A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 1017: Southwest War Situation: No Troops to Use, Border Situation Helps Southwest

September, Year 2 of Great Chapinin
Xuanwu Hall of the Song Palace in Kaifeng
Because Emperor Bai Xi and Empress Zhu were out of mourning, the previously established Prince Regency and the temporary regency meeting naturally became invalid.

When the emperor came to court, the machine of Daxia suddenly started to run faster, as if it had been clocked up.

"How is the war in the southwest going?"

In the hall, Bai Xi looked at the 'Daxia Yunnan-Guizhou Road Map' and the 'Southwestern Countries Situation Map' in front of him and asked meaningfully.

"Your Majesty, right now, Prince Wang of Qian is fighting with the Duan clan of Dali outside the city of Dali."

"It's just that Dali City is in a strategic location, with Erhai Lake on the right and Cangshan Mountain on the left. The width of the front battlefield is extremely small, so Shi Ziwang's army cannot be deployed."

"According to the calculations of the military officers of the Privy Council, this war will last at least a year, and further reinforcements will be needed."

Privy Councilor Luo Minghan held a black wooden stick and kept pointing around Dali on the map, analyzing the situation for Bai Xi.

"Are there any troops available from the surrounding governors' offices?"

This was a question about the Grand Commandery. Grand Commander Bai Shijin replied in a deep voice, "Dali is located in the southwest, and the journey is long. In addition, the Yunnan-Guizhou South Road was newly established, and there is no governor's district yet."

"The only ones around here are the Chengdu Military Governor's Office and the Fuqian Military Governor's Office."

"Among them, the Fuqian Military Governor's Office was originally the Qianzhou Military Governor's Office, and its governor Zhang Ye was originally a former subordinate of the King of Xing."

"After Zhang Ye died, his son Zhang Wen requested the court to inherit the title of governor of Qianzhou, but was rejected by the previous emperor. Zhang Wen then took over Qianzhou and rebelled."

"The late emperor sent Kang Yanxiao, the former governor of Xichuan, to quell the rebellion. Although he recovered Qianzhou, the Qianzhou Governor's Office suffered heavy losses, and it was already a struggle to suppress the local barbarians."

"Last year, at the request of the King of Qian, the troops of Luzhou Guard were transferred to Kunzhou, and then to Kunzhou Guard. The two guards of Chengdu, Rongzhou, and Yazhou were also mobilized. These were the only strong troops around."

"The Chengdu Military Governor's Office is responsible for monitoring the Tibetans in Yazhou. With the transfer of four guards, it is already stretched thin. How can it have more troops to transfer?"

"However," Bai Shijin paused for a moment and continued, "In the past few years, your majesty has set up guard posts in various states across the country, and there are a few guard posts around here."

Seeing Bai Xi staring at him, Bai Shijin smiled bitterly and saluted:
"To be honest with you, Your Majesty, these guards were all transferred from farmers. Not to mention that they have never been on the battlefield, they have also received very little training. They are barely able to suppress the local situation. If they are pulled out, they will be unusable."

Bai Xi looked at the map in front of him and didn't speak for a long time. Then he turned around, frowned slightly, and said firmly:
"The southwest is uncertain, Kunzhou is uncertain, Kunzhou is uncertain, Bashu is uncertain."

"Going south to Jianghuai requires more Shu troops. If Shu is not secured, the front will be lost. So no matter what, we must first secure Dali and then go to Jianghuai."

After saying this, Bai Xi looked at the Third Secretary Shao Ning and asked, "How much surplus money is there in the national treasury now?"

"Your Majesty, we conquered the northwest two years ago and issued national debts. All the tax revenue from last year was used to repay the debts, and the treasury is still empty."

"Besides, we launched the Southwest Campaign this year and issued half a year of national debt. If we send more troops to the southwest, I'm afraid the march south to Jianghuai will have to be delayed."

Bai Xi thought for a moment, returned to the throne, and said firmly to everyone, "Then I'll publish it for another half a year."

"Your Majesty." The Minister of War Su Xiaohui hurriedly came out to advise: "Your Majesty, don't forget the Khitan in the north?"

"In the past two years, the Khitans have basically put down the rebellions of various ethnic groups in the country, and even conquered the Jurchens in the east, and repeatedly plundered the Xizhou Uighurs in the west."

"Even the Xining Guard stationed in the Hehuangshui Valley has repeatedly reported seeing Khitans traveling between Ganzhou Uighurs and Qinghai Tibetan tribes."

"Your Majesty." Just as Su Xiaohui finished speaking, Li Bing, the admiral of the navy, stepped out and said, "I have received a report from the naval commander of Dengzhou, and King Qian Liu of Wuyue asked me to convey it to Your Majesty."

