choke element

Chapter 973 Release (Part )

Guo Ning stood in the corridor connecting the inner and outer courtyards, listened attentively for a while, and quickened his pace with confidence.

Passing through the Moon Gate, he came to the small training ground where he practiced martial arts every day. A new winding stream had been opened on the side of the garden next to the small training ground, which brought in water from the fish and algae pond. Guo Ning and Lu Han did not like luxury, so the inner courtyard of the Marshal's Mansion had not been expanded much, but he was the emperor after all, and sometimes his subordinates who were keen to please him would do it at any cost with just a casual word.

Take this small stream for example. It seems inconspicuous, but in fact it flows for several miles along the way, crossing several neighborhoods, and new pavilions and gardens are built as a backdrop. It must have taken a lot of manpower.

When the creek was being built, Guo Ning happened to be on a tour and only discovered it when he came back.

Guo Ning's first reaction was to severely reprimand his flattering subordinates. But then he thought about it and realized that the environment had changed. His position had reached such a high level that the mentality of the people around him would inevitably change, and the financial resources were not unable to support it. If he insisted on accusing others of such things, it would make the outside world think that the emperor was harsh to those around him, which would make him seem too pretentious.

So he turned a blind eye to it, saying that the Marshal's Office was more important for military command and defense, and that there should be no more nonsense. After a while, he sent people to check the money spent in the palace and to give his men some money.

The presence of such a beautiful place in the Marshal's Mansion was indeed quite beneficial. Especially in the hot summer, he would gather his trusted subordinates here to chat or practice martial arts. Everyone felt the fresh air, relaxed and happy, and had a refined interest.

In this regard, Lu Han's mentality was much calmer than Guo Ning's. She never changed her living habits because of the change of environment. She lived in the luxurious and magnificent palace as usual, and stayed in the Marshal's Mansion every now and then, and everything was normal.

Even now, although they were under a beautiful pavilion and beside a clear stream, Lu Han served her the usual pickles and baked cakes, and two plates of beef with pickled garlic mixed with sesame oil. Her eldest son, Guo Jing, and a few friends of roughly the same age were waving short sticks and fighting on the beach by the stream for fun.

Guo Jing was young and didn't talk much, but he had a cheerful personality. When he saw his father coming from a distance, he immediately left his companions behind, stepped across the stream with his short legs, and shouted, "Stick!"

"Huh? What stick?"

Guo Ning was stunned. Guo Jing raised a short stick in his hand, which was more than two feet long, and thrust it in front of Guo Ning, shouting, "Stick!"

It turned out that someone had broken off a branch from somewhere and gave it to Guo Jing as a toy. The branch was straight from top to bottom, evenly thick, with a green bark, without a single fork or spot on it, and it was indeed a rare fine product. Guo Ning walked over with a laugh, took the short stick, danced with it, and then gave it back to Guo Jing.

Guo Jing took the stick and swung it twice, then continued with satisfaction: "This stick is good!"

Guo Ning replied casually: "This is a treasure. We must keep it well and don't damage it."

Guo Jing hesitated and thought for a moment, then said, "I want to use this stick!"

Guo Ning laughed out loud.

The pavilion was located a few feet higher than the stream. Lu Han leaned out from the balcony and looked down. She couldn't help but smile. She said to Guo Ning, "People who used to be beaten with sticks and couldn't be driven away now have a purpose... Are you happy?"

"Ah Han, I can't hide anything from you."

Guo Ning first held Guo Jing and put the child back on the beach on the other side of the stream, then walked back and sat in the pavilion.

"That's what I've always planned. There are always impurities in the army. These impurities can be removed, but they can't be destroyed. It's better to find an excuse to lure them with huge profits and release them to a foreign land to harm outsiders... This is the first batch, and they can be regarded as the forerunners of the king. There will be more to come!"

"I suddenly feel a little pitiful for the Kingdom of Goryeo. You've targeted its people and its products, and yet you've let a group of vicious wolves in to wreak havoc."

