The war lasted for nearly 50 years, from Qinfeng Road to Hedong Road, and then to Hebei Road and Jibei Road, more than 20 state and county capitals were conquered, more than 100 county towns were conquered, at least 1,000 towns and towns were destroyed into ruins, at least more than 10000 people were killed, and hundreds of thousands of people were plundered out of the border walls and reduced to slavery.

Personnel, materials, roads, bridges, towns, all kinds of losses are simply incalculable, from an economic point of view, the situation faced by the Great Wei in the past 50 years is internal and external difficulties, the country is weak and the people are poor.

If Deng Ming has enlightenment in his heart, everyone says that the Son of Heaven is anxious...... With the current situation of Great Wei, it is really a situation where the mountains and rivers are exhausted, and it is difficult to continue without trying to cheer up.

The Beiyu of that year was also such a tactical tactic, in fact, there was not much surprise, but the simplest is the most effective method, the Donghu people have been biting on the Great Wei all the time, this is the innate asymmetrical tactic. The Wei army had excellent armor and weapons, as well as a firm will, an efficient imperial court and overall planning, but it was useless to have these. If the enemy cannot break through the long border line, it is necessary to have a large number of mobile cavalry, and the passive defense will always have gaps and loopholes, and there will be no effective means of counterattack.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, whether it was the Sinicized Xiongnu or the later Xianbei, after its sinicization, it always had to turn back to defend the nomads behind them, such as Xianbei was to defend against Rouran, and the Sui and Tang dynasties were to defend against the Turks.

Whether it is Xianbei vs. Rouran, or Sui and Tang vs. Turkic, there is no other good way, if you can defeat the cavalry, it can only be the cavalry! Whether it is Wei Qing, Huo Quai, or Dou Xian of Le Shi Yanran, or Li Guang and Li Jing, whether it is the Han army or the Tang army, the way to defeat the enemy army in the grassland and successfully prevent these nomadic cavalry is nothing more than to consume the country's financial resources and raise an equally strong cavalry!

"Still." Deng Ming held Chen Changde's hands and said solemnly: "The Son of Heaven is anxious, but he doesn't know that the battlefield is changing rapidly. Also, you often have to go to the front to urge the battle with the red flag, but your words must be relaxed, don't ask Li Zhaozhi and Yue Taiwei and others to feel too much pressure. ”

Chen Changde is also a military general, and he knows that what Deng Ming said is out of public intentions and for the sake of Great Wei, but he also understands in his heart that this kind of thing is by no means something he can interfere with, even the old lady in front of him, the Son of Heaven used him just to use his prestige to suppress the Beijing Division, but he would not listen to Deng Ming in such military affairs, and he could only make promises at the moment, and seemed to agree, but in fact there was no sincerity.

Deng Ming is also helpless, he is now decrepit and old, has the intention to kill the enemy, and has no power to return to the sky, at this time he can only look at the sky and sigh, hoping that the future results will be better, and the veteran who has killed the enemy on the battlefield for a lifetime can only look at the sky and pray at this time, which is actually a more sad thing.

……

"Deng Ming's old goods have been moved out by the official family again."

Han Zhong and Zhang Guangen, as well as a few senior counselors and privy deputies, would meet in the political hall every day near noon.

Many officials wearing soft-footed hats are running back and forth under the eaves of the government hall, some are still busy with official business, and some are supervising the kitchen, ready to serve the dine-in food quickly.

In accordance with the prescribed standards, the left and right phases are dine-in every year

The money is 3,000 yuan, and the average standard per meal after excluding the statutory rest days is less than 10 yuan.

This may not sound like much at first glance, but if ordinary people save a little for a meal, it will be enough to eat for about a year.

The standard of the prime minister's meal is lower than that of the Son of Heaven, higher than the queen, and higher than the prince.

In fact, the standard of ten times per meal, even if the prime minister puts the eight treasures on the table in the government hall every day, it is not finished, which is considered an invisible welfare, and the food money that cannot be eaten is of course settled by the officials on a quarterly basis, and a lot of money is sent to the prime minister's mansion.

In addition, the fixed salary, as well as the expenses from firewood to straw bundles and more than 100 yuan are responsible for the imperial court, several prime ministers have done it, and it is normal for the family to have hundreds of thousands of yuan.

This is also the purpose of the Great Wei after the founding of the country, to select the best among the hundreds of officials and ministers to hold the power of the Xu family, after all, the emperor cannot do everything, everything is done by the Son of Heaven, tired and tired to death. At this time, no Son of Heaven can magically invent the cabinet or any military aircraft system, relying on the prime minister is the right way, and it is not surprising that the prime minister is treated well.

Participating in the governor's affairs and the privy councillor, the subsidy for each meal is also five or six yuan, and the treatment is also quite generous.

As for the political affairs hall dinner, it is a system handed down from the Tang Dynasty, which is conducive to strengthening exchanges among the rulers, even if they cannot really be harmonious, at least on the surface they can communicate military and political affairs, strengthen understanding, and avoid the court's contention being too much.

This tradition was canceled at the end of the Tang Dynasty, and after the founding of the Great Wei Dynasty, it was picked up again.

Dine-in, in fact, is the ultimate dream of the Tang Dynasty, many people's ultimate goal in the life of officials is to be able to eat in the political hall, dine-in because of its dignity beyond the imagination of ordinary people, people at that time even made up a lot of stories about gods and monsters, its important position can be seen from this.

