Xiang Zhen stood on the side of the moon gate, quietly watching people come and go. The weather in June had already warmed up, but he was still wearing a thick jacket, and his figure was much more stiff than before. In the battle of Eyue, he came back from picking up a life, and he fell seriously ill, and now he is just a little bit more profitable.

"Da Lang, go back and rest!" Beside her, a somewhat old grandmother whispered: "Doctor Zhuang is still coming to check your pulse today!" ”

Xiang Zhen took a deep breath, waved his hand, and said to Mama: "No need, I'm already fine, you go back first, I'll go see my father." ”

When Mama wanted to say more, Xiang Zhen had already stepped out of the moon gate and strode in the direction of the front yard.

On the long corridor, there were a lot of officials coming and going, and when they saw Xiang Zhen in a thick jacket, he walked over with a little vanity, all of them gave way sideways, and when Xiang Zhen passed them, they all bowed and saluted.

It seemed to be the same as before, but Xiang Zhen knew that the way those people looked at him was completely different from before. Eyue suffered a big defeat, and then a serious illness, and the power structure within the Xiang clan also changed a lot. The second Xiangyu, who was suppressed by Xiang Zhen before, has taken advantage of the situation to rise.

When the guards in front of the door bent down to salute, Xiang Zhen had already pushed open the door of the study and walked in.

A middle-aged man in the room, who was sitting in front of Xiang Xun's big case, reported the matter, heard the sound, turned around, saw Xiang Zhen, immediately stood up, nodded and smiled: "The general is in good health?" ”

Xiang Zhen arched his hand: "Mi Shangshu, thank you for worrying, it's a great deal now, except that you can't get on the horse to fight, other things are already fine." ”

Looking at Xiang Zhen, Xiang Xun frowned slightly and said, "Didn't you say that Dr. Zhuang was coming over today?" How did you get to the front yard? ”

"I've been in the house for more than a month, it's really uncomfortable, the weather is good today, so I went out for a walk, I don't want to accidentally go to the front yard, thinking about it and it's okay, so I came to see my father!" To the truth.

Xiang Xun nodded: "It's coming, it's coming, just right, listen to this matter too, do you think it's good to have a charter to deal with it?" ”

Xiang Zhen pulled a chair and sat down next to Mi Quan.

"What's wrong? Didn't you say that the Northern Tang army had a truce on all fronts? What kind of Yixing Society Conference does Li Ze want to organize? Speaking of this, Xiang Zhen smiled and said: "What kind of bullshit Yixing Society Conference, isn't it just to get a justifiable name for him to seek a dynasty and usurp the throne?" ”

"General, that's right." Mi Quan said: "The Tang army on land is indeed a complete truce, if there is a war, it is only in the Qinling Mountains, Min Rou's left leading army guards divided the road and launched an attack on the road out of the Qinling Mountains controlled by Zhu Youzhen's Liang army, and the two sides are now in a stalemate." Elsewhere, there has indeed been a truce on all fronts. But at sea, the Northern Tang army was not idle, and for more than a month, they have been attacking non-stop. ”

Xiang Zhen's eyes looked at Xiang Xun.

Xiang Xun coughed low and said, "You are not in good health, so I didn't tell you these things, so as not to distract you and not help you take care of your body." ”

Xiang Zhen smiled bitterly and asked, "Mi Shangshu, what is the movement of the Northern Tang Naval Army, are they occupying our coastal zone?" Or have some forward bases been established? ”

Mi Quan shook his head: "It's much worse than this." In the past month or so, they have attacked dozens of villages and taken away tens of thousands of villagers. ”

"Didn't our troops intercept?"

"General, how to intercept it?" Mi Quan sighed: "We have no way of knowing where the other party will attack next time, where they will go ashore, we can't deploy heavy troops all over the coast, besides, where do we get so many troops?" ”

"So what are we going to do now?" Xiang Zhen asked.

"The imperial court has been discussing for a while, and the overwhelming opinion is to simply move the coastal people inward and place them near the city, so that when the Northern Tang Dynasty sailors go ashore again, they will face no man's land, and their sailors will not dare to go ashore and attack the county seat inland." Xiang Xun said.

"But that's going to be a lot of problems!" Xiang Zhen shook his head and said: "The distance of the internal migration, what is the limit of what kind of limit is the imperial court prepared for?" ”

"Fifty miles!"

Xiang Zhen gasped.

