Zhao Yu knew that the corruption of officials was a sign of the decline of a regime, but the Great Song Dynasty took the initiative to open the door to corruption for the generals, and the initiator was the founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin, which was widely praised as 'releasing military power with a glass of wine'. The incident itself is indeed a good thing from a simple point of view, from the peaceful transition of the military to the rule of the scholars, without killing a single hero, creating a new situation in history, but it has harmed the descendants of the people.

In history, when "a glass of wine releases military power", Zhao Kuangyin once enlightened the generals and said: Life is short, and the white horse passes by. It is better to accumulate more gold treasures, buy good fields and beautiful houses, and sing and dance girls all year round. In this way, there is no suspicion between the monarch and the minister, and they can have both. The words are already very plain, which means that as long as the generals lay down their arms, do not hold military power, and no longer pose a threat to his Zhao Kuangyin's throne, then everything else is easy to say, and you can do whatever you want.

It can only be seen that when Zhao Kuangyin released the military power, he gave the generals a very generous price, and he was very generous, of course, it was also generous to the country and the nation. Looking at the essence through the phenomenon, Zhao Yu also understood that the so-called release of military power with a glass of wine was actually just Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin starting from consolidating his position and exchanging corruption for military power. In a sense, it can also be said that Zhao Kuangyin issued a 'corruption license' to the entire military general group.

Zhao Kuangyin's practice was very effective, because Zhao Kuangyin adopted the strategy of exchanging corruption for military power, except for two rebellions launched by Li Yun and Li Chongjin, the former ministers of the Later Zhou Dynasty, at the beginning of the founding of the country, since then, within the Great Song Empire, there has never been a political incident similar to the "yellow robe" for more than 300 years.

Some people believe that almost all the founding emperors have killed meritorious heroes, but Song Taizu used peaceful means to relieve the military power without hurting the harmony of the monarch and the ministers, and successfully prevented the military coup d'état.

However, there are often advantages and disadvantages in the world. Because of the "corruption license" issued by the emperor himself as a shelter, since then, the generals have all been corrupt with confidence, and it can be seen that the generals of Taizu are almost all greedy for money and lustful. However, for the Great Song Empire, although it consolidated the central power, it was tantamount to self-destruction of the Great Wall and chronic suicide, which directly caused internal political decay and paid a considerable price.

Now Zhao Hao is tantamount to carrying the blame for the ancestors and wiping their butts for them. It is precisely because he is well aware of the dangers of corruption that he also bought them with money at the beginning of the establishment of the Shuaifu Army, but soon formulated the iron law of 'eight prohibitions' to restrain the generals, and almost abandoned all the senior officers in the old army in the past, because he knew that these people were terminally ill, and the idea of corruption was deeply rooted in the bone marrow, and it was extremely difficult to transform them.

Subsequently, Zhao Hao reorganized the army repeatedly, strengthened military discipline, established a strict reward and punishment system, and maintained a high-pressure posture against corruption, basically curbing the trend of corruption in the army and putting an end to the corrupt behavior of middle and senior officers. However, there were still problems in the local army......

"Wu Shenzhi, the director of the Minjiang Station of the subordinate affairs bureau, see Your Majesty!"

"Yan Fengming, the director of the Minguang Station of the subordinate affairs bureau, see Your Majesty!" When the two saw the little emperor coming in, they immediately saluted and worshipped.

"Stand up, sit down, and talk." Zhao Yu raised his hand to let the two of them be exempt, and sat on the soft couch at the moment, and the two sat down.

"I invited you two here today to ask about the situation of the commanders of the two armies, Wasion and Wynne." Zhao Yu bluntly said the purpose of summoning them, so as not to think too much about the two of them.

"Lord Yan, please in advance!" Wu Shenzhi rushed to Yan Fengming and said politely. Although the two of them belong to the same bureau, they are only famous and have never met, and their names may be fake, and they only recognize the letter when they contact each other, so they never know each other in the same city of Ezhou.

"Your Majesty's question is sudden, I still have to think about it, or Lord Wu asked in advance." Yan Fengming smiled politely.

