Chapter 351: The Western Expeditionary Army

"Brother Nian, this matter seems to be very inappropriate."

The thirteenth year of Yanhuang was really a dazzling year for the scholars of the Great Song Dynasty, first the big case in Jingxi Province was smacking, then Zhao Jingyun's rebellious articles were infuriating, and then the gold of Dongshengzhou was dazzling, and then the rank evaluation system was warm......

But these are not the end of this important year, just when the gold and rank evaluation system is not exhausted, the new news thrown out by the imperial court is shocking - in fact, at this time, the Great Song Dynasty has begun to attack the Western Xia, but in addition to the news of the progress of the front-line war in the corner of the newspaper, the front pages of all major media are paying attention to this new news of the imperial court.

The imperial court wants to change the six-part system since the Sui and Tang dynasties!

Wei Liaoweng's suggestion is not only one of the Dongshengzhou Merchants Bureau, but also to promote the reform of the political system of the Great Song Dynasty.

Zhao and Ju understand, Wei Liaoweng understands, and everyone in the world understands that the reform of the political system is actually a new distribution of interests.

Therefore, when the two fellow scholars were whispering in their own courtyard, their conversation focused on Wei Liaoweng's suggestion.

"What's wrong?" The Jinshi in Tsing Yi asked.

"Redundant officials in the dynasty have always been a big problem, after Gaozong crossed to the south, although the income of the court has increased in recent years, but the expenditure has also increased a lot, you see, only compulsory education, the annual court expenditure is as high as more than 15 million, and last year it was as high as 20 million. If you add that the imperial court is going to implement a free vaccination and medical insurance system, you will have to spend tens of millions ......of dollars," the blue-clothed jinshi who spoke earlier shook his head and said: "Add four more departments, and the subordinates must be matched with subordinate officials, and there must be soap officials under subordinate officials...... There are all kinds of officials, the number of court officials is afraid to double, and redundant officials spend, the court is afraid that they have to carry a big burden, a few years ago to pay money is not money, these more than ten years finally pay money as money, if the court does not pay this money, it is necessary to pay money indiscriminately, then ......"

"Brother Xian, this is not right, the original court expenses did not come out because there was no input, but now it is not, Dongshengzhou has more than 600 million yuan of income at a time, and if you go to it every year, it is only one-tenth of this time, and there are also 60 million yuan in the warehouse a year, 60 million yuan! It's enough to support two more scales of officials! ”

"This waterway is vast, the sea is boundless, how can this kind of income ......" Tsing Yi Jinshi said two sentences, he also felt that it was too absurd, now the scientific and technological strength of the Great Song Dynasty is not as good as before Nandu, in the past ten years, astronomical and geographical machinery can be described by leaps and bounds. The risk of navigation is indeed great, but that kind of thing of losing money is almost impossible for a country as big as the Great Song Dynasty.

"I think that the decision of the imperial court is the right reason, over the years, the territory has been wide, the population has increased, all industries have flourished, and new things have emerged in an endless stream. Seeing him like this, the blue-clothed jinshi smiled dumbly: "Brother Nian, this is a great thing, since the Son of Heaven has recruited talents in an eclectic way, and after opening the regular department, the road to progress of my generation has become less and less, and a quarter of the officials have entered the department from the regular department over the years, and my generation of jinshi is not as good as them in terms of promotion, but with this new four, it is different......"

The blue-clothed jinshi only laughed when he said this, but he didn't elaborate, because he didn't want to go on more out of caution. He had heard some rumors that Wei Liaoweng's plan to change six ministries into ten ministries was the result of bargaining between the bigwigs inside and outside the imperial court, and the chief officials and important official positions of the new six ministries must be from Jinshi or Tongjinshi, which means that the officials of Changke should not want to be the chief official in such a position. For Jinshi like them, who act as petty officials, this is really an opportunity, if they do a good job, they can get a title among the newly established officials, and they are all fat messengers who are easy to make meritorious contributions and be promoted!

In Wei Liaoweng's plan, in addition to the original six departments of officials, households, rites, soldiers, criminals, and workers, four new departments were added: post office, mine, prison, and agriculture. The post department is in charge of the construction of postal roads in the world, and the trains and steamship transportation that were originally under the cross-jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of War are all under the management of this post department. The Ministry of Mines is in charge of the exploration and development of local and overseas mineral resources in the Great Song Dynasty, and the mines that were originally under the cross-management of the Ministry of Household and the Ministry of Industry have been taken over. In fact, the supervision of the supervisor is to combine the almost abolished imperial history system with the Department of Honest Government, and at the same time greatly strengthen its power, so that the scope of supervision and criticism extends from the local ministers to the imperial family and even the Son of Heaven. The Ministry of Agriculture, on the other hand, completely separates the agriculture under the responsibility of the Ministry of Households, but in order to stabilize agricultural development and avoid food crises, and at the same time provide sufficient raw materials for industry, its jurisdiction covers agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, fishery and many other contents.

