"Mr. Li! Do you want to sweep the world with the power of a state? ”

"Brother Muyang thinks it's impossible to do anything?"

Li Gengyun continued to eat breakfast, and his speech seemed to be casual.

"This ......"

When Mu Yang heard Li Gengyun's words, he also fell into deep thought, Xiangzhou has natural dangers to defend, more than enough to defend the land, and insufficient expansion. The Xiangzhou army is not weak, the land in the state is fertile, and the grain and grass are enough to support the defense, but if you want to expand externally, the best direction is to go north from Xiangyang, seize Lizhou, and merge into Xizhou and northern Xinjiang. Lizhou is a large state of grain and grass in the Central Plains, and Xizhou and Northern Xinjiang are rich in iron, which can be used to build weapons and armor, which can enhance military strength, and there is no need to worry about grain and grass. However, although the territory of Xizhou and Northern Xinjiang is vast, the population is not large, and Lizhou, the west is dominated by mountains and forests, and the people in the eastern plains were slaughtered by the Northern Yuan soldiers, and most of the people have fled into the mountains, so it can be said that Lizhou is also in a state of vast and sparsely populated, and the number of people in Xiangzhou will not change in a short period of time.

For the Northern Yuan, the original strategy of the Northern Yuan was mainly slaughter, so when attacking Lizhou and Dongzhou, the Northern Yuan people wantonly slaughtered the people of the Great Song Dynasty, resulting in ten rooms and nine empty rooms in the two states, and the people fled, or hid in the mountains and forests or fled to other states. Most of the people fled to Sizhou and Chaozhou. The Northern Yuan forces attacking Sizhou and Chaozhou were led by Baili Xi, and Baili Xi's policy was mainly Huairou, and he was polite to the people of Sizhou and Chaozhou, so after the Northern Yuan unified the Central Plains, the number of people in Sizhou and Chaozhou did not decrease but increased. Therefore, in terms of numbers, with Lizhou and Dongzhou as the boundary, it presents an increasing state.

South of the river, the largest number of people was originally Jiangzhou, but since the rise of the White Lotus Sect, it has caused a wide range of panic in Jiangzhou, and many people have fled to Nanzhou and Nanchu, which has caused a sharp decline in the population of Jiangzhou, and the population of Nanzhou has risen, and more people choose to flee to Nanchu, that is because many officials in order to have the opportunity for their development, not only moved their families, but also moved to Nanchu with the people in the area under their jurisdiction, which also made the Nanchu court form a situation where there are many Song ministers. However, the power of the court in Southern Chu is still in the hands of the Xiong family of the Southern Chu royal family and the Chihu family, a relative of the Xiong family.

"There is more than enough land to defend, but there is not enough expansion, I don't know what Mr. Li plans?"

Mu Yang thought about it in his heart, he knew the advantages and disadvantages of Xiangzhou, and he didn't know some of Li Gengyun's actions at that time, so he asked Li Gengyun for advice.

"Am I just doing that?"

Li Gengyun drank the rice porridge in one go, then wiped his mouth, and said with a smile at Muyang: "Presumably Brother Muyang has also known the recent policy sent from Xiangyang City to the cities, replacing taxes with military service, reducing taxes, and developing commerce and trade, Xiangzhou brocade is the first in the world, and all the families in all states are favored by Xiangzhou brocade, coinciding with war, and the passages are blocked, so the price of Xiangzhou brocade is also rising, and the army escorts the business team, encourages the development of commerce, and obtains more wealth from other states." The Great Song Dynasty emphasized literature and light military force, and our policy was to pay equal attention to civil and military affairs, so that there were good generals in the army and virtuous ministers in the court. ”

"If you want to use troops externally, you must be stable internally, and if you want to be stable internally, you must have good generals and virtuous ministers in the court, and the people can only be strong when Xiangzhou is rich, which is the way for the people to be rich and the country strong."

"The people are rich and the country is strong!"

When Mu Yang heard these four words, he was also surprised. Whether it is the sages or the virtuous monarchs, they all advocate the prosperity of the country and the strength of the people, and they all believe that only when the country is rich, the people will be strong, and the army will be strong. However, what Li Gengyun put forward is indeed that the people are rich and the country is strong, and only when the people are rich will the taxes paid will also increase, will the country's fiscal revenue increase, and the people will be rich and the country will also be rich, and more funds can be used to support the development of the army, expand the military strength, and have enough soldiers and food, not only to defend the territory, but also to expand externally.

It is just a reversal of the order of the two words, but it is a completely different policy, and it is also a completely different result.

"The conspiracy and power struggle above the court, I don't know if Mr. Li has ever been taught? Mr. Li's idea is very good, that is because Mr. Li is selfless and only for the court, but what about other people in the court? What they are concerned about is not these, but whether they can hold their black yarn hats, whether they can obtain greater benefits, and whether they can expand their influence in the court. What Mu Yang said is indeed the truth, whether it is the Great Song Dynasty or the first dynasty, the battle in the court has never ended, and in all dynasties, countless virtuous ministers and good generals have become victims of the power struggle in the court.

Therefore, Brother Muyang's greed for ink at the beginning was real, not false accusations by others. Mingzhe protects himself, Brother Muyang is willing to sacrifice his life's innocence in order to jump out of the conspiracy and power struggle of the imperial court, and he directed and acted in this greedy play, with the smallest price, in exchange for this freedom, this courage is admired. ”

Li Gengyun's words were shocking, and Mu Bai and Liu Fu looked at Mu Yang in surprise after hearing his words.

"Father, is this true?"

"Husband, why are you ......?"

Both of them were angry about Mu Yang's greed for ink at the beginning, because they both believed that Mu Yang was falsely accused, because Mu Yang's talent and his integrity attracted the dissatisfaction of other officials in the DPRK and China, so some people estimated that they were planning to frame him.

But none of them thought that if someone deliberately designed to frame Mu Yang, would it be as simple as a crime of greedy ink, or would it be as simple as sending him back to his hometown and not being hired for life? The power struggle in the court has always been to kill people invisibly, if Mu Yang has been completely involved in the battle of the court, and he wants to get out and leave the imperial city alive, I am afraid it will only be a fantasy.

"At the beginning of the imperial court, the civil party led by Prime Minister Zhao Mei and the martial party led by the general Hu Zhao fought very fiercely, Muyang was just a small prefect of the imperial city at that time, and both forces wanted to win it over, because they knew that once I joined one of them, it meant that the Jiangzhou Liu family would support one of them. My father-in-law is the prime minister of the former dynasty, and I have already seen through the pros and cons, and after I went to Jiangzhou in the name of the provincial relatives, I discussed countermeasures with my father-in-law. The Liu family has been out of officialdom, and I don't want to get involved in this fight, so there is a matter of me being sent back to my hometown, and the Liu family has broken off relations with me, which is also something I discussed with my father-in-law. It's just that after my father-in-law passed away, my mother-in-law didn't know the inside story, so every year when I went back to worship my father-in-law, they would kick us out. “

"Brother Muyang's loyalty and filial piety, I admire it!"

This is the truth, Mu Bai and Liu Wu, who learned the truth, were also extremely surprised, especially Liu Wu, who burst into tears, choked up and said to Mu Yang: "Husband, you, why don't you tell us!" ”