Wei Ni

Chapter 75
Jiang Ji's "I still remember" made the emperor Cao Rui wake up suddenly.

Alas, that's all.

He let out a long sigh in his heart, and with a melancholy face, he finally made a decision, "Ruqing and Manqing want me to take the strategy of destroying the city and capturing the people."

While sighing, his left hand, which was tucked into his wide sleeve, quietly clenched another top watch.

It was played by Xia Houhui.

Originally, he planned to discuss it with Jiang Ji.

But now he doesn't want to and can't take it out.

However, Jiang Ji didn't know this.

After the emperor let go of his decision, he quickly came out and praised, "Your Majesty is wise!"

And when he saw the melancholy look on the emperor's face, he softly comforted him, "Your Majesty, those who seek the eternal life are not limited to one moment. Today, Wei State occupies seven points of the world. We only need to rest with the people and accumulate national power, and we will perish in the future." It is inevitable that Wu merges with Shu!"

He was misunderstood.

He thought that the melancholy look on the emperor's face was because he saw that the opportunity to open up the land was in front of him, but he had to give up due to the situation, so he was unwilling!
After all, as a king, who can not be enthusiastic about opening up territories?
Especially since the emperor Cao Rui succeeded to the throne, he is really lackluster in terms of military struggles~
"Well, Jiang Qing is very good at plotting the country."

Hearing this, the emperor Cao Rui's expression was a little slow, and after agreeing, he brought the topic to how to check and fill in the gaps, "Taking the strategy of Man Qing's breaking the city and capturing the people, Jiang Qing thinks there are still gaps in it? And the temple How should we deal with the Huainan evil?"

"Your Majesty, I secretly think"

About half an hour later, Jiang Ji left the palace in the afterglow of the setting sun.

And the emperor Cao Rui, who had just finished writing the private edict to Man Chong, put down his pen on the table, picked up the edict and gently dried the ink, and after looking at it carefully, he changed his servant and general The edict was passed to Huainan.And I don't forget to claim that I will stay in the Chonghua Houdian tonight, ordering the attendants to prepare meals, serve candles, and the brazier for warming the hall.

Immediately, he walked away from the left and right, walked out of the hall door alone, stood on the side of the thick and thin corridor pillars and looked up.

It will be February in February soon.

The sky is still very cold, and there are no green shoots on the grass and trees in the Luoyang Palace, and it is still a chilling and bleak scene.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the wind and snow have stopped raging continuously in recent days.

There has been a lot of snow since the beginning of winter last year, so there should be no more droughts for spring plowing this year, right?
And it is especially cold in spring, so there should be less pests during the summer, right?
Seeing the faint snowflakes left on the steps, Emperor Cao Rui unconsciously turned to the matter of Nongsang.

Because of last year's drought, the autumn harvests in Wanluo, Yongliang and other places in Wei State were bleak, and there was also a shortage of food and fodder.Although it has not yet turned into a year of famine, this is the first time that the Wei State has experienced a shortage of food in counties and mansions since Emperor Wu Cao Cao began farming, which is enough to attract the attention of the emperor and temples.

Many people attributed the emptiness of the mansion to the loss of Cao Zhen's conquest of Shu and Sima Yi's imperial conquest of Shu in Longyou.

But the emperor Cao Rui knew in his heart that the gradual collapse of the garrison system was the culprit.

That's why he asked Xia Houru, who guarded Jingxiang, to focus on guarding the farmland and accumulating valleys, and ordered Sima Yi to open ditches in Yongliangguang, so that the soldiers must be self-sufficient.

And the reason why he just wanted to take Man Chong's third strategy was to make the Huainan front line self-sufficient-

The specific plan is mentioned in Xia Houhui's above table.

In the above table, like Man Chong, he detailed the causes and consequences of the sneak attack on Wancheng, as well as the pros and cons, and also advised two choices: either destroying the city and capturing the people and returning, or taking advantage of the situation to occupy the valley of Wancheng.