While the officials were preparing, the officials also received their official duties and waited for the time being.

The time of lunch every day is also the most relaxing time for these rulers. The weather in the north is extremely cold, although it is almost March, but in the morning the cold is pressing, everyone in the brazier burning charcoal fire in the room office, writing non-stop, calculating non-stop, by noon is already exhausted, then go out of the door, breathe some fresh air, the mind is lifted, the spirit will be much better.

Han Zhong said first, and then squinted his eyes and smiled at Zhang Guangen: "The swallows in the hall have begun to build nests again." ”

Zhang Guangen is also white, and in the past two years, it seems that life has not been easy for every high-ranking official and dignitary. After the turmoil in Beijing, Zhang Guangen found that the overall situation of Beijing and the national fortunes of the entire Great Wei Dynasty had not improved...... Previously, Zhang Guangen was an ally of Han Zhong, and he always thought that the national fortune of the Great Wei was not good, and the bad handling of state affairs was due to Liu Zhiyuan's constraints, but Liu Zhiyuan had been dead for a year, and until now, the national fortune has not changed.

It has even worsened.

Fujian Road has Li Kaiming as a disaster, but also fortunately there is Qin King Xu Zixian is there, otherwise the current situation is unimaginable, the Great Wei has to use the last strength when the north is scorched, and allocate more than ten or twenty armies of the forbidden army to the south, the southeast is rich and rich in the important places, but it is to be connected with military disasters, Li Kaiming is a giant like Li Kaiming, and he is also an extremely experienced rogue, he will not be caught and sit

In order to be killed, the most optimistic estimate of the imperial court is to fight for two or three years, and the essence of several roads will be turned into white ground, so that it is possible to exterminate this giant Kou.

What's even more terrifying is that Li Kaiming has become a general trend, and it cannot be eliminated at all, and while the imperial court is facing a strong enemy in the north, it also has to sit back and watch the southeast fall into the hands of the rogues.

In addition, the rogues in the hinterland of the Central Plains have also begun to move, and the recent news is that the Liu Anle brothers have started an incident in Henan, and they have already conquered many county towns, and are making weapons to coerce the people, and the number of people will soon return to the terrifying scale of more than 100,000 people.

Then there is the war with the Donghu people, the court is full of taxes, apportionment, and now the treasury is not much, money, food, weapons, manpower and material resources are all used to a limit, just like a person pulling a bow and arrow, the bow and arrow have been full, and there is no way to pull it anymore......

"Spring breeze and rain, the return of the swallow ......" Zhang Guangen sighed: "In fact, the time is still early, and the swallow in front of me is urgent." ”

Of course, Zhang Guangen pointed out, Han Zhong's face was calm, and he said: "It may also be that Yanzi wants to have children, and staying in place is hungry and cold, so you can only plan early and take precautions?" ”

"Xiangguo is referring to this, right?"

"Hmm." Han Zhong looked at the inner east gate, Deng Ming and others had already left, Deng Ming was going to the outside of the Daqing Palace, and Chen Changde had already gone outside the palace gate, Han Zhong knew that there was already a red flag prepared outside the palace gate, Chen Changde would rush to Yuguan with the red flag, in order to be the identity of the door order, urging Li Guorui to lead his troops to fight, at least to dispatch all the main forces, speed up the construction of Jinzhou City, and attract captives to fight.

Now the construction of Jinzhou, only a small number of elite cavalry and people strong, the main force of the forbidden army behind the cover, if the main force out, of course, the action of building the city will be much faster, which forced the Donghu people to fight with the main force of the forbidden army.

If Donghu avoids the battle and Jinzhou City and the attached camp and fort are built, this time the Northern Expedition can also be declared successful, and the Privy Council will transport a large number of prepared bed crossbows to the front, and cooperate with the city to defend it, so that the Donghu people will not be able to cross the Liaoxi step.

In another two or three years, after the imperial court eased up, it went north along the Yushui, built several more cities east of Jinzhou, and controlled the passage to western Liaoning, including Yushui, so that the entire strategic goal was completed, and the captive cavalry would make a detour of more than 1,000 miles to the north of Jizhou and Yunzhou, and its logistics were simply unable to support, and the northern captives were poor and weak, and it was impossible to help Donghu much.

"I asked someone to let out the wind to the outside world, saying that there are still six or seven million stone grains in Tongzhou Dacang." Han Zhong said indifferently: "In fact, there are still less than four million stones, and now I am looking forward to the southern grain to be collected and shipped quickly, even if the local officials are all honest, do not shirk, do not procrastinate, and the grain will be transported to the north, at least after April, which was last year's autumn Cao." Then we have to hope that they will quickly collect the summer tax, and the transshipment envoys from all over the country will hurry up and send the tax to Yanjing......"

"No money in the treasury?"

"Not even three million." Han Zhong smiled bitterly: "This is still the result of our levy and apportionment...... This money should be used normally, and it must be collected until the summer and autumn, and our national endowment of the Great Wei is divided into two taxes in the summer and autumn, which is the method of learning from Yang Yan, the prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, to change the rent to the two taxes, but we rent, Yong, and adjust the same collection, as well as the salt, tea, wine and vinegar franchise, speaking of which is far more than the Tang Dynasty, but our expenditure is far more than the Tang Dynasty. ”