The military parade that Zheng Lang mentioned was a killing of two birds with one stone.

The first is morale.

After the army was reorganized and the army was deregulated, the military expenses still accounted for more than 60% of the Song Dynasty's expenses. This military expenses were not only the food and wages paid to the soldiers, but also the cost of armor and weapons manufacturing and maintenance, logistics supply and transportation, various materials used by the army, the maintenance costs of various villages and forts on the border, buying horses and raising horses, etc. The military expenses were large, but only accounted for half of them, but this half could support a large number of banish soldiers, foreign soldiers, township soldiers and wing soldiers, as well as various strong men and archers, and Baoding's care.

The court spent a lot of money, but it was limited to the individual. Even soldiers were divided into different levels, and the salary was different. The soldiers in front wings were reorganized, and the upper ones only gave only three to five hundred coins, while the lower ones only gave only three hundred coins for pickles and salt. The lower ones were given only three hundred coins, but there were other treatments, even the lower ones were better than the upper ones. The upper ones were given seven hundred coins for the monthly salary, and the other treatments were doubled. The upper ones were filled with the children of various nobles, the upper ones were paid a monthly salary of one hundred and thirty-fifth battalions of the top wings, and the other treatments were doubled.

The latter's annual salary and various benefits are almost 60 yuan. With this income, they will naturally not have to worry about food and clothing. Moreover, their family background is good, so they even have to call the people to be porters when moving a luggage. These people entered the army, not to serve as soldiers, but to be young masters.

Some middle and lower-level imprisoned soldiers earn only thirty or forty yuan a year, and can only barely support their family. If they are not good, they will meet a greedy general who will be deducted from them at all levels, so they have to let their wife be a military prostitute. If their wife looks ugly, they can only think of other ideas all day long to support the family. In other words, those who can support the family have no combat power or combat effectiveness because of their livelihood and do not have the mind to fight and train.

What's even more terrible is that the Song Dynasty valued culture and over military affairs, and both military generals and soldiers were discriminated against by society. Therefore, there is a proverb among the people that if you like iron, you will not be a nail, and a hero will not be a soldier.

It is better after the reform, but Zheng Lang also has various concerns and dare not take too much steps. These disadvantages still exist. Including the deduction of food and salary, it can only be said that there are fewer generals and school students who are able to and martial arts, and some strong men with ability and martial arts have gradually become middle and lower-level generals and school students, and their combat effectiveness is improving.

Zheng Lang even once settled the family of the Imperial Army into the suburbs, reducing the living costs of the Imperial Army and making the Imperial Army feel at ease. However, it is impossible to correct them all.

Better yet soldiers were still inferior professions in the Song Dynasty.

This military parade allowed the people to see the majesty of the Song army. It allowed more people to identify with the Song army, increase the pride and enthusiasm of the soldiers, and also increase some morale. Then the chance of victory in the future Congress battle was added.

It seems to be a reason. But Zhao Xu was a little suspicious. He was talking about the candidate for prime minister, not the morale of the warriors.

Zheng Lang also said: "Your Majesty, it is important to take over the candidate for the Success of Wu Xianggong. But one thing is more important. The economic collapse of the Western Xia Dynasty, the conflict between the Imperial Party and the Empress Party will intensify, and the timing will come. The destruction of Xia is much more ten times more important than the candidate for the replacement of Wu Chong."

Zhao Xu nodded.

For this battle, even in the Renzong era, it was possible to use 500,000 soldiers from various banned foreign villages. If the number of civilians was added, it would be more, and the amount of money would be used was even more massive. Once it failed, the consequences would be unimaginable.

Zheng Lang also said: "War is a major plan for life and death in the country. We must be careful. If the top and the bottom are not united, it is not conducive to war, let alone a war to destroy the country. When Li Jiqian was not yet in a state of chaos, our dynasty had not succeeded in conquering, and now Xixia has become a climate. This not only requires the courage of the soldiers, but also requires the unity of the whole country. If we even disagree with the military parade to increase morale, once the war begins, we will not agree, and we will not agree."

It is more implicit, not talking about dragging one's back or using a hidden arrow, but rather saying that it does not agree.

But Zhao Xu understood and sighed, "It's good."

This conversation was a private conversation between the king and the minister, and no one else knew about it. The next day, Zheng Lang raised the military parade again, and told the reasons before, but did not mention the latter.

There are also many convenient places. In order to confuse the Western Xia and the Khitan, Zhang Feng went to the northwest, but transferred Liu Changzuo and other generals back to the capital to reorganize the army. The Song Dynasty's imperial guards were mainly concentrated in the capital area, and held a military parade without too much mobilization.

