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Volume 4 Hu Han Cang Qiong Chapter 320 Three Disadvantages of National Defense

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    Although Yelu Lihu's talents are far inferior to Yelu Deguang, he is arrogant. He has always been dissatisfied with Yelu Deguang, thinking that the second child was just born a few years earlier than him.  ===== This coup was launched not only to seize power but also to prove to the world that he was more capable than Yelu Deguang.  Shulu Ping, Xiao Han, and Yelu Wuzhi. What these people think is that they want to segregate the Northeast and wait for the heavenly changes. Yelu Lihu actually does not agree with it. If there is a chance, he is more inclined to counterattack Tiance,  Restore your homeland and sweep the world.

    It’s just that the current Tiance Tang Army is too strong. Even a fierce and arrogant man like Yelu Lihu feels that he may not be an opponent.  But when he heard Han Deshu say that there was a chance to defeat Yelu Deguang in one fell swoop, he couldn't help but ask, "What is it?"

    Han Deshu said: "I have been in Liaojin for a long time and sent many spies to Tianjin and Dengzhou. I found out a lot of information. I know that the Tang Dynasty people were doing business vigorously and melting copper to make gold, silver and copper coins. In just a few years, the price of copper soared, and gold  The demand for silver is huge. In the past few years, mining has been opened everywhere, and even the smelting of Buddha statues has been in short supply"

    Yelu Lihu only thought about conquest and had no interest in the affairs of these merchants. Hearing this, he frowned: "So what?"

    Han Deshu added: "The people of the Tang Dynasty were hungry for gold, silver and copper mines, and I don't know where they got the news. They said that Japan outside the East China Sea and Mayi (Philippines) outside the South China Sea had a large number of gold, silver and copper mines.  The rumors about the copper mine are conclusive, and there are even some descriptions of the approximate locations of the gold and copper mines. It is said that it came from Zhang Longxiang - the king knows it. Nowadays, people in the Tang Dynasty worship Zhang Longxiang like a god, so I heard that the news comes from  He was convinced that many merchants in Dengzhou built ships and went south to explore. After exploring for a long time, they actually found a gold mine. A copper mine. When the news came out, the wealthy families in Shandong suddenly lit up like firecrackers.  , and stepped up their efforts to build ships and recruit sailors. Unexpectedly, the wealthy families in Wu and Min heard the news, and they all rushed towards Mayi. The skills of shipbuilding and navigation in the south were still superior to those of the Tang Dynasty in the Central Plains. It was close to Mayi, and more  Being able to adapt to the climate there, the Tang people in the Central Plains could not compete, and all the good places in Mayi were snatched away by the wealthy families of Wu and Min"

    He talked about a lot of things about Southern Overseas. Yelu Lihu heard the boss impatiently and shouted: "What does this have to do with us!"

    "Don't worry, my king, don't worry, listen to me." Han Deshu said: "The wealthy families in Shandong and Hebei have gathered countless materials and manpower since they heard that there are gold and copper mines in Mayi. They build ships, prepare materials, and invest  Huge, as the saying goes, the arrow has to be fired when it is on the string! At this time, it was suddenly intercepted by the southerners"

    "What does it mean to cut off the Hu?"

    "This is a horse-drawing style that has been introduced recently from the Tang Dynasty, which means to take the upper hand." Han Deshu said: "People here in Shandong and Hebei have been given the upper hand, but the manpower and material resources that have been invested cannot be lost.  Where to go, so they actually changed direction and prepared to march towards Japan. Mayi's barbarians had low combat power, and they were all tribes of thousands or hundreds of people. As long as the Tang people had hundreds or dozens of people, they could be invincible, but Japan had already  Establish a country on its own. If you want to go deep into the country to mine gold, silver, and copper, you have to use naval troops to suppress it. So the wealthy businessmen in Hebei and Shandong went to incite the Tang army"

    Yelu Lihu's impatience became more and more obvious, but Yelu Chage had already heard some of the meaning and said, "Did the top brass of the Tang Army actually agree?"

