Zhang Xi understood Zhuge Liang's silent attitude immediately.
Obviously, Pang Tong and Fazheng did not agree to launch the Fourth Northern Expedition immediately.
In war, no matter how well-prepared you are, you only fight for money and food.
In recent years, the two major sources of money and food expenditures for the Northern Expedition have basically been allocated to the heads of Shu and Jingzhou families. As long as the people have how much food they have in their hands, it is considered good for them to survive.
Therefore, in addition to misappropriating the court's taxes and finances during the Northern Expedition, the aristocratic families in the two places also lost a lot of money.
Although there may not be no benefits, the problem is that after three Northern Expeditions in ten years, and now the fourth Northern Expedition is about to begin, the wealthy families will also complain.
I won’t let you go on the Northern Expedition. Why don’t we take a break? !
You can't really treat us like donkeys! ! !
Therefore, although Pang Tong and Fazheng both understood Zhuge Liang's intentions and knew that Zhuge Liang's current thinking was right, it would naturally be the best outcome if they went all the way to Luoyang while they still had some remaining strength.
But they still have to object.
The last time we conquered Guanzhong, we got such a big harvest. You Zhuge Liang also knew that you had to rest for five years. Now it's better. We only conquered Nanyang County, and only the Jingzhou family had a share, and the Yizhou family could only live dryly. Are you coming again now? !
What if you can't win? !
Even if you can win, what if the fight is very difficult and takes a long time? !
The consumption of money and food can't keep up with the speed of income. Who is willing to lose money? ! !
Therefore, most of the Jingzhou family and Yizhou family are not very interested in Zhuge Liang's idea of the Northern Expedition.
Naturally, Pang Tong and Fazheng, as representatives of their interests, could only stand up and express their objections.
This resulted in Zhuge Liang having to seek the support of other important ministers and use the power of the military and nobles to suppress the opposition of these aristocratic families.
The first thing that needs to be supported is the support of Zhang Xi who is currently guarding Jingzhou.
In Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition plan, Jingzhou has always been a very important part. If even Zhang Xi does not support his Northern Expedition plan, then Zhuge Liang may really have to consider whether to postpone the Northern Expedition.
Therefore, the marriage of his children is secondary to Zhuge Liang. What is really important is to persuade Zhang Xi to accept his idea of the Northern Expedition, and together they write to the court to request another Northern Expedition.
But the problem is that for Zhang Xi, the big deal is when his daughter gets married.
No matter what happens, let’s wait until the wedding is over.
In this way, Zhang Xi used this matter as an excuse to temporarily avoid the meeting where Zhuge Liang persuaded him, returned to his home in Chang'an, and began to prepare for his daughter's marriage.
It’s really not that Zhang Xi abandoned his official position for personal reasons. It was such a big matter, Zhuge Liang had to give himself time to think about it.
The Northern Expedition is not about going out to buy groceries. This is a major matter that affects the life and death of tens of thousands of troops.
Sun Tzu's Art of War says: Soldiers are important matters of the country, the place of life and death, and the path to survival. They must be carefully observed.
This sentence is the only famous sentence from "The Art of War" that Zhang Xi remembered when he came to this world, and it is also the principle of military use that he has always kept in mind.
In the past Northern Expedition, whenever it was proposed, everyone focused on how to fight, rather than whether to fight. But this time, both Pang Tong and Fazheng expressed their opposition, but Zhuge Liang wanted to win his support. After suppressing the objections, Zhang Xi had to be cautious about this matter.
Yes, when everyone has the same goal, Zhang Xi will generally support Zhuge Liang due to his filtering factor.
But the problem is, when everyone's goals are inconsistent, Zhang Xi will not regard Zhuge Liang as a god. Zhuge Liang is not infallible, and once he reaches their position and makes wrong decisions, the price will be very high. .
Therefore, Zhang Xi must have his own independent thinking on whether to support this Northern Expedition.
Focusing on Sili is indeed what Zhuge Liang said. Now Sili is recovering in an orderly manner, both in terms of people's livelihood and military equipment. Especially in Yingchuan County, intelligence shows that Wang Ling is desperately recruiting county soldiers to Strengthen the defensive strength of Yingchuan County.
Now Yingchuan County has returned to the regular garrison size of 20,000 county troops. If Wang Ling is given enough time, Yingchuan County's military strength may also rise to a terrifying figure.
There is no way. There is really nothing conducive to defense in Yingchuan County. The only Yingshui River is not famous for its dangers. On the contrary, it is a river with gentle flow since ancient times, which is conducive to irrigation.
If we don't explode the troops, Wang Ling will take the lead in guarding Yingchuan County.
As for the situation in Henan County, Hedong County, and Hongnong County, Zhang Xi still believed Zhuge Liang's story. Zhuge Liang was not the kind of person who deliberately lied to persuade others.
Therefore, Zhang Xi can understand the urgency of the Northern Expedition mentioned by Zhuge Liang.
But the problem is, if you look away from Sili and think about Jingzhou, Zhang Xi can suddenly understand why Pang Tong chose to oppose Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition.
The situation in Jingzhou is not good.
The front foot just had a fight with Soochow. Although Zhang Xi tried his best to control the scale, it was limited to the degree of border friction. But the problem is that Zhang Xi cannot control what Soochow thinks.
Xiangyang sent troops to threaten Jiangxia, and Jiangling sent troops to threaten the four counties of Jingnan. In addition, Deng Zhi's negotiation conditions did not look like they could be negotiated. What if Soochow did not choose to compromise with the Han Dynasty, but directly chose If you fall out with a big man, this will be troublesome.
