Kunming City.

When the humid season in Yunnan was coming to an end after 17 years of rule in the Communist Party, a heavy rain seemed to envelop the entire southern frontier of the Dashun Empire. Around the city of Kunming, there is also a sound of rain.

In the north of Kunming, not far from Wuhua Mountain, in the Jinwang Valley, in a very simple mansion that covers a small area, Li Dingguo, who has just returned to his mansion in Kunming, is wearing a white cloth coat, looking at the smoke of a cup of hot Pu'er tea in front of him.

Outside the window, the sound of rain hitting the eaves of a house was messy and disturbing.

The prince of Jin, one of the eight kings of the Great Shun Council, only arrived outside Kunming at noon today, and did not immediately go to Wuhua Mountain to kowtow to Li Guo's coffin and pay homage to the new master, but went to his mansion outside Kunming under the pretext of a tiring journey. At this time, he had to meet with three brothers with different surnames to discuss the countermeasures and the way out...... Don't work hard for most of your life, in the end it's just a void!

Sun Kewang's somewhat hoarse voice sounded in Li Dingguo's ears: "Fourth, I will see the new master tomorrow, don't mention the high prices, no one wants to hear this now...... Because those who can stand in the court, every family has a big Zhuangzi, and their own rice, noodles, pigs and sheep can't be eaten, where can they buy them from outside? As for the brocade clothes they wear, they are all made of high-quality Shu brocade, so what's the point of being more expensive? ”

As if awakened from a dream, Li Dingguo looked up in amazement and looked at the visiting three kings, Sun Kewang, Liu Wenxiu, and Ai Nengqi.

These three council kings are all old now, and the eldest of them, Sun Kewang, is also infected with the wind cold, and his voice is a little hoarse. But what he said is still very reasonable!

The rise in prices in Kunming and even in the entire Dashun country is more beneficial than disadvantageous to the people in the Dashun court.

Because the inflation in Dashun is caused by a surplus of gold and silver, and gold and silver are limited after all, where can the surplus go? So inflation won't get out of control either.

There is no winner for hyperinflation, but there are winners for limited inflation, such as the Eight Kings of Dashun is the winner!

Dashun has a uniform field, but it does not mean that Dashun does not have a large landowner!

Dashun is a feudal country, how can it be completely average? Even among the ruling landlord class, the gap between the rich and the poor was enormous. The most common land owned by the soldiers was the "forty stones" - almost thirty or forty acres of paddy fields or 100 acres of dry land. And the land owned by the crown prince, grandson and eight kings who live on the top floor is as much as 80,000 stones! Moreover, this is still the amount of land that can be occupied within the regulations, and the actual occupation of land is only a lot more.

The princes and generals who owned large tracts of land were actually suppliers of essential commodities such as rice, noodles, pigs, sheep, oil, tea, and homespun cloth, rather than consumers.

Moreover, Dashun's "and buy system" is ineffective for them, and no one can force them to sell the materials at hand at a low price, so rising prices mean more benefits for them!

In addition, this group of princely generals also received a large amount of gold and silver from the "Indian income", and their pockets were stuffed with Indian silver and Indian gold, who would oppose going south?

"Three brothers, are you all in favor of going south?" When Li Dingguo asked, his eyes were fixed on Liu Wenxiu, the king of Tang.

Among Zhang Xianzhong's four righteous sons, Sun Kewang has a similar material, Ai Nengqi has a general, Li Dingguo has a handsome material, and the military advisor who is best at planning the overall situation is Liu Wenxiu.

Therefore, in Dashun's Eight Kings Discussion System, Sun Kewang teamed up with Niu Jinxing and Gu Junen, and was the de facto prime minister of Dashun. Ainengqi was stationed in Chengdu for a long time, serving as a support envoy for all parties, and was also responsible for deterring Uszang. Liu Wenxiu and Song Xiance presided over Dashun's Military Division's Mansion together and planned in the center.

Liu Wenxiu shook his head lightly and said: "It is certain to go south, the prince (Li Jicheng) made a windfall in Tianzhu, and everyone is hot, so the southward advance is the general trend and cannot be stopped." ”

"The last time the Tianzhu people were not guarded, this allowed the prince to succeed, how can there be such a big chance next time?" Li Dingguo still didn't give up and wanted to persuade Liu Wenxiu.

