Five Dynasties River Mountains Fengyue

Chapter 175 Shi Congyun's Viewpoint
It's October before you know it, and many things are going on step by step.

The rewards of the two military divisions have also been fully implemented. For a while, I don't know how much money has been allocated in the treasury, and there must not be much left.

Later, the official rewards to Shi Congyun also arrived at the mansion one after another. In addition to gold, silver and daily necessities, there were also fifty beauties selected from all over the country.

Of course, these beauties were all overturned by Zhao Shijian's little vinegar jar, and he didn't intend to keep them, so he let them stay with his unmarried meritorious soldiers.

The reason is simple, he can't afford to support so many people, not because he doesn't have money, but because he can't spend it like this.

His money has many uses and cannot be used in these places.

After Zhao Kuangyin became emperor, there were a total of 380 or two court ladies in his palace. He still disliked many of them, and let those who voluntarily go home go home, and dismissed another 150 people. During Zhao Kuangyin's period, there were only 230 court ladies in the entire palace.

This is unimaginable compared with the tens of thousands or tens of thousands of court ladies in the Jin and Tang Dynasties and the Ming and Qing Dynasties in the back.

Is it because he has no money?Of course not, it was Zhao Kuangyin who had a very clear understanding of the situation in China at that time, and he must be diligent and thrifty, and accumulate little to increase national strength.

He is much more sober than Guo Rong in this regard. Nearly a hundred years of war since the end of Tang Dynasty has left the Central Plains and the South impoverished and weak.

This can also be seen from the style of fighting.

The battle between the official family and Zhao Kuangyin is completely two styles.

Guo Rong was determined and courageous, and did not use any means to achieve his goals. He sometimes cared about soldiers’ burning, killing and looting, and generals’ oppression and extortion of bribes. The official why this is, can't figure out his mind.

But I gradually realized that the purpose of the government is very clear. When it does not affect the war, it can control the life and death of the people.

But when the battle is urgent and you need to win over the soldiers, you don’t care about it. For example, in Huainan, Zhao Chao, Bai Yanyu and others were allowed to burn, kill, loot, and ask for bribes. As a result, the people of Huainan no longer welcome Zhou Jun. After all, they are still the five generations of warlords. style and thinking.

Zhao Kuangyin's later fighting style and attitude were completely different. After the destruction of Shu, the army burned, killed and looted uncontrollably. Even if the army made great achievements, those who burned, killed and looted should be severely punished.

Because the Central Plains and the South have been impoverished and weak for nearly a hundred years, Zhao Kuangyin always pays attention to two basic principles when fighting wars, which is to save as much as possible and not to disturb the people.

These two points are completely different from the atmosphere at that time. The war is not only for the purpose of victory, but also to try to pay attention to speedy battles, save money, and at the same time, it is important not to disturb the production and life of the local people.

This is an important reason why the Northern Song Dynasty was able to compete with the Liao Kingdom in a short period of time after decades of chaos. Unfortunately, his painstaking efforts were sent twice by his younger brother Zhao Guangyi.

If according to Guo Rong's order, if you attack a place, you can allow soldiers to burn, kill and loot in order to win and boost morale. Not to mention that the resistance in the last place will be very fierce, even if he can eventually wipe out all the separatist Southern Tang and Jing Dynasties like Zhao Kuangyin did. Liao, Chu, Wuyue, Southern Han, Houshu, etc. were all wiped out, and the rest was a devastated country that could not compete with the powerful and unified Liao Kingdom in the north.

And to take back the Northern Han Dynasty and Youzhou, confrontation with the Liao Kingdom is inevitable.

Therefore, Shi Congyun also has a sense of crisis. He has a clear understanding that the Central Plains is bound to have a war with Liao, unless the four seas continue to fall apart in the future.

Therefore, his money should be like that of Lao Zhao. Except for necessary expenses, he should not spend it indiscriminately. He should save it and plan for the future.

At that time, Zhao Kuangyin lived a simple and frugal life, but he set up a sealed pile bank to deposit the national treasury and his own balance every year. He said that when the sealed pile bank was full, he would talk to the Liao people and buy back Yanyun Sixteen States. If they don't sell it, they will use the money in the sealed pile treasury to buy a warrior from all over the world to take it back. Unfortunately, he died without knowing it in time.

