Destroy Jin and conquer Song, and carry the Northern Expedition through to the end

Chapter 1000: Governing a big country is like cooking small dishes

"My lord, if I may be so bold, we cannot launch a large-scale military campaign before next autumn harvest."

Liang Su's first sentence set the tone for this dialogue between the emperor and his minister: "It would be best to wait until after the spring planting in the third year of Hongwu's reign, or even after the autumn harvest, before we can be 80% certain."

Hu Quan snapped out of his daze and asked curiously, "Is there not enough food?"

Liang Su shook his head: "Of course it's enough, otherwise we would have called Shi Qilang back long ago. He has tens of thousands of men to feed and graze. If it weren't for the abundant treasury in Taiyuan, we wouldn't have been able to advance."

"Young Master, although our country still has grain reserves, we must not use them all for military purposes, otherwise the people of Hebei and Shanxi will be in great turmoil."

"Moreover, the country is newly established, and the Youyan, Liaodong and Jin regions have just been annexed. It will take a lot of effort to pacify them. It would be best to rest and recuperate afterward."

For some reason, Hu Quan felt a sense of relief.

Liang Su continued, "The direction of the attack is nothing more than the Western Jin and the Song Dynasty; it's just a matter of who goes first."

Liu Huai stroked his short beard, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Mr. Liang is right. Does Mr. Hu have anything else to say?"

Hu Quan remained silent.

Liang Su coughed twice, then earnestly asked Hu Quan, "Mr. Hu, do you think the Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties were a period of peace and prosperity?"

Hu Quan immediately gave a wry smile: "Prime Minister Liang, please don't test me with words. I naturally know that the unification of the world is an inevitable trend. Moreover, only by unifying the world can the people be spared from war. However..."

Hu Quan cupped his hands and said sincerely, "Your Majesty, I am merely a newly appointed subject, and it is not appropriate for me to offer advice on such important military and national affairs."

Liu Huai, however, remained smiling and said, "This is a private conversation, Mr. Hu, please feel free to speak."

Knowing he couldn't escape this predicament, Hu Quan could only grit his teeth and say, "I am a pedantic scholar and know nothing of matters of state."

However, I understand one principle: whether it is a country or an individual, the fundamental principles of conduct must never be abandoned.

The foundation of the Han Dynasty lay in its northern expedition against the Jin invaders, rescuing the people from their suffering; this was the so-called expulsion of the Tartars and restoration of China.

Therefore, we must not abandon this fundamental principle; it is best not to attack the Song Dynasty before destroying the Jin Dynasty.

Liu Huai and Liang Su both burst out laughing.

After a slight embarrassment, Hu Quan simply smiled in response.

The main hall was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

To be fair, Hu Quan's statement was essentially advocating for the Song state. However, the fact that he made his point so logically and eloquently, it made him seem quite self-righteous.

After laughing, Liang Su said seriously, "Young Master, I have another explanation."

"Oh? Mr. Liang, do you perhaps have a better idea?"

"No, it is because a subject should plan comprehensively, so as not to let the monarch make a misjudgment."

"Young Master, it is true that Mr. Lu annihilated the main force of the Western Jin, and the gates of the Song Kingdom in the Huai River region were wide open. However, these two are different."

"Wanyan Liang brought very few Jurchen troops to Guanzhong. Every one that died was one less, and there was no way to replenish them."

Without these Jurchen troops, he was unable to suppress the Tanguts and Han Chinese. Even with a political balance, he could still instigate internal strife and easily cause internal chaos.

Conversely, if our army were to exert strong pressure, the Western Jin might actually unite as one.

"The State of Song is different..."

As he spoke, Liang Su glanced at Hu Quan: "Since the mid-Tang Dynasty, the manpower and resources of Jiangnan have been on par with those of the North. After the Song and Jin dynasties took turns wreaking havoc on the Central Plains, Hebei and Guanzhong, Jiangnan became the richest place in the world."

The decline of the Song Dynasty is not due to the inability of the south to resist the north, but rather to the lack of ambition of Emperor Zhao Gou and the local southern forces, who were only focused on separatism.

If a different emperor and a different prime minister were appointed, and they were to govern with diligence and effort, the situation might very well resemble that of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

After thinking for a moment, Liu Huai said, "Does Mr. Liang mean that we cannot rush into attacking Jin, nor can we delay attacking Song?"

Liang Su shook his head: "That's not what I meant. Now that we have almost all of Jin in our hands, how can Wanyan Liang resist if we launch a full-scale attack on Western Jin? He only has Guanzhong now, which is worse than the situation of Later Zhou. What trouble can he possibly cause?"
What I want to say is that the attack on Jin can be delayed, but the attack on Song cannot be delayed.

Liu Huai laughed: "I don't think that with the Song Dynasty's system, changing the prime minister will make it rise to power."

Liang Su bowed solemnly and said, "Wanyan Liang thought the same thing when he was on his southern expedition."

My lord, how many heroes are there in the world! The Jin dynasty has only supported the Jurchen people for less than a century, yet so many Jurchen heroes have died for him.

The State of Song had treated its scholars and officials well for over a century, yet at this critical juncture, it was strange that it failed to produce even one or two figures like Prime Minister Yu.

As a time traveler, Liu Huai naturally knew the history of the Song Dynasty. Although there were several Northern Expeditions afterward, they all ultimately failed due to various absurd reasons. The pro-peace faction... or rather, the separatist faction, had always held sway over the Song Dynasty's upper echelons.

