Do you know the long song of laughter?

Chapter 469: The Strategy for Peace

"I didn't say to take action now. This is just a preliminary idea. We should take action after the government has control of the situation and there is enough money and food." Shen Congxing said.

Li An shook his head slightly and said, "Why does the uncle insist on keeping an eye on the Liao Kingdom?"

Shen Congxing was stunned and said, "You mean to attack Xixia? But the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun are the northern barrier. If we take back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, Liao will not be a threat. By then, Xixia will also be nothing to fear."

"Uncle, which one do you think is weaker or stronger, the Liao Dynasty or the Western Xia?" Li An asked.

"Of course the Liao Kingdom is strong." Shen Congxing said without thinking.

"In that case, why not start with the easy tasks and then move on to the difficult ones?" Li An said, "With Xixia at our side, the Song Dynasty cannot fight the Liao Kingdom with all its might. Recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun is not something that can be done in a short period of time. Once the Song Dynasty gains the upper hand, Xixia will certainly send troops to attack the Song Dynasty."

"But isn't it the same if we fight against Western Xia? Will the Liao Kingdom just sit there and watch?" Shen Congxing retorted.

"It's different." Li An shook his head and said, "Western Xia has insufficient war potential. As long as the method is right, we can even destroy Western Xia before Liao can react."

"How is that possible!" Shen Congxing retorted: "Although Xixia is not big, it still has hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. How could it be possible to destroy Xixia before Liao could react?"

"Uncle, do you know how many people there are in Xixia?" Li An asked back.

"It seems to be two or three million." Shen Congxing said uncertainly.

"What about the troops?" Li An continued to ask.

"It seems to be about 500,000 or 600,000." Shen Congxing said.

Li An nodded and said, "I don't know much about military affairs, but I know that when the ratio of civilians to soldiers reaches ten to one, it is already considered as excessive military spending. However, Xixia has a population of two to three million, but has five to six hundred thousand soldiers, which almost includes all the young and strong men in Xixia."

"You are right, but the soldiers of Western Xia serve as soldiers in wartime and farmers in peacetime. Therefore, Western Xia can afford to support them." Shen Congxing said.

The military system of Western Xia was somewhat similar to the Fubing system of the Tang Dynasty, and the pressure on the Western Xia court was not as great as imagined.

"I know, but what if Xixia has no free time?" Li An asked back.

"No free time?" Shen Congxing didn't quite understand and looked at Li An in confusion.

"If we deploy troops on the Xixia border during the busy farming season, Xixia will definitely send heavy troops to defend it. If this happens once or twice a year, how long can Xixia hold out?" Li An said.

"But the Song Dynasty can't bear this." Shen Congxing shook his head.

The method proposed by Ang Lee is actually to fight an economic war.

The idea is good, but doing so will also impose a heavy burden on the Song Dynasty.

If troops are stationed on the border, they must send more troops to the northwest, otherwise they will not be able to put pressure on Western Xia.

In this way, even if there is no war, the consumption of money and food will be very large.

Many people may find it strange that even if there is no war, soldiers still need to be fed and paid. Now they are just stationed on the border and there is no real war, so it seems that there is not much consumption.

In fact, this is not the case. The land in the Northwest is barren, and the money and grain collected each year are insufficient to supply the Northwest Border Army.

If the troops are stationed in the northwest, food and fodder will need to be transported from the south.

There is no canal in the northwest, so the only way is to travel by land.

In ancient times, the transportation of food and fodder relied on human and animal power.

Just transporting the food and fodder, and providing food for the people and horses along the way, would consume a huge amount of food.

Civilians could be conscripted for labor service, but their food and drink had to be provided by the court.

Secondly, the army is divided into half-pay and full-pay. If there is no war, it is half-pay, and if there is a war, it is full-pay.

Deploying troops on the border is also considered wartime, and the soldiers must be paid full wages.

Perhaps before the Western Xia was brought down, the Song Dynasty itself would have been brought down.

Li An also knew these things. If the Song Dynasty had sufficient money and grain, it would be impossible that no one would have thought of this idea.

"What if we take over Hehuang?" Li An said.

In fact, what Li Ang was talking about was the famous strategy to pacify the enemy in history.

It was a very rare thing for a scholar to be appointed as a general before the Song Dynasty. It was undoubtedly a very risky thing to let a scholar do such a big task as leading troops in battle. Not only would he be under tremendous pressure, but he might also lose everything if he was not careful.

However, this phenomenon became very common starting from the Song Dynasty. In order to control the monopoly of military generals, the ruling class of the Song Dynasty suppressed them comprehensively. All the top leaders of the military were appointed by literati, and the military generals could only be the second in command or the commander of a specific unit.

However, it is not entirely useless for scholars to lead troops. For example, Yu Qian, who saved the Ming Dynasty for two hundred years, was a scholar.

