Zhao Yu thought that Meng Yuan would fall into the predicament of food shortage because of cutting off the financial endowment of Jiangnan, and at the moment it was difficult for them to use troops, and the peace negotiations were undecided, and it was impossible to open a market for trading, so the only way to obtain grain was smuggling. However, at present, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are controlled by their own side, and the waterway into the river has been cut off, and the shipping route has been basically cut off, so even if someone smuggles it, it is difficult to form a scale.

Nowadays, the smuggling of sheep along the Yangtze River has reached the point where it can impact the price of local sheep, which is enough to show that smuggling has been rampant. Behind this, however, it means that there are not only omissions in the defense line, but also collusion between officials and businessmen, and even collusion between military and businessmen, to shield each other for profit. This is also what Zhao Yu is most worried about, which not only allows Meng Yuan to obtain food and alleviate the crisis, but also makes the officials corrupt and the military power lost. Moreover, Meng Yuan can also use smuggling channels to infiltrate Jiangnan and threaten Jiangfang.

"Your Majesty, my subordinates really don't know about this matter, and they are not involved in it!" Zhao Mengjin saw that the little emperor's face was not good, and hurriedly withdrew the shopkeeper, and said with a salute.

"I believe you, but the smuggling matter must be investigated as soon as possible, and who is involved, especially in the army, must be thoroughly investigated!" Zhao Yu said with a straight face.

"The subordinates obey the order and will never live up to His Majesty's trust!" Zhao Mengjin said.

"Well, it's good to understand." Zhao Hao snorted coldly and said, "You all know that I have repeatedly ordered and banned business in the army, but those who violate it will be severely punished!" ”

"My subordinates will never dare to forget!" Zhao Mengjin saluted again. He knew that as an envoy to Jiangdong and in charge of military affairs, he had a heavy responsibility, and that if such a thing happened today, the crime of negligence was inevitable no matter what. And the other few people present seemed to be silent, standing aside and not daring to speak, in the past, they all said that the little emperor had blood under his feet, and wherever he went, he would bring blood and rain, and I don't know how many heads fell to the ground today.

"At this moment, the enemy army has heavy troops along the Yangtze River, and it is eyeing our Jiangnan fiercely, and if there is little negligence, Jiangnan will not be protected, and the achievements of ten years will be ruined in one fell swoop." Zhao Yu was still angry, "Now that smuggling is rampant to such an extent, it can be seen that Jiangfang is full of loopholes, and the top priority is to rectify military discipline, and it seems that it is not enough to stop this trend without killing a few!" ”

"The subordinates will definitely deal with the culprits strictly, and use the correct military law to revive the military prestige!" Zhao Mengjin said again and again.

"Sit down!" Zhao Hao pushed the plate of mutton aside and let everyone sit down, "Do you know the Yue family army that shocked the world back then?" ”

"Your Majesty, of course your subordinates know!" Zhao Mengjin nodded, while the others also nodded in understanding.

"I know that you have a lot of complaints about the strict prohibition of officials and the army from doing business, and I think that Yue Wumu also connived at his subordinates to participate in commercial affairs, and they are invincible!" Zhao Yu chuckled.

"The subordinates don't dare!" Zhao Mengjin hurriedly saluted.

"Hehe, even if you don't know for sure, there must be doubts, but there is a reason for this." Zhao Yu put the food in his mouth and said. Everyone knows that at any time, fighting a war and raising an army are the most expensive things, and maintaining military spending is the most important thing in maintaining the stability of the army and the country. The Song Dynasty was a commercial society, the commercial atmosphere was very strong, due to the huge size of the army, so the army was once allowed to do business, Fan Zhongyan, Yue Fei and other famous generals have arranged special personnel to do business, won huge profits, to subsidize military spending.

"The subordinates knew that it was also a last resort at that time, and the imperial court had to allow the army to do business to raise military expenses to meet the urgent needs!" Chen Fenglin said.

