When people look back at the magnificent Patriotic War of the Holy Tang Dynasty, they often find a very strange phenomenon, that is, there are some very obvious gaps between the several main forces in the same period.
This gap is mainly reflected in equipment conditions and combat capabilities.
In terms of military strength alone, whether it was the emperor's direct troops, the Southern Army or the Western Army, at least at the beginning of 828 in the Holy Tang Calendar, there was not much difference.
The Liaodong Governor's Mansion, Yinshan Governor's Mansion, and Hebei Province under Li Bing's command constantly recruited and supplemented their troops, with a total strength of about 350,000.
The strength of the Jingxiang Army, also known as the Southern Army, mainly based in the southern state capital, remained at around 450,000.
The Zhenjiang Army, known as the "Western Army", numbered 380,000 after the Ninth Army Corps joined.
However, closeness in military strength does not mean there is no distance in strength.
To put it simply, the Western Army is the strongest, followed by the Northern Army, and the Southern Army has the largest number, but is actually the weakest.
The main branch of the Southern Army is infantry, especially light infantry, which accounts for a very large proportion of the army. This is no wonder, after all, the southern part of Shengtang is mostly hilly and mountainous, and the water system is also developed vertically and horizontally. There is basically no room for cavalry and heavy infantry to display, and they are an unnecessary existence.
Li Bing's direct army, or the Northern Army, was a mixture of infantry and cavalry. On the one hand, those border troops who have been guarding the border for a long time and fighting against the aliens on the grasslands need to fight on horseback. Therefore, both the Liaodong Governor's Palace and the Yinshan Governor's Palace have a considerable number of cavalry troops with good quality. The soldiers of Hebei Daofu, as well as the armies of the Central Plains, Qilu and other places, were influenced by farming civilization and were mostly infantry, supplemented by cavalry.
On the other hand, Li Jiangyao's Zhenjiang Army deliberately formed a pure heavy cavalry corps and a heavy armored infantry corps on the basis of a mixed infantry and cavalry corps. Their professionalism was far superior to that of the Northern and Southern armies.
Not only that, the armor, weapons, horses, equipment, etc. of the Zhenjiang Army are also of much better quality than those of friendly forces.
The upgrade of the arms and sophisticated weapons and equipment have made the Western Army's overall combat capability significantly higher.
And this was also confirmed by the enemy.
The Turkic Great Khan Ashina Zhijin and the Temple Prince Roniya both agreed that among the various soldiers of Shengtang, the Shuzhenjiang Army was the most difficult to deal with.
People can't help but ask, why can the Western Army under Li Jiangyao have better conditions? And the Holy Tang Emperor, who controls a large territory in the north, is unable to improve the strength of the Northern Army and the Southern Army in the short term?
There is only one answer, economy.
Strictly speaking, Western Xinjiang was actually far less prosperous than the Holy Tang Dynasty.
The Shengtang Dynasty had a vast land, a large population, and extremely rich products. Whether it is agriculture, commerce, or handicraft industry, its level of development is significantly ahead of that of Western Xinjiang. But even so, the economic conditions of the Holy Tang court around 828 were much worse than those in Western Xinjiang.
There are probably three reasons for this contrasting situation.
First, the economic structures of Shengtang and Xijiang are completely different.
The Holy Tang Dynasty emphasized agriculture, while Western Xinjiang emphasized commerce. As the hub of the Silk Road trade route, Xijiang Ghost Desert has formed a complete and mature commercial system over hundreds of years, and has made huge profits by utilizing the trade transit between the east and west continents.
As the chaos gradually subsided, the Zhenjiang Military Government restored the commercial ties between Western Xinjiang and the Western Continent through the Persian giant Emene, thus injecting vitality into the local economy in a short period of time.
In contrast, Shengtang's economic foundation mainly relies on land and population. When the land was occupied and destroyed by the invading army, and a large number of laborers fled to avoid the war, the agricultural system was fundamentally destroyed and its vitality was severely damaged.
Secondly, the political foundation of Shengtang and Xijiang also affected the economy.
The Holy Tang Dynasty has always been a highly centralized unified dynasty. Under normal circumstances, a developed administrative system can ensure the smooth operation of the entire empire, which has more governance advantages than Western Xinjiang.
However, at some point, advantages can turn into disadvantages. A complete unified state is certainly very efficient, but once serious divisions occur within it, the original political system will not only be unable to function, but will become a drag on the operation of the dynasty.
For a long time, the territory of the Holy Tang Dynasty fell apart. Li Bing was in the north, Li Kuang was in the Huaihe River, Lao Jianhua was in the south of the Yangtze River, and the imperial government offices were located in the southwest.
There are many branches of government and the world is in chaos. The fiscal and taxation powers that are closely linked to the political power are simply unable to support the needs of military and political affairs.
On the other hand, in the Ghost Desert of Western Xinjiang, although the numerous vassal states are in charge of their own affairs, they have always been like this. They are fully able to flexibly develop according to their own characteristics and can more easily recover from wars.
The Zhenjiang Military Mansion was centrally coordinating, and to a large extent it played the role of the central court, which could help each vassal state learn from each other's strengths and offset their weaknesses and develop rapidly.
Third, there are essential differences between the leaders of Shengtang and Xijiang.
Although the emperor Li Bing had experience in supervising the country and assisting the government, his thinking was far inferior to Li Jiangyao.
While Li Bing was still thinking about how to consolidate the monarchy and how to compete with the court and warlords, Li Jiangyao had already begun to think about recuperating and restoring people's power.
It is often said that what a leader considers will be what his subordinates consider.
