Northern Dynasties Imperial Industry

"It's gone, it's all gone! If you don't believe me and you're still waiting to be extorted, you might as well see how much I'm worth and use it as military pay in front of us!"

In Yedu Shangshu Province, facing the envoys arriving from Jinyang to collect supplies, Changguang King Gao Zhan said with an impatient look on his face.

If you are not a householder, you don’t know that firewood and rice are expensive. As a stay-at-home in Yedu, he is troubled by money, food and personnel every day, and these things are not something he can solve with his heart. Faced with an empty warehouse, he can’t make rice no matter how hard he tries. ah!

The envoy from Jinyang naturally did not dare to escort Gao Zhan to charge for the army. He could only continue with a grimace: "The lower officials also followed the order, and I beg the king for your forgiveness! Now the supreme leader leads the division and brigade to confront the enemy in Beishan, but the army We are in danger of running out of food, and we urgently need help from all parties in the country..."

"Now that I've said everything, you can go somewhere else to demand it. If I can help you here in Yedu, I won't need you to come here to demand it again!"

After Gao Zhan heard this, he immediately stared and acted like a rogue. At the same time, he couldn't help complaining: "The Supreme Being is not unaware of the situation in the country. He is newly forced by the Qiang people and is in a poor situation. However, the Supreme Being is also martial and warlike. , causing the people in the country to become more and more uneasy. Even if I want to help, where can I dig out the mountains and seas to support the people?"

Complaints were complaints, but the problems that should be faced could not be eliminated. Jinyang urged him several times a day, and his words became more severe every time. This also made Gao Zhan dare not turn a blind eye completely, so he simply led his troops to visit nearby county and county government offices and government agencies. The public and private treasuries of large households in the region were raided, and a batch of materials was finally collected and transported to the north.

For fear that the emperor would continue to press for payment, while sending this batch of supplies, Gao Zhan arranged for his think tank Gao Yuanhai to accompany him and gave him his own opinions to the emperor: "The current situation in the country is extremely poor, and it is really not appropriate. If we continue to be greedy for power, engage in force, and waste people, peace with the Qiang people was the most important thing in the past. Now that the country's worries have not been relieved, this plan should not be violated.

Compared with the Qiang thieves, the Turks are just small bandits, and they will become more powerful when they are full. Why should they exhaust all the military and material resources in the country to fight with them in a light battle of life and death? I implore Your Majesty to assess the situation and stop ignoring the siege in the country and going your own way. "

Gao Zhan's idea is not an isolated case. Although Lou Zhongda, the governor of Dingzhou, and Gao Sihao, the governor of Jizhou, each received the emperor's order, they all had their own opinions on whether to obey the order.

After receiving the conscription order, Lou Zhongda turned around and reported to Jinyang that Dingzhou could not afford the military resources and asked Jinyang to allocate military resources. Gao Sihao, the governor of Jizhou, simply sent a group of troops to Youzhou and asked Pan Zihuang, the governor of Youzhou, to give him something and attack together. Naturally, nothing happened.

It wasn't that the chiefs of these two departments were particularly arrogant and untamable, but that they each had serious illnesses. As a result, the emperor did not show sympathy for this and instead imposed recruitment, so they could only respond negatively in some ways.

Dingzhou is the main settlement area for the internal migration of Xianbei in the Six Prefectures, and is also one of the sources of Jinyang soldiers. Most of the strong men are in the army and have not been repaired for a long time. The imperial court in Jizhou had just raided all the big houses in the territory in the name of building the Yenan Defense Line in the name of protecting Hebei, and now it was letting the troops go out to fight. Naturally, they were unwilling to cooperate.

Since the founding of the Northern Qi Dynasty, there has been a lack of cohesion between regions and ethnic groups, including civil and military affairs, superiors and subordinates, etc.

Originally, it was possible to combine strong national power with power politics, and hide any gaps and contradictions. However, various major events occurred this year, which gave the Northern Qi regime violent impacts again and again. Internal personnel matters The structure also becomes looser and looser, and the cracks gradually widen and deepen.

When they were still at war with the Western Wei Dynasty, conflicts and rifts were already very obvious, and a coup initiated by Gao Yan even broke out. However, because the pressure exerted by the Western Wei Dynasty was too great, the country might be destroyed directly if they were not careful. Even if there were any disputes and conflicts, they were cautiously tolerant and maintained, and together they withstood the pressure from the Western Wei Dynasty.

But now with the truce and peace talks with the Western Wei Dynasty, the original pressure no longer exists. Although the Turkic invasion made people uneasy, it was not as frightening and despairing as the oppression of the Western Wei Dynasty, so some cracks inevitably showed up.

Gao Yan also imagined that he could establish his authority by fighting against the Turks, but he himself did not clearly understand the fundamental contradictions in the country, or even if he did, he was unable to change them. Even though he led the army to victory in the first battle and personally guarded the country with the dignity of the emperor, the disputes and conflicts in the country have gradually gathered on him.

"Your Majesty, the army can only supply rice for two more days, and the war horses have been exhausted..."

Hearing that the quartermaster reported that the supply situation was not optimistic, Gao Yan immediately frowned, and after thinking for a while, he said: "How many days can I save one meal?"

"Want to reduce it? This is already half food. If it is reduced further, the troops and horses will be hungry and their morale will drop..."