But unlike Man Chong, he said very little about the choice of breaking the city and taking the people back.

It is only based on "the battle of the former fan Shiting of the thief Wu, because our Wei State Huainan has few soldiers and horses, and we no longer have the power to attack. If our army takes advantage of its unpreparedness to attack, we will surely return with success." The words have been taken.

As for the choice of how to occupy the Wancheng Valley, and the benefits that could be brought to Wei after occupying this valley, he spoke in great detail.

He felt that to defend this valley, the Wei State only needed [-] elite soldiers to be stationed permanently.

But the number of scholars needs at least [-] or more.

And in order to enable these scholars to fight bravely and protect the city in the future counterattack of the thief Wu, he suggested that the temple should grant the scholars the coveted release of citizenship.

It is still in accordance with the redemption system of officials in the Qin Dynasty, and on top of the previous conclusion that beheadings can redeem family members, an additional grace is added: as long as the Wancheng Valley is not taken away by the thief Wu, all guarding scholars will serve every time they serve. At the age of two, one of the younger members of the family can be redeemed to be registered as a citizen, and the farmland will be given to him.

If there are any dead in battle, no matter how long they have served, the younger one of their family will be granted citizenship.

Naturally, the temple rewards people generously and enacts strict laws to restrain and punish them accordingly.

It is suggested that in addition to the conventional military law of fleeing in battle and beheaded for disrespecting orders, an accountability system that is not conducive to defending the soil should be added.

For example, when Wu soldiers are broken up into small groups and invaded frequently, how many Wu soldiers need to be killed by the guards for every mu of land destroyed can be exempted; every garrison point is burned, how many Wu soldiers need to be killed by the guards? The soldiers are not guilty; when the thief Wu came to besiege and attack the city, the scholars must stick to the city for half a year, so that the family members in the rear will not be caught!

Yes, stick to it for half a year, not the hundred days stipulated by Wei Jun's law.

With this kind of accountability system, it can be seen that Xiahou Hui almost copied the military law after the reform of the Qin State.
But the emperor Cao Rui felt that it could be implemented.

Because this kind of reward and accountability mechanism is also another attempt to explore and promote the reform of the Shi family~
Moreover, he didn't feel that Xia Houhui's strategy of occupying the Wancheng Valley was eager for quick success and quick benefits. He even thought that the tactics Xia Houhui and Man Chong intended were not superior or inferior.

It's just that the young and strong are determined to forge ahead, while the veterans have different ideas of seeking safety in everything.

The emperor Cao Rui is more inclined to adopt Xiahouhui's strategy, not only because he is also at the age of forging ahead, but also because Xiahouhui also described in the above table that after occupying the Wancheng Valley, the Huainan front and Wei Guosheji will usher in a new era. the benefits of.

It is not the obvious benefits of opening up land for the country, defeating the bandit Wu Yangwei, and adding households to the country.

It's about statecraft.

First, the Huainan front can achieve self-sufficiency in soldiers.

From Jiangdong's point of view, they would naturally not sit back and watch Wei Guoquan occupy Lujiang County and add another way to attack Wu.

Therefore, they will inevitably raise troops to attack Wancheng Valley many times in the future.

In this way, there will be relatively fewer wars in Hefei, and sheltered on both sides of the Huai River behind Shouchun City, people can move to villages or scholars to come to farm and accumulate grain with peace of mind!

With the fertile soil on both sides of the Huaihe River, as long as there are enough people in the fields, the production is more than enough to supply the troops and horses of all ministries in Huainan.

The two are to take this opportunity to accelerate the reform of the scholar family and the system of recruiting soldiers from the people, and then slowly evolve into a national policy to check and balance the nine-rank official system.

