Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 465 Fight for support
At this time, Fan Ning looked at the sky and saw that it was getting late, so he smiled at Zhao Zhongzhen and said, "Talk about the arrangements for these two days, I went to meet Han Qi and Xianggong Han today, we need the support of money and land, He promised to fight for it as much as possible, and you will urge him tomorrow.

In addition, it is best to visit Mr. Cao in the evening to gain his support. By the way, ask him to help you contact the military camp. It is best to go to investigate tomorrow afternoon, which will help you write a report tomorrow night. "

"Going tonight?"

Fanning nodded, "Go tonight!"

Zhao Zhongzhen hesitated, "I was thinking, should I tell my father first?"

"How long has it been since you saw your father?"

"About two months!"

Zhao Zhongzhen sighed and said, "Actually, I didn't tell him what happened in the palace."

"It's the same with this matter. I think your father has been watching you silently. He knows many things that happened in the palace. If he wants to know something, he will notify you."

Zhao Zhongzhen nodded silently, "I understand, I will go to Cao's mansion tonight, but won't Shijun go with me?"

He looked up at Fanning expectantly.

Fan Ning laughed, "Of course I want to go with you. It's just that you are the nominal leader of this matter, so it's better for you to contact me. I can send someone to deliver the letter for you."

Zhao Zhongzhen breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay! I'll write a greeting card now."

After all, he is only 12 years old, and he can't face many things independently like an adult.

Zhao Zhongzhen wrote a letter of greeting, and Fan Ning asked Zhu Bao to go to Cao's mansion, and handed this letter of greeting to Cao's mansion together with his own.

Fan Ning ate dinner in the money shop and asked shopkeeper Liu to arrange a carriage. He and Zhao Zhongzhen got into the carriage and went to Cao's mansion.

It was getting dark, and the carriage was slowly driving along the East Street.

At this time, Fan Ning asked: "I'm a little confused today, why do the officials ask me if I know martial arts? Does Your Highness know why?"

Zhao Zhongzhen thought for a while and smiled: "I think the original idea of ​​the emperor's grandfather was to let you serve as the magistrate of Zhending and the defense envoy of Hebei West Road, not to go to Yingtianfu."

"What!" Fanning was taken aback, why did he let himself go to the border?

"Really?"

Zhao Zhongzhen laughed, "I don't know, once the emperor's grandfather mentioned it by chance, he said that you can't stay in a comfortable place, go to Kunzhou first, and then go to Zhending Mansion, he suggested that you practice martial arts well, We will fight the Liao army in the future."

"Even if we start a war with the Liao army, I don't need to go to the battlefield, okay? I'm handsome, but I'm not a general. As long as I can ride a horse, I will be fine."

Fanning suddenly came to his senses, "No wonder he asked me if I could ride a horse."

"That's right, the imperial grandfather really wants you to go to the frontier."

Fan Ning bit his lip lightly, "But let me go to Yingtian Mansion anyway, probably because he wants me to do something in Yingtian Mansion!"

"Uncle Fan, I really want this reform to succeed!" Zhao Zhongzhen whispered after a moment of silence.

Fanning glanced at his eyes, and saw that there was a maturity and stubbornness in his eyes that did not match his age.

A boy who is only 12 years old has already started to have his own ideals and aspirations.

Fan Ning said earnestly: "The reason why I told you that the success of the reform is a surprise, and the failure is expected, is not to say that the reform of the Jingdong Road Xiangjun will fail this time. On the contrary, I have [-]% certainty that the reform will succeed." It was successful, but what I am most worried about is that I am afraid that it will mislead you and make you think that the reform is very simple, just like a county magistrate can manage a county well, but it must not be said that he can manage the world well because of this. Difficulty, not because Jingdong Road is difficult, but because the reform of the whole world is very difficult, and there are too many interests that need to be touched, and you will know later."

A trace of doubt flashed in Zhao Zhongzhen's eyes, he didn't understand what "I'll know later" means?
Cao Cong warmly received Fan Ning and Zhao Zhongzhen's arrival. Just an hour ago, a decree came out from the Ouchi, and Zhao Zhongzhen was granted the title of King of Liang County and stayed behind in Nanjing to inspect Jingdong Road on behalf of the emperor.

Anyone who knows a little bit about the situation in the imperial court knows what it means for Zhao Zhongzhen to be made the king of the county. You must know that the biggest supporter of Zhao Wenyun's faction is the emperor Zhao Zhen, and the subtle change in the attitude of the emperor Zhao Zhen is very important to every minister. A strong signal.

Of course, Zhao Zhongzhen was crowned King of Liang, which was at the same level as Zhao Wenyun's King of Langya, which meant that he had already caught up with Zhao Wenyun. If he was crowned King of Liang, then the dust would really be settled.

Anyway, Cao Cong was very happy today, and bought wine to entertain the two distinguished guests.

Cao Cong held up his wine glass and smiled at Zhao Zhongzhen: "People are a very precious resource. Many conflicts and conflicts seem to be unsolvable, but if you take a detour and look behind the conflicts, you will find the key to unraveling them?"

Fan Ning said with a smile on the side: "I have a deep understanding of the old man's words. At the beginning, Yang Du firmly controlled the military and political power of Yingtian Mansion. I didn't know where to start. But after analyzing the background of Gu Changwu, the left patrol envoy, I found that he Grandfather turned out to be a former subordinate of Mr. Cao, and in the end, a letter from Mr. Cao helped me open the situation."

Fan Ning's flattery made Cao Cong laugh happily. Seeing that he was full of emotions, Fan Ning winked at Zhao Zhongzhen.

