The sky was dark and low, and it was raining all morning. In the afternoon, although the rain stopped, it was still dark clouds and there was no sunshine. The weather was like this, and Emperor Yi Feng was not very happy. Yi Feng announced his Northern Expedition again at the court meeting yesterday and issued an order to let Li Jing command the troops, which immediately attracted a lot of opposition. Even though Yi Feng finally announced his plan to fight with the surrendered Turkic troops and the troops of the vassals, the officials of the Political Affairs Hall were still unwilling to let go, which made Yi Feng feel extremely bad. Fortunately, the Privy Council supported him, and the senior generals of the Three Ya and the Guards also supported him.

In Kaiyuan Hall, Yi Feng sat against Yang Su, Su Wei, Xue Daoheng, Li Gang, Liu Wenjing, Wei Zheng, Fan Zigai, Xu Deyan, Wang Bao, Li Jing and other priests.

The eunuch poured wine for the emperor and the priests one by one, and there were musicians from the sect playing the elegant guqin next to them.

Yi Feng raised his wine glass, "Since the founding of the Great Sui Dynasty, it was threatened by the Turks. It was not until the seventh year of Kaihuang that the Great Sui Dynasty successfully took the initiative by taking the initiative. It was then the Northern Expedition of Kaihuang in the 19th year of Kaihuang that the imperial court was able to truly defeat the Turks. Now, after the Battle of Dunhuang last year, the imperial court destroyed Tuyuhun, and the troops were directly aimed at the Western Regions. The Turks were no longer able to fight against the imperial court. If the imperial court did not take advantage of the situation to subdue the Turks, it was afraid that the Turks would make a comeback ten years later. At that time, how much effort would the imperial court spend to stabilize the northern border?"

The king and his ministers drank this cup together, and the eunuchs stepped forward to pour wine for the king and his ministers one by one.

Yi Feng held the wine glass and looked at the fourteen prime ministers of the dynasty, "A few days ago, I proposed another northern expedition, and the left and right servants all raised the financial difficulties of the court now, the military and civilians were exhausted, and they were unable to fight again. However, the Privy Council told me that the soldiers were now in a strong morale and fully supported the court's northern expedition. I thought about it for a long time, and finally planned that the court would no longer assemble large troops to fight in this Northern Expedition, but the surrendered Turkic surrendered army was the main force, and then transferred Tiel, Dangxiang and Gaochang as the auxiliary countries. Jointly sent troops to pacify the grassland.

First, the court no longer needs to mobilize the army, no longer recruit a large number of civilians, or even no longer supply a large amount of food, grass and equipment. All the court needs is an edict, an experienced marshal, but at the meeting yesterday, the Privy Council passed this plan, but the ministers headed by the Minister of the Political Affairs Hall still fully opposed this plan. I am a little confused and a little confused. Today I specially summoned the prime ministers to discuss it privately. Can you tell me why I object?"

Li Gang said, "In the Western Han Dynasty, there was a rule of Wen and Jing, and the world was prosperous. Later Han Wu succeeded to the throne and used troops to fight against the Huns for 44 years. Although the Huns retreated to the north of the desert, the Han people were reduced by half, and the people were living in poverty. The people were in dire straits and the gains were not worth the loss."

"Although Emperor Wu of Han was suspected of being a powerful military force, his spirit of using the Huns and resisting insults is worth learning from. He offended me, and he will be punished even if he is far away. This sentence makes me admire him every time I read. Although the country was established for only twenty years, I have never surrendered from the barbarians and Hu tribes. Taiping was not called for, but was called by him. Today, Datou did submit to surrender and express surrender, but this kind of surrender is a bit sincere? If we agree, Datou will not be grateful and will not be kind, but will only scold us in our hearts. The intention of the farmer and the snake you may have heard or not heard, but it is about a farmer meeting a frozen snake on the road. The farmer kindly picked up the snake.

He got up, put it in his arms to help him keep warm and prevent him from freezing to death. But the first thing he did after he woke up was not gratitude, but to bite the farmer and poison him to death. The same story, as well as the story of the Zhongshan wolf, should not be unfamiliar with everyone. There is only interests between countries, especially nomadic tribes like the Turks, which are unresolved conflicts with the Central Plains. Once they are strong, they will inevitably invade us. Even if they encounter disaster, the first solution they think of is to go south to rob us. There is an opportunity to solve the grassland problem once and for all. Why don’t we try it? Why don’t we dare to try it?”

"But why can Your Majesty be sure that these Turks sent to the Northern Expedition today are trustworthy? Even if they defeated Datou, Du Lan would just replace them. Your Majesty's feudal can really make these Turks surrender from now on? If not, why bother to fight again in the Northern Expedition? Why not place these Turks in the Central Plains as Pingshou?" Xue Daoheng also spoke.

