Xu Huai knew that he had underestimated the crisis brewing due to the people's livelihood problems under the oppression and exploitation of prefectures, counties and local clans.
Now he could imagine why a large number of bandits blocked the road when the officials fled south .
After all, the fact that the government was forced to abandon Bianliang and flee south did not happen suddenly.
Before that, the defenses in the west or north would inevitably be destroyed by the barbarian enemies.
Before that, the defense organized near Bian Jing would inevitably suffer a severe setback.
This also means that the imperial court’s control over the local areas must have been weakened to the extreme before this.
Such a serious crisis had been brewing in the local area for a long time. Those bandit chieftains who were unwilling to submit and had no sense of righteousness for their country and family had taken advantage of the situation and gathered tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of soldiers in a short period of time. Now looking at the speed at which the situation in Tongbai Mountain has deteriorated, is there anything unimaginable?
He had thought that the world was at peace, but he had not expected Wei Lan to get up early...
"What are you thinking about?" Wang Bing was quite old after all. He climbed up the steep simple wooden ladder to the watchtower which was more than three meters high, breathing slightly. Seeing Xu Huai frowning and looking into the distance with a heavy look that was not appropriate for his age, he couldn't help but ask.
"The Chihu people have been rising north and south of the Yin Mountains for thirty years. They have even encroached on the northern border areas controlled by the Dangxiang and Khitan people on a large scale. I was thinking, if the government is instigated by Cai Ying and others, and is greedy for the benefits of driving a tiger to devour a wolf, and decides to join forces with the Chihu people to attack Northern Yan, Dai Viet will definitely suffer a terrible disaster and even the hatred of national destruction!" Xu Huai sighed.
The matter of joint attack was the most confidential matter among the central government at that time. Normally speaking, Wang Bing would not reveal these matters to the outside world even if he was demoted.
However, Xu Huai was no longer an ordinary person in his eyes.
During this period of time, in addition to resisting the enemy army's attack on Huaiyuan, Xu Huai spent most of his time either honing his martial arts with the local camp officers and soldiers, or seeking advice from Wang Bing on the situation in the court and the world.
Wang Bing no longer had any reservations about Xu Huai at this time, and even told him many secrets, including the fact that he was banished from Bian Jing mainly because he opposed the coalition attack on Yan.
How could Xu Huai still have any doubts about the cause of the tragic disaster that was about to happen in the first year of Jianhe?
Wang Bin was slightly stunned.
He was worried that the court's greed would drive the tiger to devour the wolf, which would kill the wolf but keep the tiger, eventually leading to a backlash. However, he was not sure how serious the situation would become.
That was why he thought that if he unfortunately died in Tongbai Mountain, he would ask Lu Xiong to take a trip to the Mobei grassland to see for himself the situation of the rise of the Chihu people in the north, so as to provide some warning to the court.
However, he did not expect that Xu Huai's assessment of the situation was even more pessimistic and decisive than his.
Of course, even though Xu Huai continued to be rough and stupid in front of outsiders during this period, Wang Bing, Lu Xiong and others knew that in addition to his amazing talent in martial arts, he was also extremely accurate in judging the situation of small-scale enemy and friendly operations on a chaotic battlefield. He could also skillfully use powerful military force to guide small-scale battles in the direction he expected.
This is also the key reason why the soldiers in the rural camp did not suffer more casualties , but gained more gains.
At least at the moment, it can be said that Xu Huai is the most outstanding military commander in the world at the military camp command level; as Lu Xiong said, it will not be difficult for him to grow into a famous general of the same level as Wang Xiaocheng in the future.
Therefore, Wang Bing would not just laugh it off when Xu Huai made such a pessimistic assessment of the future situation. Instead, he would ask, "Why do you say that?"
Why do you say that?
Xu Huai smiled bitterly. Could he say that when he was watching the bandit army massacring Zhongjiazhuang at Mopanling more than a month ago, a piece of text memory that should never have appeared at this time suddenly flashed through his mind?
Wang Bing was already one of the few people of great insight in the world, but he only believed that after the Chihu people replaced the Khitans, the threat to the border would be even greater, and there would be a danger of both the lips and the teeth being in danger.
Xu Huai thought to himself that he was just a naive boy who had grown up carefree in Tongbai Mountain for fifteen or sixteen years. How could he see clearly why joining forces with the Chihu people to attack Northern Yan would inevitably lead to a tragic disaster of national destruction?
