Rebirth: Overthrow Song Dynasty

The 100,000 sailors did not stop, and continued to move downstream.

The speed of the fleet was extremely fast, and on February 15th, the fleet arrived in the Yueyang area.

At this moment, Zhao Chen was standing at the bow of the boat, watching the scenery of the south of the Yangtze River.

This is the first time he has come to Jiangnan, and he feels novelty in everything about Jiangnan. It's more than February now, and the northwest is still very cold. When I was in Xixia that day, there would be snowstorms until March, but in Jiangnan, greenery has appeared now, and spring is coming.

"Your Majesty, this Yueyang can be regarded as a famous city in ancient and modern times. Especially the Yueyang Tower is one of the three famous buildings in the south of the Yangtze River. In Tang Dynasty, Du Fu climbed the Yueyang Tower and left a famous poem through the ages, "I heard the Dongting water in the past, and now I go to the Yueyang Tower. Wu In the southeast of Chu, the universe floats day and night, the scenery in the south of the Yangtze River is really beautiful, and it is really picturesque." Wu Jie stood beside Zhao Chen and said with a smile.

Wu Jie is an important figure in the Western Army. He also grew up in the Northwest, and then went to Sichuan and Shu. It was also the first time he came to Jiangnan and saw this picturesque Jiangnan scenery.

"Yueyang Tower is indeed famous all over the world. In addition to Du Fu, there are countless literati who left their pens and inks in it, especially Fan Zhongyan of this dynasty. The name has been passed down through the ages. We should also encourage these words together! When the world is peaceful, it will be the time for you and me to be truly free and happy." Zhao Chen said.

"Your Majesty said so!" Wu Jie nodded.

The sun is shining today, and the soldiers have come to the board of the ship one after another, and they are also enjoying the scenery of the south of the Yangtze River.

There are still more than a dozen fishing boats floating on the Yangtze River at the moment, and some local fishermen are fishing, but after seeing countless warships coming from the upper reaches, they all stay there!

I saw those warships mighty and mighty, covering the river!

The battleship was full of warriors in black armor, densely packed, I don't know how many there are!

All the soldiers hold weapons in their hands, and under the sunlight, those weapons are shimmering and glowing!

Since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, for the first time in the south of the Yangtze River there were so many navy troops.

The situation in the Song Dynasty is different from that of previous dynasties. Since the establishment of the Great Song Dynasty, there have been constant troubles in the north. First, there was the enemy Liao, then there was Xixia, and now it is Jin. Whether it is the Liao Kingdom, Xixia Kingdom, and Jin Kingdom, they are all countries established by the northern peoples, and they all rule the roost with cavalry. In order to resist the invasion of these foreign nations, the Song Dynasty relied entirely on the army and hardly needed a navy.

Therefore, from the establishment of the Song Dynasty to the present, the scale of the Jiangnan Navy has been limited.

The most important role of the Jiangnan navy is to catch bandits, never for large-scale battles!

In history, probably only during the Battle of Chibi would such a large navy appear.

At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang and Chen Youliang fought, there would be such a large navy.

The expressions of the fishermen on the Yangtze River changed drastically at this moment!

"Why are there so many warships? So many soldiers? What happened?" A wrinkled, short fisherman asked palely.

"Could it be Liu Guangshi's soldiers and horses under General Liu?" asked a seventeen or eighteen-year-old young man next to him, and this young man was also pale at the moment.

"It must not be General Liu's soldiers. They are much stronger than General Liu's soldiers! I have never seen such a powerful soldier." The old fisherman said.

It is generally difficult to distinguish whether an army is strong or weak, and it needs to be on the battlefield to tell the difference! But the gap between Wu Jie's navy and Liu Guangshi's army is too great, so just looking at the surface, even an ancient fisherman with little knowledge can judge that Wu Jie's navy is much stronger than Liu Guangshi's army! The military appearance and discipline of the army, the morale of the army, and the gap between the weapons of the army can be seen at a glance! The army in front of us is far better than the Jiangnan Liu Family Army in terms of discipline, morale, and weapons!

"Could it be the rebels from Dongting Lake?" asked the young man.

"If the rebel army was so strong, they would have wiped out Liu's army long ago! I'm afraid they have already gone to Lin'an!" said the old fisherman.

Except for these two fishermen, the rest of the fishermen were also discussing and shocked at the moment.

Many fishermen feel that the world is about to change drastically, and some fishermen have already pulled their fishing boats ashore in fear, preparing to hide for a while!