Zhao Zhongzhen said casually: "Actually, Mr. Fan and I came to visit Mr. Cao Ge today, and we are asking Mr. Ge for help."

"You said, as long as I can find a way, I will do my best to help."

Zhao Zhongzhen talked about the situation of preparing to carry out the pilot reform in the Jingdong Road Xiangjun.

Cao Cong's face became serious. Although Zhao Zhongzhen repeatedly emphasized that it was only a pilot project, Cao Cong sensitively discerned the political trend in it. The emperor was dissatisfied with the army and wanted to use the army as the first knife for the reform.

Redundant soldiers are the first of the three redundant soldiers in the Song Dynasty. Calculated based on the average monthly salary of four guanqian per soldier, the annual military salary expenditure is 120 guanqian. The 6000 million troops in the Song Dynasty have a military salary of one year. The burden is more than [-] million yuan, as well as the food, drink, food, housing and transportation of soldiers throughout the year, as well as military-related expenditures such as armor manufacturing, weapon development, barracks construction, and horse breeding.

However, the annual fiscal revenue of the Song Dynasty is only less than 8000 million yuan, and the army alone consumes more than half of it. However, with such an astonishing military expenditure, the combat effectiveness of the Song Army is getting worse and worse. Everyone knows where the problem lies. Wastage accounted for at least half of it, and the result was that military spending was getting higher and higher, but soldiers were getting more and more miserable.

Cao Cong also understands these problems, but how many people's interests will be involved in the military reform. If Zhao Zhongzhen implements it, I am afraid he will become the common enemy of the entire army and offend too many people. Strong resentment, which led to the army's disapproval of Zhao Zongshi.

Cao Cong was really in a dilemma, he really didn't want Zhao Zhongzhen to take over this hot job, for a while, Cao Cong fell silent.

Fan Ning saw Cao Cong's embarrassment, and persuaded him: "Mr. Cao Ge, this is a question asked by the emperor for His Highness. It is very important to His Highness's future. It doesn't matter what the result will be. The key is whether His Highness Do it with your heart, how to do it?"

Cao Cong finally understood a little bit, and asked with wide eyes: "You mean, the reform of Jingdong Road this time is related to"

Fanning nodded slowly, "Indeed!"

"In this way, if you don't do it, you have to do it. So where do you plan to start?"

Zhao Zhongzhen shook his head, "I haven't figured it out yet, I'd better ask Mr. Fan to tell you!"

Fan Ning said conveniently: "We plan to start by clearing up the old, weak and remnant soldiers. Xiang soldiers over 40 years old will return to their hometowns, and each person will be compensated with [-] acres of land as a pension."

Fan Ning set the retirement line at 40 years old after repeated consideration. The life expectancy of ordinary people in the Song Dynasty was more than 40 years old, so there is a saying that life is [-] years old. If you retire at [-] years old, you can give [-] acres of land old age.

This is also the advantage of the pilot project, because it is a pilot project with a small number of people, so there are enough resources for compensation. If the over-limit retirement is implemented all over the world, there will be no compensation of [-] mu of land per capita, and I am afraid that there will be no five mu of land.

Cao Cong nodded slightly. This breakthrough point is not bad. There are compensations. It is only for soldiers. The resistance of generals is relatively low, so it is relatively easy to implement.

Zhao Zhongzhen next to him added: "This is actually the second step, tamping up the actual soldiers, putting an end to airspace pay, and giving generals at all levels a chance to correct their mistakes, and let them check it out first. Before we find out, the military law will be ruthless." gone."

"That's fine. If that's the case, then don't talk about reforms. The word reform is too sensitive. Just talk about cleaning up and rectifying the army. What do you think?"

Fan Ning said with a smile: "Deliberately lowering the difficulty will not benefit His Highness, and the final score will also be lowered."

Cao Cong suddenly realized, "Yes! Yes! Yes! It's because I didn't think carefully."

"In fact, there will still be reforms. I plan to implement the law of war and reduce the nine barracks to four barracks. Each barracks has 5000 soldiers. The generals and soldiers will remain unchanged for a long time, and the organization will not change when they go to the battlefield. , the general does not know the soldier, and the soldier does not know the passivity of the general.”

The Song Dynasty inherited the Tang system. In peacetime, there was one organization, and in wartime, another organization. During combat, it was very chaotic and difficult to coordinate. Fan Ning’s reform wanted to combine the peacetime and wartime organization into one. There are no commanders or all commanders. There are only generals, deputy generals, partial generals, brigade commanders, captains, team leaders, and soldiers. There are simply seven levels. The combat effectiveness of the army.

Cao Cong laughed and said, "It's just an experiment anyway! No matter how it is changed, I will fully support it. Where I need to coordinate, I will definitely come forward and never delay."

Fan Ning said with a smile: "I really need the old man's support for one thing. Can you publish an article in the newspaper in the past two days, denouncing the harm of redundant soldiers to Song Dynasty."

Whether or not to support it is not just lip service, it needs to take practical actions. With the high prestige of the Cao family in the Song army, Cao Cong's article in the newspaper is a clear statement.

Cao Cong pondered for a while and said, "I will try my best to persuade the Shi family, the Gao family, the Han family, the Wang family, and the Pan family. Each of our six families should write an article to support His Royal Highness' reform."

The descendants of Shi Shouxin, Cao Bin, Gao Huaide, Han Zhongyan, Wang Shenqi, and Pan Mei have absolute authority in the Song army, and they all support Zhao Zongshi as the orthodox military weight level character.

They created public opinion for Zhao Zhongzhen's reform in the newspaper. Rather than supporting the reform, they supported Zhao Zhongzhen's succession to the Datong.

(End of this chapter)