Having said this, he looked at the prince, who had heard such earnest teachings from him for the first time, with an expression of humility on his face. The Prince of Guilin nodded with great satisfaction and said, "Don't think that with the reputation of our Prince's Palace in Guilin, as soon as we join the army, there will be a flood of people responding, and the whole Jiangnan will be spread. Things are not that simple."
"What's more, the disparity in military strength is only one aspect. The most critical thing is that we lack cavalry that can compete with the imperial court. The imperial court has been able to gain the upper hand in the competition with the Northern Liao Dynasty over the years because of the cavalry trained by our ancestors. Unless we We only plan to stop separatizing the south of the Yangtze River, otherwise we will not even be able to cross the river in the face of the elite cavalry of the imperial court."
"As the saying goes, northerners ride horses and southerners sail boats. The sergeants we recruited are all southerners and are not good at riding horses. In addition, we also lack horses suitable for cavalry. Although Guangnan West Road produces horses, the horses can barely transport goods. Yes, it is too reluctant to provide cavalry for fighting. Dali State strictly follows the requirements of the court and controls the number of horses sold to us."
"Buying horses from other sources has to go through areas controlled by the imperial court. Once the imperial court discovers that we are buying a large number of horses that can become war horses, then we will take the initiative to deliver the knife handles to the emperor's doorstep. In order to cover up the traces , we can only buy horses privately from the Jurchen tribes in northern Liaodong, Liaodong and Goryeo via sea route."
"But it's a pity that the people in the north are not accustomed to the acclimatization of Guangnan West Road, and the horses from the north are the same when they arrive here. In addition to the loss of the sea route, whether it is a Korean horse or a Jurchen horse transported to Guangnan West Road, basically only one in ten can be saved. In terms of survival rate, it is not as good as 30% of Dali horses. And the best big food horses are very expensive. Not only does it take a long time to transport them by sea, but it is also very expensive."
"Those greedy food merchants dare to pay a sky-high price for a horse. Our Guilin County Prince's Palace is rich, and we are not going to feed those hungry wolves. If they are not still needed, we will import the food scimitar and I, the king, have sent Dashi and Persian horses to meet their God long ago. But in the battle in the Central Plains, infantry alone is not enough."
"How could I, the king, not know what you are saying? Your ancestors were almost always victorious in those days because they were very good at using cavalry to fight. And this tradition has now been passed down by the imperial court. Without a strong cavalry, we can't At most, we can divide the river and rule with the imperial court, separate the south of the Yangtze River, and live in a corner of peace. If we want to compete for the world, there is no such possibility. "
Speaking of this, the king of Guilin's eyes flashed: "There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. It's not impossible for them to want Hebei and Shanxi 2nd Road, but it depends on whether they have good teeth. After eating so much This is the first loss, but they still don’t have a long memory. Do they think that the imperial court’s frontier troops and the four major battalions are really just a show-off?"
"Let them fight with the imperial court first, and we will wait on the side. As long as the four major battalions are no longer tied up, I would like to see that without the four major battalions and the northern border troops, we will no longer be able to With financial support, what else can the imperial court, which is internally and externally troubled, do to compete with us? As for the Xijing camp, the chess piece I have placed in the northwest is enough for them to drink from a pot."
"How can the hatred of genocide be so easy to be solved? Without the four camps, there is no Xijing camp. Are the guards who can't even get on the horse relying on all the roads? As long as the world is in hand, not only this On the second route, Xiao Chuo has to vomit out everything he eats from us. I don’t believe it. After she has destroyed the four major battalions and the northern frontier army, what else can she have to compete with us? "
Seeing his father, who was full of strange confidence as he talked about his entire plan, the prince could only hold back what he wanted to say next. After hearing his father's thoughts, he had always wanted to ask his father if the last words left by his ancestors were true. If it is true, will my family be in chaos when they hear this?
It is said that the ancestor of the ancestor told his second son in the army before his death: "If in a few decades, the emperors of the Qi family are like Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty, they will prey on the people, causing turmoil in the world. If the descendants of the Liu family want to take advantage of the chaos to plot the world, they will do it." You can do whatever you want. But if anyone colludes with foreign tribes and peeks at my Chinese artifact, he is not a descendant of my Liu family, and everyone in the world can punish him."
Today's Guilin County Prince's Mansion is similar to the Tian Family, which has flourished for more than a hundred years. In addition, the successive kings of Guilin, as well as their sons and nephews, all took in wives and concubines, and there were even a few who were romantic or obscene. With the joint efforts of these former kings, a large and prosperous family has now been formed.
Not to mention the founding king who had more than 30 wives and concubines, including the princesses of the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, and gave birth to more than 40 children. The three generations of princes who had the most wives and concubines had more than a hundred wives and concubines in total, not counting the girls who had never been promoted to concubines. During the reign of the third-generation prince, he was ordered to go to Annan many times, and each time he had to plunder thousands of women.
Among the women he snatched back, in addition to the ones he rewarded to his subordinates and brothers in the mansion, he left behind more than eighty beautiful women. During the entire conquest of Annan, as long as he was not marching and fighting, the prince would send his confidants to the surrounding areas to grab women to stay with him almost every day. Not counting other princes, this prince alone had more than a hundred children.
