Zheng Lang explained: "Your Majesty, are we ready to renew the war with Western Xia? ”

"Not now, last year's disaster made the treasury thin."

"Your Majesty, the treasury should have more money," Zheng Lang took the opportunity to persuade. Zhao Zhen is very similar to Zhao Kuangyi in terms of money, seeing that his brother will save a lot of money in the treasury, he is very puzzled, these money is saved is dead money, why not take it out to benefit the people, use it for the army, and reward the bureaucrats?

Zhao Zhen is almost the same, his hand is relatively large, this big hand is not for himself, part of it is used on the people, this is undeniable, otherwise it would not be after his death, the people of the whole country are crying. This cry came from the bottom of my heart, not to brainwash the people, so that they didn't know the truth and cried indiscriminately. There is a world of difference between the crying of the two. Among the Chinese rulers of ancient and modern times, only Zhao Zhen did it alone.

But most of the money was spent indiscriminately, rewarded indiscriminately, and the treasury was never filled in his hands from beginning to end. It's a bad habit. We can't follow Yang Guang's harshness on the people to collect money, and collect Luoyang to store grain that can be eaten by the people of the world for 60 years, but many people across the country have starved to death. But we can't be so unnecessarily lavish.

Zhao Zhen's face flushed.

Zheng Lang said again: "It's because of the treasury, if the treasury is full, even if there are 30 million reserves, if such a thing happens, it can be used, and it may not wipe out the Western Xia, but at least with the signboard of this prince, the Western Xia people can be beaten back to their original shape." ”

"......"

"Yes, I don't have much money to save, so I can't take in this prince. Your Majesty, think about it, if you take him in, and you don't want to fight Xixia, this is also where the name of Xixia lies. If you don't hide it, you will send someone to me to beg this person to be killed. If you send it, what is the difference between it and when I sent it to Yuan Hao? ”

At that time, Zhao Zhen listened to Guo's persuasion and nonsense, and Zheng Lang reminded him again and again afterwards. I regret it, but I can't regret it. If Ning Lingge is brought back to the Song Dynasty and sent back, it is not much better than Guo Quan's approach. Zhao Zhen's forehead. People can make mistakes once. Can you make two more mistakes?

Zheng Lang said again: "But he is different from Shanyu Weiliang, if he asks for it, I will not give it, and I will not hide it to prevent the hearts of the people of Xixia from shaking, and the army will come to attack." Your Majesty, are you ready for war? ”

"How's that good?" Zhao Zhen asked in a daze, can't he really let him stay in that basement for the rest of his life.

"I don't have to take it. But it is possible to escort him to the Khitan. ”

"It's not proper, in case the Khitan uses this person as a righteous person to wipe out Western Xia, it's even worse."

The battle between the Khitan and Western Xia may not have been very popular with the Song Dynasty. Two tigers fight, two injuries are the best, one death and one injury are not good. It is definitely not the Khitan who died, then it must be the Western Xia. The best outcome is that the Khitan can get into a quagmire. Just like the Song Dynasty did with Li Jiqian, it finally had to withdraw from Western Xia. The Khitan will suffer a lot of damage as a result. But the bad result was that the Khitan took the entire Western Xia. The Song Dynasty was forced hard, and the border line with the Khitan was not west to Fuzhou. Instead, it is west to Huizhou, and the entire territory line is 4,000 miles long, how to prevent it?

And once the Khitan digested the Western Xia, it became more powerful and would inevitably invade the Song Dynasty.

So the best outcome is a lose-lose situation.

The same is true for the practice of not hiding the false Pang, he has not read Zheng Lang's moderation, nor does he know Zheng Lang's law, but the truth is similar.

Brother Ning Ling stabbed Yuan Hao, under normal circumstances, even if Yuan Hao had emptied his body for wine in the past year. But after years of actual combat on the battlefield, most of Ning Lingge's three times were divided by five, and he was taken down by Yuan Hao, and under Yuan Hao's questioning, Ning Lingge would confess if he didn't hide. This result must not be hidden and unwanted. He couldn't let Brother Ning Lingge stab Yuan Hao to death with a sword, although he also took such precautions. In case Brother Ning Ling stabbed Yuan Hao to death soon. There was a marriage contract with the Wuyi clan, and the two joined forces to control the harem, and then control the guards leaving the palace, and the overall situation has been decided, and they ascended to the throne. To help yourself or not to help, as soon as you help, because you know the truth, Brother Ning Ling will definitely kill people. If you don't help, will you rebel yourself? …,

can only pour Yuan Hao's wine, vigorously advocate merit, and lead the minister to toast, drink too much, Yuan Hao's force value drops, and he can't get drunk, so let Ning Lingge kill with a sword. Half-drunk and half-awake, Brother Ning Ling burst into trouble, caught off guard, and Yuan Hao was bound to be injured. If you want to kill Yuan Hao, you can't do it with Brother Ning Ling, a teenager. There was only one result, Brother Ning Ling escaped from the palace and found a way for himself. He led people to come and sent his cronies to escort Ning Lingge to his home.

