Since the Accounting: A Chronicle of the Roman Khanate

Chapter 593 Different Ways of Enlightenment

After discussing various publicity matters, Guo Kang took the two of them to the Ministry of War's building and waited for the meeting to begin.

This kind of meeting is actually quite boring. Although Guo Kang himself has read the later versions of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms more than once, even so, it would definitely be much more interesting to listen to Luo Guanzhong's story again.

However, Luo Guanzhong told him that although there were some versions of Zhuge Liang's expedition against the southern barbarians, none of them were particularly exciting, and there were not many historical records.

He estimated that this was because the real "heart-and-mind" battle was not about a few tense and dramatic battles, but about a series of policy formulation and implementation work - just like the current meeting. If you say it is important, then it must be very important. However, the audience was not an official from the Ministry of War, and they were not there to listen to reports. They certainly did not like this kind of literal story.

So, he is a bit stuck in the rhythm now, and doesn't know how to write these parts better. It just so happens that the story of Guan Gong has just ended, and most of the audience are generally in a rather...excited mood. It's a good time to hide away, organize the manuscript, and wait for everyone to calm down before continuing.

Guo Kang thought about it carefully and found that the situation seemed to be indeed like this.

Many of the stories about the Three Kingdoms that have been passed down through the generations have nothing to do with the Three Kingdoms itself, but are merely the result of artistic creation by later generations. Moreover, if we look at the history of that time, we will find that Zhuge Liang's case seems to be a special case.

Most of the time, the imperial court still adopted a military offensive approach to the southwest. Moreover, compared with the north, the strength of this place has always been different. Until now, the Ming Dynasty seems to be facing this situation. This may also lead to the court becoming more "relaxed" when using military means.

A more famous example of a setback was when the Tang Dynasty fought against Nanzhao, losing a lot of troops, but those were not actually the main force. Later, the local forces led by Nanzhao were precisely wiped out by the Tang army.

During the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang, Tubo and Nanzhao joined forces to attack Shu, which was difficult for the locals to resist. The Tang Dynasty then managed to mobilize the main frontier troops from the north, gathered 4,000 imperial guards, and 5,000 soldiers from Longyou and Fanyang, and marched to the southwest. Although the number was far less than that of the other side, and it was not as good as the number of the expedition to Nanzhao during the Xuanzong era, these people had high combat effectiveness. They defeated the enemy all the way and beheaded thousands of people. Tubo and Nanzhao fled all the way, and as many as 80,000 to 90,000 people died. The Tang army chased all the way south to the Dadu River, and the Fanyang soldiers chased the Tubo people all the way to the edge of the plateau. This attack was disintegrated, and Nanzhao and Tubo began to doubt each other, leading to the breakdown of the alliance.

During the Xiantong reign of Emperor Yizong of the Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao captured Jiaozhou twice, which attracted the attention of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the Tang Dynasty once again dispatched troops from various towns in the north to participate in the war under the command of Gao Pian. Gao Pian's troops were not many, and they were selected from Fengxiang and Shannan Town, about 5,000 to 7,000. The war process was not very artistic.

Basically, when the Nanzhao army came to intercept, they killed the Nanzhao soldiers; when the Jiaozhou barbarians came to intercept, they killed all the rebellious natives; when the Linyi reinforcements came to intercept, they killed all the Linyi soldiers; when the reinforcements and food were seized by the military supervisors, they killed all the enemies on the opposite side and took their food and continued to fight. In this way, a few thousand people beheaded 30,000 people, fought from the north to the south of Jiaozhou, and pacified the local situation.

Nanzhao refused to accept the defeat and turned to attack Xichuan, but the situation was exactly the same. The Tang Dynasty sent soldiers from Boye, Zhongwu and other towns to the south. The Boye Army was between Lulong and Chengde, and the Zhongwu Army was the famous Xuzhou and Caizhou areas. When these people arrived in the southwest, they dared to fight against tens of thousands of people with only two or three thousand people. They used the natives as military merits and wiped out the Nanzhao soldiers and the chieftains who were dependent on Nanzhao. More than fifty chieftains were captured and killed. Nanzhao wanted to marry a princess, and the court killed all the envoys of the marriage at the request of Gao Pian. In the end, they could no longer fight against Nanzhao and had to end the war.

The locals in Shuzhong would also suddenly burst into fighting spirit. The Nanzhao army once approached Chengdu, and the city's defenders urgently prepared to resist, but the locals lacked elite armed forces to serve as the backbone.

In response to this, the government's countermeasure was not to intensify training or expect reinforcements, but to increase recruitment and wait for those who could fight to come. As a result, 3,000 elite soldiers really emerged, known as "Tujiang". The Nanzhao army repeatedly concentrated its forces to attack, but was defeated by Tujiang, who was even able to go out of the city to counterattack. "Zizhi Tongjian" even commented sharply that the people in Shu have always been cowardly, but Tujiang was brave and good at fighting, unlike the locals. It makes people feel that as long as you pay more money, the elite can be refreshed automatically...

