Han Shizu

Chapter 1571

Li Jilong's chatterbox seems to have opened up in this relaxed atmosphere of conversation. Seeing that Emperor Liu was chatting enthusiastically, he also took the initiative to speak: "At present, the entire northern frontier army and garrison soldiers are focusing on suppressing internal security. Therefore, The monitoring of the Yinshan Eyeliner tribe and the defense of Mobei Khitan also weakened.

Currently, Mozhong and Mobei are safe, and the Khitans don't dare to go south rashly, so they can enjoy peace for a while. However, the borderlands are restless now, and it is unknown when they will be able to stabilize.

Once the northern captives go south and invade the frontier, it will inevitably pose a serious threat to the northern border of the Han Dynasty, especially in the current situation in the northern border, once internal and external collusion responds, it is likely to lead to a disaster."

Hearing what he said, Emperor Liu frowned slightly, and his eyes slanted towards Li Jilong: "I seem to have heard similar words before, and a minister in the court wrote a letter to warn me.

On the surface, it is hoped that the imperial court will be vigilant against those chiefs and chiefs who have been deprived of tribal power and property, so as to prevent them from colluding with Mobei, betraying the imperial court, and destroying the stability of northern Xinjiang.

But in fact, he still hesitates and even opposes the imperial government's implementation of the policy of transforming barbarians.In their view, maintaining the past state, the northern border has been stable for more than ten years, and it is thriving, and those tribes also respectfully submit.

The imperial government's implementation of this policy will, on the contrary, undermine the stability of northern Xinjiang, cause dissatisfaction, and spark conflicts, which is the way to create chaos.Do you mean the same thing? "

Emperor Liu said these words in a friendly manner, but his tone gave people an obvious sense of strangeness. Hearing this, Li Jilong shook his head decisively and said: "From my point of view, if the northern captives go south, if Those chiefs and chiefs are still in control of the clan soldiers and clan properties, so if they collude with the Mobei Khitan and rebel against the imperial court, wouldn’t the damage they cause to the northern border and the imperial court be even more serious?"

"Hehe." Hearing what Li Jilong said, Emperor Liu's expression didn't change, but it just gave the son-in-law a sense of relief: "Your consideration is the right one, very insightful!"

Li Jilong lowered his head slightly, as if a little embarrassed. Although it was inconvenient to admit it, he was indeed catering to Emperor Liu to a large extent.

"As you said, the defense of northern Xinjiang is facing certain troubles. Now that you have raised it, how can you solve it?" Emperor Liu continued to ask.

Without hesitation, Li Jilong cupped his hands and said, "I have two strategies!"

Greeting Emperor Liu's expectant gaze, Li Jilong said: "The best policy is to take the initiative to attack and send troops to the north and advance into Mobei. Instead of waiting for the Hulu to go south one day, it is better to burn the war to Mobei and completely defeat the Mobei Khitan. Then the threat of Monan, Shanyang and the entire northern territory will be completely eliminated!"

Emperor Liu was drinking a little wine, and he couldn't help but choke when he heard this strategy. He looked at Li Jilong with a serious face, and said, "Don't you know the strategic state policy of the big man these years? If it is really going to happen, how much the court will cost, you know, let’s not talk about my attitude for the time being, if it is reported to the court, the ministers in the Zhengshitang will not agree!"

"Not to mention other people, Liu Yang is also supervising the administration of the country, you ask him, does he agree with this proposal?"

Seeing Emperor Liu looking at him, Liu Yang remained calm, thought for a while, and then replied calmly: "Tyranny also came up with a strategy based on father's question. He is the general who leads the army. Starting from the military, this is indeed an initiative. , The way to eliminate the troubles in the North!"

Liu Yang's words made a fool of himself, and he explained it to Li Jilong, but his attitude was obviously not approved, at least for now, he would not approve of using troops against Mobei.

In the Northeast region, the matter is not over yet, so how can we start a war in Mobei again? For a long time to come, the focus of the Han Dynasty will still be on internal governance, stability, and the ultimate goal of the policy of naturalizing the barbarians. For this reason, even if some seemingly unnecessary hidden dangers and troubles are caused in the process.

Of course Li Jilong is a smart man, and he also heard what Liu Yang said, but he said calmly: "I naturally understand the great affairs of the court, but I don't think that avoiding war does not mean that I am afraid of war." Cowardice does not mean that the imperial court will bind its hands and feet. Otherwise, why would the imperial court send troops out of Huanglong Mansion and go deep into the northeast forest this year?
Furthermore, even if the north attacks Mobei, it does not necessarily require the power of the whole country. With the current strength of Khitan, it is not enough for the court to attack with all its strength. It just changes the cost from defending the border to attacking. The specific method of attack can also be flexible and effective. Law"

"It seems that you still can't sit still and want to make contributions!" Hearing Li Jilong's words, Emperor Liu was not annoyed, but said with a smile.

