Situ Huanshuang said nothing to the two requests made by the Guilin County King. He just nodded calmly and said calmly: "I am tired and want to rest. As for the secret messages between you and the King of Shu, I will continue to help you trace them. However, the King of Shu may not keep those secret messages. In another courtyard. With your shrewdness, you wouldn’t think that King Shu is really dead."
"If the King of Shu really escapes, then he will definitely take these secret messages away. He will not keep them, because these secret messages can still be useful to him at present. At least when necessary It is enough to blackmail you. However, as long as these secret messages are still in the capital, I will naturally accomplish what I promised you."
After that, he left without looking back. Behind him, looking at the beautiful back of Situ Huanshuang when he left, the face of the Guilin County Prince who had been calm just now suddenly became gloomy, and his eyes were full of murderous intent: "She and the King of England had a relationship before. You know, she dares to hide such a big thing from me, she is really tired of living."
Although anger arose in his heart, the Guilin County Prince did not show it. When he turned to look at the prince, his expression had turned calm, and he said in a very calm tone: "Where has Prince Liang from Beiliao gone now? How many days will it take to reach the capital? Xiao Chuo actually sent If such a person comes to negotiate with me, I think she is perfunctory."
Upon hearing his father's question, the prince, who had always been as fearful of his father as a tiger, quickly bowed and said: "Going back to my father, King Liang and his party have already passed through Xiangzhou. But when my father, King Liang, set out from Bei Liao, I only have my concubine with me and dozens of people with me. As long as I enter the state capital along the way, I will go to the brothels and alleys to pick flowers and sleep with willows. Judging from this person's behavior, should you reconsider?"
"What do you know? Although Xiao Chuo is a female, she is wise, versatile, courageous and resolute, and her temperament is far stronger than that of ordinary men, far beyond the reach of others. Otherwise, how could the young emperor come to the court and suppress the civil strife? To control the princes and nobles of Bei Liao who are like wolves and tigers, and to be docile, not even daring to let go of the military power in their hands, and to firmly hold the power of Bei Liao?"
"If you can do this, how can you treat it with ordinary people's eyes? This woman is not simple, she can even be said to be good at playing politics. For many years, Beiliao has never given up its attempt to let go of the Central Plains, but it has not succeeded. At the moment, my king Given such an opportunity to her, she will definitely not fail to seize it given her personality."
"We have worked hard over the years. Although our secret strength has developed rapidly, we still have some shortcomings, and we still lack the certainty of victory in one fell swoop. If we can reach cooperation with Beiliao this time and get Beiliao to send troops to support us, then we will have a lot of confidence. Too much. It's a pity that the idiot King Shu has been exposed now, so we have to prepare in advance."
"Otherwise, if we are given five years, it will be enough to build an elite army that can compete with the four major battalions. Unfortunately, we are still one step short at the last moment. But we still have to strive for three years as much as possible , so that you can be more sure. Remember to do anything. Although you cannot be 100% sure, you still have to do your best to achieve 60% or 70%."
Hearing his father's rebuke, the prince, who had grown up under his father's lingering power for many years, did not dare to refute, and quickly said respectfully: "My son realizes his mistake. It's just my father. There is something that my son doesn't understand, so please let me know for sure. Now the court officials are in charge. It has been corrupted to the extreme, and the clan is preying on the people. The whole world is already in dire straits, and refugees are everywhere, and the people are complaining."
"It can be said that the Huang family has lost all the people's support. Now the general trend of the world has become like dry firewood. The only thing missing is the spark that ignited this pile of dry firewood. With our Guilin County Prince's Palace, the people's support accumulated over the past hundred years, The people's hope is that as long as the army is raised, the world will be united. What's more, in terms of financial resources in the world, our Guilin County Prince's Mansion dares to be ranked second, and I am afraid that even the Huang family dare not be ranked first."
"In terms of military strength, the 200,000 troops you have secretly gathered and trained in the name of recruiting refugees to reclaim wasteland over the years are enough to compete with the four major battalions of the imperial court. And the border troops and guards on Guangnan West Road have all defected to me. And with your painstaking efforts, although it is not as powerful as the northern frontier army, it is not comparable to the inland route guards. Why do you have to form an alliance with Beiliao?"
"This time, Bei Liao proposed to cede the Shanxi and Hebei roads, and asked for two million taels of troops. After the deal is completed, it will be a country of monarchs and ministers. Each year, they will pay 300,000 taels of silver and 200,000 pieces of silk as conditions for sending troops. , isn’t this obviously extortion? If you give us the two million, you’ll give it, and we won’t be short of that little money. Hebei Road is as flat as a river, and once Yanshan Prefecture loses its front line, we won’t be able to hold on.”
"But this Shanxi Road has rivers and mountains inside and outside, and has always been the gateway to the Central Plains. It is only separated from the Henan Road where the capital is located by the Yellow River. Once Shanxi is lost, the entire Central Plains will be directly exposed to the front of the Northern Liao cavalry. . Beiliao can cross the river and go south whenever they want. Beiliao will use Shanxi Road as one of the conditions for sending troops, what is it if it is not a threat? "
After hearing the prince's words, he was somewhat opposed to his alliance with Beiliao. In particular, he was very dissatisfied with the Northern Liao Lion who was asking for the strategically important Shanxi Road. The prince of Guilin County shook his head and said: "Childish, do you really think that we are hidden in the mountain of 100,000 people. Can the army of 200,000 people compete with the elite soldiers of the four major battalions? Can we dominate the world? This is what I have taught you these years. ?”
"Do you really regard me as your father, and are you willing to form an alliance with Bei Liao, who is a tiger and wolf? By forming an alliance with him, why don't I know that I am luring wolves into the house? Today, I will tell you that there are only 200,000 usable soldiers in the army. Only half. Yes, your father and I have trained an army of 200,000 in the mountains of 100,000 in the name of recruiting people to reclaim wasteland and immigrate to guard the border. We have adopted the military training notes of our ancestors over the past few years."