It is this degree that makes Zheng Lang take advantage of it calmly.

The intermediate reason, Zheng Lang explained it to Zhao Zhen at the end of last year. Rational analysis can't make Zhao Zhen feel strange about himself, that's not magical, even if Zhao Zhen is suspicious of himself, the result is very bad. Therefore, Zheng Lang still dissected and said: "Your Majesty, can you remember the memora written by Ouyang Xiu in Hebei in the fifth year of Qingli? ”

"What's the twist?"

At that time, Ouyang Xiucai was not long out of the court, and he was not conscious, so he continued to play the same as before, and wrote many twists and turns, and Zhao Zhen couldn't remember it for a while.

"It's about the Khitan not enough to be afraid."

Ouyang Xiu Zheng Lang became more and more disgusted, he was deceived by all kinds of things in his previous life, thinking that Ouyang Xiu was still good, but when he actually entered it, he knew that this was not the case. Ouyang Xiu picked up the ashes, ten is true, it doesn't matter, romance is the sign of scholars in this era, but it is just that he went to the wrong person and flowed where he shouldn't.

Guan Jian is Ouyang Xiu who doesn't know the general situation, and he is strict with discipline and lenient with himself. If you score the villain Lu Yijian on the moral exercise, he can only score fifty points, while Ouyang Xiu can only score forty points. It doesn't matter if you are a villain, as long as you have the ability and use it properly, you are also a talent. However, Ouyang Xiu hypocritically regarded himself as a gentleman, but later generations forcibly defended him, which led to Zheng Lang's dissatisfaction. and the legacy of partisanship.

But Zheng Lang looks at the problem very fairly, Ouyang Xiu's literature is impeccable, and the local officials can live so-so, as long as they don't enter the court. For example, he is in Chuzhou, and he is not as good as later generations have identified, but it is okay, otherwise he would not have used a "Drunkard Pavilion" to put gold on his face.

And in Hebei, when the battle of Hequ had not begun, both countries sent some scouts to each other, and important information could not be inquired, and some of the approximate news could still be heard. The Jiashan tribes rebelled, the Khitan was defeated repeatedly, and it was no longer the original country of war, in this case, they had to strengthen the looting of the rich Han people in front of the mountain, which led to the resentment of the Han people in front of the mountain. After Ouyang Xiu heard these news. played a game, saying that the Khitan is not as good as before, and it is no longer enough to worry.

Zhao Zhen thought for a while and said, "Ouyang Xiu wrote such a melodrama. ”

Although Ouyang Xiu saw part of the truth. The Khitan is in the game, but he doesn't know it, and he still considers himself the most powerful country. Even if the river meanders are defeated, the Khitans also believe that they are defeated by wind and sand. The wind and sand are partial, and the decline of the Khitan army is the main reason, otherwise how could there be a situation of defeat like a mountain? Even if I am in the court, Ren Fu was in the battle of Haoshuichuan. They fought to the last man, but none of them surrendered, and all of them died heroically. This forced Yuan Hao to withdraw from Jingyuan. ”

"Yes, Ren Fu sacrificed heroically." Zhao Zhen sighed.

"However, the Khitan doesn't know that as soon as Yuan Hao dies, they will think that they will take advantage of the opportunity, and get the righteousness of the prince of Western Xia, will they send to attack Western Xia again?"

"Inevitably."