In this era, the most terrifying thing is war!

Once a war breaks out, these poor people will be the first to suffer!

The military discipline of the ancient army was extremely poor, and when wars broke out, those soldiers would inevitably harm the people.

Zhao Chen was still standing at the bow of the boat, facing the wind from the river, and he almost turned a blind eye to the reactions of those ordinary fishermen.

Fishermen dodge the army, which is quite normal in this day and age.

"What's the current situation of Dongting Lake?" After a while, Zhao Chenmeng asked.

"The Dongting Lake area, except for Yueyang, is almost completely rebellious now! Originally, Liu Guangshi came here to forcibly conscript soldiers and rations, and the people couldn't survive, so they rebelled! In the beginning, the rebellion of the people was limited. It was only after the arrival of the White Lotus Sect , The scale of their rebellion began to grow! Now the elder Zhong Xiang of the White Lotus Sect is the leader of those rebels, and he has a very high prestige among the rebels." Wang De also stood beside Zhao Chen and said.

Wang De was in charge of intelligence, and Jiangnan's information was especially important. The White Lotus Rebellion in Dongting Lake was a major event in Jiangnan, and he had already investigated it clearly.

"In the White Lotus Sect, the Demon Queen is the most respected. Where did the Demon Queen go?" Zhao Chen asked.

"The Demon Queen is also in Dongting Lake, but after experiencing the incident in Sichuan and Sichuan, many elders of the White Lotus Sect were killed, and the power of the Demon Queen's lineage was greatly reduced. And Zhong Xiang's means are far better than the Demon Queen, so Zhong Zhong Xiang has now become the leader. The Demon Queen is only strong in martial arts, and there are still some old people from the White Lotus Sect around her. But in fact, she has been unable to suppress Zhong Xiang." Wang Dedao.

"Has the war between Liu Jiajun and the White Lotus Sect been fruitless?" Zhao Chen asked.

"Liu Guangshi has more than 100,000 troops, but his more than 100,000 troops are newly recruited, and their combat power is limited. As for the rebels in Dongting Lake, they claim to be 500,000, but in fact the real army is only 50,000 to 60,000. They don't have many weapons, and their fighting power is far inferior to Liu's army, but they are familiar with the terrain of Dongting Lake. Therefore, the two sides have always been deadlocked." Wang Dedao.

Zhao Chen nodded. He originally wanted to ask about Song Qingyao's situation, but after thinking about it, he decided to forget it.

The scenery in front of him was picturesque, but he sighed softly.

He thought of that extremely beautiful woman! She is also from Jiangnan, but she was persecuted by the government, so she went to Guanshan and became the disciple of the queen. She always wears men's clothing, just like Mr. Zhuo Shijia. She acted rashly, which was quite different from the women of this era.

Zhang Ziqiu liked this woman, and even gave the Chunjun Sword to this woman, but the woman said that she had a deep affection for him.

It took a long time for this figure to disappear from his heart without a trace.

"Has Wang Boyan been sent ashore?" Zhao Chen said after recovering.

"He has been sent to the shore! And sent people to follow him and monitor him." Wu Jie said.

"Actually, a villain like him is the most knowledgeable about current affairs. There is no need to send someone to monitor him, and he will do things according to our wishes! It is not without reason that ancient kings loved villains." Zhao Chen laughed.

"Your Majesty, Zhuge Liang once advised the Empress to be close to virtuous ministers and stay away from villains! I hope Your Majesty will take this as a warning." Wu Jie was taken aback and said.

He thought that Zhao Chen would reuse these "villains", so he immediately warned him.

"Anyone, no matter a gentleman or a villain, has his advantages! As long as he can discover his advantages, use his advantages, and curb his shortcomings, there is no one who is unusable in the world! The key is the system! After the world is unified, I will establish a perfect system. System! This system must take into account the shortcomings of human nature, and make embankments against these shortcomings. This is the real way to use people! It may not be correct to use 'virtuous ministers' and 'gentlemen' just by relying on personal subjectiveness!" Zhao Chen said .

"This..." Wu Jie was taken aback, thinking about Zhao Chen's words.

The speed of the warship was extremely fast, far surpassing other ships of this era. Not long after, the fleet disappeared without leaving any traces, as if it had never appeared before.

It was a day later that Liu Guangshi got the news of the passing of the fleet. When he heard the news, his first feeling was that it was not credible! He had never heard of the existence of such a fleet in the world, with a hundred thousand people, it was unbelievable!