"But there are only 80,000 elites among them. The rest of the troops guarding the city may still be able to fight. But if they encounter elites like the four major battalions, they may not be defeated at first contact, but they are definitely not usable soldiers. Except for the 80,000 elites , the remaining ones are not even as good as the local guards in the north. Not to mention that the imperial court is in Xijing and there are 50,000 troops specially designed to deal with the situation in the northwest. "
"We cannot recruit troops with the same fanfare as the imperial court. We can only recruit in the name of respecting the people and reclaiming wasteland. And Guangnan West Road has been regarded as a barbarian land full of miasma since ancient times. Ordinary people would rather go out and become refugees than I am willing to come. Even if we can barely gather 200,000 people now, there are only more than 100,000 strong ones among them."
"The rest can only be used as soldiers to garrison the fields and cannot be used to attack cities and plunder territory. As for the five thousand border troops and more than ten thousand guardsmen on Guangnan West Road, although the king has worked hard for many years to win over them, most of the middle and lower-level military attachés are under control. In our hands. But even I don’t know how much of it can be used by me sincerely. Loyalty bought with money may not be so reliable."
"Besides, we only control the middle and lower-level military attaches. This is because of the location and climate of Guangnan West Road. Foreign military attachés may not be able to adapt, and it is impossible to deploy troops and horses from other places for garrison. Most of the middle- and lower-level military officers are selected from the local area. Mainly, the soldiers are recruited from local indigenous people. Otherwise, we may not be able to win them over."
"The real core defense envoys, governors, and military envoys are difficult to bribe because the imperial court intentionally rotates them too frequently. Although the imperial court defaults on the salary of civil servants, it has never defaulted on the salary of military attachés, and their treatment is also good. It has always been generous. According to court practice, military attachés at all levels on Guangnan West Road are not allowed to bring their family members with them."
"We are not short of money, and our families are in the hands of the imperial court as hostages. How can those high-ranking military officers easily surrender to us? At most, they can only wait for my army to go on the Northern Expedition. It is difficult to win over these people, which makes it difficult for them to surrender. We are even more lacking in military attachés who can lead troops on their own. Compared to the lack of troops, this is the most fatal factor for us."
"When our ancestors formulated the military system of this dynasty, they promised that there would be no dedicated troops. This enabled the separatist situation of vassal towns that emerged after the Anshi Rebellion in the former Tang Dynasty to avoid reappearing in this dynasty. But now, I did not expect that it would become an obstacle to future generations. . Besides, even the 80,000 troops surveyed cannot be dispatched in full."
"Guangnan West Road is our foundation, and it is connected to the mountains and rivers of Dali and Annan. Although Dali has always been very respectful to the court, it has always been good to our Guilin County Prince. But those are just superficial. Once we really raise our troops, we will If the Dali Kingdom turns against us, we will have nothing to do. If we don’t leave some backup, once the Dali Kingdom takes advantage of our massive army to attack.”
"What we are facing is not only being attacked from the front and back, but also being surrounded on all sides, with all sources of food and salary cut off, and the army is even in danger of being defeated. What's more, the Dali Kingdom has also been keeping a close eye on the Liangchuan and Qianzhong Routes for a long time. At present, the Gao family, which has been serving as the chief minister of Dali for generations, is full of talented people, especially the current head of the family, who is even more powerful."
"If our army goes out in full force, with the vision and ambition of the Gao family, we may not be able to see the advantages that can be taken advantage of. Just marrying the current Yuehou, your eleventh aunt and your fourth sister, may not really be able to convince Gao. The family is neutral. If not for the sake of winning over the Gao family, I would not rather be resented by your fourth sister for the rest of my life. I would also give her to the head of the family as a concubine, and create a situation where my aunt and nephew share the same husband."
"Because your fourth sister's appearance is somewhat similar to that of Princess Yunxiao, whom the current head of the family has always dreamed of, and who has always been rejected for marriage despite repeated pressure on the Dali royal family. A person in his thirties actually dares to peek at the king's direct relative. Princess. Not satisfied with becoming my brother-in-law, she actually took advantage of me to demand something from her and forcibly asked for my daughter to be my concubine."
"But every time I buy horses from the Gao family, I either pass them off as good ones, or even at high prices I can't buy enough horses. He really thinks that I don't know that he is under pressure from the court and is not allowed to buy horses from Guilin every year." The prince's palace sells more than a hundred horses. He became my son-in-law, and he actually turned his heart towards the court. Do you think such a person will stay honest once he has an opportunity?"
"There is also Annan behind us. Although the country's power has been greatly weakened by the conquests of previous kings. Under the efforts of this king, the country has also fallen into civil strife. But their ambitions to peek at Guangnan West Road may not be It declines with the decline of national power. Although I am very respectful to the Guilin County Prince on weekdays, if something really happens, the Annan people will definitely start an army and start a rebellion."
"Once we all come out in full force, the Annan people who have always claimed that the place where kapok blooms is the land of Annan, it would be strange not to take advantage of it. There are also the barbarians on the west road of Guangnan. They are not of my race. Strange. In these years, we have relied on our superior strength to suppress them. If we attack in full force, these barbarians will also fight back when they see an opportunity."
"Even on the day of the uprising, we will still have at least 20,000 troops and horses left to guard Guangnan West Road, the fundamental place. Apart from the 20,000 troops and horses, how many people do you think we have left? Even if the Jiangnan Road is now The Guards are in dire straits, and our army can be overwhelming. But with such a small number of men and horses, it would be good if they can reach the edge of the Yangtze River."
