When Guo Shao returned to the study, Zuo You came over with a stack of memorials with classified contents. He bowed and placed the things on the imperial desk, saying: Please have a look, Your Majesty.
His movements were slow and steady, and even the smallest gestures seemed to be taken very seriously. Because this place was the center of the empire, everyone was extremely cautious in everything they did. Perhaps because of its importance, even the most ordinary little things were given a special atmosphere.
There was only one person who didn't take it so seriously, and that was Guo Shao. He was the master here, and no matter whether the master was right or wrong, others would help him out.
Your Majesty, Zhe Dejian has submitted a memorial. Zuo You mentioned it calmly again.
Oh, Guo Shao immediately lowered his head to look at the pile of things on the table. Zhe Dejian was a frontier official, and one of the people who always received attention in the court. Several cabinet assistants usually put the most important memorials in a prominent position on the top, and Guo Shao easily found the one on the top of the pile of memorials.
In his memorial, Zhe Dejian sounded as if he was answering the court's inquiries. Guo Shao couldn't remember whether he had asked anyone to ask him, nor was he quite sure which government office had decided to ask about the search for the Tangut leader Li Yiyin.
In short, Zhe Dejian replied in his memorial that he had obtained some clues that Li Yiyin was in the northern grasslands, but he has not been found yet.
Zuo You raised his head slightly, as if wondering whether he should leave. Guo Shao glanced at him and immediately started talking: The rules of Pingxia Province are not perfect yet, and I have an idea.
Zuo You immediately stayed there with peace of mind, clasped his fists and said: I am all ears.
Guo Shao thought for a while and said: This rule involves the gradual reform of the guards' military system. At present, most of the guards go home to farm or work after going to war; but this use really wastes the money spent by the court to equip and train the guards. They should be better used, that is, to guard the provinces. In this way, not only will the income be better than farming and working, but the role of the dynasty will also be greater.
Zuo You hurriedly said: Your Majesty, what you said is very true. I think it is good.
After hearing this, Guo Shao was a little happy and said: "Minister Zuo, tell this matter to other people, discuss it with them, and then formulate a specific implementation strategy according to my idea and let me review it."
Zuo You immediately bowed and said: “I obey your order.”
Guo Shao also expressed his own ideas in fragments. The provincial guards should not be a lifelong system, but should have a fixed number of years, with a rotation of three years at the shortest and five years at the longest. This has an advantage. The foundation of the provincial guards is still in the country, and the main force of the provincial military is not easy to leave the court.
Zuo You asked: "The soldiers of the Daxu Guard lived with the locals. Military law only strictly prohibited rape and plunder, but there was no law prohibiting the seduction of women. If the soldiers married local women, what rules should the court follow to deal with them?"
Guo Shao thought that neither he nor the Central Plains dynasty had much racial concept. The mainstream belief of the world was that if one merged into China, he would become a Chinese, and they recognized those who were truly naturalized. They did not have the obsession of the Germans during World War II to maintain their noble bloodline, and the Dangxiang people were also a yellow-skinned nation.
He immediately said: At the end of the rotation period, the soldiers can voluntarily bring their wives and concubines back to the local area. If they need to buy property, they don't have to worry about it. Since there is a deadline for garrison, the soldiers should not want to buy land and houses, and they can sell them temporarily.
Zuo You accepted the order and left.
Guo Shao sat in the chair behind the imperial desk and pondered for a while. The Japanese garrison in such a faraway place can last for five years; in Pingxia, it can be three years. This rule will not be very difficult to resist as long as the court has money. Because people in this era live at a slow pace, three to five years is not a long time for ordinary people. A military man is willing to exchange three to five years of garrison time for the guarantee of a wealthy family.
The provincial governor and the provincial guards will return to their homeland after three to five years to receive their due compensation, so they will never collude with local forces to create the risk of territorial division. The exiled Han native forces have no military power and are suppressed by the garrison. Without the guarantee of violence, they cannot cause much trouble. At present, this method seems to be able to protect the unity of the empire.
Because of the expenses of the provincial guards, the court's military expenditure will increase, but the use of provincial resources, trade and transportation will increase the court's income, so it should be able to maintain it. Guo Shao predicted that the finances of the Daxu Dynasty would follow a trajectory of equally expanding income and expenditure.
Guo Shao turned his head and reached out to touch the location of Jiaozhi County at the bottom of the map. From the perspective of resource allocation, he became very interested in the grain production in the south.
However, after looking for a while, he moved his gaze upwards and looked at the in-depth layout of the military preparations and national defense in Hexi, the Western Regions, Liaoxi and Liaodong, which were the most urgent and important.
The spring breeze brought some green to the wasteland east of Lingzhou. From afar, that barren land seemed to have turned into a grassland.
A team of agile war horses rushed out of the bare valley, and the forest and grassland in front immediately brightened people's eyes.
A middle-aged man in armor and holding a sharp weapon in front of him kicked his horse roughly, spurred his horse forward impatiently, then jumped off the horse, squatted down by a stream and scooped up a handful of clear water.