However, Liu Guangshi still sent someone to ask Wang Boyan, the magistrate of Yueyang, and got the news from Wang Boyan that there was no so-called "fleet" at all, so Liu Guangshi was completely relieved.

After that, Liu Guangshi continued to suppress bandits in the Dongting Lake area.

*****

In the afternoon of the same day, in Lin'an City, there was already a bustling and lively scene here!

Jiangnan was originally a rich place, and there were a lot of rich people. After Zhao Gou came to Lin'an, countless wealthy people also moved to Lin'an, so now Lin'an has surpassed the past.

The imperial palace in Lin'an is also magnificent now.

There are a lot of eunuchs and maids in the palace.

Today in Zichen Palace, Zhao Gou, Qin Hui and Zhao Ding are all here.

On weekdays, Zhao Gou used this place as a study, and only some important state officials would enter here.

Qin Hui is now the prime minister, while Zhao Ding is now the deputy prime minister.

"The amount of military pay in the north is somewhat insufficient! Moreover, Liu Yu promised to send troops, and we will also provide Liu Yu's military pay! You two talk about it, how to deal with this issue of military pay?" Zhao Chen sat at the desk and said.

"Your Majesty, the amount of gold and silver in our treasury is already insufficient! I wonder how much more military pay is needed?" Zhao Ding frowned and said.

Although he is the deputy prime minister, he has been unable to intervene in the war in the north. He clearly remembered that he had just allocated more than 700,000 taels of military salary to the north two months ago. Why is the military salary insufficient now?

"Probably one million taels is needed!" Zhao Gou said.

"What? So many?" Zhao Ding was surprised.

"How much gold and silver can we get out of the treasury now?" Zhao Gou asked.

"I can still take out 300,000 taels now." Zhao Ding said.

"Too little! It seems that taxes need to be collected from the world!" Zhao Gou said.

"Your Majesty, no! Over the years, due to the war in the north, a lot of taxes have been levied! If there is more taxation, I am afraid that the people will be dissatisfied, and if the disaster of Dongting Lake is caused, it will be terrible!" Zhao Ding said hastily.

"The disaster of Dongting Lake? It's just a group of untouchables rebelling. They are vulnerable! Don't worry, Jiangnan is rich and there are many rich families. Most people will not resist!" Zhao Gou said.

"Your Majesty, I cannot agree to this matter!" Zhao Ding gritted his teeth.

"Then what do you say about the military pay in the north? Now that the war is raging in the north and the military pay is insufficient, how do we fight?" Zhao Gou said coldly.

"Your Majesty, the amount of gold and silver embezzled in the hands of the generals is extremely high! How could the 700,000 taels of military pay be used up in just two months? Your Majesty should ask those generals to see what happened. matter!" Zhao Ding said.

"During the war, wouldn't it make the general feel cold to do so! No!" Zhao Gou said.

"Your Majesty, there is another way!" Zhao Ding said.

"What way?" Zhao Gou asked.

"Your Majesty's palace costs a lot, and the amount of gold and silver stored in the palace's treasury is also huge! Your Majesty should reduce the palace's expenses, take out the gold and silver from the palace's treasury, and use it as military pay!" Zhao Ding gritted his teeth.

Zhao Gou froze there without saying a word.

"Master Zhao's words are wrong! Your Majesty is the Ninth Five-Year Honor, so naturally he should have the dignity of the Ninth Five-Year Honor! The silver in the house is for the construction of the palace, how can it be used as military pay?" Qin Hui finally spoke at this moment.

Qin Hui also knew that the issue of military pay was extremely difficult, but fortunately Zhao Ding was in charge of the military pay, so he didn't interrupt! But at the moment Zhao Ding asked Zhao Gou to reduce the palace expenses, Qin Hui knew that Zhao Gou would definitely not agree, so he followed Zhao Gou's words.

"Master Qin is right! I am the Ninth Five-Year Lord, how can I reduce the palace expenses at will?" Zhao Gou said coldly.

He looked at Zhao Ding very unkindly, in fact, he was also very dissatisfied with Zhao Ding! If it weren't for Zhao Ding's real talent and learning, and his ability to manage the economy quite well, even under the constant exploitation of Jiangnan's monarchs and ministers, and the people's life is difficult, Zhao Ding can still make Jiangnan roughly stable, otherwise Zhao Gou would have dismissed Zhao Ding and investigated!