Yi Feng shook his head, "Of course, the Turks are not gentlemen who trust, but interests can affect them. Let them go back and destroy Datou and Dulan. First of all, this will allow the Turks to attack each other, which is also weakening the strength of the Turks. At the same time, after the war, we enfeoffed the grassland tribes, so that they could restrict each other and reach a relatively stable order. The Turks are no longer unified, and the grassland tribes no longer have overlords. The scattered grassland tribes will naturally no longer threaten the court. This is a long-term benefit. Maybe things will not be that simple, but do we dare not even try?"

Yang Su said, "I still think that the grassland has finally calmed down now. It is not necessarily a good thing to let the Turkic surrender troops go back and raise the war again. When the war comes, no one can predict the direction that will develop. If the court accepts the surrender of Datou and Dulan, then the grassland can be stable and the border will be peaceful within at least ten years. With this ten years of hard work, the court will definitely be more prosperous and will be stronger at that time, and there will be stronger strength. Then there is no need to worry about the Turks. If the grassland has war again, if there is an accident, the court may not be able to calm down now. Thinking about Sha Bo's favor to the court, after his death, Mohe Khan succeeded to the throne and fought against the west under the banner of the court. In short, the battles were won consecutively. If he had not died accidentally at the hands of the Persians, I was afraid that Mohe would have reunified the eastern and western regions, and at that time, he might have turned against the court again."

"The court has been fighting for years and has been using troops continuously. The treasury is very dangerous. If there is a natural disaster, there is no money in the treasury and no food in the treasury, how should we face it? We can't fight again. Since Your Majesty has agreed to not use troops in Liaodong for the time being, why should we go to the north again? Please let the world rest. If your Majesty wants to use troops again, no matter whether it is the Northern Expedition or the Eastern Expedition, you will ask.

"Money, what you are worried about is the problem of the national treasury." Yi Feng nodded, "I have been considering this for a while. I also know that since I ascended the throne, the treasury of the imperial court has been spending continuously, and the early income is not enough, and the deficit of the civilian ministry has reached more than 30 million jin. However, everyone should also see that although the imperial court has been using troops continuously, it has always been victorious. Moreover, the imperial court has not suffered many casualties, and the imperial court has spent more money and food for the war. We recovered Liaoxi, regained Liaodong, and also captured Tuyuhun. In addition, the three ministries of Xi, Khitan and Wu were officially included in the rule of the court. No matter how many miles of territory have been opened, the newly added population alone has exceeded 2 million. Isn't these worth paying?"

"And the people did not cause much disturbance from the war in the court. We recruited them to transport food, build roads, and make equipment. The court did not recruit them free of charge, but paid a considerable wage. The people served the court but received a lot of wages to subsidize their household income. At the same time, the soldiers fought for the country, and the court paid them generous salary, and there were generous rewards. The disabled and dead also had proper insurance compensation and pension allowances. No one was dissatisfied with this. It can even be said that from the court to the soldiers to the people, everyone received the dividends of the war. The court paid a lot, but the loans from banks and the issuance of bonds made us not need to forcibly pay additional taxes from the people. Although there was some interest, think about the thousands of miles of territory, millions of people, etc., and the tens of millions of coins we had lost?"

Although Yi Feng used troops continuously, his military use was different from Emperor Wu of Han. Where did Emperor Wu of Han spend his military expenditure? Through various sects, he relied on robbing money from the rich and ordinary people in the world to support the war. As a result, after decades of fighting, the country's livelihood was also broken, and the households were reduced by half. But Yi Feng was fighting in another form. This war was like a business. The court's military expenditure was not levied from the people, but raised funds through bank loans and issuance of war bonds to support the war. The soldiers received generous salaries and generous rewards, and the people were entrusted to transport food and grass for the court.

Making equipment is not a forced labor service, but also a good salary. Although this has led to the increasing financial deficit of the court, the countless new land, forests, minerals, populations, livestock and cities have been added to the victory of the war. What's more, after conquering Liaodong and Tuyuhun, the court basically cleared all the upper class of the original indigenous people, and the government and their property were basically filled into the national treasury, which is also a lot of money. It can be said that in addition to the failure of the war, otherwise the more such a war was fought, the more the court would make a profit. Not only the court made a profit, but the soldiers and the people, but also the merchants, each of them enjoyed the dividends of the war.

However, the prime ministers of Yi Feng were obviously unable to accept Yi Feng's idea, and were full of fear of the court's fiscal deficit of tens of millions of yuan. Everyone was used to living within their means and saving and storage. Now they suddenly ate the food in the morning. They couldn't stand this way of early consumption.

"Well, take out the spoils seized in the Liaodong and Tuyuhun Wars for auction. All of them can be auctioned off, including gold, silver, jewelry, etc., houses, manors, mineral workshops, cattle, sheep, livestock, carriages and horses, and the money obtained will be handed over to the court's finances." Yi Feng's words made the Minister of Political Affairs of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and Fan Zigai's face looked much better.
Chapter completed!