Perhaps this is what he should seek.
It is possible that he might not be able to find the answer until the Central Plains had been ravaged by foreign races for many years.
"It's useless to talk about that. Mr. Wang, why don't you talk about how Cai Ying will deal with the current situation?" Xu Huai changed the subject.
"Speaking of this," Wang Bing was slightly stunned, thinking that Xu Huai also felt that the previous assertion was too serious. He pondered for a moment and said worriedly, "I am not the only one in the court who opposes the alliance. Even the emperor is hesitant and has not made up his mind. The banditry in Tongbai Mountain is getting worse and worse. If Lu Si cannot control it, it will give Cai Ying the opportunity to mobilize the Western Army and other elite troops to the west of Beijing to show his military preparations and persuade more ministers in the court to support the alliance to attack Yan. Perhaps this is the fundamental purpose of Zheng Hui and others hiding behind the scenes to stir up trouble. We underestimated him before!"
"Cai Ying has really put a lot of effort into the alliance to attack Yan. Isn't the position of Privy Councilor enough to satisfy him?" At this time, Xu Huai would never believe that someone like Cai Ying advocated the alliance to attack Yan for the sake of national justice.
Dai Viet used civil officials to control military power, and the ministers in the court also checked and balanced each other very closely. It was difficult for Xu Huai to imagine that Cai Ying had any intention of treason.
"In his later years, Emperor Gaozu attacked Yan twice in an attempt to recover the homeland of Yanyun, but unfortunately both times he failed, leaving Emperor Gaozu with regrets for the rest of his life. He later left behind a will that 'whoever recovers Yanyun will be crowned king'. However, this is only one aspect of the story."
Wang Bin sighed and said,
"On the other hand, even though no one except a limited number of people knew about Cai Ying's forgery of the imperial edict, I only saw the clues after I went back to the court and read through all the rules and regulations of the year. However, most of the officials in the court still felt that Wang Xiaocheng's crime of disobeying the imperial edict was not worthy of death, and Cai Ying should not have arbitrarily executed the commander-in-chief even if he held the imperial edict. In order to deal with the accusations from both inside and outside the court that he had killed Wang Xiaocheng, Cai Ying has always stood in the court as a pro-war faction in order to deal with the accusations from both inside and outside the court that he had killed Wang Xiaocheng. Even without the imperial edict of Emperor Gaozu, even to maintain his image as a pro-war faction, he has enough reasons to push these things! He was also pushed to the position of Privy Councilor by the pro-war faction in the court!"
Xu Huai knocked his head with a headache.
Although he was not very clear about the party struggles in the court, he could still understand what Wang Bing said.
To put it bluntly, the coalition forces to attack Yan were pushed by a large faction in the court, and Cai Ying was just a representative of them. Zheng Hui and others were all members of this faction, and they had their own ideas and plans. They were not entirely vassals of Cai Ying, and some of them were not necessarily motivated by selfish motives.
Cai Ying strongly advocated an alliance to attack Yan, and whether it was his true intention or just a pretense, he could not easily betray it.
Otherwise, the court officials who supported him in the past would turn around and attack him.
This is what it means to unite as a party and attack those who are different from it, right?
As for the current Tongbai Mountain banditry, regardless of whether it was directly instigated by Cai Ying, judging from the current development of the situation, it is really possible that, as Wang Bing said, Zheng Hui was stirring up trouble. In addition to cutting the grass and rooting it out, another purpose was to turn it into a military display before the coalition forces attacked Yan, in order to strengthen the voice of the pro-war faction in the court.
Of course, the situation developed so rapidly that even Zheng Hui might not have been able to predict it, right?
Seeing that the enemy army showed no signs of moving out in the afternoon, Xu Huai and Wang Bing climbed down the watchtower and went to Zheng the butcher's meat shop.
Zheng Tu found some melons from somewhere and soaked them in the well. He then cut some and served them to Xu Huai, Wang Bing and Lu Xiong to relieve the heat. While sitting in the yard, Wang Bing told Xu Huai in detail about some of the people and events of the pro-war faction in the court.
When it was getting dark, Deng Gui sent someone to find Wang Bing and Lu Xiong to discuss matters in the military camp.
