Zhao Ziliang pointed to a huge map on the wall and said: "Look at the map, for the Tang Dynasty and Western Qin, only the Western countries can be called enemies now, and the big food countries in North Africa are still resisting stubbornly, although the Eastern Roman Empire has been fighting continuously in these years, but Irina, the queen mother, has won the support of many elders, especially the support of the church and the aristocracy, after several years of struggle, basically gained control of the Eastern Roman Empire, and even the emperor's uncle was subdued by her." She doesn't have the strength to deal with my Western Qin now, but she will definitely take the Bolgar Khanate first, and the Frankish kingdom further west is getting stronger and stronger under the rule of Charman, and the Saracsen people in the north are retreating one after another, and even the Avars in the west of the Bolgar Khanate have been beaten by Charman to make peace, and half of the territory has been eaten away! ”

"Although my father abdicated and let your eldest brother sit on the throne, I can never let go, and it is my father's lifelong wish to conquer the Western countries! These prisoners will be trained for three years, they are the main forces to prepare for the father's expedition to the west, in addition, the father will also draw a soldier from the Tang Dynasty and the Western Qin to join, and gather 100,000 troops to conquer the western countries! ”

"There are no outsiders here, just our father and son, let's tell you the bottom, my father is already old, who should the world of the Tang Dynasty be handed over to in the future? It is obviously not possible to return the power to the emperor, and it is even more difficult to let the rest of the imperial family be the emperor, once he has been a father for a hundred years, who knows if the future emperor will settle accounts after the autumn, making the Tang Dynasty and Western Qin hostile? Datang and Xiqin have never been hostile, they must help each other and advance and retreat together, this is an iron law! ”

Zhao Ziliang paused for a moment and continued: "The position of the servant has been vacant for a long time, you go to be the servant of the door and the secretary of the ministry, and give you three years for your father, how much can you do, depending on your own ability, not to mention that your father didn't give you a chance, the opportunity was given to you by your father, if you can't grasp it, it means that you don't have this ability, you are not born to be the king's life, after your father leaves, if you can't control the situation, you should obediently return to Xiqin to be your happy prince!" ”

"Of course, being a father is hoping that you have the ability to control the situation, being a father is a minister of the Tang Dynasty, and he will be a minister of the Tang Dynasty for life, and he can only be a courtier of the Tang Dynasty, but you are not! Being a father is limited to fame and the oath of the year cannot be called emperor, you are not subject to these restrictions! ”

Zhao Ting listened quietly, but he couldn't help but be inexplicably excited in his heart, but he heard his father continue: "Father hopes that you can promise to do something for your father!" ”

Zhao Ting immediately said: "Father, please command!" ”

Zhao Ziliang sighed: "The Tang Empire has created the most glorious civilization in the world and the prosperous situation of all nations, which is a great feat that no dynasty in history has ever had, even if you are in power in the future and want to replace the emperor, I hope that the name of the Tang Empire can be retained, and the dynasty can be replaced, but the name of the country cannot be changed, just like the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire in the West, although it has experienced many dynasties, the name of the country has not changed for thousands of years, and I want the subjects of the world to unite as one, have a sense of glory and belonging, It's a good idea to keep the land under the rule of an empire! ”

Zhao Ting said: "Erchen understands! ”

Zhao Ziliang pointed to the map again and asked, "Do you see the Wa Kingdom in the east and the Bohai Kingdom in the northeast?" Although the Bohai Kingdom surrendered, it has always thought that it lives in a bitter cold land, and I Datang can't do anything about them, and I am not very deferent to my Datang; There is also the Wa kingdom on the sea in the east, the Wa people are good at forbearance, but they are brutal and murderous, and they submit to the strong, when the enemy is strong, they will endure, and when the enemy becomes weak, they will turn against the master! Last year, my father sent them to the Tang Dynasty and told their emperor that the title of emperor would be abolished and replaced with the title of king of the Wa Kingdom, but until now they still use the title of emperor! The father could have raised an army to destroy the Bohai Kingdom and the Wa Kingdom a long time ago, but the father did not do this, this opportunity is left to you, the founding king of a dynasty needs to destroy the country to stabilize the throne! ”

Zhao Ting lifted the hem of his robe and knelt down and kowtowed respectfully, "My son obeys my father's orders!" ”

"Get up, sit down!"

Zhao Ting got up and sat down carefully opposite Zhao Ziliang, looking like he was being taught.

Zhao Ziliang took a sip of tea and asked, "When did the decline of a dynasty begin, do you know?" ”

Zhao Ting thought for a while and replied: "It should start with the rule of officials, the corruption of officialdom is like the bones of the dynasty beginning to decay, starting from a very small number of officials, until the vast majority or even all the officials of the dynasty begin to seek personal gain, and the bones decay everywhere, and this dynasty will fall."