This still has a reputation. As for how many people he stayed in Annan and how many were outside, even he himself didn't know. Looking at the past dynasties of Guilin princes, my father only had more than twenty wives and concubines, which was already considered a small number. It's just that his father, although he doesn't have many famous wives and concubines in his house, is extremely interested in the wives and sisters of the leaders of the Yi tribe.
Every time he goes out for inspection, he must choose the wife, daughter and sisters of the tribal leader to sleep with him. As for the daughters and sisters of the tribal leaders, whether they were married or not, he had never cared about them. The prince was sometimes troubled by his father, who had unique tastes. I often worry when my father is out on tour. If the leaders feel they are insulted, they might do something to their father that day.
Not to mention the previous kings, even the eldest son himself, and his brothers, even if he is not yet married, each has more than ten concubines. If you include the maidservants assigned to you by your father, there are dozens of them. This does not include the female slaves who were donated to him by various tribes when he went out to patrol on behalf of his father, who were only used to sleep with him.
Guangnan West Road is located in a place where many barbarians live together, and the number of barbarian tribes within the territory is extremely large. These barbarian tribes conquered each other for land, slaves, cattle and sheep. In order to gain the support of the Guilin County Prince's Mansion, all the ministries must contribute a large amount of tribute to the Guilin County Prince's Mansion every year, and naturally there are many barbarian women among them.
In addition, the Guilin County Prince's Palace has the power to control overseas trade. In order to please the prince of Guilin County, those foreign merchants donated a large number of girls from Dashi, Persia, Tianzhu, Annan, Japan, Korea, Nanyang and other countries every year. Even Great Qin in the far west is not a minority. Although the number of Han people on Guangnan West Road is far less than that of Yi people, the palace has never been short of beauties in the past dynasties.
These women naturally became the first playthings chosen by the male masters in the palace. And among these women, there are not a few who give birth to children. At present, the entire Guilin County Prince's Palace, not counting those who are in the fifth service, can be regarded as the same sect of the side branch. Within the third service alone, there are nearly a hundred people with titles ranging from Fengguo Lieutenant to Chaoqinglang.
If five servers were added, there would be a total of five to six hundred people living solely on the palace's 500 guan of money and the 15 dan of grain support each year. As for the male masters of each house, I don't know how many illegitimate children they have with other people outside, and they are not counted.
The current Guilin County Prince's Mansion is not as lush as usual. And the more descendants there are, the more right and wrong there are. Even the prince himself couldn't figure out, were his ancestors really not tired? Although with the financial resources of the Guilin County Prince's Mansion, let alone supporting so many wives and concubines, it would not be a problem even if there were twice as many. But there are so many wives and concubines in this house, how can it be so peaceful there?
Nowadays, although the houses are still kept together because of their own interests, there are not a few among them who have different aspirations. Even among his more than thirty uncles, there are many who are dissatisfied with the fact that his father inherited the throne as a commoner and not the eldest son. Although at present, my father has used the method of division and disintegration, coupled with the resolute and thunderous methods, to suppress all these dissatisfied people.
But once the news of the alliance with Beiliao spreads, who can guarantee that those ambitious uncles will not take advantage of the situation and use the opportunity to force the palace to usurp the throne? If there is a quarrel within oneself, the only one who takes advantage is the imperial court. Although hundreds of years have passed since the last words of our ancestors, no one knows whether they are true or false. But the prince believes that when the time comes, there will be many people who will use chicken feathers as arrows and insist on telling the truth.
The prince didn't really care about the imperial court. What worries him most is whether someone within the Guilin County Prince's Palace will take the opportunity to cause trouble. When he was observing the Ancestors, the most clear sentence he remembered was that the most vulnerable place for a fortress to be breached was inside rather than outside. Once the army is raised and someone stirs up trouble internally, it will not only be the imperial court itself that will be troubled internally and externally.
As for the prince, who was relatively clear about the general trend of the world, he did not agree with his father's words in his heart. In his opinion, the government officials are now corrupt, the clan is preying on the common people, and the whole world is already full of anger and resentment. The annual income of the imperial court is now getting worse every year. After leaving the Guilin County Prince's Mansion, 30% of the annual tax is paid, and even military pay is announced.
At present, Qi Shi's Jiangshan is like sitting on a pile of dry firewood. Just one spark can ignite a raging fire and swallow up the whole family. Compared with the Qi clan, all the princes of Guilin in the past dynasties have always been known for being wise and close to the people, and their popularity cannot be compared with that of the imperial court. The prince believed that as long as the Guilin County Prince raised his voice and called out, the people of the world would definitely rise up and respond.
Under such circumstances, it would be unwise to form an alliance with Beiliao. Not only may it not be possible to borrow power, but it may become the public enemy of the world. The most important thing is, who can guarantee that after defeating the imperial court, the wolf-like Bei Liao will really fulfill its agreement and withdraw from the Central Plains honestly? Forming an alliance with that kind of tiger and wolf country is tantamount to seeking skin from a tiger.
But the prince understood these words clearly. But having lived under the influence of his father for a long time, he could only keep it in his heart. He never dared to speak out or even question it on the surface. He was too clear about his father's character. He knew that in the heart of his father, not only everyone in the world could become his pawns.
Even his wives and concubines, and his children are the same. His biological half-sister, even if she threatened to commit suicide, it was useless. Wasn't she forced to marry the Marquis of Dali in the end? And he was able to finally stand out among his father's many sons and obtain the status of the heir apparent only because he had an advantage that others did not have, that is, obedience.