"In this way, the Northern Tang Navy Division really has nothing to grab, but there is no defense along the fifty-mile coast, once the Northern Tang army comes to attack in a big way, what will we do?" Xiang Zhendao: "Father, the projection ability of the Northern Tang Navy Division is extremely strong, and they have sent a whole guard of soldiers and horses across the ocean to Goryeo, which is proof of this. ”

"But now, the coast is in chaos." Xiang Xun shook his head and said, "This is also a way to do it." ”

"Father, there are many other problems that will arise in this way. These people who have migrated to the vicinity of the county will inevitably have friction with the aborigines here, and there is only so much land, and when these people come, the opportunities of the aborigines will be snatched away by these people, and they are afraid that more problems will arise. Moreover, most of these coastal residents rely on the sea to eat the sea, and they don't even know how to farm, how do they live when they go to the interior? Once they can't live, civil unrest is just around the corner. ”

"Because of this, it's been postponed!" Xiang Xun said: "The local Fumin officials strongly oppose it, and ask the imperial court to send soldiers and horses to protect the safety of the people and strike at the invading enemy. But now, most of the imperial court's soldiers and horses have been deployed on the front line against the Northern Tang army, and they can't draw troops and horses. ”

Looking at Xiang Xun's not very good-looking face, Xiang Zhen lowered his head, the battle of Eyue, if you count Liu Xinda's troops, nearly 100,000 Southern Alliance troops collapsed, which is a direct reason for today's embarrassment.

After thinking for a moment, Xiang Zhen said: "Father, the most urgent task at the moment is that we still have to reinvigorate our morale and inflict a heavy blow on these invading enemies at sea, so that we can greatly alleviate the current embarrassment and make them dare not go ashore easily." ”

"How do we hit them hard?" Xiang Xun was a little impatient.

"Father, there are not many places that the other party can attack now." Xiang Zhen said: "We can form an elite cavalry team and secretly assemble in one of them. ”

"Do you mean to wait for the rabbit?" Xiang Xun said.

"The attack of the Northern Tang Navy Division is still traceable." Xiang Zhen looked at the map hanging on the wall, and those coastal areas marked with black marks were the places that the Tang army had already attacked, "So, it's not that we don't have a chance." Even if you wait for the rabbit, as long as you succeed once, you can make the opponent stop for a while, and you can also breathe a sigh of relief. ”

"What's next?"

"Next, we must vigorously organize local armed regiments to train and arm these coastal fishermen and let them form associations to protect themselves!" Xiang Zhen said: "In fact, as long as they can resist for a while, it is enough to support the arrival of reinforcements from the surrounding areas." I do not agree to give up the land within a radius of 50 miles along the coast, so that when the Northern Tang army wants to land in the future, won't it be able to fight wherever it wants? ”

"Organize a team exercise? Self-protection by association? Xiang Xun muttered: "If this is the case, it will give more power to the local authorities, and you have always opposed the independent armed forces of the local gentry." Keeping all the armies in the hands of the imperial court is what you've been pursuing, but how has it changed now? ”

"No way!" Xiang Zhen laughed miserably: "Now we don't have the ability to do this, we can only do this." Those local gentry have money in their hands, and they can also organize a group of subordinate soldiers by using their clan relations, although this will cause a sudden increase in local strength and weaken the control of the central court, but it can also effectively resist the invasion of the Tang army. The lesser of two evils. ”

Xiang Xun nodded slightly.

"Second, father, please let me train another soldier!" Xiang Zhendao: "This time in the Eyue battle, although I lost, but this defeat is not a crime of war, if it wasn't for Liu Yida's betrayal, how could it end up in the end?" But in this battle, I also proved that the 10,000 elites I trained could compete with the Tang Army, and in the end, even in the face of Shi Zhuang and Li Mi's encirclement on all sides, I still fought my way out of the encirclement and escaped with my life. Father, we need more such troops. ”

Xiang Xun looked at Xiang Zhen for a long time before he said, "How much money did you pay for training those 10,000 troops?" Do you know how many internal strife it has caused? Their salaries are several times that of other troops, and their treatment is incomparable even to the personal soldiers of the commanders, and you were invincible in the past, so you can naturally suppress these dissenting opinions, but now, how can everyone agree that you will rebuild another such army, and even if everyone agrees, where will the money come from? ”

Xiang Zhen stood up and said, "Father, as long as you agree, I will figure out the money by myself." ”

"What can you do?"

"The land under my name, the farm, which is enough to house the families of more than 10,000 soldiers, my shops, and houses, can also raise a lot of money after they are sold, in short, they can support me to complete my training. Once the training is complete, I will take them to the battlefield. "Speak to the truth.

"Are you crazy? So what else do you have? ”

Xiang Zhen looked at his father for a long time before he said, "Father, in the battle with Li Ze of the Northern Tang Dynasty, if we lose, what can we have left with these things?" I have been to the Northern Tang Dynasty many times, and I saw that Li Ze was the lord of the Northern Tang Dynasty, but the land was only a few hundred acres, and it was still a family temple industry. But his army never bothered about salaries. ”