Dahan first prince

Chapter 335 The bravery of the Yan people; the suffering of the border soldiers

"Hey!"

"Your Majesty, you are worthy of being the heir appointed by Emperor Taizu Gao!"

"Just a few words and a few words will solve North Korea's difficulties!!!"

"Extremely! If it weren't for the old man, I wish I could hold the spear and conquer Yandong!!!"

After the dispersal of the court, the courtiers, hundreds of officials, and Yuan Xun Gonghou walked in the palace in twos and threes, ignoring Weiman's envoy Yan Kai who was not far away, and started talking loudly.

When he heard that Neishi Wangling, who was over seventy years old, said the phrase, "If I hadn't been old, I would have wanted to go to North Korea." Yan Kai's gloomy face only tightened, and he hurriedly quickened his pace. Ran out of Weiyang Palace.

And after the 'audience' left, the courtiers and officials, who had been slightly concerned, crowded around the royal tomb, with worried expressions on their faces.

After only a short moment of silence, everyone still couldn't hold back their worries. They pushed Wei Wei and Li Ji out.

"An, An Guohou..."

Li Ji looked around with a strange expression, then stepped forward with a worried face, and gave Wang Ling a little bow.

"Your Majesty is in charge of Qi Wu today, admonishing Wei Man with the matter of 'Please adjust the military supplies and rations', and since the time of King Yan Zhao, the people of North Korea are afraid of Yan's soldiers like tigers;"

"With His Majesty's commandment, even though Wei Man still has the heart to make trouble, I'm afraid he won't be able to get the help of his subordinates?"

Hearing this, Wang Ling only nodded with a smile on his face, and even stroked his beard proudly.

"Of course."

"Since Yan drove Qin Kai to the north to drive Donghu, and then crossed the Yishui River east to attack Korea, and expanded the land for Yan for more than [-] miles, the bravery of the Yan people has been known to the world."

As he said that, Wang Ling did not forget to turn his body slightly, and lightly touched Li Ji's abdomen with the back of his hand with a playful face.

"In the fifth year of the Han Dynasty, King Yan Zang Tu rebelled, and the son of the prince also accompanied Emperor Gao of Taizu in Qu Zhouhou, and went to conquer and pacify Zang Tu."

"The bravery of the people of Yan, should the son know about it?"

Hearing Wang Ling's words, Li Ji couldn't help but smile shyly, then nodded slightly.

"It is exactly as An Guohou said."

"At that time, Yu and his father followed Taizu Emperor Gao, and he had personally witnessed the bravery of the Yan soldiers."

"Yu still remembers that after Zang Tu was pacified, Emperor Taizu Gao said to his left and right: If Zang Tu hadn't been incompetent, it would not be easy to get tens of thousands of swallow soldiers to help him indulge his desires..."

Listening to the conversation between Wang Ling and Li Ji, all the courtiers and princes gathered around the Wang Ling showed approval on their faces.

If one were to say who was the weakest among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, it would undoubtedly be the thousand-year-old minor subject who claimed to be "Ji Zhou Zhengtong": the Yan Kingdom.

Compared with Qinzhong, which is three thousand miles away, it has a place to raise horses in Hetao. The Qin State, which lost the Bashu granary, is located in the north and has always been strong. In the world, the Qi State, which earns thousands of gold every year with the benefits of commerce and trade, and the remaining three kingdoms of Yan, Wei, and Han undoubtedly belong to the seven heroes of the Warring States Period, the "lower three heroes" in the absolute sense.

Among the 'Three Heroes', the country of Yan, which has the largest land area, the largest population, and the strongest military strength, is undoubtedly the tail of the crane.

However, if one understands the situation of Yan State among other countries during the Warring States Period, it is not difficult to judge: Yan State's ranking among the seven heroes of the Warring States Period is obviously not entirely a factor of strength.

In terms of land, the land area of ​​Yan State is comparable to that of Qi and Zhao, and far larger than that of Wei and Han;

In terms of the source of troops, the Yan Kingdom, which is located in the northeast corner of China's territory and almost undertakes more than half of the defense line in the north of the Central Plains, also has opportunities for military training and a social atmosphere of monks.