    "Tiance's demand for gold, silver and copper mines is huge, but the senior officials of the Tang Army did not dare to agree easily at first." Han Deshu said: "However, these wealthy families from Guandong went to collude with the families of senior officials of Tiance - the king or  I don’t know, but there are many relatives of the Tang army who are doing business. Shiba’s wife family and Zheng Wei’s family are all doing big business. So they are naturally close to the wealthy families in Guandong who are doing business, and they have recently surrendered.  Zhao Zan was also favored. They colluded internally and externally, and even encouraged Zhang Longxiang! And Zhang Longxiang actually agreed to let Zhao Zan unite the navy and do things conveniently! Nowadays, there are two factions in Tiance. Many gentry still believe that the country should be based on agriculture.  Ben was very opposed to overseas adventures. In order to avoid disputes, Zhao Zan tried his best to keep a low profile. Last winter, he had integrated Tianjin's fleet and headed south to Dengzhou. Not long ago, the Tang Army Navy in Dengzhou set sail.  , went to Japan without making any noise! ??But this matter is very important, no matter how low-key he is, how can he hide it from those big merchants? So some news leaked out. "

    Hearing this, even Li Hu got a taste of it: "You meanTiance's coastal defense is air-defense?"

    "There may be a lot of civilian ships and merchant ships preparing to steal ships, and there are still some in the southeast of Shandong to guard against Qi and Wu Yue." Han Deshu said: "But north of the Shandong Peninsula, all their navies have gone to Japan, especially Tianjin. It is simply  It’s all empty!”

    Yelu Lihu and Yelu Chage looked at each other and couldn't believe it for a moment. Yelu Chage said: "Your news is accurate.What?  "

    Speaking of this, Yelu Lihu couldn't help but get excited.  He is not someone who does not understand military affairs. How could he not know where Tianjin is?  That place used to be a remote place by the sea and was not taken seriously by people, but now it is gradually developed, and its geographical location and strategic situation have become increasingly important - it can approach Youzhou to the northwest, and can attack Luanzhou to the northeast!  If it is connected to the sea route, it will simply be a battleground for military strategists!

    Han Deshu said: "If it is not absolutely true, how dare I dare to talk nonsense!"

    Yelu Li Hu said: "This is impossible! I, Daliao, are his biggest enemy! We are spying in the north. Is Zhang Mai crazy or stupid? How dare he drain all Tianjin's troops?"

    "This" Han Deshu sighed: "Actually, there is a reason why Zhang Mai dared to do this."

    "What's the reason?"

    Han Deshu sighed and said: "In recent years, the Tang Dynasty has attached great importance to the military strength at sea. I heard that the navy is no longer called the navy, but will be renamed the navy. But here, we have a serious navy.  None Our warships can only patrol offshore, cannot go out to sea, and cannot engage in naval battles. The only ones that can sail to Tianjin are just some merchant ships."

    He said this politely. In fact, the Khitan naval forces who could board the ship were either Han soldiers or Bohai or Korean soldiers. The Khitan people, the Huihe people, and the Xi people would faint as soon as they boarded the ship, let alone fighting at sea!

    Yelu Lihu frowned and said: "If this is the case, then even if Zhang Mai really evacuates Tianjin, it will be of no use to us."

    No matter how empty the enemy is, if you have no attack power at all, then it's useless to say anything.

    Yelu Chaca was moved and asked, "Can our ship carry troops?"

    Han Deshu said: "Our ships cannot fight naval battles, but they can transport troops and food."

    Yelucha asked: "How many people can be transported?"

    Han Deshu said: "If it is our official ship, it can transport five or six thousand people. If we collect all the merchant ships, it will not be a problem to transport 30,000 or 40,000 people."

    Yelucha was overjoyed and said: "If this is the case, then I have a good plan to kill two birds with one stone. If it succeeds, the achievements will be immeasurable. If it fails, then a bunch of plague gods will be sent away."

    "What's the plan?"

    Yelu Chage immediately told his plan. Yelu Lihu said happily: "Okay, okay. What a good plan!"

    ——————————

    Although the Liao Kingdom's move to attack the Tang Dynasty was well known to the whole world, no one in the world believed that the Khitan really dared to attack the Tang Dynasty. Liu Zhiyuan of Chang'an, Li Min of the Southern Qi Dynasty, and the tribes of Mobei were all ready to do it - but they were always just ready to do it.  Before the actual war between Tang and Liao began, no one really moved!  Xuzhou and Taiyuan also exerted pressure on Yanjing overtly and covertly, and would not dare to rebel unless they were serious.  Instead, he wanted to take advantage of Zhang Mai's westward patrol and the Khitan's eastward invasion to bargain with Youzhou to gain more benefits.  An Chongrong petitioned the imperial court to give him an iron coupon for the alchemy book.  He was officially granted the title of Duke of Jin, and he was hereditary from Yanmen in the north to Fenzhou in the south.  Li Shouzhen also petitioned to grant him the title of Duke of Xu. He was willing to guard the land of Huaibei for the Tang Dynasty and be a border vassal forever.  On the contrary, there was no movement from Chang'an.

