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Text Chapter 920 Peace and Righteousness

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    During this period of time, Zheng Lang first transferred his two adopted sons back to the capital, then transferred his younger son-in-law to the capital, and then called Zheng Ping and her son back to the capital together to reunite the family.

    Those who donĄ¯t know the truth think that Zheng Lang is using power for personal gain.

    but not.

    At the beginning of the war, the imperial court mobilized 250,000 forbidden troops, and the remaining forbidden troops were even more. However, nearly 200,000 troops were stationed in Hebei and Hedong, and Bashu, Guangdong, Jing, Huai, Jiang, and Zhejiang were stationed.  Nearly 100,000 forbidden troops were divided.

    In other words, there are only tens of thousands of forbidden soldiers in the capital.

    There are still hundreds of thousands of Baoding. It cannot be said that Baoding is ineffective. First, it helps the poor, prevents the spread of annexation and tenancy, and maintains the stability of the Gyeonggi region.  The second is national military training, which can mobilize some warriors to join the Forbidden Army, improve the combat effectiveness of the Forbidden Army, expand the suburbanization of the Forbidden Soldiers' families, and reduce the living costs of the Forbidden Soldiers' families.  The third is to jointly prevent and catch theft.  Of course, if forced to do so, if they are recruited, they will play some role.

    "However, Baoding is Baoding, and his combat effectiveness cannot reach the level of a regular army.

    When Zheng Lang went west, he had almost 600,000 troops in his hands, plus more than 200,000 civilians, almost 60% of the country's troops. Once he had bad thoughts, the Song Dynasty would fall.  Therefore, all his family members were transferred to the capital to prevent some people with ulterior motives from gossiping and causing trouble.

    But this can only be understood, not expressed in words.  Yue Fei did something stupid and said to Zhao Gou, "We have taken some of our family members as hostages in the capital. Why don't you, old man, feel relieved?"  ItĄ¯s not easy to say what follows. Except for some of the troops of the four military governors who came from the imperial court, the rest were all troops recruited from Jianghuai. They said they were Yue FeiĄ¯s, but in fact most of them were Yue FeiĄ¯s private troops, and even the supplies were provided by their own troops.  I thought of a way to solve it.

    Of course, the cause of Yue Fei's death was very complicated, even if his accusation made Zhao Gou embarrassed.  Unable to step down in front of the ministers, even though he participated in the crown prince's affair, even though he wanted to annex Liu Guangshi's army, welcome back Emperor Huiqin, and opposed Zhao Gou's peace proposal, Zhao Gou still gave him the title of Taiwei.  , the Xuanfu envoy and the Yingtian ambassador, and even the unprecedented first-class official position of the Kaifu Yitong Sansi (the Kaifu refers to the person who has the power to open the government office, the Sansi is the Sangong, and is the most noble envoy in name. Before Yue Fei, there was only  Titles held by a few dozen people including Zhao Pu, Lu Yijian, Wang Qinruo, Han Jiang, Wen Yanbo, Cai Jing).  After the actual twelve gold medals were recalled.  Zhao Gou planned to deal with Zhang Jun, not Yue Fei, who was observing filial piety in Lushan and singing peace with the literati.

    Yue FeiĄ¯s death had nothing to do with Zheng Lang, but he had to learn from past mistakes, let alone let twelve gold medals happen to him.

    Zheng Lang thought it was not enough, so he asked Gao Zunyu to be the deputy commander for this trip.  Instead of letting Gao Zunyu command these armies, as Gao Zunyu did not have the guts to compete with Zheng Lang for command, he was asked to play a supervisory role.

    Caution is the boat.

    It is precisely because of Zheng Lang's carefulness in his life that he achieved such a feat.

    Teams of rural soldiers arrived, it was a real military parade.  Each team of rural soldiers had been training for a year, but it was still not enough. They used the excuse of the military parade to reorganize again.  Then they used the banner of lack of food on the front line.  As a civilian husband escorting grain and grass to the northwest.