Zhao Ziliang said: "You are only right about one thing, the decline and fall of a dynasty is caused by many reasons, first of all, internal factors, secondly, external factors, and natural disasters. In general, there are nothing more than four reasons, first, political reasons; second, economic reasons; third, military reasons; Fourth, natural disasters! ”

"Let's talk about political reasons first, there are two parts: internal and external, the domestic political situation and the relationship with foreign peoples. If the internal political situation of the dynasty is stable and politically clear, even if the relationship with foreign races is bad and it is often at war with foreign races, with the vastness of our Tang Dynasty, the richness of its products, and the advanced civilization, foreign races are not our opponents, and the key is to see how to transform the comprehensive national strength of the dynasty into war potential! We have infinite war potential and vast strategic depth, even if the enemy's momentum is fierce, we can choose to retreat strategically, use the vast strategic depth to stretch the enemy's logistical supply line, make them lose their combat advantage, and then wait for an opportunity to counterattack! ”

"If the internal political situation is unstable, the politics are not clear, there is even a situation of division, and worse, there is a foreign invasion from outside, if you are the ruler, what do you think is the right thing to do?"

Zhao Ting knew that his father would ask this, and the answer to this question would definitely not be very simple, he thought for a while and said: "It depends on the specific situation, if the foreign race does not have the absolute strength to destroy our dynasty, I can first stabilize the foreign enemy with small profits, and then solve the internal trouble with thunder means; If the foreign clan is strong and constrained internally, the imperial court cannot resist the foreign invasion, so it can only compromise with the internal opponents and persuade the opponents to temporarily abandon their prejudices and unite to deal with the foreign enemies! ”

Zhao Ziliang nodded, "The answer is good, this decision is feasible, but to achieve the goal, it depends on the specific implementation, and it depends on how you use people." Whether the people you send can make the external enemy compromise and retreat, and whether the internal feudal towns can abandon their previous grievances and work with you to deal with the external enemy, this is the first; Second, no matter what means you use, you need your own strength to rely on when you finally solve the problem, you don't have your own strength, even if you have the wisdom of Zhuge is in vain, others don't reason with you, don't fight with you, play tricks, and directly send troops to kill you openly, you still have to rely on your own strength to confront the enemy. Zhuge Liang is as wise as a demon, but Cao Cao's hundreds of thousands of troops pressed over, he also has to run, if Liu Bei is strong, why does he have to run? When will you be able to be reasonable? It is reasonable when someone administers justice, and there are contradictions and disputes between the people in the market, and there are chiefs and pavilion chiefs who preside over justice, and there are officials who preside over justice; There are contradictions and disputes between the servants and maids of the family, and the head of the family presides over justice; There are contradictions and disputes between officials and ministers, and there are superiors and emperors who uphold justice, and only in these cases can they reason with each other, and there is no one to uphold justice between countries and between one force and another, and then you will be stupid to reason with him again, you reason with him, he will not reason with you, and in the end you have to talk with fists, knives and guns. In any case, always cultivating internal strength, expelling illness, and strengthening oneself is the king! ”

Zhao Ting had to be careful and serious, "Erchen is taught!" ”

"Let's talk about cultivating internal strength, how do you think we should cultivate internal strength?"

Zhao Ting thought for a while and said: "First of all, we must make internal stability and unity, let the politics be clear, the officials be honest, self-denial and dedication, and find a way to make the people rich, after the people are rich, the taxes of the imperial court can be increased, and the imperial court can recruit more troops and strengthen armaments when it is rich!" ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "The idea is right, but it lacks a systematic and correct understanding. A country's cultivation of internal strength is nothing more than three points, the first politics; Second, the economy, and third, the military! Politically, it is necessary to maintain a unified ideology, centralize power, eliminate opponents who are dragging their feet, and make government decrees smooth and efficient! ”

"Economically, agriculture should be encouraged, the interests of farmers should be protected, industry and commerce should be encouraged, and the economy will be active if commerce is prosperous; If you want to find a way to increase your production capacity, what is production capacity? In the past, one mu of land could only produce 400 catties of grain, but what if I could produce 600 or even 700 catties of grain per mu of land by cultivating improved seeds, intensive farming, rational fertilization, building water conservancy facilities and strengthening irrigation, etc.? This is the increase in production capacity. Another example is that a farmer can only plough two acres of land in a day, but if he uses an ox or a horse and ploughs the field with an iron plough, he can plough sixteen acres in a day, and his production capacity increases eightfold; For another example, a blacksmith master used to take a day to build a knife, but if he could forge three or more knives a day by transforming the forging process and technology and adding forging tools, would his production capacity increase? That's the production capacity! A businessman used to earn only 10 yuan a day, but if he can earn 50 yuan or more a day by changing his business strategy and adding production tools, this is also an increase in productivity. For a country, if the overall production capacity of the whole country is increased several times, what does it mean? It represents that the overall living standard of all the people has increased several times, which shows that the people are hundreds richer than before, and when the people are rich, the court will be rich! ”

"Let's talk about the military. Even if you are politically unified, the officials are honest, the government decrees are unimpeded, and the implementation is efficient; Even if your economy is prosperous and developed, your military strength is not in vain, just like you are a weak person holding hundreds of taels of gold along the street to make trouble, who will not be blushing when you see it, who will not have the idea of snatching your gold? ”