Basically, there is no need to think about it. As long as Jingzhou mobilizes troops to go north to cooperate with Zhuge Liang in attacking Wei, Soochow will definitely repeat its old tricks and threaten Xiangyang and Jiangling.
And if we choose to go south to use troops against Soochow, then the Northern Expedition will naturally come to nothing.
Therefore, under the current circumstances, Zhang Xi really had to think carefully about whether to support Zhuge Liang's Northern Expedition plan when Zhang Xi was asked to make a decision.
Taking advantage of the time to marry his daughter, Zhang Xi locked himself in the study alone, weighing the pros and cons and thinking about his decision.
Outside the study, Sun Shangxiang was busy buying the necessary dowry for his daughter's wedding.
When she got married, Zhang Xi's status was not enough at all. Although Sun Shangxiang claimed to be the little princess of Jiangdong, she was not a real princess. The etiquette standards could not be compared with now.
Now is the marriage between the Jingzhou Mu of the Han Dynasty and the Prime Minister of the Han Dynasty. All etiquette must be in place, and the dowry must not be missing. The Zhang family cannot lose face in vain.
Therefore, regarding this matter, Zhang Xi was often complained by his daughter-in-law, saying that Zhang Xi did not care about marrying his daughter at all and relied on her to take care of everything inside and outside.
Of course, Sun Shangxiang just complained like this. If Zhang Xi really wanted to help, Sun Shangxiang would have to stop Zhang Xi from being so virtuous. How could Sun Shangxiang, who had been his husband and wife for almost twenty years, not understand? They must have encountered something difficult.
In this case, Sun Shangxiang would not cause trouble to Zhang Xi.
Another thing to say is that she, the mistress, should have come forward to take care of such matters in the inner house. She should complain, but if Zhang Xi really wanted to interfere, Sun Shangxiang would feel unhappy.
Complaining, I just hope that Zhang Xi can comfort herself, and by the way, she can also review the relationship between husband and wife and relieve Zhang Xi's current anxiety.
Yes, when she was young, Sun Shangxiang was indeed somewhat reckless and daring. But now that her daughter is getting married, she, the eldest lady who has been married for almost twenty years, cannot remain the same as when she was young.
Therefore, under Sun Shangxiang's careful management, Zhang Xuan's wedding ceremony was quite grand and lively.
On this day, Zhang Xi also temporarily put aside his doubts, put aside all chores, and with a very complicated mentality, watched Zhuge Qiao, a bastard, come to the door and take his daughter away.
Really, if it weren't for Sun Shangxiang who kept saying "etiquette" and "decent" in his ears, Zhang Xi would have had people stop him at the door to prevent this bastard from entering.
It's a pity that the daughter finally got married.
After the wedding ceremony was over, Zhang Xi and Sun Shangxiang had to tidy up and headed to Zhuge Liang's mansion to attend the official wedding banquet.
But Zhang Xi also didn't expect that except for the time when Zhuge Liang and Zhang Xi came forward to formally memorialize the parents of Heaven and Earth, during the rest of the time, Zhuge Liang actually pulled Zhang Xi and hid in the study again.
Today is the day that Zhang Xi marries his daughter to Zhuge Liang's eldest son, so the number of guests coming to congratulate him is not only very large, but also of very high quality.
Not only the political officials of Yongzhou, but also the emperor Liu Chan who was far away in Chengdu also sent his own envoys to send congratulatory gifts.
The person who came to send congratulatory gifts on behalf of Liu Chan was Wu Yi. After Wu Yi finished his trip to Chang'an, he would go to Hanzhong and officially take office as the new Hanzhong prefect.
By the way, the original Hanzhong prefect Li Yan was responsible for supervising the transportation of grain and grass during the last Northern Expedition. With Fa Zheng's intercession, Zhuge Liang gave him face, and then Fa Zheng transferred Li Yan back to Chengdu to serve as the Minister of Punishment.
Dong He, the former Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice, died of illness last year. This position has been vacant and Li Yan officially entered the decision-making level of the government.
But the price was that he lost the right to command troops to guard one side.
For Li Yan, I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.
Zhuge Liang, of course, must seize this opportunity and take the opportunity to persuade Wu Yi to support his Northern Expedition plan.
After all, Wu Yi is not only a noble, but now he has become a figure who leads the troops to guard one side. Zhuge Liang also needs his support now.
By the way, Zhuge Liang did not let Zhang Xi go and asked Zhang Xi again about his thoughts on the Northern Expedition.
Actually, Zhang Xi was a little disgusted with Zhuge Liang's approach.
Today is the wedding day of my daughter and his eldest son. How dare you talk to me about dangerous military matters on such an occasion? Do you really have no taboo at all? !
Yes, your eldest son is adopted, but my daughter is biological. If you get in the way later, can I still break off the engagement? !
So, Zhang Xi really felt that Zhuge Liang went a little too far today, and his face dropped.
But the problem is, when he was in the study and heard Zhuge Liang tell the reason for what he did, Zhang Xi couldn't sit still.
Just in the past few days, Zhuge Liang received a piece of breaking news from Hebei.
Cao Rui, this weird person, actually made a temple name for himself while he was still alive, and made it public to the world.
Temple name, Wei Liezu.
The meaning conveyed by this temple name is extraordinary.
(End of chapter)
