the commanders of the cavalry and infantry. They are also responsible for the management, training, garrison, promotion, rewards and punishments of the subordinate troops.

This means that the Three Yamen control the daily operation of the army, including the issuance of military pay, the issuance of military equipment, military training, promotion, etc., and the main operators of the Three Yamen are these generals and nobles.

Zhao Jun thought that these people were greedy, but it was not a big deal. Just give enough benefits, but they refused.

Obviously, this is more than just corruption.

"Today, the officials and I discussed the redundancy of the army with the generals and nobles with full sincerity. Unexpectedly, not many of them agreed. It really puzzles me."

Zhao Jun looked around at the crowd and said: "I thought about it and felt that there are only two situations that could cause this kind of thing to happen."

"Which two situations?"

Yan Shu asked.

I'm not stupid here, and I can actually vaguely guess it, but of course I have to let Zhao Jun say it.

"First, they made more money from the redundant army than we thought. It completely exceeded the profit given to them by the court, so they did not agree."

Zhao Jun raised two fingers: "Second, these guys have probably done a lot of illegal things. Once there is a large-scale disarmament, they will definitely check the situation from top to bottom. If the things are revealed, they will probably confiscate their homes and exterminate their families." That’s why I wanted to cover it.”

"What I'm most afraid of is having both."

Yan Shu frowned and said: "I have also heard that there are many dirty things about Jiangmen, but it has gradually become less and less since the late emperor's dynasty, but no one knows the specific situation. They only manage their own three-acre land, and no one knows Can't get in."

Lu Yijian also said: "Every year military expenditures are considerable. In the past, the imperial court recruited surrenders and rebels, and included rebels from various places into the Forbidden Army and Xiang Army. They would register them, causing the number of Forbidden Army to increase dramatically in decades. Since the Taizu period, There are 370,000 people, and now there are 1,259,000 people registered.”

"I remember historically there were more, 1.41 million at the peak."

Zhao Jun spoke.

"First of all, these people don't know how to keep track of them, and secondly, there are a lot of deserters. A few years ago, the Nan'an Army reported that there were 374 people in a battalion of 500 who escaped."

Lu Yijian continued: "This phenomenon is very common across the country, but the number of troops has not decreased, but has increased day by day. Since the Guangtian Jubilee Year, the number of forbidden troops has increased by more than 400,000."

"All the rough and treacherous people in the world will be accepted as members."

Song Shou said.

Although there were many deserters, there were also many criminals and landless peasants, so during the Song Renzong period, these people were all put into the army. For example, Di Qing was a criminal who was admitted to the army for fighting.

"So we are running away while registering. In addition, the previous soldiers will die of old age, die in battle, and there are factors such as poor supervision, resulting in a serious vacancy."

Zhao Jun frowned and said: "No wonder Li Gang, the famous general during the Huizong period of the Song Dynasty, said: One-third of the shortage is not filled by recruitment. If we count this, then there is no need to disarm. It is estimated that the total number of soldiers in the country is only eight or nine. One hundred thousand, this damn person has to eat three or four hundred thousand people on empty wages.”

I originally thought that I would be able to earn about ten or two hundred thousand yuan on empty wages, but I didn't know that I would use my noble family as a treasure from the imperial court. He deceived his superiors, deceived his subordinates, ate a lot of free money, and drank so much soldiers' blood. He probably wanted to continue to plunder the imperial court like this.

After all, it is definitely risky to do business outside, and the court requires them to invest in shares. If the projects contracted by the state are not completed well, they will be punished. In maritime trade, if there is a storm at sea, wouldn’t the investment be in vain?

It is estimated that they also hope to get the best amount of money every year, or even just take more and occupy more. Who would want to give away the money they get?

Zhao Jun obviously didn't know the seriousness of the problem yet, and simply thought that the generals and nobles were too greedy.

But he couldn't say anything.

Again, he will bear all the sins Zhao Kuangyin did.

"Dasun, do you have any ideas?"

Zhao Zhen asked.

"Any ideas? Let's check the vacancies first."

Zhao Jun smiled bitterly and said: "The thunder laid by Taizu, our ancestors and grandchildren will step on it, what can we do?"

"What are you going to do?"

Fan Zhongyan asked.

"First transfer back all the generals' sons who are currently serving in the army, and then transfer the relevant personnel involved and the main generals, and send the imperial censors and officials to each camp to slowly conduct a population census."

