Li Jing was embarrassed for a while, he knew that what Wang Chong had just said was not just his opinion, in fact, he understood that this was the opinion of most of the brothers on the island about his acceptance of the Xiao family to the island.

As early as when he agreed to the Xiao family's entry into the island, he had already expected this. However, he didn't take the initiative to explain before, but now that Wang Chong finally mentioned the matter, he pondered for a while and said, "It's normal for Vice General Wang to have questions about this matter. But at this time, I also thought about it for a long time. I haven't explained it to you before, because I hope you can figure it out for yourself, but now that you have brought it up, then I will explain it to you. ”

He paused, and then said: "At present, you should understand the situation in my Tang Dynasty, the imperial court is basically controlled by the eunuchs, and the imperial court is now powerless to restrain the local feudal towns, and the only thing that can be controlled in his hands is about 150,000 Shence troops. However, the four important positions in charge of military power in the imperial court, the left and right privy council envoys, and the left and right lieutenants of the Shence Army, were all controlled by eunuchs, and the emperor was abolished by eunuchs, and even directly murdered the emperor. ”

"When my son was young today, I heard that the Son of Heaven had appointed the eunuch Xiaomafang Tian Lingzi as the Privy Councillor, the lieutenant of the Zuo Shence Army, and the general of the Zuo Jian Gate, and called him his father. As soon as the affairs of the court and the central government were decided by him, Ling Zi held the power, sold the official beard, pampered and tyrannical, and invaded the emperor. And the young Tianzi also had no intention of government affairs, he handed over all the important affairs of the court to Tian Lingzi, but he was unscrupulous in entertainment, like cockfighting, gambling on geese, riding and archery, sword lance, law calculation, music, and Go. ”

Li Jing sighed, "Looking at today, it has actually become the world of aristocratic families. The three towns of Hebei were self-reliant. The imperial court was powerless. There are many feudal towns in the Central Plains. It is called the three towns of Heshuo. But in fact, it has almost become a division now, although on the surface the Jiedu envoy is still appointed and dismissed by the imperial court, but in fact, the Central Plains Domain is a fierce soldier, and has long secretly colluded with the wealthy families in various places to control one side, and the vassal marshal has only become a figure with no real power. In various parts of the southeast, although there are also many envoys and observers, in fact, they are famous and have no soldiers, and the military is erosive. It has already become the most expensive tax supply place of the imperial court. Although the border towns in the northwest and southwest still obey the orders of the imperial court, in fact, they are only unable to supply their own soldiers and horses because of the bitter cold in the border areas, and they have to rely on the imperial court for logistics and salaries. ”

Wang Zhong didn't seem to understand when he heard it: "What did the general do when he talked about this?" Does it have anything to do with us? ”

"Yes, of course it's related, and it's a lot of relevance." Li Jing said solemnly, "If you carefully understand the situation today, you will find that the situation today is actually very delicate and dangerous. To put it bluntly, the world is now divided into two parts: the central court and the local feudal towns. The central court held the Shence Army, the last directly subordinate arm. It barely controls Kannai Province and Gyeonggi Province, and beyond that. It was completely controlled by the local feudal towns. ”

"The forty-eight towns in the world can be divided into four categories, which can be described as four categories: separation, prevention, control, and financial resources. Among them, the three towns of Hebei, Wei Bo, Chengde, and Lu Long are the old secession towns, when they descend and when they are judged, although the imperial court has been pacified in the Xianzong Dynasty, but now it has already resumed the secession situation again, and even Yiding, Ziqing, Huaixi, Cangjing Zhufang Towns have also been divided in the early years, Huaixi has been pacified and withdrawn, Ziqing Town has also been divided after pacification, and several other towns have also been pacified. ”

"In addition, the anti-containment type of feudal towns was mainly set up by the imperial court after the Anshi Rebellion to prevent the three towns of Hebei from going south. There are Xuanwu, Wuning, Zhongwu, Zelu, Heyang, Yicheng, Hedong, Shaanxi and other feudal towns, mostly in the Central Plains, in the early years the imperial court was unable to pacify the strong troops of the three towns of Hebei, all relying on the towns of the Central Plains to prevent and contain the three towns of Hebei, and have maintained the stability of the Central Plains. But now, the towns of the Central Plains have already deteriorated, and on the surface they obey the orders of the imperial court, but in fact they are all a group of fierce soldiers, colluding with local wealthy families, and there is not much difference from the three towns of Hebei. ”

"And the royal border towns, concentrated in the southwest and northwest frontiers, they completely rely on the imperial court for supplies, and they also have to withstand the pressure of invasion by foreign tribes in the border areas, which has long become a bottomless pit."