"Okay, if you lead the chief to the next room to think about it, let's talk about it later." Zhao Yu understood as soon as he heard the two of them resign to each other, although the two of them belonged to the same bureau, they were still wary, one to prevent being betrayed by the other party, and the other to prevent leakage. In fact, this is also the basic skill of an intelligence officer, and only in this way can he live for a long time.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates were ordered to enter the Fujian and Jiangxi regions in Xiangxing for three years, engaged in illicit salt trafficking, and then were ordered to enter the Huai'en Army to lurk, and appointed Sihu to join the army and manage the trading of grain, grass and materials." Wu Shenzhi knew that the bureau was established by His Majesty, and it was their real backstage boss, so of course he didn't dare to hide anything in front of him, so he first introduced his experience clearly.

"Well, it's hard work, our bureau has a lot of important positions in the Wasion Army, why did you just join the army!" Zhao Yu nodded and asked with a smile.

"Your Majesty, don't make fun of your subordinates, we were ordered to incorporate a lot of salt teams back then, but in order to conceal their identities, only peripheral personnel can openly hold military positions, and core personnel hide in the army as staff and low-level officials to monitor the movements of all parties and collect intelligence, and it is not low for subordinates to serve in the army!" Wu Shenzhi said with a smile.

"You're doing a good job, these positions seem to be lowly, but they have easy access to core secrets and are not noticeable." Zhao Yu praised.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your praise!" Wu Shenzhi said.

"Don't have to be Dolly!" Zhao Yu waved his hand and said, "I broke the rules and invited you to come today, I want to know about the situation of the main generals in the army, I want to listen to the truth!" ”

"Yes, the subordinates must know everything!" Wu Shenzhi saluted again, "The Huai'en Army was originally formed on the basis of Mrs. Xu and Huang Hua's righteous army, Huang Hua had already died in battle, and his subordinates were mainly composed of Mrs. Xu. After the reorganization, it was headed by Mrs. Xu and Song Dutong, and the commanders of each ministry occupied half of the forbidden army that originally aided the north, and the following officials were mostly the leaders of the original rebel army and the salt team of the various ministries. After Xie Fu's envoy entered Fujian and Jiangxi, the military and political power was returned to him, but his days in the army were short, his prestige was insufficient, and his influence was weak, and he mainly took care of local government affairs. ”

"Can Mrs. Xu and Song Dutong disobey the imperial edict, embezzlement and fish and meat places?" Zhao Yu nodded and asked again.

"Your Majesty, according to the information obtained by her subordinates, Madame Xu has always been loyal and patriotic, especially after learning that His Majesty posthumously crowned her father and raised his younger brother, she often taught her subordinates to be loyal to Your Majesty. The edicts issued by the imperial court will also be strictly observed, and the subordinates will be urged to implement them, and they will never slack off. Wu Shenzhi immediately replied, "In addition, Mrs. Xu is very good at management, and she used the grain and Qiongzhou salt allocated by the imperial court to earn several times the profit, and added this money to the army, buy weapons and armor, and compensate the fallen soldiers!" ”

"Can they profit from it and use it for their own personal purposes?" Zhao Yu already knew a thing or two about Mrs. Xu's good business, and she was able to make the Xu family a huge rich man through sea trade in just a few years, which shows that she has the ability. He has no objection to the use of public funds to run businesses in order to improve the conditions of the troops, but it is another matter if he puts money in his own pocket.

"Your Majesty, as my subordinates know, Mrs. Xu is extremely fair, except for her own salary, she never takes more than a penny, but often subsidizes the military with private money. As for the business income, the property he handles is all accounted for, and his subordinates have never found out that his wife has sought personal gain! Wu Shenzhi said.

"In this way, Mrs. Xu has a lot of prestige in the Huai'en Army!" Zhao Yu nodded.

"Exactly!" Wu Shenzhi nodded and said, "In the Fujian and Jiangxi regions, on the surface, it is Xie Fu who is in charge of the military and politics, but in fact, it is Mrs. Xu who is secretly assisting, otherwise it will be difficult for Xie Fu to move an inch." Even if almost all of the Huai'en army was taken over by the generals sent by the forbidden army, less than half of the troops could really be dispatched, and the local people responded to it, perhaps only Wen Xiang could compare with it. Wu Shenzhi said.

"I know!" Zhao Yu believes that Mrs. Xu has this ability, and her roots are deep in Jiangxi and Fujian, not only her husband is here, but also there are many relatives and villagers. And his father Chen Wenlong had a good official reputation, and he died for the country, and his heroic death won the support of the local people. And Xie Fang is a newcomer, and his prestige naturally cannot be compared with Mrs. Xu, who has been in business for more than ten years.

