Chapter 684 Pilot
Chapter 684 Pilot
The banquet did not end until midnight.
Shao Xun controlled the amount he drank and was only a little tipsy, as he had something to discuss with Wang Yan later.
When he was led by his servant to a quiet courtyard, he saw a beautiful figure. His steps immediately became unsteady and he looked much drunker.
"Bang!" He took off his shoes with difficulty and then sat down on the couch.
Wang Huifeng stood at the door, watching him quietly. After a long while, he saw him accidentally knock over the inkstone, then he walked over leisurely and took away the yellow paper with words written on it.
Shao Xun grabbed Wang Huifeng's hand.
Wang Huifeng trembled, feeling a little unhappy, and tried to pull his hand away.
"After months of fighting, sleeping in the open air, we are one step closer to a bright and peaceful world. Huifeng, how long do you think it will take for peace to return to this world?" Shao Xun said with a big tongue.
Wang Huifeng stopped pulling his hand away.
After taking Shangdang and Hanoi, the soft belly of the Xiongnu was completely exposed. There was also a huge gap in national strength between the two countries. Perhaps peace would soon be restored?
If things were peaceful, perhaps there wouldn’t be so many tragedies of cannibalism.
Helpless old people, frail women, and ignorant children do not have to become someone else’s food.
Now that there is peace, there are no longer so many thieves and bandits in the area.
Merchants can travel north and south, and students can travel around the mountains and rivers.
There are so many benefits of peace.
She looked at Shao Xun, sighed, and decided to just consider it as a reward for him.
When Shao Xun felt that he no longer had the strength to pull his hands back, he gently pulled Wang Huifeng into a hug.
Wang Huifeng looked at him in surprise and didn't react for a moment.
Shao Xun's eyes seemed to be out of focus. He just looked at Wang Huifeng and said, "You have to correct me all the time, correct me all the time..."
"Sometimes I can't help but kill people... There are too many greedy scholars, fierce and cruel barbarians, and students who can't be taught no matter how hard you try.
"The soldiers are burning, killing and looting, and they continue despite repeated prohibitions. Sometimes... sometimes I wonder if I should just let it go. They abandon their homes and careers to fight for me, for what? You have to correct me..."
"The more people I kill, the less it matters. I can see the heads smiling at me. Zhang Fang must have walked this way as well..."
Wang Huifeng was just feeling a surge of shame and anger in his heart, but when he heard these words, he immediately stopped struggling.
Shao Xun hugged her very tightly, and seemed to be holding her more and more tightly.
She was at a loss, with all kinds of emotions intertwined in her mind.
The vows he had made, the implicit hints from his parents, his past with Mr. Liang, and even some of the things his sister had mentioned, made his mind nearly explode and his emotions became turbulent.
"Bang!" Shao Xun let go of his hand and fell directly on the couch. He seemed to be drunk and fell asleep.
Wang Huifeng breathed a sigh of relief.
There was a struggle between conscience and desire in my mind just now, and I almost hardened my heart, woke up Mr. Liang, and then rejected him with a cold face.
Now is the perfect time, she doesn't need to take the initiative to tear her face off. Although she is unwilling to admit it, she still misses the tacit understanding between her and Liang Gong.
She made suggestions, and he gladly accepted them.
As soon as she started a conversation, he could guess what she would say next.
She was happy because she had done something for the people of the world.
Mr. Liang's brows were tightly furrowed, as if he still had unresolved sorrow even in his sleep.
Wang Huifeng stretched out her hand and gently stroked it with her slender fingers.
Mr. Liang's frown gradually relaxed and his complexion looked much better.
Wang Huifeng smiled slightly and just looked at the person in front of him quietly.
Now you are really honest.
Who would have thought that a warrior who could ride a horse and a spear in front of tens of thousands of warriors would look like this when he was quiet?
Wang Huifeng sat on the couch, gently supporting his chin, his eyes fixed on Shao Xun's face.
