When people look back at the magnificent Great Patriotic War of the Holy Tang Dynasty, they often find a very peculiar phenomenon, that is, there are some very obvious gaps between several main forces in the same period.

This gap is mainly reflected in the condition of equipment and combat capability.

In terms of the number of troops alone, whether it is the emperor's direct troops, or the southern army or the western army, at least at the beginning of the 828 year of the Holy Tang calendar, there is not much difference.

Under Li Bing's command, the Liaodong Governor's Mansion, the Yinshan Governor's Mansion and the Hebei Province continued to recruit and replenish the government soldiers, with a total strength of about 350,000.

The Jingxiang army, which was dominated by the southern state capital, that is, the southern army, maintained its strength at about 450,000.

The Zhenjiang Army, known as the "Western Army", numbered 380,000 after the Ninth Army joined.

However, proximity in strength does not mean that there is no distance in strength.

To put it simply, the Western Army was the strongest, the Northern Army was second, and the Southern Army had the most soldiers, but its strength was the weakest.

The main branch of the Southern Army is infantry, especially light infantry, which occupies a very large proportion in the army. It is no wonder, after all, the southern part of Shengtang is mostly hilly and mountainous, and the water system is also developed vertically and horizontally, and the cavalry and heavy infantry basically have little room to play there, which is a kind of less essential existence.

Li Bing's direct legion, or the Northern Army, was a mixed state of infantry and cavalry. On the one hand, those border armies that have been guarding the frontier for a long time and fighting against alien races in the grassland need to fight with cavalry, so whether it is the Liaodong Metropolitan Protectorate or the Yinshan Metropolitan Governor's Mansion, they all have a considerable number of cavalry troops with good quality. The soldiers of Hebei Province, as well as the armies of the Central Plains, Qilu and other places, were influenced by agricultural civilization, and more of them were mainly infantry, supplemented by cavalry.

On the other hand, Li Jiangyao's Zhenjiang Army, on the basis of the mixed infantry and cavalry corps, also deliberately formed a pure heavy cavalry corps and a heavy infantry corps, and its professionalism was far superior to that of the Northern Army and the Southern Army.

Not only that, but the quality of the armor, weapons, horses, equipment, etc., of the Zhenjiang Army is much better than that of friendly troops.

The upgrading of the armed forces, coupled with sophisticated weaponry and equipment, has made the comprehensive combat strength of the Western Army significantly higher.

And this has also been confirmed by the enemy.

The Turkic Great Khan Ashina Zhijin and the Temple Prince Ronia both agreed that among the soldiers and horses of the Shengtang Dynasty, the troops of the several towns were the most difficult to deal with.

People can't help but ask, why was the Western Army under Li Jiangyao able to have better conditions? And the Holy Tang Emperor, who controlled a large territory in the north, had no way to improve the strength of the northern and southern armies in the short term?

There is only one answer, the economy.

Strictly speaking, Western Xinjiang is actually far less prosperous than Shengtang.

The Holy Tang Dynasty had a vast land, a large population, and extremely rich products. Whether it is agriculture, commerce, or handicrafts, its degree of development is significantly ahead of that of Western Xinjiang. However, even so, the economic conditions of the Shengtang court around 828 were much worse than those in Western Xinjiang.

There are probably three reasons for this contrast.

First, the economic structure of Shengtang and Western Xinjiang is completely different.

Shengtang is heavy on agriculture, and Western Xinjiang is heavy on business. As the hub of the Silk Road trade route, the ghost desert of Western Xinjiang has formed a complete and mature commercial system for hundreds of years, and has made a lot of profits by taking advantage of the trade transit between the eastern and western continents.

As the chaos gradually subsided, the Zhenjiang military government restored the commercial and trade ties between Western Xinjiang and the Western Continent through the Persian giant merchant Emmeni, thus injecting vitality into the local economy in a short period of time.