After the quartermaster heard this, he immediately said with an embarrassed look on his face.

When Gao Yan heard this, he was even more furious. He threw the tableware on his desk to the ground and shouted angrily: "Open your dog eyes and look, I can't eat more than three liters of millet today! What kind of arrogant soldier can I endure?" Half hungry?"

Everyone in the hall was silent when they heard the shouts and curses. They lowered their heads and dared not take a breath. Even some generals who wanted to advise the emperor not to fight anymore and to withdraw his troops as soon as possible also kept their mouths shut.

Hu Luguang saw the unwillingness on the emperor's face, so he stood up and said: "I have been observing the enemy's situation in front of the city recently. I saw that the Turks were herding cattle and sheep. The route has been determined. If we can ambush them along the way and seize their cattle and sheep, we can also make some repairs." Military. The weather is getting colder today, and the Turks have been trapped for a long time without success. Their situation must be more dangerous than mine. If they eat again, they will retreat without fighting!"

It is rare that Hu Luguang still maintains a high-spirited and enterprising spirit, which also makes Gao Yan quite gratified. But as things have developed now, it is no longer a question of whether the Turks can be defeated, but that the country is gradually falling apart. What he, the emperor, said has been blatantly ignored!

"Since the king has such an ambition, it is no longer necessary to delay, and we can take action tonight!"

In any case, Hu Luguang’s enterprising spirit is very commendable. Gao Yan also hoped that he could achieve some changes through this, so he nodded and agreed to Hu Luguang’s suggestion and warned: “King Xianyang must pay attention to safety during this trip. , If things don’t work out, I’ll leave immediately, and I’ll personally fight with the warlords in the city. If things work out, there’s no need to fight and kill the enemy, just seize some of the food!”

After hearing this, Hu Luguang immediately bowed his head and then retreated to prepare for the battle. Just when he was about to return to the camp to select his soldiers, He Baren came towards him, looked at him and sighed: "It is gratifying that the bright moon's ambitions are hard to win, but some things should be investigated more deeply.

Now that the country is in poverty, we and the people in Jinyang do not want to see the Supreme Being staying here and fighting endlessly. Your success this time is certainly gratifying, but if it boosts the Supreme Being's desire to fight, and if there is another war situation, I'm afraid the situation will be even more dangerous! "

Hu Luguang was not a fool. Naturally, he could hear what He Baren said. He probably did not want him to continue to support the emperor in this war and consume him. The nobles were probably also worried that they would fall into endless consumption, so they Have this intention.

But after he pondered for a while, he pointed to the armor and said to He Baren: "Since I am wearing armor, all I can think about is killing the enemy. The Grand Master has taught me something, and I will definitely come and listen attentively after the war." !”

Hearing Hu Luguang's answer, He Baren sighed secretly and watched the man riding his horse towards the military camp.

In the past, he underestimated the enemy's advance and was surrounded. This time, Hu Luguang did not dare to be careless. He had been planning the relevant plan for many days, and he was also careful to implement it that night. He led a thousand fine cavalry to attack an enemy camp at night and successfully succeeded. Afterwards, he snatched nearly 10,000 cattle and sheep from the camp and successfully drove most of the harvest back to his own camp before the enemy brigade heard the news and arrived.

This victory greatly boosted morale. Qi Zhu Gaoyan was also overjoyed and personally went out to the camp to greet Hu Luguang and other victorious troops.

However, after winning this victory, Gao Yan did not continue to attack the Turks. Instead, he sent envoys to the Turkic camp to negotiate peace.

Although this was Gao Zhan's suggestion, it was also a plan that Gao Yan came up with to improve the situation in the country after some thought and weighing.

When his father Gao Huan and eldest brother Gao Cheng were still alive, there was always little pressure from the border defense from the north due to their friendly relations with Rouran. However, the situation changed during the reign of his second brother Gao Yang. Although Gao Yang's military exploits in the south and north were considered to be numerous, the Northern Qi was surrounded by enemies on all sides, and a large amount of national power was consumed on border defense. This was also the reason why the Northern Qi turned from prosperity to decline. One of the important reasons.

Now Gao Yan has taken over another unprecedented siege situation. The Western Wei Dynasty and the Turks have successively attacked, making him exhausted to deal with it. Even if he experienced such a bad situation just once, it would almost kill him. If it continued, it would make people feel desperate just thinking about it!

In this war with the Turks, even if they can repel each other, they will not be able to kill them all. On the contrary, they will make the hatred between each other even deeper. Now that Northern Qi's southern defense line has retreated to Yenan, if Beishan continues to face Turkic intrusions, there will never be peace.

Therefore, only by reaching a reconciliation with the Turks and no longer attacking and intruding each other can Gao Yan concentrate on sorting out the personnel issues in the country, and the country can also recuperate and make full preparations to continue the war with the Western Wei Dynasty!

The reason why Gao Yan insisted before was because the recent negotiations with the Western Wei Dynasty made him deeply aware that it was not easy to achieve an alliance under the city. Now he gritted his teeth and persisted. He waited until the situation turned for the better before he chose to start peace talks with the Turks and compressed the The right to speak on the Turkic side.

Although there has long been an alliance between the Turks and the Western Wei Dynasty, such an ally that can attack and kill the Turkic Khans at will, presumably the Turks will not be as confused as Nanchen, and are really stubborn and unwilling to betray the alliance.