Shao Xun's tightly closed eyes occasionally trembled slightly.
I didn't master the posture when I fell down just now, and after a long time, I felt a little uncomfortable. Just when I was thinking about whether I should adjust it, Wang Yan came.
"Hey, Lord Liang is drunk?" Wang Yan asked in surprise.
"Did you drink a lot?" Wang Huifeng looked at his father and asked.
Wang Yan glanced at Shao Xun, then looked at the wrinkles on his daughter's dress, and sighed, "We are so happy after a great victory that we can't help but drink a few more cups."
After saying this, he called the servant and told him to prepare some sobering soup immediately.
"The world is not yet settled, so Lord Liang is indispensable. Don't drink too much in the future." Wang Huifeng stood up, walked to Wang Yan, took out a blanket, covered Shao Xun with it, and said.
Wang Yan was just about to cover his legs with a blanket when he saw this and became furious. He thought to himself, "Quanzhong, I wonder how long you can keep pretending!"
"What did you talk about at the banquet just now?" Wang Huifeng sat naturally next to Shao Xun, smoothed her hair, and asked.
Wang Yan glanced at Shao Xun quietly and said, "Most of them are related to the enemy."
Wang Huifeng hummed. She was not very interested in these because they were not what she was good at.
"I have some old connections in Taiyuan. Your mother also has many relatives still alive." Wang Yan added, "I have appointed Wen Taizhen as the military advisor. Why do you think she is? She just married Wang, and it is the time for her to serve. The Wen family in Taiyuan is not completely ruined. The Guo family also has many followers, and they will be helpful in the future."
Wang Huifeng was a little surprised. Her father was not such a talkative person before, but she did not think too much about it. She just said, "This way, Mr. Liang can relax a little. He is too tired and has to bear everything."
Wang Yan didn't know what to say for a moment and could only snort. The daughter he raised said that Quanzhong was tired. Am I not tired as your grandfather?
But on second thought, his daughter's words are more effective than ten of his. Did that bastard Quanzhong hear it?
The servant quickly came over with the sobering soup.
Wang Yan gestured.
Wang Huifeng lowered his head and called softly, "Mr. Liang." Shao Xun was unmoved at first, until he was pushed, then he suddenly woke up and subconsciously reached for his waist.
After a while, he relaxed and said awkwardly, "I was drunk and fell asleep."
Wang Yan coughed, lowered his head, and didn't want to look at this guy.
"Mingsir, please wake up." Wang Huifeng advised.
Shao Xun glanced at her and said with a smile: "I'll listen to you."
After saying that, he picked up the bowl and drank slowly.
Wang Huifeng turned his face away, his ears a little red.
She felt that she had been molested more times that night than all the time before.
But she was somewhat happy in her heart because he listened to her.
After drinking the sobering soup, the servant wiped the table and took the bowl away.
Wang Yan stood up and handed a stack of yellow paper to Shao Xun, saying, "According to your wishes, I have roughly drawn up a set of rules."
Shao Xun nodded, took it and started reading.
Wang Yan returned to his seat and said softly, "Over the past decade or so, the status of civil and military officials has gradually changed, and many scholars are uneasy. Are you really going to do this?"
Shao Xun took a quick look and said, "What do you think, Commander?"
Wang Yan still had some vision. He saw the reversal of the situation between civil and military affairs in the past decade or so - in fact, there were signs of it more than 20 years ago.
Few of the gentry were engaged in military service, and most were civil servants. However, civil servants were not necessarily unable to control the army. In a gentry society, this was not a difficult task.
But in the past twenty years, as the national situation has deteriorated, the scholars have gradually lost control of the military power, and the military men have begun to slowly seize power.
It is a bit similar to the situation in the Eastern Jin Dynasty in history. The Jingkou military group rose rapidly and gradually gained the right to speak in the military. But controlling the army does not necessarily mean that you can dominate the country. In the end, the two sides fought for a long time, and the civil side was always better than the military side. Until Liu Yu came out of nowhere and used his irrefutable military exploits to shut up the scholars and force them to submit to him.