Maybe I know that the former emperor Cao Rui made a concession that he no longer let the school officials assist in the picketing and garrisoning the fields, and asked the officials and officials to support the reform of the scholars and the recruitment of soldiers from the people. Xia Houhui said in the above table , He also explained to the emperor in detail why he had added extra problems when he was in the Shu before, adding more soldiers to the Mintun.

He wanted to use this as an opportunity to restore the military merit system of the Qin and Han Dynasties.

With today's nine-rank official system, family background has also become one of the criteria for assessment, so it is inevitable that the way out for people with low backgrounds will be blocked.

In today's world, there are general criteria for judging family background.

For example, those who have produced Sangong or well-known scholars in the country can be classified as famous families; those who have produced two thousand stones for generations and have hairpin tassels for generations are called county families; For poor families.

That's right, even Tianmu Lianyu Fangguo and Wuduan Township Qu's Haoyou will be classified as the lower rank in the nine-rank official system.

Not to mention Li Shu who was born humble.

The military merit system that once broke the Shiqing system is much fairer.

At the very least, no matter if they were from poor families, nobles, or vulgar people from the mountains, as long as they could win military exploits, they could become marquises and become meat eaters.

Leaving aside, the Xiahou clan, who are not from a noble family or aristocratic family, did not start their careers with military exploits~
And once the class is solidified, the contradictions will become sharper, and it will also induce people who have nowhere to go to shout angrily, "The princes and generals are better than each other!"

In other words, it has only been more than ten years since Wei Guo implemented the nine-rank official system, so the class will be solidified so quickly?
But this is not alarmist talk.

Because now the government and the public already have the saying that "the poor family or Li Shu officials should not be higher than two thousand stones, otherwise it will bring disaster to themselves and their families".

Emperor Wen Cao Pi compromised with the gentry with the nine-rank official system and asked them to endorse the destiny of the Han Dynasty in the Cao Wei Dynasty, so this system cannot be abolished.

Once it is abolished, Cao Wei Sheji will face an unbearable burden.

Knowing this well, Xia Houhui wanted to imitate the military merit system of the Qin and Han dynasties, intending to recruit soldiers from the villages and reform the scholar family system. Using them as an example, he could see another way to enter the family for those who are not of high family background or humble background. of order.

You don't need to be attached to a noble family, but you can also glorify the entry level of the lintel.

Moreover, the new nobles who have been promoted by virtue of their military exploits will also break the power structure of the temple while taking power, and become a new force that the king relies on to check and balance the gentry.

As for why Xia Houhui didn't directly make a statement~
Let me ask, who dares to openly criticize the disadvantages of the nine-rank official system now?

Even the emperor Cao Rui can't!
"Laozi" has a saying: "The difficulty of the picture is greater than the detail. The difficult things in the world must be done in the easy way; the big things in the world must be done in the detail."

Therefore, Xia Houhui thought about whether he could use the method of boiling frogs in warm water to use Shijia and Tuntian Ke as a breakthrough.

Once it succeeds, then the poor, the rich, or the ordinary people will definitely respond to each other——

Even Shijia and Tuntian Ke, who are no different from slaves, can advance to the ranks by virtue of military merits. Don't they have the opportunity to step into the temple with higher backgrounds and more comprehensive knowledge! ?

It is precisely because of this that Xia Houhui made a radical remonstrance that he should occupy the Wancheng Valley.

It also made the emperor Cao Rui more inclined to occupy Lujiang County out of consideration for the community, and use this as an opportunity to promote the changes proposed by Xia Houhui.

After all, compared to alleviating the disadvantages of the ninth-rank official system, taking on the risk that the Wancheng Valley is difficult to defend is insignificant.

But, it's a pity.

Under Jiang Ji's reminder, the emperor finally put the matter on hold temporarily.

After the battle of Longyou, when Sima Yi pleaded guilty in Shangshu, he also attached a prediction of the future war in Yongliang.

