Zhao Bing thought that the Mongols and Yuan dynasties would fall into the dilemma of shortage of food because they cut off the wealth of Jiangnan. At present, they were difficult to use troops, and the peace talks were still unresolved and it was impossible to start a transaction. Then the channel to obtain food was smuggling. However, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were controlled by themselves, and the waterways from the canal to the river were cut off. The sea transport routes were basically cut off, and even if someone smuggled, it was difficult to form a scale.

Nowadays, smuggled sheep along the Yangtze River have reached the point where they can impact the price of local sheep, which is enough to show that smuggling is already rampant. But behind this means that not only are there omissions on the defense line, but also collusion between officials and businessmen, and even military merchants, sheltering each other for profit. This is also what Zhao Bing is most worried about. This not only allows the Mongolian Yuan to obtain food and alleviate the crisis, but also causes corruption in the administration and lose military power. Moreover, the Mongolian Yuan can also use smuggling channels to penetrate into Jiangnan, threatening Jiangfang.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates do not know about this matter and have not participated in it!" Zhao Mengjin saw that the little emperor had a bad expression and hurriedly stopped the shopkeeper and said politely.

"I believe you, but the smuggling matter must be investigated as soon as possible. Whoever is involved, especially the army must investigate thoroughly!" Zhao Bing said with a stern face.

"I obey the order and will never let Your Majesty down!" Zhao Mengjin said.

"Well, just understand." Zhao Bing snorted coldly, "You all know that I have repeatedly banned business in the army, but those who violate it will be punished severely without lending!"

"I will never forget it!" Zhao Mengjin said again. He knew that as the commander of Jiangdong Riverside, he was in charge of military and political affairs. He had a great responsibility. If such a thing happened today, the crime of inattention was inevitable. And the other few people here seemed to be silent, standing aside and not daring to say anything. In the past, they said that the little emperor had blood under his feet, and he would bring bloody storms wherever he went. I don't know how many people would fall to the ground for what happened today.

"At this moment, the enemy has heavy troops along the river, and they are eyeing me, Jiangnan. If there are few negligences, it will be that Jiangnan cannot protect it, and ten years of achievements will be ruined." Zhao Bing said in anger, "Smuggling is so rampant that it shows that Jiangnan has loopholes. The top priority is to purify military discipline. It seems that not to kill a few people is enough to stop this wind!"

"I will definitely punish the first person strictly and use the military law to restore the military's power!" Zhao Mengjin said repeatedly.

"Sit!" Zhao Bing pushed the plate of mutton aside and let everyone sit down, "Do you know the Yue family army that was famous all over the world back then?"

"Report to Your Majesty, of course I know!" Zhao Mengjin nodded, and the others also nodded to express their understanding.

"I know you have a lot of complaints about strictly prohibiting officials and the army from doing business. I think Yue Wumu also indulged his subordinates in participating in business, and they will be invincible in the battle!" Zhao Bing said with a chuckling.

"I don't dare!" Zhao Mengjin quickly saluted.

"Haha, even if you don't dare to make up, there is a question, but there is a reason for this." Zhao Bing said with a slight dish. Everyone knows that at any time, fighting and raising the army are the most expensive things, and maintaining military expenditure is the top priority in maintaining the stability of the army and the country. The Song Dynasty was a commercial society with a strong commercial atmosphere. Due to the huge scale of the army, the army was once allowed to do business. Famous generals such as Fan Zhongyan and Yue Fei had arranged special people to do business and won generous profits to subsidize military expenditures.

"I knew that it was a forced one at that time. The court had to allow the army to do business and raise military expenses to meet the needs of the fire!" Chen Fenglin said.

"It's right. In the early days of the Southern Transportation, the finances were tight and the military expenditure was tight. The court ordered the quasi-army troops to do business. The wine warehouse in Yue's army in Ezhou was prepared by the border warehouse, reward warehouse, and Huiyiku, and other fourteen warehouses. Li Qi was specially appointed as Huiyiguan, making more than 1.1 million guan a year; Ezhou Dianku, house money, and land miscellaneous collection money, Xiangyang Prefecture wine warehouse, house money, and Boyichang earned more than 400,000 guan a year, supplying his army's military expenditure for three months. When Han Shizhong dismissed his military power, he only paid back more than 1 million guan a year for Yi interest," Zhao Bing said.

"Yes, it is rumored that Zhang Jun bought land in a large scale of tens of thousands of hectares, and he received 600,000 stones of rented grain every year. He also cast several large balls with silver, claiming to be "helpless" to show off!" Zhao Mengjin continued.

"Well, this also shows why the Zhang family army was defeated by the Yue family army back then. Yue Wumu used the money he received to state affairs and the army, but Zhang Jun took the opportunity to gain personal gain!" Chen Fenglin said.

