Nong Zhigao's rebellion and the defeat of the Song army in Lingnan brought a sting to the Song people, which was tantamount to the independence of Western Xia. Everyone is asking why, why was the Quang Nam East-West Road, which had 200,000 troops, so easily defeated?

Especially when people learned that at the beginning of Nong Zhigao's uprising, the old, weak, sick and disabled combined, but only 5,000 men and horses, dared to attack Hengshanzhai with natural dangers and Zhenzhou City, which had a garrison of 20,000, and he was defeated in a battle. Is it Nong Zhigao's command that is a heavenly soldier and a heavenly general? Or is there something wrong with the military system in Lingnan, and everyone is eager to know the answer, and Chen Xiliang is also one of them.

Moreover, he was the magistrate of Hengyang County, and he had an incomparable advantage over others and sent military pay materials to Liangguang, most of which had to be transferred here, or sent to Guizhou and Pazhou in Guangxi in the southwest, or to Guangzhou and Huizhou in the southeast. And the defeated soldiers and horses are also regrouped here, waiting for orders.

In the process of being ordered to settle the defeated army of Liangguang, Chen Xiliang naturally wanted to throw the question to the person concerned, and the answers he got were all kinds of .......

The defeated soldiers said that the army of Liangguang had long been rotten, and less than half of the troops stationed in the box were stationed, and most of them were old, weak, sick and disabled, and less than half of them were young and strong, and they were almost untrained.

Chen Xiliang asked in disbelief: "If you don't train, what are you doing on weekdays?" ”

"But not idle." The soldiers laughed to themselves, "We all have to do business for the generals." ”

"Doing business......" Chen Xiliang gasped. The Northern Song Dynasty implemented the conscription system, which simply means that in the flood and drought years, when the peasants did not live, the state incorporated them into the army, let them serve as soldiers and eat food, and turned from a factor of social instability into a machine for maintaining stability.

This national policy did not cause a large-scale peasant uprising to break out in the Zhao and Song dynasties, but it was a chronic poison...... Many of the recruited soldiers had undergone military training, and they were no longer suitable for agricultural life, and the state did not dare to let them go back, so they had to keep raising them until the year of the sixtieth year, and they were not allowed to leave the army, which led to the number of troops only increasing and swelling year after year.

And the recruitment of soldiers is to pay the military. The most recent statistics are that the number of the whole ** team has reached 1.4 million, which exceeds the population of the Tang Dynasty during the Tianbao period and the Song Dynasty, but it is only half of the population during the Tianbao period.

With a smaller population and more troops, if the rulers of other dynasties were to reduce the supply of military salaries, the rulers of the Song Dynasty did not dare to give a penny less. The state not only does not care for the army, but also does its best to provide for the army with monthly salaries, military uniforms, and rations...... Otherwise, the soldiers will immediately rebel to show you.

Later, the financial resources could not be supported, so they could only give priority to the forbidden army to the local van army, and could only pay half of the salary, and the remaining half was allowed to be solved by the army in business. As soon as the wind was long, the local army training was abolished, and the daily transportation of vehicles, ships, tea, wine, and all imaginable industries was ...... A lot of money was made, but as soon as the enemy came, they found that there were few people who could use bows and arrows.

Wealth makes people red, but wealth makes people timid, seeing that the generals packed up and fled faster than rabbits, the soldiers below naturally dispersed. So it's not that Nong Zhigao is too powerful, but the cities that he knocked down are almost undefended.

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

Chen Xiliang was angry, and he asked: "Although the imperial court only pays half of the salary, according to what you said, the soldiers are less than half of the salary, and it is enough for you to receive the full salary, why do you still have to do business?!" ”

"It's good to teach this great commander to know that the old man has been a soldier for forty years, and he has always received half a salary." The officers and soldiers shook their heads and said, "As for those empty salaries, they will never fall on our heads." ”

"Not only that, but the extra grain and ordnance allocated by the imperial court have also been resold from above."

"The huge profits from business have also been embezzled by them, what can we get rid of?"

“……。”

These accusations made Chen Xiliang burn all his heart, and he couldn't sleep for several nights in a row. I really can't imagine that the Great Song Dynasty, which has always been known for its incorruptibility, has such a shocking **.

Whether this wind is confined to Lingnan or has spread throughout the country, it must be exposed! Let the officials and ministers know the truth! , the scholars and doctors of the Northern Song Dynasty, at least before they hit the wall, most of them had the sentiment of 'taking the world as their own responsibility, Chen Xiliang made up his mind: 'Otherwise, once it rots, the Great Song Dynasty will definitely die!' ，

Do what you think, at this point, the Chen family father and son are highly consistent. Just because of the war, the Jinghu South Road Transfer Division moved to Hengyang County, and he, the magistrate of Hengyang, who is known as a cadre, was also temporarily entrusted with important tasks, but it was convenient for him to secretly check the accounts.