Regarding Wei Liaoweng's suggestion, Zhao and Ju did not say anything, but ordered Wei Liaoweng to publish it in the newspaper in a clear way, so that the officials and the people could express their opinions, so as to show the elegance of the Son of Heaven who was good at accepting the words of a hundred schools of thought - but this expression of opinions could not be concluded in a day or two, and the scholars themselves were also arguing about which departments to set up and how to divide their functions and powers, and they could not reach a unified opinion. Zhao and Ju's flip procrastination turned the scholars' attempts to control the reform of the political system into a utopian dream.

"Speaking of which, these six departments have been expanded into ten, and the official family has never nodded their heads, so it can only be a fantasy." Speaking of this, the Tsing Yi Jinshi sighed: "The official family is like this...... It's really perfect, it's perfect! ”

"It's impossible for Your Majesty to oppose this matter, now it's just fighting with the bigwigs inside and outside for control of the official reform, I can see it, the Great Song Dynasty is today, and the official system must be changed." The blue-clothed Jinshi pursed his lips: "To put it mildly, if it weren't for the current Great Song Dynasty official system, the turmoil at the beginning of the year might not be so big, and Zhao Jingyun's guy might not be able to write a reverse article that shocked a thousand waves!" ”

"Brother Nian is cautious, cautious!" Tsing Yi Jinshi's face changed.

"What are you afraid of in this matter, Zhao Jingyun has been assigned to Xinzhou, he was escorted the day before yesterday, and he will not be an official for life, in addition to writing books and sayings, this life will come to an end...... If it weren't for the fact that he had made meritorious contributions to the country, how could the officials be willing to let him go, and he would have no eyes! ”

The two of them were talking, and suddenly heard a burst of firecrackers outside, the two of them were stunned, Tsing Yi Jinshi hurriedly instructed the servant to inquire, and after a while, the servant ran back happily: "Daxi, Daxi, the two ministers, the front line telegraphed, saying that the Li clan of Xixia has been captured, and the land of the river is all returned to the Great Song Dynasty!" ”

"Oh, so fast?"

Although they had been prepared for victory for a long time, the result of victory so quickly still surprised the two Jinshi.

When the good news came back to Lin'an, Li Ye wrapped himself in a sleeping bag and was snoring loudly. Over the years, he has made a name for himself and can be regarded as one of the famous generals of the Great Song Dynasty. Although some "masters" of tactics on paper often denounce him as relying solely on the superiority of weapons that he has achieved by suppressing his opponents by superiority in weapons several generations ahead of his opponents, this does not erase his achievements in expanding territory over the years.

He traveled one hundred and twenty miles in a day and night, and although he was riding a horse, he was so tired that he was tired from a great battle.

When the guards saw the horses galloping in the distance, they immediately raised their guns and waved their hands vigilantly to that side, hoping that the commander would sleep a little longer. But Li Ye had already turned over and sat up straight, wiping his bearded and scumbag face: "Let him come over!" ”

"Governor, Deputy Governor Wang has crossed the Star Gorge!" The messenger brought good news.

In this western expedition, the destruction of Western Xia was not the ultimate goal of Zhao and Ju, his purpose was to recover the Western Regions - the rolling yellow sand that the Central Plains Dynasty lost after the Battle of Henglus. He even thought more, the Western Regions and Central Asia are by no means two natural borders.

"Did you meet Monhu?" Li Ye asked, rubbing his eyes, which were a little red from lack of sleep.

Although Meng Yuan was destroyed, but Tuolei's brother Wokotai and Chagatai are still there, in the face of the unprecedented powerful enemy of the Great Song Dynasty, this once anti-purpose brother was integrated in one place, they also entered the Kou many times before the Yan and Huang eleven years ago, but after being beaten twice by the Guards, they no longer dared to approach the rivers and mountains and the northeast, and instead concentrated on plundering the Western Xia. This expedition to Western Xia is so easy, and to a certain extent, thanks to the gift of these two people, the national strength of Western Xia has been completely exhausted.

In order to prevent Menghu from choking Xingxing Gorge and taking advantage of the geographical advantage to block the pace of the Great Song Dynasty's westward advance, he personally assaulted and wanted to seize Xingxing Gorge before Menghu reacted.

"No, no trace of Menghu has been found, and the deputy governor of the king should ask the governor for instructions on whether to continue to move forward or rest on the spot."

