"As the saying goes, great prosperity must inevitably lead to decline, but in my humble opinion, the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty is in a period of transition from prosperity to decline!" Wang Pu's tone was decisive and very confident.
Liu Chengyou directly praised him, waved his hand and said, "Tell me about it!"
"The rich in the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty were in the imperial court, bureaucrats, meritorious princes, local generals, right-wing officials, and even wealthy businessmen. In the country, the royal family, nobles, ministers and ministers and below often bought manors and land, and recruited Dingkou as a villager. The rich enjoy the labor and supplies.
The livelihood of ordinary people in Guizhou is not difficult, but it is not prosperous. The Puppet Tang Dynasty was able to maintain its prosperity because it had no external threats for many years and was rarely exposed to war. However, once a war disaster struck, and there was an urgent need for taxes and conquests, It will definitely lead to resentment among the people. The so-called land to the tiller is more of an illusion. The more landless people there are, the harder it will be to maintain its current prosperity!"
Liu Chengyou suppressed the desire to twitch at the corner of his mouth and said, "You are hinting at me and the big man!"
"I don't dare!" Wang Pu saluted and said again:
"Li Jing, the leader of the Tang Dynasty, has been in power for several years. Although he followed Li Min's policies, his ability to govern and stabilize the country is hard to compare with that of his father. He only has the talents of others, sticks to the old ways, and does not know how to change at any time, and his vision is limited. In that corner of the south of the Yangtze River, there is no one who can achieve great things!
Since Li Min, the pseudo-Tang Dynasty eliminated troops and stopped fighting, vigorously developed culture and education, and made the dress and etiquette flourish in Jiangzuo. Although running the country in this way helps to calm people's hearts, in these troubled times, they do not know how to organize the army, practice martial arts, and cultivate spears and soldiers. , is actually putting the cart before the horse and abolishing martial arts."
"The false Lord of the Tang Dynasty loved singing, dancing and giving banquets. He often held banquets in the palace, invited courtiers, talked loudly, and discussed the world with his articles and poems. The two ministers entered Jinling and were invited by the Lord of the Tang Dynasty to have banquets six times!"
"Li Jing also loves to enjoy himself. He likes to have large palaces and mansions, and his ministers can view the Tang Palace. It is difficult to get a full view of the newly built imperial gardens and palaces. There are also several constructions under way. The magnificence of the palace and the luxury of decorations are unimaginable. "
"According to Jianghuai's rich and rich land, with its 'celebrity' style, if you don't want to enjoy it, do you have to be frugal like us?" Liu Chengyou finally spoke, sighing lightly, his tone was like eating a lemon.
Interrupted by Liu Chengyou, Wang Pu took the opportunity to slow down, reorganize his words, and continued: "In the land south of the Yangtze River, Buddhism is respected and the worship of Buddha is very strong. This is true from the king down. As a result, Buddhist temples prosper in it. , quite a scene from the 480 temples in the Southern Dynasty. However, the pseudo-Tang Dynasty spent a lot of money and food just to build temples. Moreover, many Buddhist temples were so magnificent that they did not have palaces, and the land owned by monks in the south of the Yangtze River, Dingkou, even No less wealthy than one party..."
When it came to the Buddhist temple, the ministers couldn't help but turn their attention to Liu Chengyou, wanting to see the emperor's reaction. Everyone present basically knew that the emperor "deeply hated" Buddhism, and his attitude became more and more disgusting day by day.
Sure enough, Liu Chengyou's mouth clearly revealed a very obvious hint of sarcasm.
Wang Zhang, who was worried about the finances of the Han Dynasty and turned gray with bitterness, couldn't help but said: "With this abundant money for food and taxes, we did not educate the military and civilians, rescue disasters, and build water conservancy projects. Instead, we used it to build useless Buddhist temples and support the monks." Buddhist!"
After Wang Zhang's angry words, Feng Dao also expressed his contempt for the matter. The atmosphere in the court was changing under the influence of Liu Chengyou, and criticizing Buddhism had become a new form of political correctness.
"Wang Qing, continue!"
"yes!"
At Liu Chengyou's signal, Wang Pu continued to report what he had observed and thought, and it became more and more smooth.
"The puppet Tang army has more than 100,000 troops. However, given the national strength, if Dingkou exerts all its strength, it is not impossible to gather 300,000 troops. It can be said to be prosperous. However, its troops and horses are remote in the south. Although the folk customs are not very brave, and the fighting ability is not despicable, it will be difficult to fight against the strong soldiers of the Han Dynasty.
In addition, the peace period was long, the battle formations were sparse for a long time, the stars withered, and most of the troops were controlled by scholars. The only ones who were able to lead the army to attack the country were Chen Jue, Zha Wenhui, Feng Yanlu, Bian Hao and others.
Four years ago, he sent troops to destroy Min. Although he defeated the country in civil strife, it lost the important territory of Fuzhou. It was also defeated by a division of Wu and Yue who combined forces with the country's bereaved army, and lost troops and generals. We can still know its combat power!"
"However, its territory and the states it supports are the foundations laid by Yang and Wu in the past, and they have made no progress in thirty years. The small land of Fujian is only left to separate Zhangzhou, which cannot be conquered and has no choice but to recruit."
"The most profound thing for the officials of the Tang Dynasty this time was the party struggle in the court. The struggle between the Nandu scholars and the old officials from Jiangnan runs through the history of the Pseudo-Tang Dynasty. Li Min was still able to suppress it at the time, but Li Jing was unable to do so. Ability and skill.
