- In Bilang Xuan, Ouyang Xiu laughed self-deprecatingly: "How could the position of the prime minister have become a stove that can't sit still like now, and in less than a year, it has changed three times?" ”

"What's behind this?" Chen Ke asked softly.

"It's not a disarmament mess." Ouyang Xiu said lightly: "Although disarmament is a matter for the Privy Council, but if the minister is in charge of finances, if he tightens his hands, tens of thousands of people will be disarmed and returned to the field." As soon as he loosened his hand, these people would stay. In a situation where disarmament is a foregone conclusion, the attitude of the Prime Minister is everything. ”

"So, does the Privy Council cooperate with the disarmament of the imperial court?" Chen Ke frowned slightly.

"The imperial court is just a few palaces, a few yamen, and the rice is still eaten in separate pots." Ouyang Xiu shook his head and said, "But the rice in the imperial court is starting to be not enough to put in the pot." The year before last, the imperial court had an annual income of 110 million guan, but its expenditure was 120 million guan, which was already beyond its means. And the imperial court plans to start several major river projects last year. Among them, the construction of the Yongji River and the Lingqu has begun, which has raised the deficit of last year to 40 million yuan, and the imperial court has to use the treasury of the past year. But if the next bigger river project begins, I'm afraid the treasury will also be exhausted. When the time comes, the court can only stretch out its hand to the people, eat the grain, and bring disaster to the country and the people! ”

Lao Ouyang did not answer Chen Ke directly, but the meaning was richer: "Under such circumstances, the imperial court has to cut expenses, and the three departments in charge of finance naturally agree with both hands. But where does this knife come from? Whoever cuts it will hurt, and I don't want to be stabbed. ”

There have always been only three major expenditures of the imperial court, one is the military aspect, including military salaries, armaments, military supplies, etc. The first is the administrative aspect, including official salaries, official salaries, administrative expenses, etc. The first is the various expenses of the royal family, including the expenses of the royal family, various etiquette, rewards, etc.

Basically, the ratio of these three items is: Military expenses account for 70 percent, official expenses account for 2 percent, and palace expenses account for 1 percent...... Most of this is the cost of various sacrificial ceremonies and rewards for hundreds of officials.

If you want to reduce expenses, you can only start from these three aspects, but the royal expenses are already at the lowest level in history. As a benevolent monarch through the ages, Zhao Zhen has already cut various unnecessary expenses in the palace. Every year, the silk and jewelry treasures that enter the palace are also reduced by two-thirds, and he himself is a regular dress for all seasons, but eight sets, dry and clean, and there is no new color in the clothes. The clan of pushing clothes and clothes makes ministers, officials, and soldiers. The need to save money and pay the needs of the military and the country, all the time to think about the difficulties of the country's steps and the difficulties of people's livelihood. Let no one be embarrassed to say it, Your Majesty, you are in the province......

Then it is possible to open only on the administrative and military front. Fan Zhongyan's Qingli New Deal. It is to attack the redundant officials of the imperial court, hoping to reduce administrative expenses...... The officials of the Great Song Dynasty were fat and fat, and their salaries were raised every year. Moreover, they also quote scriptures and even bring their children and grandchildren, guests and relatives to enjoy all kinds of benefits, there is simply no heavenly reason, and there is no heavenly reason if they do not change.

But what was the result, the Qingli party quickly changed from the idol of the hundred officials to the enemy of the entire bureaucracy. It was a complete failure.

The lesson was so painful that the successive prime ministers followed. Don't dare to touch this forbidden area again. However, the financial problem could not be left unsolved, and the officials did not agree to increase the burden on the people, so they had no choice but to make a move on military spending.

The military expenditure of the Song Dynasty was as high as 80 or 90 million yuan a year, which was the absolute majority of the financial expenditure, and it was natural to attack it.

Ways to cut military spending. It's disarmament. The proposal for disarmament was put forward by former Prime Minister Wen Yanbo. At that time, there was a fierce discussion in the imperial court about whether to disarm or not. Officials who support disarmament believe that the world has been peaceful for a long time, but the number of soldiers has increased unabated, which is equivalent to the imperial court taking out eighty percent of the financial revenue and raising a large group of idlers, which is really useless, so it can be abolished.

Those who oppose disarmament are asking, "You idiots, do you know that the 'conscription system' is our national policy?" The so-called 'conscription system', simply put, means that in a year of flood and drought and when the people are struggling to make a living, the government comes forward and recruits the victims into soldiers. Let them serve as soldiers and contribute to the country. For the peasant uprisings that had already rebelled, most of them also adopted Zhao'an and incorporated them into the army of the imperial court, so naturally there was no rebellion.

Therefore, later generations did not understand Song Jiang and thought that he was a capitulation faction, but in fact they did not understand the situation of the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, most of the rebels went to Zhao'an, and the old Song Dynasty just followed the crowd.

The initiator of this system, the founding emperor Zhao Kuangyin, once proudly said that this would allow the country to 'rebel, there will be rebellious soldiers but no rebellious people; In a year of calamity, there are riotous people but no rebels. "In his world, no matter how much he tosses, nothing big can happen.