    The Khitans are still confused. The Xixia people and the Song people in front have been in a stalemate for a long time, and it is quite normal to transport grain and grass.  Although they paid attention to the rural soldier system, the treatment was relatively poor.  They also encouraged half-soldiers and half-peasants, and some bad generals did not pay attention to rural soldiers, so they still let them participate in some labor services.  Furthermore, the various militias and armies of the Song Dynasty were more chaotic than the politics of the Song Dynasty, so they did not pay much attention to them.  Even for the sake of confusion, more than ten days ago, the Song Dynasty was still talking about the expansion of bank supervision shares.  It has been delayed for a long time, but the northwest is at war, so there is money to expand shares.  The main purpose of doing this is to prevent the Khitans.

    With the departure of this army, Zheng Lang will also leave the capital.

    With the arrival of April, the important ministers attended the capital gathering in the capital hall, which was also Zheng LangĄ¯s last capital gathering.  It is possible that after he retired and returned home, the Song government would still ask him about national policies, but it would be impossible for him to come to the capital hall to talk to the ministers.

    The ministers sat down, and Zhao Xu announced that Zheng Lang would be appointed as the economic and strategic envoy of Hehuang Second Road in Shaanxi Province.

    At this point, the picture becomes clear.

    The big bosses who knew the truth remained silent one by one, but more people did not know the truth. Even like the common people and the Khitan Xixia people, they thought that the Song Dynasty wanted to gain benefits and annexed the four states in Hexi. They did not expect that the Song Dynasty wanted to devour the entire country.  Western Xia.

    There are even people who are wondering privately: Zheng Lang said he would resign his position, but why has he not resigned his position a year later?

    This appointment is announced, letĄ¯s understand it together.

    Wang Anli, who was in charge of Zhizhao, said: "Your Majesty, you are too worried about the people."

    Because of XiningĄ¯s reform, Zheng Lang made some compromises, and the contradictions were not as serious as in history. The reform itself was?Initiated by Zheng Lang, although Wang Anli used it, it is not as prominent in history.

    "Hefu, Wang Shao said that there are too many troops, Guo Kui said that there should be more troops, otherwise Li Xin will be defeated. Zhang Kai did not express his position, and more troops are not better. There are many battles in history where fewer troops win more troops.  , and the more troops there are, the more stringent the requirements for the commander's command ability. Therefore, Han Xin said to Han Emperor Gaozu, you can only lead one hundred thousand troops, and I would like to have more troops. But I have many considerations in my mind. The Xixia people are cunning and repeated,  Before Li Jiqian gained power, His Majesty Taizong sent five groups to attack Li. The soldiers were not small and the generals were not brave. However, our dynasty returned without success. When Renzong attacked Xia, there were four famous generals named Di Qing and they were known as Emperor Ming of the Tang Dynasty.  In his later years, the military was forced to depose, but at that time the annual military expenditure was only 15 million yuan, but the Qingli War cost nearly 200 million military expenditures, which was equivalent to the military expenditure of Emperor Ming of Tang Dynasty for more than ten years in his later years. As a result, civilian thieves were everywhere.  But still no success, just self-protection will lead to victory or defeat. Therefore, I agree with Guo Kui's opinion."

    The two of them were not talking about whether they could conquer Xia, but they were talking about the waste caused by having too many troops.

    Zhang Kai received news from Liangzhou that nearly 50,000 Tibetan soldiers and Uighur soldiers had requested to join the war.  This brought the actual strength of the expedition to Xia to 600,000, and many grain and grass supplies were sent to the front, but not to the front, in Weizhou, Yuanzhou, Jingzhou, Yanzhou, and Linzhou.  There is still a long road to transport grain and grass from these state capitals to the front line. Even after reaching Xixia, the road is even longer, and there is no good water transportation, so we can only slowly push the grain and grass to the front line military camp one by one.