In particular, as the only "Zong Zhou Orthodox" among the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, that is, the only country controlled by the Ji Zhou clan, Yan State has completely exploded the "Horse Raising Slave" Qin State and the "Jingman" Chu State in terms of righteousness. And the Zhao, Wei, and Han kingdoms that came from the "three divisions into Jin", and the Tian family Qi that came from "Tian Shi Dai Qi (also known as Tian Chen usurping Qi)".

Judging from these circumstances, even if the State of Yan is not comparable to the State of Qin after Shang Yang's reform, the State of Qi with wealth and wealth, and the State of Chu with a vast territory, it should still be comparable to the State of Zhao, which is also located in the north.

However, the poor geographical location made the Yan Kingdom, which was supposed to be strong, at least not too bad, become the weakest of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period;

——Located in the northeast corner of China, bordering on the Korean Peninsula in the east, bordering the barbarian grassland in the north, and being completely surrounded by Zhao State in the west and south, it is difficult for Yan State to break through the natural blockade caused by geographical location even if it intends to compete in the Central Plains;
Coupled with the sparse population and harsh climate that seriously did not match the country's land area, it was even more difficult for Yan State to talk about "development of national power" during the Warring States Period, but could only settle down in a corner.

However, the cold climate in the Northeast also created the tenacity of the Yan people, and the external pressure from the northern grasslands and eastern Korea also made the people of Yan during the Warring States period have a martial spirit that was almost no less than that of Qin and Zhao.

Therefore, even in today's Han Dynasty, when talking about the demise of Yan State, people never forget to explain the sentence of "non-war crime" for Yan State, or explain a sentence for Yan people: It's not that the soldiers are not brave. , The general has no plan, it is too contemptuous of a meat eater...
As for the 'Yan people', the senses of the people of the world are similar to the 'Northeast people' in the impression of later generations.

——The per capita is a burly man with a straightforward personality and righteousness!
It is precisely because of this that when Wang Ling and Li Ji talked about the topic of "Yan people's bravery", all the officials and courtiers around them showed their approval.

But as the only second generation of the founding fathers who did not rely on his father, Li Ji was pushed out in front of Wang Ling, obviously not to discuss with Wang Ling about "whether the Yan people are brave or not".

Seeing that the topic was diverted intentionally or unintentionally by Wang Ling, Li Ji pondered politely for a moment before probing the opening and said: "What the Lord of Anguo means, is it possible that the people of North Korea are afraid of Yan people's bravery, so that everything in North Korea can be resolved?"

Hearing this, Wang Ling's face froze, and the hand that was slowly stroking his beard stopped for a moment, and soon he understood what Li Ji and the crowd gathered around him wanted to ask.

"Hehehe..."

"The son of the world wants to ask, just now, the Minister of Cai, Your Majesty said to the envoy Wei Man: "Prince Yan, please transfer the military equipment, food and salaries, and all the other things have been prepared for distribution, should I go with the envoys of the Han?"

Wang Ling hadn't finished speaking, and before Li sent a response, all the officials gathered around the Wang Ling hurriedly nodded, and at the same time did not forget to stand on tiptoe, lest they miss a certain sentence that Wang Ling said, or even in a word.

——In the name of 'mobilization of military supplies', let the envoys of the Han Dynasty, especially Yan Kai, the envoy of Weiman, go on the road with this batch of military supplies.

For one thing, letting Yan Kai go with this batch of military supplies all the way, he can naturally remind Wei Man cryptically: Don't forget, the Han Dynasty is the unified regime of China!

It may be a bit reluctant to destroy you Wei's North Korea with one finger, but if you stretch out a slap, it will definitely shatter the entire Korean peninsula!
Secondly, it is the core part of "Zhi Gan Qi Wu".

Like the military exercises of later generations that "do not target anyone", the essence of Zhigan Qiwu lies in deterrence.

And when winter is approaching, sending a batch of military supplies that are obviously used for winter combat to the country of Yan, which is adjacent to North Korea, in the presence of Weiman envoys, is obviously the best deterrent.

This is like in later generations, a certain rabbit said, "I and the eagle are brothers and sisters", while deploying a courier base at the gate of the eagle's house.

But the first prerequisite for a military exercise to be able to act as a deterrent is that this military exercise must at least be true!

In other words, if Liu Ying wanted to frighten Weiman by 'transporting military supplies', then this batch of military supplies had to be transferred to Yan Kingdom!
This is the reason why the courtiers and officials were secretly worried, even disregarding that this place was still in the Changle Palace, they gathered around the royal tomb.

