At this moment, on Zhao Zhen's desk was the note that Fu Bi had sent to the Constitutional Court this morning.

"There are 1,259,000 soldiers on the roster. I thought there were about 200,000 of them taking the empty payroll. I didn't expect that."

Zhao Jun shook his head and held up four fingers, saying, "Four hundred thousand! One third! The Imperial Guards only number over six hundred thousand, and the Wing Army only over two hundred thousand. The gap is so huge!"

Lü Yijian sighed, "This means an annual military expenditure of 50 to 60 million guan. In addition to the expenses for equipment, supplies, and food, the military salaries alone mean that the generals and nobles have to spend nearly 10 million guan per year on military pay. It's truly shocking."

"Yes, we previously estimated that five or six million guan was enough, and we thought the military nobles wouldn't go too far. So, in order to appease them, we turned a blind eye to what they did. We never expected this."

"Sure enough, there are some things that you can only understand by investigating them yourself, otherwise you will always be kept in the dark."

"After all, it's because we were too indulgent towards them in the past. If we had strictly checked the military records and punished a group of generals and nobles who went too far every year, they wouldn't have ended up like this."

Everyone did not expect the army to be so corrupt, and they all sighed.

During the reign of Emperor Renzong, the actual salary paid to the top imperial guards was one guan per month, or twelve guan per year. However, this was purely salary, and there were also various subsidies, allowances, food, firewood, cloth, etc.

In total, the upper-class imperial guards earned about fifty strings of cash a year, the middle-class guards earned about thirty strings of cash a year, and the lower-class and wing-class guards earned between twenty and ten strings of cash a year.

Except for the lower-ranking imperial guards and wing guards, the treatment of the middle and upper-ranking imperial guards was good.

Even if we take the average value, there is a vacancy of about 400,000 strings of cash. Almost every year, the imperial court's financial funds are divided up by the generals and nobles, and each family can get tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of strings of cash each year.

This does not include the embezzlement of military equipment, reselling of supplies, eating leftovers, etc.

If all were counted, I'm afraid at least one-third of the Song Dynasty's annual military expenditure of 50 to 60 million strings of cash would fall into their hands.

No wonder they didn’t agree to the conditions Zhao Jun gave.

After all, apart from the fact that they have done a lot of illegal things and are afraid of being discovered, compared with the possible risks of doing business overseas, how can it compare with such a fixed income of hundreds of thousands of strings of cash every year?

"Alas, in the past, because they were all rewards from Taizu and Taizong to military nobles, my father and I never interfered in military affairs. Who could have imagined the result?"

Zhao Zhen felt quite guilty and shook his head with a wry smile.

Zhao Jun said, "Luckily, we figured it out. In the Song-Xia and Song-Liao wars, we relied on firearms to win. Otherwise, if we hadn't developed firearms, the consequences would be disastrous. I'm afraid even Old Fan might not be able to win."

Fan Zhongyan said in a deep voice, "It's not too late now. If we had started like this before, I'm afraid even with firearms, it would be difficult to resist the joint attack of Liao and Xia. The current situation is the best outcome."

"Um."

Zhao Jun nodded, then looked at Zhao Zhen and said, "Brother, have you seen how much filth is hidden beneath the prosperous era of Emperor Renzong?"

First, there were evil forces such as Wuyou Cave and Guifanlou.

Then there were the corrupt officials throughout the Song Dynasty.

Then there was the army, which was rotten to the core.

This does not even include the landlords and tyrants across the country who are sucking the blood of the lower-class people.

Zhao Zhen said ashamedly: "Fortunately, I have a grandson, otherwise my so-called prosperous reign of Emperor Renzong would be a real disgrace."

"Don't blame yourself, bro. The situation is small right now, with less than 100 million people nationwide. A small ship is easier to turn around. If we make good reforms, there's still great hope."

Zhao Jun was very satisfied with Zhao Zhen's attitude and hoped that he would be soft and obedient and not dare to talk back to him.

"So what should we do now?"

Zhao Zhen asked.

"Let's do as I said before and start a large-scale cleanup."

Zhao Jun looked around and said, "All the vacancies have been investigated, and the dirty work has also been uncovered. Although we may not be able to clean up everything, as long as we can handle more than 90% of it, it will be very good."

"Dealing with the vampires that oppress the lower-level soldiers will ultimately give them hope and significantly improve their combat effectiveness."

"There are two problems now. One is that the Ministry of War needs to properly handle matters such as military courts, military issuances, and promotions. From now on, these matters will no longer be under the jurisdiction of the generals, but will be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War. The army can also have permanent generals to ensure troop training."

He said: "The second issue is the issue of reducing the military. We didn't expect there would be so many shortfalls. The original plan to retain 800,000 troops is no longer feasible. A new military plan is necessary."

“How to plan?”

Everyone looked at him.

Zhao Jun thought for a moment and said, "The army should be streamlined again, retaining only 500,000 imperial guards. The old and weak will be eliminated, and the court will provide resettlement. If there are vacancies, recruit soldiers. The garrison troops will be converted into construction corps, and their treatment will be improved. This way, the total force will be 700,000."

There were 1.25 million soldiers on the military register, but there were 400,000 vacancies, so the actual number of soldiers was about 850,000, including the local garrison troops. If these were not counted, the number of the imperial guards would be only over 600,000.

Zhao Jun meant to lay off more than 100,000 old and weak soldiers, retain 500,000 elite soldiers, appoint permanent generals, begin to significantly improve the combat effectiveness of the army, and transition to the era of firearms.

Currently, only 50,000 people in the entire army have firearms. Within five years, Zhao Jun plans to require most troops to have a firearms battalion.

For example, if an army consists of five battalions with 2,500 people, then at least 500 of them must be in the firearms battalion to cooperate with the infantry in battle. Only in this way can they defeat the Western Xia and Liao cavalry on the front battlefield.

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