Yang Zhi put down his glass of wine, "The country is really not suitable for a large-scale military development now. First of all, there is no money. The national treasury is now empty and there are rats to run away. If it weren't for me to support the scene with the issuance of banknotes, I'm afraid the officials' salaries would have been lost." It’s hard to say it out…”
"If you want to put down the rebellion in Hunchun, although the imperial court has a great reputation and can win the support of the princes outside the pass, for such a large land, less than 150,000 elite soldiers are absolutely not enough..."
"The 150,000 elite soldiers would have to be matched with 300,000 civilians to transport supplies and provide support, and the number of people involved in the local area would be millions. Where can we get so much money? We don't have 10 million on hand. Don’t even think about fighting if you have two cents of silver..."
"The first problem is money, and the second problem is whether it can be won. Don't forget that Hunchun did not act without authorization. He still holds His Majesty's imperial edict in his hand. In fact, we can't say that he is rebelling! "
"Once the weapons are used, it will be an admission to the whole world that the imperial court has been divided into two factions. What do foreigners think? What do Han people think? Will someone use their brains?"
Li Tuo nodded, "That's right! Not to mention there is a volunteer army in the Far East! Even though they have just formed an army, they can compete with the powerful Tsarist Russia and win. What do you think of their combat effectiveness? Will these people support Hunchun? ? I think it will definitely happen. This adds a few more variables..."
Yang Zhi picked up a piece of horse lotus meat and put it into his mouth, chewing the strong fragrance and smiling slightly, "The volunteers are Xiao Letian's pawns. From now on, the Far East will be his sphere of influence no matter how he plays. If he is really anxious, why would the Chinese army join the war?" What to do? Even if you don’t join the war, providing some arms and supplies is still a big trouble!"
"So! I don't think the chance of the imperial court winning is high. There is a 70% to 80% chance that it will definitely lose!"
Yi Pei frowned, "Are you really so pessimistic?"
Yang Zhi and Li Tuo clapped their hands at the same time and said in unison, "Isn't it so pessimistic! What's even more frightening is, who in the court dares to let Prince Gong lead the army?"
"Thirty thousand Xishan New Army is the core, and more than 100,000 Eight Banners disciples are gathered together. As soon as the soldiers are mobilized...hehehe, the imperial court will not be able to control this army!"
"If the foreign emperor refuses to accept his orders, Yi can arbitrarily integrate these more than 100,000 people. He will be rewarded by his high-ranking officials and generous salaries, but will not be framed and punished by him. He will use the 30,000 Xishan new army as the skeleton to disrupt the army of more than 100,000 people. It is his right to reorganize the establishment!"
"When the army is integrated, the court will not be able to take it away. All the middle and high-level officers are direct slaves of Guizi Liu. How do you think the court can control it? This has become Guizi Liu's private army! "
Li Tuo stretched out on the back of his chair and shouted without looking back, "Yanzhihu... fry up a portion of your most famous lotus chicken slices, and warm up a pot of wine!"
Listening to the words of agreement from Yan Zhihu and the little maid in the back room, Li Tuo drank a large drink comfortably. "Don't say that Prince Gong has no energy. I think back then he was a popular man in front of Emperor Xuanzong, and he was just a little short of the throne." That’s it…”
"To put it bluntly, this country was originally obtained by the late emperor through deception. The six Japanese devils have higher expectations than Master Xianfeng! If one day he raises his arms and calls out, and more than 100,000 tigers under his men respond, do you think that in the Forbidden City? What can the orphans and widowers do? Aren’t they just waiting for a mutiny..."
The gloomy words made Yi Pei feel a chill on his neck, "No...it can't be like that! After all, my imperial brother is the successor chosen by Xian Kao himself, and the ministers support him... no one... no one will follow the sixth brother." What a nonsense..."
"Tch..." Yang Zhi curled his lips. He and Li Tuo had long been direct relatives of Yi Pei, and there was no need to hesitate to say many treacherous things.
"Tch... do you really believe in destiny? It's just because of your big fists. How did you kill Yongzheng when he came to power? Qianlong also had his opponents who were assassinated... Not to mention during the Daoguang Dynasty, your prince How did the fourth brother and the sixth brother fight for each other..."
"Actually, in the eyes of the courtiers, it really doesn't matter who becomes the emperor. Anyway, there is no rule about the eldest son in the country..."
What Yang Zhi said is indeed true. The dynasties ruled by Han Confucianism all emphasized the eldest son's inheritance. This has a very strict set of rules. This is the ancient etiquette.
For a prince, his order of succession depends first on his birth order, and secondly on his mother's status. The boys born to the queen naturally have priority in inheritance, while the children of concubines and others have to defer later.
And the order is very important. The eldest son is born to be the prince. Only after the eldest son dies can the second and third sons have a chance. This is Confucian etiquette. This rule seems very unreasonable, because no one knows whether the eldest son is intelligent enough. , but in ancient times this etiquette also had advantages.
That is to greatly avoid the civil strife caused by the prince's seizure of the heir apparent to the country. This is actually a last resort to avoid internal strife.
This was not the case in the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The tribal military alliance that emerged from the White Mountains and Black Waters believed most in strength, that is, meritocracy. The more sons, the better, but who can inherit the family business depends on who is more capable.
Kangxi gave birth to many sons, and in his later years many sons competed for the title of heir. In fact, this was a scene that Kangxi wanted to see. Only by fighting and killing could the best descendants be selected, and the dynasty could continue and become more and more prosperous.
There is nothing wrong with this principle in itself, and it seems very reasonable. However, in the eyes of Confucian scholars like Zeng Guofan, Weng Tonghe, and even pseudo-Confucian scholars like Xiao Letian, this principle actually has big loopholes.
Putting many children in the arena, fighting each other and internally fighting to choose the most powerful one is the same as the way Tibetans raise Tibetan mastiffs.
In his previous life, Xiao Letian met a Tibetan friend in college. This classmate once told a story. In ancient times, when Tibetan mastiffs were not very valuable, Tibetans always paid attention to natural selection when raising mastiffs.
A female dog gives birth to a litter of puppies, digs a deep hole in the snow, puts all the puppies in it, and then doesn't feed them until one of the puppies kills the other brothers and eats their meat to survive. Only a dog can be called a mastiff.
Just listening to this story can feel the smell of blood rushing towards your face. When the princes competed for the throne in the later years of Kangxi, the bloody storm within the Qing Dynasty was a memory that many people could not bear to look back on. So many people died.
Yang Zhi put down his wine glass and said in a very lonely voice, "Actually, Xiao Letian has understood the truth here very early. This system of choosing an heir through natural selection has one of the biggest prerequisites, that is, you must have many descendants. Choose, you must know that most people will not have more than three sons..."
"Just like Emperor Xianfeng, wouldn't Zaichun be the only son in the end? In this way, the natural selection that the Manchus believe in will cause huge hidden dangers..."