In contrast, the economic base of Shengtang is mainly based on land and population. When the land was occupied and destroyed by the invading army, and a large number of laborers fled to escape the war, the agricultural system was fundamentally destroyed and its vitality was greatly damaged.

Second, the political foundation of Shengtang and Western Xinjiang also affected the economy.

The Holy Tang Dynasty has always been a highly centralized unified dynasty. Under normal circumstances, a well-developed administrative system would ensure the smooth functioning of the entire empire, giving it a governance advantage over Western Xinjiang.

However, there are times when an advantage can turn into a disadvantage. A complete state of unification is very efficient, but once there is a serious split within it, the original political system will not only fail to function, but will become a drag on the operation of the imperial dynasty.

For a long time, the territory of Shengtang fell apart, with Li Bing in the north, Li Kui in Lianghuai, Lao Jianhua in the south of the Yangtze River, and the imperial court office in the southwest.

There are many political departments, the world is in chaos, and the fiscal and taxation powers, which are closely linked to the political power, are simply unable to support the needs of the military and government.

On the other hand, although a large number of vassal states in the Western Xinjiang have been in their own ways, they have always been like this, and they are completely able to develop flexibly according to their own characteristics, and it is easier to recover from the war.

The coordination of the Zhenjiang military government in the center played the role of the central court to a large extent, which could help various vassal states learn from each other's strengths and develop rapidly.

Third, there is an essential difference between the leaders of Shengtang and Western Xinjiang.

Although Emperor Li Bing had the experience of supervising the state and assisting the government, his thinking and consciousness were far inferior to Li Jiangyao.

When Li Bing was still pondering how to consolidate the monarch's power and how to play games with the imperial court and warlords, Li Jiangyao had already begun to think about the issue of recuperation and restoring the people's strength.

It is often said that what a leader is thinking, his subordinates will consider.

The civil and military officials under Li Bing, like their emperors, focused most of their energy on the balance of power, and few of them cared about matters other than the court and war. And the leaders of the Zhenjiang Army, even including Xu Youchang, Du Jian and others who commanded operations on the front line, opened their mouths and closed their mouths on the topic of economic recovery.

Under the combined effect of these factors, the gap between the Shengtang Imperial Court and the Zhenjiang Military Government in terms of financial and material resources is getting wider and wider.

So much so that in the end, the Eastern Capital was even nervous about distributing food and salaries to the Northern Army and the Southern Army, but the Zhenjiang Army immediately began to build the heavy infantry of the Seventh and Eighth Armies after the Sixth Army completed the upgrade.

Of course, it would be inaccurate to say that no one in the imperial court cared about the close connection between the economy and the military. At least, Dong Tianxing, the new squire of the military department, quickly discovered this serious problem.

He proposed to the emperor that the economic situation in the northern region of Shengtang must be quickly restored so that sufficient resources could be provided for the army. Otherwise, let alone recruiting a large number of new soldiers to participate in the war, or forming a strong heavy armored army, even the current army of more than 800,000 people will almost be unable to raise.

Li Bing didn't particularly care about Dong Tianxing's opinion at first.

The reason is simple. He thinks that Dong Tianxing, an official of the Ministry of War, has no heart for money and food? Now that the imperial court has come to the Eastern Capital, all the ministers have their own positions and perform their duties, and there will be people from the household department and the Taifu to take care of the financial and tax problems, and the military department should not cross the line to ask questions and stretch out their hands too long.

But soon, Li Bing's mind changed.

Because Dong Tianxing told him that the Zhenjiang Army was about to complete the formation of the third heavy infantry corps.

Li Bing had heard the report of the Ministry of War before, so he knew very well how much financial and material resources it would take to establish a pure heavy armor army of tens of thousands of people.

Now Li Jiangyao has actually created three armies at once, a full 150,000 heavily armored infantry, which is simply unbelievable and terrifying!