"That's right, in the early days of Nandu, financial constraints and tight military spending were tight, and the imperial court allowed the army to do business. Yue Jiajun's 14 warehouses in Ezhou, including the wine storehouse, the minister's office, the Beibian library, the reward library, and the Huiyi warehouse, specially appointed Li Qi as the official of Huiyi, and made an annual profit of more than 1.1 million yuan; The Ezhou treasury, house money, and camp miscellaneous collection money, and the Xiangyang Mansion wine store, house money, and Boyi field have an annual income of more than 400,000 yuan, which supplies the military expenses of the army for three months. When Han Shizhong resigned from the army, he only handed back more than 1 million yuan in interest and other money. Zhao Yu said.

"Yes, according to rumors, Zhang Jun bought tens of thousands of acres of land on a large scale, and received 600,000 stones of rent grain every year, and he cast several large round balls with silver, known as 'helpless', to show off!" Zhao Mengjin continued.

"Well, this can also be seen why the Zhang family army was defeated by the Yue family army back then, Yue Wumu used the money he obtained for state affairs and the army, but Zhang Jun took the opportunity to enrich himself!" Chen Fenglin said.

"This statement speaks of the root of the festival, the imperial court in order to make up for the lack of military spending to allow the military to do business, but the results are very different, how many of them use the money for practical purposes, and how many people fill their own pockets, I think you have been an official in the old army should feel deeply!" Zhao Yu said.

Zhao Yu sighed for the weak Song Dynasty in his previous life, but now he is worried about the legacy of his ancestors. In order to solve the military expenses, the emperors of the Great Song Dynasty opened an opening to allow the army to do business, which is equivalent to the front door to reject the wolf and enter the tiger at the back door. As soon as the style of doing business grew, the army's training was slack, and most of them were engaged in miscellaneous labor on weekdays, and the weaving of woolen satin by soldiers also became a source of income for officials. This kind of army with sparse martial arts has also been repeatedly defeated against the small northwest state of Xixia, so the Song court has to increase its troops, and the lack of funds has allowed the armies to expand their business, and as a result, the more soldiers there are, the more the national strength and the weaker the military strength becomes...... A vicious circle is formed.

Under the commercial trend, it led to the socialization of the military camps, and some generals also colluded with the gentry and even the underworld forces and participated in illegal operations. The army's vigorous business activities led to distortions in internal and external relations, and most of the remaining soldiers in the barracks became the commander's associates, and the families of some poor soldiers were forced to sell themselves into prostitutes. Some generals have even colluded with underworld forces to participate in illegal business operations. The economic interests in the garrison are intertwined and a large amount of property is purchased, and it is difficult to mobilize them in wartime. In addition, after recruitment, officers and soldiers were allowed to bring their families, and many military camps became chaotic commercial areas, with workshops, shops, shops, restaurants, and even brothels. When the imperial court encountered a crisis, the officers and soldiers were angry and their families were crying.

In the early years of the Song Dynasty, there were frequent battles with the Liao State, and the Song army suffered repeated setbacks due to the lack of cavalry, but on the whole it was able to form a stalemate with its opponents. After the Tanyuan Alliance, the Song and Liao countries reconciled and exchanged trade, and the extravagance eroded the north like an infectious disease, so that the Khitan nobles who were good at riding and fighting in the past also enjoyed the "New Year's coin" and did not think of conquest, and there was a hundred years of peace between the north and the south. The Song court also spent money to buy peace in Western Xia, so they thought that there was no war, but they did not dare to disarm in order to seek stability, and still let the army do business if they wanted to make up for the financial gap.

However, the military's business ethos is easy to learn and difficult to change. During the time of Song Shenzong, there was an incident in which Xia Yuanji, the deputy head of Qinfeng Road, used the forbidden army to traffic illicit tea and "encroach on the tea law", which was already smuggling by the army. Later, Kaifeng was attacked by the Jin army, and the Song court summoned soldiers from all over the country to "King Qin", and there were few people who responded to the forbidden army on all roads, and only 15,000 people led by the Seed Master Daoist in the northwest could still rush to fight.