Shi Congyun didn't have such lofty ambitions, but he also decided to build a small warehouse with his own money and save it. Once the world changes, a large sum of money is enough to do many things for him, and it also makes him feel more secure.

He currently has two assistants, Zhao Shijian helps manage the family money, and Lu Qiu Zhongqing helps manage the army money.Luqiu Zhongqing wanted to travel with him often, so naturally he could only take care of it by Zhao Shijian.

These things have been busy for nearly half a month.

On October [-]rd in winter, a major event that shook the court occurred.

Fu Lingguang, the envoy of Zuo Zangku, was ordered to be executed on the street.

In the spring and summer of this year, the officials ordered Fu Lingguang to make a large number of cotton-padded clothes for the sergeants before the expedition. Now that Fu Lingguang failed to do so immediately, the officials were furious and ordered him to be executed.

At this time, the ministers went to the court to rescue Fu Lingguang, but the officials ignored him and went into the palace, so Fu Lingguang was killed in the street.

Fu Lingguang came from a family of meritorious officials. He served successively in the imperial court. He was honest and prudent, and he was in charge of complicated and complicated affairs for a long time.

The officials have always valued his character and often put him in good use, but now he is punished for a small mistake. Wang Pu, Wei Renpu and some officials in the court felt that his death was unjust, and they shook their heads and sighed when they met Shi Congyun by chance.

Because the imperial court has been fighting non-stop for four consecutive years, the treasury is really tight, and there is also a reason why Fu Lingguang cannot supply it in time.

Shi Congyun's impression of this man was that he had seen him in the court, so he was not as sad as Wang Pu and the others. From his point of view, if he was in the army and failed to complete the task on time, he could indeed be sentenced to death.

One day at the end of October, Zhou Xian, Fu Liu and Zhao Shijian were getting together to chat about calligraphy and painting, and they were painting while discussing.

Shi Congyun disdains, the three of them can be regarded as congenial, Zhao Shijian and his grandfather learned it, Fu Liu was raised as a lady from a young age, not to mention Zhou Xian, who is proficient in everything from piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.

But he thinks it's nothing special, anyway, I won't
He's been thinking about two things lately.

One is to visit the gunpowder workshop that makes gunpowder, and Feng Jisheng, an official of the Ministry of War who is in charge of making gunpowder, maybe there will be something to gain.

Pan Mei had told him about this as early as last year, but at that time the battle was busy and there was no time to see her, now she finally had the chance to relax.

The second thing is to train a group of scouts and messengers.

With his experience as a coach, coupled with his review of ancient and modern wars, he has increasingly discovered the importance of information acquisition. Information acquisition is an important condition for victory, and mastering the enemy's situation is very important.

So he decided to select a group of excellent and powerful scouts from the army and expand the scale of scouts. Moreover, these scouts should be different from ordinary soldiers. They should pay their own money to increase their treatment so that soldiers in the army can compete.

Excellent scouts and messengers are absolutely of great significance in this era.

In this regard, he had to go out himself, and he also asked Li Chuyun for help. Li Chuyun used to work in the Northwest, where the ethnic situation was complicated and the situation was changing for a long time. He must have more insights on how to obtain information and how to train scouts.

On November [-]st, Shi Congyun went straight to the empress to make an appointment with Pan Mei and set a time to meet with Feng Jisheng, but someone came from the palace, and it was the officials who asked him to go to the court to discuss matters.

He added the title of Ping Zhang Shi, so it is reasonable to enter the court to discuss matters. It may be some important matter in the court, and the emperor wants to listen to his opinion.

Shi Congyun didn't dare to delay, changed his clothes and rode his horse to the palace.

Along the way, he thought that the most likely thing the officials would ask was the strategic question in the future, what should Zhou do next, and in what direction should he send troops, or should he recharge his batteries.

This shows that the officials still trust him, which makes Shi Congyun heave a sigh of relief.

In fact, monarchs and ministers need a kind of tacit understanding when they reach his level. The best examples of this kind of tacit understanding are Wang Jian and Qin Shihuang, Xiao He and Liu Bang.