——Today's Han Dynasty, not to mention whether it has the ability to mobilize such a huge batch of materials, even if it has, it should not be transferred to Yan State!

Because since the Han Dynasty, every time the Huns went south to plunder the Han border, their forces were basically concentrated in Daibei, that is, within the Qin Great Wall, Yanmen County outside the Zhao Great Wall, and Yunzhong County isolated outside the Great Wall.

To put it bluntly: In the "bitter cold land" of Yan State, even the Huns who were so poor that they would rob all the pots and pans were unwilling to go!
However, in the past ten years, the Han Dynasty, which was already in a state of disuse and waiting to be rejuvenated, focused almost all its attention on internal unity, that is, the eradication of the separatist forces of the princes with different surnames.

As for the northern line of defense, it has become the first "victim" of the Han Dynasty's perennial wars in the Kanto region since the First World War of Han-Hungarian Pingcheng.

——After the First World War in Pingcheng, the garrison forces deployed by the Han Dynasty on the front line of the Great Wall increased from 15 people before to more than 30 people!

But in stark contrast, the Han Dynasty's investment in the northern defense line, or the "defense budget" has not increased, but is 15 to [-]% lower than when "[-] people defended the Great Wall" in the past!

The reason is that before the First World War between the Han Dynasty and the Huns, the strategy of the Han Dynasty was to "beat the outsiders away first, and then close the door to solve family affairs";
But a Han-Hungarian battle of Pingcheng, just like the Battle of Hewan in later generations, made the Han Dynasty belatedly realize that it is not the time to compete with the Huns.

Therefore, when the strategic core of the Han Dynasty gradually changed from "first outside, then inside" to "first inside, then outside", most of the defense budget was naturally transferred to the Kanto.

At this moment, all the people gathered around the Wang Ling had heard more than once in the past few years that a report was sent back from somewhere on the Great Wall, saying that the border guards had starved to death and froze to death again.

Everyone also knows that even though this topic seldom appears in court discussions, the facts are still clearly there: since the seventh year of the Han Dynasty and the end of the First World War between Han and Xiongping, all the garrison troops on the front line of the Great Wall can only eat Half full' has become the norm.

This is also the reason why in the past few years, whenever the Kwantung vassals rebelled and the court decided to 'half the officials' salaries' in order to raise military expenses to quell the chaos, the Chang'an court never complained.

——For the border guards at the border of the country, they can only eat half full while fighting and freezing, so what if the officials get half of their salary?
At least compared to those soldiers who are hungry, trembling, and still guarding the border, officials who are eligible for "half salary" all live in Chang'an, and there is no shortage of wives and children on the kang. Quite a few, one day off every five days...

Sensing the people's increasingly expectant eyes, Wang Ling couldn't help but retract the relaxed look on his face, and his gaze towards Li Ji suddenly became a little more serious.

Wang Ling knew that the basic living security of the border guards was definitely one of the priorities of the Chang'an court.

As for the reasons, there are royal giants like Wang Ling and Li Ji who worry about border defense from the perspective of the country and the nation; but most of them are out of personal interests.

——The frontier guards have two meals a day, half full, and the court ordered "official half salary", so naturally no one dared to complain;
But to say that there is no opinion at all, or that you accept it at all, is obviously self-deception.

There is a saying in later generations: Living in Chang'an is not easy.

For officials who have lived and lived in Chang'an for a long time, especially those middle and low-level officials who do not have the feudal tax brought by the Lord and can only rely on official salaries to ensure their livelihood, it is also difficult to live a decent official life on salary alone. Extremely high.

It is true that compared with the hardworking people who worked hard for a year, but could only harvest three hundred stones of corn, and those border guards who worked so hard to get enough to eat, the people standing next to Wangling at this moment can at least get six hundred dollars a year. A salary of one hundred stones, one thousand stones, or even two thousand stones.

But higher income often means higher living expenses.

——After all, no matter how you say it, an official with an annual salary of six hundred shi cannot eat corn porridge like a farmer, and only add clothes to his wife and children a year;
As for the officials with one thousand stones and two thousand stones, they are constantly entertaining and entertaining, and they have to keep servants at home, and they have to support themselves when they go out, and they have the face of "two thousand stones in the court".

