Late Tang

(Thanks to Drifting with the Wind 777 and Xiao Huali for their support, thank you!)

Changan.

The center of the entire Tang Empire.

The emperor of the Great Tang Empire is holding a relatively secret imperial meeting in the Hall of Yanying.The number of people who participated in this meeting was not many, but they were all the most important figures in Datang.

"The price of rice in the capital has risen for one month in a row. It has now reached a thousand dollars per meter, and the price of rice is still rising. It has also risen five times compared to before the outbreak of the Hebei rebellion. Now the imperial court is preparing to mobilize all kinds of troops to suppress Hebei. In the rebellion, more than 40 troops will be dispatched. If one hundred thousand soldiers are counted, and one soldier is used as a transfer for three husbands, at least [-] people will be dependent on food."

Li Wei, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, strengthened his tone, "I would like to draw the attention of the emperor and other ministers. At present, the imperial court has mobilized soldiers and horses from all walks of life to suppress the rebellion, and it has exceeded 60. According to the system, the military and horse circles of the feudal towns send food, and all towns send troops. The food is provided by the imperial court. The number of soldiers dispatched is more than 420. I think that according to a safe calculation, at least 500 people must be calculated for the food supply, so I calculated that every soldier will be given two liters of rice per day. A year’s branch needs at least [-] Yu Wanshi. If the war is not going well, you can’t expect immediate victory. In the future, military funds will be transferred to other places, which will cost more. In my opinion, the imperial court must prepare at least [-] million yuan for military expenses, and try to hope that the war will be completed in one day. It will end within a year, and it cannot be delayed for more than two years."

These data of Li Wei make it impossible to refute. The rebellion of two emperors and four kings caused by Dezong's slashing of the vassal. At that time, the monthly military expenditure of the imperial court was more than 100 million guan.Now the four anti-rebellion campaigns in Hebei are on the same scale as before, and the military expenditure of the imperial court cannot be lower than 100 million guan per month.

And everyone understands Li Wei's subtext that once this war breaks out, the last bit of Tang Central's wealth may be completely wiped out.

If it is said that the victory can be achieved within a year and the Hebei San Francisco is defeated, then the investment of 500 million guan is still worthwhile.However, the outcome of a war cannot be predicted. Once it fails, or if an accident occurs, as in Dezong's time, and the war is delayed, it will be a financial nightmare.

Li Wei used Hubu Shangshu to add Tong Zhongshu's door to Pingzhang. Hubu Shangshu was already known as a prime minister, but now he is the real prime minister after adding Pingzhang.This prime minister, who has always been low-key and inconspicuous in the political affairs hall, is an old-fashioned person. Since the new emperor came to the throne, he has taken over the financial power for several years.He knew much more about Datang's family background than anyone else.

"We'd better pray to God Haotian, so that Gao Dutong in the southeast will immediately suppress the Huangchao grass thief rebellion. Because Huangchao is rampant in the southeast, this year the taxes of the entire southeastern states will be reduced by at least half. And next year will be at least The reduction is about [-] to [-]%. And if the grass thieves cannot be wiped out, and the grass thieves continue to cause harm to the southeast, then the consequences will be unimaginable. Next year, the imperial court may not be able to collect a penny from the southeast. Today, the court’s finances basically rely on donations from the southeast. As well as the salt and tea tax, as well as the offerings from Dengzhou, plus the donations from the towns. In particular, Chang’an City, with a population of one million, almost all depends on grain transported from the southeast. Hebei rebelled, and the imperial court had to prevent the rebels from going south to Henan Cut off the canal. Once the canal is cut off, there will be no food for millions of mouths in Guanzhong.”

As the secretary of the household department, Li Wei has already sensitively discovered an extremely dangerous fact.

That is, at present, in the northeast of the imperial court, there are four towns in Hebei claiming to be kings and rebelling, and in the southeast, grass bandits are rampant.These two rebellions not only caused the court to use troops on both sides, but also increased military expenditures.Moreover, the canal is also under great threat, and the canal, the life artery of Guanzhong Chang'an, is also under the threat of these two rebels.If the canal is cut off, there will be a greater crisis in Guanzhong.

