"Didn't you tell me before that the situation of empty pay was serious and the shortage of personnel in the army was serious?"
Zhao Gou looked at the Privy Council's report and asked Wang Lun who came to submit the report: "Why doesn't it look like that? It seems that the situation is not that serious. Are you lying to me?"
"I don't dare. It's just that the situation of each army is different. Some armies are more seriously short of personnel, while others are not. The Privy Council has informed Your Majesty of the current situation."
Wang Lun whispered.
Zhao Gou flipped through a few more pages and then put the report down.
"It's not that easy for you Privy Council to make this list, right? Officials in the officialdom protect each other, and it's your Privy Council's turn... Could it be that this is another move to abandon the car to protect the commander? The real situation is far worse than What I know is more serious?”
Zhao Gou looked at Wang Lun, as if he could see through his entire being.
Wang Lun felt nervous and lowered his head to avoid Zhao Gou's sight.
"Your Majesty, I don't dare!"
"I don't care whether you dare or not. I have handed over the affairs of the Privy Council to you, and I have also handed over my powers to you. Now all I want is the results. You can deceive me, you can deceive me, and I won't know about it at ordinary times anyway, but Once the war starts, if things get to the worst, Wang Lun, you have to be prepared. Resigning will not solve this matter."
Zhao Gou continued to stare at Wang Lun, making Wang Lun's scalp numb.
What Zhao Gou said makes sense. Resigning will not solve this matter. If things come to the worst, such as a war, then no matter what the outcome, Wang Lun will not end well.
It can only be said that if you win, it will be better than losing.
Zhao Gou was already threatening him openly.
So Wang Lun felt that he still had to fight for it a little bit.
"Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty's military strength is recognized by the world. If the two countries go to war, it will be difficult for the Song Dynasty to gain the upper hand. Only by sticking to one route can we gain some advantages. Only when the Ming Dynasty suffers natural or man-made disasters or lacks food and grass can we win. "
"After all that, you still want to say that I should accept the conditions of the Ming Dynasty and give the Ming Dynasty coins, right?"
Zhao Gou sneered and said: "You know how much the Ming Dynasty requires, right? Just like the Jin Kingdom, 250,000 taels of silver and 250,000 pieces of silk cloth. Not to mention silk cloth, do you know how much silver the Song Dynasty can get in a year? Okay? Almost everything we get will be handed over to the Ming Dynasty. We can’t keep much silver at all. Do you know what this means to the Song Dynasty? We will die of copper coins."
Of course Wang Lun knew all this. He had also been opposed to Sui coins from the bottom of his heart. He knew what kind of impact this would have on the economy of the Song Dynasty, but... But there was nothing we could do about it!
"Your Majesty, that's not what I meant. I just meant that the country's military is strong. It is not the best idea to confront it rashly."
"Otherwise this battle won't be fought, how about you pay me some coins?"
Zhao Gou suddenly made such an interesting suggestion, which scared Wang Lun's eyes.
If this were to happen, even if he sold his whole family, he wouldn't be able to afford a year's worth of money. Being so rich that he could rival his country was just an exaggerated rhetorical device! Under the rule of the dynasty, whoever dares to be truly wealthy and rivals the country is not far away from being raided and executed.
"Your Majesty, this..."
Zhao Gou's face was expressionless.
"Aren't you willing? You're not willing, so why do you think I'm willing?"
Wang Lun remained silent.
"The Ming Dynasty's request is impossible to accept. I don't care what method you use. If the Ming Dynasty is really crazy and wants to invade the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty must win!"
With strong uneasiness in his heart, Wang Lun left the palace and returned to the Privy Council Office. He saw Ye Yiwen and Zhou Linzhi who were equally anxious and uneasy.
Now, they are grasshoppers on the same rope. No matter what the outcome is, they must bear joint and several liability, and no one can escape.
Looking at the longing looks in their eyes, Wang Lun shook his head.
"Your Majesty will never give Ming Dynasty coins when he is angry."
Hearing what Wang Lun said, Ye Yiwen and Zhou Linzhi slumped down on their chairs with despair on their faces.