    Even if the 110,000 Hebei rural soldiers are regarded as civilians, it is still not enough. More than 200,000 civilians must be recruited from Shaanxi to ensure that food cannot be delayed.  Therefore, more than 800,000 people actually participated in the war.  It was the largest troop mobilization in history.  With so many people and horses, they would consume at least more than 20,000 shi of food and grass a day. To destroy Xixia, it would be impossible to do so in less than four or five months. The front-line food and grass consumption might be 4 million shi.

    Not only food and grass, but also weapons, tents, vehicles, livestock, tools, and food and drink for the soldiers. Therefore, four million stones of food and grass are needed on the front line, and 40 million stones of food must be supplied to the rear.  This is only the food and grass needed for the summer harvest, and the Hexi Corridor has been fighting until now.  Coupled with the stalemate on several other routes, the soldiers were mobilized to the front line, and the food and grass had to be transported to the front line. After the Xia campaign, the Song Dynasty still had to appease the people and garrison the troops, and also had to rape and exterminate some of the resisting tribes.  forage.

    The amount of grain and grass alone is an astronomical figure, and so much grain and grass is not produced in Shaanxi.  Instead, they were picked from the people's hands to the government from the two Jing, two Jiang, two Zhejiang, two Huai and Hebei provinces to the east, and then transported step by step from the government to the capital, and then from the capital to Shaanxi.

    If itĄ¯s just commercial grain.  But this is official food. Even if a small amount of subsidies and salary are given in order not to disturb the people, it is still compared to this astronomical figure.  Not only will it disturb people, it will even seriously affect this year's agricultural production.

    Therefore, Wang Shao said on the front line that there was no need for so many troops.  Even if there are less than 100,000 people, a lot of pressure will be released on the rear.

    However, Zheng Lang is worried.  In history, the Song Dynasty's five-pronged expedition to Xia had 350,000 troops, 200,000 civilians, and 550,000 employees. However, it failed. No matter what the reason for the failure, Zheng Lang did not want to repeat the same mistake.

    Zheng Lang added: "Our dynasty is not like the Qin dynasty with all its troops. This battle can only be won but not defeated. Besides, there is also a powerful Khitan watching closely, so we have requisitioned a heavy army and destroyed it with thunderous force."  Xixia. In order to prevent the Feishui Chibi tragedy from happening, arrangements were made decades in advance, and I will also ask Zhang Kai as deputy commander to assist me in commanding this expedition to Xia."

    But the dozen or so ministers at Yushitai were anxious. After Zheng Lang reorganized the system, he gave the ministers great power, but also made some restrictions, that is, they can speak and act realistically, but now that such a big thing has happened,  No matter the Yushitai or the Admonition Court, they don't know how to deal with the slightest rumor, and how many troops they will send. They don't discuss with the ministers, but discuss with the three generals on the front line. Where is the ancestral family law?

    In fact, it is the contradiction between democracy and centralization.

    Zhao Xu was also preparing to ask this question.

    Over the years, Yan Chen has brought great trouble to Zheng Lang, but he has indeed played a supervisory role.

    Including the Zhang Dun case, Dali Temple impeached Zhang DunĄ¯s father and son, Zhang Yu, and Zhang DunĄ¯s uncle, Bo Zhangkai, the lord of Shenqiu County, for occupying private land.  The officials of Kaifeng Prefecture were afraid of Zhang Dun's power, so they all kept waiting and watching.  Wherever the matter reached the Yushitai, people were impeached one after another.  The main reason is that Zhang Dun's personality is too domineering and he offends many people. Although Zheng Lang values ??his talent, he cannot protect him. Moreover, the occupation of people's fields is also what Zheng Lang hates the most.  Therefore, the imperial court imposed severe punishments. Wu Qianle, the involved soldier, was suspended from his post. Qian Zao, the prefect of Kaifeng, was fined a copper. Yu Da and Xizhan, the magistrates of Kaifeng Prefecture, were punished for a year. Hu Zongshi and Chongbei were promoted to officials.  In the second year of Mokan, Hu Cao joined Liu Zhi, Shi Cao joined Wang Ben, and Cang Cao joined Cai Min.