Wang Shao, who proposed "Plan for Pacifying the Rong", was a scholar. He was not very famous in history. Many people have never even heard of this person, let alone "Plan for Pacifying the Rong".

But in Li Ang's opinion, this person did save and prolong the life of the Song Dynasty.

Although due to the weakness of the Song Dynasty, many people even believe that it would be better to destroy it as soon as possible.

But Wang Shao’s contribution cannot be erased.

The general meaning of "Plan for Pacifying the Rong" is that if Song wants to gain an advantage over Xia, it must seize the nearby Hehuang area to form a pincer attack on Xia. If Xia strikes first, Song will be controlled by it, and there will be no peace in Sichuan and Shaanxi forever.

The border area between the Song Dynasty and Western Xia is not large. Taking Hehuang can not only limit the expansion of Western Xia, but also increase the border area between the Song Dynasty and Western Xia.

As the number of border crossings increases, the area that Xixia needs to defend will also increase.

Now the Hehuang area is in the hands of Tubo and Qiang. They are at a disadvantage when facing Western Xia and only use a small number of troops to defend the border with Hehuang.

It was good enough that Western Xia did not attack Hehuang. The Tubo and Qiang people in Hehuang would never dare to provoke Western Xia.

But if the neighbor was the Song Dynasty, Xixia would have to pay attention.

At that time, even if we didn't attack Xixia, we could still drag it down by just delaying the attack.

In fact, in history, after Wang Shao presented "Plan for Pacifying the Rong", he was taken seriously by Emperor Shenzong, who ordered Wang Shao to be fully responsible for the matter.

Wang Shao led his army to defeat the Qiang and Western Xia armies, established Xizhou, led the Xihe Campaign, recovered the five states of Xi, He, Tao, Min, Dang, and Wei, expanded the border by more than 2,000 miles, and formed an encirclement of Western Xia.

It is known in history as the opening of the Xihe border.

The opening of the Xihe border was of great significance. It not only expanded the territory, but also curbed the development of Western Xia and provided a great opportunity to destroy Western Xia.

At that time, the direction of Western Xia's expansion was blocked, and the area bordering the Song Dynasty expanded, so the area that needed to be defended increased.

Even if they didn't fight, Xixia would have been defeated by the delay.

However, Wang Shao made great contributions after opening up the border in Xihe, and was transferred back to the court and promoted.

Li An did not think it was bad for civilian officials to lead the troops, although many of them did not understand military tactics and gave random commands.

However, there were also many civil officials who understood military strategies and were quite capable of commanding battles.

However, civil officials are not military generals. Even if they win a battle and make contributions, they will be promoted to the court or local areas. It is impossible for them to stay in the army.

Although Shen Congxing's ideas are a bit strange, he is well-versed in military books and does have some ability.

When he heard Li An talk about taking over Hehuang, he began to think about it carefully.

The more he thought about it, the brighter his eyes became. He exclaimed, "Zi Qian said he didn't understand the art of war. If you don't understand it, then what am I? Your idea is so good, why didn't you report it to the emperor?"

"That's just what I said. I really don't understand how to do it specifically. Why don't you let your uncle perfect the plan and then report it to the government?" Li An said.

He really didn't want this credit. In history, Wang Shao proposed the "Plan for Pacifying the Rong" and personally led his troops to capture the Hehuang area.

However, many people in the court slandered him, saying that the Hehuang area was useless and the taxes collected each year were not enough to cover the cost of stationing troops.

Look how ridiculous this theory is.

So if the taxes are low, then just don't bother with them. Then why attack Xixia or Liao?
The territories occupied by Western Xia and Liao were not rich in themselves.

Ang Lee doesn't want this credit, as it will make him hot in the future.

In fact, Li An also understood that Wang Shao originally held a low official position, but he made great contributions in expanding the territory and ended up rising to prominence, and there must have been many people who were jealous of him.

Those people simply wanted to diminish Wang Shao's contribution.

If a general...

Well, if it was a military general, the fate would be even worse. The Song Dynasty court loved internal strife too much.

Military generals can fight but end up miserably, and civil officials can fight but are useless.

"No!" Shen Congxing said, "Who would I be if I did that? Am I the kind of person who takes credit for other people's achievements?"

"Uncle, listen to me!"

Li An tried to persuade him earnestly, and the meaning of his words was simply that the emperor had just ascended the throne not long ago, and his foundation was unstable, and now he needed help to stabilize the foundation.

And this person is none other than Shen Congxing. If this credit is given to him, he can establish his prestige, which will be beneficial to the court and the government!

Shen Congxing was so moved that his eyes turned red.

The reason why Ang Lee asked Shen Congxing to bring up this matter was because only he could bear it.

Whether it is the current emperor or Zhao Ceying who will ascend the throne in the future, Shen Congxing will always be their right-hand man.

If someone uses this incident to attack Shen Congxing, it is equivalent to attacking the government, and with the government's protection, Shen Congxing can bear the consequences of this incident.

