I served as an admonisher in the Song Dynasty

Chapter 260: There was a big fight in the court, and Zhao Zhen was violently criticized by the officials!

The sixth day of March.

The Reform Department officially promulgated the General War Law, the Disarmament Law, and the Ordnance Supervision Law, and ordered the Privy Council and the Three Yamen to implement them immediately.

After the promulgation of these three laws, they caused great repercussions among the people.

The Art of War gives the soldiers who often change their posts a sense of belonging.

The Disarmament Law and the Arms Supervision Law let the people see the court's determination to strengthen the army.

The details of the Baojia Law and the Baoma Law are still being adjusted, and it is expected that they will not be implemented in the northwest region until early April.

at the same time.

Cao Guo's uncle Cao Ji has found a Cuju venue in the south of the city, and construction is expected to start in May.

……

It's nearly noon on the tenth day of March.

Su Liang looked at the bright sunshine outside the window and couldn't help but frown.

Since last November till now.

It almost never rained in Kaifengfu, Jingdong Road, and Hebei Road.

People took water from rivers and ditches to water the wheat seedlings, but it was only a drop in the bucket.

This year's crops are destined to lose production. If it doesn't rain for another half month, I'm afraid the production will be cut off.

Such things as natural disasters are really hard to contend with.

Zhao Zhen had changed to a vegetarian diet and went to a platform outside the city to pray for rain. State officials and people from all over the country also began to pray for rain.

But nothing works.

Within the Reform Department.

Wang Yaochen, the third commander, looked at the clear sky with a sad look on his face.

Now, people have borrowed a lot of money from young people.

If the crops fail due to this drought, the money will definitely not be recovered.

Although policies to enrich the country are being implemented one after another, according to normal revenue and expenditure, the national treasury should be increasingly full.

But the current national treasury is still not rich.

In addition to local military expenditures, official salaries, royal sacrifices, rewards, etc.

The cost of appeasing the floods in Jingdong and Hebei Road in the past two years, the cost of Jianxihe Town, and the cost of purchasing sulfur and armaments are not small sums.

The money in the internal treasury and the national treasury has decreased but not increased. There are too many places where money is needed in the Song Dynasty.

……

afternoon.

A memorial of nearly 4,000 words, titled "Zha Zi of the Emperor's Personal Army", spread throughout the two prefectures, three departments and the Reform Department.

The person who submitted the memorial was Xia Song, the privy envoy.

Xia Song stated in his letter that the Generals of War, Disarmament of Arms, and Ordnance Supervision were not good strategies for strengthening the army. They could only eliminate some shortcomings of the Song Dynasty army, but they could not significantly improve the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty soldiers.

In addition, he once again criticized the Baojia Law and the Baoma Law as being chaotic laws that disturb the people.

And the strategy he proposed for strengthening the army was——

"If you want to strengthen your army, you must form a heavy cavalry force as the emperor's personal army."

He said in his letters that Xixia was able to resist the Liao cavalry several times, largely because of its possession of a heavily armored cavalry: the Iron Kites.

The Iron Harrier Army only has three thousand people.

Everyone rides good horses and is heavily armored, making them invulnerable to thrusts. When charging, three thousand people are enough to kill fifty thousand infantry.

In addition, the 200 Poxi Army who are good at long-range attacks, use camels as mounts, and place small trebuchets make the Xixia Army powerful in combat.

In addition, the Liao army also had a large tent army that was good at riding and shooting.

In contrast, the Song Dynasty.

The Peng Japanese Army, Tianwu Army, Dragon Guard Army, and Divine Guard Army, which were supposed to be the most powerful forces in the Forbidden Army, have been reduced to looking after homes and courtyards, and their combat capabilities are far inferior to those of the Northwest Forbidden Army.

In the future, if the officials want to personally conquer Xixia and regain Yanyun, they must form a heavy cavalry that is invincible in the world.

Otherwise, the richer the Song Dynasty became, the more likely it would be plundered by the Liao and Xia.

Without absolute force suppression, all the achievements of new laws may be ruined under the iron heel of the enemy.

It is urgent to prepare for the establishment of heavy cavalry.

