After hearing Zhao Ziliang's worries, Xuanzong felt that they were a bit alarmist.
He frowned and said, "Zhao Qing is worried too much.
Now all the nine bends of the Yellow River are under the control of the Tang Dynasty.
In the two counties of Taoyang and Chuihe, there are Wanxiu and With Shence's Second Army garrisoned and the Western Navy garrisoned by the Western Navy, it will not be easy for Tubo to capture our lands in Longyou and Hexi."
After hearing Xuanzong's words, Zhao Ziliang couldn't help but want to scold his mother.
With a dark face, he said to Ma Lin and Wang Jinnan: "You two can tell His Majesty the situation in Hexi and Longyou."
Ma Lin had to stand up and clasped his fists at Xuanzong and said: "Your Majesty, we originally had 73,000 troops in Hexi.
At the end of last year, we transferred 55,000 troops to Tongguan to quell the rebellion.
This time, the general brought another There are more than 10,000 people, and now there are at most 10,000 people left in Hexi.
There are eight states in Hexi, and evenly divided, there are not even 1,500 people in each state."
Xuanzong turned pale when he heard this.
He looked at Wang Lan and asked, "General Wang, where is Longyou?"
Wang Ran's mouth was bitter and he said helplessly: "Longyou originally had 75,000 soldiers and horses.
At the end of last year, 50,000 people were sent to Tongguan to suppress the rebellion.
This time, the general brought 10,000 people.
Now the entire Longyou army There are only 15,000 people left, and most of the Wanxiu and Shence armies have been mobilized."
How could Xuanzong not understand the dire situation in Hexi and Longyou at this time?
The reason why Hexi and Longyou are still fine now is probably because the reaction of the Tubo Kingdom was a little slow.
It is also possible that the senior officials of the Tubo Kingdom had already learned about the situation in Hexi and Longyou.
The reality of Longyou is that they still want to see the excitement.
After all, the strength of the Tang Dynasty is still there.
Although Huangfu Weiming, Wang Zhongsi, Gao Xianzhi, Feng Changqing and other famous generals were lost, the Tang Dynasty is not without good generals.
There are still hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses from all over the Tang Dynasty, but it is not easy to gather them all at once.
Just be together.
If you think of attacking the Tang Dynasty, without sufficient preparation, you may steal the chicken but lose the rice.
Xuanzong was a little confused, "Why is this happening?
Why is this happening?
Zhao Qing, why did our Tang Dynasty become like this?
Although I have been slacking off on political affairs in recent years, I am still very concerned about military affairs.
How come our huge Tang Dynasty has become like this?"
There are no more soldiers and horses.”
Zhao Ziliang shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Your Majesty, you don't know that firewood, rice, oil and salt are expensive when you are not a minister.
If you say a word of wisdom, we ministers will be so anxious that our hair will turn gray overnight.
War is not a simple matter.
An infantryman needs at least After half a year of training, it takes at least three years for a crossbowman and a cavalry to go on the battlefield.
Otherwise, they will die.
A soldier needs a certain amount of military pay every month.
Now that the situation has become so corrupt, soldiers' military pay is getting higher and higher. , The military pay given to them is too low, and the morale of the soldiers cannot be improved.
Not to mention the military pay, only the weapons, armor, clothing and shoes and socks used by the soldiers.
An ordinary infantryman needs at least 180 guan to equip himself.
If a light cavalry is equipped with only A horse requires at least 500 guan.
This is still a second-class horse.
If equipped with a superior horse, it will require more than 1,000 guan.
If equipped with two horses, it will require more than 2,000 guan.
Weapons and armor are not equipped with the army.
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It can be used for a lifetime, one set It is useless after a battle and needs to be replaced.
In normal times, it can only be used for one year before it needs to be replaced.
There are also clothes, shoes and socks.
At least two sets of 100,000 infantry equipment are needed every year.
The equipment needs 18 million.
Guan, including a year's military pay of 1.2 million Guan, including grain, rewards and other equipment, a hundred thousand troops would have to spend 25 million Guan if they did not fight in a year.