But Zheng Lang said it first, and then he was opposed by Lu Dafang and Wang Gui.

Lu Dafang believed that there was no need to parade military exercises, which would waste a lot of money, destroy the family rules of the ancestors, and make the generals look up again.

The previous reason is not important. Just because the soldiers in the capital are parade, even if they use money and silk, they will not be too much. Tens of thousands of shreds are enough. This amount of money is within the scope of the court's tolerance. The latter reason is what Lu Dafang said deep in his heart.

But Wang Gui gave a reason that Zheng Lang unexpectedly.

The Imperial Road in Kaifeng City is 200 steps wide, which is the most ideal place for military parade, but the end point is Xuande Gate. A military parade uses tens of thousands of people. If there is any mistake, the country will be in turmoil. Even if there is no mistake, it will be a bad start. If there are any unlucky people among the future generations to study, the court will be in danger.

This is a fallacy. Who has the ability to completely control tens of thousands of troops to cause trouble under the system of the Song Dynasty? With this ability, why do you need to control tens of thousands of soldiers in the military parade? As long as you control hundreds of soldiers in the defense of the Great Wall, you can realize your ambitions in your heart. Wouldn't that be even less risky?

In fact, like Lu Dafang, he was worried that Zheng Lang's step-by-step motivation would lead to another tragedy of the Tang Dynasty. To put it further, he was not spontaneously protecting the interests of the literati and officials. The world was great, and the literati and officials must be the greatest.

But thinking further downwards makes people feel unhappy. Many people in the Song Dynasty wanted to destroy the Western Xia, which is well known. However, thinking is different from doing it. The Song people not only want to destroy the Western Xia, but also want to destroy the Khitan. Do they have this ability? For example, the Khitan, some people want to destroy the Song Dynasty and unify the world. Is it possible? In fact, the Song Dynasty is already preparing to take action, but for the sake of the Khitan and the Western Xia, only a few bigwigs know about it so far.

The beginning of the Song Dynasty's attack on Xia, that is, when Zheng Lang resigned from the prime minister, these bigwigs also knew that in other words, Zheng Lang might have been in the prime minister for less than a year and spent only tens of thousands of dollars. It was not a system change, so why can't we give in? Besides, Zheng Lang led the attack on Xia, and his success was the result of the master, and he had to retreat. Failure would be left to be accused of being in history. Zheng Lang must be very cautious, why can't he understand?

Today, with Zheng Lang's teachings, Zhao Xu was mature in his mind, but he didn't say anything. Zheng Lang also didn't speak, shifting the topic to other aspects.

The two of them did not speak, and both Lu and Wang were not good at nagging anymore, but some smart bosses were a little confused and a little wrong. Over the years, Zheng Lang had major measures, and they all discussed them in the capital. This was intended to cultivate the democratic style of the Song Dynasty and not to make a single man. Many times, people disagree with all kinds of measures, and then Zheng Lang gradually persuaded and even revised the plan, and the serious ones could be rejected. He never put on airs, making the prime minister not like the prime minister, but rather a criminal. Of course, it was this low-key style that made Zhao Xu and Gao Taotao trust very much, and the ministers below admired him. But why did he only mention it this time and then there was no convincing him?

This matter was skipped.

Then the Khitan sent envoys to Song and brought many gifts. Yelu Hongji was very dark at this time. Even when he selected ministers, he made a ridiculous move, dividing ministers into A, B, C, D and Six. Then he rolled the dice, one was A, and the other was B. When he threw it, he chose A, and when he threw it, he chose B. But Yelu Hongji was not a fool. Food was the top priority for every country in this backward era. The envoy of the Song Dynasty went to celebrate the New Year's Day and brought Zhao Xu's edict. Yelu Hongji was overjoyed and sent envoys to Beijing with many Haidongqing and horses, as well as other gifts. Big nephew, you are very good. Our two countries are brothers, etc. Zhao Xu received them with anger.

There was no way, he was better, Zhao Xu took office and became a grandson.

The Khitan envoy came, one was to express his gratitude, and the other was to observe whether these crops were the same. Also, some old farmers were hired to go to the Khitan. The rice introduced by the Song Dynasty from Japan was sent to the Khitan, but some people in the Khitan could grow rice, so they had to ask someone to go to Liaodong for guidance from the Song Dynasty.

It is not yet time to mature, but the growth of various crops is quite gratifying.

Zhang Fangping took these envoys to the suburbs to take a look, and then said one thing, that is, the harvest cannot be handed over to the Khitan, because the seeds introduced from the other side of the ocean have an adaptive evolution process, and at least in the next year, they can be truly handed over to the Khitan. In recent years, the Song Dynasty has cultivated and improved seeds, and the world has spread. The Khitan also knew that Zhang Fangping's statement was very reasonable. The four envoys witnessed the Song Dynasty sent someone to take care of these crops with their own eyes, and then they left the Song Dynasty with satisfaction.

