"With all due respect," Ma Kuo also quickly became serious again. "It's best not to give any good weapons to officials, not even crossbows, big axes, or armor. Used leather armor and ordinary swords are best."

…”

"Afraid of being intercepted midway by the Jurchens?"

"yes."

"Thank you for your hard work." Zhao Jiu sighed with emotion. "It's really difficult behind enemy lines."

Ma Kuo didn't feel self-effacing or anything, he just sighed from the audience.

So far, he had asked Ma Kuo about his own situation. After a while, Zhao Jiu cheered up again, but did not speak directly. He just glanced at the people who were accompanying him. At that time, there were at least three or four people together.

I understand, but Ren Baozhong, who has white hair and beard, is the fastest.

I saw this man take a step forward, and immediately offered his hand to Ma Kuan: "Mr. Ma, I am a loyal person at the gate of the official pavilion. I am accompanying you as the military counselor. I have something to ask the manager. As soon as the manager came ashore, he told the officials that it was not appropriate at this time.

Northern Expedition... Then dare I ask the General Manager, when can I start the Northern Expedition? The General Manager must have a plan in mind."

"That's right." Lu Benzhong, a direct academician, also became serious. "General Manager Ma is really hard working in the north, but he may not know that the official family is also extremely difficult in the south. There are always people who want to abandon the two rivers for the sake of peace, and they force the official family to abandon them every now and then.

There are quite a few people gathered in the south, relying on the Taoist Academy to coordinate things, and there is a vague tendency to form cliques, so we must be on guard... If the Northern Expedition is not allowed here for a long time, I am afraid it will be difficult for the hearts of the people in the south to gather together."

Ma Kuo frowned slightly, obviously unable to digest properly for the moment.

At this time, Liu Hongdao, the Minister of War and the Water Supervisor of the capital, for some reason, suddenly stepped forward and became serious: "Actually, there are difficulties in discussing military matters in the south. In recent years, in order to recover the Central Plains and pacify Guanxi, it is also necessary to support the people.

There are 200,000 imperial troops, the taxes in the south have always been extremely heavy, and the people have many complaints..."

"But the people of the two rivers are in a state of fire and water?" Ma Kuo was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly stood up to defend. "Do we need to say more about the cruelty of the Jurchens? In the past, when the Eight-Character Army just left, we came from Bei Taihang

After the collapse, the old rule of 30,000 was restored within half a year. It can be seen that the people of the two rivers were tortured. Meng Anmouke was placed in the two rivers, seized the land, and forced the Han people into slavery. These have been said a thousand times. What's more?

I'm afraid everyone in the central committee will feel bored... But Liu Shilang, do you know that the Jurchens still have an order to shave their hair? It is to force the people to shave their hair like theirs."

Liu Hongdao was caught off guard.

"Although this order is gradually loosened, it is because the people do not resist every day, and it is because the officials won the victory in Yaoshan that it gradually became like this! When encountering a violent person, you still have to do this... Last year in Shizhou,

There was a Han official who won the Jinshi title of Marshal Nianhan and became the county magistrate. He first shaved his own head, and then stood in the street and asked the people on the street not to let their hair cross his hair, otherwise they would be beheaded... Liu Shilang

, No matter how hard the people in the south of the Yangtze River are working, how does it compare to the people in the two rivers? How can you use these words to prevaricate the Northern Expedition?!" Ma Kuo scolded continuously, and he was very emotional, as if he was a little stimulated again.

When he was angry, not to mention that Zhao Guan's family was a little angry, Ren Baozhong and Lu Benzhong also disliked Liu Hongdao for ruining the situation... Especially Ren Baozhong, who didn't say anything, but was secretly worried about the hair issue, for fear that Zhao Guan's family would notice.

After this incident, he began to hate himself...but he hated Liu Hongdao for being too talkative.

As for Liu Hongdao, after being stunned for a moment, he was also a little angry: "Manager Ma! Where did I say a word about not allowing the Northern Expedition? Why did you, on the other hand, persuade the officials not to do the Northern Expedition as soon as you landed?"

When Ma Kuo heard this, he immediately lost his composure, and his eyes were red for a moment: "It is precisely because I am worried every day, looking forward to Wang Shi going north, that I worry about gains and losses, for fear that if I make a mistake, the story of Yanyun will happen again! Liu Shilang, are you going to be demoted?

Is it appropriate and reasonable to try my best to flatter you and many other high officials, but not to speak for the people of Lianghe?"

Liu Hongdao was completely embarrassed and lost his voice.

"Ma Qing doesn't need to pay attention to them." Seeing that the situation was out of control, Zhao Jiu could only speak in person again. "Everything is up to me... They originally wanted to ask you about the reality of the north! For example, how many soldiers do the Jurchens have?!

