Chapter 402: Live in the Chicken Coop First
Mr. Li was upright and friendly, and the other officials were reluctant to let him go. However, the old man was very happy to say that he was still working for the country in the Censorate.
If anyone does something wrong, he will also stand up and speak out.
Everyone applauded him and welcomed Mr. Li's suggestions.
Then, Lao Cao announced the letter from Shi's son in Liangzhe. When the gentlemen saw that Shi's son wanted to appoint himself as the pacification envoy, they were all at a loss whether to laugh or cry. Hua Yue said angrily that he was just separatist and king.
Zhao Yulin said it was obvious, and he also wanted us to protect his coastal defense and pay for the military expenses in Jiangbei.
This means that we, the New Song, want to support Liangzhe for him.
Lao Cao said that his opinion was to ignore it, do our own thing, and leave Liangzhe there.
Mr. Li thought this was a good idea.
Ignoring it means not making a conclusion, which is like having a sword hanging over the heads of Liangzhe, making the thief Shi live in fear and unable to sleep well.
Then, Zhao Yulin said that You Gong had been in charge of the Ministry of Justice for some time and had done a good job in the affairs of the Ministry of Justice. He proposed to formally appoint You Gong as the Minister of Justice and let Song Ci preside over the Dali Temple.
The gentlemen immediately started discussing. Du Fan thought that it was a bit too fast to promote Song Ci to be the head of the Dali Temple right away.
When Song Ci was in Guangnan East Road, he was just a judicial officer. After arriving in Chengdu, he rose to prominence and became the chief official of the Dali Temple of the new Song Dynasty, which was equivalent to the Supreme Justice in later generations.
Zhao Yulin said that extraordinary times call for extraordinary people. Song Ci is good at solving cases, has great abilities, and follows the rules, which is exactly what the new Song needs.
At present, the country's laws are lax, and we need judicial officials like Song Ci to enforce the laws. He also hopes to open a professional class for judicial officials in Caotang Academy, where Lord Hua and Song Ci from the Censorate will give lectures to select and train judicial officials for our new Song Dynasty.
After Zhao Yulin explained his reasons in detail, Hua Yue was the first to support him. He also stated on the spot that he would work with Song Ci to carefully select a group of students to run a class.
He said that they could also select outstanding judicial officials from all over the country to come back for further study, which is called a crash course. The officials thought it was a great idea and nodded their heads.
Seeing that everyone had reached a consensus, Cao Cao had nothing to say and immediately made the decision. He then proposed to send Fire Phoenix to inspect the military affairs in Jiangnan and Guangdong and Guangxi, temporarily replacing the Fujian Pacifier.
After the Deputy Envoy of the Ministry of War introduced the current military situation in Jiangnan and Guangdong and Guangxi, Lao Cao explained the reasons for his deployment. The officials immediately agreed and supported Fire Phoenix to stay in Fuzhou and monitor Guangdong and Guangxi.
Seeing that all the previous talks were about failures in governing and military affairs, and the gentlemen were in a bad mood, Lao Cao said with a smile that the New Song Dynasty was not a mess, and the national taxation and the Western Expedition Army performed very well in the south of the Himalayas. Director Zhidi, come on, read it all to you.
Then, Shunzhidi, who was already the director of the Central Yuan's Office, stood beside Lao Cao and read the briefing: First, the national tax revenue has been rising steadily. According to the statistical reports for the first half of the year, it is estimated that the annual tax revenue will reach 180 million strings of cash. Excluding the bad debts caused by the freezing of bank loans to unfinished projects, at least 170 million can be collected. The Transportation Department can fully guarantee the operation of the country's finances.
Everyone was delighted and started discussing the matter among themselves.
Youshi tells everyone that unfinished streets do not necessarily lead to losses, but instead cause banks to have a large amount of bad debts.
The thorough investigation of unfinished streets in Daojiang County has produced preliminary results. Investigators from the Shunfeng Division and the Ministry of Justice have followed the clues and arrested a large number of corrupt officials. The confiscated gold and silver properties can fully offset the deficit.
Lao Cao was very happy and asked Zhidi to continue reading.
The second piece of information was a long letter from Li Yunqing, the commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition Army: it gave a detailed report on the Western Expedition Army's rectification of the major towns in northern Tibet, and that Tibet was gradually moving towards stability.
Deputy Commander Cao Yong led a detachment to attack Langerke and occupied their capital. The king of Langerke wanted to negotiate peace, but Li Yunqing and the Tibetan Grand Zamp of Lhasa refused and directly demanded that they submit.
Li Yunqing proposed to establish Langerke Prefecture.
After the Western Expedition Army crossed the Great Snow Mountain and entered Shannan, they found that the climate there was pleasant, the resources were abundant, and it was more suitable for living. Almost all the silver coins used by Tubo were produced in Langerke.
Zhao Yulin naturally knew about these situations.
However, due to the barrier of the snow-capped mountains, the two places were unable to communicate for at least three or four months, and the support of military equipment and supplies became the biggest problem.
He suggested to Lao Cao that Yun Qing and his men should act cautiously, and if they could hold on, they should hold on, and if they couldn't, they should retreat. Even if they had to hold on, they had to be prepared to hold on for a long time.
Lao Cao nodded and said to the deputy envoy of the Ministry of War who came to attend the meeting, "Remember, and reply well. The logistics here must continue our national policy, speed up the construction of roads, and transport their scarce supplies in."
Lord Li was very excited and told everyone that after the return of Tubo, we have no worries and we have also obtained a large number of fine horses. He asked the deputy envoy of the Ministry of War, if we continue like this, when can we lead our troops northward and attack Huanglong directly?
This is a big problem, and it’s really difficult for me.
