"Kill, kill, kill~" In the sailor camp on the side of Guangzhou Port, a team of sailors and soldiers are practicing nervously, and the long knife in their hands is chopped again and again under the instructor's order, if someone is not serious, the instructor next to him will immediately split the head and face with a whip, no matter when, the soldiers are beaten.

Xu Yuan accompanied Zhao Yan to this military camp, and introduced to him as he walked: "Third brother, this is this year's new barracks, a total of 30,000 people have been recruited, and now all of them are here for land drills, and when the drills reach a certain level, they will be allowed to get on the boat for water combat drills." ”

"It's only 30,000 people, isn't it a little little?" Zhao Yan frowned when he heard this, and said, before the Great Song Dynasty sailors added up to a total of 100,000 people, but these 100,000 sailors were strong and weak, Zhao Yan came to the coast and vigorously rectified, eliminated a group of old and weak, and only about 80,000 people remained, but now with the occupation of Luzon and Champa and other places, Zhao Yan felt that the troops in his hands were weak, so he asked Zhao Ji to expand the sailors, and Zhao Yan also agreed.

Hearing that Zhao Yan thought that 30,000 people was too little, Xu Yuan couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "Third brother, you can be content, it's not easy to recruit troops now, as long as ordinary people have other ways, no one will choose to eat soldier food, plus we have higher requirements for sailors and soldiers, so it is already very good to be able to recruit 30,000 people now." ”

Zhao Yan couldn't help but be silent when he heard Xu Yuan's words, the status of the generals of the Great Song Dynasty was low, and the soldiers in the army were not respected, and it was from this era that good men were not soldiers, although he had been trying to change this situation all these years, but once this kind of social consensus was formed, it was definitely not something that could be changed in a short period of time, so it caused the current situation of difficulty in recruiting soldiers.

"My Great Song Dynasty has a population of hundreds of millions, can't I even recruit tens of thousands of soldiers?" Zhao Yan was still a little unwilling at this time, and it was said that after he rectified the water division. The treatment of the sailor has been improved, not only do they have a generous military salary in peacetime, but they can also get a share of the spoils when they go out to fight, plus other miscellaneous income, the income of the sailor soldiers is definitely not low, in fact, although the Great Song Dynasty despises martial arts. But the general's salary has always been higher than that of the civilian official, and the treatment of the forbidden army is even better, and the sailor also belongs to the forbidden army.

"The third brother doesn't know, the forbidden army of my Great Song Dynasty has always been recruited from the northerners, and compared with the southerners, the northerners are tall and powerful, and they have a natural advantage. But the sailors are different from the army, the so-called northerners ride horses, southerners ride boats, so the sailors have always only recruited from the southerners, but as you know, the number of southerners is small, and the climate here is hot and the land is fertile, so there is generally not much disaster like in the north. Most of the people do not have to worry about going hungry, but only have food to eat. Many people are reluctant to risk this ration. Xu Yuan sighed at this time and said.

The south of the Northern Song Dynasty has not been fully developed, and the north is still the political, economic, and military center of the Central Plains Dynasty, which can be seen from the population alone, as far as Zhao Yan knows, the population of the north accounts for more than two-thirds of the entire Great Song Dynasty, while the south, which is larger than the northern territory of the Great Song Dynasty, accounts for less than one-third. Therefore, Xu Yuan said that it is normal for the south to have a small population and not be able to recruit soldiers.

Zhao Yan pondered for a moment when he heard this, and finally spoke: "Since the south can't recruit people, let's go to the northern coast, and the northerners can't generalize about the southerners riding horses and the southerners taking boats, after all, there are fishermen in the north." And I heard that because of the drought some time ago, some places in the north were seriously affected, and even if there is food for disaster relief, there are still many people living in difficulty, so if we go to recruit soldiers, we should be able to recruit more people! ”

Xu Yuan heard Zhao Yan's proposal to recruit people in the north, and immediately came to his senses, he drilled the tip of the horns in recruitment, because in the past, sailors were recruited from the fishermen along the southern coast, these fishermen are proficient in water, and they know how to operate boats, as long as a little training can be qualified as sailors, but now since there are not enough people recruited, then the scope of recruitment can be expanded, even if the recruiters do not know how to operate water, but it is a big deal to spend more time training.

Thinking of the above, Xu Yuan also immediately nodded in agreement, and instructed the people below to prepare to go to the north to recruit sailors, and now Xu Yuan has been promoted to the commander of the Guangzhou Chamber, with 25,000 of the most elite sailors in his hands, and there are also three-chamber sailors stationed in Quanzhou and other places, generally only responsible for the safety of the coast, and Zhao Yan does not dare to use it easily, so he wants to expand the sailors.