Including a family with a dozen mouths and dozens of servants in the mansion, the annual basic expenses of officials at the level of two thousand shi are far more than two thousand shi of corn!
What's more terrible is that the salaries of officials in the Han Dynasty are not all the corn, but half the corn and half the money.

However, in the past few years, the price of grain in Guanzhong has plummeted from a high point of several thousand yuan per stone, approaching [-] yuan!

There was even a rumor in the palace that the Emperor Liu Ying had discussed with Shaofu Yangchengyan that he wanted to control the price of grain within [-] yuan per stone within five years...

This means that three years ago, an official with a rank of [-] shi and an actual annual salary of [-] shi could receive [-] shi of corn from the treasury every year, as well as a salary of millions of dollars;

But this year, the same official still received an annual salary of 20 shi, but what he actually received was [-] shi of corn, plus [-] shi;

If one day in the future, the price of grain really falls to fifty renminbi a stone, then the salary of this official will directly drop to nine hundred shimen, plus only [-] renminbi...

According to Chang'an's past practice, among the officials' salaries, the food directly distributed to the officials will basically be used by the officials themselves.

A petty official at the level of six hundred shi gets three hundred shi of corn a year, and a family of ten or so can eat up the three hundred shi of corn;
A middle-level official at the level of a thousand stones can get five hundred stones of corn a year, and there are seven or eight servants in the family, and they can eat all of these grains.

Even a public minister at the middle two thousand shi level, with an annual income of [-] shi in corn, but with four or fifty servants in the mansion, there is basically no food left.

Under such circumstances, the court's frequent "half wages" obviously made most officials feel extremely uncomfortable.

Therefore, the supply of materials for the border guards has obviously become the focus of these people's attention.

——The frontier guards can't get enough to eat, so I'll just be "half salary";
But if the border guards can eat enough to fill their stomachs, it would be a bit unreasonable for me to let the whole family drink vegetarian porridge every day for a capital of six hundred shi, right?
With such thoughts in mind, everyone couldn't help but look at Wang Ling with more urgency.

God is pitiful.

Excluding the former emperor Liu Bang, and the current Liu Ying who hosted several banquets in the palace, the middle-level officials below the Qianshi level of the Chang'an court have not had a hearty meal for several years...

For this situation, Wang Ling knew something about it, and he also had enough concerns about the concerns of the courtiers and officials.

But to everyone's great disappointment, the next change in Wang Ling's expression was telling everyone present: whether the batch of military supplies destined for the country of Yan will really be transported away, or even whether they exist, Wang Ling has no idea. I don't know.

Just as everyone shook their heads and sighed, and dispersed with their hearts full of thoughts, a figure walking out of Changxin Hall rekindled hope in everyone's hearts.

"Duke Li, Taifu Wang."

"Your Majesty, please..."

Seeing that it was the eunuch Ling Chuntuo who came, Li Ji and Wang Ling's expressions suddenly became serious, and they looked at each other for a while, then followed Chuntuo and walked towards the Changxin Palace again.

But behind the two, looking at their backs walking towards the Changxin Palace, the officials and courtiers who had been disappointed just now were beaming again at this moment.

"The eunuch's order invites me personally, and it's also the internal historian and the Weiwei..."

"What His Majesty just said is probably true!"

After talking in low voices for a while, everyone turned around with a solemn expression after a brief eye contact, boarded their own carriages, and quickly scattered in their direction.

If there is no accident, tomorrow morning, countless memorials will fly into the Changle Palace like snowflakes, and finally be placed in front of the Empress Dowager Lu Zhi and the Emperor Liu Ying.

As for the content of the memorial, even though the words are different, the core content is bound to be the same.

--His Majesty!
——Yan Guo, I really don’t need these supplies!

——Wei Man, I'm really not worthy of such a big battle!

——I beg Your Majesty to be merciful, pity those border guards defending the country, let them have enough food and wear thick clothes!

Of course, the next few words were courtiers and officials, and they would never tell Liu Ying explicitly.

——After the frontier soldiers are fed and clothed, Your Majesty must never engage in the "official half salary" again~
——The minister’s family really can’t get rid of the pot, the wife and children will be starved and thin...
　I'm still a little dizzy, so let's update the 5000-word chapter, and let's update Messenger 2 tomorrow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)