Whether it is field battle or defending the city, it is enough to deal with the sudden attacks of Liao and Western Xia cavalry.

June 4th.

The imperial court has recently been conducting a national military inventory, but this has not caused any disturbances among officials.

First of all, this decree was passed by the Constitutional Yuan, and the only thing left to do is to implement it.

Secondly, this does not involve the interests of the officials.

The court should have checked the number of troops, but due to poor supervision in the past and the unspoken rules of the army left by Zhao Kuangyin, officials were too lazy to check, which led to the neglect of management.

It is normal to conduct verification now.

But among the military families and nobles, it was like a huge wave that caused a huge uproar, making many of the heads of military families and nobles panic.

On this day, several heads of military families and noble families who had a good relationship with each other gathered together to chat.

It was the height of summer, and five people were drinking in the backyard of the Ma Mansion. At first, they were enjoying themselves normally, but when the time came, the owner of the Ma Mansion, Ma Zhengju, complained, "The court is trying to force us to death."

Ma Zhengju was the great-nephew of Ma Renyu, a famous general in the early Song Dynasty. Ma Renyu's son committed a crime in his early years and was exiled to Hainan, where he died of illness. Ma Renyu's older brother died young, so he raised his brother's son.

This nephew was not a good person either. Relying on his uncle being Ma Renyu, he behaved recklessly on a daily basis. One day, he drank too much and beat a young man passing by to death for no reason.

Ma Renyu was a famous general in the early Song Dynasty with excellent character. He did not spoil his nephew, but let the government handle matters according to the law and punish murderers with their lives.

As a result, Ma Renyu had no descendants. Zhao Guangyi took pity on him, so after his death, he let his nephew's son inherit the Ma family's noble position, serving as the deputy envoy of the Left Treasury of Xijing and enjoying state support.

The other few people also came from prominent backgrounds, including Wang Shilong, grandson of Wang Shenqi, Yang Rende, grandson of Yang Guangyi, Zhao Kaiji, grandson of Zhao Yanhui, and Han Yunsheng, grandson of Han Chongyun.

Wang Shilong used to be doing quite well, having served as the deputy envoy of the Imperial City Administration. However, he was fired by Zhao Jun for being late, and he has always held a grudge against Zhao Jun.

He said viciously, "This is all the fault of that damn Zhao Jun! He deserves to die!"

"Hey, brother Wang, be careful with your words."

Han Yunsheng extended his hand, looked around, and seeing no one around, he whispered, "Zhao Zhiyuan is very powerful now and has the emperor's trust. If outsiders hear this, it will probably be bad for you."

"It doesn't matter, we are all brothers."

Wang Shilong was slightly startled by Han Yunsheng's words. He realized that he had been talking nonsense while drunk and quickly said, "My brothers would never harm me."

"That's right."

Zhao Kaiji also said: "Today's words should be kept among our own people, and they must not be spread out."

Among the heads of noble families, some are second-generation descendants. Except for Cao Cong, a son born to Cao Bin in his later years, who is only around fifty years old now, the others are probably over sixty years old.

The third generation of children are generally around 30 or 40 years old, and they cannot play together.

Therefore, this group of third-generation descendants of generals often grew up playing together and had many years of friendship. Among them, Yang Rende even had a good relationship with Cao Xiu when he was a child.

Ma Zhengju changed the subject and asked Yang Rende, "Old Yang, when you went to Cao Xiu's house before, did you find out anything?"

"well."

Yang Rende sighed, "Old Cao told us to obey the court and not to resist. The court has found us jobs that pay more than what we have now. He has already left the army and is now the Imperial City Envoy, but his brother Cao Ren is now the president of the Cao Trading Company."

Wang Shilong learned that his former colleagues had completely abandoned their military careers and frowned, "It's impossible that the Cao family doesn't have any dirty deeds. Don't they have any intention of covering it up?"

"There's a queen in her family, Madam Zhiyuan, what are you afraid of?"

Zhao Kaiji said self-deprecatingly, "People like us claim to be sons of military nobles, but in reality we have no power or influence, no backing. If something were to happen, wouldn't the imperial court want to punish us?"

"Tell me, if we admit our mistakes to the court, will they show mercy to us for the sake of our fathers?"

Han Yunsheng hesitated and said, "You have also seen the attitude of the emperor and the prefect. They are willing to discuss with us instead of taking direct action. Doesn't this mean that there is room for maneuver?"

"this"

The others looked at each other and fell into deep thought, as if wondering whether this would work.

"hehe."

Wang Shilong sneered, "Let's not talk about other things for now. Let's just talk about how your son, back in your hometown of Cizhou, brought more than a dozen of his personal soldiers, fell in love with a woman, beat her husband to death, and took her home by force. If the Magistrate can show some leniency, then go ahead and tell him."

Han Yunsheng remained silent.

"And you, Old Yang, your family has sold a lot of weapons to Xixia and Liao, right? You must have sold a lot of contraband, right? I heard you even sold grenades..."

"Old Ma, if word gets out that you've been secretly killing some of the dying soldiers in the army to fill the vacancies, do you think the government will let you go, or will the governor let you go?"

"Old Zhao, you've done a lot of dirty things. If they were exposed, how many lives would be lost in your family?"

"We are all on the same page. Once we are found out, no one can escape."

Wang Shilong pointed out the details one by one, "Besides, the imperial court has already begun to investigate the number of troops. Hasn't that already started direct action? Forget about it. The road ahead of us is a dead end!"

As he spoke, he poured himself a pot of wine, took another big gulp, and then laughed mockingly, as if he had given up on himself and faced reality calmly.

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