Although Xu Huai was the commander of the rural camp, he had a foolish and reckless personality. With people like Wang Bing and Lu Xiong around, he didn't need to waste too much energy to get involved in the complicated defense arrangements.
Therefore, whenever there was a military meeting, he would ask Tang Pan and Yin Peng to accompany Jin Longquan to represent the township camp. He could use most of the time, except before the battle, to recuperate, practice martial arts, and supervise the training of the township camp officers and soldiers.
Otherwise, he would have to inspect the simple defenses on this side of the street several times a day and check for gaps, strengthen and reinforce every corner, which would take up all his free time.
He doesn't have to worry about these things at all now.
However, at this time he had no way to concentrate on practicing swordplay or supervising the soldiers in the local camp to train.
He could now basically judge that the impending disaster in the first year of Jianhe was related to the Chihu people's joint attack on Yan and their eventual invasion of the country.
Xu Huai believes that the historical trend revealed by this short passage is not irreversible. The key is how to reverse it.
Are you trying to find a way to sabotage the plan of Cai Ying and other pro-war factions to form a coalition force to attack Yan?
It is not impossible.
After all, as Wang Bing said just now, apart from him, there were many other ministers in the court who opposed the joint forces to attack Yan, but their attitudes were not as firm as his. The emperor had not made up his mind yet and was still wavering.
Before, Xu Huai might have worked towards this goal, but when he saw the banditry in Tongbai Mountain getting worse, he hesitated.
According to the existing historical trend, Chen Zixiao would have to wait until the first year of Jianhe to become a big bandit, but at this time Chen Zixiao had already become a big bandit, with seven or eight thousand soldiers under his command, and his army would continue to expand in a short period of time.
What caused all this? Was it just Zheng Hui and others pushing it behind the scenes?
Everything Xu Huai has seen in the past six months has made him more thoroughly understand what it means to be "a hero is made by the times", or to say "when the wind blows, even pigs can fly to the sky"?
To put it bluntly, it was not that Chen Zixiao was lucky, nor was it that Zheng Hui's secret planning was successful, but more fundamentally it was the result of the times.
The long-accumulated contradictions within Tongbai Mountain are the current situation, and people like Zheng Hui and Chen Zixiao can only be regarded as sparks.
Even if Zheng Hui had not stirred up trouble behind the scenes, the anger would have inevitably erupted when the next accidental outlet was found; even if Chen Zixiao could not become a big bandit, when the time came, there would surely be a second Chen Zixiao who would take advantage of the situation.
At this time, Xu Huai would not think that the fundamental reason for the impending national disaster in the first year of Jianhe was the allied forces attacking Yan.
We must get to the root of the problem. First, the rise of the Chihu people in Mobei was unstoppable. Second, there were too many hidden worries within Dai Viet, but the officials in the court and even the rural clans were living in a dream, still believing that the world was peaceful and the country was strong.
Even if it was just to delay the outbreak of the crisis, Xu Huai did not think that if he tried to help Wang Bing make a comeback, stand on the opposite side of the pro-war faction, or get Cai Ying out of office, he would be able to stop the coalition forces from attacking Yan.
These days he listened to Wang Bing talking about the court and the general situation of the world, and he realized that the situation in the court was much more complicated than he had imagined.
Even among the war enthusiasts, there are huge differences.
More than ten years ago, Wang Xiaocheng recovered Wei, Yun and other places from the Khitans. He would rather disobey the order than withdraw his troops, which eventually led to his death. He was certainly a backbone figure of the pro-war faction. Was his choice wrong?
Quite a number of officials and officers in the court wanted to recover the homeland of Yanyun.
Some of them were old friends of Wang Bing, but they became estranged from him because of their disagreement on the issue of joining forces to attack Yan. However, Wang Bing did not think that there was anything wrong with their character.
Even if Cai Ying falls, these war hawks will still put forward another leader to take charge.
Is it useful to simply stand against the war faction?
Even Wang Bing could not be considered a peace advocate. In recent years, he has advocated strengthening the border troops and actively expanding the territory and consolidating defenses by building fortifications and shallow attacks. This time, he was just deeply worried that the Chihu people were rising too fast, and Dai Viet's internal troubles had not been resolved. It would be too hasty to drive the tiger to devour the wolf and join forces to attack Yan, which would cause trouble in the future...