    When Yelu, Li and Hu raised their troops to march westward, Yanjing held several court meetings, and the government and the public were also discussing it - but the recent developments in Liaoyang Mansion.  They all spread westward with the merchants. Cao Yuanzhong was not the only one who knew the situation of the Liao Kingdom through his detailed work. Both scribes and businessmen in the market could make some conclusions about the coup in the Liao Kingdom.

    After analysis, most people believe that the Liao Kingdom's western invasion must have been loud and clear - "It looks like a foreign war, but it is actually a civil war!" They all believe that Yelu Lihu used the name of "conquering the Tang Dynasty" to seize the country.  Military power.

    Therefore, no matter whether it is the governor of the Government Affairs Council, the bachelor of the Hanlin Academy, or the censor of the Jiepingtai.  They all advocated "appeasement from the outside and pressure from the inside": they were gentle and appreciative of the tribes in Mobei, but they sternly rejected all their conditions in Taiyuan and Xuzhou!

    The government, universities, and correction committees all acted so tough, and two edicts of rebuke were quickly issued, censuring An Chongrong and Li Shouzhen. Originally, Feng Dao was a little worried that the two would become angry and cause a military disaster. In the end, regardless of Taiyuan,  Xuzhou remained silent on this accusation, and the summer taxes that should be delivered were delivered as usual.

    The officials at Futai were overjoyed when they saw this, and were very pleased with the victory brought by these two edicts. The people in Yanjing were also talking about it, feeling that this operation could really be described as "conquering the enemy without fighting."

    But the military’s policy of gentleness toward the Mobei tribes was strongly resisted.  The Privy Council without Zhang Mai is a weak Privy Council, and the policy towards the tribes involves military affairs. There is neither the golden seal of General Tiance nor the golden seal of Tian Khan, and the documents issued are more like guidance than orders.

    The Stone Basin in the North of the Eastern DesertFirst of all, he refused, thinking that this order violated the rules previously established by the marshal. The northern part of the Western Desert was far away, but it was expected that Tie Beast Shiba would not agree with this idea.

    As a result, in early April, two tribal rebellions broke out in the northern part of Dongmo. Although they were immediately suppressed by Shi Jian, there were already voices of criticism on the rectification platform, thinking that the governor of Xinghua City had no regard for barbarian sentiments and was cruel.  Marshal's suspicion is that treating the barbarians so harshly may not be the way to achieve long-term peace and stability in the country.

    ——————————

    In an atmosphere of peace and tranquility in the country, only Yang Yi made a different sound - others have arrived in Miyun, but because their whereabouts are top secret, this memorial also pretends to be sent from Dingliao - Yang Yi in his  The memorial believed that the military situation was dangerous and should not be ignored. It proposed three shortcomings in the current national defense of the Tang Dynasty and proposed two strategies to deal with it.

    Yang Yi believes that the first drawback of the Tang Dynasty's national defense is that it is offensive but not defensive. The so-called offensive but not defensive means that the Tang army has been in the midst of rapid external expansion due to repeated victories in recent years. Therefore, the military has never  From the top to the local level, they all think about how to attack, but rarely think about how to defend. In recent years, investment in military resources has been spent on military training, and investment in hardware facilities is mainly in the research and development of weapons and the paving of roads——  This is all to allow the Tang Army's troops to reach more distant places faster and at less cost.  All of these moves come from an offensive mindset.  Under this kind of thinking inertia, the Great Wall was not rebuilt at all and the checkpoints were neglected. Therefore, Yang Yi believed that if he encountered an enemy attack.  The disadvantage of being caught off guard may arise early in a war.

    Regarding the first disadvantage raised by Yang Yi, many subordinates of the central government, such as Fan Zhi, Li Bo and others, had already had similar thoughts. They also felt that they had been established in Yanjing for several years, and the entire Yanyun area  Defense has always been in a state of "training troops but not building cities". Military towns in various places only set up camps instead of building high city walls.  They believed that if they really wanted to make Yanjing their capital, they should rebuild the Great Wall and tighten the pass. If Yu Pass could not be taken back, they should vigorously renovate Luanzhou and build Luanzhou into a powerful plain fortress.

