Water Margin: I, Wang Lun, will have many children and many blessings in Liangshan.

Zhao Mingcheng and the other two had also stood up long ago. When the Liangshan boats were closer, the three could not help but go to the bow of the cruise ship.

At this time, the grain ships, cargo ships, and cruise ships along the river all avoided the two sides of the river bank.

The atmosphere was extremely depressing.

"Where are the imperial guards? Are they on the top of the city?"

"No one even sent out a warning?"

"There are only civilians like us here at Zhouqiao, and no imperial guards?"

"You bastard, these soldiers usually have generous military pay and many rewards, is this how they serve the country?"

Under the emperor's feet, no matter how dissatisfied people are with the government, they are still mostly loyal to the Song Dynasty.

After all, Kaifeng is a place where the world's wealth is collected.

Everyone in the world is hungry, and there are still more than 10 million stones of grain in the warehouses inside and outside Kaifeng.

The emperor will reward the people of the city during festivals.

When the emperor and the empress dowager celebrate their longevity, the empress passes away, the crown prince is granted a title, or the empress dowager, the empress, the emperor passes away, or the new emperor ascends the throne, there will be rewards on the "127th".

Of course, the main body of the rewards is the imperial guards, which are even more important than the officials.

This is also the most dissatisfied point of the people just speaking.

The rewards for the army are extremely generous.

This is also a tradition.

A tradition passed down from the Five Dynasties.

The emperor is the one with the strongest soldiers and horses.

From Guo Wei to Chai Rong, they began to cultivate the civil service system, increase the power of the provincial governors and county magistrates, restrict the warriors, crack down on the unruly Jiedushi, and collect elite troops to Kaifeng.

Zhao Da's cup of wine to release the military power was just a large-scale recovery of the central military power, and it was mainly aimed at the old generals and generals of the imperial guards including his own "Ten Brothers of the Righteous Society".

Li Jiqian's qualifications and official position were higher than Zhao Da's, and Shi Shouxin and others were not much inferior to Zhao Da in those days.

He had been a general for many years and had many followers.

Zhao Da said: If someone puts the yellow robe on the brothers, you will have to let me down.

This is very clear.

These veterans must be taken down.

But the process of strengthening the imperial army did not stop.

Throughout Zhao Da's life, he has been strengthening the power of local civil officials and taking back the military, financial and personnel power of the Jiedushi.

It was also Guo Wei and Chai Rong who laid a solid foundation for him.

When it came to Zhao Da and the two brothers, relying on the wealth accumulated by the previous Zhou Dynasty, the Song army was able to fight east and west, and after destroying Shu, it made a fortune again, so that it had the money to conquer Southern Tang, Southern Chu, Southern Han, and unify the country.

Here is the most critical point: you must have money!

You take away the power of veteran generals, release military power with a toast, or turn the Jiedushi into an empty title, these things have nothing to do with the big soldiers!

The imperial guards in the late Five Dynasties and Song Dynasty were not as unruly as in the late Tang Dynasty.

The guards in the late Tang Dynasty killed Jiedushi and Zhenjiang as if it was a game.

The Jiedushi threatened the emperor of the Tang Dynasty.

The Zhenjiang were unruly and threatened the Jiedushi.

The guards ignored everyone and fought without rewards?

Rebellion!

Kill the town commander, kill the Jiedushi!

Insufficient military pay?

Rebellion!

Not enough food and drink?

Rebellion!

Be strict with subordinates and enforce military discipline?

Rebellion!

In the decades of history at the end of the Tang Dynasty, countless Jiedushi were driven away by the guards.

There were countless generals who were killed by the guards.

Later, these big soldiers didn't recognize anyone at all. What about the Tang Dynasty, Jiedu, generals, they would fight for whoever gave more money.

Without money, it's all nonsense.

There is only one thing that they will spontaneously unite, that is, when there is a strong enemy targeting the vassal states, then these professional warriors will burst out with different power.

The warriors were unruly, and no matter the emperor, prime minister, Jiedushi or other high-ranking generals, they could only coax them.

There are many ways to coax them, and in many cases, it is better to give them money directly.