The middle-aged man sighed comfortably.
Mr. Zhe, if we follow this road, we will soon reach Lingzhou, said a scholar in a robe.
The middle-aged man Zhe Dejian nodded.
At this time, the scholar frowned and scolded: "You guys, didn't you see Mr. Zhe drinking water here? Lead the horse downstream to drink water."
The soldiers responded quickly.
Zhe Dejian took off the leather water bag on his belt and put it into the stream to fill it with water. The scholar beside him was busy doing some trivial things. After a while, the scholar spoke again: I heard that Li Yiyin's daughter is still a virtuous concubine, and the emperor is very favored. This is to recruit Li Yiyin to surrender to the court; but we sent people to arrest Li Yiyin everywhere. Now we are in a dilemma. We can neither offer a reward for his arrest nor appease him according to the attitude of the court.
Zhe Dejian suddenly asked, why can't we follow the court's attitude
The scholar lowered his voice and said in a deep voice: The court is mainly concerned with appeasement. I guess it is not only to stabilize the hearts of the Dangxiang people in Pingxia, but also to consider the Dangxiang tribes west of Lingzhou. But Zhe Gong is different. After all, Zhe Gong has some origins with the Dangxiang people. The more Zhe Gong seems to hate the Li family, the more the court is relieved.
Zhe Dejian remained calm and pointed at the scholar, saying: "You are too smart. I have met the emperor, and he is not a narrow-minded person.
The scholar felt a little embarrassed after hearing this, but immediately put on an attitude of being loyal and planning for Zhe Dejian: Compared with the emperor's mind, I am naturally a mean person. Even if the emperor trusts Zhe Gong, it is inevitable that there will be villains in the court who will slander me.
Zhe Dejian hummed and made a sound.
The scholar saw that Zhe Dejian did not seem to want to continue talking about the previous topic, so he looked around and talked about something else: Why did the court hurriedly urge Lingzhou to increase the number of horses purchased in the trade? Was it going to use troops again
Zhe Dejian straightened up and said: I'm afraid that's true.
The scholar said: The troops must be deployed in the north, otherwise increasing the number of war horses will be of little use.
Zhe Dejian turned his head and looked at him: That makes sense.
The scholars were encouraged and immediately discussed with great interest: From last year to this year, the court has been constantly transferring grain to Lingzhou for storage. Is this because they are going to march west again
Zhe Dejian said: I heard that Daxu had secret discussions with Goryeo when it was heading east to attack Japan, and it might have headed northeast. Daxu's biggest rival was still Liao.
The scholar nodded and said: We really need to wait before we can see the direction clearly.
Zhe Dejian said: We don’t need to worry about this matter for now. What should we do to increase the war horse trading volume under our noses? I want to hear your ideas.
The scholar pondered for a moment and said: The factors that hindered the war horse trade were, first, that the Ganzhou Uighurs charged too much toll, and second, the hidden dangers posed to the caravans by the Tangut Tubo tribes west of Lingzhou.
After listening to this, Zhe Dejian nodded continuously and continued speaking.
The scholar said: As long as we put pressure on these two forces and make them give in, we can firstly reduce the cost of buying war horses and have more money to buy horses; secondly, we can reduce the loss of war horses along the way. Naturally, the war horse trade increased.
The more Zhe Dejian listened, the more interested he became. It seemed like great minds had similar ideas: how to exert pressure
The scholar said: "Now Daxu's military prowess is well-known in all directions. He defeated Xia in one battle and made the island country far away in the East China Sea surrender in a few months. The tribes in Hexi are very afraid and terrified. Lord Zhe can tell the people stationed in the inns of the tribes in Lingzhou that the court is very dissatisfied with the lack of trade routes in the west, and the nobles of the tribes will be panicked and restrained."
Zhe Dejian nodded slightly, this is a good idea.
The imperial court is dissatisfied with the blocked trade routes. Given the emperor's unrivaled conduct, it is very likely that he will resolve the issue in the west by force. This statement is actually a threat to the tribes to submit by force.
However, Zhe Dejian was still not sure that the tribes would surrender. The forces in the northwest were complicated and complicated. Who would not live on the edge of a knife? The tribes in Ganzhou and the tribes near the left in Hexi had been collecting tolls and plundering for so long. They wanted to make others spit out the meat in their mouths with just a few words.
Gambling is really interesting. Zhe Dejian said calmly that the emperor also likes this thing.
The scholar was immediately in awe, because Zhe Dejian had mentioned more than once in front of his subordinates that he and the emperor had played chess together. The scholar said in awe: The emperor is very good at playing chess.
Zhe Dejian smiled and said: I don’t know what kind of chessboard you are talking about. The official is sometimes smart and sometimes confused.
When the scribe heard this, he was filled with thoughts.
At this time, the soldiers were ready after resting. Zhe Dejian turned around and waved to his guards to bring his mount over. Zhe Dejian looked up to the west, and the sun was already hanging over the woods. He said loudly, "Hurry up so that we can reach Lingzhou before dark."