There was even an incident where the Empress and her husband conspired to assassinate Han Tuozhou, the prime minister who advocated war, and then sent his head to the Jin state to sue for peace.

The separatist prime minister was Shi Miyuan, the son of Shi Hao, the current prime minister of the Song Dynasty.

Thinking about this, Liu Huai felt a strange sense of the unpredictability of life.

But it is obvious that Liu Huai had no way to explain to Liang Su. Could it be that he could predict the future and know five hundred years into the past and five hundred years into the future, and knew that the Song Dynasty would be utterly incompetent?

However, Liu Huai thought again that the failure of the Song state did not mean that the south was doomed, because Liang Su's talk of the large-scale development of Jiangnan since the mid-Tang Dynasty was indeed real.

After Zhu Yuanzhang unified the southern forces, didn't he successfully launch a northern expedition?
Of course, this is not entirely due to the founding team of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, after experiencing the "benevolent rule" of the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties, and especially after the massacre by the Mongols, the north was sparsely populated and almost desert, and the balance of power between the north and south had been unbalanced.

The North is not yet at that level.

After a moment's internal struggle, Liu Huai noticed that Hu Quan looked somewhat embarrassed and couldn't help but smile and say, "Mr. Hu endured humiliation and hardship to save the people from the ravages of war, so he is naturally a hero of the world."

After offering this awkward consolation, Liu Huai continued, "Mr. Liang, please go on. What preparations should be made for attacking the Western Jin and the Song Dynasty respectively?"

Hu Quan knew that the discussion would soon involve military matters, including military reforms and personnel appointments. Not wanting to remain in this awkward situation, he immediately stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I take my leave."

"Take care, Mr. Hu."

Hu Quan slowly walked out of the main hall and out of the palace that Wanyan Liang had built only ten years ago. Looking at the people coming and going on the street and listening to the northern accents filling his ears, he couldn't help but sigh.

The recovery of Youyan was naturally a great thing.

But why wasn't it the Song Dynasty that recovered it?
However, even with heroes like Yue Fei and Yu Yunwen reborn in the Song Dynasty, their abilities were ultimately insufficient, so who could they blame?
Hu Quan sighed again and stepped into the cold northern wind.

"As for military strategy and civil administration, those are simply too numerous and complex to even begin to discuss."

"It's alright. Today we're just discussing the general outline. We can't just have the two of us, the emperor and his minister, discuss it a few times and then decide on the major policies of the country."

Upon hearing this, Liang Su couldn't help but rub his forehead: "Young Master, I am now the Privy Councilor, also known as the Grand Chancellor of the Western Palace, and I am no longer the military advisor and general of the past. And since you are the Emperor, you are naturally no longer the military governor of the Jingnan Army of the past."

As the saying goes, a true king is selfless; our private discussion is already a serious matter.

Liu Huai pursed his lips and simply slumped into his chair: "Then please, Minister Liang, speak seriously about official business."

Liang Su was somewhat helpless at Liu Huai's lazy appearance: "First of all, the Youyan and Jin regions and Liaodong need to be transformed into garrison towns, and soldiers need to be recruited again, and officers need to be selected according to their merits. This matter will definitely not be completed without two years of hard work."

"Take it one step at a time, don't try to get fat in one bite."

"That's what I think too. Let's get a few places organized first. Let's start with Yanjing, Liaoyang, Taiyuan, and Zhengding to establish new armies." Liang Su mentioned several places in one breath, hesitated for a moment, and then continued, "Young Master, the combat strength of these new armies is definitely not good. You will have to lead them in a few battles before they can be fully formed."

"Does Lord Liang mean that we should use them if we attack Xijin?"

"That's right. Of course, the Imperial Guards will still have to go into battle."

"Mr. Liang, please refer to them as the Jingnan Army. It's really hard to change that term right now."

After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, there were simply too many major military and political affairs to deal with, and this makeshift team was quite overwhelmed.

Liu Huai's ascension to the throne is one thing, but to expect that simply by ascending the throne, a system could be established, the interests of all parties could be straightened out, and military and political officials could all return to their proper positions is truly wishful thinking.

Military reform was a top priority, and the first step was to change all the military bugles that had strong historical and geographical connotations.

Now that the Eastern Jin Dynasty is finished and the Western Jin Dynasty is barely surviving, the military titles passed down from the Jin Dynasty, such as the Wucheng Army and the Chenzhou Army, are somewhat out of place.

For example, the Imperial Guard that Liang Su just mentioned is, to put it bluntly, a central army built on the framework of the Jingnan Army. However, this army is still in the stage of establishing a new Yellow Paper document.

Liang Su nodded: "If we are to attack the Song Dynasty, we will need to rely mainly on troops from the Central Plains and Shandong. Of course, the Jingnan Army is also indispensable."

"This is actually a dilemma. Attacking the Song Dynasty requires a well-trained garrison army, while attacking the Western Jin requires a large number of new troops with varying combat capabilities."

"But if we can take Guanzhong and then capture Nanyang, our army can enter Sichuan from Guanzhong, attack Xiangfan from Nanyang, attack Lianghuai from Shandong, and the navy can sail directly to Lin'an... uh..."

Liang Su's expression turned somewhat strange as he spoke.

Liu Huai, however, wore a mocking expression: "Lord Liang, when Wanyan Liang launched his southern expedition, was it you who gave him the idea?"

Liang Su's expression became even more strange: "Back then, I was just a minor official... I can only say that strategies are all interconnected... I guess."

In the end, Liang Su couldn't help but chuckle.

(End of this chapter)