Zhao Yulin said that according to our military strategy, we need to conquer and stabilize one place at a time, which requires that military supplies can keep up with the pace of the troops' advance.
War is all about logistics. Wherever the army goes, logistical support must be there. It is not enough to simply have military horses.
If we don't consider the logistical support of the army and send out 100,000 cavalrymen to raid the north of the desert at one time, Lord Cao can give the order now.
Lao Cao nodded and told everyone to be patient and determined. We can send out a cavalry to conduct a surprise attack on Mobei, but it is very risky. Looking at the past wars, there are many casualties.
This is something our New Song Dynasty cannot afford to lose.
At present, the Northern Barbarians are still very strong, and they have a large number of mobile cavalry, ready to make a fool of our cavalry at any time. If we go deep into the enemy's territory alone, there is a great possibility that we will be eaten by the enemy, and the newly formed cavalry must not take such risks.
The Minister of Revenue Du Fan agreed with Lao Cao's opinion and told the officials that the Ministry of Revenue's military farming around Luoyang was making great progress.
When it was first recaptured, there was no human habitation for thousands of miles.
Today, in the wide and flat areas, villages and towns are gradually recovering. With people, there is vitality. With the people, our Shenwei Army can rely on and get strong support on the battlefield.
Lao Cao said that this is the truth. You all look at Yan'an Prefecture. When the army advanced into Yushulin, there were no villages for hundreds of miles north of Suide. The supplies for tens of thousands of people had to be transported entirely by Yan'an Prefecture recruiting civilians and soldiers.
If we go further north and fail to achieve complete control of the thousands of miles of road, once our food and fodder are cut off by the Mongolian army, our army will collapse without a fight.
The gentlemen were silent, nodding and drinking their tea.
Lao Cao asked Zhidi to continue reporting...
Lanzhou, the Minister of War Miao Gui finally arrived after rushing around.
Hao Xiaoming took over and said: If he doesn't see anyone again, he will go to Wuwei. Military intelligence report: The Mongolian army is gathering more and more in Heishui City. I am worried that they will really go south as the third young master said, cross the desert and plunder Wuwei.
Miao Gui pointed at Zhangye, which was closer on the sand table, and asked if the enemy would launch a sneak attack on Zhangye nearby.
Hao Xiaoming thought that both were possible, as there was very little water along the road , and it was difficult for a large group of people to pass through. However, all the possibilities were not very high, because according to the third young master's inference, Mengge came back to fight for the Khan position, and he didn't need to take the risk of sending troops south to die.
If we catch him, not only will he lose his troops, but he will also have to risk his life to cross the desert.
Miao Gui said that the young master had repeatedly instructed him before they set out, and it seemed like he was very worried.
Hao Xiaoming said that he had already made arrangements for strict defense and was not afraid.
Miao Gui criticized him for forgetting the principle of losing land to save people that the Third Young Master said. He asked him to apply it flexibly. He ordered to continue to send reinforcements to Zhangye and Wuwei. Even if the team was doing long-distance drills, they had to send another batch.
Hao Xiaoming said that the cavalry could provide the fastest support here, so he dispatched another 5,000 cavalry.
The two of them hurried to Wuwei the next day.
Qingcheng Mountain. The cool temperature last night made Fenghuang very happy. He pulled Shunzhidi up and took turns to squeeze Zhao Yulin thoroughly before letting him go. He got up, took a shower, changed clothes and went out. He saw Yangjin and the others were already playing the Landlord game with the old man.
This Doudizhu is a game that Sichuan people used to play with playing cards for fun. Yangjin actually passed it on.
She made a new playing card. The King and the Joker were renamed the King and the Queen, and the name of the card on the cover of the box was Landlord.
Mr. Ding and Mr. Li were having a lot of fun playing the game. They said with a smile that once this game was played, all the landlords in the world would be trembling with fear and would rush to hand over the land in their hands.
Who dares not to hand it over? Let's fight him as the landlord.
Zhao Yulin burst into laughter when he heard this.
Cao Youwen came over and asked them to take a walk together and exercise.
He didn't have the nerve to say that he had been active all night, so he mustered up his energy and dragged his legs, which were filled with lead, to accompany Lao Cao up the mountain.
Lao Cao asked him: If Lord Li goes to the Censorate, who will be promoted to be the vice-king?
Zhao Yulin said to wait and see, as he was about to go to Xiangyang, and the number of people counted when discussing matters in the court was still an odd number, five.
Lao Cao still didn't want him to leave, saying that the front line should be left to Yang Xingyun and others, who could handle it.
Zhao Yulin thought that if they didn't fight this time, it would be a big war, and it would be too far away for the brothers to make decisions. Right now, there was nothing to do, so it was a good opportunity to go to the front and keep an eye on it.
He told Lao Cao that although Chengdu seemed peaceful, he could not be careless at all. Since the old emperor was able to send a secret decree, it was hard to say whether he had any other tricks up his sleeve.
It is not certain whether the Mongolian royal court will make use of the captured hostages.
When Cao heard this, his head started to hurt. He immediately waved his hand and told them to stop talking. He was very scared and decided it would be better to face the Northern Barbarians head-on and fight them.
Zhao Yulin said with a smile that Cao Gong was afraid, and he was even more afraid. We must defend both inside and outside and fight this battle resolutely.
Three days later, Zhao Yulin returned to Chengdu with the Fire Phoenix and spent the night talking with Ma Linger. The next morning, they boarded the new official ship of the Fire Phoenix and headed east.
Wu Yuqi finished her work in Daojiang County and returned with her fourth grandmother and a group of children. She learned that Zhao Yulin had left Chengdu, and said with some regret that her brother left without even waiting for her.