If they went to war, it would cost even more, and they would need to replace equipment and provide pensions to the families of fallen soldiers. , treat the wounded soldiers, give Rewards are given to meritorious soldiers, and more than 10 million guan of gold must be spent in a battle, so the war is fought with money and food.
This is a prerequisite.
Without enough money and food, we cannot fight a war at all.
We can't let the soldiers go to the battlefield with bare hands.
Hexi and Longyouben The land is vast, sparsely populated, and the products are poor.
How much tax can be collected every year?
Hexi and Longyou can raise 150,000 horses, which is already the best.
This is the result of the hard work of each Jiedushi, and the ability is slightly lower.
If it’s a little bit, you can’t play at all.”
After hearing Zhao Ziliang's words, Xuanzong couldn't help but stretched out his hand to touch his forehead, and said with some shame: "It's because I didn't think well.
At that time, the rebels were attacking fiercely, and I was also seriously ill and sought medical treatment indiscriminately.
Without thinking much, I issued an edict to let Hexi and Longyou each He mobilized 50,000 troops and horses to put down the rebellion.
I didn’t think so.
After two consecutive deployments of troops, Hexi and Longyou were taken away.
Hey, what happened to my country?
Why did it become so vulnerable?
Zhao Qing, you said, I want to hear the truth.
If the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty If there is anyone who dares to tell the truth, I'm afraid it's only you, Zhao Ziliang."
Zhao Ziliang thought for a while and said: "Your Majesty relies on the ministers to handle government affairs.
Only when ministers have salaries, status, and power can they handle various government affairs for your Majesty with peace of mind, so that the people can produce and live with peace of mind, and the people can live and work in peace and contentment, and the Tang Dynasty will be prosperous." will be stable, but these all require money and food.
Without money and food, the ministers will not have the salary to support their families, and they will use their power to Obtaining it illegally, they don't even care about the salary at all, because they can get more with their power.
Without military pay, the soldiers can't safely guard the border and protect the safety of various parts of the Tang Dynasty.
They will launch mutinies or rob the people where the money and food come from.
Of course, it comes from taxes.
The amount of taxes is determined by the country’s economic conditions, and the basis of the country’s economic conditions It is whether the politics is clear and clear.
If the government's politics are clear and clear, the people will live and work in peace and contentment, the country's economic situation will naturally be good, and taxes will be high.
If the politics are unclear and corrupt officials are rampant, the people will not be able to produce with peace of mind, and the tax collection will naturally be low and they will have no money.
The people who pay taxes are forced to become robbers and bandits.
When taxes are collected, do they all go into the national treasury?
Not so, most of it went into the pockets of corrupt officials.
Now the court collects taxes based on acres of land and per capita, but the rich and powerful don't have to pay taxes.
They are trying every means to annex the fields of ordinary people, leaving these people with no land to farm. , so the tax revenue of the imperial court is getting less and less, and the number of refugees is increasing.
The refugees have no way of living and naturally turn into bandits and robbers."
"Your Majesty, don't you understand now that the foundation of the Tang Dynasty has begun to rot?
The ministers and powerful people you appointed are eating away at the foundation of the Tang Dynasty.
They have no concept of country supremacy in their minds.
They just Thinking about their own interests, they also don’t think about it.
If the Tang Dynasty is over, they will be better off than if the skin is gone and the hair will be covered under the nest.
How can there be no eggs?”
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Xuanzong stood up from the dragon chair and walked slowly up and down the hall.
As he walked, he said: "If all the courtiers thought like Zhao Qing, why would the Tang Dynasty be like this?
However, the court cannot do without these ministers.
Although you didn't say it explicitly, I also know , I have been slacking off over the years, neglecting political affairs, and indulging Li Linfu, Yang Guozhong and others.
I will slowly think about good strategies and try my best to reverse the situation.
You just said that the Tang Dynasty is now in the midst of external and internal troubles.
Do you have any solution?"