    But Zhang Mai has never been interested in building the Great Wall or Luanzhou, so the matter was delayed.  Now, although Yang Yi also pointed out the first disadvantage of national defense, the solution he proposed surprised Fan Zhi, Li Bo and others.

    Yang Yi believes that Yuguan is still in the hands of the Liao people, and Luanzhou is not dangerous. Once you pass Yuguan, it is a smooth river.  If we want to rectify our national defense, in the long run we must seize Yuguan or even conquer the Northeast, and turn the Yanjing area into a national capital surrounded by mountains and sea fortresses with at least three layers of defense - this is all, although Fan Zhi, Li Ma and others  People resist the war, but they also know that with Zhang Mai's personality, it is impossible not to take back Yuguan.  But what Yang Yi said next was hard to accept.

    In the memorial, Yang Yi said that he did not care about long-term matters for the time being, but in the short term, the Khitan still had the possibility of invading the west, and if it was necessary to prevent the Khitan cavalry from entering the Yanji Plain.  The least costly way is to use offense as defense, that is, to take advantage of the Liao people's civil strife to advance eastward with cavalry.  Disrupt the layout of the Liao Kingdom.

    This statement is difficult for the politicians to accept.

    ——————————

    At the same time, Yang Yi raised the second shortcoming of national defense: poor coastal defense. This is related to the ongoing conflict between Zhang Mai and the civil service group.  Everyone in the world knows that Zhang Mai focuses on maritime affairs, but the Central Plains is in dire straits waiting to be revitalized, even though Tiance's annual income in ten years has reached an epoch-making 23 million yuan.  But although the income is large, the expenses are also huge. It can be said that money is needed everywhere. The rectification of the canal, the comfort of the countryside, and the tax exemption in the new frontier all cost a lot of money and food.  Under such a situation, Zhang Mai also wanted to develop maritime affairs. In the private discussions of Fan Zhi and others, it was regarded as a great achievement, so they tried their best to resist.

    In recent years, private shipyards in Tianjin and Dengzhou have developed vigorously. On the contrary, there are few fleets affiliated with the government. The main force of the fleet is still the ships brought by Zhao Zan. The newly developed ships-especially warships  Development and investment have been resisted by civilian groups at all levels.

    The opinions of the civil servant group are very sharp - Today's Tiance Tang Army has almost no opponents at sea. What is the purpose of building these warships when the finances are not yet abundant?  Just keep some troops to sweep away the pirates.  Faced with the fierce opposition from Fan Zhi and others, Zhang Mai could not find a strong reason to refute it at that time.

    In response to this second disadvantage, Yang Yi's idea is to increase investment in maritime affairs, build more warships, and recruit sailors. Moreover, because the sea line is long, the enemy can choose points to commit thieves. It is difficult for us to prevent thieves from thousands of miles away, so we must not only do the necessary offshore operations  For defense, it is best to use sea ships to leave the country, suppress all outer ports that may threaten Datang Port, occupy important strongholds on various waterways, and conduct regular patrols at fixed points in the Bohai Sea to achieve the purpose of keeping the enemy away from the country.  .

    As for the third disadvantage of national defense proposed by Yang Yi, it is that people have no desire to fight.  This line sounds mysterious. This line in Yang Yi’s memorial sounds almost weird to many scribes.?It's insulting.  Because Yang Yi said that for Hebei people, the current peace and prosperity come too easily, so that many people have forgotten (or simply don’t know) the cruelty of war, which has led to the atmosphere in today’s capital that either despises war.  , or they don’t understand war, and the two interact with each other. People who despise war feel that they are invincible under the shelter of Tiance Tang Qi. Even in war, they fight others, not others. They don’t understand war.  They think that the country has been unified and war is a distant thing that has nothing to do with them.  With such a mentality, if war suddenly comes, I am afraid that the people of Yanjing will easily be in danger of chaos.

    As for this third disadvantage, Yang Yi thinks there is nothing that can be done about it, because it is a matter of vigilance, and people who have not experienced war will not really understand it.

