Kou Ji rolled his eyes and said: "Do you think it is so easy to raise heavy armored cavalry? From the creation to the completion of the Tiger Army, it cost tens of millions of guan, and hundreds of thousands of guan are spent every year to replace the armor.
, horses, and distribution of food and wages.
If there is a war, just replacing horses and paying out pensions will be a huge amount of money.
Raising a heavy armor is like raising a hundred thousand soldiers and horses.
Heavy armor is a weapon of the military and will not be used easily.
Most of the time, they won't appear on the battlefield.
Don’t the other soldiers who are fighting on the battlefield have any complaints against them?”
Yang Wenguang disagreed, "If we had three heavy armies, it would be enough to suppress the east, north, and west sides of our Song Dynasty. It would be enough to bring peace to our Song Dynasty for decades."
Kou Ji glanced at Yang Wenguang and said, "I never thought about letting the Song Dynasty gain decades of peace."
Yang Wenguang stared at Kou Ji in astonishment.
As long as there are loyal ministers and good generals, those who do not want peace in the world.
Why can't it work when we get to Kou Ji?
Kou Ji seemed to see Yang Wenguang's doubts and said calmly: "I just need to make the people peaceful and prosperous. If the soldiers and horses cannot be peaceful, neither can the surrounding areas.
Our enemies are constantly getting stronger, and we must keep getting stronger as well.
If you blindly think about peace in the world, weapons in storage, and horses released in Nanshan, sooner or later you will be beaten up by others."
Yang Wenguang frowned subconsciously.
Kou Ji continued: "The world is not static, and neither are our enemies. So we can't think all day long that after defeating all the enemies, we don't have to do anything.
If you really think that way, the imperial court will be defeated sooner or later.
Because although our enemies have fallen, new enemies are constantly rising.
I, the Song family, are not alone in the world.
As long as there are other countries besides the Song Dynasty, we will never have the idea of hoarding weapons and letting horses go to Nanshan."
When Yang Wenguang heard this, his brows furrowed even more.
Kou Ji sighed and said: "The world is at peace, the weapons are stored in the treasury, and the horses are released in the Nanshan Mountains. This is what the civil servants told the people. After the people heard it, they can naturally work and cultivate the land with peace of mind.
But as a military minister, you can't keep it in your heart.
Let alone regard it as a wise saying.”
When Yang Wenguang heard Kou Ji's words, his head was in a state of confusion.
Kou Ji's words were contrary to the education he had received since childhood, as well as the thoughts of many people in the Song Dynasty.
Unfortunately, he couldn't come up with anything to refute Kou Ji's words.
Because reading through history books, countless examples prove that Kou Ji's words are right.
But if he was asked to overturn the cognition that had been formed in his mind and accept Kou Ji's statement, he was somewhat resistant.
Kou Ji glanced at Yang Wenguang, who was trapped in a quagmire of ideological collision, and continued: "You think it would be more beneficial to use the heavy armor captured from the Xixia soldiers and horses for your own use.
But I think it would be more beneficial to hand over the captured heavy armor to Yuan Shanbu.
If our Song Dynasty had three heavy armors, it would indeed bring peace to the three sides for a short period of time.
But war will come sooner or later.
After the enemy sees the power of our heavy armor, they will also fire us and build heavy armor.
He even came up with many ways to restrain heavy armor, or built many soldiers and horses that can restrain heavy armor.
When the enemy breaks through the heavy armor, what can we do to resist the enemy?
You have seen that heavy armored cavalry are showing off their power on the battlefield. Are you sure that heavy armored cavalry can continue to show off their power on the battlefield forever?
Don’t talk about the far ones, but talk about the near ones.
In the battle of Yumen Pass, Zhu Neng, despite paying a huge price, still restrained the iron kite in Li Yuanhao's hand and wiped out more than half of it.
What does this mean? It means that heavy armored cavalry are not invincible on the battlefield.
So we can't put all our hopes on heavy armored cavalry, understand?
Our Song Dynasty already has a heavy armor, and I also have a batch of heavy armor that can equip three thousand heavy armored cavalry.
In other words, I, the Song Dynasty, have one heavy armor in the open and another in the dark.
With two heavy armored cavalry, we have a way to restrain the heavy armored cavalry that appears in the enemy's hands.
So we don't need to build more heavy armored cavalry.
You have seen the power of artillery and muskets.
As long as we build more artillery, we can easily defeat the heavy armored cavalry.
At that time, the position of heavy armored cavalry on the battlefield will become very embarrassing.
So what we need to focus on now is artillery and muskets, not heavy armored cavalry.
If we pile all the money on the heavy armored cavalry, when the artillery can be produced in batches, all the money spent on the heavy armored cavalry will be in vain.
The benefits we gain from handing over the heavy armor to the Yuanshan tribe are far greater than building another heavy armor cavalry ourselves.