Give them money, cloth and silk, and the warriors in the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties will fight for you.

In this regard, they also have professional ethics.

Jiedushi gave them money in peacetime and rewards in wartime, and these guys fought hard for him.

Basic ethics still need to be observed.

This style continued from the late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, and then to the Song Dynasty.

There are countless records of rewarding the imperial guards in the history of the Song Dynasty.

The most important one is that when the new emperor ascends the throne, he will reward all the imperial guards in the name of the new official.

At least several million strings of cash will be spent at a time!

This is the new emperor's favor to the imperial army, asking these soldiers to be loyal in the future. Even if the court's finances are in trouble, this money will be prepared in advance. No one dares to say that this expense can be saved.

Whoever says it is a traitor! (To read the exciting novels, go to Feilu Novel Network!)

This habit has been deeply rooted, and it can even be said to have become a custom.

This also led to the Song army's heavy rewards and full expectations for rewards.

Once there is no reward for going to war, the combat effectiveness and loyalty will plummet.

This is the case with the most critical Taiyuan battle during the Jingkang period.

The Taiyuan battle was presided over by the Western Army generals such as Zhong Shizhong and Xing Xinzong, and also gathered many Western Army elites.

And Taiyuan is the capital of Hedong Road, and its strategic position is extremely important.

During the Five Dynasties and the early Song Dynasty, the Northern Han regime occupied Taiyuan. Even if all the military states were occupied by others, as long as they defended Taiyuan, they would be able to take it back sooner or later. 0..

Since the Northern Zhou Dynasty, they had been fighting against the Northern Han, and until Zhao Da, they had no way to deal with Taiyuan.

During the reign of Zhao II, with hundreds of thousands of battle-hardened and well-equipped elite imperial guards, as well as the unified financial and material resources of the country, they mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians to attack day and night, and it took great efforts to capture Taiyuan.

After capturing Taiyuan, Zhao II mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to destroy the city defense of Taiyuan, dismantled a large number of defense facilities, reduced towers, battlements, and lowered the height of the city walls.

The original rare strong city in the world was still extremely solid after the reduction.But it can't be compared with that time.

If the Jin people attacked Taiyuan City in the late Northern Song Dynasty, the result would be very different!

Zhao Er was also addicted to demolishing cities. Xiazhou City, the original Tongwan City, was built by Helian Bobo, and it was also a majestic city that was not inferior to Taiyuan. In the end, it was also demolished by Zhao Er.

Taiyuan in the late Song Dynasty was originally weakened.

As a result, the imperial guards who were transferred to Taiyuan for support did not receive rewards, and their morale dropped sharply. They were unwilling to fight the enemy sincerely, so Taiyuan was not defended and was forcibly conquered by the Jin people.

There are really many similar things, even until the Southern Song Dynasty.

The elite troops of the Southern Song Dynasty who defended Xiangyang had been fighting vigorously, but then they became weaker and weaker. There was no other reason, that is, the financial bankruptcy of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Sichuan was destroyed, and Huguang and other places were penetrated by the Yuan army several times.

The external trade was affected by the war, and the income dropped sharply.

The financially bankrupt Southern Song Dynasty had no money to reward its soldiers, and even the military pay was insufficient.

Correspondingly, crossbows, bows, arrows, swords, spears, and armor must have been in short supply.

The combat effectiveness of the army naturally declined sharply, and even the country was destroyed.

But the current situation is different from that at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty.

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, it was a real battle for decades, which was equivalent to the territory of many provinces in later generations. The core areas were destroyed by the Yuan army.

The army of the Southern Song Dynasty, from the founding of the country to the demise of the country, has always performed well in war.

The central government has always maintained command over the army, unlike the disorder in the late Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the Northern Song Dynasty had not experienced a tragic war at all, and the local areas, central government, and system were intact.

The Song Dynasty's capital city, which nominally still had hundreds of thousands of imperial guards, saw a large number of pirate ships approaching, but no generals, military officers, or imperial guards appeared on the city walls.

The few imperial guards on guard probably ran away after seeing the large number of warships approaching.

No wonder the people were extremely disappointed! . []