"It is said that Lian Chongyu and Zhu Wenjin of the Min Kingdom murdered their king Wang Yanxi. Zhu Wenjin established himself as king in Fuzhou. Wang Yanxi's brother Wang Yanzheng also established himself as king in Jianzhou, and named his country 'Yin'."

"The two used military force repeatedly, causing chaos in Fujian. Li Jing, the ruler of Southern Tang, sent Deputy Privy Councilor Cha Wenhui and Imperial Clerk Zang Xun to lead troops south."

"According to the King of Wuyue, it would be difficult for Zhu and Wang to stop the Southern Tang army."

What Li Bing meant was that they should temporarily suspend their troops in the southwest and turn their guns southward.

Now that the main force of the Southern Tang Dynasty is attacking Fujian, it is a good opportunity to go south. If we don't seize it, we don't know when we will be able to go south.

"What is the prince's opinion?" Seeing that most officials disagreed with continuing the war in the southwest, Bai Xi turned to ask Prince Bai Mu.

"Father, I think we should go southwest first, and then south."

"Everyone, look around Daxia, the enemies include Khitan, Uighur, Southern Chu, Southern Tang, and Dali."

"As for Tubo, it had already followed the Tang Dynasty and dispersed due to its own chaos."

"The Khitans have the advantage of the grasslands. They come and go like the wind and cannot be controlled in a short time."

"The Uighurs occupy the northwestern border and adapt to whatever happens."

"Southern Chu trapped itself in Hunan. Although its strength is small, it controls the strongest navy on the Yangtze River."

"The Southern Tang usurped the throne of the Southern Wu and controlled Jing and Huai. However, since Daxia seized Jiangling, it can advance eastward from Hubei at any time. Even if we can attack from the three routes of Huaibei, Chencai, Haosi, and Xuhai, we cannot stop them."

"On the other hand, although Dali is a small country with few people, it has long been out of control of the Qian King's line, and Daxia is far away and cannot reach it. It really has the advantage of time, place, and people."

"If we do not strangle it in its cradle when it is just beginning to establish itself as a nation, once it has grown up, it will occupy the rugged terrain of Yunnan and Burma and plunder the border every year."

"How much energy, financial resources and manpower will we have to spend to solve it?"

"You should know that the barbarian disaster in the southwest has never been eradicated since the Han Dynasty."

"Even the lineage of the King of Qian, who had been managing for decades, almost lost all their efforts. You can see how difficult it is."

"Therefore, for the sake of the country and the future, please eliminate Dali first and revitalize the Qian Palace."

"Okay." Bai Xi suddenly stood up from the throne, pointed at Bai Mu and shouted angrily to the ministers in the hall: "Look, everyone, look."

"The Crown Prince is only thirty this year. All the ministers in the court are well-read and well-traveled, but they are not as good as a boy who grew up in the deep palace. Don't you feel guilty?"

Seeing the emperor's anger, all the civil and military officials in the hall stood in awe, and then, led by Luo Minhan, Bai Shijin, Shao Ning and others, they said in unison:

"I am guilty of capital punishment. Please calm down, Your Majesty."

Bai Xi waved her sleeves and said, "Am I angry? If not, it is better for me to be angry alone than for the whole world to be angry. It is better for you to feel guilty now than for millions of people to feel guilty in the future. I can do something to make a loss for a short time and benefit the future."

"Three officials."

"The minister is here."

"Instruct the National Treasury to issue another half-year national debt to raise food and military supplies and send them to the southwest to help the war in southern Yunnan."

"I accept your order."

"Grand Commander, Minister of War."

"I'm waiting here."

"Order the Ministry of War to mobilize the two Chang'an guards, Liangzhou guards, Langzhou guards, Bazhou guards, Jianzhou guards, and other 24 guards from the three routes of Chang'an Road, Shannan Road, and Jiannan East Road, totaling 24,000 people, to reinforce southern Yunnan."

"Order the Grand Commandery to dispatch 5,000 men from the left wing of the Hujie Infantry Division of the Imperial Guard Infantry Division to southern Yunnan to take orders."

"I will take your orders."

After arranging for reinforcements to the expeditionary army, Bai Xi issued another decree to the Prince of Qian's Palace.

The gist of it was: "I have given you reinforcements, and I have also allocated food and military supplies, and I have also stopped the strategy of marching south to the Tang Kingdom."

"I'll give you all the conveniences. If you still can't take Dali before next summer, don't blame me for not considering the relationship between uncle and nephew."

Therefore, after receiving Bai Xi's decree, the old King of Qian, who was far away in Kunzhou, did not care about his own age, and immediately went to the Dali front line with "Zantuo II" to supervise the battle.

(End of this chapter)