"

Ma Kuo forcibly calmed down his emotions, turned around and gave his hand to the officials: "Reporting to the officials, I don't know the total number of Jurchen soldiers and horses currently... but I can roughly calculate it."

"How to calculate?"

"In Jingkang, when the Jurchens were in their heyday, the total number of soldiers and horses was very simple." Ma Kuo responded sternly. "The two armies in the east and west each had 100,000 households and 100 men. But at that time, each men's army had 100 men.

There were no additional troops, so each Meng'an had about five or six soldiers and five or six hundred cavalry. In other words, at that time, the east and west armies each numbered 60,000! This is the foundation of the Jurchens' country!"

Zhao Jiu nodded slowly.

"At the same time, there is also the ever-victorious army gained on the way to destroy the Liao Dynasty." Ma Kuo continued to explain properly. "It doesn't matter how many soldiers the ever-victorious army has at the beginning, but Guo Pharmacist was capricious and took them away when he rebelled against the Song Dynasty.

It is said that there are 50,000 people. However, I estimate that there should actually be more than 40,000 people... However, because the Ever Victorious Army has a lot of contact with the Jurchens and most of them are from Liaodong, they are not afraid of the Jurchens in their hearts.

They were capricious, so they were feared. So after Medicine Master Guo surrendered, the Jurchens worked together to imprison the generals for several years, trap and kill the officers, and basically cleaned up the generals of the Ever Victorious Army. Some of them even resisted because of the resistance of some generals.

, simply led the troops and killed seven or eight thousand people in a trap. In the end, there were about twenty or thirty thousand people left, as if their bones had been ripped out, but they were scattered directly, and more of them were used as supplementary soldiers for each fierce security force.

.”

At this point, Ma Kuo paused for a moment and came to the conclusion: "In other words, the victorious army is counted as 30,000 people, and all of them were captured by the Jurchens. However, this army has been completely annexed by the Jurchens, and it is a full force."

There are no organized independent military units."

When Zhao Jiu heard this, he nodded and couldn't help but glance at Liu Yan, who was standing solemnly on one side, and Liu Yan also looked obviously sad.

"In addition to the ever-victorious army, there are also 50,000 victorious troops." Ma Kuo did not notice Zhao Guan's little move, but continued to explain seriously. "The Yi-victorious army was the former Jingkang army. After the Song Dynasty won the ever-victorious army, in order to suppress Guo Guan

Pharmacists, soldiers and horses specially recruited from the Han people in the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, were treated better than the Forbidden Army... It was just that the Han people in Yanyun had always been dissatisfied with the Song Dynasty. As a result, after the soldiers and horses were lined up, the Jurchens went south, with an army of 50,000 Yisheng troops.

The whole thing was surrendered, and the Jurchens also stored it properly and used it directly."

This time, Zhao Jiu didn't react at all.

"In addition to the ever-victorious army and the righteous victorious army, there are also soldiers surrendered from Taiyuan and soldiers surrendered from Hebei. Adding these together, I dare to say that the Jurchens have 200,000 households. Calculated by Meng'an's plan to defeat them, there are only 120,000.

, but in fact, including the surrender of these Han'er troops who assisted in the battle, it was definitely more than 200,000 after the full force! In addition, the surrender of the Liao Kingdom outside the Great Wall at that time could not have been lost in vain.

When Wanyanwu begged to buy and release Nianhan and Helibu led the east and west armies to go south, it was impossible that there would be some countries outside the Great Wall. Therefore, I am presumptuous to respond. When the Jurchens were in their prime, there were less than 300,000

There must be a crowd." After Ma Kuo said this, he paused for a moment and looked up at Zhao Guan's house.

Before Zhao Guanjia could say anything, Lu Benzhong was a little puzzled: "But three hundred thousand was only when the Jurchens were in their heyday. In the six or seven years since then, whenever the Jurchens mobilized troops, they only used 20 troops on the east and west routes south of Yanyun.

It’s just ten thousand households…even if there are troops and horses in the rear, they should have been abandoned long ago, right?”

Ma Kuo was furious for a moment.

Zhao Jiu saw that the situation was not good at this time and finally nodded: "Manager Ma is afraid of people like you. He just wants to warn the court not to only focus on the 200,000 households on the east and west roads, but to be clear about one thing.

That is, once we cross the river to make an expedition to the north and change the offensive and defensive situation, we will no longer face the 200,000 households that we are already familiar with. Those subordinates of the Marching Department who have been scattered outside the pass for five or six years and have not fought for five or six years can still be summoned.

…If you anticipate your enemies, you should be lenient.”

