Chapter 42 The winner, the king and the loser
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"What do you think? Do you agree to join forces with Jin to destroy Liao and recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun?"
Cai still listened to the words, was silent for a while, and said, "Now is indeed the best time to recover the Sixteen States of Yanyun."
Cai Jing said casually: "So, do you agree to the coalition of Jin and destroy Liao?"
What Cai Jing did not expect was that Cai Shen shook his head and said, "I don't agree."
Cai Jing said: "Oh? Didn't you say that now is the best time to recover the Sixteen State of Yanyun?"
Cai Shen said: "The opportunity is good. If I missed it, there may never be such a good opportunity again. But the question is, can our Song Dynasty really seize this opportunity?"
Cai Jing said: "Tell me your reasons."
Cai still said: "Our army of Song Dynasty is mainly divided into three parts: the Central Imperial Guard, the Hebei Imperial Guard, the Northwest Imperial Guard... I won't say what the situation of the Central Imperial Guard is, I must know in my heart that it can no longer fight, at least before reorganization and retraining, it can no longer fight. The Hebei Imperial Guard, because of the peace of the Song and Liao dynasties for a hundred years, has not been used for war in a century. Although my nephew has not visited the Hebei front line on site, I still dare to assert that the Hebei Imperial Guard may be worse than the Central Imperial Guard. Now the only one that can be fought is the Northwest Imperial Guard. However, the Northwest Imperial Guard has fought one after another in the past two years, hurting 10,000 enemies and 8,000 of them. What's more, the Northwest Imperial Guard now has to be prepared for the counterattack of the Western Xia and preparing to recover the Western Xia. I dare to ask my uncle, what is our Song Dynasty using to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun?"
Cai still said it well, but he underestimated the Northern Song Dynasty and Tong Guan a little.
Since Tong Guan advocated the recovery of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, he could certainly gather an army.
In fact, Tong Guan had been preparing for a long time - in recent years, he had expanded the Northwest Imperial Army by one third.
Tong Guan thought that the extra one-third, plus the Central Imperial Guard and Hebei Imperial Guard, should be enough to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun.
So, Cai Jing did not comment on Cai Shen's view, and he said, "Is there any?"
Cai still said: "Economy... My uncle is in charge of the entire Song Dynasty. It is impossible for him to know that the Song Dynasty's economy should have reached the brink of collapse. If the war with the Liao Kingdom becomes a protracted war, it will be a heavy blow to the Song Dynasty."
Cai Jing's eyes flashed with a flash of light when he heard the words!
He looked at Cai Shen's eyes and asked, "The economy of the Song Dynasty has reached the verge of collapse, where did you hear it?"
What Cai Jing is best at is financial management.
He has broad ideas and is very innovative in terms of economy.
When he was the prime minister, six or seven huge merchants came to collect debts.
They took the IOU to ask Cai Jing for money and said, "During the Zhezong Dynasty, the court sent troops to attack Xixia and borrowed more than 3 million yuan from us. It has not been returned yet. You have become the prime minister now. See when the court can repay the money?"
Cai Jing made a truthful report to Zhao Ji.
Zhao Ji looked embarrassed: "What should I do about this?"
Cai Jing replied confidently: "Give me some time."
Soon, Cai Jing ordered to take stock of the imperial city treasures and pack the unnecessary and useless things as a valuation to pay off the debt.
Within half a year, Cai Jing paid off all the money owed by the Northern Song Dynasty.
Then, Cai Jing's reforms in the economic system, especially the tea law and salt law, soon saw results, and a steady stream of tax wealth gathered in the capital.
In just a few years, the Northern Song Dynasty court went from being able to earn less than enough to having a deposit of 50 million yuan.
It is precisely because of this that Zhao Ji began to become extravagant and his appetite became bigger and bigger.
In order to preserve his own position as prime minister and his own power, Cai Jing can be said to have racked his brains to help Zhao Ji find money over the years.
In the eyes of outsiders, Cai Jing has a very strong ability and is good at making money. Now the Song Dynasty is rich and the people are strong.
But only Cai Jing, who is in charge of the current Song Dynasty, knew that because Zhao Ji was too extravagant, extravagant, and military, the economy of the Song Dynasty was now on the verge of collapse.
