Chapter 671: Emperor Taizu of Song: Step Aside, I'm About to Start Showing Off

The Grand Void Heaven.

Yao Yue wore palace attire, her bearing like solid ice thawing, becoming gentle and graceful.

As for the original white dress, it had long since gone where it belonged.

"Can't win, can't win at all! Even adding that witch, there's no hope of victory!"

Originally she had wanted to control that man, but the result was that she herself was controlled by someone, and ultimately defeated.

"Still, that feeling is unexpectedly not bad!"

"The man of I, Yao Yue, is truly strong!"

With peculiar feelings, Yao Yue opened the traversal passage and returned to the Shift Flower Palace.

Lian Xing was worrying when she saw her sister return.

Looking closely, she discovered her sister's bearing had undergone an enormous change.

Gentle and graceful like a Young Lady of noble birth.

Such an appearance, Lian Xing would not dare imagine even in her dreams.

"Sister, did something happen?" Lian Xing said in astonishment.

Yao Yue came back to herself, a flush flashing and vanishing across her jade-white cheeks. With a thought, she took out several plates of fruit and several plates of dishes, and said: "Nothing's wrong, I just gained a lot of strength. I may need to go into closed-door cultivation."

After giving some instructions, Yao Yue hurriedly left.

Lian Xing was very curious about her sister's change, but seeing her sister leave, she could only press down the curiosity in her heart, her gaze falling upon the delicacies.

She picked up her chopsticks, lightly pinched a bite with them, and her eyes immediately narrowed into crescents.

"So delicious! So these were the dishes served at the banquet?" Lian Xing suddenly felt resentment in her heart: "Damn that witch for meddling, otherwise, I could have attended such a banquet too."

Upon tasting the spirit fruits, the resentment in Lian Xing's heart grew even stronger.

She almost regarded Wan Wan as a mortal enemy.

"One day, I will have my revenge!"

Little did she know that Wan Wan's and Yao Yue's relationship had become even more complicated, having already become sisters who had been through the trenches together!

……

Bianliang.

Zhao Kuangyin ended the chat, his expression somewhat melancholy.

He walked out of the great hall, came to the highest point of the imperial palace, and gazed outward.

"I never expected that in merely a little over a hundred years, Bianliang would fall. This great land and rivers, ruined in the hands of those unremarkable descendants of mine. Sigh…"

Having read the Song Shi, Zhao Kuangyin was deeply moved.

Comparing it once more with the Ming Shi, he arrived at a conclusion that left him deeply embarrassed.

These descendants of his were probably about the same as those Emperors of the Ming dynasty — all a bunch of wastrels.

"However, this also has to do with me, I suppose!" Zhao Kuangyin reflected: "Because I feared military generals causing chaos, I emphasized civil over military matters, leading to poor combat effectiveness of the army."

Besides this, the Song dynasty had another military flaw — the source of its troops.

Throughout the ages, elite soldiers were selected to form armies.

But he, Zhao Kuangyin, came up with an original idea, selecting local ruffians and thugs into the army, which both solved the local public order problem and the recruitment problem.

He had originally thought this was a brilliant move, but it turned out to be a foolish one.

The army demands strict obedience to orders, but hoodlums naturally are not so obedient, inherently a notch below ordinary sons of good families.

This is something no training can change.

Moreover, because the army was formed of thugs and ruffians, military discipline was corrupt, causing great harm to the common people, and popular resentment was considerable.

"A good man does not become a soldier, a good iron does not become a nail!"

This was a saying that spread very widely during this period.

It both shows that the advancement channels for soldiers in this period had shrunk, inherently a cut below civil officials, and that the image of soldiers in this period was very poor!

Before the Song, although soldiers were also not liked by common folk, occasionally there would be some good armies that were beloved by the people.

After the Northern Song, because the composition of the army was complex, military discipline was lax.

The image of soldiers declined again and again, becoming an existence despised by everyone.

Of course, among ruffians there were also men who made good — for example, Han Shizhong of the Southern Song, who was originally a ruffian by origin, yet ultimately became a famous general.

However, this could not change the image of the Song army.

"I must think of a way to change it." Zhao Kuangyin mused inwardly: "Otherwise, won't this great Song be in utter chaos later? Now that I've joined the chat group, my strength will surely become as formidable as Zhu Yuanzhang's, and I won't need to worry about the problem of generals holding too much power."

"Moreover, an army formed of ruffians and thugs — I wouldn't have the face to bring it to other worlds either. Far too embarrassing."

Thinking thus, Zhao Kuangyin began to summon his ministers, preparing to implement military reform.

Half a day later.

The ministers gathered in the imperial palace, and upon hearing Zhao Kuangyin's words, they were all completely dumbfounded.

"Your Majesty, the chaos caused by military men is still fresh in our memory — we cannot fail to guard against it."

Of Zhao Kuangyin's changes, the most displeased were of course the scholar-gentry clans.

Select elite soldiers, raise the treatment of Generals.

Once the treatment of Generals rose, wouldn't the status of their scholar-gentry clans correspondingly fall?

"Your Majesty, please reconsider!"

Zhao Kuangyin's expression was calm.

As a founding Emperor, he understood the thoughts of his ministers below far too well.

It can be said that few founding Emperors were weak; each and every one was a shrewd expert in human nature.

"I am not here to discuss with you today, but to inform you. Gao Huaide, you will preside over this matter — carefully select sons of good families and form the Dragon Guard!"

"As for the original army, leave them in place for now."