Xuanzong felt a little alarmist when he heard what Zhao Ziliang said, he frowned and said, "Is Zhao Qing a little too worried?" Now that all the land of the Yellow River is under the control of our Datang, there are Wanxiu and Shence armies stationed in Taoyang and Douhe two counties, and the Western Navy is garrisoned by the Western Navy. ”

Zhao Ziliang couldn't help but want to scold his mother when he heard Xuanzong's words, and said to Ma Lan and Wang Yuan with a black face: "You two tell Your Majesty about the situation in Hexi and Longyou!" ”

Ma Lan had to stand up and hug his fist at Xuanzong and said: "Your Majesty, I originally had 73,000 soldiers and horses in Hexi, and at the end of last year, 55,000 people were dispatched to Tongguan to quell the rebellion, and this time the last general brought more than 10,000 people, and now there are at most 10,000 people left in the entire Hexi, and there are eight states in Hexi, and there are no 1,500 people in one state!" ”

Xuanzong's face turned pale when he heard this, he looked at Wang Rare, and asked, "General Wang, where is Longyou?" ”

Wang was rarely bitter in his mouth, and said helplessly: "Longyou originally had 75,000 soldiers and horses, and at the end of last year, 50,000 people were dispatched to Tongguan to quell the rebellion, and this time the end of the general brought 10,000 people, and now there are only 15,000 people in the entire Longyou, and most of the troops of Wanxiu and Shence have also been transferred!" ”

Where can Xuanzong not understand the bad situation in Hexi and Longyou at this time, the reason why Hexi and Longyou are okay now is that it is estimated that the response of the Tubo State is a little sluggish, and it may also be that the high-level of the Tubo State has long known the reality of Hexi and Longyou, but they still want to see the excitement, after all, the strength of the Tang Dynasty is still there, although it has lost Huangfu Weiming, Wang Zhongsi, Gao Xianzhi, Feng Changqing and other famous generals, but now the Tang Dynasty is not without good generals available, and there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses from all over the Tang Dynasty. It's just that it's not easy to get together for a while, thinking of moving Datang, without adequate preparation, it is possible to steal chickens and not become a counter-erosion!

Xuanzong has some six gods and no masters, "How can this be?" Why is this happening? Zhao Qing, why did my Datang become the situation it is today? Although I have been a little slack in political affairs over the years, I am still very concerned about military affairs, why does my huge Tang Dynasty have no soldiers and horses? ”

Zhao Ziliang shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, you don't know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive, you say it in a word, we as courtiers will be in a hurry to gray hair overnight, fighting a war is not a simple matter, an infantry needs at least half a year of training, a crossbowman, and a cavalry need at least three years to go to the battlefield, otherwise they will be sent to death, a soldier needs a consistent salary every month, and now the situation is so rotten that the soldier's salary is getting higher and higher, and the military salary given is less, The morale of the soldiers cannot be raised, not to mention the military salary, only the weapons, armor, clothing and shoes and socks used by the soldiers, an ordinary infantry is neatly equipped and needs at least 180 yuan, if a light cavalry is only equipped with one horse, at least 500 yuan, this is still a second-class horse, if it is equipped with a first-class horse, it needs more than 1,000 yuan, if it is equipped with two horses, it needs more than 2,000 yuan, weapons and armor These things are not equipped with the army can be used for a lifetime, a set of equipment to fight a battle will be scrapped, it must be replaced, if in peacetime, and it only lasts for a year before it has to be replaced, as well as clothes, shoes and socks, at least two sets a year! 18 million guan is needed for 100,000 infantry to be fully equipped, 1.2 million guan is counted for the previous year's military salary, and then 1.2 million guan is counted, and then grain and grass, rewards and other burdens are counted, and the 100,000 army will have to spend 25 million guan if it does not fight in a year, and if it fights, it will cost even more, and it is necessary to replace equipment, pay bereavement pensions to the families of fallen soldiers, treat wounded soldiers, and issue rewards to meritorious soldiers. You can't let the soldiers go to the battlefield with their bare hands, right? Hexi and Longyou are originally vast and sparsely populated, and their products are poor, so how much tax can they collect every year? Hexi and Longyou can raise 150,000 horses is already the top of the sky, this is still the result of the painstaking management of each Jiedu, and if the ability is slightly worse, it will not be able to play at all! ”

Xuanzong listened to Zhao Ziliang's words, couldn't help but reach out and touch his forehead, and said with some shame: "It's because I'm not thoughtful!" At that time, the rebel army was attacking fiercely, and I was also sick and rushed to the hospital, so I didn't think much about it and issued an edict to let Hexi and Longyou transfer 50,000 soldiers and horses each to quell the rebellion, but I didn't expect that Hexi and Longyou would be evacuated by two consecutive troop transfers! Hey, what's wrong with my country? Why is it so vulnerable? Zhao Qing, you said, I want to hear the truth, if there are still people in the civil and military affairs of the Manchu Dynasty who dare to tell the truth, I am afraid that only you Zhao Ziliang will be the only one! ”

Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty relies on the ruling ministers to act as the government, and the ministers will be relieved to handle various government affairs for Your Majesty if they have salaries, status, and power, so that the people can produce and live with peace of mind, and the people will live and work in peace and contentment, and the Tang Dynasty will be stable, but these all need money and food, without money and food, the courtiers will have no salary to support their families, and they will use their power to obtain it illegally, and they don't even look down on that salary at all, because they can get more with power!" Without military salaries, the soldiers will not be able to defend the frontier and defend the safety of all parts of the Tang Dynasty with peace of mind! They will mutiny or rob the people. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 🔥 Where does the money come from? Of course, it comes from the taxation, the amount of taxes is determined by the country's economic situation, and the basis of the country's economic situation is whether the politics are clear, if the court is politically clear, then the people live and work in peace and contentment, the country's economic situation is naturally good, and there are many taxes, if the politics is not clear, corrupt officials and corrupt officials are rampant, resulting in the people can not produce with peace of mind, the taxes are naturally less, and the people who have no money to pay taxes are forced to be cornered to be robbers and horse bandits, and the taxes are all in the treasury? No, most of them went into the pockets of corrupt officials! Nowadays, the imperial court collects taxes according to the acres and capitations, but the gate lords and dignitaries do not have to pay taxes, they try every means to annex the fields of ordinary people, so that these people have no land to plant, so the tax of the imperial court is getting less and less, and there are more and more displaced people, and the displaced people have no way to live and naturally become bandits and robbers! ”

"Your Majesty, don't you still understand? The roots of Datang have begun to rot, the ministers and gate lords you appointed are eating away at the foundation of Datang, they have no concept of national supremacy in their minds, they only think about their own interests, they don't want to think about it, if Datang is finished, they will be better? If the skin does not have hair, will it be attached? Under the nest, will there be no eggs? ”

Xuanzong got up from the dragon chair and walked down slowly, walking slowly around the main hall, saying as he walked: "If the courtiers think like Zhao Qing, why should I be like this, but the court can't do without these ministers!" Although you didn't say it explicitly, I also know that I have been slacking off over the years, abandoning political affairs, and conniving at Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong and others, and I will slowly think of good ways to turn the situation around! Just now you said that my Datang is now in the midst of external and internal troubles, do you have any way to solve it? ”

As a generation of emperors, it is not easy for Xuanzong to admit his mistakes in front of his courtiers, and Zhao Ziliang can't be too demanding, he listened to Xuanzong's question, hugged his fists and said: "For internal rebellion, I have my own ministers and other troops to pacify it, An Lushan is just a clown jumping beam, don't be afraid!" From now on, the first thing the imperial court will do is to confuse and win over Tibet, supplemented by threats, so that Tibet will not dare to act rashly; Second, it is necessary to rectify the rule of officials from now on and crack down on the annexation of land by the gate lords and the wealthy clans. ”

Xuanzong touched his beard, nodded and said: "What Zhao Qing said is reasonable, this second point coincides with what I think, I am already thinking about it, but how to start with this first point?" ”

Zhao Ziliang said: "Weichen thinks that an envoy should be sent to Tibet. First, negotiate with Tibet to sign a covenant to demarcate the border line; Second, increase the trading quota of tea and horses, and sell a large number of expensive items such as silk and porcelain to Tibet, but strictly restrict the flow of iron into Tibet! If you want to buy a large number of war horses, furs, etc., you can increase the price appropriately! Third, the garrison of the border. Now that Hexi and Longyou have no troops to move to the border, and the troops in this counterinsurgency battlefield are not enough to be transferred back to Hexi and Longyou, Weichen thinks that he can hoard troops on the border line with Tubo from Anxi and Beiting to put pressure on Tubo! The imperial court can give an order to Anxi to stay behind in Liangzai, and let him order the transfer of troops to gather in the towns of Bolu and Huxu, and Weichen also gave an order to the Beiting Dadu Protectorate, so that the various departments of the Tocharian State under the jurisdiction of the Taixi Metropolitan Protectorate will send troops east into the north of Tianzhu, and at the same time contact the northern departments of Tianzhu to send troops to threaten the western border of Tubo, so as to distract the attention of the Tubo people, if the Tubo people feel that the western border is threatened, they will inevitably draw troops and horses from other places, so it turns out that the threat of Tubo to my Hexi and Longyou is much smaller, In addition, we can also send people to small countries such as the Pian country in the southwest, and say that they will create friction with the Tubo country, I think as long as there are enough benefits, they should not refuse, depending on whether the person sent has the ability! ”

After hearing this, Xuanzong slapped his palms and said happily: "Okay, Zhao Qing is really resourceful and decisive!" When I go back, I will write a detailed recital, and I will present it in the morning tomorrow morning! ”

Zhao Ziliang agreed: "Obey!" ”

Xuanzong said again: "What about Nanzhao? How is it treated? ”

Zhao Ziliang thought about it and said: "Nanzhao has only been established for a few years, and the current strength is not large, and my Datang is now unable to levy, so I can ignore it for the time being, if it wasn't for Yang Guozhong to let Xian Yu Zhongtong, a stupid person who doesn't understand military affairs and the truth of Nanzhao, crusade against Nanzhao, why would the situation be like this?" If you want to use troops against Nanzhao, you must choose a general who is familiar with the geography and weather of Nanzhao, and the best way to use the soldiers and horses is to recruit soldiers and horses near Nanzhao and then practice, these soldiers know how to repel insects and avoid miasma, if you let the army of the Central Plains go, I am afraid that before the start of the fight, the miasma will be lost by the poisonous insects. Before the good generals and the army are ready, we must not ignore the Nanzhao, we must set up a pass in the nearest dangerous place to surround the Nanzhao, prohibit all merchants from trading with the Nanzhao, prevent any goods from flowing into the Nanzhao, and do not buy any goods from the Nanzhao! After a few years of blocking, Nanzhao's national strength will inevitably decline! ”

Several other generals didn't understand the huge effect of these strategies that Zhao Ziliang said, but Xuanzong understood, and he was overjoyed: "The Qing family is a great talent!" (To be continued.) )