Chapter 669: The Emperor Guards the National Gate
Zhao Yulin told the gentlemen: According to the rules, all officials above the vice-chief should participate in military decision-making, and we will improve it step by step in the future. You all need to remember: the duty of the army is to defend the country, to fight and win, and to fight for every inch of land.
The emperor guards the national border, and as the ruler of the country, we have the responsibility to defend the territory. We cannot allow any thought of ceding land or paying compensation. We can endure hardships and keep a low profile, but we must remember: not an inch of land in our new Song Dynasty is redundant.
Everyone looked serious after hearing this, and after saying "yes" again, they dispersed.
Back home, Hua Yue happily chatted with his wife. When a woman heard that her husband was being valued, she was almost as happy as a king. She looked around and asked the maid to come and refill the water. She told Hua Yue: Military affairs are state secrets, and the third young master attaches great importance to keeping secrets. The master must be very careful in the future and must not speak casually.
Hua Yue twirled his beard and nodded, and said very confidently: Of course, my madam, have you ever seen your husband talking nonsense and discussing state affairs outside?
The woman smiled as she refilled his water bottle, and acted like a delicate girl, inviting her husband to drink tea.
Zhao Yulin dealt with memorials for a while, then dozed off in a chair with his eyes squinting. He vaguely felt a woman's sweet kiss on him. When he opened his eyes, he saw Cao Ying standing in front of him. He was so scared that he stood up abruptly and looked around, complaining that Cao Ying was teasing him again and didn't even look around.
The young lady said proudly: When she came in, she saw that my brother had fallen asleep. She dismissed the people around her and left alone to watch over him. What was there to be afraid of?
He admired the girl for her bold thinking and action. He was no longer sleepy. He rubbed his cheeks with both hands and asked Cao Ying what was the matter that made her so anxious to come to him?
The little girl said affectionately that it was nothing, she just wanted to come and see Brother Yulin.
He was scared and asked him, "Haven't you seen enough after sitting for half a day in the morning meeting?"
There is a lot of official business to do, so everyone should get busy.
When Cao Ying saw him driving people away, she said that she really had something to discuss. She thought it was not right to have only one bank in the country. There should be at least two or three banks. Only by competing with each other in service and efficiency could the banking industry do better.
Zhao Yulin certainly knew this truth, but at that time the New Song Dynasty had just been established and the economy was not large. It was impossible for banks to be everywhere like in later generations and for ATMs to provide services at home.
He nodded and said: Now that the New Song Bank has completed its layout, it can open a second bank in a road with good economic conditions or a larger state capital city. The two sides can compare services and quality. You can ask her sister Ma Ling for advice on how to do it, but the bank's management rules must be formulated. Tighten first and then loosen, and gradually adjust after the operation is standardized.
When the little girl got the confirmation, she happily said "Yeah!" and ran away.
Zhao Yulin hurried to the bathroom and carefully checked his face and mouth in the bronze mirror to see if there were any lip marks. He washed for a long time before coming out.
Shunzhidi said with a smile that it was time to eat. Brother, you are not hungry, so why are you hesitating?
How dare he say that he was ambushed by Cao Ying? The two walked side by side to the back hall to eat. Inside, the nine marshals were all there. Hua Yue smiled and asked them to take a seat quickly, waiting for the third young master to arrive.
Zhao Yulin sat down to drink and looked at the glittering golden beans on each of their shoulders. He was overwhelmed with emotion as he thought of his brothers who had fought and sacrificed their lives along the way from Yibin, and he drank one cup after another.
Zhidi and Fenghuang felt that he was not in the right state, so they took away the wine from him and took him to the Privy Council for discussion. The generals drank happily, and their faces were flushed.
Miao Gui told him: The vacation is over, brothers, and it is time to go back, so I would like to ask Mr. Hua and the Third Young Master for instructions.
Hua Yue immediately said that he came to get friendly with the marshals and had no instructions, no instructions.
Miao Gui smiled and asked the third young master for instructions.
Zhao Yulin told everyone: Our Shenwei Army set out from the Yibin Wharf, and after fighting north and south, we finally achieved our goal. We must be worthy of our fallen brothers and live up to the title of Marshal of the New Song Kingdom.
All the brothers responded with a nod.
Miao Gui announced: Lai Chuanfang and Zhou Ping went to Fuzhou to deal with the war in the South China Sea; Feng Guiqi went to Liaoyang Road to deal with the Korean Peninsula, plan border defense, and tighten border defense ; Hao Xiaoming went to Datong Prefecture to be responsible for planning the border defense in the north of the Ling Mountains; Gao Jin went to Alimali to be responsible for rebuilding Suiye City and opening up a new road to the Western Regions; Lu Youpeng and Huo Fenghuang were responsible for rectifying the army's style and discipline.
The generals simply answered "Yes."
Zhao Yulin said: We are all veterans , and there are still a lot of generals and admirals ahead of us. Don't run to the front line all the time if you have nothing to do. Give more opportunities to young people and train some talents for our New Song Dynasty to continue working.
The generals knew of his concern and responded with a straightforward "yes".
The next day, Miao Gui and Yang Xingyun came to his office for tea, and Yang Xingyun told him that he planned to go to Kunming. Miao Gui said that Du Baiyue was qualified to be a general, but the court only gave him the rank of general, just like Gu Shan later. He asked Brother Yang to go and see how the Yunnan soldiers were being trained.
Zhao Yulin nodded and asked them to collect the opinions of the brothers below. Conferring ranks is a great thing for building the army, but it is inevitable that it will be biased, so don't do anything bad.
Zhao Yulin had done ideological work on him in advance regarding the Baiyue issue. Although this man had fled to Tongguan with Cao Cao that year, he was the one who violated military discipline and disobeyed orders among his brothers in the Shenwei Army.