At this moment, the court suddenly issued an order to release Wang Gui and Lu Dafang, referring to Zhang Fangping as Pingzhang, Fan Chunren and Zhang Yu as the political affairs officer, Zhang Shangying and Xue Xiang as the deputy envoy of the Privy Council, and Lu Gongbi and Zhang Dun as the Privy Councilor. Zhang Yu was promoted because of the Zheng Xia case. Under Zheng Langmo's observation, the Zheng Xia case was left unresolved, but Zhang Yu did not let it go. He secretly investigated and found that it was Feng Jing's instigation that Zheng Xia had the courage. In fact, it was Feng Jing who instigated him, but there were others. If the Zheng Xia case and Wang Anshi were dismissed, he would not know.

How many officials will be implicated, but what is the effect of revealing can only cause the literati to have a more serious division. Moreover, Gao Taotao takes all her husband's face and does not want to reveal it at all. The Zheng Xia case did not involve others. On the contrary, because Fu Bi was Feng Jing's father-in-law, Zhang Yu impeached Feng Jing, which led to Fu Bi stepping down and went to Luoyang to retire. This was what happened to Zheng Lang in the northwest. Although Zheng Lang opposed it, he could not stop it. The East Palace has now become Han Jiang, Zhang Fangping, Zheng Lang, Fan Chunren, Zhang Yu, and the West Palace has become Lu Gongbi, Zhang Dun, Zeng Xiaokuan, Xue Xiang, and Zhang Shangying.

This time, the ministers of the two prefectures were greatly mobilized.

It has nothing to do with the military parade. Even Wang and Lu themselves did not expect that the military parade would become the touchstone of their career, but this candidate.

Zheng Lang has been in power since now, and has been implementing a policy of disturbing each other. However, this time there has been an extremely dark change. Fan Chunren is a student of Zheng Lang, Zhang Fangping is a friend of Zheng Lang, Han Jiang and Zhang Dun are Zheng Lang loyal, Xue Xiang and Zhang Yan are Wang Anshi, and they are firm reformists. Xue Xiang was also a subordinate of Zheng Lang when he was in Hangzhou, and Zeng Gongliang was a friend of Zheng Lang. Therefore, Zeng Xiaokuan respects Zheng Lang very much and almost treats him with his father's courtesy. Zheng Lang has not had much contact with Zhang Shangying, but Zhang Shangying was promoted by Zheng Lang, and only one Lu Gongbi is also ambiguous because of the relationship between Zheng and Lu families.

The two current governments are almost the same as Zheng Lang's one-man show.

Did Zheng Lang fall in his later years?

Then the second imperial edict caused another noise.

Xiao Jun and Princess Shushou made a marriage. Two years later, Princess Shushou married Xiao Jun, who was Yelu Jun, but this matter was more confidential. The outside world believed that he was the third adopted son taken in by Zheng Lang. It was not impossible for the ruling prime minister's son to marry the princess. The princess of the Song Dynasty was not that precious, but as a powerful minister, he stayed in the prime minister and asked his son to marry the princess, which also destroyed the ancestral legal system.

Just when these two imperial edicts were in a big fight, a piece of news was circulating, and Zheng Lang would soon resign as prime minister.

Zheng Lang stayed in the prime minister, and it was not good for his adopted son to marry the princess, but he resigned as prime minister and his son would marry the princess. Because of this change, he became a relative of the foreigner. Resigning from the prime minister would also fade out of the political situation.

In fact, it was not very good to propose this joint marriage and put Yelu Jun out of the front desk at this time. But due to the disputes among the people, Zheng Lang had to do it. He wanted to go on, but it was not really retired. He had to go on the Western Xia. He had to take charge of the Western Xia, especially when the Xia Dynasty was attacked. He would command hundreds of thousands of troops, plus his influence. He was worried that Gao Taotao would have any ideas. When he proposed the joint marriage, people do not know Yelu Jun's identity and think that he was his adopted son, which was the favor of the royal family. If Zheng Lang had any bad ideas, the soldiers would be disgusted and they would lose the conditions to develop ambitions.

Also, he was in the position of prime minister. Whether it was Han Jiang, Fan Chunren, Zhang Fangping, Zhang Yu, Zhang Dun, Zeng Xiaokuan, Xue Xiang, Zhang Shangying, he could all be united. But after Zheng Lang resigned from the position, could Zhang Fangping listen to Wang Anshi? Can Han Jiang listen to Zhang Fangping? Can Fan Chunren listen to Han Jiang? Then the court will once again form a "good" situation of loose sand.