The civil and military officials under Li Bing, like their emperor, focused most of their energy on the balance of power, and few of them cared about matters other than the court and the war. The leaders of the Xinjiang Army, including Xu Youchang, Du Jian and others who were directing operations on the front line, talked about economic recovery.
Under the combined effect of these factors, the gap in financial and material resources between the Shengtang court and the Zhenjiang military government became wider and wider.
So in the end, Dongdu was nervous about distributing food and wages to the Northern Army and the Southern Army. However, after the Sixth Army completed the upgrade, the Zhenjiang Army immediately began to build the heavy armored infantry of the Seventh Army and the Eighth Army.
Of course, it is also inaccurate to say that no one in the imperial court cared about the close relationship between economy and military. At least Dong Tianxing, the new Minister of War, quickly discovered this serious problem.
He proposed to the emperor that the economic situation in the northern region of Shengtang must be quickly restored in order to provide sufficient resource guarantee for the army. Otherwise, let alone recruiting a large number of new soldiers to join the war or forming a powerful heavy armored army, even the current army of more than 800,000 people will soon be unable to support it.
Li Bing didn't particularly care about Dong Tianxing's opinion at first.
the reason is simple. He thought that Dong Tianxing, an official of the Ministry of War, was worried about money and food. The imperial court has now arrived in the Eastern Capital, and all ministers have returned to their respective positions and performed their duties. Issues regarding finance and taxation will be taken care of by people from the Ministry of Revenue and the Taifu. The Ministry of War should not cross the line to ask questions or stretch out their hands. Too long.
But soon, Li Bing's idea changed.
Because Dong Tianxing told him that the Zhenjiang Army was about to complete the formation of the third heavy armored infantry regiment.
Li Bing had heard reports from the Ministry of War before, so he knew very well how much financial and material resources it would cost to establish a pure heavy armor army of tens of thousands.
Now Li Jiangyao actually created three armies at once, with a total of 150,000 heavy armored infantry. It is simply unbelievable and terrifying!
No, if the Western Army can be rectified, the imperial court must also rectify it, and it must be rectified as soon as possible.
"Your Majesty, it's hard for a clever woman to make a meal without rice. Without money, I can't do it."
Dong Tianxing spread his hands and frowned.
Li Bing knew that the other party was absolutely right. Heavy armor soldiers are powerful because they are made of silver. Without money, there would be no outstanding soldiers and sophisticated equipment, and it would be impossible to form a legion.
He immediately called Chen Hong, the Secretary of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and Wei Zixuan, the Minister of the Taifu, and asked them to pay.
Chen Hong was a veteran of the late emperor. He had been in charge of the household department for many years and always spoke with great weight in the court. Faced with the emperor's "unreasonable" request, he slightly cupped his hands and said two words from his mouth.
"No money."
"No money?" Li Bing frowned immediately: "Didn't your Ministry of Revenue bring 40 million guans of silver and 2,000 jins of gold from Yizhou? Add in the treasury silver I have accumulated here, how can I have no money? "
Chen Hong counted the money to Li Bing with his fingers and said: "Your Majesty, there is indeed money in the treasury, but it is almost full. First of all, many prefectures in Hebei Province encountered severe drought last year, and Henan Province was scourge by poisonous soldiers. , the two places are in urgent need of disaster relief, which consumes a large amount of funds; secondly, the Ministry of Industry proposed a while ago that the Eastern Capital Imperial City and various government offices need to be expanded and repaired as soon as possible, so it is another large amount of expenditure; and there is another In order to deal with the southern rebels, General Murong plans to build 500 new warships within half a year. The expenditure on craftsmen and materials has been approved by His Majesty, and we need to leave enough for them in advance; in addition, there is also Ma Hongjie who is in arrears. Their military pay for half a year. Yesterday, the Confederate Army sent people to pay for it again, and even threatened that if it was not paid, the soldiers might mutiny."
Chen Hong sighed: "That's it, not counting the officials' salaries and the court's daily expenses. The veteran is worried that he will owe them again this month."
Li Bing felt depressed and turned to look at Wei Zixuan: "Where are the taxes? Didn't you raise the taxes?"
Wei Zixuan quickly bowed and replied: "Your Majesty, forgive me. The tax was collected, but not much."
He paused and explained seriously: "In the past, in peacetime, taxes were based on the rules of southern finance and northern grain. The handicraft industry and commerce in the south were developed, so the main part was money and the supplement was food. The northern agriculture was dominant. , is close to the imperial capital and the eastern capital, and has a large demand, so the main payment is food, supplemented by money. At present, the north is suffering from natural disasters and wars, and the food harvest is poor, while the south is occupied by rebels and cannot collect taxes, so …”
Li Bing waved his hand impatiently: "Okay, I know all this. Tell me what countermeasures you have."
Chen Hong glanced at Wei Zixuan first, and then said: "Your Majesty, the Ministry of Household Affairs does not care about the income, it is only responsible for the arrangement of the court's money and food, so the only way I can think of is to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall. Let's see what big expenditures can be made Stop it temporarily and move it to the heavy armored army first."
Wei Zixuan secretly scolded Chen Hongzhen for his ability to blame others, and said loudly: "Your Majesty, I believe that the tax rate should be increased as soon as possible to increase the revenue of the national treasury."
Li Bing was slightly startled: "How to adjust it?"
"The imperial court's rule of one tax per ten taxes is obviously out of date." Wei Zixuan said: "Now that the enemy is facing us, military expenses are naturally much higher than before. Taxation is still at the level of the late emperor. This is a pedantic move that does not know how to adapt. Minister. It is recommended that the ratio be increased to five taxes and one, and war contributions be added. Based on population, if there are no young men in the family, or young men who have not joined the army, they must pay war contributions."