    ——————————————

    After Yang Yi's memorial was sent to Xishan, Guo Fen went down to Youzhou to let the ministers discuss it. As soon as the memorial was made public, the city of Youzhou almost exploded. Especially for the "solution" in Yang Yi's memorial, the civil servant group  Both its long-term and short-term countermeasures are strongly opposed.

    Li Bo, who opposed the most strenuously, mainly refuted it from a moral perspective.  It is believed that many of Yang Yi's proposals are in the name of national defense, but in fact they are militaristic and want to continue the military war that should have been gradually relaxed in Nanshan forever.  He believes that since the country is gradually entering peace, it should change its thinking and stop thinking about war all day long.  Liaodong can "plot it slowly", but it will occupy the shipping lanes and suppress the outer ports.  It's just a waste of money and people.

    Fan Zhi was much more pragmatic. He ordered people from the Audit Department to calculate an account according to Yang Yi's proposal. It turned out that in order to realize Yang Yi's long-term proposition of building new warships and occupying routes and islands, the initial investment would be at least  That’s twenty-five million strings!  This already exceeds the entire annual revenue of the country!  The subsequent investment in ship maintenance, troop maintenance, and route bases will require an additional financial investment of at least three million to five million dollars every year!

    As soon as they saw this bottomless pit-like figure, all the officials related to wealth immediately turned pale.  As for the censor in the supervision field of the Correctional Committee, he even scolded loudly.

    As for Feng Dao, his thoughts were more in-depth, but on the surface it seemed that his idea was to reconcile the mud. Feng Dao did not express his views publicly, but only commented on Yang Yi's memorials when giving a lecture to his students. He believed that the rule of the world depends on civil and military affairs.  The two paths were relaxed, and Tiance Datang had been able to achieve such great achievements before.  It depends on martial arts, but you can conquer the world immediately.  But we can't still use the horse's way to govern the world.  He believes that the current country should recuperate, and for a country, three to five years of recuperation is not enough, it must be at least one generation.

    The newspapers that just emerged in Yanjing, and the storytelling occasions in various teahouses and taverns.  As well as many places where critics and censors gather, these days people can almost make a sound and people are talking about these things.

    Although there are some who support Yang Yi, most of those who support Yang Yi are warriors. These people are good at fighting, but they are not good at talking about the current situation.  Scholars from Hebei and Shandong cited classics and classics, and analyzed them layer by layer to prove that Yang Yi was completely wrong.  In the end, the direction of public opinion as a whole was basically one-sided.

    In the end, after the Hanlin Academy and the Government Affairs Council concluded, the reply given to Guo Fen was that "the public opinion of the government and the public would not disagree" as the final conclusion.

    Although Guo Fen didn't quite agree with this statement, Yang Yi's memorial was quickly drowned in the commotion in Yanjing. After being defeated by public opinion, no one paid any attention to it.

    ——————————

    It’s midsummer, the eleventh year of Tiance’s reign.

    A patchwork fleet has been sailing on the Bohai Sea. This fleet only has two armed ships, and the rest are all modified merchant ships. The leader is Xiao Huali, and his deputy is Du Chongwei.

    Not long ago, Yelu Lihu had just issued an order to search all the ships in Liao and Tianjin that could sail, and put together a fleet, with Xiao Shali as the commander-in-chief and Du Chongwei as the deputy general, leading 3,000 Khitan cavalry and Xi cavalry.  Five thousand people, as well as 20,000 Han soldiers including Han, Bohai, Korean and other ethnic groups, set out from Liaojin to surprise Tianjin.

    But the soldiers on this fleet really don’t look like a force going for a surprise attack. Not only the morale of the soldiers is extremely low, but also the general himself is very panicked.  Both Xiao Xiali and Du Chongwei felt that Yelu Lihu's arrangement was to allow them to die.

    The so-called surprise attack is just a matter of being obedient.  The Khitan soldiers and Xi soldiers on the ship were vomited to pieces when the waves rolled over them. The situation of the Han soldiers was better, but not much better - it was completely impossible for this fleet to fight at sea.  It's nothing more than a troop transport ship.

    However, both Xiao Jiali and Du Chongwei had no way out - they refused to comply.Of course, the commander's retreat would have to be dealt with by military law, and the Tang people at the front were unlikely to give them good luck.

    Although they were surprised to find that they encountered no accidents along the way, when they saw the horizon appearing in front of them, what everyone saw was not hope, but despair.

    ————————————————————————(To be continued, please search Piaotian Literature, the novel will be better and updated faster!
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