Xia Song combined the cavalry and shooting skills of the Xixia Iron Kites and the Liao Kingdom's large tent army and suggested that a heavy armored cavalry force of no less than 10,000 people be immediately prepared.

Create the most powerful military force in the world and be personally controlled by the officials.

Xia Song's poem emphasizes the importance of cavalry to the Song Dynasty, which makes people's blood boil after reading it.

From this note, we can see that Xia Song was full of desire for survival deep in his heart. He really didn't want to step down from the position of Privy Councilor.

……

Inside the Chui Gong Hall.

Zhao Zhen, who was depressed because there had been no rain for a long time, suddenly became excited after seeing this note.

Xia Song was completely written in his heart.

It has always been his dream to lead a military expedition in person.

And having an invincible heavy cavalry is an indispensable configuration for the imperial commander to personally conquer.

Zhao Zhen read this note three times, then splashed ink and wrote two words on the rice paper: Long Yu.

He planned to name this emperor's personal army: Long Yu Army.

The dragon's feather scales, the emperor's personal guard.

Invincible, invincible.

Zhao Zhen had already begun to figure out how to train this army and how to make them the sharpest sword in his hand...

And just when Zhao Zhen was full of longing.

One after another, memorials opposing the establishment of heavy cavalry were submitted.

Wen Yanbo said that the Song Dynasty had always focused on controlling cavalry with foot and using border castles to resist nomadic cavalry. There had been no war in the Song Dynasty in recent years, so it was useless to form heavy cavalry.

Zhang Fangping believes that there are few and inferior horses in the Song Dynasty, there are few places to graze and train horses, and the riding skills are far inferior to those in the Liao and Xia Dynasties. There is no need to learn from others' strengths and attack others' strengths.

Wang Yaochen said that the cost of 10,000 heavy cavalry was comparable to the cost of 200,000 ordinary infantry. It was a waste of money and useless. The court could not afford it and it was not suitable to implement it.

……

Of course, there are also some officials who support the preparation of heavy cavalry.

They also refuted the claims of Wen Yanbo, Zhang Fangping, Wang Yaochen and others.

Although heavy cavalry consumes money, it can defeat one against ten.

If it were not established in advance, the results of the Song Dynasty's reforms would even become Xia Liao's spoils.

Within two days, two piles of memorials were piled up on Zhao Zhen's desk, with mixed supporters and opponents.

Zhao Zhen had no choice but to summon a group of ministers to discuss the matter.

……

March 15th, Daqing Hall.

All the officials gathered together to discuss the preparations for the establishment of 10,000 heavy cavalry.

As soon as Zhao Zhen sat down, he saw Wang Yaochen, the envoy of the Third Division, strode out.

"Officials and ministers believe that building the emperor's personal army and heavy cavalry is a strategy that consumes national power and achieves nothing. In terms of consumption, cavalry is three times that of infantry, and heavy cavalry is ten times that of infantry. The choice of armor, horses, and daily Maintenance manpower costs a lot of money. We raise 10,000 heavy cavalry, which is equivalent to raising more than 100,000 infantry. And the war horses need to be replaced every three years. If there is no war in these three years, this money will be wasted. Well, we can’t save so much money even if we implement reforms in one year!”

Immediately afterwards, Fu Bi stood up.

"In addition, the quality of our war horses is far inferior to that of Liao and Xia, and we lack the land to herd horses. The Dali horses in the south can be used as military horses to carry heavy loads, but they cannot be used as war horses. Even if we spend money, we may not be able to train them like Iron Kites. Heavy cavalry. There is no war in our country at the moment and we have no intention of provoking a war. If we engage in a defensive war with Liao and Xia, our current military strength will not be a problem at all, but it will be useless."

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

…    After Fu Bi finished speaking, a group of people recognized the opinions of Fu Bi and Wang Yaochen.

The reasons for everyone's opposition can be summarized as follows: no money, no war, no good horses, no grazing land, it is not worth it.

Of course, the most important thing is that the court has no money.

Raising a cavalry force of 10,000 people is very costly and is a year-round expense. The current court is indeed unable to afford it.

