Zhao Ji was almost amused by the eldest son's words. How could the officials of the Song Dynasty not be suspicious of warriors and kings? The eldest son seemed to have become smarter before, but now he still looks stupid. It seems that it is right to pass the position to the third child, otherwise Song Fei will be troubled by the boss!
"Eldest brother," Zhao Ji looked at his eldest son Zhao Huan with a smile, "Since you believe in the third brother's ability, why don't you lead your own troops to help him fight against the Jin? Why make it difficult for the fifth brother?"
Zhao Huan smiled bitterly and said: "Father, although I know the best way to fight against gold, I don't have the courage to fight against gold! Although the third brother is a bit reckless, his courage and bravery are far better than those of Taizu. Other than the emperor, any of the late emperors of this dynasty. He is the one who can lead the ministers of the land to fight against the Jin Dynasty and protect the country."
Zhao Ji still didn't believe his son's words. He looked at Zhao Huan and said, "According to your words, the third brother's courage and bravery surpass those of Emperor Taizong. So what does the gold thief mean? Do we still need our help?"
Zhao Huan shook his head and said: "Father, you don't know something. Although the population of this country of golden thieves is less than one-tenth of our dynasty, and its wealth is only one-tenth of our dynasty, its military households and nationalities are as many as Around 150,000 households!
Based on the calculation of one regular soldier per household, the Jin people's national regular soldiers were about 150,000. If we add the Alixi auxiliary army, the Han'er servant army, and the subordinate soldiers of the subordinate countries, the number of combatable soldiers owned by the Jin Kingdom should be around 500,000! These are all real numbers, there are no false numbers. And how many capable soldiers do our dynasty have? In our dynasty, there is no such thing as a military household and a nation. Soldiers all rely on recruitment, and raising soldiers depends on military salaries... With the country's current financial resources, how much food can be squeezed out to raise and use soldiers? How many elite soldiers can be raised? I'm afraid it's difficult for the number of these elite soldiers to exceed 500,000, right?
The soldiers of our dynasty are not as powerful as the Golden Thieves, nor do they have as many cavalry as the Golden Thieves. Our generals are not as experienced in battles as the Golden Thieves' generals. Our numbers are even lower... This fight against the Golden Thieves is really difficult! Without the help of our brothers and relying on only the third brother, not to mention the Northern Rebellion of Yanyun, he would have no place to raise the expenses of recruiting and training 500,000 capable soldiers capable of fighting.
With the financial resources of the imperial court before the golden thief went south, how many capable soldiers could it raise? Even if the people below don't take the quota, can they have 250,000? "
It turns out he really understands!
Although Zhao Kai now has a glorious official career in Kaifeng Mansion, he has a magnificent palace, a treasury full of goods, and his own exclusive "campus beauty group". But at the same time, he also carried the historical baggage of the Song Dynasty, and it was impossible for him to drastically reform the military system and establish a government military system.
The civil and military officials of the Song Dynasty must have firmly opposed the establishment of a military system... They, a group of scholar-bureaucrats and landlords, originally ruled the countryside well and shared the world with the imperial power. Of course I don’t want another group of knife-wielding scholar-officials to come and take a piece of the pie!
The imperial officers and soldiers who moved to Kaifeng Prefecture were not very interested in allocating land. Land in the countryside was not as good as real estate in Kaifeng Prefecture! They would be happy if they were only given some land around Kaifeng Mansion. But the question is, how much land is there around Kaifeng Mansion? How many households of soldiers can be divided?
Without the "low-cost and quick way to raise troops" through the government army system, Zhao Kai could only use money and food to recruit soldiers, and how much food did he have at his disposal?
If Zhao Kai wants to build a huge new army of 500,000 people, the recruitment fee (settlement fee) alone will not be less than 50 million yuan... If the cost of equipment and training is added, the cost will be 100 million yuan. Maybe it can all be spent. Then you have to pay huge maintenance costs every year. If you really fight, you have to use large rewards to inspire the morale of the troops, and you have to spend huge amounts of money and food to throw into the invincible hole of logistics.
Adding up these various expenses, the money and food that a new army of 500,000 strong and capable of fighting would cost was far beyond what the Song Dynasty court could afford based on its financial situation seven years before Xuanhe...
When Zhao Huan said this, Zhao Ji felt that the matter was a bit serious, so he asked Captain Gao who was present, "Gao Qiu, you are the head of the Sanya Guanjun. Tell me the truth. With the current financial resources of the imperial court, you can support me." How many elite soldiers dare to fight?"
"This..." How could Captain Gao answer? If you ask him about Cuju, he can talk about it for hours. Military affairs? He knows nothing!
"Father," Zhao Huan knew that Gao Qiu couldn't answer, so he interrupted with a smile, "according to the military system of this dynasty, the real elite soldiers are not produced by the military control of the three yamen, nor by the governance of the two governments. ... but it can only be brought out by the personal experience of officials who can lead troops to fight! Third brother is finally an official who can lead troops, so as long as we can help him raise more money and food from the southeast, If he organizes some partial troops to go north by sea to tie up the Jin Thieves' forces, he can always hold on to the Central Plains, and perhaps he can slowly recover the lost lands in Hebei, Hedong, and even Yanyun."
"Wait a minute," Zhao Ji frowned again and again, "Da Lang, you said we still need to help him raise money and food from the southeast? Shouldn't the officials of the imperial court be responsible for this matter?"
Zhao Huan smiled and said: "How can an official compare with father, son and brothers? Besides... I think that Kaifeng Mansion will not be able to escape the siege after all. How many fighting soldiers does he have on hand? No matter how well he uses it, It can't resist hundreds of thousands of gold thieves, and the gold thieves may increase their troops.