As an emperor of his generation, it was not easy for Xuanzong to admit his mistakes in front of his ministers.
Zhao Ziliang could not be too demanding.
After hearing Xuanzong's question, he clasped his fists and said: "For internal rebellions, I have my own ministers and other troops to put down the rebellion." , An Lushan is just a clown, nothing to be afraid of From now on, the first thing the imperial court will do is to confuse and win over Tubo, and then use threats to prevent Tubo from taking rash actions.
The second thing is to rectify the administration of officials and crack down on the annexation of land by powerful families and wealthy families.
This second point must be done from now on.
Don’t be too impatient, just take it slow.”
Xuanzong touched his beard, nodded and said: "What Zhao Qing said is reasonable.
This second point coincides with what I think.
I have already considered it, but how should I proceed with the first point?"
Zhao Ziliang said: "Wei Chen believes that envoys should be sent to Tubo.
First, negotiate with Tubo to sign a treaty to delineate the boundary line; second, increase the tea and horse trade quota and sell large quantities of silk, porcelain and other expensive items to Tubo.
However, we must strictly limit the flow of iron into Tubo and purchase large quantities of war horses, furs, etc., and we can increase the price appropriately.
Third, station troops at the border.
Now that Hexi and Longyou have no troops to transfer to the border, and there are not enough troops in the counter-insurgency battlefield to return to Hexi and Longyou, Weichen believes that we can fight against the Tubo forces from Anxi and Beiting.
To accumulate troops along the border to put pressure on Tubo, the imperial court could give orders to Liang Zai, who was left behind in Anxi, and ask him to order the deployment of troops.
They were gathered in the towns of Dabolu and Hunu.
The ministers also gave orders to the Beiting Protectorate, asking the Tocharian ministries under the Taixi Protectorate to send troops eastward to northern Tianzhu.
At the same time, they contacted the ministries in northern Tianzhu to send troops to threaten Tibet.
Western border, in order to distract the attention of the Tibetans.
If the Tibetans feel that the western border is threatened, they will definitely Deploy troops and horses from other places.
It turns out that Tubo's threat to us in Hexi and Longyou is much smaller.
In addition, we can also send people to small countries such as Piao in the southwest to persuade them to create friction with Tubo.
I think As long as there are enough benefits, they won't refuse.
It depends on whether the person sent has the ability."
After hearing this, Xuanzong clapped his hands and said happily: "Okay, Zhao Qing is indeed very resourceful and decisive.
When he returns home, he will write a detailed memorial and present it to the court tomorrow morning."
Zhao Ziliang agreed: "I obey the order."
Xuanzong said again: "Then how should Nanzhao treat it?"
Zhao Ziliang thought about it and said: "Nanzhao has only been a country for a few years, and its current strength is not very strong.
Our Tang Dynasty is now unable to conquer, so we can ignore it for the time being.
If Yang Guozhong hadn't let Xian Yu Zhongtong, who didn't understand military affairs and Nanzhao's actual situation, fool In the crusade against Nanzhao, the situation was so bad that Nanzhao had high mountains, dense forests, and a miasma of poisonous insects.
There were too many troops and horses to deploy.
If you want to use troops against Nanzhao, you must choose generals who are familiar with Nanzhao's geography and weather.
To command troops, the best thing to use is The soldiers and horses who were recruited and trained near Nanzhao know how to repel insects and avoid miasma.
If the army from the Central Plains is allowed to go, most of them will be lost to the miasma of poisonous insects before the battle begins.
The good generals and troops are ready. before, we We cannot turn a blind eye to Nanzhao.
We must set up passes at nearby dangerous places to block Nanzhao.
All merchants must be prohibited from trading with Nanzhao to prevent any goods from flowing into Nanzhao.
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We must also not buy any goods from Nanzhao and block them for several years.
Nanzhao’s national power will inevitably decline.”
Several other generals did not understand the great role of these strategies mentioned by Zhao Ziliang, but Xuanzong understood it.
He said with great joy: "The Qing family is a great talent":