"Not to mention the war horses, Mongolia often dispatches millions of good horses, and there are only dozens of usable war horses among the thousands of people in our army, almost relying on two legs to deal with the enemy who advances and retreats like a wind, such inferior material conditions, such a strong and brave enemy, it can be said that the Bi'an Dynasty has never faced a challenge, ask yourself even if Sun Wu is resurrected, what good way can it be?"

Bai Yijie put down the feather fan, and his smiling face became serious: "There is a way, the question is whether the manager has the determination and will." ”

The breeze tinkled the wind chimes hanging under the eaves, and the white mist filled the small tea cups. The plum blossoms on the red plum trees outside the window were shaken by the wind and fell one after another, sprinkling a rain of flowers in the courtyard.

Falling Ying is colorful, the bell is pleasant, and four young people of similar age are sitting in the grass house, and they will determine the future fate of the Great Song Dynasty.

Zheng Yunming stood up and bent down deeply towards Bai Yijie.

"Although Zheng Yunming is a stupid person, please don't spare any effort and teach me the strategy of Pingrong."

Wang Deng and Yang Luo naturally didn't dare to slack off, and they also got up and bowed to Bai Yijie.

Bai Yijie stepped forward to help Zheng Yunming, and said with his hand: "Bai Yijie is a wild horseman, what kind of clever Pingrong strategy can he have?" The right to talk about it, and listen to the general manager. ”

After that, he helped Zheng Yunming back to his seat. Pacing long and talking.

"As the governor said, Hulu has millions of elite soldiers, tens of millions of war horses, this unprecedented strong enemy, now it is sitting on the Jiangbei Eighth Road, the hinterland of the Central Plains, and has the land of Liaodong, Tubo, Western Xia and the Western Regions Sixty Kingdoms, not only in the military, but also in the land and population of the Great Song Dynasty, this is an invincible opponent for a while, and can only barely defend at the moment, and cannot compete with it."

"If you want to defeat the Mongols, the first strategy is to wait."

"Wait?" Yang Yu sneered: "Can't sit back and wait for these million Mongolian troops to die of old age? ”

Bai Yijie said slowly: "The governor just said that Mongolia conquered one country and destroyed another, and did not learn the local culture and rules and regulations at all. This was the Mongols' strategy to conquer the local people, but it was their own biggest mistake. ”

"The nomadic country of Mobei is strong in martial arts, and its biggest weakness is that it does not have a complete heir system. Naturally, the method of publicly electing the leader through the tribal assembly is because of the difference in the strength of the tribe, but there is not only one strong tribe on the grassland, and each powerful tribe supports its own leader to compete with each other, which is the root cause of Mobei's inability to appear stable and powerful for thousands of years. ”

"People who grow up in the bitter cold of the far north usually have very low lifespans, and Temujin, who is only a pound, is a special case. Although Temujin created a system in which he could not become a Great Khan in order to manage more land and people than on the steppe, his four sons were already in good shape when he was alive, and the current Genghis Khan was a good drinker and obese. If he dies once, will the Mongols still be able to unite as he did in the world and fight together in the south and west? ”

"Once the Mongols are embroiled in internal strife, it's not just a matter within the Golden Family." Bai Yijie's eyes showed sharpness: "We can do something earth-shattering in it." ”

Wokotai is about to die, Zheng Yunming naturally knows this for a long time.

"It's a pity that the country has accumulated too many evils," Zheng Yunming shook his head and sighed: "I'm afraid that before the time can make earth-shattering articles, the Mongols already have a new leader." ”

"So the second step is that we have to build up national strength. Otherwise, even if you wait for a golden opportunity, you can only watch it slip away. Bai Yijie turned around and asked Zheng Yunming: "The chief manager thinks that the disadvantages of the Great Song Dynasty are the most important things that need to be solved?" ”

Zheng Yunming muttered: "At present, of course, the most urgent problem is the low combat effectiveness of the army. The second is the incompetence and weakness of the bureaucracy, but the situation of land annexation is also very serious."

Looking at his hesitant appearance, Bai Yijie just shook his fan and smiled.

"The most priority that needs to be solved is to give Da Song a chance to 'be an eye'."

Bai Yijie explained: "Today's situation in the Great Song Dynasty is like a game of chess that has been played to the end of the mountain, if you want to revitalize this dead game, you must initiate changes in a corner, make it the eye that changes the situation, and then save the big dragon on the board through this local eye." ”

Wang Deng smiled bitterly: "Now that the national situation is stiff, we need to find a local breakthrough, which is the view of many people, but at this point, even if any change is made, it will cause a backlash from the whole society, and it is not easy to do it." ”

"Innovation comes at a cost." Zheng Yunming still remembers that when he was in Lin'an, his teacher once said that a certain court official compared himself to Wang Anshi, if he was not completely sure, he would not easily touch the pattern of interests accumulated for three hundred years: "But it is not necessarily a wise choice to forcibly promote reform with the help of the Holy Grace like Wang Jiefu, the country gets a little benefit and the people's resentment is boiling, and the small profit loses the overall situation." ”

"What's more, there is nothing to do inside and outside the Divine Sect Dynasty, and you can rest assured that you can boldly promote the change. Now there are internal troubles and strong enemies outside, at this time, a change in the law will not cure the Great Song Dynasty, but it may bury the little remaining foundation of the most rear. ”

"So the price of change is best not borne by Da Song." Bai Yijie said as he picked up a scroll from the table.