First of all, we can use heavy armor to exchange a large amount of money from the Yuanshan tribe for the manufacture of artillery and muskets.
Secondly, the Yuanshan tribe obtained heavy armor and had the power to compete with Qingtang.
Don't look at how Qingtang is so obedient to me now, but Qingtang is also an unfamiliar white-eyed wolf.
They don't have the power to compete with me, Da Song, now, so they listen to me, Da Song, in everything. But once they have the power, or have the opportunity to bite me, Da Song, they will definitely not let me go, Da Song.
When we use heavy armor to support the Yuanshan tribe, it is equivalent to planting a nail in Qingtang's back.
A situation of mutual restraint was formed.
If Qingtang wants to plot something against us, the Song Dynasty, the Yuanshan tribe can take the opportunity to give Qingtang a painful blow.
If the Song Dynasty wants to start a war with Xixia and Liao Kingdom again, there is no need to be afraid that Qingtang will cause trouble for us behind our backs."
Kou Jitu told Yang Wenguang a lot sincerely.
In addition to dispelling Yang Wenguang's doubts about selling the heavy armor to Yuan Shanbe, he also wanted to cultivate Yang Wenguang's overall perspective.
War is not an open and honest struggle.
Checking and balancing each other and leveraging strength are also part of war.
A general who only knows how to compete with others can only be a general at best.
But if you can also scheming with the enemy while wrestling with him, and win the battle, then you are a commander-in-chief.
If you can crush the enemy in terms of grasping the overall situation and strategic layout, then you will be a great commander.
Kou Ji is still very optimistic about Yang Wenguang, so he hopes that Yang Wenguang can become a qualified commander.
Among the new generation of generals, relying solely on Zhong Shiheng and Di Qing to support the situation is still a little too weak.
Cao, Pan, Gao, Shi, etc., among the new generation, there are many generals, but no handsome ones.
If Kou Ji remembers correctly, after the death of Zhe Weizhong, the successor of the Zhe family was a stick.
He is the only stick hammer among the many generations of heroes and loyal warriors in the Zhe family.
After that stick takes over, the Zhejia family will enter a short period of trough.
Therefore, after that Bangchui succeeded, the Zhe family had little hope.
Kou Ji was determined to compete with the tyrannical Liao Kingdom for the sixteen states of Yanyun, so he had to find a way to strengthen the Song Dynasty's military.
After listening to Kou Ji's words, Yang Wenguang felt a little confused, had a headache, and didn't want to speak.
Kou Ji didn't continue to tell him much.
He left Yang Wenguang alone in the room to digest what he said, and stepped out of the room.
The next few days.
Yang Wenguang stayed in his room and rarely went out.
Kou Ji met many people as an angel of the Song Dynasty.
The purpose was to leave many traces of the Song Dynasty in the Yuanshan tribe, so that the small tribes attached to the Yuanshan tribe would be familiar with interacting with the Song Dynasty and the identity of the sovereign state of the Song Dynasty.
On a sunny day.
At the invitation of Zhang Yuan, people from the Song Dynasty, Yuanshan, and Qingtang entered the main hall of the palace of the Yuanshan tribe.
Although it is said to be a royal palace, it is not actually a royal palace.
It's just a larger noble mansion.
The royal court of Huangtou Uihe, at the southern end of Huangtou Uihe's territory, has been occupied by Qingtang.
Therefore, it is impossible for Zhang Yuan to live in the palace of Huangtou Huihe.
There is no royal palace in Chaidan City.
Therefore, Zhang Yuan could only use a large noble mansion as a palace.
After Kou Ji and his men sat down in the palace, he took a quick look and found that they were all acquaintances.
From the Qingtang side, An Ziluo was sent to conclude an alliance with the Yuanshan tribe.
Naturally, Yuanshan came forward personally.
The three people sitting on the table are all very familiar with each other, so there is no need to say so many polite words.
An Ziluo lamented the rise of the Yuanshan tribe. He stared at Yuanshan and sighed: "I vaguely remember that when I first met the Yuanshan leader, the Yuanshan leader had just established a foothold in Danshan City.
In a blink of an eye, the leader of Yuanshan became the leader of a country in the Western Regions.
Even if my clan Zanpu sees you, he will treat you with courtesy."
When Zhang Yuan heard what An Ziluo said, he said very politely: "General An is joking. I, Yuanshan, am today only because of the gift of the heaven."
When An Ziluo heard this, he said to Kou Ji with some bitterness: "The Celestial Empire is really good to the Yuanshan tribe."
Could it be bad?
With a wave of his hand, he helped the Yuanshan tribe gain a foothold in the three states.
This allowed the Yuanshan tribe to leap from a small force of horse thieves to a national force.