Of course, he couldn't tell Shen Congxing about this.

Shen Congxing was so moved that if Li An had not been married and his sister had not been married, he would have wanted to accept this brother-in-law.

Although he couldn't become his brother-in-law, he pulled Li An to become his sworn brother.
Li An was so confused that he didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It took a long time to persuade him to stop.

If the two of them became sworn brothers, wouldn't he be Zhao Ceying's elder?

In the evening, Shen Congxing and Xiao Shen had a meal at Li Ang's house and left drunk.

"Finally he left." Li An breathed a sigh of relief.

"What did the master say to Uncle Shen that made him so excited?" Minglan asked puzzledly.

She had dinner with Xiao Shen in the backyard and had no idea what they talked about.

When seeing Shen Congxing and the others off, Shen Congxing pulled Li An aside to express his gratitude.

Ang Lee did not explain it in detail, but just gave a general idea.

Minglan was smart enough not to say anything after hearing this.

"By the way, I have a day off tomorrow. Let's go to Sheng's house and invite grandma for dinner." Li An said.

When they moved, Minglan went back to the Sheng family to invite Old Madam Sheng and the others.

Sheng Hong didn't come because he had to be on duty, and Madam Wang was a little embarrassed to come because of what happened last time.

The person Minglan wanted to invite most was Old Madam Sheng, but Old Madam Sheng did not agree.

Li An noticed that Minglan seemed to be in a bad mood these days. After thinking for a while, he guessed that it was because Mrs. Sheng didn't come.

After all, Minglan was raised by Old Madam Sheng, and it would be a pity for her if Old Madam Sheng didn't come to such a happy event as moving.

As for Wei Xiaoniang, even though Li An regarded her as his mother-in-law, she was a concubine after all. That was the rule of that era.

Li An thought about going over and inviting them. Since Mrs. Sheng didn't give face to her granddaughter, she should at least give face to her grandson-in-law.

"Officer."

Minglan stopped and said, "Thank you."

"How many times have I told you, with me..."

"Lord!"

Before Li An finished speaking, a servant hurried over and saluted, saying, "The housekeeper of Weibei Marquis's mansion came with two women, saying that they were given to the master by Weibei Marquis."

"Ok?"

Li An was stunned. He and Minglan had just seen Shen Congxing off and had just arrived at the corner gate leading to the backyard in the middle courtyard.

Even though they were talking and walking slowly, it didn't take long.

In other words, as soon as Shen Congxing returned home, he asked someone to send the person over.

Li An was speechless. He naturally knew the purpose of Shen Congxing sending the two women here.

It's just to thank him.

I have to say that the ancients had a very strange way of giving gifts. They would directly give gifts to women if they had a disagreement.

"Madam, please go back to your room first. I will go and send those people away." Li An said.

"Yeah." Minglan nodded.

"Madam, the master won't leave anyone here, right?" Xiao Tao asked worriedly.

Don't be fooled by Xiaotao's carefree appearance, she doesn't seem very smart.

But after being with Minglan for so many years, I still understand some things.

For the principal wife, it is the most difficult to have a concubine sent by a boss like this.

Because this also represents the face of the day when the concubine is sent away.

Although Shen Congxing is not Li Ang's boss, he is the emperor's uncle.

"No." Minglan smiled and shook her head, feeling relieved about it.

Li An had told her before that he had refused the concubine sent to him by King Huan.

Since King Huan had confiscated all of his possessions, it was naturally impossible for him to confiscate Shen Congxing's.

Li Anke didn't know all this. He hurried to the door and saw a middle-aged man leading two women standing there.

Although it was night and I couldn't see clearly, I could still see their graceful figures.

"Greetings, Lord Li." The middle-aged man saluted.

"What are you doing?" Li An asked.

"I am an official from the Weibei Marquis' Mansion. My master asked me to bring this here. He said that they should serve Lord Li." said the butler.

Li An frowned and said, "I appreciate your kindness, but I cannot accept it. You can take the person back."

Li An was very disgusted with the practice of giving women away like objects.

But this was very common in ancient times, and he couldn't change anything.

But he can choose not to accept it.

"This..." The butler looked embarrassed when he heard this.

This was what Shen Congxing told him to do. If he failed to do it, it would inevitably show that he was incompetent.

He wanted to persuade him, but Li An waved his hand and said, "If Uncle Shen blames you, just say that I insisted on not accepting it. I will tell him later."

"Yes!" Upon hearing this, the butler could only bow and leave with his men.

Li An shook his head slightly and went back to his room.

…………

The next morning, Li An and Minglan had breakfast, took some gifts, and went to the Sheng family.

When Li An went to Sheng's house, Shen Congxing was in the study at home, thinking hard while writing memorials.

The more he thought about what Li An said last night, the more he felt that it was a very good plan.

This is also a chance to prove himself.

(End of this chapter)