Standing in front of the bronze mirror, Zhao Xu felt his muscles tighten. His body was full of strength, and his bones were getting thicker.
There was a hint of determination and solemnity on her delicate face.
[Ding-dong. The host's body has been solidified. It is invulnerable to weapons and poisons.]”
"The mission has been initiated and will undergo a comprehensive reform. If the mission is completed, the host will have the ability to summon all the generals from ancient times to the present. If the mission fails, the host will have a new ruler.”
……
"Where's my newbie gift bag?" Zhao Xu asked.
"The all-purpose minimap has been released. The host can activate the minimap at any time to see what the person wants to see.”
Beep!
A small map appeared in Zhao Xu's mind.
The distribution of the forces on Earth was clear on the mini-map.
To the north was the Liao Kingdom, to the northwest were the Western Xia and Tubo Kingdoms, to the south were the Dali Kingdom and Jiaozhi Kingdom, and to the east were Korea and Japan.
In the north, near the Song and Liao frontlines, there were endless warhorses. On the Song side, there were rows of willows to stop the cavalry from going south.
The two countries had been at peace for a hundred years. The borders were very lax, and some border passes were not even guarded.
The Liao Emperor Yelu Hongji was very sinicized. He could no longer read the Khitan language. The entire Liao Kingdom was sinicized, including culture, art, and court etiquette.
What made Zhao Xu feel incredible was that this world was very unique.
Genghis Khan had actually existed in advance and was slowly dominating the Menggu Plains.
Behind the Liao Kingdom, the Nuzhen people were also growing rapidly, and they were nibbling away at the Liao Kingdom's power.
In the northwest, the confrontation between the Western Xia and the Great Song was extremely tense. The Western Xia was currently expanding.
The Xixia royal palace had just undergone a transition from the old to the new. The king was the seven-year-old Li Bingchang, and his mother, Empress Dowager Liang, was the regent.
In order to unify the country, they had to destroy Liao and Xixia.
In order to destroy the Liao Kingdom, they must first destroy the Xixia Kingdom.
In order to destroy Xixia, he had to reorganize the army, buy warhorses, select talents, and increase military spending.
In order to achieve all of these, they had to increase the amount of money and grain, generate income, and enrich the national treasury.
And now, there were less than 500,000 strings of silver in the national treasury.
Zhao Xu had checked the account books of the Political Affairs Hall. In the entire Yingzong Dynasty, the Great Song earned 112,600,000 strings of money, but its expenditure was as high as 120,820,000 strings of money.
Unable to make ends meet!
The crux of the problem lies in the three redundant, redundant soldiers, redundant officials, redundant expenses.
The imperial court had raised too many soldiers without any combat power, too many officials, and too much money spent without any purpose.
There were also the annual coins, which were worth millions of dollars to buy peace between the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia.
The high-profile Confucian officials in the court would not have thought of this. The Renzong Dynasty's "Qingli New Deal" only attempted to reform the administration of officials and did not touch on economic reform.
And the Qing Li New Deal had failed completely, causing the Song Dynasty to deteriorate and fall into a hopeless situation.
Zhao Xu understood that it was unrealistic to solve these problems all at once. The most important thing now was to strengthen his power.
First, he had to establish absolute authority within the palace.
In order to establish absolute authority in the palace, he had to deal with the Grand Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager Gao.
The late Emperor Song Yingzong died of depression because of Empress Dowager Cao, and now there was another equally ambitious Empress Dowager Gao.
The Empress Dowager and the Grand Empress Dowager wanted to sit behind the curtains, so Zhao Xu had to solve the problem of two curtains.
In order to deal with the two palaces, he had to control the Imperial Army, especially the imperial guards.
The guards in the palace were divided into two parts. One was the Division in front of the palace, and the other was the Division of Guards.
The Division in front of the Palace was equivalent to the Garrison Command. It was controlled by the Empress Dowager's two nephews, Cao De and Cao Hua. They were the Commanders and Deputy Commanders of the Division in front of the Palace.
And the Guard Division was inclined towards the Emperor, and had a great conflict with the Division in front of the Palace.
The Guard Division is divided into the Commander of the Guards, the Commander of the Horse Army, and the Commander of the Guards, the Commander of the Infantry Army.
The commander of the horse army was Xu Feng, and the commander of the infantry army was Zheng Jimin.
They were all descendants of famous generals.
It was almost midnight. Scattered snowflakes floated in the sky. Zhao Xu was meeting Xu Feng and Zheng Jimin in the Hall of Heroes.
"Xu Feng and Zheng Jimin greet the emperor. Long live the emperor!”
"Stand up. Zhen called you here to ask you a few things.”
"Your Majesty, please tell me."
Zhao Xu sat on the dragon throne and said slowly,"
"Where are Cao De and Cao Hua now?”
"Your Majesty, the two Cao Lords have been on duty in the palace these few days.”
"Very good. I ask you, do you have the guts to kill them and replace them?”
As soon as Zhao Xu finished speaking, Xu Feng and Zheng Jimin were dumbfounded.
These two brothers, Cao De and Cao Hua, were the nephews of the Empress Dowager's maiden family. They had served in the palace for more than ten years and had great power. They were the absolute guarantee that the Empress Dowager would listen to the government behind the curtain.
Kill them? Could it be that the little Emperor wanted to fall out with the Empress Dowager? Could the little Emperor defeat the Grand Empress Dowager?
However, not obeying the emperor's imperial edict was a major crime of deceiving the emperor. If things went wrong, their entire clan might be exterminated.
The Great Song Dynasty treated scholars with great preferential treatment, but it was always cold and heartless towards generals.
"Don't you dare? Or do you want to defy the imperial edict?" Zhao Xu said solemnly.
"We dare not! We will obey your orders!"
Xu Feng and Zheng Jimin hurriedly knelt down. Tian Zi's sharp and ruthless gaze made them feel deep fear.
The two of them made up their minds and decided to risk their lives to do it.
Zhao Xu stopped them again and said,"
"Wait, you have no chance of winning if you kill Second Cao like this. I'll tell you how to kill him safely!”
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