"Only the source of money type of Fangzhen, concentrated in the southeast region, there are eight provinces such as eastern Zhejiang, western Zhejiang, Huainan, Fujian, Jiangxi, etc., they are rich in wealth, and they are obedient to the central court, and now the taxes of the imperial court almost all depend on the southeast towns. It is a pity that they are outnumbered and their armaments are erosive. ”

"The power of the feudal town is getting bigger and bigger, and there are human rights in use, and the officials of the shogunate of the feudal town can set up their own office. Have financial rights, you can keep your own military funds, and you can use them freely. There is also the power of supervision, which has considerable power over the appointment and dismissal of state and county officials. It can be said that the feudal town is a small imperial court, especially the three towns of Hebei and the towns of the Central Plains. But if you look closely at these feudal towns, you will find that there are almost two status quos in today's feudal towns, one is that the generals of each town are in charge of the commanders and actually control the power of Fang Town. The second is that the marshals control Fangzhen's soldiers and horses, but they are frequently transferred. Therefore, no matter what the situation is, in fact, there is a shadow behind them, that is, the nobility of the family. ”

"Most of the tooth generals in the control town are local powerful families, such as our tooth general Wang Jinwu in Ziqing Town, and the Wang family is the fourth largest family in Ziqing. In addition, those who served as the marshals were basically the leaders of various families, such as Song Wei, who had been holding a high position in the Shence Army in his early years, and he was born in the Song family in Chang'an. In short, whether it is the real marshals or those tooth generals who control the actual power of Fang Town, you will find that more than half of them are actually from those wealthy families. ”

"Many of the emperor's wills have long been out of Gyeonggi Guanzhong, and the place is almost in the hands of local families. The Xiao family, known as the first scholar clan in the south of the Yangtze River, can be said to be very influential and capable. You say, if I wasn't a protégé of Duke Cui and Duke Yu, and I was friendly with King Zhao, would Song Wen know that I was a pawn? Will he give me the position of Shamen General? ”

Wang Zhong shook his head: "No! ”

"Yes, if I didn't have those backgrounds, no matter how capable I was, I wouldn't have been able to sit in this position in a short period of time." Li Jing sighed, "Then you say it, if I have a mark of Song Jieshuai's subordinates on my body now, do you say that Wang Jin and Feng Zhang will let us go so easily last time, instead of directly erasing us?" ”

Wang Chong shook his head again. "Probably not. The more powerful people are, the less likely they are to be blackmailed. Anyone who dares to do this to them will end up in a dead end, unless that person is in a higher position than their power. Last time, we blackmailed Feng Zhang and Wang Jin, and they must have hated us in their hearts, but they were afraid of our relationship with Song Jieshuai, Cui Sima, King Zhao, etc., and they were just jealous. ”

"That's right! We are just a pawn ourselves, but we have a backer behind us. Even powerful people like Feng Zhangwang Jin have to take care of us. So, this is called borrowing. The same is true for the Xiao family, we can't put all our eggs in one basket, otherwise what will happen to us if one day our backers want to abandon the pawn and protect the car? ”

"What do you mean?" Wang Zhong was still puzzled.

"What I mean is that before we don't have enough self-preservation, we might as well show weakness and find more backers. The Xiao family borrowed money from us, and sent their children to Shamen Town, everything seems to me. The purpose is nothing more than two things. First, it is to keep borrowing money. Or provide materials and other help, and continue to infiltrate, until we are completely inseparable from their support, and then we will become vassals of the Xiao family. Second, maybe the Xiao family didn't think so far ahead, they just looked at the relationship with my mother, and even some of our surprising performances, so they set up a chess piece with us in advance. If we have more development in the future, he is also betting early, and if we don't succeed, there is nothing to lose. Either way, this is the usual method of those scholars. ”

"By accepting the help they are providing now, then we will also face potential risks in the future, but we will also be protected by them." Li Jing smiled: "Their idea is actually good, but if they just see us as some bets they have made on other people in the past, then they will definitely lose their eyes." Do you really think that the Xiao family can borrow 200,000 yuan from me to make us owe them more debts that they can't pay off? Do you really think that the Xiao family can infiltrate and influence us by sending so many hundred people to the island? ”

"Isn't it?"

Li Jing smiled: "I can tell you for sure, those are impossible. You see, now, we borrowed 50,000 yuan from them before, but then we got more money from King Fengzhang. The Xiao family found that the loan was meaningless, so they lent us 200,000 yuan, wanting to tie us up with it, but you see, we have now gained another 500,000 or 600,000 yuan, is it still meaningful for them to lend us money? He sent a hundred men, but we now have four thousand, as long as we arrange them alone, do you think they can penetrate us? ”

"To put it bluntly, I know very well what the Xiao family has planned. But I still accept their proposals, borrow their money, and accept their people, not because we really need their money, in fact, I just want to borrow the Xiao family's power. Originally, we were only facing two potential forces, but now that the Xiao family is also pulled in, it has become a three-party potential force, only when the water is muddier and the more backers there are, we can hide in their shadows and survive the initial round. ”

"I still think it's a little too risky!"

"Life is a gamble, if we don't gamble, others will force us to gamble, active choice is better than passive choice. This time, I brought the Xiao family here, firstly, to let them participate in this battle and participate in the attack on Cat Island, and they can be regarded as accepting the nomination. Second, taking the initiative to let them meet our secret ally Zhen Donghai is also to show the Xiao family our strength. In addition, bringing the Xiao family to Zhendonghai is also showing our strength to Zhendonghai. We are still very weak now, so the Xiao family thinks that they have the initiative, and we take the initiative to disclose these to them, which can make them believe in us more. Now that we are only in the early stages of cooperation with the Xiao family, even if they have these secrets, they will not do anything to us. But when it comes to the future, if one day we have the opposite purpose, do you think they will be a threat to us even if they have these secrets? ”

"It only takes half a year, and we are not afraid of anyone!" Wang Zhong said confidently.

Li Jing smiled, "Then, let's be someone else's grandson for another half a year, and then they will know that they underestimated us." (To be continued.) )