"That's what I mean." Ma Kuang took a long breath.

"But Ma Qing, of course I understand what you mean..." Zhao Jiu responded solemnly. "Raising 300,000 soldiers and raising 200,000 soldiers are not the same thing at all, right?! Not to mention crossing the river, do you have to do it all in one go?

Crossing? No rear guard left? And the Northern Expedition of 300,000 troops, not to mention post-war appeasement, or even rewards, just how much money and food should be prepared for the 300,000 troops to spend half a year?"

When the civil and military officials around him heard this, they were all horrified.

"Guan family! We need 300,000 troops to cross the river and go to the north!" Ma Kuo gritted his teeth. "However, it is not necessary for the government family to raise a total of 300,000 imperial troops. We can count on 20,000 in the Taihang Mountains. In addition, it is feasible."

…”

The more Ma Kuo talked about it, the more excited he became, and the more excited he got, the more difficult it was. In the end, he was unable to speak for a moment.

"We can also invite the Khitans and Mongols to help... As long as they can contain one or two, it will count?" Zhao Jiu seemed to have read through the other party's mind and asked tentatively.

"Yes." Ma Kuo's words seemed a little weak. It was obvious that the stimulation given to him by the Maritime Alliance that day was still there.

"Guanjia." Ren Baozhong plucked up the courage and stood up at the right time. "I take the liberty of saying that, if you say so, the party soldiers can also endure hard fighting... The officials don't have to recruit and maintain them all the time. They can wait until they are needed and temporarily send them from Ningxia Road."

Recruit tens of thousands of people, and every single member of the family will be exempted from taxes for ten years! Once these party soldiers cross the Yellow River, have no way to retreat, and have to consider the clan, they will definitely fight to the death.

"

Zhao Jiu was startled for a moment, then nodded slightly, as if he was moved.

"But the officials!" Ma Kuofu said again. "Even so, we still have to ensure that the number of soldiers and horses is real."

Zhao Jiu was startled again, then nodded again.

Then, when there was silence in the tent, Zhao Jiu, who was the first to come back to his senses, asked again: "I said before that you should recharge your batteries to wait for the right time... To recharge your batteries, that is to say

Reserve 300,000 troops, and store 300,000 troops for logistical needs... What time of day? When was it? Was it the time when the restructuring of Wanyan Wushu triggered civil strife?"

Ma Kuo once again looked at the official carefully, and then bowed his head and responded sincerely: "In the officialdom, when great powers are fighting, it is inappropriate to rely on the enemy's internal strife... However, the Jurchens themselves are tribesmen and wild people, and they are blessed by nature.

Fortunately, destroying a country and swallowing up two rivers in twenty years can be said to have expanded to the extreme. No matter how Wanyan Wushu is modified, it cannot escape from the top-down abolition of the old Jurchen system and the implementation of Han royal laws... This kind of reform

, it is difficult to reform the civilized and military, it is easy to reform at the top, but it is difficult to reform at the bottom. If the Bojilie system is abolished, the king of the country will be killed and imprisoned. What about ten thousand households? If you don't reform ten thousand households, go directly to Meng'anmou.

Ke, is it possible? Therefore, if the officials can really recharge their batteries, the so-called timing has already begun when Wu Shu begins to touch thousands of households, so there is no need to wait for it!"

Zhao Jiu nodded slowly.

So far, the two of them have spoken properly. Next, it is natural for Zhao Guanjia to say some more polite words and perform some kind of monarch-minister posture.

But who would have expected, just when Zhao Guanjia was about to say something, Ma Kuo suddenly took a few steps back, knelt down solemnly in the somewhat messy navy hall, and then paid homage.

However, Zhao Jiu and others were caught off guard for a moment.

"I will accept your request." Zhao Jiu stood up immediately.

"There is no invitation. I will return to Hebei. I don't know when I will see you again. This is how I should treat you." Ma Kuo bowed his head in response, without any of the previous eagerness or anxiety.

But Zhao Jiu was in a panic: "We have been separated for several years, and we have worked hard for more than a month to get here. How can we come back in one day? I have already prepared a house as a reward for you in Tokyo."

Ma Kuo raised his head and felt relieved: "The officials love me so much. But I came here in a hurry, and I was only worried about the officials... I was worried that the people in power in the central government were frivolous, ignorant of the hardships of everything, and neglecting the overall situation. I saw you today, but I didn't expect it.

The officials have long been aware of the overall situation, and the officials are in charge of the overall situation and understand that everything is difficult, so why should I stay longer? It is better to return to Hebei as soon as possible to protect people's hearts."

After saying that, Ma Kuo bowed and bowed again, and actually walked out directly.
Chapter completed!