"This statement shows the root of the truth. The imperial court allowed the army to do business to make up for the insufficient military expenditure, but the results were very different. How many of them used the money to make up for the actual situation, and how many of them were fed with their own pockets. I think you all had a deep impression of being an official in the old army!" Zhao Bing said.

Zhao Bing sighed for the weak Song Dynasty in his previous life, but now he is worried about the disasters of his ancestors. In order to solve the military expenditure, the emperors of the Song Dynasty opened a channel to allow the army to do business, which was equivalent to resisting wolves and entering the tigers at the front door. The style of business was long, the army was trained in a slack manner, and often engaged in erotic service on weekdays, and soldiers weaving wool satin became the source of wealth for officials. This army with poor martial arts skills was also defeated repeatedly against the small northwestern state of Xixia. Therefore, the Song court wanted to increase its troops, and the insufficient funds allowed the army to expand its business. As a result, the more troops the national strength, the weaker the military strength... formed a vicious cycle.

Under the business trend, the military camps have also led to the socialization of the military camps. Some generals colluded with gentry and even criminal forces and participated in illegal operations. The vigorous business of the military has led to distortion of internal and external relations. In addition to the empty military camps, most of the remaining soldiers became the chief's servants, and the families of some poor soldiers were forced to sell themselves into prostitutes. Some generals even colluded with criminal forces to participate in illegal operations. The economic interests of the garrison were mixed and large-scale property was purchased, which was difficult to mobilize in wartime. In addition, after recruiting troops, officers and soldiers were allowed to take their families, and many military camps became chaotic commercial areas, including workshops, shops, shops, restaurants and even brothels. When the imperial court encountered a crisis, it was immediately resentful and the families cried.

In the early years of the Song Dynasty, there were frequent wars with the Liao Kingdom. The Song army suffered repeated setbacks due to the lack of cavalry, but overall they could still form a stalemate with their opponents. After the Tan Yuan Alliance, the Song and Liao countries reconciled and traded. The extravagant trend eroded the north like an infectious disease, causing the Khitan nobles who were good at cavalry warfare in the past to enjoy "year-old tribute" and did not want to fight. A hundred years of peace appeared between the north and the south. The Song court also spent money to buy peace to the Western Xia, and believed that there was no war. In order to make up for the financial gap, they still let the army do business.

However, the military's business atmosphere is easy and habits are difficult to change. During the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty, Xia Yuanji, deputy general manager of Qinfeng Road, used imperial guards to sell private tea and "invade tea laws", which was already a smuggling by the army. Later, Kaifeng was attacked by the Jin army, and the Song court summoned soldiers from all over the country to "maintain the king". There were only 15,000 people from the northwest who led 15,000 people to fight.

The Northern Song Dynasty, which seemed to have a lot of soldiers and wealth, fell into ruin, but the royal family and the remaining ministers fleeing south only said it was "days" and did not pursue the internal cause. Yue Fei, Han Shizong and other officers summoned militias to build a new army, barely building a new defense line between the Jianghuai River, allowing the Southern Song regime to survive. The Southern Song Dynasty continued to let the army do business, and as an armed group preparing for war, the style of starting business would inevitably lead to serious socialization of functions, and there would definitely be a slack of arms and corruption. Therefore, the weak state of the Song army could not be changed.

"Well, my subordinates were deeply hurt and decided to join the general's army and follow His Majesty!" Zhao Mengjin said.

"Think about the Jurchens who were defeated by the Yue family army in a row, lamenting that 'It is easy to shake the mountain, but regret that the Yue family army is difficult.' But after Yue Wumu was killed by the treacherous slander, he lost his power in just a few years and finally became unknown. Why?" Zhao Bing looked at everyone and said.

"My subordinates thought that our army's bad habits of doing business were difficult to return, and they were repeatedly banned. In addition, the successor Tian Shizhong became greedy, which damaged the military spirit, resulting in the military's deficiencies and difficulty in controlling the crowd, and the soldiers and generals no longer had the will to fight!" Chen Dun interrupted.

"That's right, the ending is even more regrettable. When I was celebrating Yue Temple in Ezhou at the beginning of the year, I felt even more sad. If Yue Wumu had a spirit in the sky, I didn't know what to think..." Zhao Bing nodded and said.

After Yue Fei was sentenced to death, the Yue Family Army stationed in Ezhou was appointed as the governor of Tian Shizhong. It was during his tenure that the Ezhou Army had major changes. First of all, the number of posts was greatly reduced. When Yue Fei was alive, there were 100,000 "Yue Family Army", while 18 years later, the Ezhou Army's troops were reduced to less than 70,000. During the reign of Emperor Xiaozong, Yu Yunwen, who won the Battle of Quarry, reported that the Jing and E armies were less than 70,000. In his post-war report, he mentioned that many Ezhou generals believed that their army was not good at field battles, and the court further reduced the number.