Zhao Jun looked at him and said, "Old Fan, I have to trouble you for this matter. You have prestige in the army. You can carry out this matter."

"Um."

Fan Zhongyan nodded.

"Besides these."

Zhao Jun suddenly looked at Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and the others, and thought: "The military system is also going to change."

Zhao Zhen opened his eyes wide and said, "Dasun, do you want to change the military system?"

"Um."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "It will be beneficial to you, brother, and the civil servants will also help."

"oh?"

Zhao Zhen said quickly: "Tell me quickly."

King Lu Yijian and others heard that the civil servants would also support it, and they were puzzled for a while and wanted to see what Zhao Jun had to say.

Zhao Jun said: "The reason why warlords are prone to appear in the army is because administrative orders such as management, training, garrison, promotion, rewards and punishments all come from generals. In order to change this situation, the Song Dynasty established the Three Yamen to keep generals away from the army. Prevent the emergence of warlords.”

"But this is obviously overkill. If generals do not participate in daily training and military discipline management, military discipline will only become more corrupt and training will be ineffective. When the enemy comes, if you fight with such a group of soldiers, you will definitely lose."

He continued: "So we can change it so that generals participate in daily management and training. Pay, promotion, rewards and punishments are completed by other departments, such as the Ministry of War."

"Currently, the Ministry of War still has not done its job well. The Privy Council is responsible for the transfer of the army, and the rest of the activities of the army are managed by the three yamen. The Ministry of War has no other role except to look at the warehouse and manage the military registration. Let's do something. Take the fire out of the cauldron!”

Pulling fire under the cauldron?

Everyone looked at each other. They were all old foxes, so they naturally knew what he meant.

"Do you plan to return the power to the Ministry of War?"

Someone said in surprise.

"Um."

Zhao Jun said in a deep voice: "Let the three yamen be completely turned into decorations, so that the Privy Council and the Ministry of War will check and balance. Although the military power will be handed over to the generals, logistics, troop dispatch, commander-in-chief, rewards and punishments, etc. will all be in the hands of the emperor and civilian officials. This is achieved by The Song Dynasty had a unique tradition of civilian officials restraining military commanders.”

"In addition, the military police must be established. This force only belongs to the Constitutional Yuan and the emperor. The military police are stationed together with the army, but they are independent. The chief and the soldier chief of the headquarters are at the same level, restraining and supervising each other."

"From now on, soldier discipline, soldier training, rewards and punishments, promotions and compensations will all be recorded by the military police and uniformly reported to superiors, and will no longer be under the jurisdiction of the three yamen."

"In this way, we will completely sideline the three government agencies and force them to beg us!"

At the end, Zhao Jun said forcefully: "I am not suppressing the army, but reforming the military system step by step. The same is true for the modern army. Multiple supervision and multiple jurisdictions are to prevent the army from mutiny. Especially in the age of firearms, once firearms Flooding may have serious consequences, so system changes must always be followed up.”

"Well"

Zhao Zhen thought for a while, and it seemed that this really had no impact on him.

Military power is still in his hands.

It was just that the powers of the three yamen were transferred to the Ministry of War, and a military police force was added directly under it. Anyway, he had no feelings for those generals, so why should he refuse?

Of course Lu Yijian and the others would not object. It was a traditional skill of the Song Dynasty for civil servants to restrain military generals. When word spread about this, the civil servant group would probably go crazy with joy given the urinary attitude of the civil service group in constantly suppressing rising generals such as Wang Deyong, Di Qing, Yue Fei, etc.

So everyone looked at each other and felt that there was nothing wrong.

"In that case, that's it."

Zhao Jun set the rules.

Now everyone discussed the details, and then talked about other national events.

The meeting will end when it gets close to dark in the evening.

Zhao Jun and Fan Zhongyan walked out of the house and walked along the palace road towards the outside of the palace.

"I always feel that this matter is not that simple."

Fan Zhongyan said as he walked: "If it's just a matter of short quota, since Taizu allowed it, the court can't blame them, so why should they refuse? I'm afraid there is something else going on?"

"Think of the worst, there may be all kinds of bad things, such as reselling ordnance, shoddy manufacturing, and even showing off in the army."

Zhao Jun raised his head and looked at the sky, and said in a deep voice: "Choose good people and check them out."

Get to the bottom of it.

He wanted to see what the noble generals were up to.