This is what Cai Jing is most worried about now, and he is also racking his brains to solve and cover up this problem.
I don’t think this problem was still seen!
Moreover, the one who saw this problem was his nephew, a young man who was only seventeen years old!
Cai still remained silent for a while before saying vaguely: "The government has spent too much."
When Cai Jing heard this, he understood how Cai still judged it.
Think about it, Zhao Ji's big project wasted and spent countless money. How could anyone with a heart not settle the calculation?
Cai Jing said: "I have my own opinions on money, let's talk about something else."
Cai was still very sensible and directly changed the topic, saying: "Although military strength and money are the reasons why I disagree, it is not the main reason why I disagree."
This time, Cai Jing was really surprised and puzzled. He didn't understand what was more important than military strength and money. Is it because the division was named Wuming?
Cai still couldn't keep it from Cai Jing. He quickly took the initiative to say: "The main reason why I disagree is that it is the alliance with the Jurchens."
Cai Jian's words were really beyond Cai Jing's expectations.
In fact, there were many people who opposed the coalition of Jin and the destruction of Liao.
Like the Zhending Road Pacifier Hong Zhongfu, he came up and said, "The scholars and noble families in Yanyun's land did not mean to submit to our Song Dynasty. The so-called "pour suction" was unfounded. Looking at the Song Dynasty today, the political style was corrupt, the money and food were insufficient, and the army lacked combat effectiveness. All the commanders and ministers from all directions did not know the army. If they rashly attacked the Northern Expedition, they would definitely fail. Now, they have been in peace for a long time. Once the war started, they would be defeated. If they wanted to attack other countries with undisciplined arrogant soldiers and win, what was the difference between seeking fish from a tree? A thousand defeats were inevitable. If they sent troops, they would inevitably suffer from their own humiliation and left troubles to the future..."
Zhang Vin, the chief magistrate of Baozhou, also wrote a letter saying: "Although the power of the Liao people was often defeated by the Jurchens, the upper and lower levels did not rebel, and the country was still established. It was said that the Liao Kingdom was about to perish, but because the border ministers made up the matters made by the officials, they should not take it seriously."
But like Cai Shen, the biggest problem is that it comes from the Jin Dynasty, and there is really no one.
Cai still explained: "The Jurchens grew up in bitter cold. Such people will inevitably rise suddenly and become insatiable. If Liao falls, our Song Dynasty will come with it, and then there will be endless disasters."
Cai Jing heard the words and asked, "Do you know the Jurchens very well?"
Cai still replied: "My nephew has studied them specifically and has a certain understanding of them."
Cai Jing asked: "Then what do you think of the Jurchens?"
Cai still said without hesitation: "They are just a group of wolves and a group of robbers!"
Cai Jing really didn't expect that Cai would still give such a low evaluation of the Jurchens.
He couldn't help but frown and said, "What did the Jurchens do? You have such a low evaluation?"
Cai still said: "Short after the founding of the Jin Kingdom, the Jin Lord immediately attacked the Huanglong Mansion of the Liao Kingdom. The Jin Lord personally led his troops to the ancient city of Dalu, defeated the Liao army, and plundered countless gold, silver, bulls, horses and women. Soon, the Jin army took advantage of the Liao army's unpreparedness to advance to Huanglong Mansion and captured Huanglong Mansion. Huanglong Mansion was an important town in the north of the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Lord learned that Huanglong Mansion was lost and commanded the Khitan, more than 100,000 Han troops were attacked, and the Jin Lord led 20,000 Jin troops to meet the enemy. The Jin and Liao armies met in the Gubu Dagang. The Liao army was defeated. The Jin army plundered a large number of property, cattle, horses, women. Looking at what the Jurchens did, it was not robbers, what was it?"
Unexpectedly, Cai Jing said: "The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit, and the Jurchens defeat the Khitans. Of course, they have to take the spoils of their own. This is understandable."
Cai Jing swallowed all the things Cai Shen wanted to say later, "The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit? Should I get my own spoils if I win?"
What Cai Jing didn't know was that his view would still have a profound impact on Cai in the future...
Chapter completed!