Over the past few years, the party disputes have become so intense that they have affected the country. In order to pursue the selfish interests of the parties, they criticized each other, leading to false edicts and troops, and they were defeated and defeated. However, they were still saved. After being criticized a little, they were reused for other purposes. The emperor of Tang Dynasty was unable to control the important ministers both internally and externally, so he had to rely on others.
To sum up, among the courtiers of the Puppet Tang Dynasty, the only ones with farsightedness and foresight were Qi Qiu of the Song Dynasty and Han Xizai. However, they were two parties, constraining each other. The rest were all exaggerated and inactive. I can conclude that the factional struggles of the Puppet Tang Dynasty were of no use to our army. Going south will bring great benefits!"
"In addition, the struggle for the throne of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty was also a problem. The emperor's younger brother Li Jingsui was weak and cowardly, and had no fight with the world, while the pseudo-Yan king Li Hongji was young and ambitious. He led the army to conquer Runzhou and listened to what his ministers heard. Look, Li Hongji is very likely to cause the disaster of Xiao Qiang..."
"..."
During this trip south, Wang Pu obviously watched, listened, and thought with his heart. After what he said, Liu Chengyou obviously had a clearer understanding of the country he was about to conquer.
He showed Wang Pu a very kind smile, motioned for him to sit down, and ordered someone to bring more tea. Although it was a compliment, everyone present could see his appreciation.
Tao Gu was the same. He sat aside and took a deep breath. His heart was a little blocked and unhappy. He basically saw what Wang Pu saw. It was a pity that he was not given the opportunity to explain.
It would have been better if I had said it first. Suddenly, I suddenly had this thought. However, I looked at the emperor and then at Wang Pu, and the jealousy and hatred in my heart became stronger.
Liu Chengyou was silent, digesting the reports from Tao Gu and Wang Pu, and then sighed quietly: "The country of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty, when the mountains and rivers are broken, can be regarded as a paradise for literary people!"
"It's a pity that today is a time of great strife, and only the powerful have the qualifications to establish a paradise of kingship!" Yang Bin said with a serious expression.
Feng Dao also said: "Its prosperity is like a castle in the air. Once my troops arrive, it will be in vain and not worth mentioning!"
"No matter how rich the country is, it is still meat from the tiger's mouth of the Han Dynasty. In the future, when the army goes south, I am willing to destroy the country for your majesty and turn the palaces and pavilions of the pseudo-Tang Dynasty into your majesty's palace!" Wang Jun stood up and expressed his views loudly, by the way. It's just too early to ask Ying to lead the troops.
Guo Wei was probably the person who listened most seriously besides Liu Chengyou. He also sighed with emotion: "You are so rich, but you lack the means and ability to protect you. You should be attacked by our government!"
"..."
"Your Majesty, if we mobilize troops in the future, I will go south. Although I will use strong troops to overwhelm weak soldiers, I must not be careless. The southern troops are not as good as the northern troops, but the navy in the south of the Yangtze River needs to be careful. The Jianghuai River is connected, and the land of Huainan is a water network. Although it is not as dense as the south of the Yangtze River, it is still a place where the navy can use its force. We are short of navy, so please make preparations in advance!"
"Navy army!" Liu Chengyou frowned, it was money and food again.
Looking at Tao Gu and Wang Pu, Tao Gu was the first to answer this time: "It is true that if the Puppet Tang army can be praised, it is probably its navy, which has tens of thousands of people!"
"Your Majesty wants to make plans for Huainan, so you should be fully prepared!" Guo Wei reminded.
Wang Pu followed closely and said: "On the way back from the north, I felt that the southern climate was unbearably hot and unbearable. Most of the soldiers in our court were from the north and were not accustomed to its soil and water. When the time comes, the troops will go south and the troops will gather together, so we need to imitate the epidemic!"
"We need to train our troops and horses for the Southern Expedition early!" Guo Wei said seriously.
"It is necessary to inquire about the terrain, roads, cities, soldiers and horses and other military information of the ten prefectures in the north of the Yangtze River!" This was Wei Renpu's suggestion.
After a pause, he continued: "The timing of mobilizing troops needs to be grasped, and we need to guard against Khitan, Meng, Shu and even Xiazhou Li Yiyin!"
"Perhaps we can issue an edict and invite Jingnan, Wuyue, and Ma Chu to follow our dynasty and attack the Tang Dynasty on all sides!" Fan Zhi proposed a strategy.
Feng Dao was also unwilling to be lonely: "Gao Baorong is afraid of surrendering to the Central Plains, and Wu Yue and his feudal family can all use him as a partial army. The Ma brothers in Hunan are fighting among themselves, and Xiao Qiang's disaster is still going on, so he is afraid of difficulties and can't help him..."
Next, the palace discussion quickly evolved into the emperor and ministers of the Han Dynasty making strategies and plans for the invasion of the Southern Tang Dynasty. Basically, everything they said had something to say.
Sitting on the throne, looking at the ministers who were discussing and expressing their opinions, Liu Chengyou couldn't help but feel wandering.
This was the first time that he saw the courtiers discussing one matter so unanimously, and he was quite touched.
If the officials of the Han Dynasty can work together here, there is no need to worry about the world being unfair. Of course, this is just an illusion, just think about it. Liu Chengyou is still very clear about this.
