Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 440 Determination
“In addition, I plan to set up a military academy and select generals from the army to serve as teachers. The sons of military generals and nobles who have entered the officialdom through the influence of imperial seals and those who have excellent results in the military examinations must study in the military academy before they are granted actual positions.” Zhao Xing said.

"Your Majesty, the Imperial College already has a martial arts school. If we set up a military academy, there will be some conflict between the two," said Zeng Gongliang.

Although Zhao Xing's actions seemed to restrict the inheritance of titles to the children of military generals and nobles, it seemed like an act of suppression.

However, Zhao Xing showed his importance to the military examination, which seemed to indicate that he attached great importance to military affairs.

Putting aside his identity as a scholar, from a long-term perspective, Zeng Gongliang also believed that it was necessary to guard against military generals.

"Minister Zeng, do you also think that military generals should be suppressed?" Zhao Xing said indifferently.

"this…"

Zeng Gongliang was shocked. He didn't expect Zhao Xing to ask such a sharp question.

The reason why the Song Dynasty was said to value culture over military affairs, but not to value culture over military affairs, was because the emperors of the Song Dynasty never personally suppressed military generals.

At least not on the surface, but instead they valued scholars and used literature to lead military affairs.

"Your Excellency is the Privy Councilor. There are only you and me here. You can have a chat." Zhao Xing waved his hand.

"Your Majesty, there have been many dynasties since ancient times. If we count those that were separatist and failed to unify, the number would be even greater. Although the demise of these dynasties cannot be attributed entirely to military generals, there are some connections. Therefore, military generals must be guarded against!" Zeng Gongliang said.

"Indeed, many dynasties have changed because of the military commanders who commanded their own troops. But Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty waited until all the birds were gone before he put away his bow. Now the Song Dynasty has powerful enemies nearby and has a million soldiers. Let alone the Liao Kingdom, even the Western Xia cannot be defeated.

Now, each country has its own internal problems, but the three countries are still relatively peaceful. But if a new powerful country emerges in the future, can peace still be maintained?
By then, the Song Dynasty will be in danger of collapse. Don't you think it's ridiculous to suppress the generals?" Zhao Xing sneered.

The literary style of the Song Dynasty flourished, and many capable officials emerged.

There were even people like Fan Zhongyan and Wang Anshi who pursued reforms and strengthened the country.

However, during the Song Dynasty, no literati ever thought of changing the situation in which culture was valued over military affairs.

It's not that they are concerned about something, but that literati look down on military generals.

Is Han Zhang a loyal minister? Definitely.

But Han Zhang once shouted: "Only those who can be called out at Donghua Gate are real men."

If the world is peaceful, Zhao Xing will still restrict military generals.

When civil officials abuse their power, they are nothing more than autocrats, and very few of them are plotting rebellion to replace the rulers.

However, the higher the official rank of a military general, the more troops he controls, which can easily breed ambition.

Even if the rebellion fails, it will bring great harm to the world.

Even if we take a step back, if a military general controls a large number of troops and has no ambition, he will still arouse the emperor's fear and targeting.

In order to protect themselves, it is inevitable for military generals to rebel.

Therefore, there is no problem in restricting military generals, but that is something to do after the world is at peace.

"But…"

"It's nothing!"

Zhao Xing stood up and said firmly: "My dear Zeng, there is no dynasty that lasts for a thousand years. The Song Dynasty is like this, and the Liao Dynasty is also like this. Since ancient times, after the change of dynasties, the newly established dynasties are full of enterprising spirit. Rather than letting the Song Dynasty be destroyed by foreigners, I would rather destroy it at the hands of the Han people. In this way, the world will at least be the world of the Han people!"

Zeng Gongliang fell silent after hearing this, although he felt that what Zhao Xing said was a bit groundless. After all, there was only so much territory that could be occupied around the Song Dynasty.

All the territories have owners, and they are mutually restrained, making it difficult for new forces to emerge.

Even if there are changes, they are just internal struggles.

However, Zhao Xing's words made his blood boil.

If Zhao Xing knew what Zeng Gongliang was thinking, he would definitely smile bitterly.

The process of the Jurchens establishing the Jin Dynasty was indeed somewhat mysterious. At the beginning of the uprising, there were only 2,500 people, and after expanding to more than 3,000 people, they faced an encirclement and suppression by the Liao Dynasty's 100,000-strong army, but they still won.

You know, the gap in the number of troops between the two sides was nearly thirty times.

There are many examples in history of victory over a larger force, and there are also many battles where the disparity in troop strength was dozens of times greater than that of the larger force.

But you have to know that although the disparity in military strength between tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands is huge, it is not the same concept as a few thousand versus a hundred thousand.

The larger the base number of troops, the greater the test on the general's control ability, and there will also be more loopholes.

Li Shimin also once defeated an army of 100,000 with only 3,000 men, but in Zhao Xing's opinion, the difficulty of the two was not the same.

You should know that Li Shimin led the most elite Black Armor Army, which not only had elite soldiers but also top-notch weapons and armor.

When Wanyan Aguda started his rebellion, even the Jurchen tribes did not think highly of him until he won the battle and then they began to support him.

Of course, the Liao Kingdom was already corrupt at that time, and its army was no match for Dou Jiande's troops.

Moreover, it is not the same era, and the superiority cannot be judged by the results of the battle.

But this cannot deny Wanyan Aguda's military talent.

After the Jin Dynasty, there will be a character more mysterious than Wanyan Aguda.

If the Song Dynasty does not strive to become stronger, even if it can survive in the future, its demise is only a matter of time.

Zhao Xing never thought that the Song Dynasty would last forever. He could accept the demise of the Song Dynasty, but was unwilling to be ruled by a foreign race.

There was a natural conflict between the nomadic peoples and the Han dynasty. The Han people viewed the nomadic peoples as barbarians, and the nomadic peoples viewed the Han people as two-legged sheep.

When foreign races invaded the Central Plains, they committed endless plunder and killing.

Although many people died during the change of dynasties, it was still much less than the massacres caused by foreign invaders.

"Your Majesty, the officials will not agree to this," Zeng Gongliang said.

"I know." Zhao Xing nodded and said, "But I don't mean to let the military officers surpass the civil officials, or be equal to the civil officials. I just want to train and select some grassroots generals, so that the army will not be full of people who just eat and eat for nothing!"

Zhao Xing wanted to change the status of military generals, but he was not so naive as to want them to be on an equal footing with civil officials.

Even though Zhao Xing killed some civil servants after he ascended the throne, there is little opposition among court officials to some of his policies.

All this was because Zhao Xing did not touch the core interests of the civil servants.

The court's investigation of land ownership did not have much impact on officials.

Although the officials' relatives also annexed land, when the land inventory became irreversible, these officials notified their families to cooperate.

After all, the fields only produce a little each year. Although they feel the pain, they are not going to turn against Zhao Xing for such a small benefit.

Zhao Xing's rectification of the administration of officials simply meant that he became a little stricter in the evaluation.

For officials, what they value most is the title and status of civil servants.

As long as these two points do not change, they are willing to let Zhao Xing deal with the rest.

It would be better to create some trouble so that Zhao Xing would behave himself.

The reason why Zhao Xing said all this to Zeng Gongliang was that he wanted to tell all the officials about his determination and purpose through him.

"If so, the officials in the court will not object too much. I will obey your order." Zeng Gongliang replied.

"Then my dear Zeng, please draft a detailed charter as soon as possible and submit it to me for review," said Zhao Xing.

"I obey your order!" Zeng Gongliang replied.

(End of this chapter)