Li Yehe laughed, Wang Qinian's head was getting more and more slippery, he squinted and looked at the northwest: "Wang Qinian is the one who is waiting for Lao Tzu's order, you tell the truth, has he continued to move forward at this time?" ”

The soldier stuck out his tongue and said with a smile: "I know that I can't hide it from the governor, the deputy governor of the king has been divided into two divisions, the small part is guarding the Xingxing Gorge on the spot, waiting for the governor's large army to enter, he personally led three thousand dragoons into the desert, he wants to report to the governor, all the supplies have been prepared, as long as the governor can keep up with him within seven days, then there is no danger!" ”

"That guy is confident, the dragoons are used to fighting vicious battles, no wonder he is confident." Li Ye muttered, somewhat envious in his heart, Wang Qinian was promoted very quickly, and now he is his deputy, and he can almost be compared with him, but Wang Qinian still retains the habit of personally leading the army to break through, but he, now that his body is slightly fat, it is impossible to personally lead the troops to assault.

"Get up, get up, tell them that if they rest any longer, Wang Qinian's gang will gnaw all the meat and bones, and we can only drink the soup he has leftover!" Li Ye stood up, the guards packed his sleeping bag for him, and he gave a loud order. Seeing that the soldiers lying on the loess got up one after another to pack up their things, he turned to the herald: "You rush to inform Wang Qinian, at least three days, at most five days, I will definitely arrive, this time I will drive Menghu out of the Western Regions in one go!" ”

He used the word "rush" instead of the word "extinguish", which actually revealed the second purpose of Zhao Heju's organization of this expedition to the west: to lead the water to the west.

In the ninth year of Yanhuang, Zhao and Ju made a plan to contact European countries to attack the countries of West Asia, and sent a westward expeditionary fleet headed by Duncan Polo and Yu Zhu as his deputy. Although the Western Expeditionary Fleet is not as large as the Eastern Expeditionary Fleet, it also gathers the elite soldiers of the Great Song Navy, and is also equipped with marines, they are also the eleventh year of Yan and Huang to go on the expedition, but there is no news back until now, the latest time they sent someone to bring back the news, is that they arrived at the southernmost cape in Africa - the name of this cape is no longer the Cape of Good Hope familiar to Zhao and Ju, but the Wangsong Horn, expressing the reluctance of the officers and men of the ship for the homeland of the Great Song Dynasty.

This name was mostly taken by Duncan Polona, in fact, to show loyalty to the official family, he became the governor of the fleet as a Europa, the criticism has always existed, he is not a fool, he knows that Yu Zhu may have another mission, that is, to replace him at any time when he is unstable.

In any case, Zhao and Ju's purpose of instigating war in the Middle East does not seem to have any effect for the time being, but the terrorist attacks of the old man in the mountains in Xilan and Tianzhu are becoming more and more rampant, he hides among the mountains, and the powerful navy of the Great Song Dynasty is almost useless.

This made it inevitable to plow the lair of the old man in the mountains around Persia, but Zhao and Ju were still not prepared to do it himself—he hoped that the Great Song would appear as an arbiter rather than an aggressor in that area, and that these people who believed in Allah would continue to entangle with their religious distant relatives who believed in God, and the longer they entangled, the longer the Great Song would gain the lead.

Therefore, Zhao and Ju set their sights on the northwest, although Wokotai and Chagatai were the sons of Temujin, who said that they could not become the leading dogs of the Great Song Dynasty, and didn't it often be said in the history books to "precursor to the saints"?

Naturally, Wokotai and Chagatai will not be so easily obedient, but Zhao and Ju have enough experience in treating them, so they will naturally hurt them, as long as they hurt, they will become well-behaved.

Li Ye took his hat from the guards, thought about the plan of the Son of Heaven, and then turned over and got on the horse. He put on his hat and glanced at the sergeants who had already put their ranks in order, and his heart suddenly swelled with infinite joy.

When he was talking to Li Yilao and others about his life's ambition, his ambition was to become a general, leading thousands of troops and horses to open up territory for the country, and now this wish has been realized, he has a wife and children at home, but he is not very concerned - the official family of the Son of Heaven will naturally take good care of him. He drew his knife and pointed to the northwest: "To the west!" ”

"To the west, to the west!" The Guards shouted.

"Let's go!" Li Ye ordered.

The sound of columns of soldiers marching, the sound of mules pulling carts, the sound of ordnance clashing with each other. Li Ye looked at this iron stream composed of loyal and enthusiastic men, and a cold light flashed in his slightly narrowed eyes.

He will use this army to crush everything that stands in his way for His Majesty, to whom he is loyal.