Directly exposed, Emperor Liu did not express his position, but not expressing his position is the most clear statement.

"Let's talk about your worst plan!" Emperor Liu motioned.

To this, Li Jilong's answer was more simple and direct: "Without him, send more soldiers to strengthen the defense of the northern frontier!"

But listening to his words, Emperor Liu frowned, as if there was an indescribable emotion rippling in his heart.After pouring Li Jilong a glass of wine, Emperor Liu said, "Tyranny, do you know how many garrison troops the imperial court has at present, starting from Fengzhou in the west, reaching Yinshan in the north, and reaching Yanshan in the east?"

Li Jilong was stunned for a moment, and said: "I don't know the specific number, but it is about seven to 80,000 people!"

"Almost!" Emperor Liu nodded, and continued to ask: "Then do you know how many garrison troops there are in the whole north? How many garrison soldiers are there in the whole Han Dynasty?"

"Nearly 400,000!" Without waiting for his answer, Emperor Liu said directly, and continued to ask in a somewhat oppressive tone: "Do you know how much the court spends every year to support such a large number of frontier troops?"

At this time, Li Jilong naturally realized what Emperor Liu meant, but he still had to answer his father-in-law's question, and shook his head in embarrassment: "I don't know!"

"I don't know either!" Emperor Liu followed up and said forcefully: "But I know that it changes every year, increases every year, and every year the financial secretary who manages the money bag complains to the court and me. Difficulty!"

"In such a situation, I have suppressed the proposal to reduce the frontier troops. You rashly proposed to increase the garrison without waiting for feedback. I can tell you directly that the ministers of the DPRK and China, especially the ministers of the Financial Secretary They can jump!"

In fact, Emperor Liu is paying more and more attention to the issue of border defense military expenses.If it was before, he might feel that he was a civil servant in the court, who wanted to suppress the generals, the army, and the nobles by reducing armaments.

But Emperor Liu has always attached great importance to the military and the army, and attaches great importance to it. How can he tolerate the interference of civil servants in the court.However, after so many years, the voice of the financial secretary has become louder and louder, which finally aroused Emperor Liu's mind. It is indeed expensive.

Not to mention the huge number of garrison soldiers, in order to support them, the annual salaries, clothing, shoes and socks, food fodder, ordnance, livestock and other military supplies, plus the transit loss among them, are extremely huge expenditures.

As for Emperor Liu, he also gave preferential treatment to the army, especially the frontier soldiers who endured the most hardships and had the most difficult environment. At least in terms of remuneration, there was absolutely no shortage.

This is just the frontier army. For the sake of national defense construction and border security, no matter how expensive it is, the imperial court has always gritted its teeth and insisted on it.However, with the passage of time, even Emperor Liu gradually felt the pressure from all sides, as if he saw the day coming, when the imperial court could not support such a huge defense system, and could not bear the pressure. Significant financial pressure, that means collapse
In fact, Emperor Liu had already considered making adjustments. He had previously asked the Political Affairs Hall, the Privy Council, and the Financial Secretary to jointly discuss, but the discussion failed to come to a result.

If you want to rectify, it's not easy. If you act rashly, it's really easy to go wrong.The Financial Secretary's proposal, either to reduce the strength of the troops or to reduce the salary, was directly rejected by Emperor Liu, which was a way to bring disaster.

Therefore, when he heard Li Jilong's proposal to continue to increase the garrison force in northern Xinjiang, it happened to hit Emperor Liu's sensitive nerves and his recent worries, and his reaction was inevitably a little bit bigger.

On the other hand, this consideration is not only due to the financial burden. There is also a question, if the frontier army is too large, will it cause a situation where the outside is heavy and the inside is weak, and the branches are strong and the stem is weak?
This should be strictly prohibited, so be vigilant!
Even though Emperor Liu has been constantly emphasizing the supremacy of imperial power, promoting centralization, and ensuring control over the army, as time goes by and the situation changes, a worrying situation will inevitably form. After all, lessons learned.

However, in order to maintain such a vast territory of the Han Dynasty, to maintain the rule of the court, and to ensure the security of the country, it was necessary to spread out troops and strengthen defenses.This kind of embarrassment cannot be avoided by the Han Empire.

As a military general, Li Jilong was also in the ranks of the frontier army, so naturally he would not think so much, and it was difficult for him to understand the pain of the court.But Liu Yang is very clear, so seeing his doubts, he simply explained the dispute between the court and China about the frontier defense.

So, Li Jilong suddenly realized that his suggestion was in contradiction with the imperial court everywhere.
(End of this chapter)