Zhou Zhixue obviously did not believe that the gap between the Ming Empire and the Southern Song Dynasty was mainly military.
The military is a concrete manifestation of comprehensive national strength and mobilization power. The battle in the Southern Song Dynasty was so awkward that it was obviously not just the army that had a problem.
Zhou Zhi was very interested in this and wanted Zhou Zhixue to talk more.
Then Zhou Zhixue should talk more about it.
"A court full of people who have surrendered on their knees, and an army controlled by them, with logistics and promotions, no matter how strong it can fight, how strong can it be? On the other hand, the armies controlled by the Ming court and the Fuxing Society all fought bravely to take the lead , regard death as home.
In the final analysis, the gap between the army comes from the gap between the court, and the gap between the court comes from the gap between the emperor and the main ruling officials. The emperor of the Southern Song Dynasty was Zhao Gou, and the prime minister was Tang Situi. There were such leaders , no matter how hard they fight, it’s useless.
And what about the Ming army? The Emperor is our Majesty. He has experienced hundreds of battles and has never been defeated. He is an unrivaled hero. The main officials are all His Majesty’s former subordinates. They fought with him all the way. He is firm-willed and decisive in action. He does not hesitate to fight. Fight, is this comparable to the Southern Song Dynasty? "
Zhou Zhi listened to these words, thought silently for a while, and then nodded slowly.
"What you said makes sense. If the imperial court is not as good as the enemy's imperial court, what will happen if the army dares to fight no matter how hard it is? Nowadays it is not the chaotic times of the late Tang Dynasty... But then again, the Southern Song Dynasty has already changed its emperor. ”
"Well, now we have to see what this new emperor can do."
Zhou Zhixue thought for a moment, then whispered: "But this new emperor signed an agreement just after he ascended the throne and became the surrender emperor. The burden on him is not as heavy as usual. I really don't know whether he can bear it and stand up again." ”
"It's best not to. If he gets excited, we will be the ones who suffer."
Zhou Zhi shook his head.
"not necessarily."
Zhou Zhixue said slowly: "The problem of the Southern Song Dynasty is not as simple as changing an emperor or changing a court. Even if he changes all the courts, can he also replace all the local officials? Can he replace all the local officials? Can all the forces that hinder the Northern Expedition be eliminated? If they can't be eliminated, no matter how much he wants to rise up, he can't do it."
Zhou Zhi blinked.
"how do I say this?"
"Isn't it obvious? The real holding back in the Southern Song Dynasty was not the emperor, nor a specific person, but the entire group of southerners. They didn't want the Northern Expedition, they didn't want to fight, they just wanted to live a stable life."
"Why?"
"Why? This court is supported by Southerners, and the officials are mainly Southerners. Whether it is high-ranking officials or low-level officials, most of them are already Southerners. They have great power now, but if the Northern Expedition After successfully restoring the Central Plains, should we give some of our power to the Northerners?
I co-authored the Northern Expedition with my money and effort, and at the end of the war, I had to give power to the Northerners. If I didn't get any benefits, I had to pay part of it. They felt that this kind of business was a loss-making business, and they didn't want to do it, and they didn't want to do it. , just try to hold back. "
Zhou Zhi thought about it for a while and felt that this matter was interesting.
"How short-sighted and shameless. According to this, won't Song State never be able to successfully restore the Central Plains?"
"They couldn't do it in the first place, and with the emergence of an emperor like Zhao Gou, there are so many capable generals that they can't win the situation... Why don't you understand anything?"
Zhou Zhixue looked at Zhou Zhi with a look of disgust.
Zhou Zhi blinked his eyes, feeling a little aggrieved.
"I'm just a leader in war..."
Zhou Zhi was stunned by what he said to Zhou Zhixue. Then he suddenly realized that Zhou Zhi was not a revival member until now, and he suddenly slapped his head.
"I almost forgot... But you can't just think about fighting and ignore politics. Now that the war is over, I will give you a good make-up lesson. After the make-up lesson, you will know what I mean."
"Is that so...Okay, I'll just listen."
Zhou Zhi nodded.
On the other side, as early as May 14th, the news of the victory of the Ming army and the signing of the peace treaty with the Song Dynasty arrived in Zhongdu via express delivery and was delivered to Su Yonglin.
Su Yonglin was overjoyed when he learned about it, and immediately arranged for the Privy Council to reward the heroes of this war, and then summoned the main responsible officials to the palace to discuss matters.
The content of the proceedings was simple.
How to arrange the Huainan East Road obtained after the land was ceded.
The Huainan East Road will inevitably serve as an advance base to deal with the Southern Song Dynasty in the future, which makes it impossible for the Southern Song Dynasty to establish a defense line along the Huaihe River. Once the war begins, it will be a decisive battle, which will help the Ming army march directly to Lin'an and quickly destroy the Southern Song Dynasty's command center.
Therefore, it is debatable whether it should be a separate province or whether it should be included in other provinces.
"To establish a separate province, the scope of these eight states is too small, and the population is not enough. According to preliminary estimates, the population of the eight states is only 800,000. Most of them are desolate lands. They are very desolate. As for setting up a separate province."
Tian Guizi took a look at the information on Huainan East Road and said: "But whether it belongs to Shandong Province or Henan Province, it is a bit inappropriate. The two provinces themselves are already very large. If they are expanded, , not appropriate."
As an important minister, Tian Guizi directly put forward these two views, and other ministers present at the meeting did not know what to suggest.
Su Yonglin stared at the map for a while, and suddenly had an idea.
"Since Henan Province and Shandong Province are not suitable, then we might as well set up a central government directly under the central government."
The courtiers looked at Su Yonglin together.
“The purpose of establishing the Central Direct Government is to allow the central government to directly control certain key areas to enhance the central authority and maintain unification. The Zhongdu area connects Hebei and Liaodong, and is adjacent to Yanshan Mountain in the north. It is a beautiful place and must be controlled by the central court to ensure that Zhongdu’s security.
There is a central government in the north, and the south cannot live without it. I think it is still early at present, but sooner or later, we will have to go south to deal with the Southern Song Dynasty. By then, the Southern Song Dynasty that has just been conquered will definitely have many unstable factors, and the direct intervention of central power will be needed. Maintain stability.
From a geographical perspective, the land of Yanyun is a barrier to the land of Hebei. Whoever controls Yanyun will have an advantage over Hebei. Therefore, the first central government directly under the Central Government was located in Yanyun. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huaihe River. , controlling Huainan and Huaibei is equivalent to controlling the safety of Jiangnan, so the second direct jurisdiction of the Central Government should be located in the two Huaihe areas.
By analogy, transportation in Sichuan and Shu has been inconvenient since ancient times, and separatism has easily occurred. There is a saying that "Shu will be in chaos before the world is in chaos, and Shu will be in peace before the world is in peace." Therefore, in the future, the third central government directly under the central government will be located in The Sichuan-Sichuan area blocks the transportation hub of Sichuan-Sichuan and deters Sichuan-Sichuan disobedience. "
Su Yonglin picked up the pen and drew a circle at three locations on the map.