"Do you really want to go to war with the Ming Dynasty?"
"Is it impossible? Your Majesty will not make such a decision, right?"
Wang Lun sat down on the chair, feeling exhausted.
"I also hope this is false, but it is true, you two, this time, we are in danger."
The three of them fell into a long silence.
After a while, Zhou Linzhi suddenly came to his senses.
"Then the military report we gave to His Majesty...the situation in the army, what should we... do?"
Ye Yiwen also looked at Wang Lun.
Wang Lun just smiled bitterly.
He is very clear about the situation in the army. Things like empty pay are common and cannot be solved by a famous general or veteran general. In the army, it is not entirely the general who has the final say, and the general does not have the energy to take care of it. everyone.
Even if the general does not take free pay, it will be difficult to control all his subordinates not to take free pay, unless everyone is the kind of honest and honest general.
Does such a general exist?
Since Yue Fei's death, do such generals still exist?
After his death, will an army that does not live on empty wages still exist?
If empty pay is not a serious problem, then isn’t the preparation and training of the army a problem?
Not to mention one particularly tricky thing.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was difficult to raise military salaries. The hastily established small court of the Southern Song Dynasty could not afford the military salaries of the national army. In order to solve this problem, Zhao Gou allowed the army to solve part of the military salaries by itself, through doing business.
Therefore, at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the four generals of ZTE, including Yue Fei, had a considerable part of their own military pay and did not completely rely on the court.
One of the reasons why the Yue family's army was so well-disciplined, capable of conquering and fighting without plundering was that Yue Fei employed people properly, was successful in business, and had a rich army income.
Moreover, Yue Fei himself was honest and frugal enough, and never lived extravagantly. Most of his income from business was invested in the army, which was enough to feed, clothe, and train the main battle soldiers.
At this point, Su Yonglin still followed some of Yue Fei's practices, using various means to earn military expenses, contribute to the army, and spend a lot of money on the army.
Although this problem can be solved now, it is even more difficult to expect the army to spit out such a big piece of fat.
They will only accept more military pay from the court, and maintain their own hematopoietic ability, turning the original hard need for self-reliance into a soft need for improving their lives, but they are still needs, and are even regarded as additional benefits for military generals. .
You won't give it anymore?
Why?
Not to mention the ten local garrison armies, didn't the imperial army in Lin'an City participate in these actions to gain profits?
There are all of them, but they are usually not spoken about externally.
Many military generals are focused on making money through business and living a luxurious life, and their lives are better than those of some well-paid civilian officials. How easy is it to expect them to focus on military training?
And once you are rich, your life is better, your family has more money, and you have a wife who lives in one house after another, who is willing to go to the battlefield and fight for your life?
Just like Li Chengliang, the general in the late Ming Dynasty. When he first started his career, he led his troops to fight fiercely and bloody battles, and gained great fame. When his status is high, he has more money, and he is rich, who would still want one or two? What about risking a fight to the death?
It is not that no one is aware of the disadvantages of doing so. They have repeatedly requested the imperial court to prohibit the army from "self-reliance" and to regain control of the army's financial problems.
But others don't know, doesn't the Privy Council know how difficult it is to do this?
If you want Song Jun to spit out what he has eaten, then you must have a weapon more powerful than the knives they have.
do you have?
All in all, the current Song Army is an "all-round development" army that is good at all aspects except fighting. It is impossible to turn it back into a "professional army" in the short term.
The Privy Council bosses, who deeply understood the problems involved, did not dare to break these things into pieces and explain them clearly to Zhao Gou.
Of course, even if he makes it clear, what can Zhao Gou do with his "prestige" in the army?
His prestige is not as good as that of Zhao Guangyi, who died in the army. After all, Zhao Guangyi went to the front line and fought with the Liao people with real swords and guns.
Zhao Gou is not Su Yonglin. He can ruin the country he built with his own hands as much as he wants, but Zhao Gou can't.
However, this time, Zhao Gou didn't know what was going on. He suddenly became strong and wanted to fight.
You have obviously been soft on Jin Guo for so many years, why did you suddenly become hard on yourself?
Wang Lun was puzzled.