"Your Majesty, Song Dutong is also decent, whether it is leading troops to fight or training the army, he has a clear eye, and never goes off the rails. is not greedy for power, but the emperor is very strict, never merciless to lawbreakers, but can be merciful to the poor and weak, so his subordinates are very respectful of him. Wu Shenzhi talked about Song Lian's situation again.

"Does Song Lian love money?" Zhao Hao asked again.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates didn't find out. Commander Song had no other hobbies except for studying, and his life was very simple, his clothes were only military uniforms, and his food never exceeded the standard, and most of his salary was sent home. Wu Shenzhi thought for a while, and seemed to be recalling, "I didn't find out about other things like empty salaries, accepting bribes, and extorting business travelers, maybe because Mrs. Xu was in charge of military resources and it was difficult for her to interfere." ”

"It seems that he is still incorruptible, and I don't look like a treacherous person, but we still can't be gullible because of this, some people will change!" Zhao Yu smashed it, smashed it, and said. He understands that it is very easy for a commander of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses to make money, and he is in Jiangxi, where the emperor is far away, even if there are some small mistakes, Shangguan has to be accommodating, but he can still be strict with self-discipline for so many years, which is especially rare, otherwise he will not be able to escape the surveillance of so many eyes of the bureau.

In addition, Zhao Yu thought that Song Lian was not as mediocre as he appeared, but very strategic. Judging from the fact that he has served as the chief officer for many years, but he still cannot fully control the entire Huai'en army after the main generals are his own people, it shows that he understands Mrs. Xu's position in the hearts of the military and people in the Fujian and Jiangxi regions, so he did not choose to use the support of the imperial court to seize power. In a small way, it is not greedy for power, but it also knows how to advance and retreat; In the big picture, it shows that Song Lian takes the overall situation into account and knows how to tolerate for the sake of internal unity. However, he controls half of the army of the Wynne army, and has the ability to control the situation even if there is a change.

The basic situation has been clearly understood, Zhao Yu asked Wu Shenzhi about some other information, and praised him a few words, asking him to closely monitor the dynamics in the army, and to ensure his own safety, once his identity is exposed, he can quickly escape, and the content of this conversation must be kept strictly confidential and not a word is leaked. He then let him retire so that he would not be found out that he had been on the imperial ship.

Zhao Yu asked Wu Shenzhi to be sent away quietly, but he did not rush to summon Yan Fengming, but drank two cups of tea and calmed down before letting him come over to meet. He suddenly investigated the heads of the two armies, of course, not on a whim, but inadvertently discovered some clues. Yesterday on the battlefield, when he shouted that he was hungry and wanted to eat, Song Lian sent his own bag of dry food, which was all common ordinary food, but Qin Linfeng's dry food bag was bread and beef.

Dough and beef may be considered commonplace, but they are not a good thing. However, in Jiangnan, especially in ancient Jiangnan, it is not ordinary. The crops grown in Jiangnan are mainly rice, and only in some areas of Jiangdong are cultivated with rice and wheat, while the area of wheat in Ezhou is very small. No matter what it is, it is rare and expensive, and white flour has become a rare thing, not everyone can eat it, and it is not easy for people to use bread as dry food.

Besides, beef must come from cattle, and cattle are important means of production in ancient times, even for a long time before the seventies in modern China. In ancient times, it was even more sinful to slaughter a ploughing cattle, even if the cattle were their own. But Zhao Yu found that the beef sent by Qin Linfeng was not beef jerky, but fresh beef that had just been stewed, but there were no cattle in the army, so the origin of the beef made Zhao Hao have to think about it 'crooked'.

If this is the only one, Zhao Yu will not have any doubts, after all, Qin Linfeng is the commander of the army, and if he wants to eat some beef and pastries, it is necessary to make some specialization. And the source of cattle can be requisitioned cattle tired to death, killed during the war, it is possible. But he found that he spoke to himself with a flattery, a flattering tone, but not the respect of others. Especially when he refused to eat beef, Qin Linfeng's eyes flashed with disdain, but he didn't see his displeasure and warning.

In addition, when Zhao Yu borrowed Chen Dun to talk about the hard years of the year, others such as Wen Tianxiang and others all dried fish with their own rice balls, but Qin Linfeng did not move, but ate bread and beef as if no one was around. This shows another problem, as is the case on weekdays, eating bread and beef has long been accustomed to it, and it has been unable to swallow rice balls mixed with sand and hard and salty dried fish, and has not even made a gesture. The two things were mixed together, and he could not help but arouse his vigilance......