Chapter 339 Response
As Ren Baozhong said, although some things seem cumbersome and often come at a rush, as an official there is no need to worry about everything. He only needs to care about the key points that need to be paid attention to at his own level.
In fact, not only Ren Baozhong, but also Wang Yan, who was in charge of the miscellaneous affairs of the Imperial Camp, and Liu Ziwu of the Ministry of War, all made corresponding summaries to Emperor Zhao through the Privy Council and gave their own suggestions.
A few days later, near the end of March, Zhao Jiu also received feedback from several generals and the generals in charge.
But to be honest, although these people gave answers in response to Zhao Jiu's straightforward questioning, the quality of their responses seemed somewhat uneven, and their positions were difficult to describe.
First of all, in terms of the content level of the letters, Wu Jie and Yue Fei were undoubtedly the best. They knew very well what Emperor Zhao's intentions were, and they both gave well-reasoned explanations. Moreover, their answers were basically the same as the answers that Zhao Jiu and his small circle of close ministers had obtained in advance.
The reason why he said "basically" was because Yue Fei clearly expressed his hope to increase the number of naval forces in the imperial camp to ensure the freedom of advance and retreat on the eastern front. Wu Jie directly suggested that if it was difficult to expand the imperial camp, some wing troops, that is, reserve troops, could be maintained in Guanxi at a low cost... Moreover, he clearly expressed some doubts about the potential plan of temporarily and massively conquering the Tangut soldiers, which was told to him by Emperor Zhao.
To put it bluntly, although Yue Fei was the one who proposed the strategy of advancing from Hedong, he was a Hebei native and most of the soldiers he led were exiles from Hebei. He certainly hoped to open up the situation directly from the Hebei Plain. It is only natural for him to mention this.
Relatively speaking, Wu Jie's private goods were heavier.
Who can be used to form a reserve army in Guanxi? They are the Western Army that was eliminated and replaced when it was reorganized and compressed into the Imperial Camp Rear Army!
As for the hostility of the Western Army to the Tanguts, it has always existed, but the Western Xia has been destroyed, and the key is that the court asked you questions at this time, isn't it because there is no money, so it can only selectively expand the army? So, is it cheaper to raise a large number of Western Army members in Guanxi to form a reserve army, or to directly use a method similar to blood tax and recruit a large number of Tanguts at once?
Even further, you should know that the reintegration of Ningxia Road and Shaanxi Road triggered a series of Han-Fan confrontation issues. At this time, you, Wu Jie, are talking about these things. Aren't you too good at uniting your colleagues?
There are those who are too full of personal opinions, and naturally there are those who have the most correct stance.
Li Yanxian and Zhang Rong were very appropriate. The former only emphasized the necessity of setting the main attack direction on Hedong, while the latter simply did not mention anything, but just guaranteed that there would be no problem on the river.
However, Han Shizhong and Zhang Jun, the two most senior generals, were obviously perfunctory in their work.
There was no need to say much about Zhang Boying, as he had been dismissed from his post and his mind was on the fleet that had not returned for a long time. As for Han Liangchen, Zhao Jiu could roughly guess what he was thinking, but as long as he did not delay things, Emperor Zhao was too lazy to distract himself.
As for Wang De, Li Qiong, and the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Imperial Camp Wang Yan, including the Minister of War Liu Ziwu, and even the Prime Ministers Zhang Jun and Chen Gui, they had slight deviations in the final answers, and then they all put forward a common suggestion - they advocated that the expansion of the army should start from the central army of the Imperial Camp. Some even believed that all the current quota for expansion should be given to Wang De and Li Qiong to ensure that the troops directly under Tokyo can form a balance with the Jingdong and Kansai directions.
This is a typical problem of stance. Although it is not as obvious as Wu Jie's, it actually produced inappropriate suggestions.
In fact, isn't this the right time for Emperor Zhao to take back the military power?
This is not to say that the more centralized power is, the harder it is to release power. Rather, this legion system centered on individual generals is a historical legacy, a military characteristic that naturally formed under the collapse of Jingkang, and an established reality. Changing the established situation is bound to cause unrest.
He even said bluntly that the Northern Expedition was a war that would determine the fate of the country. Not to mention success, if it failed, it would probably take another ten or twenty years to muster up the courage and gather strength. In this case, Emperor Zhao could even tolerate another attack on Jingou Town, let alone taking back the military power!
Back to the present, although the court has gathered opinions from all sides, this matter is of great importance after all. Therefore, from mid-March to late March, the Privy Council adjusted the plan several times. Although it has gradually stabilized, to be honest, everyone, including Emperor Zhao, has always felt that some aspects are still not satisfactory.
Of course, everyone knows that finances are limited and there are bound to be unsatisfactory aspects, so it is estimated that after a few more adjustments, the matter will be finally settled after a grand court meeting in early April.
However, in late March, just as the court was gradually deciding on a plan to expand the army, an extremely ironic thing happened due to the truly frustrating transportation conditions of that era - the court received a fierce memorial from the former prime minister Li Gang and Li Boji from the southeast.
You don't even need to look at the content to know, just calculate the time, that this memorial was obviously directed at the court's radical Northern Expedition advocacy. However, most of the people in various departments who read the content gasped, and then immediately realized that this Prime Minister Li Gang was obviously angry because his third brother Li Jing was unreasonably expelled from the court.
"I resign..."
"Please, fuck!"
On the west side of Yanfu Palace, in the main courtyard of the military academy, under the precious spring rain, Prime Minister Zhang Jun had just uttered three words with difficulty, with his hands cupped, when he was stopped without even turning his head by Emperor Zhao, who was standing there with his back turned to read memorials.
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