The conquest of Wu was a national policy decreed by Emperor Liu Chan, and now it received unanimous support from the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty. It would be impossible not to do this.
It's just that, although this matter was almost unanimously approved at the court meeting in Chang'an, and even Zhuge Liang didn't say anything, but in terms of specific places, the two most important state and county officials who conquered Wu were both His brows were furrowed.
Neither Xu Shu, the governor of Yanzhou, nor Zhang Xi, the pastor of Jingzhou, understood the idea of launching a campaign to conquer Wu at this time.
Neither of them thought that now was a good time to conquer Wu.
Soochow was not the small court of Cao Wei that was directly destroyed by Zhuge Liang within three months.
Today's Soochow territory extends from Xuzhou to the north and Jiaozhou to the south. It is said to be in a corner, but the actual area is also very vast.
This is not comparable to the small court of Cao Wei, which is located in the north, has only one state, and has few people.
Even in terms of national strength, Dingkou, and soldier combat effectiveness, Soochow is almost equivalent to when Cao Wei still occupied Hebei and Hedong.
If you take into account Soochow's naval superiority, you can defeat Soochow, you can also seize some of Soochow's land, but it is simply impossible to destroy Wu now.
Therefore, Zhang Xi and Xu Shu were very surprised. How could those bastards in Chang'an manage to "work together" to destroy Wu in one battle? !
This gave both Zhang Xi and Xu Shu a headache.
Xu Shu's headache is that he needs to face a difficult opponent like Lu Xun. Soochow has accumulated heavy troops in Huainan and Qingxu to support each other. With Yanzhou's current military strength, it is extremely difficult to snatch one or two counties. It must be completely eliminated. It was too difficult for the Soochow forces to rush to the south of the Yangtze River.
As for Zhang Xi's headache, it is relatively simple. The navy army has not yet been fully trained and cannot defeat others! ! !
Yes, Zhang Xi did take a head start the year before last and allowed the Jiangling navy to occupy Baqiu and move the navy's front line forward. He planned to use power training to quickly increase the navy's combat effectiveness.
However, in the past two years, although the combat power of the Jingzhou navy has indeed improved, it has also suffered battle losses. The growth rate is not as expected.
In addition, the Jiangling Navy arrived at Baqiu, which shortened the distance between the Soochow Navy and the Dahan Navy, causing both sides to lose buffer space. Therefore, in the Yangtze River waters from Baqiu to Xiakou, in the past two years, It was almost a small fight every three days, a big fight every five days, and the war was underway across the board.
The more the two sides fight, the less they dare to take each other lightly. They are all heavily guarded and maintain a state of combat readiness whether on water or land.
In a war like this, whoever takes the initiative will hit the wall directly. They can only fight hard and there is no room for planning.
Fighting like this is too inefficient, and you may not be able to take advantage.
Therefore, after Zhang Xi and Xu Shu learned of the court's decision, they almost went to court one after another to request the court to reconsider the conquest of Wu on the grounds that it was untimely.
Then Zhuge Liang left Chang'an.
There is no way, this matter is really not easy to solve.
Zhuge Liang went to Yanzhou first and stayed in Yanzhou for a full month. Then he set off south and arrived at Jiangling.
The first thing Zhuge Liang did after arriving in Jiangling was to convey to Zhang Xi the significance and necessity of the conquest of Wu.
To be honest, Zhuge Liang did not think that now was the best time to conquer Wu. Many preparations had not been done. From a military perspective, the conditions for conquering Wu were not yet mature.
However, from a political perspective, this conquest of Wu was imperative.
It is impossible for Zhang Xi, Xu Shu and others who are guarding the local government to fully understand the structure of the DPRK. They would not know that this conquest of Wu is actually the common goal of all interest groups. They have a common goal. Therefore, no matter whether the time is ripe or not, the conquest of Wu must be carried out.
Furthermore, Zhuge Liang just made a show of resigning as prime minister. The actual purpose was to return to power to the emperor. Unlike Huo Guang's pretentious return to power, Zhuge Liang really wanted to take advantage of the fact that he still had energy. time to achieve a smooth transition of the power of the Han Dynasty.
The conquest of Wu was Liu Chan's first national policy. This national policy could last for a long time, but no one could object, especially the local guards.
This is very detrimental to establishing the authority of the emperor.
Finally, and most importantly, Zhang Xi and Xu Shu, as local guards, actually refused to implement the central decision of the imperial court, which is hard to say.
Yes, neither Liu Chan nor Zhuge Liang are worried about Zhang Xi or Xu Shu having any different intentions, and they also know that what they said about Shangshu's memorial is reasonable, but this kind of precedent cannot be set.
If a local governor does not understand or is dissatisfied with the central government's decision-making, he can go to court to express his opinions.
However, the matter must be arranged first, and then go to the emperor to express different opinions. After the court studies it again, it feels that it makes sense, and then issues an edict to correct it.
It cannot be like now where the local governor or state pastor refuses to implement the court's decision if they think it is wrong.
Although the former is suspected of wasting administrative resources and is not an appropriate response, it is still much better than the latter.