The key is to cause the Third Column to suffer complete losses, and its organization can almost be disbanded.
How can we convince our brothers if we don't punish them?
Yang Xingyun thought that Du Baiyue should be able to understand. The marshals who were awarded ranks this time were all generals who had served as captains or above in Yibin. Even Mrs. Wu was awarded the rank of general according to the regulations. Mrs. Wu was the chief steward of Shunfeng Division and had made great contributions to the intelligence affairs of our Shenwei Army.
Zhao Yulin waved his hand and told him to stop talking and go take a good look at the soldiers in Yunnan. The military reform of the Shenwei Army also started from there. It is the best army in the world of the New Song Dynasty. They must be the most powerful soldiers and they must be loyal to the New Song Dynasty.
Yang Xingyun nodded seriously.
Miao Gui reported to him that Yunnan had a large number of soldiers, and they planned to transfer one or two columns to the Western Regions to support Wang Hanchen. The Shenwei Army was going farther and farther, and a lot of troops would be needed just to settle and guard the city.
In the long run, the enemy of the New Song Dynasty is still the grassland empire. No matter where Hubili goes, he must be thinking about fighting back.
Zhao Yulin nodded and told them: Du Baiyue was selecting soldiers, and those who did not meet the requirements could be transferred to garrison and guard the border. But he had to make it clear to the brothers that it was voluntary and they could bring their families with them.
He asked Xingyun to go to the Ministry of Personnel to find two officials who were familiar with the Western Regions to go to Yunnan together, explain the situation clearly, and let the brothers make a voluntary choice.
After seeing them off, Zhao Yulin asked Shunzhidi to notify the Minister of Revenue Chen Longzhi and the Minister of Personnel Wu Qian to come over for a chat. Seeing that there was no one around, Zhidi happily hooked his neck and patted him on the face and went out. Not long after, she returned with the two ministers.
He smiled and asked everyone to sit down and drink tea, trying this year's new tea from Shifeng Mountain.
Shifeng Mountain is the authentic Longjing tea from West Lake. Shunzhidi smiled and asked the two ministers to taste it. How does it taste?
Zhao Yulin knew that both of them had served as officials in Lin'an of the previous dynasty, so he specially asked his maid to serve Longjing tea. The two of them tasted the tribute tea, as if they were back in Hangzhou city, drinking tea and enjoying the scenery on a pleasure boat on West Lake.
He asked Wu Qian how about taking over the Ministry of Personnel.
Wu Qian said carefully that he was still getting familiar with it. Madam Zhidi was cautious in her work. He was amazed after reading only one official document about the handling of officials in Liangzhe.
Zhao Yulin laughed and said that he was really good at praising people. Zhidi had little education and needed to learn more from the two adults.
Both of them waved their hands in fear and trepidation, saying how dare they do that? Madam Zhidi had been the head of state and was a role model for us.
Zhao Yulin felt jealous just watching them, and didn't bother to care whether they were good or not. He got back to the point and asked them about their plans for Mobei and the Western Regions.
Chen Longzhi said that most of the area south of the desert had been incorporated into Shaanxi Road, Shanxi Road and Hebei Road. The Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel had discussed the establishment of Lingbei Road like the grassland empire to govern the old area north of the desert.
Zhao Yulin nodded, thinking that this could be done temporarily, and adjustments could be made after the northern borders stabilized in the future. He said: When the Great Khan of the Steppes went westward, he crossed the Taihe Mountains to the Kipchak Steppes and annexed the Principality of Rus. Our Shenwei Army will not go to the Kipchak Steppes, but must advance to the Taihe Mountains, and use the Taihe Mountains as the boundary to defend the country's gates, which would be easy.
Zhao Yulin was still talking, but the two ministers were petrified with shock. Oh my god, the Shenwei Army is going to occupy all the territories of the grassland empire.
Guaiguai Longdi Cave, it’s freezing cold further north in Mobei, our Shenwei Army has to go there.
The idea of the Dragon Cave was still popping up in their minds, and Shunzhidi had already pulled open the curtain on the wall, revealing a huge map.
Zhao Yulin took the small wooden stick handed to him by Zhidi, pointed to the red line of Taihe Ridge on the map and said: The Mongolian army calls Taihe Ridge also the Mang Ural Mountains, which is the dividing line between Europe and Asia. Let's rush over and occupy various passes, block the Mongolian army in Europe, and never let them come back to harm our people.
He said with a smile: "Although the land is huge, there are not many people living in it. The further north you go, the less people there are. However, our Shenwei Army must go there, because there are treasures underground, and we must guard them."
If we don't go over, the enemy will, and then the land will no longer belong to us.
Wu Qian and Chen Longzhi gradually recovered from their stunned expressions.
Zhao Yulin's small wooden stick slid along the Yile River toward the Caspian Sea, and he continued to explain to them: This land is fertile, and it has been our vassal territory since ancient times. Our Divine Mighty Army should go there to defend it. The New Song Empire has such a huge strategic depth, so why should we be afraid of god-level enemies coming to Chengdu to cause trouble?
Can't we get some good sleep?
The two of them were greatly encouraged and nodded continuously.
Wu Qian was so excited that he forgot about the hot water that the maid had just refilled. He took a sip and immediately felt it was scalding hot. He spurted it all out with a "whoosh", causing them to laugh.
Chen Longzhi looked at the huge map and said happily: According to the records of the Tang Dynasty, there is also the Western Caspian Sea to the west of the Caspian Sea, and the Tang Dynasty appointed officials to govern it.
Zhao Yulin understood what he meant and decided not to argue. If he did, he would probably end up incorporating most of Europe into the territory of the New Song Dynasty.