"This geographical map of the mountains and rivers of the sixteen countries of the South Seas." He said with a resolute look on his face: "In order to save the Great Song Dynasty, I can't say anything, I can only let the Nanyang countries come to be sacrificed." ”

Zheng Yunming shook his head: "Attacking Nanyang, how easy is it to say, not to mention that the land is rich and the people are abundant, the population is large, and the big countries often claim to have 100,000 soldiers and 1,000 warships, and it is difficult to conquer with 350,000 soldiers and horses at will." Let's just say that this road is a long and dangerous way, with thousands of miles of sea in between, and the army travels far away by boat, and even a grain of rice, a pill, and an arrow have to be transported thousands of miles from the rear, and the slightest disadvantage will bring down the entire country's economy. ”

"You don't understand it right." Bai Yijie said: "Nanyang does not need a large army to occupy the officials and set up a government office for our country like Jiangnan in the Central Plains, but the existence of the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty. ”

"Nanyang has land and people, a complete country, and the ocean barrier, not to mention that the strategy is not easy, even if it takes a lot of soldiers, horses, money and food to fight down, there is no good way to manage it for a long time."

"Its significance to the country is generally what the meaning of the Western Regions is to the Han Dynasty. There is no need to kill the king and destroy the country, as long as the influence of the Great Song Dynasty is guaranteed to completely cover all countries, the benefits will naturally come endlessly. ”

Zheng Yunming still shook his head: "This is not easy, the reason why the Western Regions tolerate the expansion of the Central Plains is because he has the same enemy as the Great Han - the Xiongnu, but the Nanyang countries are thousands of miles away from the Mongols, and they will not unconditionally allow the Great Song to put their hands into their forbidden belly." ”

"If there is no enemy, make an enemy for them." Bai Yijie's tone was flat, and it seemed that he was talking about ordinary trivial matters, rather than a conspiracy to kill people and bring disaster to the country: "There is a big country in the west of the Nanyang countries, called Bagan, which has worked hard in recent decades, and its ambitions are all in the South Seas. As long as a few capable people are sent in, they can get in touch with the king of Bagan and use their means from it, and it is not difficult to see Bagan's army appear in front of the Nanyang Three Buddhas, Chenla, and Japa countries in a few years, and the soldiers and horses of the Great Song Dynasty will naturally be used at that time. ”

"For his own benefit, he actually wants to provoke thousands of people thousands of miles away to fight, and the people are anointed by the soldiers?" Zheng Yunming raised his eyes and sneered: "So with so many twists and turns, what can the Great Song Dynasty get from Nanyang?" ”

"Get a new future." Bai Yijie stroked the picture scroll with his hand and said eloquently: "There are too many disadvantages of the Great Song Dynasty, but in the final analysis, there are several things. The common consequence of the low combat effectiveness of the army, the inefficiency of the bureaucracy, and the increasing concentration of land in favor of the noble and powerful is that the common people have a heavy tax burden, which makes the tax burden of the common people of our dynasty far greater than that of the previous dynasty, and places the whole society in a dangerous balance, and the slightest mistake may provoke the masses to take risks and rebel. ”

"The first task is to reduce the burden on the people. And what we need to do to reduce the burden is nothing more than these three things: improve the combat effectiveness of the army and reduce the number. Increase the effectiveness of the use of officials and eliminate the incompetent. We will try to equalize the land and give the peasants land to cultivate so that they can have a stable life. ”

"But then we can solve these three things by planning Nanyang?" Zheng Yunming has not yet seen what the relationship between Bai Yijie's so-called Nanyang strategy and domestic reform is.

"To plan the South Seas, we must use troops. The national army has been weak all year round, so it is impossible to use them. The new army must be used to attack the South Seas, and after the New Army has gone through the South Sea campaign, it can be transferred to the battlefield against Mongolia and gradually replace those unhelpful border troops. ”

"To plan Nanyang, you must place subordinate officials, reduce the number of county officials, and assign them to Nanyang as officials, although it is really demeaning, but if you lure them with Houlu Gaojue, there will inevitably be many people who will take risks to go."

"To plan the South Seas, we will inevitably expand our land and colonize. At that time, sending the poor people of the country to cultivate, or using the method of dividing the land directly under the nobles and the powerful, whether directly or indirectly, will have an equal effect. ”

Zheng Yunming nodded and said: "Whenever the contradictions in the country intensify, the use of troops outside the territory is a shortcut to smooth the contradictions. However, the premise is that the soldiers are strong and brave, and the commanders are wise, otherwise once they are defeated, they will become the cause of chaos. ”

"We not only need elite soldiers, but also pay attention to intelligence collection." Bai Yijie said: "If the governor really wants to implement this policy, from now on, he must select capable talents and send them to various countries in the South Seas to investigate the internal situation. ”

Zheng Yunming nodded thoughtfully, when it came to going to Nanyang, he really had several capable candidates.