But even though they surrendered, the power of the aristocratic families remained.
Liu Yu wanted to win them over and make them serve his new dynasty, because it was impossible to govern such a large country without the cooperation of the aristocratic families. Military force can only conquer the world, not rule it.
On the side of the nobles, they couldn't push Liu Yu too hard. What if he gave up and used force to slaughter your entire family? In the end, it was nothing more than a compromise.
Wang Yan actually mentioned this matter. He said, "Your Excellency must pay attention to the 'harmony between civil and military'. Your Excellency relied on military men to get started, but what will happen if the military men rise too fast and develop to the extreme?"
"It will become Wei Bo's military election system, with the Jiedushi being elected by the guards." Shao Xun secretly complained in his heart.
Of course, this is nonsense. Social trends don’t change that fast, and there is no social foundation. The soft and hard conditions don’t match, so it won’t come to that.
"The existence of the gentry has both advantages and disadvantages." Wang Yan continued, "In worldly affairs, moderation is important, and checks and balances are even more important. If the gentry exists, they can check the warriors, and if the warriors exist, they can check the gentry."
"What the commander said is really insightful," Shao Xun praised.
When playing politics, you have to pay attention to balance.
Even if you completely eradicate the gentry and expel them from the political circle, you must still strike a good balance among the groups representing the interests of all parties in your new political group, otherwise something serious will happen.
The gentry is now dominant, a chronic problem since the end of the Han Dynasty, so something went wrong. Introducing new military honor groups to balance the power of the gentry will produce a catfish effect, speeding up the metabolism of the gentry and making them less stagnant, which is beneficial to the country as a whole.
Perhaps after the rise of the warriors, they would marry into the noble families, but after the marriage, they would still represent the interests of the warriors because they had the system in place. A political group is not judged by where you came from, but by where you sit and whose interests you represent.
At present, it is impossible to eradicate the gentry.
In history, the Northern and Southern Dynasties lasted for 300 years, but only severely weakened them. If you want to completely eradicate them in just a few decades, that is pure dreaming.
It would be good if we could achieve a certain degree of restriction and balance, and this is what Wang Yan mentioned as "harmony between civil and military affairs."
Shao Xun looked at the paper in his hand again.
Generally speaking, according to his opinion, victory in war was divided into three categories: "superior gains", "middle gains" and "minor gains".
The conditions before the battle begins are also subdivided, such as using the few to defeat the many is called "going into battle", equal strength and equipment is called "middle battle", and using the many to defeat the few is called "going into battle".
In the final judgment, the comparison of strength before the battle and the results of the battle are comprehensively considered to determine the "turn".
For example, "going into battle" (defeating the larger force with the smaller force) and "capturing and killing more than 40% of the enemy troops" count as five levels of merit.
"Going into battle" and "winning the battle" count as four levels of merit.
And so on.
If one gets twelve promotions in the Cexun category, he can become a second-rank official. It does not necessarily mean he actually holds an official position, but the level of remuneration is reached anyway.
If you can't use all the money yourself, you can give it to your children, nephews and relatives.
It takes ten turns to defeat a larger force with a smaller one twice and capture and kill more than 40% of the enemy troops, which is actually not easy to do.
Especially in battles between regular countries, the gap in combat power between the two sides is not that big, so it becomes very difficult at this time.
But it is still a way left for warriors.
If ordinary people are lucky enough, they can accumulate merits continuously and eventually gain an official position.
This is a powerful weapon, and Wang Yan is very worried, so he is still advising against it.
"What do you think will happen if this method is used, Commander?" Shao Xun thought for a moment and asked.
Wang Yan was silent for a long time, and then said, "Your Excellency may wish to try it out in one army. In this way, the backlash will be smaller."
This is the pilot!
"Okay, let's try one of the underworld soldiers." Shao Xun slapped his thigh and said.
(End of this chapter)