Why did Shi Congyun make mistakes in the Southern Tang Dynasty and continue to make mistakes after returning to Beijing?

Is it because the officials won't suspect him if he makes a mistake?
Of course it's impossible. Power, prestige, and ability are there. How can the officials fully trust it? It's not about personal feelings, it's about interests.

At this position, the emperor is destined to be worried.

The courtiers made mistakes on their own initiative to give the emperor a handle and let the emperor have a knife. This is the tacit understanding between the emperor and his ministers.

If he did not make mistakes in the Southern Tang Dynasty, the whole army felt that he should be inspected, and the officials did not want him to be in charge, then the officials would lose their hearts.

Everyone will think that the officials are narrow-minded, that the officials do not reward the meritorious service, and they are cronyists.

At that time, the officials will also fear and fear his prestige and popularity, which will lead to the breakdown of the relationship between the monarch and his ministers. It is very likely that his end will be Han Xin's end.

But once he took the initiative to make a mistake, he would give the official a handle and take the initiative to solve all the difficulties for the official.

Wouldn't the officials guess that he made a mistake on his own initiative?
Just like Xiao He took the initiative to defile himself and rob the people's land, and Wang Jian took the initiative to ask for things insatiably, wouldn't Liu Bang and Qin Shihuang think about whether they did it on purpose?
But what if they knew they did it on purpose?This is the courtier himself giving the handle to the emperor to show his loyalty!
This is a kind of political compromise and political guarantee for the emperor, and the emperor with a little political common sense will readily accept it.

Like what Shi Congyun did after returning to Beijing, he gave Guo Rong a handle. If Guo Rong thinks that he has a problem and has two hearts in the future, he can be charged with corruption and bribery.

At that time, when the witnesses and evidences are available, the people of the entire capital can testify, and the civil and military officials will have nothing to say, and no one can accuse the officials of anything.

With such a handle, with such a compromise, and taking the initiative to send his own criminal evidence to the emperor, the officials are of course happy, and dare to use him with confidence!

This is a political game, and emotions will not work.

If an emperor relies on emotion to control him, and feels that the minister under him is loyal to him, he is loyal, and disloyal is disloyal, instead of using political means to control him, then nine out of ten he is a fool.

When the interests are great and the power is great, emotion is the most unreliable.

Shi Congyun was very ingenious. He directly gave the emperor political leverage to manipulate him in exchange for Guo Rong's trust.

So what he got in exchange was the reassurance of the officials, allowing him to participate in major affairs.

Moreover, the characteristic of an official is that he is decisive and courageous in major affairs, but political sensitivity is indeed not his strong point.When Zhao Kuangyin usurped the throne, seven of the nine high-ranking officials of the Dianqian Division and the Guard Division (one is not recorded, maybe vacant), were actually Zhao Kuangyin's own people. Dear friend, let Guo Zongxun play with Minister Gu Ming, there is no choice but to surrender
When he arrived in the palace, the eunuch was already waiting outside and welcomed him directly into the palace.

This time I didn't go to the Chuigong Hall, but in the Three Provincial Government Offices, located to the east of the imperial palace. After entering, there are rows of wing rooms, many of which are divided into four and six.

After walking for a while, he came to a courtyard, guarded by many guards in green clothes. Shi Congyun knew that most of the officials were inside.

The eunuch asked him to wait outside the house, and went in to ask for instructions. After a while, the official sent someone out to let him in.

After Shi Congyun entered, he saw Wang Pu, Wei Renpu, Wang Pu, Fan Zhi and other ordinary people.

The official was listening to what Wang Pu and Wang Pu said, he stood a little far away, so he didn't go forward immediately, and couldn't hear what they were saying clearly.

Wei Renpu and other officials came to greet him, but Fan Zhi snorted and remained silent. Shi Congyun was too lazy to be stubborn with the old man, so he bowed and stopped talking.

Wei Renpu whispered to him: "The officials and the officials of the three provinces are discussing major national affairs in the next two years. I remembered that Deputy Marshal Shi once said that we must guard the Huaihe River when we guard the river, so I asked you to come here to discuss major issues."

There seemed to be a disagreement between Wang Pu and Wang Pu, and the officials looked over and waved when they saw him, "Shi Qing, come here, I want to hear what you have to say."