It can only be said that after these ministers took office, they could ensure that the reform continued to be implemented. Even during the reshuffle of the two governments, Wang Anshi did not enter the two governments, which made many people breathe a sigh of relief.

In fact, Zheng Lang did not participate in this reshuffle. Zheng Lang could understand Zhao Xu's intentions. Zhao Xu was even more afraid of failure in attacking Xia. He was about to leave after his success. Zhao Xu simply had a major reshuffle to relieve himself. However, Zheng Lang was not very satisfied with the candidate. For example, Zhang Yu and Zeng Xiaokuan had limited talents, but Zhang Yu's mind was not only limited, but his mind was also very narrow, far less than the deputy prime minister Yuan Jiang who had been dismissed last year. However, Yuan Jiang stepped down because his son Qining and Yu Fan of the Taixue sued the doctor for bribery, implicated Yuan Qining, and Yuan Jiang operated, so that Yuan Qining was exempted from prison. The censor was impeached and was dismissed from the prime minister and left Qingzhou. Zheng Lang reorganized the three-mo surveillance and second-level support, which was to leave the officials' ethics. If Yuan Jiang was recalled again, it would have some bad effects.

Moreover, Zhang Fangping and Wang Anshi have always been in a state of disagreement because of different political views. But who can they use if they don’t use Zhang Fangping? Fortunately, since Wang Rong’s death, Wang Anshi has been a little depressed and no longer as stubborn and radical as before. Zhang Fangping is not as difficult as Sima Guang. Before he went down, he still had time to resolve the conflict for them.

At this moment, Sima Guang wrote a letter to Zheng Lang, obscuringly opposing Zheng Lang's suppression of Wang Gui. After all, based on Wang Gui's previous performance, he was a very loyal elder. Zheng Lang was dumbfounded after seeing it. Wang Gui was honest? If he were honest, Cai would not have been killed by Wang Gui in history.

If you just let go, what kind of suppression can it be? In fact, there is only one person who suppressed Zheng Lang, including Liu Zhi and Zheng Lang, who did not want to suppress it. No one would have thought of this person, that is Cai Jing. The growth process is different and his mind is different, but we cannot ignore his nature. After the reform, the style of literati and official officials of the next generation gradually improved, and moderates will also gain the upper hand in the future. It is best for Cai Jing to become better, but I am afraid that he will still be like in history. It will be a Gu mother placed among a group of sheep, and the harm will be greater. Therefore, Zheng Lang did not dare to bet. Under his secret dispatch, Cai Jing has been serving as a local official in the south. In fact, Cai Jing has faded out of the vision of the big bosses in recent years.

This is the real suppression.

Is the others worth Zheng Lang’s action?

Some people also asked Zheng Lang if he had the idea of ​​withdrawing from politics. After getting the accurate answer, many scholars and officials were in a state of dismay. After all, Zheng Lang was like a pillar of the sky, supporting the Song Dynasty. What variables would the loss of Zheng Lang bring to the Song Dynasty?

Under these major events, no one paid attention to the Dragon Boat Festival parade.

The so-called military parade is to gather soldiers and walk around the Imperial Street in an orderly manner. Moreover, in order to continue to confuse the Western Xia Khitan, Zheng Lang proposed to expand the shares of the bank. Once the shares are expanded, the court also needs to prepare a large amount of principal, so there will be no cost of war.

Of course, this stock expansion is fake.

The Dragon Boat Festival is approaching and the military parade begins. The heavy armored cavalry first. Although the heavy armored cavalry is heavy, it is not small. The Song Dynasty also set up some, but it is mainly light cavalry. After the heavy armored cavalry, there are all kinds of light cavalry, infantry, and weapons. The Song army has long attached great importance to combat formations, and the actual effect is doubtful, but it has one function. The formation is very neat and a little training can achieve the effect of walking in the square formation during the military parade.

The soldiers walked in an orderly manner, and while walking, the mountains shouted long live the Song Dynasty and his Majesty. After spending some money, it really inspired the morale and pride of the soldiers. But there were not many scholars and officials who knew the truth. Like Lu Dafang, they were worried that the military power would slowly rise under the promotion of Zheng Lang, so many verbal officials successively criticized the military parade.

But is it true? At least he still has prestige now, and what he does is gradually recognized and recognized by more people. And under the reshuffle of the two government leaders, there are so many polite ministers who wrote letters. Zheng Lang sat at home and thought about this issue carefully. Suddenly he thought of a terrible and unsolvable truth, that is, one of the most serious disadvantages in the core of Confucianism. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!