It must be admitted that this hand is very useful, and even in the hundred years since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, there has been no large-scale rebellion. Therefore, the opposition says that the armed forces are used to absorb factors of social instability, and if they are disarmed at will, then the return of military men who are accustomed to playing with knives and guns and who are full of anger will cause trouble and affect social stability.

There was a heated argument between the two sides, and since there was a majority of conservatives at all times, opposition to disarmament prevailed. Moreover, the officials are also afraid that after the disarmament, public order in various localities will drop sharply, and the discussion of disarmament will come to naught......

But at this time, Wen Yanbo had the support of the governor of Xifu. At that time, the privy envoy was still from Pang. Although Pang Xianggong is a big white face on the stage of later generations, in fact, he is an out-and-out good official. He also believed that the redundancy of the imperial court was too great and should be reduced.

With the support of Pang Zhi, Wen Yanbo issued a military order -- if there is a problem with public order after the disarmament, or if there is a problem in other aspects, I am the only one to ask!

What men want is this courage, and Wen Xianggong is an out-and-out man, and under his strong leadership, the official family finally agreed to disarm.

Under the close arrangement of Wen Yanbo and Pang Ji, all those in the Xiang army and border army in various localities who were over 50 years old or who voluntarily returned to the peasants could go home. In this way, the country can save military salaries, the people also have people to farm, and the old soldiers can also reunite with their relatives. In the end, a total of 80,000 people were disarmed, and there were no vicious incidents in the country, and the first major disarmament since the founding of the Song Dynasty was declared successful, which greatly eased the financial tension.

However, before they had time to pursue the victory, the two were dealt with one after another, and when Wen Yanbo was killed, Chen Ke still made a great effort. At that time, he was still very proud, thinking that the ancients were just like this, and he was a little scholar, and he could get the prime minister down through stratagem, without knowing it or noticing.

Years later, as he experienced more and more and saw more and more, he finally came back to his senses...... It was Mr. Liu who provided the black materials, and it was Mr. Liu who was looking for someone to impeach, or Mr. Liu! I was obviously tricked by that old man as a monkey......

It's just an old man Liu, who doesn't have that much ability, but the entire Jiangmen Group has! Because of the Song Dynasty's national policy of emphasizing literature and suppressing military force, the Great Song Dynasty Jiangmen no longer had the Xuanhe when the country was founded, and became very low-key. But being low-key does not mean that it does not exist, the Cao family, the Wang family, the Yang family, the Liu family, and the Murong family...... The descendants of these founding feats have always firmly held the military circles of the Song Dynasty.

Although they could not move a single soldier without the Privy Council, the army was their territory and their fundamental interests. Disarmament is to move their disciples and grandchildren, harm their interests, and naturally meet their backlash.

The heritage accumulated over a hundred years, once it is erected, is irresistible to the ministers who came from a slight cold background and suddenly became a nobleman.

Even a wise man like Wen Yanbo could only leave the scene gloomily. But he was lucky, because he knew that he had offended the army, so when he was released, he resolutely did not accept positions related to the army, and would rather be a governor for a few years than go to find it unpleasant.

Pang Ji was miserable, this old man was sent to the northwest to guard against Western Xia, and his subordinates were all soldiers...... And back then, he disarmed 30,000 people in the northwest and smashed the jobs of many officers, and now he wants them to be used for his own use, is it realistic?

Therefore, the government and the opposition have been circulating, and the fiasco of Qu Yehe, which led to Pang Xianggong's disrepute, was actually a gift from the Jiangmen Group to him...... Otherwise, it can't be explained at all, the old Western army, which has been fighting with Xixia, can lose like that bird.

However, the imperial history who went to investigate the cause of the defeat, and in the report after returning, it was determined that it was caused by the border general's rash advance, and the deceased died, and it was no longer possible to explain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two prime ministers left the class, and the disarmament matter came to an abrupt end, and the millions of military expenditures cut were quickly written off by the surge in expenditures, and the imperial court once again had a shortage of income.

In this situation, Fu Xianggong gave his countermeasure -- to continue disarmament. If the last disarmament worked well, what reason should there not be to continue? Although some people advised him to be careful of the lessons of his predecessor, the rich prince did not hesitate to die and did not care.

But unlike when he was in the Privy Council, he did not have the support of the Privy Council. Han Qi believed that the Great Song Dynasty and the Western Xia were in a state of hostility, and the Liao State was provoking again, and the imperial court should increase military spending, rather than shaking the morale of the military at this time.

Although Fu Bi, with the support of Zhang Fangping, obtained the approval of the official family and passed a resolution to disarm 100,000 again, without the cooperation of the Privy Council, the disarmament was difficult. Whichever force it wants to move, the Privy Council will give countless reasons and explain the reasons why it cannot be moved.

And the revenge of the Jiangmen group soon came, and they set up a bureau to kill Zhang Fangping-

Partition -

I looked back at my own individual chapters, and I really couldn't express it clearly. Come to think of it, it should be due to being in a state of excitement at the time and not getting the word right. I'm sorry, I'll make it clear next time.

In order to show repentance, add four more days and four watches...... That is, four watches in ten days.