Entering May, the weather is getting warmer, but the atmosphere in the imperial city is still as cold as winter.
Ordinary people also feel that the prices of things in the market have generally increased, and the government officials on the road are much more diligent than before. Wherever you go, you can see pairs of people patrolling the streets with a straight face.
The expressions of the officials were even worse, as if their home had been robbed. They all tightened their faces and looked at everyone as if they were looking at thieves.
Some well-informed people have already heard some rumors, saying that there is another war in the south, that the Southern Barbarians are about to gain momentum and fight again.
Is there going to be a war?
Some swear by it, some scorn it. Anyway, although we dare not shout in public, we are discussing it in private. Those elderly people have become fragrant buns. A pot of tea is brewed in the backyard, and four or five young people sit around. They can talk about "reminiscing about the past" for an entire afternoon, which makes the young people who have not experienced the last war with the Nanman listen with gusto. passionate.
The people of the Jingjiu Dynasty were never afraid of fighting, because they almost never lost. On the contrary, the dazzling military exploits after the war could always hide the piles of bones outside the pass so that few people would see them.
The focus of the debate is that some people do not believe that the Southern Barbarians can gain power. The reason is that the Chinese dynasty has been continuously harvesting the Southern Barbarians' population for forty years. How can we fight without the population?
This reason seems reasonable, but many recent signs indicate that there is indeed an undercurrent coming to the surface. For example, the teleportation array to Yucheng was controlled. It was said that the direction to Haixia was under martial law, and there were a large number of horse and cart teams along the way carrying supplies.
The news could not be suppressed. Whether it is official or chamber of commerce, as the situation becomes increasingly tense, it will be left out, and then spread quickly until the matter is officially announced to the whole territory.
This is true in the market place, and you can imagine it in the temple.
Totally noisy.
This time the only spectator was Pang Ban, who was wearing a dazzling black robe but standing in the corner. Xuan Qingwei has his own stall, but everything is still unclear now. Unless Xuan Qingwei intervenes, he can only watch the military and civil servants bickering.
Let’s not talk about the army. They themselves live on knife heads. When the enemy comes, the first choice is to cut them all down, and then come back with the enemy’s heads and land to claim credit, so as to gain promotion and title. son.
According to the military, now it is time to immediately put the Jingnan area into a state of wartime control, let the Jingnan Army Governor's Office regain control of the big seal, and at the same time coordinate the border army to open the Zhuohuo Pass, and directly send troops to the southern barbarians to calm everything down.
As for how much money and supplies the war will cost, and how much impact it will have on all aspects within the country, this is naturally not something that the military needs to consider. It can even be expected that once the Jingnan Army Governor's Office regains control of the seal and obtains the power to dispatch, the status of the entire army will be crazily elevated, changing its current humble state.
Some people even suggested restarting the Great Seals of the two governorates of Jingxi and Jingnan at the same time, using the two front armies as the main offensive, and the southern frontier army as the defense, relying on Zhuohuo Pass to launch another all-out war against the barbarians, and suggested taking The strategy of building the city was step by step, constantly oppressing the living space of the barbarians, and finally completely annihilating the barbarians.
Even Pang Ban would shake his head after hearing this latter suggestion. The barbarian territory was vast and there were many plains, so building cities was of little significance. Instead, it would multiply the burden of the dynasty's baggage. The main reason why the barbarians were not exterminated in the war against the barbarians forty years ago was that the Jingjiu Dynasty could no longer fight on their own. The supplies were too long and there was no support from the teleportation circle. To transport a hundred kilograms of grain, the grain transport team on the road could do it by themselves. After eating sixty or seventy kilograms, I can't afford it.
If we really want to build a city and gradually suppress it, this account will probably drive the Ministry of Households crazy.
The army had many verbal strategies, some good and some bad. They all behaved bravely, resolutely and decisively in front of the emperor. As long as the emperor gave the order, they would never frown even if they threw their heads.
Unfortunately, the emperor sat on the high platform with an expressionless face and watched with cold eyes without saying a word. Even some exquisite figures who usually pride themselves on being good at understanding the emperor's heart can't help but feel anxious in their hearts, wondering what the emperor's plans are.
The emperor remained silent, but the civil service group was tit for tat.
joke! I have finally trampled you vulgar people in the military under my feet, how can I let you take advantage of the situation and rise again? Doesn’t that make us appear incompetent?
So the civil servant group proposed a plan of "allowing the barbarians to establish royal courts, but establishing a military buffer zone."
To put it simply: anyway, fighting with the barbarians has never really eliminated this hidden danger. It always comes again every few decades, which is like a seasonal disease to the country. In this case, it is better to change the way. The barbarians were allowed to rebuild the royal court, but a military buffer zone was drawn with Wuhu as the boundary. As long as the barbarians did not cross the line, the barbarians were left to their own devices. If they crossed the line, it would not be too late to take action.
There are even suggestions that the barbarians can be appeased, and if appropriate, they can be allowed to take back some land and population. As long as they express their surrender, there is no need to go to great lengths to waste people and money.
He also used the news from the supervisory army to explain the situation, saying that everyone in the border army was shouting for war and the military was impetuous. Moreover, the border army's military villages and garrisons had lacked control for many years, had internal corruption, and were worrying about their combat effectiveness.
Pang Ban listened to the excitement, and for the first time he realized that it was not useless for the civil servants to set up the position of military supervisor in the military. Especially nowadays, many problems in the military can be seen from an additional angle. . Pang Ban also read the intelligence sent back from the Black Flag Camp. Otherwise, who would have thought that the frontier troops would have been in such terrible shape long ago?
This fierce quarrel lasted for most of the day, and it was stopped only when the emperor waved his hand.
"I order Zuo Yuliang to judge the military strategy by himself. If there is any change, report it immediately."
With just this sentence, the emperor forcibly ended today's debate. The entire hall was left confused.
What did the emperor plan? Is it a fight or a combination?
Not only the military and civil servants were speculating, but Pang Ban, a bystander, was also muttering secretly in his heart. If the emperor does not take a stand, the wind direction in the temple will continue to be chaotic, which is not good news for the increasingly tense situation in the south.
Following the crowd, Pang Ban was not interested in paying attention to the verbal exchanges between the military and civil servants on the road. He wanted to go back and call the Jingxi Town Governor and Jingnan Town Governor to ask about the situation. Some things should be done early. Well planned.
But as soon as Pang Ban reached the gate of Wanmin Palace, he was stopped by an eunuch who was serving in the chamber, saying that the emperor was looking for him to question.
The eunuch didn't suppress his voice deliberately, Pang Ban heard it, and so did many people around him and around him. Including Pang Ban himself, everyone couldn't help but look surprised when they heard the emperor summoned him.
How long has this been going on? The emperor actually took the initiative to summon Pang Ban. Could it be that under the current situation, the emperor chose to use Xuanqing Guards to do something?