After more than a month of secret investigation, he found that every 100 taels of military salaries were issued to Liangguang on Jinghu South Road, and four taels of silver would be withheld after deducting the four taels of short flats that had been underallocated by the household department when appropriating funds. In addition, several adults of the transit envoy department also used their authority to deduct two taels without permission.

In this way, only ninety taels can reach two wide.

Don't underestimate these two or three taels are inconspicuous, there are 200,000 troops in Liangguang, and each person's annual salary is 30 yuan, and this alone will deduct 700,000 yuan.

These public deductions in the name of ingenuity are still small-headed. If half of the military salaries were really embezzled, there would be 3,100,000 yuan that they did not know",...

In addition, if half of the annual allocation of grain, straw, armor, carriages, horses, etc., is sold, at least 2 million yuan can be obtained from .......

In addition, the army opened foot shops, lent usury, returned illicit tea, sold illicit salt, brewed wine for sale, and even used military ships to carry out maritime trade...... It has almost monopolized the profiteering industry of Liangguang.

The most conservative estimate is that there are more than 5 million per year.

That's 10 million! It is equivalent to one-sixth of the financial income of the Great Song Dynasty, but it has never seen the account books, and it is nowhere to be found, how many shady scenes are hidden in it, and how many people will be involved, it makes people shudder when they think about ......it.

If it were limited to such speculation and investigation within his authority, no one would have noticed his anomaly, and he would not have been in danger. But he knows that he is soft-spoken, and this level of investigation report will not cause any waves, and if he wants to touch the high-level, he must come up with a hard dish!

Chen Xiliang has a way, he took the initiative to take on the work that others can't push and lead people to collect the dead bodies in the alkali city. In this era, the miasma in Lingnan was serious, and many people in the rout army were wounded, and due to medical conditions, some people died every day. In such a hot weather, it must be immediately restrained and buried, otherwise it will cause a plague.

When counting the relics of the deceased, Chen Xiliang did not even let go of a word, as long as it was with words, he would definitely read it carefully, and if it was valuable, he would stay and register. Although this method is stupid, it is very correct and ......, because most of the soldiers have to do business, and many of them are the actual handlers of the chain of interests. In order to be aware of the situation, or to be prepared, a lot of information was recorded and presented to him with the death of the master.

The rosters, bills, receipts for the salaries of the battalion officers and subordinates, and the information revealed in the correspondence ...... all kinds of small evidence were discovered, and he gradually sketched a black gold map involving the military circles of Hunan, Guangzhou, and the Third Route. Although it is fragmented, it has formed a complete chain of evidence, and as long as it is understood, it can be seen and understood.

He did his work cleanly and quietly, and at first it did not attract the attention of others. But half a month ago, when he was collecting a clerk, Chen Xiliang found a fatal account book from the mezzanine of his clothes, which actually recorded the flow of every risky military salary from the second year of Qingli to the present!

Chen Xiliang's heart was beating fast at that time, and his blood was gushing upward, of course he knew that this thing would lead to death, but this was ironclad evidence that he couldn't find!

Without much hesitation, he decided to stay. After taking notes overnight, he buried the book and the evidence he had obtained.

As soon as he finished his hands and feet, a Yu Hou from the Yongzhou Army brought someone to the door and asked him where the relics of the clerk were.

Chen Xiliang took them to the duty room, handed over a burden to Na Yu Hou and said: "There are soft and belongings inside, check them carefully, sign for them." ”

Yu Hou opened it and looked at it, but he didn't find what he was looking for, and said in a deep voice: "Is there anything else?" ”

"Worthless clothes, such as those are burned by the people." Chen Xiliang said lightly: "Who knows if it is sick or not?" ”

"Burned?" Yu Hou was anxious and roared: "There are important documents of our army there!" ”

"What the hell is this......." Chen Xiliang said indifferently: "The dead people you don't want to touch, let's not talk about it, do you still have to touch every piece of clothing?" How can there be such a truth in the world?! "Don't say that the other party is a Yu Hou, even if he is a commander, he can not buy it.

Because this is the ...... of the Great Song Dynasty, which emphasized literature over military force.

That Yu Hou touched his nose and left. Later, Lord Xiantai personally talked to Chen Xiliang, and still asked about the important 'document' "He insisted on it, burned it, and didn't spit out a single Ding Mao in the end."

But when he returned, he found that his residence had been searched again.

In the past few days, just when he felt that the other party had believed it, Chen Xiliang was assigned by the transfer envoy to escort grain and grass to Shaoguan, and on the way, he encountered bandits robbing .......

If you want to say that you drink and peck, you have your own destiny, Chen Xiliang lost his body resistance due to a long time of collecting people who died of illness on his eyelids, and as a result, he fell ill as soon as he encountered miasma, and he was lucky to escape.

When he arrived in prison, no one treated him, but he was stubborn, and he resisted in a daze, and waited until the ......moment Song Duanping appeared.

(To be continued)