As the Minister of the Household Department and the Prime Minister of the Political Affairs Hall, Li Wei opposed the imperial court's large-scale mobilization of soldiers and horses from the towns of Hedong, Henan, and Shannan to Hebei to suppress the rebellion at this time.Because of the mobilization of soldiers and horses from so many towns, the military needs to be supported by the imperial court.And there is a great hidden danger here, one is that Zhuzhen will be defeated by the Hebei army.If there are a few articles by Zhu Zhenbing, there will be no obstruction between Chang'an and the rebels.

Or, soldiers from Shannan and Henan went to Hebei to suppress the rebellion, which would open the door to Guanzhong from the southeast, and make grass bandits turn around and come straight to Chang'an and Luoyang.

Li Wei had faintly realized that instead of trying to mobilize soldiers from the east, the south, and the south of the mountain, it would be better to mobilize Li Jing's soldiers, or directly mobilize the Hu soldiers outside the Great Wall.

Back then, the imperial court regained Chang'an only by borrowing soldiers from Huihe.

In Li Wei's view, it is still beneficial to the court to transfer these Hu soldiers to fight against the rebels.Hu Bingsheng is naturally the best.If Hu Bing is defeated, at least it can consume the strength of the rebel army.

Of course, the most suitable solution in Li Wei's mind is to immediately transfer the town [***] to Hebei to suppress the rebellion.

Or, to be on the safe side, follow the example of Emperor Dezong, and you can issue an edict that you have committed a crime, and issue an amnesty order to the Hebei feudal vassals, and at the same time, you can issue a security order to Huangchao in the southeast.

It is safest to pardon these traitors and traitors first, and then find a way to defeat them one by one, so as to avoid direct war.

However, all the princes, including the young emperor, are absolutely unwilling to bow their heads at this time.For them, when Emperor Dezong was in the past, it was an extremely dangerous time, and there was no way to do it cheaply.And they are not at a disadvantage right now, it is absolutely impossible for them to bow their heads and give in.

Do you want the Son of Heaven to issue an imperial edict to punish those rebellious officials and thieves?

How can this be?Even if it is a war between the north and the south, but the imperial court has millions of soldiers in its hands, how can it be afraid of a few rebellious officials and thieves?

Li Wei proposed this suggestion a long time ago, but Li Xuan rejected it without hesitation.Li Xuan, who wanted to be Taizong's successor, was absolutely unwilling to accept such a humiliating proposal.

Facing these traitors, Li Xuan's attitude was tough.Whoever dares to rebel will be destroyed!

Neither Dezong nor Xianzong completely wiped out the feudal vassals in Hebei. The failure and humiliation of the ancestors must be washed away with victory.

"You don't need to say too much, even if you sell everything, I will destroy the four towns in Hebei!" The emperor announced forcefully to the important officials in Yanying Hall. "The territory of the Great Tang Dynasty will never allow rebellious officials and thieves to separate themselves!"

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

In Yanying Hall, all the officials bowed down and loudly echoed the emperor's bold words.Although the vast majority of people like Tian Lingzi didn't take it seriously, at this time, no one objected.

Li Xuan's heart was a little clear, and he looked at the left and right privy envoys of the Privy Council.

The current Privy Council envoys have the title of prime minister above the prime minister. At the beginning of their establishment, their duty was only to serve as an intermediate relationship between the political affairs hall and the emperor.But now, the Privy Council controls the military power of the imperial court.It can be said to be on an equal footing with the Zhengshitang.

The Privy Council is in charge of military and state affairs, military defense, frontier preparations, military orders, secret orders of cashiers, and state governance.All the guards' squads, the recruitment of internal and external forbidden soldiers, examinations, relocation, garrison, rewards and punishments are all handled.