"It's inevitable. And Western Xia is not so easy to fight. The border between the Khitan and the Western Xia is mostly desert, and the soldiers of our dynasty are not used to it, and the Khitan soldiers are also not used to it. That's why I moved to destroy Li Ji. Although he got the prince of Western Xia. But that was an internal dispute in the Western Xia, and that was an external dispute in the treatment of the Khitan, and the chieftains of the Western Xia tribes would join forces again in order to deal with the Khitan crisis. The Khitan, on the other hand, because of the righteousness of the prince of the Western Xia, could not defeat the Western Xia people, let alone give up, and the fierce war between the two countries would go on for a long time. ”…,

It didn't take long for the Khitan to fight with the Western Xia again, although the father and daughter of the Wuyi clan and dozens of nobles were taken away from the palace of the Western Xia, but several battles were lost. In the end, I had to acquiesce to the existence of Western Xia. But Liao Xingzong actually resented the Western Xia people in his heart. Including the Wuzang clan asking the Khitan for his son, he was not allowed, and in turn his daughter was ready to marry Dong Zheng, the son of the Woo Guy, with the intention of using the two breads of Tubo to copy Western Xia. But it didn't work out.

There is no need to say this, and he continued: "I will continue to sit and watch. This time, if it is because of Brother Ning Ling, it will be unfavorable if there is no hidden war. If it endangers Western Xia, there will even be a danger of losing the country. Our dynasty can deliberately relax the private salt channel, change the direction to support the Western Xia, and not give the Khitan an excuse. Get this breath of vitality, Western Xia will fight hard with the Khitan. After several years of holding each other, both countries were injured. I am resting and recuperating, waiting for the opportunity to settle the situation. Moreover, after a long war, the Khitan state was weakened, and even if our dynasty destroyed the Western Xia, they could only be helpless. ”

That is, this Ning Lingge is not a strange product, but a harmful hot potato, whoever follows is unlucky.

Zhao Zhen meditated for a long time and said, "This is a clever plan. ”

"It's not a clever plan, it's also a good guide."

"But how can Brother Ning Ling escape from Western Xia?"

"Your Majesty, do you remember what the minister asked these spies to be good at? Camouflage, not now, the inventory is strict, and no matter how disguised it is, it can't be revealed. The top priority at the moment is to let Wei Tie persuade Ning Lingge to defect to the Khitan, first write a letter to the Khitan Emperor, and let the secret agent pretend to be Ning Lingge's cronies, and go to the Khitan with Ning Lingge's own letter. The Khitan emperor was overjoyed when he saw the letter, thinking that it was a strange thing to live in. Then let the Khitan send people to cooperate, and then Wei Tie gave Ning Lingge some disguise. It is not very convenient to come to my court, but the place where I live is very close to Helan Mountain, and it is a desert area over Helan Mountain. If the Khitan sent troops to respond, it would take months to come and go, and the inventory would gradually loosen, and it would be easy to flee to the Khitan. During this period of time, there will be serious chaos in Western Xia, and if the Khitan gets Ning Lingge, they will inevitably send troops. Once again, it has become a situation where two tigers are competing and both are defeated. This is the art of war. ”

"Wonderful, Qing should be worth 100,000 soldiers."

"Your Majesty, the minister doesn't dare to accept it. In fact, these are all conspiracy techniques, and it is best to be yang conspiracy. ”

"What's the difference?"

"The strength of our dynasty is not strong, if it is like the Han and Tang Dynasties, why do you need these conspiracies and tricks, directly use powerful force to destroy them, without conspiracy and trickery, Hetao and Yinchuan can also be recovered, and the sixteen states of Youyun can also be recovered, even if the Khitan is beaten back to its original form, what's wrong? Where is it used, like now, more than 500,000 soldiers of all colors are distributed on both sides, and if you add strong archers, there are millions, and the cost is amazing. ”

Not to mention the expansion of the territory, even if you don't open up the territory, how much does it cost a year to deploy on both sides of such a defense?

Zhao Zhen sighed.

Zheng Lang said again: "The minister still has a play." ”

"Come on."

"With Brother Ning Ling, our dynasty may not take back Yinchuan, but the border can be peaceful for a long time. However, we cannot afford not to be armed. The minister thought that the first priority in preparing for military force was to train the army, including training Baoding and Xiang soldiers, so as to prepare a strong reserve army. ”

"Exactly." Zhao Zhen replied without hesitation. This big competition also made him see that the strength of some Baoding is no less than that of the regular forbidden soldiers, and there are many Baoding martial arts and archery skills, which are not inferior to those Fanzi.

In fact, the Song Dynasty has always been very "prepared", a huge army. Generous military salaries, martial arts, martial arts, and new weapons that are changing with each passing day......