    Zhang Yu is a hundred sticks, don't discuss it in eighty years.?Zhang Kaile stopped.  The Yushitai continued their efforts and impeached Zhou Zhidao, the transfer judge of Chengdu Prefecture, for concealing the fact that Zhang Dun mistakenly took Zhu Fu. Yuan Mo made false claims to escape the crime for Zhang Dun. Zhou Zhidao served as a apprentice for one year and was silent for 100 sticks.

    Zhang Dun argued for himself that he must have made a mistake, but he did not know about the occupation of people's fields. Moreover, there were so many people in the Zhang family, and he had more friends and relatives. If these people made mistakes, it would not be big for him to bear them all.  fair.

    In the end, he was released.

    Zheng LangĄ¯s view on this is very fair. Although he is widely implicated and is suspected of being severely sentenced, it is not without benefits. It will somewhat enable important ministers to restrain their families and relatives. Otherwise, these people will rely on their strong backgrounds to do evil and have a great impact.  That is to say, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

    But at this time, Zhang DunĄ¯s release is undoubtedly a loss.

    Faced with the accusations from Yanchen, Zheng Lang said calmly: "Everyone, your Majesty took the lead in the preparations for the summer expedition. All of you are aware of it and participated in the planning. Because you were afraid that the Khitans would be involved, I did not announce it to you."  So I asked Wang Shao and the three people in front because they are on the front line, familiar with Xixia, and good at military affairs. Everyone, please don't pester us anymore."

    This is a euphemism. The implication is that I am asking you, do you understand?

    Without giving them a chance to be wordy, Zheng Lang added: "Before I leave, I will send you two words."

    As he spoke, he cited the first word: Ping!

    "If a general fights a hundred battles to bring peace to the world, if the world is brought to peace, he will kill the general." Zheng Lang said.

    In a word, everyone is dazzling, and dare to dare to be this flat.

    "There is only one queen bee in the hive, and the division of labor among the drones and worker bees is clear. Therefore, it grows stronger. If every bee wants to be a queen bee, it will inevitably lead to destruction. The Tang Dynasty declined, and the military generals controlled the financial and military power. Therefore, the five generations were replaced, and the ten kingdoms  In turmoil, the people are in dire straits. This is the origin of the ancestors' suppression of military force and emphasis on civility. But if you want the country to be stable, you don't have to kill the heroes. If you don't kill the heroes if you use military force, the country will be in great order. When Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty saw Yuchi Jingde's tyranny, he just beat him.  It was Jingde who became a good official in the Tang Dynasty. Even when the system collapsed when the ancestors founded the country, they did not kill the meritorious officials or slander them. If you are afraid that the meritorious officials will control the soldiers, you can clearly give them empty positions and wealth. If you slander them, you will attack the meritorious generals.  , the soldiers must be heartbroken. If Di Qing had not been slandered, why would he have died so young? Even if he succeeded in destroying Xia, there is also the more powerful Khitan. If the foreign enemies have not been eliminated and they excessively suppress the meritorious generals, our dynasty will surely become a disaster for Wu Zetian (referring to Wu Zetian)  Killed brave generals such as Wang Fangyi, Hei Te Changzhi, Cheng Wuting, etc. Wu Zhou's dynasty had a history of great defeats in foreign wars). Peace does not mean peace in the world, but there is also justice."