These guards and commanders offered high prices, and they liked to use knives to talk when they were dissatisfied. In the southwest, they also created a large number of mutinies. But these people were really good at fighting. When they arrived in the southwest, it felt like they were not even a roommate. Their fighting power was far beyond the able-bodied men that Yang Guozhong had recruited back then. Under the continuous attacks of the Tang Dynasty, Nanzhao was also in turmoil due to repeated failures and huge losses. The authority of the king was increasingly questioned, and was eventually destroyed by powerful officials. The next long-term stable Dali Kingdom was already like the Song Dynasty, with little ambition and only seeking coexistence.

From this perspective, if you want to make people honest, besides slowly teaching them the truth, it is also useful to let the guards do the talking. In comparison, there are very few people at Zhuge Liang's level, but people who can fight are always available for a little extra money. Therefore, the probability of physical persuasion is definitely much higher than that of psychological warfare.

From the other side's perspective, although Prime Minister Zhuge also mobilized troops to attack people and forced all departments to follow his rules, he was really doing it for the good of everyone. If you insist on fighting, who knows who will come next.

Because the warriors in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, although domineering, were generally dispatched by the court, and were relatively restrained in many cases. After the collapse of the Tang Dynasty, order became increasingly corrupt, and the soldiers became more barbaric and cruel. During the Five Dynasties, Nanzhao's successor, the Dachanghe regime, attacked Shu again. Wang Jian, who was separatist in Shu at the time, was the subordinate of Qin Zongquan of Caizhou. Faced with a large group of invaders, Wang Jian's soldiers were not afraid, but "wanted to swallow them, captured them and ate them, and did not regard them as enemies." This situation is actually not good for both sides. It's a pity that among the various forces in the Central Plains, there are always people who don't realize this situation, which leads to the old prime minister not cherishing him when he comes, and finally he can only play "maze rice" with the old soldier. It's really a pity...

However, Guo Kang did not intend to take the initiative to remind Luo Guanzhong about his creation, or tell him about the future Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

Luo Guanzhong himself is very talented, and he has already sorted out a lot of content, so he can definitely write it. Moreover, many of the plots of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms in history were transplanted from the Yuan and Ming dynasties based on his experience and understanding. Although this part is fictional, it is also very exciting.

Guo Kang's current situation and reputation did not require him to register a literary work or give advice to ancient writers to increase his reputation. If he really wanted to create, the church would be eager for him to write some scriptures. Compared with these false names, he was more interested in interesting original works.

Many things have changed in this world, and Luo Guanzhong's creations will probably change as well. Let him think about it slowly, and there will definitely be more interesting new content. It will be much more valuable than Guo Kang's suggestion.

Of course, this has also led to a lack of entertainment activities in the city recently.

After the previous chaos ended, the two most famous racing drivers in Dadu were arrested by the government for being involved in the "Third Song" incident. Since Zhao Liang had helped the court before and had made contributions, the court did not pursue the matter and just exiled them to Novgorod.

However, after the two officials went north, the racing in the Grand Arena became much more boring. The audience lamented that they had experienced the past and now the racing was boring, and they complained all day long.

As it happened, the theater troupes in the city had almost stopped performing, either because of the turmoil or because they were involved in illegal business. Even the most famous storytellers had skillfully hidden themselves away. The citizens had lost most of their entertainment and immediately became restless. In normal times, there would have been several large-scale fights, and everyone would have taken the opportunity to rob people to relieve their mood.

However, the city had just experienced unrest recently, and now the city was under strict control. Even the soldiers patrolling the city had been replaced, and now they were in full force. There were soldiers patrolling everywhere day and night, so no one dared to cause trouble. The idle citizens were quite unhappy, but they could only hold it in for the time being.

Of course, not only the common people, but also the officials at all levels, and even Guo Kang himself, have not had an easy time recently. The Ministry of War is now very cautious in everything it does, and must strictly abide by procedures and arrange everything properly. Some previous documents have also been retrieved, re-checked, and approved one by one.

The reason for this was actually caused by Guo Kang.

Of all the things he had done in the city before, the ones that had the greatest impact and the most serious consequences were not the fights with those nobles, chambers of commerce, or gangs, but the problems of false reporting of military merits and fake duty that he had inadvertently uncovered in the process of pursuing accountability.

In the capital, everyone was talking about the events of that night with great relish, and the gossipers were analyzing all day long which forces were directly fighting and what the outcome would be. But for the entire country, more people were paying attention to the latter.

The scandal of the Night's Watch has caused an uproar throughout the country. Some people have impersonated military personnel, had others serve in the army on their behalf, or even made up records of serving abroad, or even claimed credit for others... These are extremely sensitive issues. Several noble families have started fighting, and everyone can still say that this is an internal problem among the masters, as long as it does not affect others. But this kind of thing has seriously exceeded the bottom line of what the army can tolerate.

The most dissatisfied were the war groups in the border areas. In their opinion, they fought the barbarians all day long, while the Greeks in the capital could get military merits just by sitting at home. Moreover, who dared to say that the merits they claimed were not originally related to them?
Therefore, as soon as the news got out, the legionnaires who had just completed their rotation in the northwest border were the first to make a fuss. Many veterans began to doubt whether their military records would also be affected. The court urgently sent people to explain and appease them, promising to speed up and deal with the matter more severely, and only then did the situation calm down temporarily. Therefore, the previous sentence on those involved was so severe.

However, this also caused everyone's work pressure to increase a lot. As a result, Guo Kang and his team had to prepare more documents and procedures. At present, there was nothing they could do.

(End of this chapter)