"I hope he has a good reason, right?" Chen Zhong sighed.

After Li Yong seized Longzhu Island, the Southwest Sea also entered the field of vision of Wufu and many Xia people. Although it is located on the sea, it is always a piece of meat, and many people are worried about it. After the Protectorate decided to go to war with the Roma Turks, the officers who were expected to be divided moved more and more frequently, and in the five provinces, there were already people moving around, and more people were talking about the fiefdom with great interest.

"I guess so." Yuan Xingzong nodded, his eyes revealing a hint of melancholy.

The Dragon Tooth Army escorted His Majesty on the way to the river, Dunhuang, Kangguo, Chang'an, Luoyang, Tongdu Dayi within the territory of the Xia Kingdom, there were undercurrents surging everywhere, and Zhao Xingde's resignation, the reaction of all parties was difficult to predict. No matter how justified the resignation is, it is easy to give people a false pretext. Whether it is the school captain's mansion or the general's mansion, it is easy to be attacked. He looked at the crown prince Chen Zhong and groaned undecided.

At this time, a scribe presented a letter, and Chen Chong picked it up and looked at it, and a different color flashed in his eyes.

"What is this?"

"General Zhao's Letter." Chen said in a deep voice.

There was a slight hint of relief in his tone, and some of the dissatisfaction in his heart had dissipated.

Yuan Xingzong looked at Chen Chong with concern, he knew very well where this relief came from. Although the letter was sent through Lu Cao, it was not an official letter, but a letter from Zhao Xingde to Chen Chong himself. Yuan Xingzong's eyes lit up slightly. Chen Zhong and Zhao Xingde were friendly, and Yuan Xingzong could see it. In addition to the oath of protection, the status of the royal family is maintained by many other means. However, in addition to personal relations, does Zhao Xingde regard Chen Zhong as an ally in the court? That's a lot of stuff. It seems that Zhao Xingde is not lonely to the point of being unkind. The letter may contain some references that are not set out in the table above, and Zhao Xingde needs to be careful to consult a trusted friend. This kind of trust transcends the monarchy, position, civil and military, and is the most valuable asset of the imperial court.

In the past few years of working together in Luoyang, one of the biggest gains of Yuan Xingzong and Chen Zhong is to establish this trust.

Chen Zhong cut the letterhead with a paper knife in front of Yuan Xingzong. The letter was not long, and judging by the time of arrival, it should have been sent around the time of the official table. Zhao Xingde's font and articles have always been clean and incomprehensible, Chen Chong quickly read it, his face was solemn, and after a moment of silence, he said: "His reasons are indeed very sufficient." He handed the letter to Yuan Xingzong.

"Oh?" Yuan Xingzong took the letter, and while reading it, he nodded and said, "That's true." ”

After reading it, he returned the letter to Chen Zhong and sighed: "Fortunately, Yuan Zhi is still cautious, if he goes straight to the table like this, he will fall into the whirlpool, and we can't protect him if we want to." In the letter, Zhao Xingde frankly admitted the real reasons for opposing the fiefdom in the Southwest Sea. The overseas reclamation land of the Chinese is not like the Xia Kingdom in the northern Xinjiang or the river, but scattered like pearls in the southwest sea, most of which are located by the sea, and the greatest threat also comes from the sea. With the exception of a few weak factions, there are no threats on land worth mentioning. Therefore, in order to protect overseas reclamation land, the most important thing is to win the naval battle. And the way of naval warfare is nothing more than a cannon to subdue a small cannon, a large ship to subdue a small boat, and a uniform with more artillery and fewer cannons. A powerful fleet unified from top to bottom is far better than dozens of weak and weak sailors.

The reason why Northern Xinjiang and Hezhong were divided into feuds was because of the threat of powerful barbarians such as Turkic, Urbo, and Khitan, and the imperial court could not expand its territory without dividing the feudal territory, and the vassals also had to rely on the imperial court to crusade against foreign races. The opposite is true in the South-West Sea. The wealth and manpower required to build a strong navy were no longer beyond the reach of a divided prince, and a barely capable sailor could patrol the nearby waters, but it was far from enough to open up a sea frontier of 10,000 miles. These vassals could not cross the vast sea, could not expand their territory on their own like on land, and there were no opponents close enough to match, and over time, if they did not decay and corrupt and fight each other, their biggest enemy was likely to be the Xia court itself. On the other hand, if the imperial court divides the feudal system in the Southwest Sea, coupled with the intrigue between the various factions in the Kwantung and Kansai regions, and the interests are evenly distributed, the limited population and wealth may be scattered in the hands of a few, a dozen, or even dozens of hereditary princes, and the huge wealth required by the Southwest Sea Division will become a source of water, which will inevitably weaken and be useless over time.

It is precisely for this reason that Zhao Xingde insisted on opposing the system of dividing the Southwest China Sea into feudal areas, and advocated controlling the Southwest China Sea with trade and navy as the core, and all other measures should be subject to the convenience of the two. Therefore, he focused on the navy, ports, and important shipping lanes, using the navy as a means to control important sea areas and sea lanes, and control the maritime trade, so that he controlled the various cantonment lands, and built up a huge merchant fleet and huge taxes from the maritime trade, which in turn could maintain a strong navy. Because of the distance, the situation varies greatly from place to place and from island to island, and governance should be done by the local people. Whether it is the autonomy of the chamber of commerce, the promotion of Xuezheng, the magistrate of the county, or the prefecture, the formation of their own regimental training or the battalion of non-commissioned officers, or even the occupation of islands and reclamation like Li Yong, as long as the imperial court continuously collects taxes from trade and controls the sea lanes in various sea areas with the navy, it will have the initiative. To deal with rebellions in various places, barbarian rebellions, etc., the imperial court can also use the seaway to transport troops ashore to crusade.