At this time, Xia Song stood up.

"Who said there is no war? Don't the Sixteen States of Yanyun want it? You people only have money in your eyes. If you don't have enough money, we will squeeze in from other places. The heavy cavalry can increase the combat effectiveness of our imperial army, and it can equal ten to one. , the best at pursuit battles, everyone has no objection to this, right?"

"What the Song Dynasty lacks is such an army. Otherwise, if the Liao army goes all the way north, we can only defend ourselves? Just drive them out of the country?"

"As long as we can use this heavy cavalry to make Liao and Xixia fear us, even if we don't fight, it's totally worth it to keep standing outside Bianjing to scare them!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

"I second the proposal!"

……

There was also a group of officials supporting Xia Song.

Wang Yaochen, the third envoy, stood up with a dark face and said: "Xia Shuxiang, what you said is simple. If you don't have enough money, how can you squeeze it out from other places? If you squeeze out and you become the third envoy, I won't be able to squeeze anymore." Such a large amount of money came out!”

"If you can't squeeze it out, it's because you, the third commander, are incompetent. Lack of money is not an excuse to hinder the preparation of the heavy cavalry. If there is really not enough money, I suggest that all officials in the Song Dynasty reduce their salaries by 20% starting from this year!"

As soon as these words came out, all the officials in the palace looked at Xia Song.

It seems that in order to consolidate his position as Privy Councilor, he no longer cares about offending the scholar-officials all over the world.

Since the founding of the Song Dynasty.

The imperial court never reduced the salaries of scholar-officials.

Because, as all the kings of the past dynasties know, only when the scholar-bureaucrats and officials are stable can the country of the Song Dynasty be stable.

Not to mention, Zhao Zhen, a monarch who especially loves to reward officials.

When Zhao Zhen heard this, he shook his head and said: "Xia Shuxiang, our government is not yet short of money and has to reduce official salaries!"

Immediately, Zhao Zhen looked at Fan Zhongyan, who had been silent until now, and asked, "Fan Qing, what do you think?"

Fan Zhongyan remained silent, not because he had no ideas, but because the officials had been quarreling fiercely just now.

He just couldn't get a word in.

Fan Zhongyan said slowly: "I think that Xia Shuxiang's strategy can indeed increase the combat effectiveness of our imperial army, but it is a bit inappropriate. I think that 10,000 heavy cavalry is too stressful, so I can try it with 500 people. If it works, , and then gradually increase the number of people, otherwise it will be too much of a drain on the country’s capital!”

Hearing this, Xia Song stood up again with a dark face.

"Five hundred? There are still three thousand iron kites in Xixia. The Song Dynasty used five hundred heavily armored soldiers to test them. It really loses the style of a great country!"

Xia Song was very dissatisfied.

He felt that it should be done in one step and without delay.

Fan Zhongyan explained: "This matter has nothing to do with the style of a great country. Xixia's national conditions are different from ours. They need iron kites to resolve civil strife, and what's the use of us having too many heavy cavalry!"

"The best policy is to prepare for a rainy day. When the Liao soldiers approach the city, it will be too late for us to prepare!"

……

At this moment, Xia Song was so powerful that he could not allow others to question him.

That's what the court is like.

Sometimes, taking a step back means losing everything.

At this moment, Su Liang remained silent as he kept observing Zhao Zhen's expression.

He has seen that Zhao Zhen wants to build heavy cavalry.

It was Zhao Zhen's dream to lead a military expedition in person, and this heavy cavalry was his best weapon.

Compared with Emperor Taizong who almost died in the Gaoliang River during his personal expedition, Emperor Zhenzong was dragged to the front line of Chanzhou City by Kou Zhun to supervise the army. Zhao Zhen hoped to win a war and make an immortal contribution.

The emperor cannot do everything for the world.

He also has selfish motives, and he also has preferences.

This "Zha Zi from the Son of Heaven" may have impressed Zhao Zhen right away.

At this moment, Su Liang was also confused.

He also wanted the Song Dynasty to have such a heavy cavalry. When combined with firearms, it would be absolutely excellent in both offense and defense.

