But unexpectedly, the American ships returned.
Although crops such as sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes, and peanuts are not initially very productive, their advantage is that they do not require arable land.
Sweet potatoes, potatoes and peanuts can be planted on wild hillsides, vegetable field scraps, beside field ridges and even in sandy clay soil. Just water them and leave them alone and they will grow on their own.
Even if this cannot guarantee the yield and quality, if it is widely planted, it will definitely be a huge productivity boost for the current Song Dynasty.
In this way, it can be ensured that when the country begins to solve the three redundancies problem, it will not be caused by internal unrest due to other problems.
If the army's interests were affected and a rebellion was triggered, the imperial court would have money and food to appease them, and it would not have to worry about a large number of peasants rising up, causing a joint uprising of the army and the peasants, leaving the country stretched thin.
Therefore, while productivity has been greatly improved, people are living and working in peace and contentment, and domestic instability factors have been completely resolved, it is the best choice to take action on the three redundancies!
"But the ship hasn't arrived yet. Even if it brings something that can improve productivity, it will take time to promote it."
Zhao Zhen said in embarrassment: "Should I slow down?"
"No, we do need to slow down, but slowing down doesn't mean we should stop doing things. Instead, we should start by doing something, improving productivity while laying the foundation for the future."
Zhao Jun said to the two men, "Just as our current situation is based on our victories over the Liao and Western Xia, and Old Fan relied on the prestige of his victories to promote the performance evaluation system and the new policies, we are laying the groundwork now to cut down on the military, redundant officials, and unnecessary expenses in the future."
"What foreshadowing?"
Zhao Zhen asked hurriedly.
"To reduce the army, you must first build the army!"
Zhao Jun raised a finger. "First, we must cultivate an army that is absolutely loyal to us. This army must be at least tens of thousands of strong, elite soldiers. The commander must be trained regularly in the barracks and must be someone we can trust!"
Zhao Zhen suddenly fell into deep thought.
The army has actually always been in his hands, so it is not difficult to select an elite force of tens of thousands of people.
Just draw them from the Northwest Army.
But the latter is difficult to deal with, as it seriously violates the requirement that Song Dynasty generals lead troops in non-wartime. Once this is done, I am afraid that all officials will immediately impeach him.
"What do you think?"
Zhao Zhen asked.
"Old Fan, Zhang Kang, Di Qing, Zhang Yu, Zhe Jimin, Guo Zun, Zhou Mei, Zhang Ke, Wang Xin, Fan Ke, Yang Wenguang, etc., are all trustworthy people."
Zhao Jun pondered and said, "My idea is to station this army in Bianliang, and let Lao Fan and Zhang Kang be the chief and deputy chief generals. Then Lao Fan and Zhang Kang will serve as civil officials, attending court during normal times and training during training."
He continued, "For example, let's say this army consists of 50,000 men, divided into ten sections. Each section has a trustworthy and combat-capable general leading 5,000 men. The general is stationed in the camp to prevent problems where the soldiers don't know the general, and the generals don't know the soldiers, thus ensuring the army's combat effectiveness."
"Furthermore, this unit is equipped with the best new weapons, such as artillery and flintlock rifles. It just so happens that our flintlock rifles have already been designed and put into production. With the continuous production of steel, new firearms will soon usher in a new era of cold weapons."
Zhao Jun looked at the two men and said sternly, "In the future, we will reduce the military, eliminate the old and weak, and strictly investigate those who are not paying the soldiers for nothing. If anyone incites the army to revolt, this force will quickly strike and quell any trouble. Even if the Liao Kingdom or the Western Xia invade, we don't have to worry about our safety with a powerful army equipped with firearms."
"this"
Zhao Zhen hesitated for a moment.
This knife really cut himself first.
The first thing that is affected is his interests.
If this is the case, it means that the army will be out of his control.
Although nominally it was certainly he who issued the order and the Privy Council sent troops.
But if those generals are always in the army, these soldiers will become their private soldiers.
If these generals rely on their prestige and lead their soldiers to rebel, the country will probably repeat the mistakes of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.
Therefore, since the Emperor of the Song Dynasty held the military power in his heart, this matter really made Zhao Zhen hesitant.
"Brother, what are you hesitating about?"
Zhao Jun frowned and said, "I can't possibly let anyone command 50,000 troops. Old Fan and Zhang Kang attend court regularly, and they need your tiger talisman to mobilize troops. The generals below can only command 5,000 men. Are you still afraid they might rebel?"
Fan Zhongyan thought this was a good idea and advised, "Yes, Your Majesty, as long as we can command a group of elite soldiers, we will no longer have to worry about internal and external troubles."
"Brother, if you hesitate when you should make a decision, you will suffer the consequences. You should be more decisive. Think about Qin Shi Huang, Emperor Wu of Han, and Li Shimin. Don't you hope to become an emperor of all ages and the founder of a new era?"
Zhao Jun advised again.
Zhao Zhen gritted his teeth and said, "Very well. I trust my eldest grandson and Mr. Fan. This matter will be entirely up to you!"
"Um."
Zhao Jun nodded and said seriously, "After taking control of our own army, we'll have to start implementing major reforms. Large-scale military reductions and troop headcount checks will affect the interests of many people. It depends on whether we can withstand this pressure."
This is also why Zhao Jun had to wait until productivity increased before he could carry out reforms and reduce the number of redundant soldiers.
Once there is a large-scale military reduction, there will immediately be hundreds of thousands of more soldiers in society. If these people are not given land or a way to make a living, they are likely to become a factor of instability.
But there are many wastelands in the Song Dynasty, but where are the water conservancy facilities for irrigation?
During the Qingli period, Cai Xiang also wrote a letter to the emperor, saying that the water conservancy facilities of the Bian River had not been repaired for many years, so that the capital and Henan Prefecture should have thousands of miles of fertile land, but there were tens of thousands of miles of wasteland, wasting land.
Therefore, Zhao Jun thought that while the court still had money, it would be better to simply disband a large number of troops and either hire them to build water conservancy facilities and dig canals as a form of relief. Or give them some land and let them grow food. This would be better than keeping them in the army and continuing to do nothing but collect money, damaging the national finances.
The premise of all this is that if the interests of the military are affected, they have an army that can fight to suppress any possible rebellion!
Zhao Jun.
Prepared for the worst!
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