The privy envoy Yang Fugong came out, bowed slightly, and said in a thin voice: "Your Majesty, the upper and lower chambers of the Privy Council have discussed, and the result has been reached."

"What was the result?" Li Xuan asked.The Privy Council has great power, the left and right lieutenants directly control the troops, and the Privy Council holds the power of mobilization.

At present, the Ministry of War in the court does not have much actual power, and the important military decisions are made by the important officials of the Yanying Hall in peacetime.In addition, it is the Privy Council that really controls the power of soldiers and horses in the world.

As a privy envoy, Yang Fugong is full of contradictions in his heart regarding the current counter-insurgency issue.Yang Fugong served as the supervising army of the outer town in his early years, so he is no stranger to the military.On the one hand, his judgment on the current rebellion in the north and south is much worse than that of many people in the court.Like Li Wei, he did not believe that the court could put down the rebellion within a year.Not to mention that the four towns in Hebei have always been strong, but just talking about the grass thief Huangchao, which has been pacified for four or five years, and it has not been pacified until now. put down.What's more, it is the Hebei feudal town that has been separated for so many years.

On the other hand, regarding this war, he hopes to take this opportunity to strengthen his power.

Tian Lingzi has Shence Army inside and Gao Pian outside.

Zhang Tai made friends with Li Jing.

Although Ximen Sigong was hit hard, there is still a lot of power in the Youshence army.

On the contrary, it is his Yang family, who has almost no influence in the Shence army now, only his brother Yang Fuguang is out to serve as the prisoner of the robbers.

Under such circumstances, Yang Fugong proposed a plan on behalf of the Privy Council, which was to support Li Wei's strategy of transferring Hu soldiers into Hebei to counter the rebellion.

"Your Majesty, the ministers and the Privy Council believe that the imperial court does not need to mobilize the towns, and more soldiers are not conducive to unified command. Therefore, the plan of the ministers and the Privy Council is that the soldiers need to be fine rather than large. First, Li Jing will be transferred to lead the town [** *]Enter the pass to fight the rebellion, and use it as the main force to suppress the rebellion. At the same time, use Zheng Congyu's Hedong Army and the Wufan cavalry to cooperate with Li Jing's attack. In the south, Cui Anqian and Zhang Zimian gather Henan soldiers and horses to garrison Luoyang, and then deploy Shannan Dongdao, Xidao, and Jingnan Townships guarded the main roads of Wuguan to prevent grass thieves from advancing westward. In addition, the minister also asked His Majesty to enlist the Shatuo Li Guochang in the Gaoping Army to lead the Shatuo Army to the north to participate in the war, and issued an order to pardon Li The crime of restraint made him lead Shatuo soldiers into Hebei to quell the chaos."

"Shatuo people, Li Guochang and his son?" Li Xuan frowned slightly when he heard the name.

"I heard that after Li Keyong went far beyond the Great Wall, he realized his wrong behavior at the beginning. He often felt guilty and wanted to seek opportunities to atone for his sins. Now Li Keyong has more than ten thousand troops in the north of Yinshan Mountain. Your Majesty can pardon him. The Shatuo army is powerful, and if you use it, you will be able to make great achievements. In addition, there are Tatar, Xi, Huihe and other tribes outside the Great Wall, all of whom are wholeheartedly attached to our Tang Dynasty. Your Majesty can also I issued an edict to recruit all the ministries to enter the pass to suppress the rebellion. As long as your Majesty agrees to receive financial rewards from Hebei, you can get tens of thousands of powerful troops without spending any food or grass from the court."

The two brothers Yang Fugong and Yang Fuguang both had old friends with Li and his son. These days, Li Guochang sent envoys to see Yang Fuguang, asking for their brothers' help, asking the emperor to pardon Li Keyong's crimes, and to invite Shatuo to enter the customs.Of course, Li Guochang promised that Shatuo people would be willing to be used by Yang in the future.Yang Fugong, who just wanted to have his own army, agreed without much thought. (To be continued.)