"but"
He smiled bitterly and said, "You know, this is actually the work of my ancestors who betrayed their grandson. They gave up military power with a cup of wine, and treated the generals and nobles like pigs, only sending them out when there was a war. As a result, the generals didn't know the soldiers, and the soldiers didn't know the generals."
"This is a benefit that the court has given them completely. If the court forcibly takes it away, it will obviously have a great impact on the royal family."
"The problem of unrest in the harem alone is difficult to resolve."
"So I've always been quite cautious about this issue. It's been dragging on for seven or eight years without being resolved, mainly because there hasn't been a particularly good solution."
"Before, I was planning to let them invest in some companies, or build a steel plant together, or build a military corps."
"But it's hard to see the benefits of these things in the short term, so they may not agree to it."
"But now..."
Zhao Jun looked at everyone and pointed in the direction of the door. He smiled and said, "Isn't the profit from this sailing huge?"
The founding generals of the Northern Song Dynasty do not seem to be very well-known. Compared with Liu Bang, Li Shimin, Zhu Yuanzhang and other founding heroes who conquered the world, later generations probably only know Cao Bin and Pan Mei at most.
Only Pan Mei is known because of his bad reputation. As for the others, no one knows who they are except those who specialize in history or are fans of Song Dynasty history.
Are these people completely incompetent?
Of course not.
In fact, there were many powerful generals in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, such as Wang Shenqi, Shi Shouxin, Gao Huaide, Murong Yanzhao, etc., who were all famous generals.
Then why is it unknown to later generations?
Because Zhao Kuangyin inherited the Later Zhou Dynasty of Zhou Shizong Chai Rong, the wisest ruler of the Five Dynasties, by this time the Later Zhou Dynasty was very powerful, and it was not difficult to eliminate the remaining separatist forces.
Secondly, Zhao Kuangyin released the military power with a toast, and these founding generals retired quickly after fighting for almost a few years, and each of them became a rich man.
As a result, the generals in the early Northern Song Dynasty were not well-known.
Zhao Kuangyin's method of dealing with them was actually very simple, which was to give them a luxurious life.
This led to the situation where it was legal for military officials to engage in business, collect salaries without working, exploit soldiers, occupy land, own farms, hold privileges, and even have hundreds or thousands of soldiers serve as their slaves.
Simply put, the royal family condoned and even tolerated them doing so.
Of course.
It is still easy for the royal family to turn against each other.
Even if they tacitly agreed, once the imperial power wanted to take these things away, it would be difficult for the generals whose military power had been taken away to resist.
But there is one embarrassing thing. The royal family of the Song Dynasty was actually deeply entangled with the nobles and generals.
For example, queens often came from high-ranking military aristocratic families, only a very small number came from high-ranking civil servant families, and there were only a handful of queens who came from commoner families.
In addition, although the nobles and generals do not directly command the troops, their second and third generations often serve as middle and lower-level officers in the three divisions. Once a war breaks out, these people will be sent to the front line to lead the troops in battle.
Historically, in the Northwest Army during the reign of Emperor Renzong, most of the middle and lower-level officers, and even the middle and high-level generals, came from noble families, such as Cao Cong, the son of Cao Bin, Ge Huaimin, the son of Ge Ba, Gao Jixuan, the son of Gao Qiong, Wang Kai, the great-grandson of Wang Quanbin, Liu Hu, the hostage of Liu Wen, and so on.
Although these people did not have direct military power, they had a certain influence on the army. In addition, the Song Dynasty royal family itself gave them great privileges, and their interests were deeply tied to them, which made the two sides in a mutually beneficial situation.
That's why Zhao Jun said that dealing with the redundant troops was like cutting himself in the foot. He really didn't want to have a direct conflict with the generals and nobles unless it was absolutely necessary, as that would implicate too many people and even his wife would be implicated.
But these people controlled the army, made the soldiers serve as their slaves, did business in the army, asked the army to help transport goods to the border for sale, and ate the soldiers' blood without working. They have become parasites of the country.
The Song Dynasty royal family wanted to win them over to maintain the stability of their imperial power, but Zhao Jun also wanted to solve the problem of redundant troops and make the Song Dynasty stronger. As a result, they naturally had different positions.
Although Zhao Jun had tried to solve this problem many times before, he had no particularly good solution, especially since his wife's family was involved, which made it even more difficult.
After all, this matter was tacitly approved by the royal family and was a privilege granted to them by the court. It was easy to give it out but difficult to take it back.
So Zhao Jun actually had a headache.
This included selecting elite personnel to prevent accidents, but they were eventually forced to clean up.
But no one expected that Chen Haizhong would bring back such a high profit.
Moreover, it has already caused a stir in Bianliang. It is estimated that by tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, the whole of Bianliang will be talking about the news that Chen Haizhong and his team have found the New World and brought back countless gold and silver.
The profit is much higher than eating empty salaries and sucking the blood of soldiers. What's more, the powerful generals can also mobilize hundreds or thousands of soldiers to serve as their slaves.
If we trick them into going, we can not only expand overseas but also solve the three redundancies, which can be said to be killing two birds with one stone.
"Does Hanlong mean to officially explore America?"
As a supporter of the pioneering faction, Lü Yijian was overjoyed. His younger brother was in business, so he was naturally more concerned about this matter. The profit was too high.
"You're wrong. I support the powerful and wealthy businessmen to develop, not ordinary people."
Zhao Jun shook his head. "The cost of development is still too high. Ordinary people simply can't afford it. Only those with a lot of money can go."
"I see."
Yan Shu suddenly realized: "The cost of going overseas alone is hundreds of thousands of strings of cash. The court can unite those nobles and generals, and help them go overseas to manage the Americas in exchange for letting them give up their military interests?"
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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