Later, the Ezhou General Office sent 3,000 troops to suppress the "tea bandit" Lai Wenzheng, and fought against the "little bandits" with only a few hundred people. Half of them died in half a year, including more than 110 deaths, and most of the others fled. The Yue family army, which was invincible in the past and had strict discipline, has now escaped in groups. This is still the selection of troops to be put into actual combat, and the remaining combat effectiveness can be imagined.

In addition, Tian Shizhong, who was the culprit, was particularly good at speculation and made friends with eunuchs. He was able to control the Ezhou army for 20 years by bribery, and even Zhang Jun was dismissed from office. During his tenure as commander, the harmonious military-civilian relationship between the military and civilians in Yue Fei's era no longer existed. Tian took the lead in capturing men to supplement his military status and ordered them like slaves, so that the people were self-harm in order to exempt them from military service. However, relying on Zhao Gou's favor, such people were able to retire with full salary amid the impeachment of the ministers.

In addition, the integrity of the Yue Family Army was also corrupted. Hao Sheng, the deputy commander of the Central Army, who had made contributions under Yue Fei, bribed his superiors 300 taels of gold and exchanged his official position as the prefect of Xiangyang. Because of this, during the two northern expeditions of Longxing and Kaixi in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Ezhou Army, located at the core of the central theater, had no meritorious results. People at the time commented that "a journey of tens of thousands of empty spaces, a full meal to compete for the day." The army's spirit has been lost and is no longer worthy of the title of "Yue Family Army".

After that, in order to enhance military strength, the court established new troops of various names. The proportion of the former Ezhou garrison in the regular army continued to shrink, and it fell out of the ranks of the main forces, which was no different from the imperial guards of various wing troops. Although the Ezhou Commander's Office still maintained its organization, it had only more than 5,000 troops under its jurisdiction, and made little achievements in the Song and Mongolia War. When the Mongolian Army advanced to Ezhou, Cheng Pengfei, the last commander of Jing and E, actually led his army to surrender and participated in the war of pacifying Jiangnan and Annan in the Yuan Dynasty. This was the ending of the bloodline troops of Yue Family Army...

"High officials are corrupt, and soldiers are filled with soldiers and refugees and forced strong men. If they win, they will be a strange story. If Yue Wumu Jiuquan knows, I am afraid that they can only sigh to the sky!" Chen Fenglin shook his head and said with a wry smile.

"When I was in Qiongzhou, the financial difficulties were in financial difficulties, and the military expenditure was extremely tight. Someone wrote a letter to ask the navy to traffic in goods, and the infantry reclaimed grain fields, which was rejected by me. After the recovery of Jiangnan, the military expenditure was huge, and someone wrote a letter to garrison troops along the river to support themselves and participate in the operation, which was rejected by me." Zhao Bing said, "Don't I know the financial difficulties? I'm afraid that I know much about it in the court, but I have been gritting my teeth and struggling to hold on. I would rather use the funds in the warehouse as military expenditure than let the army do business, just worrying about repeating the same mistakes!"

"I know your majesty's hardships. At that time, the mansion was only 30,000 yuan, but Your Majesty also gave everyone a full meal and had a lot of salary. Now Your Majesty is just like that, and he paid for his meals in the army by himself. He never occupied a penny of military expenses. His military uniforms were also replaced with the army, and he never took one more piece." Zhao Mengjin said with tears in his eyes.

"I am angry today because I am worried that you will be involved in it, and I don't want to learn from Zhuge Kongming that he blew his tears into killing Ma Su." Zhao Bing seemed to be infected by his emotions and drank the wine in the glass, "All of them here are my confidant generals, who have followed me for many years. If you want to take off your armor and return to the field, I can give you a lot of money to get back to your hometown to enjoy happiness. But as long as you are in the army for one day, you must abide by military discipline and keep yourself clean. If you commit crimes and military laws, you will be ruthless!"

"Your Majesty, the Central Plains has not yet returned, and my subordinates are still willing to follow him to the death. They will never be greedy!" Everyone understood now. The little emperor was caring and warning. Zhao Mengjin and others stood up and bowed deeply...

Zhao Bing returned to the post and ordered Zheng Huchen to secretly investigate the smuggling participants and smuggling passages, whether there were any officials in the court, and reported it quickly after verification; on the other hand, he ordered Jiang Xi to order Jiang Jin to strictly investigate the leaks of the river and crack down on smuggling; and ordered Chen Renweng and Dong Yicheng to conduct strict inspections on the river surface and offshore waters. When they found that ships in Jiangbei entered the waterway, they would block them. Those who did not obey the orders could sink them. Those who smuggled food and silver in the south of the Yangtze River, and those who smuggled copper and iron were treated as the enemy.
Chapter completed!