No, if the Western Army can be organized, the imperial court must also be organized, and it must be rectified as soon as possible.

"Your Majesty, it is difficult for a good woman to cook without rice. Without silver, the minister can't do it. ”

Dong Tianxing spread his hands and looked sad.

Li Bing knew that the other party was right. The heavy armor is very strong, because it is made of silver. Without money, there would be no good soldiers and sophisticated equipment, and there would be no way to build a legion.

He immediately found Chen Hong, the head of the household department, and Wei Zixuan, the secretary of the Taifu, and asked them to pay.

Chen Hong is an old minister of the first emperor, who has been in charge of the household department for many years, and has always spoken very weightily in the court. In the face of the emperor's "unreasonable" request, he bowed his hand slightly, and two words popped out of his mouth.

"No money."

"No money?" Li Bing's brows immediately furrowed: "Didn't your household department bring out 40 million pieces of silver and 2,000 catties of gold from Yizhou?" Coupled with the treasury money I have accumulated here, how can I have no money? ”

Chen Hong folded his fingers and counted Li Bing: "Your Majesty, there is indeed money in the treasury, but it is almost full. First of all, many state capitals in Hebei Province encountered a severe drought last year, while Henan Province was plagued by poisonous soldiers, and the two places urgently needed disaster relief, which occupied a large amount of funds; Secondly, the Ministry of Industry proposed a while ago that the Imperial City of the Eastern Capital and the various yamen offices need to be expanded and repaired as soon as possible, so it is another large expense; In addition, in order to deal with the southern rebels, General Murong planned to build five hundred new warships within half a year, and the expenditure on craftsmen and materials had been approved by His Majesty, and we needed to reserve enough for them in advance; In addition, there are also arrears of Ma Hongjie's military salary for half a year. Yesterday, the Yugoslav army sent people to urge them again, and even threatened that if they did not send them again, the soldiers might mutiny. ”

Chen Hong sighed: "That's it, not counting the officials' salaries and the daily expenses of the imperial court. The old minister is worried that he will have to owe them again this month. ”

Li Bing was depressed, and turned his head to look at Wei Zixuan: "What about taxes?" Didn't you bring up the taxes? ”

Wei Zixuan hurriedly bowed down and replied, "Your Majesty forgives you." Taxes are collected, but not much. ”

He paused and explained seriously: "In the past, in peaceful years, taxes were all in accordance with the rules of southern wealth and northern grain. The south has a well-developed handicraft industry and commerce, so it is mainly to hand over money, supplemented by food; Agriculture in the north is superior, close to the imperial capital and the eastern capital, and the demand is also large, so it is mainly to pay grain, supplemented by money. At present, the north is suffering from natural disasters and wars, and the grain harvest is poor, and the south is occupied by rebels and cannot collect taxes, so they ......"

Li Bing waved his hand impatiently: "Okay, I know all this. Tell me what you have to do. ”

Chen Hong glanced at Wei Zixuan first, and then said: "Your Majesty, the household department is only responsible for the scheduling of money and grain in the imperial court, regardless of income and input, so the only way the minister can think of is to demolish the east wall and make up the west wall." Let's see which big expenses can be temporarily stopped and transferred to the Heavy Armor Legion first. ”

Wei Zixuan secretly scolded Chen Hongzhen for throwing the pot, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, the minister believes that the tax ratio should be raised as soon as possible to increase the revenue of the treasury. ”

Li Bing was slightly stunned: "How to adjust?" ”

"The rule of ten taxes and one in the imperial court is obviously out of date." Wei Zixuan said: "At present, the current great enemy, the expenditure of the army is naturally much larger than before, and the tax revenue is still maintained at the level of the first emperor, which is a pedantic move that does not know how to change. The minister suggested that the ratio be raised to five taxes and one tax, and at the same time increase the war donation. On the basis of population, if there are no young men in the family, or if young and middle-aged men do not join the army, they must pay war contributions. ”