Zheng Lang said. I didn't take it seriously, what kind of martial arts should I prepare, it was purely fun, this was to pave the way for what I was going to say next, and said: "In addition, please pay a little attention to some outstanding famous generals and protect them, so that there is no shortage of excellent generals in the upper echelons of the army." ”

"Exactly." Zhao Zhen still agreed. But he agrees that it doesn't count, and Di Qing is a good example. …,

"Again, please ask Your Majesty to recruit some outstanding native soldiers, Fan soldiers, box soldiers, Baoding, Zhuangding, and archers from this big competition into the regular forbidden army, increase the combat effectiveness of the forbidden army, and enrich some truly useful grassroots generals."

"Accurately, Zheng Qing, if you don't say it, I also have this intention."

"Your Majesty, there are not many soldiers, but the fine. Now the number of forbidden troops is slightly lower than at the beginning of the war, but Liaoxia is at odds with each other, and the border is peaceful. Disasters have continued, and the economy has not accumulated a surplus in order to prepare for a famine year, and then looking at the combat effectiveness of the army, after some elimination, some soldiers have gone through actual combat, and the number of cavalry is far better than before, and the actual combat effectiveness has not decreased but has risen. ”

"But Beizhou ......" Zhao Zhen knew what Zheng Lang was going to say, saying that the combat effectiveness had risen, why hadn't a Beizhou put down the rebellion so far?

"Your Majesty. Beizhou is the incompetence of the Jia Chang Dynasty, Xia Zhu in the court and some restraints on Ming Hao, in fact, it is just a small matter, and then look at it, if it is not after half a month, the minister will go in person. It is guaranteed that within 10 days, all the anti-thieves in Beizhou will be eliminated. Your Majesty should not worry about this, but should focus on the future. A large number of troops does not necessarily lead to victory, and although the number of overage veterans in the army is reduced, there are many weak soldiers, and these soldiers will seriously affect the combat effectiveness. Therefore, the minister thought that the national forbidden army and the box army carried out an overall competition, assessing the soldiers' weight, running, and formation, and then the archers assessed the bow and crossbow, the spearmen assessed the gun skills, and the cavalry assessed the riding skills. However, in order to prevent some soldiers from wanting to be soldiers, they deliberately disguised themselves as weak soldiers, and only evaluated them by edict, but did not reduce them by edict, so as not to seriously reduce the number of troops. ”

This is a pretext, if the imperial court has such a move, it is impossible to hide it. But since they don't want to be soldiers, some soldiers deliberately become weak soldiers in order not to be soldiers, and those who are excessively will hurt themselves and become disabled, what is the role of these soldiers on the battlefield?

Once passed, the forbidden army may be reduced to 600,000 soldiers, and the box soldiers may be reduced to 300,000, plus 40,000 soldiers and 50,000 native soldiers, the number of troops is slightly more than at the beginning of the Heavenly Sage, but this is also a figure that the country can afford.

First of all, the cost of buying horses has not decreased but increased, but the number of tea horses that bought people's hearts in the past is decreasing, and most of the purchased ones are used to cultivate land, increase grain and taxes, and bring benefits to the people far more than the increased costs.

The number of cavalry increased, but the cost of the soldiers and the native soldiers was not as good as that of the forbidden army, and the cost of the soldiers was only equivalent to that of the ordinary van army, and the cost of the native soldiers was less than half of the van soldiers, which completely offset the increase in the cost of the cavalry. The cost of 990,000 soldiers is the same as the original 990,000 soldiers.

If there had been no war, the cost of raising troops and the loss of weapons would have been about a little more than 60 million yuan, and the cost would have dropped from 70 percent of the original state income to 55,000. Undoubtedly, the state fiscal expenditure will be reduced by a large burden.

"You're also a good guide? deliberately borrowed Yuan Hao's death, and you succeeded in killing two birds with one stone, so you threw out this advice? ”

Zheng Lang just laughed, couldn't hide it, and acquiesced with a smile.

"You are bent on solving the three redundancies you said, even if you cut troops to solve the redundant troops, how can redundant officials solve it?"

