After seeing off Jiao Luting, Bai Yutian asked the waiter for another bowl of rice. After eating, not a single grain was left.
Seeing Bai Yutian's appetite increased, Zhang Yan'er must have something on her mind, so she asked in a low voice: "Brother Bai, do you have anything else to do?"
Bai Yutian was very happy to see that Zhang Yan'er looked like a roundworm in his stomach. He smiled and replied, "All our horses have been taken away. I want to go and get them back."
Everyone who heard it was first surprised, then incredulous, with expressions on their faces.
Zhuo Yifei asked: "Who is so bold and dares to disturb Tai Sui? Is there really no way to do it?"
When a prince breaks the law, the common people are equally guilty. What a wonderful wish! But the world just knows the word "accommodating", plus "extra-legal mercy", and "punishment is not worthy of a doctor".
Hu Yanqing answered: "The king's law is given by God to the emperor. The emperor gives it to ministers. The ministers give it to local officials. The local officials give it to local powerful people. The powerful people then use it for the people. One level suppresses the other, who has the highest status? Gao, whoever is Wang Fa."
Taoist Master Jingyin smiled and said: "So, from the First Emperor to the present, countless people have fought bravely to kill the enemy for the supreme power. Not only are they pretentious, but they are also called heroes. It is extremely contemptible and really ridiculous."
Master Mingzhi disagreed and said, "Is it necessary to be so cynical? As long as the rule of law remains, there will be a day when everyone is equal."
Bai Yutian said: "Mr. Li is still open-minded and thinks far ahead. Everything has two sides. You may say it is good today because you need it, but you may say it is bad tomorrow because you don't need it. Whether it is good or bad depends on time. Check it, it’s correct.”
Zhang Yaner said: "Brother Bai, can I go with you?"
Bai Yutian said: "If you pay, you will be rewarded. Just sing a song. When everyone is satisfied, I will take you there."
Zhang Yaner asked in a low voice: "Brother Bai, do you really want to hear it?"
Zhuo Yifei smiled and said: "Good people sing good songs, good songs are given to good people, and we sing a cappella to know each other from afar."
Zhang Yan'er stood up, glanced at Bai Yutian, and said, "Then I sing, but you can't laugh at me."
Hu Yanqing encouraged: "Sister, just sing whatever comes to your mind. It's good to be unfettered." Hehehe smiled.
Zhang Yan'er looked around and saw a tree outside the store where the flowers were in bloom, but no one was enjoying them. She felt pity from the bottom of her heart, thought of a few words, and sang out:
"The crazy smile fills the window, and you can only know the magnolia by an inch of lovesickness. Standing quietly on the top of the tree, no one knows, and the half-width mist and rain have lasted for a long time."
Several people gave them a round of applause, and Zhang Yaner's face turned red, ashamed, ashamed, ashamed! Cowardly, cowardly, cowardly! Shy and timid.
Bai Yutian stood up, put on his bamboo hat, and walked out the door, leaving behind a sentence that shocked everyone.
"It's as pure as a clear lotus and unstained by dust, and its color is like white clouds and as beautiful as an immortal. The gentle breeze is blowing and the fragrance is overflowing. See you again when you stand tall and graceful."
Zhang Yan'er heard about it and chased her to the door, only to see Bai Yutian following the waiter in the shop, walking away indifferently, which was very similar to a sentence: The body moves with the world, the heart is distracted by trivial matters, and the whole life is spent in the rain.
Bai Yutian and the two walked several times before leaving the town and arriving at a village.
The waiter stopped outside an ancestral hall and said, "Sir, this is it."
Bai Yutian paid the waiter twenty coppers and said, "Thank you for showing me the way!"
The waiter took it and said kindly: "Sir, everyone here protects their own shortcomings. You must not argue with them."
Bai Yutian smiled and replied: "Okay, convince people with virtue."
The waiter said: "Young master, if you think so, that's great." He smiled slightly and walked away.
Bai Yutian stepped into the gate of the ancestral hall and saw no one, but was blocked by a voice.
"Sir, the Song Dynasty is so rich and powerful, why is it always bullied by the north?"
An old voice replied: "That bitch Shi Jingtang, for his own selfish purposes, ceded the sixteen states of Yanyun along the Great Wall to the Khitan. Since then, the Han Dynasty has lost the natural city wall composed of high mountains, and the vast Shandong plain has been exposed. Under the iron hooves of the northern nomads, with a clear view, how can we not be bullied!"
A young voice said: "Sir, why don't you train your own cavalry? It's very frustrating to be bullied like this."
The elder sighed: "I, the Song Dynasty, are rich, but I am not good at raising horses, and I don't like raising horses. Without horses, it is not easy to build a powerful cavalry."
A young voice said: "If you don't have a horse, you can buy it! As long as you have the will, there is nothing you can't do."
The elder let out a long sigh and said: "Emperor Taizu established the Song Dynasty. In order to strengthen the centralization of power and prevent his generals from relying on their own troops, he took away military power from his generals with just a glass of wine. Then he took the fire under the cauldron and removed all the elite troops. Form the Forbidden Army to defend the capital, and put it under your direct command. The Forbidden Army will all stay in the capital, and there is no need to move around, so naturally there is no need for a large number of cavalry."
A slightly mature voice said: "Sir, now even a party member has jumped out and dared to shit and piss on my head, Da Song, and do all sorts of things. Why is Da Song so vulnerable?"