The Northern Song Dynasty, which seemed to have a lot of soldiers and wealth on the outside, fell in one dynasty, but the royal family and the remnants who fled south only said that it was "days" and did not pursue the internal cause. Yue Fei, Han Shizong and other officers summoned the militia to build a new army, and reluctantly built a new defense line between the Jianghuai River, so that the Southern Song Dynasty regime could survive. The Southern Song Dynasty continued to let the army do business, and the army, as an armed group preparing for war, inevitably led to serious socialization of its functions, and there was definitely a lack of armaments and corruption, so the weak state of the Song army could not be changed.

"Well, the subordinates were so deeply affected that they decided to join the Shuaifu Army and follow His Majesty!" Zhao Mengjin said.

"Think about the Jurchens who were defeated by the Yue family army in a row, lamenting that 'shaking the mountain is easy, regretting the Yue family's army is difficult', but after Yue Wumu was killed by a traitor, after only a few years of hard work, he no longer had the power of the year, and finally became nameless, why?" Zhao Yu looked at what everyone said.

"The subordinates thought that the bad habits of our army in business had accumulated and it was difficult to return, so that they were repeatedly prohibited. In addition, the greedy nature of the successor Tian Shizhong has brought about a bad atmosphere in the army, so that the military law is lax, it is difficult to control the public, and the soldiers no longer have the will to fight! Chen Dun interjected.

"Exactly, the ending is even more suffocating, when I was in Ezhou at the beginning of the year, I felt even sadder, if Yue Wumu had a spirit in the sky, I didn't know what to think...... Zhao Yu nodded.

After Yue Fei was given his death that year, the Yuejia army stationed in Ezhou was appointed as the commander of the capital by Tian Shizhong, and it was during his tenure that the Ezhou army underwent major changes. The first is the significant reduction in posts. When Yue Fei was alive, the "Yuejia Army" had 100,000 people, and after Shaoxing 18 years, the strength of the Ezhou Army was reduced to less than 70,000. During the period of filial piety, Yu Yunwen, who won the battle of quarrying, said that the two armies of Jing and Hubei were less than 70,000 people. In his post-war report, he mentioned that most of the generals in Ezhou believed that their army was not good at field warfare, and the imperial court was further downsized.

Later, the Ezhou Metropolitan Department sent 3,000 troops to suppress the "tea kou" Lai Wenzheng, and against the "small kou" with only a few hundred people, more than half of them were killed in half a year, of which more than 110 were killed, and most of the others fled. In the past, the Yue family army, which was powerful and well-disciplined, now escaped in groups. This is still a unit that has been selected and put into actual combat, and the combat effectiveness of the rest can be imagined.

In addition, Tian Shizhong, who is the culprit, is especially good at speculating in the camp, making friends with internal servants, and relying on bribery to be in charge of the Ezhou army for 20 years, and even Zhang Jun's dismissal did not affect him. During his tenure as commander-in-chief, the harmonious military-civilian relationship between the fish and the water in the Yue Fei era no longer existed. Tian took the strong men to replenish the military status, and called them like slaves, so that some people mutilated themselves in order to be exempted from military service. But this kind of person relied on Zhao Gou's favor, and in the impeachment of the ministers, he was able to get all the money.

In addition, Yue Jiajun's incorruptible style was also corroded. Hao Sheng, the deputy commander of the Chinese army, who had made meritorious contributions under Yue Fei, bribed his superiors with 300 taels of gold in exchange for an official position in the Xiangyang prefect. Because of this, in the two northern expeditions of Longxing and Kaixi in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Ezhou Army, which was located in the core of the central theater, did not have commendable results. The people of the time commented that "tens of thousands of journeys in the empty tun are full of food and competition for the sun". The military soul of this army has been lost, and it is no longer worthy of the title of "Yuejia Army".