"Your Majesty, disarmament, reducing the number of troops is only a solution to the problem of partial redundancy, redundant troops include all kinds, far more than the number of troops. As for redundant officials, when it comes to officials, Shinong, industry and commerce, everyone is proud of seeking officials, and it is the most difficult to solve, and the ministers dare not move it. Zheng Lang said. Not only did he not dare to move, but Wang Anshi did not dare to make any big moves in personnel after seeing the end of Qingli's new policy. But not without a method, there were two reformers in the Song Dynasty, one was Wang Anshi, and the other was a person, and many descendants were negligent, Song Xiaozong. And his reform is far more successful than Wang Anshi's, very close to Zheng Lang's approach. However, Song Gaozong Chan let the queen live for too long, constrained him, the Northern Expedition failed, it was difficult to return, there were many resistances, countless brain cells died in 20 years, solving a problem, but more problems were generated, and finally the interest was sluggish, so that the results of the reform did not hold, only the Southern Song Dynasty stopped the downward trend, did not make the Southern Song Dynasty rise, and the later generation was not as good as the generation, accelerating the pace of the fall of the Song Dynasty. Otherwise, even the Yuan and Mongolia may not be able to conquer the Southern Song Dynasty. Therefore, not only the success or failure of Wang Anshi can be used for reference, but also the reform of Song Xiaozong, especially for redundant officials. But when it comes to personnel, it will be very, very troublesome, and if there is no support from the emperor, no matter how great the skill is, it will fail. It's better not to mention it. …,

"Let me think again."

"Whoa." Zheng Lang smiled slightly, Zhao Zhen said this, and was already planning to make concessions. began to discuss the arrangement of Brother Ning Ling.

But a new situation arose on the Western Xia side.

After Yuan Hao's death, in order to appease people's hearts, there were no hidden brothers and sisters who did not persecute the father and daughter, but Zheng Lang guessed that the two were just making appearances, so later the Khitan invaded, but they continued to put the father and daughter in the palace, which led to the Khitan people taking away the father and daughter who did not move, including dozens of nobles, also because of this.

But this time things changed.

Brother Ning Ling's whereabouts are unknown, and what happened made the Wuzang brothers and sisters unable to understand, so they were suspicious of their cronies, thinking that it was a certain cronie who knew the situation, and made arrangements to prepare to use Brother Ning Ling against him. But where is this thing. In the end, he suspected that the father and daughter did not move, the reason was that he did not hide Pang and took Ning Lingge into the palace that day, and deliberately let Ning Lingge meet with the Wuyi family. If you are smart enough, you will have some ideas after hearing about it, so you will arrange a back hand.

And Brother Ning Ling's mind on the Wuqian clan, once Brother Ning Lingge gains power, and has the merit of assistance, he will be a very popular minister in the mountains without moving, replacing the position of Wuzang Pang. After generating this idea, he deliberately tried it several times.

Wuyishan is not a fool, just once, twice or three times, Wuyishan was scared, found Wuyi, whispered the situation to her, and said: "Mayi, our father and daughter may be more auspicious." ”

He asked in fear, "What then?" ”

Although the new emperor ascended the throne in the past few days, he did not hide and kill many ministers and nobles who opposed him, and she also heard about it in the palace, if she did not hide it to do it to them, not only their father and daughter, but also most of their relatives in the family would also be killed.

He paced around and said, "If you want to keep the lives of our father and daughter, as well as the safety of our clansmen, there is only one way to go. ”

"Which way?"

"Defect to the Song Dynasty." It is easy to defect to the Song Dynasty without emigrating, not far from Xiaoguan, only a few dozen miles away, once you are ready, you can quickly run to the Song Dynasty.

Wu Yi was stunned when he heard it: "Song Dynasty? ”

"Mayi, my father is worried that the Song Dynasty will not take it in. At the beginning, Shan Yu Weiliang defected to the Song Dynasty and was repatriated by the Song people. After the little minister caught Li Ningming, he took the initiative to release him. If the Song Dynasty doesn't take it in, you and my father and daughter are all in danger. ”

It doesn't matter if it's just the problem of not moving, but the Wuyi clan is the queen of Western Xia, and once she defects, it will indeed give the Song Dynasty a big problem. But I didn't move the mountain and wanted to live, so I discussed with the Wuyi clan for a long time, and I didn't care about it for now, it happened to be Zhang Qi who was guarding the Huaide army, so I wrote a letter first and asked Zhang Qi to transfer it to Zheng Lang. Others didn't believe it, so they could only ask Zheng Lang to see if this clever little prime minister could show compassion. Brother Ning Ling is a hot potato, but it is easy to throw, so he throws it directly to the Khitan. But what is Zheng Lang's way to throw the non-migrants who are close to the reward to the Khitan? This time it really became a hot potato. rq