"Ahem, it's not like we're targeting Goryeo. I told you, there are tens of millions of miles of fertile land and countless countries in that foreign land. We've seen the sea charts, what is Goryeo? It's not even as good as a caterpillar, just a drop in the ocean. We just need to sort out the military and political affairs, and release those who are difficult to control one by one. Even if we let them go for a hundred years, they won't be able to cause harm to so many places."

As Guo Ning explained, he piled beef and pickled garlic on the flatbread and carefully rolled it up.

When he was about to put it in his mouth, he said, "Besides, how did it become a disaster? The people released are all respectable people in the Great Zhou, and they went overseas for business!"

Lu Han spat and turned to look outside. It turned out that Guo Jing was not checking and was pushed to the ground by his friends, screaming and struggling.

The foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty was a large-scale group of warriors. However, the group of warriors was not a pure and flawless white lotus, and was not naturally the foundation of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Guo Ning used his own reputation for bravery and good fighting skills, and generously distributed benefits to bring together hundreds of thousands of fierce and ruthless people and unleash their terrible power. However, since ancient times, every dynasty has faced the same problem, that is, the military or political group on which the dynasty was built quickly became corrupt. The internal and complicated relationships made it impossible to eradicate the imperial power.

Not to mention the ancient times, Guo Ning vaguely remembered that in his dream, even the political groups with the purest ideals and the strictest disciplines in later generations could not avoid this problem. How could the Great Zhou be an exception?
It has only been a few years since the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but the military group is still full of vigor, and the military power is even stronger than before. However, among so many military nobles, there are many who show signs of corruption. It is okay for people like Yin Chang to do whatever they want. There are also those who are greedy and take human lives lightly. Even if the court laws severely punish them one by one, they cannot take care of them.

Among those who were meeting Jing Anmin in the side hall, there were several old guys who were doing things not so cleanly behind the scenes. It was just that they were cunning and treacherous, so Guo Ning couldn't find any handle on them for the time being.

Fortunately, this is not a difficult problem for Da Zhou.

In ancient times, the empire’s territory was limited to the Central Plains, and profits depended on farming, which was fixed every year. The masters at the top became greedy and wanted to eat more, so the people below had to eat less. No matter how good the masters were at squeezing, they could only torment the farmers in various ways on their small piece of land until the fire spread to the prairie and everyone was doomed.

But when the Great Zhou was first established, the benefits came from the sea and foreign countries. Because the wealthy Southern Song Dynasty had been operating for hundreds of years, there was indeed a trade network thousands of miles away on the sea. The daily flow of money, like a mountain of gold and silver, was clearly seen by the nobles of the Great Zhou, so that they had never left their sights overseas for a long time.

Since the founding of the Great Zhou, through cooperation with the Southern Song Dynasty, countless warriors have actually taken boats to travel on the sea to reap the benefits. Even generals at the level of marshal have been ordered to participate in it.

For example, Shi Tianni, who relied on dozens of heroes to run rampant in various ports and overseas in the Southern Song Dynasty and called himself Alibaba; another example was Yin Chang, who was dismissed from office after offending the emperor, but was about to control the real power of Goryeo. There was also the hateful left and right doctor Li, who was said to have recognized a powerful figure as his father in the Southern Song Dynasty, and he had a lot of benefits in his pocket just by sitting in Lin'an City.

These people are the best role models, and when role models accumulate, they will eventually drive the choices of many people.

Besides...

Inside the Great Zhou Dynasty, the emperor had no sand in his eyes and kept a very close eye on the situation. Under the emperor, there were many spies from the Recording Department and the Left and Right Departments running around. No matter how beautiful the nobles' dreams were, they could not be satisfied. Overseas, it was different. Wherever the Great Zhou Dynasty's influence reached, there was rampant tyranny and bloodshed.
The difference is so huge that the nobles will figure it out themselves. They will beg the emperor to give them opportunities and allow them to go overseas to show their talents.

For Guo Ning, this was a good opportunity to remove impurities. And the impurities released to the outside happened to become the vanguard of the Great Zhou.

"However, Jing Anmin said that they should make a bigger noise. What does that mean?" Lu Han asked again.

(End of this chapter)