Zhao Yan watched their drills for a while in this naval division recruit barracks, and then personally boarded the warship, there are also recruits here in the exercises, they are relatively early recruited into the naval division, after the land drill has been able to practice comprehensively, learn various tactics at sea, speaking of which, with the application of artillery and ballistas, now the Great Song Naval Division has gradually departed from the primitive broadside battle, generally before the enemy's warship approaches, the opponent's ship is smashed with artillery and ballista, and finally sent people to clean up the mess, This method of warfare has made the Great Song Naval Division invincible on the sea.

After visiting the drill on the warship, Zhao Yan also nodded with satisfaction, but at this time, Xu Yuan asked: "Third brother, now that our sailors have recruited so many people, when can you send our warship to adapt to?" ”

Hearing Xu Yuan ask about this, Zhao Yan also replied with a smile: "Don't worry, Su Song has already sent a letter from there, saying that the warship is ready, but he doesn't have so many people to drive the warship over, so you still need to send someone yourself, and by the way, you will also build a sailor camp there, after all, Qiongzhou is not as good as before, and there must be a sailor guard!" ”

The shipyard in Qiongzhou has now formed a considerable scale, and several shipyards are located there one after another, initially forming the prototype of a shipbuilding base, and because of the relationship between Su Song, the Qiongzhou shipyard is building several newly designed ships, these ships are designed by Su Song and other shipbuilding masters, each has a different purpose, for example, they also designed a new type of warship, which is larger and stronger than the original warship, and at the same time the speed is faster, and the layout of the ship is more reasonable. Xu Yuan immediately made a decision after seeing the ship model, and he must use this new warship.

"That's great!" When Xu Yuan heard that the warship had been built, his eyes immediately lit up and said, "It just so happens that the first batch of recruits has almost been trained, this time let them go to Qiongzhou to receive the warship, and by the way, they will also train their long-distance sailing ability." ”

After visiting the camp of the sailors, Zhao Yan did not leave, but returned to the mansion in Guangzhou City with Xu Yuan, and then Xu Yuan spoke again: "Third brother, will your current blatant expansion of the army cause any trouble, in case someone in the court is agitating His Majesty, it is likely to cause a big disaster!" ”

It is not the first time that Xu Yuan has persuaded Zhao Yan like this, because now Zhao Yan guards the southern coast as a prince, and has great military and political power in his hands, and almost no one can control it, which is already very suspicious in itself, fortunately, Zhao Yan and Zhao Yan have a deep relationship, and Zhao Yan has saved Zhao Yan's life several times, so Zhao Yan has never suspected Zhao Yan, but has always agreed to his request without thinking, but now Zhao Yan actually asked to expand the water division, although the water division still belongs to the Great Song Dynasty in name, But in fact, he was under the command of Zhao Yan, so the matter of expanding the water division was too sensitive, Xu Yuan had to worry that Zhao Ji in the capital would think too much, even if Zhao Ji agreed to expand the water division now, but God knows what he would think?

Seeing Xu Yuan's worried look, Zhao Yan didn't know the possible consequences of expanding the water division, but he said with a resolute face at this time: "I don't care about this, the eldest brother has already thought about attacking the Liao State, although it seems that he has given up this idea for the time being, but with my understanding of him, I'm afraid that in a year or two at most, as long as the Great Song Dynasty recovers some vitality, he will definitely make a move against the Liao State, and if it is defeated, it will be a catastrophe, so I must be prepared!" ”

"But even if you are prepared, there can be other ways, why do you have to control so many troops by yourself, in case this matter arouses Your Majesty's suspicion, isn't it dangerous for you, third brother?" Xu Yuan opened his mouth again to persuade, in fact, in his opinion, Zhao Yan didn't need to make the decision to expand the water division at all, the best way was for Zhao Yan to return to the capital and personally persuade Zhao Xu, with their brother's feelings, it should be possible for Zhao Yan not to easily send troops to Liao.

Zhao Yan naturally knew what Xu Yuan was thinking, in fact, Xu Yuan had said it more than once before, but Zhao Yan smiled bitterly at this time: "I know you think I can persuade my eldest brother to give up the idea of attacking Liao, but I don't think so, because of the eldest brother's marriage, my father, my mother and I worked together to persuade him, and finally made him change his mind, and later the change was opposed by his father, but the eldest brother still started to change the law immediately after ascending the throne, and he couldn't listen to other people's opinions at all. So now, even I can't persuade him at all, so I can only help him prepare in advance. ”

Hearing Zhao Yan say this, Xu Yuan couldn't help but sigh, he also had a lot of contact with Zhao Ji after marrying the princess of Shu, and at first he felt that Zhao Ji was a good emperor, at least he did a good job of being diligent and loving the people, but unfortunately later he found that Zhao Ji was too stubborn in some things, and as a saying goes, "If you don't see the coffin, you won't shed tears", some things Zhao Yan's persuasion may have some effect, but once Zhao Yan makes a decision, Zhao Yan is also powerless about it. (To be continued......)