The latter, to put it harshly, is a precursor to the separatist rule of feudal towns. This precedent cannot be set under any circumstances.
Moreover, from this incident, Zhuge Liang also noticed the disharmony between the local and central administrative systems.
The central government implemented the system of three provinces and six ministries, which clearly defined the responsibilities of each other, decentralized power, restricted each other, and centralized power in the emperor.
According to the plan, the local government should implement a system of separate governance between the guarding general and the state governor, which can effectively check and balance the relationship between the two.
However, due to the previous Northern Expedition and the need to stabilize local areas, the system of integrating military and political affairs was basically implemented in the border states.
Zhang Xi is the state shepherd. In addition to personnel rights, Zhang Xi can be said to be a veritable military and political leader. Even launching small-scale wars does not require the consent of the court.
As for Xu Shu, although he did not have the military power of Zhang Xi, Xu Shu himself also had military merits. With Wei Yan, the guarding general of Yanzhou, he was transferred to the Northern Expedition, and then returned to Chang'an to take over the position of the deceased General Zhao Yunwei. After stationed in Chang'an, The person with the highest prestige among the military in the Yanzhou area was Xu Shu.
If Xu Shu really wants to mobilize county troops for battle, unless Hu Zun, Guanqiu Jian, Wen Qin and others receive the imperial edict not to send troops, otherwise Yanzhou county troops will also be summoned by Xu Shu.
The Emperor and Zhuge Liang can trust the character of Xu Shu and Zhang Xi and believe that they will not rebel. However, if another state governor or state pastor still has such power, it will be a precursor to the separation of feudal towns and the chaos of the world.
Therefore, Zhuge Liang's trip to Yanzhou and Jingzhou, in addition to discussing the strategy of conquering Wu with Zhang Xi and Xu Shu, the biggest purpose is to discuss with the two people how to more effectively dismantle local power and form the same as the central government. Effective mutual restraint.
This is the next step Zhuge Liang needs to solve as soon as possible.
Just because of this matter, Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu chatted for a month, but they still didn't come up with any big clues.
When they arrived at Jiangling this time, Zhuge Liang thought that with Zhang Xi's mind, he might be able to come up with some strange tricks. After all, it was Zhang Xi who proposed the framework of the three provinces and six ministries system, and he still had some abilities in this regard.
Zhuge Liang has high hopes for Zhang Xi, but, even on Zhang Xi's side, this matter is still a long-standing problem.
In Zhang Xi's impression, the dispute over ownership between the central and local governments actually ran through the entire history of China, and it was not until the Qing Dynasty that this issue was completely resolved.
But the problem is that half of the credit for the Qing Dynasty's ability to solve this problem comes from the Qing Dynasty's special administrative and military system, and the other half of the credit is due to Emperor Yongzheng's inventory of farmland and the restoration of land.
These two items do not have any reference value in the current period Zhang Xi is in.
On the one hand, the productivity cannot reach that standard, and the military and administrative systems of the Qing Dynasty cannot be completely copied. On the other hand, in this era when aristocratic families have risen, the risk of reforming the land and returning it to the locals is not great, but if you want to inventory the land, I'm afraid the world will be in chaos soon.
The aristocratic families in this era are really a very troublesome existence.
With the existence of aristocratic families, it would be easier for the court to govern the place. But also, precisely because of the existence of aristocratic families, the court would inevitably have to take into account the influence of the aristocratic families when governing the place.
It's okay in peacetime. With mutual cooperation, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages for the court's governance of the place.
But once we enter the era of war and the central court becomes turbulent and unable to restrain the local areas, then these aristocratic families may very well become the last straw to overthrow the imperial power.
After all, the Han Dynasty does not yet have the productivity conditions, nor does it have so many administrative resources to ensure that the imperial power can be sent to the countryside. It is already considered good to be able to reach the county level.
The lower-class people of the Han Dynasty had far less trust in the government and the emperor than the old rural gentry elected by aristocratic families.
Solving the problems of the aristocratic family does not happen overnight, and even cruel methods are of little use. In history, Zhu Wen thought that I was the best in the world, and he killed many aristocratic families during the Baimayi Disaster, but in the end he was not It triggered the chaos of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, and finally gave birth to the Song Dynasty, which was inherently deficient.
You must know that the aristocratic families in the late Tang Dynasty experienced continuous weakening and decline in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Tang Dynasty, and their strength and influence were not as good as before. The consequences of Zhu Wen's cruel methods were so serious, let alone the aristocratic families now The era of strong rise.
Therefore, Zhang Xi thought about it and felt that he still suggested that Zhuge Liang should not mess around, but follow the previous strategy bit by bit, adopt a method of dividing civil and military power, and mutual restriction of military power and power, which is more in line with current actual needs.
There is nothing wrong with the system itself. It is just that during the actual implementation process, the court made some compromises and changes due to special needs.
Now, what the court really needs to do is to implement this system of separation of civil and military affairs as soon as possible, cancel the position of state pastor, clarify the responsibilities of state governors and guard generals, and then form a system and strictly implement it.
(End of chapter)