    Zheng LangĄ¯s words are a bit biased. The Song Dynasty cannot be said to value culture over military affairs. The first thing is military spending.  The annual military expenditures of the Song Dynasty were more than five times what they were when Li Longji was deposed. Although many soldiers lived in poverty at home, how was it compared to the military service system of the Han and Tang Dynasties?  That would be more bitter.  Zheng Lang said that the general was killed unjustly.  It also existed in the Han and Tang Dynasties.  Speaking of weapons, the Song Dynasty paid more attention to weapons research and development and military academies than previous generations.  There is also a strong atmosphere for folk martial arts, with bow and arrow clubs, horse clubs, sword clubs, and Wanma clubs all in existence.  Martial arts were a common entertainment activity in the Song Dynasty, such as fighting, wielding sticks, dancing with knives and spears, dancing with swords, shooting crossbows, and weightlifting. There were even women wearing big vests and pants and publicly wrestling with men on the streets.  Some scholar-officials also had good skills. For example, Wang Zeng, the wise prime minister of the previous dynasty, was a martial arts master. In a fight, one king could knock down ten Zheng Lang.  Martial arts also flourished in the Song Dynasty. In the early days, scholar-bureaucrats such as Liu Kai and Chen Yaozi were willing to voluntarily become military generals and join the army.

    The reason why the Song Dynasty seems to emphasize literature over military affairs is that the Song Dynasty lacked cavalry, suffered several defeats, and the cost of using troops was high, forming a restrained pattern.  The second is the power of scholar-officials to suppress military generals. Since the Zhao Zhen Dynasty, the people in command were not military generals, but scholar-officials, relatives, and eunuchs. There were military generals, but the military generals were just puppets in the army.

    But itĄ¯s hard for Zheng Lang to explain this issue, otherwise he will become the public enemy of literati.

    So IĄ¯m just going to make a point and let everyone reflect on it themselves.

    He raised the second word: Zheng.

    "What is righteousness? Stop from one. One is for the world to be unified, and the world is unified. Stop is to stop. Therefore, the original meaning of righteousness means that the war stops when the world is unified. When war comes, soldiers fight fiercely, families are separated, and people  Weary, His Majesty Zhenzong was considerate of the people, even though the Khitan army was trapped in Hebei, he did not hesitate to make a peace negotiation with the Khitan in humiliation. Although His Majesty Renzong had many great victories, he still offered money and silk to reconcile with Xixia. But what is the actual effect? ??Xixia  People went back and forth, and the imperial court had to station a large number of troops in Shaanxi. Although the Khitan was better than the Xixia, the Qingli War extorted our court to increase the annual coins and donated them to Na. The severe drought in Xining once again extorted a large area of ??idle land in Hedong. The imperial court could not  A large number of soldiers are not stationed in Hedong and Hebei. This is not true!"

    Peace is a good thing, but this garrison also harmed the people of the Song Dynasty and the economy of the Song Dynasty.

    Therefore, this so-called spending money to buy security is not?Good method.

    "I face Xixia to the west, and after Xixia there are Uighurs. Even if Xixia is destroyed, we may not be able to live in peace with the Uighurs. Moreover, the Tubo Plateau is an inaccessible road in the world. There is Dali in the southwest, Jiaozhi in the south, and Khitan Jurchen Korea in the east of Liaoning.  , there are Japanese countries overseas, and there are Khitan and nomadic peoples on the Mobei prairie in the north. Even though these nomadic peoples spent countless manpower and money during the Han and Tang Dynasties, they could only conquer them in a short period of time when their national power was at its peak. Want to integrate weapons into  Jiuding, it is impossible to release horses in Nanshan. But after conquering Xixia, there will be no strong enemy threat in the west. If conditions permit, Youyun can be taken back and the northern gate is closed. Then the military expenditure will be reduced by more than 30%, or even  40%. If our government is as clear-minded as it is now and the country continues to generate large surpluses, the two taxes may be completely exempted. The salt and wine franchise may even be liberalized, various miscellaneous taxes removed, and commercial taxes reduced. If the national treasury has sufficient funds  With the surplus, we can easily rely on the dangers of the wall, retreat and defend, and advance without being harsh on the people's counterattack. Only then will our government be upright and approach the realm of great harmony mentioned by the Master."

    Zheng Lang said again solemnly: "Conquering Xia is only the first step to rectify our dynasty!" (To be continued)
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