"The matter of dividing the seal is indeed very troublesome," Yuan Xingzong muttered, "The current situation, we should find another reason to stop it." ”

"Yes," Chen Zhong frowned, "according to the navy's decisive victory, the sergeant of the cantonment land is no longer so important. ”

"It's not absolutely." Yuan Xingzong smiled a little embarrassedly, this is exactly what he was worried about, Chen Chong also saw that with the dispersion of the reclamation land, if the soldiers were in charge of the shade households, the number of sergeants in each reclamation land could not be too much. In the absence of a superior navy, it was almost impossible for the sergeants of the various cantonment areas to gather into a large army and then fight the enemy in a decisive battle. However, if the enemy controls the sea lane, he only needs to use the navy to transport troops and horses, concentrate the absolute superiority of forces, and defeat the land one by one, and no matter how desperate the sergeants resist, it will be useless. Since the sergeant is no longer the decisive factor, it is naturally impossible for the reclamation land in the South China Sea to spend a huge amount of money and food to carry out the sergeant system. In the Xia Kingdom, the shadow household first had to hand over to the sergeant three percent of the annual income, even if the hundred officials of the imperial court could not pay the money, the sergeant who was the foundation of the country had to pay money and food was absolutely guaranteed. And in the reclamation areas of the South China Sea, the first thing to be supported is the gold-swallowing giant beast of the navy.

In the eyes of the Protectorate, such a view, even if it is impeccable in terms of sophistry, is absolutely rebellious.

The sergeant is the cornerstone of the founding of the Great Xia State, and in the eyes of the Protectorate Mansion, the sergeant is not only absolutely unshakable in the Xia State, but also a good system that can be applied everywhere. Even if the Liao State and the Song State were still alive, there was a lot of discussion in the Tiance Academy to plan to implement the sergeant system in these two countries in the future. And Zhao Xingde's theory of a decisive naval victory fundamentally shook this argument, at least in the South China Sea, the sergeants of the reclamation land became dispensable, and became similar to the role of regimental training.

The selection of the elite of the navy is completely different from that of sergeants, the situation of sailors is similar to that of workers or even slaves, and the situation of naval officers is more like that of bureaucrats who have gone to school. In battles at sea, the insight of officers, the cooperation of sailors, and especially the guns themselves far outweigh the role of individual martial arts. Compared to the infantry army, which can be easily organized in the form of ten-, hundred-, and thousand-man teams, the navy is more like a sophisticated machine. The sergeants and officers of the navy, even if they barely bear the name, are very different from the infantry officers who are traditionally selected by the sergeant and ten captains who are born in martial arts.

Zhao Xingde's naval victory over these ideas, if they are put forward vaguely in ordinary times, they may be able to be sloppy, after all, the captains of the Protectorate Mansion do not care much about overseas battlefields. However, especially in Guanzhong and Luoyang, some people openly belittle the sergeants and criticize the Protector Mansion, although it has not yet reached the point of unscrupulousness, it has attracted great attention from the Protectorate Mansion. If Zhao Xingde's views are exaggerated by these people, then there will be endless troubles, not to mention the marquis, and there will be no future for him. Especially now that the undercurrent is surging in the middle of the court, the whirlpool is getting bigger and bigger, and if you are accidentally swept into it, you will be ruined and ruined, and you will never recover.

"Then follow the reasons in the table above." Chen nodded and said with a solemn face, "Others, wait until the general trend has been decided." ”

"It's fine." Yuan Xingzong said, "Among the captains of the Protectorate Mansion, there are already grievances against the generals of the Kwantung region, and Yuan Zhi's posture is also in line with the expectations of these people. "First of all, Zhao Xingde's reasons for the above table will first suppress the matter of separation, and then say, since Zhao Xingde, the general of the Southwest Sea, is not sealed because of his lack of merit, then no one is qualified to be sealed on the islands of the Southwest Sea, this is the minimum respect for the Southwest Navy Division, and when the Turkic War is over, the general situation in Xia has been decided, and then there will be much more room for maneuver to discuss the issue of the Southwest Sea.

He closed the letter, solemnly handed it back to Chen Chong, and sighed: "It's really not easy, you have to do the right thing, but also say the right thing, even if you know that these two bulls don't read the horse's mouth, you can't help it." Chen Zhong nodded sympathetically, took the letter and put it in the file, and quipped: "So I often hear my father say that those who rule the world must not be happy." The ancients said that those who will descend from heaven will be the first to mess up what they do, and the sages and sages will let the country not accept it, I am afraid that this is also because of this. He placed the file in the bottom drawer of the desk. Yuan Xingzong smiled bitterly and said, "I hope we all did the right thing." He looked out the window, and the two Tiger Wing guards stood majestically under the garden porch, their eyes roaming back and forth, for the right thing to do was to protect the Prince's safety, but it was simple and straightforward.