Shi Congyun hurriedly stepped forward to salute, then looked at Wang Pu.

"The officials want me to discuss the major issues in the next year and the year after. Whether to continue to send troops or to rule the world, and where to send troops if we want to continue to send troops." Wang Pu understood Shi Congyun's meaning and explained the main points for him.

Shi Congyun nodded, thought for a while and replied: "Officials, I think there are two reasons for sending troops.

One is that the world is falling apart, the world is not peaceful, and since the end of the Tang Dynasty, there have been decades of separatism and chaos. The world will be unified for a long time. Unite.

Second, just like the reason why Han Xin persuaded Han Gaozu in Hanzhong, now that the world is not at peace, people's hearts are not settled, and the soldiers still have the mind to fight. Once the world is settled, it will be difficult to send troops.

Just think about it, the officials, if we settle down in a peaceful corner at this time, it will be comfortable, and we don’t have to run around to be exhausted, but after more than ten years, decades later, the soldiers have a wife and son at home, and who wants to support the whole family? Fighting on the battlefield?

When the time comes to send troops, the army has not been trained for so many years and has not seen blood. Wouldn’t it be the same as the army of the Tang Dynasty and Western Shu? If the Northern Han and Khitan go south, even if we are rich, we will not have soldiers who dare to fight, know how to fight, and are willing to fight , can only give away the foundation that has been cultivated for more than ten years.

Therefore, I think that to put down the chaos, you have to take advantage of the chaos, and don't wait until the peace has passed for a long time before you think about unifying the world. By then, people will not be in harmony, and it will be too late. "

The officials nodded after listening, and Wang Pu, Wei Renpu and others also cast approving glances, and many people's gazes also focused on him.

After Shi Congyun's high opinion was finished, the whole court was quiet for a while.

The official looked happy, "That's right, you and I want to go together! Then tell me, if we want to use troops, where should we use them?"

Shi Congyun thought for a moment, then said: "The strategy of Wang Zhifu (Wang Pu) thinks it is very feasible, first south and then north, focusing on Khitan.

The general trend of the Liao Kingdom has been established, and it cannot be defeated in one fell swoop. If we confront them head-on right now, it is like gambling. We have the possibility of defeating them, and they also have the possibility of defeating us.

But now our country only has half of Hebei, Henan, Qidi, Guanzhong, and Huainan. If we lose once, it will hurt our muscles and bones. If Liao loses once, they won't hurt them at all, so I think it's not worthwhile to fight them now.

The magistrate's strategy should be used to annex the southern countries, and then use the south as a granary for money, silk, grain and grass supplies, and send out powerful armies from Guanzhong, Henan, Hebei, and Qi to fight to the death.

In case of bad luck at that time, we lose a battle, and we will have the support of the rear, so we can make a comeback. "

After hearing these words, Wang Pu looked at him more enthusiastically, as if seeing a confidant, Wei Renpu also nodded in approval.

The official frowned slightly: "If you can take back the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, it will be an unworldly feat."

Shi Congyun guessed the thoughts of the officials. He was the one who compared himself with Tang Taizong, and he must be very eager to leave a mark in the history books.

But at the beginning, Li Shimin endured the alliance under the city for the sake of great cause. He became so famous later, and it was the result of his rationality and humiliation in the early stage. People who do great things can't be accomplished overnight, and quick success is a big taboo.
Shi Congyun thought so in his heart, but he didn't say so to the officials.

"It is imperative to take back the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, and it must be the merits of the officials, but I think we don't have that kind of strength right now, so we should focus on Jing, Chu and Shu.

And during this period, if there is an opportunity in the north, we can temporarily change our strategy and encroach on the areas south of Youzhou and Taiyuan.

First take back some of the counties in the middle of the sixteen prefectures. As long as Youzhou is not moved, the Liao Kingdom will probably not fight us desperately. "

The official nodded slowly after hearing this, "You are right, I may be impatient, you should train the imperial army for me, and be ready at all times.

Let me think about it again, if you have opinions, just let me know. "

Shi Congyun hurriedly cupped his hands, Wang Pu and Wei Renpu also cupped their hands, with light in their eyes, they whispered to him, "Deputy Commander Shi is very nice."

(End of this chapter)