Kou Ji heard the sourness in An Ziluo's tone, and smiled calmly: "We, the Song Dynasty, never treat our allies unfairly, and they sincerely work for our allies."
An Ziluo said with a smile: "The Celestial Empire was able to capture the land west of Hexi, and I, Qingtang, also made a lot of efforts."
Kou Ji nodded with a smile and said: "Qingtang's contribution to the Song Dynasty will naturally not be forgotten by the Song Dynasty. I have already written to the officials, and I believe that the officials will send the reward to your ministry soon."
An Ziluo pondered: "I wonder what the reward is?"
Kou Ji laughed and said: "Only the officials know what the officials will reward Qingtang. As a minister, how can I dare to exceed it?"
An Ziluo looked a little confused when he heard Kou Ji's words.
The gold, silver, wealth, or titles awarded by the Song Dynasty were dispensable to Qingtang.
Kou Ji knew what Qingtang wanted, so he smiled and said: "In the document I gave to the officials, there was a statement stating that your department is in urgent need of craftsmen. I believe that the officials will give me some words to send some craftsmen to your department."
department."
An Ziluo raised his eyebrows and smiled with satisfaction.
An Ziluo laughed and said: "I heard that in the two battles in Yumen Pass and Yang Pass, many Iron Kites were annihilated and many Iron Kites' armors were seized. I don't know..."
When Kou Ji heard this, he pretended to be stunned, and then said in a dumbfounded voice: "If you like those armors, why didn't you tell me earlier? I met with your Zanpu in Xiliang City before, and your Zanpu didn't mention it either. I thought you
I didn’t like the remnant armor, so I sold it to Yuan Shanbe at a low price.”
When An Ziluo heard this, the smile on his face faded slightly.
I felt a little disappointed, but not too disappointed.
Because when he came, Jiao Siluo told him that when he was in Xiliang City, Kou Ji did not mention those heavy armors to Jiao Siluo.
So the final destination of those heavy armors is likely to be the armor of a military force of the Song Dynasty, or it may appear in the Yuanshan tribe.
Now Kou Ji sold the heavy armor to Yuan Shanbe, which was expected by Jiao Siluo.
Jiao Siluo expected that Kou Ji would sell the heavy armor to Yuan Shanbe.
But he didn't expect that Kou Ji actually wanted to sell it to him at first.
This flaw is not because Jiao Siluo did not think carefully enough.
But Jiao Siluo didn't know the relationship between Kou Ji and Zhang Yuan.
He didn't know that after Kou Ji got Tie Yaozi's heavy armor, he didn't think about the Yuanshan tribe at all, because he had prepared a batch of better ones for the Yuanshan tribe.
It's because of this.
As a result, Jiao Siluo did not take the initiative to mention Tie Yaozi's heavy armor to Kou Ji when he was in Xiliang City.
It also indirectly caused Jiao Siluo to mistakenly show goodwill to Yuan Shanbe, allowing Kou Ji to see his inner thoughts clearly, change his mind, and sell Tie Yaozi's heavy armor to Yuan Shanbe.
Such is the case with conflicts between countries.
Often a wrong judgment will cost you a lot.
After An Ziluo learned that Kou Ji had sold the heavy armor to Yuan Shanbe, he said nothing more.
The three people sat at the table and discussed with each other the terms of the covenant concluded between Qingtang and Yuanshanbu.
After the discussion is over.
The covenant documents were exchanged.
Offer sacrifices to heaven and gods.
Let heaven and the gods witness the covenant between the two parties.
Afterwards, Kou Ji and An Ziluo visited Qaidan City for a while. An Ziluo asked about Kou Ji's return date and revealed to Kou Ji privately that Jiao Siluo had prepared a generous gift for Kou Ji and would wait until Kou Ji returned to court.
When the time comes, it will be delivered to him.
For this, Kou Ji expressed his gratitude.
A few more days passed.
Witnessed by An Ziluo and Kou Ji, Zhang Yuan officially became the leader of the Yuanshan tribe with the congratulations of the leaders of each small tribe, and formally announced his control over the three states under his jurisdiction and the people living in the three states.
the right to rule over all the subjects of the land.
Since then, the Yuanshan tribe has officially become one of the many major forces in the Western Region.
An Ziluo left the Yuanshan tribe after witnessing Zhang Yuan becoming the leader of the Yuanshan tribe.
Kou Jize stayed in Yuanshan for many days.
It was not until the patrolling horse guards entered Chaidan City with Iron Kites' armor that he left with Yang Wenguang, soldiers and horses from the Song Dynasty, envoys from the Yuanshan tribe, large quantities of gold, silver, jewelry, cattle, sheep, and horses.
To Motoyamabe.
When Kou Ji came, he rode in a hurry, but when he returned, the team was very large.
After he entered Shazhou, the news that he had brought back a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry from the Yuanshan tribe spread like a gust of wind.