The elder said: "That is all the fault of the Chanyuan Alliance."
A young voice said: "Sir, what is the Chanyuan Alliance?"
The elder said: "In the first year of Zhenzong Jingde, the Liao army went south in large numbers to attack the Song Dynasty. Emperor Zhenzong led the expedition in person, crossed the Yellow River, and reached the northern city of Chanzhou. For a time, the morale of the Song army was greatly boosted. The Liao army went deep alone and was attacked. A serious setback. In view of the defeat and the low morale of the army, Empress Dowager Xiao proposed peace. Emperor Zhenzong was afraid that the Liao army would break through the Yellow River defense line and endanger Bianliang, the capital, so he also made concessions and gave the Liao one hundred thousand taels of silver every year, plus twenty Ten thousand pieces of silk were used to make peace and the Chanyuan Alliance was signed."
A voice said: "Sir, peace talks are a good thing! War wastes people and money, so why can't we continue fighting endlessly?"
A slightly calm voice said: "Sir, after the Chanyuan Alliance, the Song and Liao countries lived in peace for more than thirty years. The money earned by the Song Dynasty from the trade between the two sides was much higher than the money given to the Liao Kingdom every year. There's nothing wrong with Sui Gong."
The elder sneered: "Since peace can be bought with money, and after peace is achieved, the money spent to buy peace can be earned back, then why does the army need to do it? The court has since lost its emphasis on military construction, and the army cannot Training is needed, as long as the internal stability of the army is ensured. The sage has a saying, live in sorrow and die in peace."
A young voice said: "But the Dangxiang people only have a few people, no more than a million. We, the Song Dynasty, have millions of soldiers, but they collapsed at the first touch. It's really puzzling."
The elder replied: "What is there to understand? The Forbidden Army and the Xiang Army are seriously out of balance, with internal emphasis on the outside and lightness on the outside. There are many hidden dangers on the border, and the number of Xiang Army guarding the border is pitiful. How can the border be peaceful? Furthermore, from the Taizu Cup At the beginning of the Liquor Release of Military Power, foreign invaders came every time. The local defenders suffered defeat first before sending out the Forbidden Army. The Forbidden Army was not familiar with the battlefield and their opponents, and the generals did not understand their own subordinates. Fighting with such an army, It’s not easy to win one or two feet.”
A voice said: "Sir, it's no wonder that in foreign wars, our country, the Song Dynasty, lost more and won less. It turns out that's what happened."
The elder said: "The generals who are usually in charge of army training cannot go out with the army in wartime, but those generals who command operations are temporarily selected. Most of them are civilian officials, with little experience in leading troops in war, and they do not understand the soldiers under their command. , resulting in generals who don’t know their soldiers, and soldiers who don’t know their generals. What’s even more annoying is that the commander who directs the battle on the front line cannot make the decision on his own. Every battle formation must be drawn and sent to the emperor first, and then it can be implemented invariably after the emperor’s approval. .The battlefield is changing rapidly. How long does it take to come and go? By the time the emperor's order is sent to the front line, both warring parties have almost gone home to have dinner and go to bed. Although the Chanyuan Alliance brought peace, it also covered up all this. all dangers.”
A young voice said: "I have millions of soldiers in the Song Dynasty. If the imperial army is not enough, how about the local Xiang army?"
The elder sneered and said: "The local Xiang Army, it is better to review the Xiang Army. At least it should be reviewed once a year to see if it has been trained. Then the review Xiang Army will not even have to review once a year, and it will be sent to the front line. In combat, in addition to increasing your numbers and building up your aura, once you actually fight, you will lose your life."
A voice became excited and said loudly: "Why does the imperial court raise so many wastes? The poor people who are harmed by excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes are miserable. What is it for?"
The elder sighed: "What are you trying to do! There is a saying passed down from generation to generation in the Zhao family, there are only rebellious people, not rebellious armies."
A voice was puzzled and said angrily: "Why?"
The elder sneered: "The army belongs to the Zhao family. It is the Zhao family that pays the army and can be controlled by military law. The generals still have to rely on the Zhao family for food, promotion, and wealth. As long as there are no serious mistakes, they will never do anything." He will not rebel against the Zhao family. The people are different. All royal expenses, the military salaries of millions of troops and the salaries of hundreds of thousands of officials are all obtained from the people through taxes. Moreover, all dynasties The main components of the peasant uprisings in the past dynasties were refugees. When people encountered natural and man-made disasters and were separated from the land, they had no way out but to rebel. There are those who do not rebel."
A voice burst out: "No wonder in the past hundred years since the founding of the Song Dynasty, whenever there was a natural disaster, the first thing the court did was to recruit, recruit, and recruit again. Those strong and sturdy refugees were recruited into the army just to To eliminate the refugee rebellion, we have never truly treated the people as human beings.”
"Such a poisonous move indeed greatly reduced the number of refugee uprisings in the Song Dynasty. However, the Song Dynasty was only eighty years old, and the army already exceeded one million. The redundant troops not only burdened the government's finances, but also brought about corruption and corrupt officials. The officials are in a long line, and the poor people are suffering unspeakably." The elder sighed for a moment and then sighed: "Hey! If this fatal wound is not treated, it will be fatal, and medicine and stone can do it for you!"
As soon as the words fell, the place became quiet for an instant, with only a few scattered sighs heard.
Bai Yutian shook off the rainwater on his raincoat, straightened his bamboo hat, and walked inside.