But at the moment, the cost-effectiveness of this move is very low.

The heavy cavalry is like a gold-swallowing beast. In addition, it is difficult to cultivate. Maybe it has not been trained yet. This gold-swallowing beast has swallowed up the family fortune of the Song Dynasty.

Su Liang thought about it for a while, but still agreed with Fan Zhongyan's opinion. He should cultivate a small amount first and take his time.

After all, no one's family fortune can be earned at once.

At this time, the ministers entered the free debate stage.

The most outstanding performers were naturally Xia Song, the privy envoy, and Wang Yaochen, the third envoy.

Xia Song wanted to rely on this strategy to secure his position as Privy Councilor.

Wang Yaochen objected because the Third Division had insufficient money, and due to the recent drought and lack of rain, the people might not be able to repay the young crops, which would cause the Third Division to spend more money.

About half an hour later.

Zhao Zhen stopped the debate among the ministers.

Everyone has become accustomed to such debates. If they cannot reach a consensus, they can only leave it to the officials to decide.

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said: "I have considered what you all think. I believe that the heavy cavalry can indeed be used as a trump card for our dynasty to protect us from the bullying of Liao and Xia. I want to start planning to build heavy cavalry in the first half of this year. The number Let’s set it at 10,000. We are short of money, horses, and grazing land, and we will overcome it together!”

Xia Song and other supporters couldn't help but be overjoyed.

Wen Yanbo, Zhang Fangping, Wang Yaochen, Tang Jie and other opponents were greatly surprised.

However, everyone was very smart and immediately thought of why the officials would approve of this policy.

This policy completely catered to the personal preferences of the officials.

At this time, Su Liang saw Yushi Zhongcheng Tang Jie striding out.

I couldn't help but feel bad, and murmured in my heart: Tang Zhongcheng is telling the truth!

Tang Jie cupped his hands and said: "Officials, I think that Prime Minister Xia Shu's policy is entirely to cater to the officials, without considering the current national conditions and people's sentiments. Prime Minister Xia Shu knew that the officials longed for the emperor to conquer in person, so he lured him with 10,000 heavy cavalry. This is to welcome the Holy Will. Officials must not make wrong decisions based on personal preferences!"

"If we really plan to build it, I don't know if these 10,000 cavalry can go to the battlefield, but I know that I can lead the officials to patrol the border. This price is paid for by countless people's taxes. Do the officials think it is worth it?"

As soon as these words came out, the entire court fell silent.

Tang Jie did not save any face for Zhao Zhen, and almost accused Zhao Zhen of planning to build heavy cavalry for his own selfish gain.

Zhao Zhen looked sulky and was about to speak when Ouyang Xiu strode out.

"The official plan to prepare 10,000 heavy cavalry is a waste of national power and is flashy. Our Song Dynasty's new law has just entered the right track. It is not the time to aim too high now. I hope the officials will think twice!"

It is a waste of national power, flashy and unrealistic, and too ambitious.

These three words hit Zhao Zhen in the face again. Even though Zhao Zhen was kind, he was probably angry in his heart.

At this time, Bao Zheng also stood up.

"I also believe that this move wastes people and money, and the gain outweighs the loss. Don't do it because of pomp and vanity!"

Su Liang didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

He looked at Zhao Zhen, whose face was ashen, and couldn't help but feel a touch of admiration.

As an emperor, he was taught like this by his ministers and still did not get angry and set the table down. He was truly an unprecedented benevolent emperor.

at this time.

Su Liang saw that Wang Yaochen, the third envoy next to him, was also about to stand up and speak. When he was about to stop him, he found that Wang Yaochen did not come out of the queue, but directly held his hands and said: "If the official insists on raising 10,000 heavy cavalry, I will resign!"

After hearing this, Su Liang suddenly felt that it was over.

Now, Zhao Zhen must be furious.

"If you resign, please resign. Is there no one else who can be the third envoy? I have made up my mind to withdraw from the court!" Zhao Zhen stood up, tossed his sleeves and left.

　Today is just one chapter. I wish you all a happy new year. May everything go well in 2024 and be happy! healthy! rich!

　　

　

(End of this chapter)