After the emperor Cao Rui summoned Man Chong, Liu Ye and Jiang Ji discussed in private, they all agreed with Sima Yi's prediction-the next time Shu soldiers invaded, it will be the most difficult moment since the Wei Dynasty and the Han Dynasty!
There are three reasons.

One is that when the Wei State confronts the Shu soldiers, it will no longer have an advantage in military strength.

The reason is internal friction.

The land of Yongliang is the most turbulent area no matter it is in the previous dynasty or in the current state of Wei.

Lands with many Qianghu tribes have always been prone to movement and unrest, and now Cao Zhen's defeat in Shu and Sima Yi's defeat in Longyou greatly reduced Wei's prestige, and also greatly encouraged the Qianghu tribe and some powerful families. .

In order to avoid turmoil in the rear when resisting the soldiers of Shu, Wei State had to deploy more soldiers and horses to garrison in various counties and counties.

Such as the Hexi Corridor far away from temples, such as Xiping County and Jincheng County where the people are mainly Qiang tribes.

As a result, Yongliangke Yushu's troops were naturally reduced.

The second is that Shu soldiers will not repeat the same mistakes.

In the past few times when Shu soldiers invaded Yongliang, the difficulty of supplying food and fodder was the biggest drawback.

Especially in the battle of Longyou in the previous period, it was clear that the Shu soldiers had defeated the Wei army, and they could go north to Tianshui County to eat up Longyou step by step, but they had to give up the good situation and return because of the shortage of food.

Therefore, the next time Shu raises troops again, it will inevitably avoid this disadvantage first.

Under the circumstances that the Shu soldiers had no worries about food and fodder, and the strength of the two sides was roughly equal, could the State of Wei still block the Shu soldiers back as it had done several times before?
Very unlikely!

The three thousand armor heads in Lucheng proved that Wei's soldiers were not as powerful as Shu's.

Furthermore, Shu and Wu are the countries of the alliance!

In the past few times when the Shu and Wu countries raised troops to invade, they never mobilized troops at the same time, so Wei Guo could also deal with it calmly.

But after several fruitless military expeditions, haven't they learned their lesson and agreed to send troops to the north at the same time?
Although the two kingdoms of Shu and Wu are small, there are many people of insight.

They all understand that each other has bitter lips and teeth, and they also know that the current state of Wei is dominant and Shu and Wu will perish without a fight!
Third, there will be swordsmen in northern Xinjiang.

Ke Bineng, the master of Xianbei who controls more than [-] riders and dominates Monan, has always had the ambition to dominate Xianbei.

The former fan came from across the Hetao Plain to Longyou, and he also hoped to attack the Yongliang and Liang tribes of the Wei State with the Shu soldiers back and forth, so that the Wei State would no longer interfere in his war of annexing other Xianbei tribes, and unify the three Xianbei tribes as soon as possible.

Now, the alliance between him and the Shu Kingdom has been exposed, and the reverse has been revealed. If Wei Guo's troops are restrained by the Shu and Wu Kingdoms and have no time to look north, he will definitely raise troops to harm the northern frontier.And once Ke Bineng harmed the frontier, Gongsun Yuan, who was far away in Liaodong, would not be at ease with his mind of imprisoning his father, Gongsun Gong, and seizing the throne for self-reliance.

That's why it's so-called, pull one hair and move the whole body, that's how it is!

Although Wei is big and has strong national power, it is difficult to deal with the situation where there are thousands of miles of land and thousands of miles of war.

And if you are a little careless, you will usher in a great creation of turbulent society.

In this way, it is not advisable to separate the Luoyang North and South Army to garrison the Wancheng Valley.

The emperor Cao Rui prepared for the coming difficult time, but he could only restrain his unwillingness and melancholy to choose the lesser of two evils.

However, Xia Houhui's private performances were not for nothing.

Because although the emperor Cao Rui did not follow his strategy, he felt his loyalty and sincerity for the benefit of the country, so he gave him more favor.

(End of this chapter)