Once Kaifeng Mansion is surrounded by gold thieves, the land of wealth in the southeast will have to be managed by Taishang Palace. At that time, the father can let the older and more useful princes divide their towns into various states to urge local officials to raise more money and food for the court. Because when Kaifeng Mansion comes to a rescue, Third Brother will need a lot of money and food! "
"You need a lot of money and food?" Zhao Ji didn't understand. "The siege has been solved, what are you still doing with so much money and food?"
Zhao Huan stretched out two fingers and said with a smile: "The first is to raise merit; the second is to retain the elite of King Qin's soldiers... If there is no money and food, then King Qin's soldiers will disperse. Next time the gold thief comes again, third Brother, I have no choice but to abandon the city and leave. We can’t let him abandon the city, he has to endure it in Kaifeng Mansion!"
I thought of it all!
Zhao Huan is really a "good brother of the Song Dynasty"!
Zhao Ji sighed and said to his son: "Eldest brother is indeed the most virtuous. You are my good son and the third brother's good brother! I hope he can think of you..." he said As he spoke, he glanced at Gao Qiu, who was crying, "Gao Qing, how are you? Do you dare to go to war for the country?"
"I, I... I can't!" Gao Qiu shook his head, "I'm afraid I might miss important national events."
Zhao Huan smiled and said: "It's not difficult... Gu Wang can teach you, Fifth Brother and Zhao Mingcheng." He said to Zhao Ji, "Father, we are not in a hurry to send troops now. You can intercept some first." From the rebel armies in the southeast, Gao Taiwei and Tong Guan were asked to select 5,000 strong men from them, organize them into naval and land warfare divisions, and then undergo rigorous training.
At the same time, another one or two hundred large boats were mobilized from various places in the southeast, and they were all sent to Xuyi for preparation. When the third brother is trapped in Kaifeng Mansion, you can send Gao Qiu, the fifth brother, and Zhao Mingcheng to lead the navy northward, first to Dengzhou, then across the sea to Fuzhou, and finally to build a fortress in Fuzhou to attract gold. The thief comes to attack. "
After hearing his son's plan, Zhao Ji nodded slightly and said, "I didn't expect that the eldest brother is still knowledgeable about military affairs... Then I'll just follow your words!"
...
"Gao Qiu has arrived in Yuncheng? Alu, is this news reliable?"
"Reliable! Yelu Mawu personally led the cavalry to explore. He also encountered 3,000 southern cavalry near Yuncheng County and lost 300 cavalry. He almost broke in!"
"What? Even Ma Wu's Khitan cavalry was defeated... It seems that Gao Qiu has indeed arrived in Yuncheng."
Just when Zhao Ji and Zhao Huan were discussing how to help Zhao Kai, news that Gao Qiu was stationed in Yuncheng finally reached Wanyan Zongwang, the supervisor of the Jindong Route Army who had crossed the Yellow River eastward.
Wanyan Zongwang had just entered Nanle County in Kaide Prefecture, which was right next to Dongping Prefecture (Yunzhou) and not far from Yuncheng County and Liangshanbo.
However, his speed of action was not too fast. After all, it was already the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Nine days had passed since Wanyan Wushu withdrew from Dagong Mountain, and eight days had passed since the Jindong Route Army turned eastward.
It took the main force of the Jin soldiers eight days to reach Nanle. Except for a few days of building a bridge to cross the river, they spent all of it on attacking the city.
In the past, the Jin soldiers marched southward, and when they encountered the cities held by the Song people, they would avoid attacking them. But after the main force of the Jin army crossed the Yellow River eastward, they began to change their strategy. Not only did they attack Nanle, but they also occupied Neihuang County, which belonged to Daming Prefecture on the west bank of the Yellow River, and Qingfeng, Guancheng, and Chaocheng, which belonged to Kaide Prefecture on the east bank of the Yellow River.
In other words, during these 8 days, the Jin army not only crossed the Yellow River, but also captured 5 counties on both sides of the Yellow River. If Liyang and Linhe (belonging to Kaide Prefecture) in the hands of Guo Yaoshi are included, the Jin army now has a total of It controls 7 counties on the north and east banks of the Yellow River and occupies a not too small territory (Tangyin and Linzhang have already given up).
From occupying no territory before to now winning 7 counties in a row, it certainly means that the Jin Bing East Route Army has changed its previous tactics of blindly advancing and turned to a steady and steady attack.
However, Wanyan Zongwang and Wanyan Yanmu did not give up their strategy of invading Kaifeng Prefecture and forcing the Song Dynasty court to cede land and pay money... Although they occupied several counties on the north and east banks of the Yellow River and posed a serious threat. The posture of long-term confrontation with the Song Army. But Wanyan Zongwang and Wanyan Yanmu were not that big-hearted and did not intend to eat it all the way to the bank of the Yellow River. Their current goal is to force the Song Dynasty to cede Taiyuan Prefecture, Hejian Prefecture, Zhongshan Prefecture and the states and counties to the north, and then take a large amount of annual coins, and then digest it for a year or two before heading south.
However, the strong resistance attitude of the Song Dynasty court also gave Wanyan Zongwang and Wanyan Yanmu a headache... According to the information reported by Pharmacist Guo, it seems that southern armies are stationed in the states and counties south of the Yellow River. The defenses along the coast are also very tight.
"Olubu," Wanyan Yan's mother listened to Wanyan Alu's report, with a long-lost smile on her face, "The opportunity has come, if we can capture Gao Qiu... the officials of the southerners will definitely It will be frightening!”