Liu Wenxiu said: "The coast of Tianzhu is long, which is difficult to fortify, and the heroes in the country are side by side, and there is a great opportunity to conquer each other. With the good fighting of the prince and the elite of the Long March soldiers, there is a great opportunity! ”

"The Emperor of the Zhu family has moved to Wuhan, known as the imperial expedition, and he is about to attack on a large scale, and the southward march will definitely shake people's hearts at this time...... Going south is getting rich, and defending the north is desperate! ”

Li Dingguo put forward another reason, and he also told the truth.

The purpose of his battle in Shaanxi was to defend the north - to hold the Qinling Mountains and block the Ming army that wanted to go south.

Liu Wenxiu asked rhetorically: "If you go all out to defend the north, will you definitely be able to hold it?" ”

"This ......," Li Dingguo hesitated.

He is the commander of the Shaanxi front, and of course he knows that the war is very difficult!

Aside from the fact that the combat effectiveness of the Dashun army was weaker than that of the Ming army, and the logistical difficulties were also increasing, the supply of front-line soldiers was very tight, and most of the government soldiers serving in Shaanxi were in a state of "loss" - the money issued by the imperial court and the income from their own land were no longer enough to cover military service and increasing family expenses.

Sun Kewang sighed and said: "The military system of Dashun cannot last for a long time, and the current 600,000 military households have almost wiped out the Sichuan people, but they still don't have enough to eat...... And these 600,000 households still have to multiply, what can they do in the future? Don't let Ding Yu enlist in the army? Who does Ding Yu eat? And to continue to expand the army, where is Tian? ”

At first glance, the government military system is a very ideal military system, which is to raise soldiers in the field and serve the people. But when you really use it, you will find that there are hard injuries.

This flaw is that it is necessary to constantly acquire land that can generate income without large investments—it is actually just a beautiful fantasy to hand over the uncultivated raw land in the northwest, Mongolia, and Nanyang to the war-oriented government soldiers to explore.

Because the investment in pioneering land is very large, and the risk is also very large, there will inevitably be a large area of losses, and of course, there will be people who can operate the law and make a fortune. And the government soldiers who have lost their blood and made a fortune will not be able to continue to serve.

Therefore, for the soldiers of Dashun Prefecture, the most ideal direction of expansion is still Shaanxi and Huguang, and directly seize the familiar land as a military landlord, with little risk and stable returns.

But they couldn't beat the Ming ......

Sun Kewang said: "Fourth, there seems to be a lot of familiar land in Tianzhu!" ”

"Big brother, do you want the soldiers to go to Tianzhu?" Li Dingguo was stunned, "Isn't this trying to escape?" ”

"Escape?" Sun Kewang frowned, "How can you run away?" Third, do you say this is an escape? ”

Ai Nengqi is a tiger general, many times led the army recruited from the Chengdu Plain to Shaanxi to support Li Dingguo, and he was deeply touched by the difficulties of the battlefield on the northern front, and immediately shook his head and said: "What can't you run?" When you followed the old long live the world, where have you never been? ”

"Third brother, do you also support southward expansion?" Li Dingguo asked.

Ai Nengqi shook his head and said, "I don't support the south, and I don't oppose the south. ”

"And what about going north?"

"Not supported!" Enchi still shook his head.

"Then you still want to go south......"

Liu Wenxiu, who was on the side, interjected: "The third brother has a strategy to go west!" My eldest brother and I think it's good, and I want to talk to you about it today. ”

"Westward?" Li Dingguo asked, "Where to go west?" ”

"O Plateau in the West!" Ai Nengqi said, "The snowy plateau is next to the west of our Dashun country, although the terrain is steep, but the soldiers and horses are very weak. When he was in Chengdu, he sent troops to fight with the soldiers and horses of Uszang many times, and won a hundred battles, and there were few casualties. He also heard from the captured Mongols that the Great Lama of Uszang was regarded as a god by the Mongols...... Whoever holds the Great Lama will be able to command the Mongolian tribes! ”

Liu Wenxiu added: "I am pondering that if we can go west with 20,000 or 30,000 elite troops to seize the land of Wusizang, and then invite the great lama to Yunnan." They may be able to form an alliance with the four Mongol states of Dzungar, Tumut, Chahar, and Heshut...... That's all about living! ”