Since then, for the purpose of enhancing military strength, the imperial court has set up new armies under various names, and the proportion of the original Ezhou garrison in the regular army has been shrinking, falling out of the ranks of the main army, and it is no different from the forbidden army of various fields. Although the Ezhou Metropolitan Department still maintained its establishment, the number of troops under its jurisdiction was only more than 5,000 people, and it made few achievements in the Song and Mongolian wars. When the Mongol army entered Ezhou, Cheng Pengfei, the last commander of Jing and Hubei, actually led his army to surrender and participated in the Yuan Dynasty's war to pacify Jiangnan and Annam. This is the end of the troops with the blood of the Yue family's army......

"High-ranking officials are corrupt, and the soldiers are full of soldiers and ruffians and strong men who have been forcibly recruited, if they win, it is a strange talk, if they want Yue Wu Mu Jiuquan to know, I am afraid that I can only look up to the sky and sigh!" Chen Fenglin shook his head and said with a wry smile.

"When I was in Qiongzhou, the financial difficulties were and the military budget was extremely tight, so someone wrote a letter to let the navy sell goods and the infantry army to reclaim the grain fields, which was rejected by me; After the recovery of Jiangnan, the military expenditure was huge, and some people wrote to the garrison along the Yangtze River to provide for themselves and participate in the operation, but they were rejected by me. Zhao Yu said, "Don't I know about financial difficulties? I'm afraid that the DPRK and China will no longer be very clear, but I have been gritting my teeth and holding on, and I would rather use all the funds in the inner treasury as military expenses, and I will not let the army do business, just for fear of repeating the mistakes of the past! ”

"The subordinates know your majesty's hardships very well, and there were only 30,000 yuan in the house back then, but your majesty also fed everyone, and the salary was a lot. Now, His Majesty, as in the past, has paid for all his meals in the army, has never embezzled a penny of military expenses, and the military uniform on his body has also been changed with the army, and he has never taken an extra one. Zhao Mengjin said with tears in his eyes.

"I'm angry today because I'm worried that you will also be involved, and I don't want to learn from Zhuge Kongming's tears." Zhao Yu also seemed to be infected by his emotions, and drank the wine in the cup and said, "All of you here are my confidants and beloved generals, who have followed me from birth to death for many years. But as long as you are in the army for one day, you must abide by military discipline and keep yourself clean, if you are a traitor, you will be ruthless in military law! ”

"Your Majesty, the Central Plains has not been restored, and the subordinates are still willing to follow to the death, and there will never be greed!" Everyone understands now, the little emperor is a love and a warning, Zhao Mengjin and the others got up and bowed deeply......

After Zhao Yu returned to Xingzai, he ordered Zheng Huchen to secretly investigate the smuggling participants and smuggling channels, and whether there were DPRK and Chinese officials involved, and quickly report it after verification; On the other hand, he ordered Jiang Cheng to strictly investigate the leakage of the river defense and crack down on smuggling; He also ordered Chen Renweng and Dong Yicheng to closely inspect the river and coastal waters, and if they found that Jiangbei ships entering the waterway, they would all be blocked, and those who did not obey the order could be sunk. Those who smuggle grain, gold, silver, copper and iron in Jiangnan will be punished as enemies.

At the same time, Zhao Yu once again sent a letter to the Queen Mother, listing the harms of officials and the army's participation in business, and asking the Queen Mother to order the Imperial Historical Observatory to inspect various places to investigate the business affairs of officials, and all those involved in it will be dismissed and dismissed, and resolutely stop this trend; In addition, it is necessary to learn from the past and not to set the example of the military doing business again, so as not to harm the country. On the basis of advancing with both light and dark, when he met with officials from various places, he repeatedly declared that 'you can only choose one as an official or in business,' and those who violate it will be severely punished......