Pull the timeline back to a year ago.

That is to say, when the navy suffered heavy losses, no matter how much the surviving generals who led the troops to sea did not want to spread the news, the relevant news was quickly transmitted back to the capital, once again causing controversy in the court, and officials were quarreling.

Some people think this is a shame and must be beaten back.

Some people think it is bad luck and not a crime of war.

Some people think that we need to slow down and practice more naval forces. Otherwise, even if a naval force of this level really comes to the border of the daughter country, it is estimated that it will be difficult to win this war.

Some people think that there is no need to lose the lives of the soldiers in vain. The worst thing is to build a city near Nanwan Island and station some soldiers to guard against the Daughter's Kingdom and the escaped White Lotus rebels coming ashore. Those who only know how to run and avoid Guys, they are definitely no match for their big cavalry. It is enough to send a team to stay there.

Of course, there are many other officials who have proposed.

However, all comments can be divided into three categories. The first category is forget it, there is no need to waste people and money on this, as long as people from the Daughter Kingdom and the White Lotus Sect don't come back.

The second category is that we must fight and we will not stop until the country is destroyed.

The third category is a compromise. You can neither ignore it nor go to war. Instead, just like defending the Beirong barbarians, you can build a city and build a defensive line to defend it.

As long as the Daughter Kingdom and the White Lotus Sect are kept out of the country.

It's victory.

Officials with different ideas argued endlessly, each with their own positions and reasons, but in the end, all ideas were no match for the lack of money in the treasury, so they had no choice but to withdraw their troops and forget it for the time being.

At most, leave some manpower to keep an eye on the coastline.

As for why the treasury, which Emperor Xuanwu felt was very rich in gold and silver just a few months ago, ran out of money in just a few months, it was of course thanks to the efforts of the clan nobles and officials. It was their efforts that held him back. , so that the well-filled national treasury can directly run horses.

Let’s talk about the clan first.

Although Qu Jie and the White Lotus Sect eliminated local vassal kings in some counties, they still followed the rules and only eliminated the guilty vassal kings and their descendants, as well as some side branches or those who were incapable of doing evil themselves.

They were all spared and no innocents were killed indiscriminately.

The overall situation was relatively chaotic before, so those branches of vassal kings who had escaped the disaster did not dare to show up and had no chance to enter the capital. However, as the situation gradually stabilized, the White Lotus Sect completely left Daqian Realm.

The side bloodlines of the vassal kings began to stir up trouble, and they all collected money to go to Beijing and cry to Zongzheng.

According to the ancestral teachings, as long as the vassal kings in various places have not completely exterminated their heirs, or their titles have been removed due to crimes, their princely status will always be valid. If the eldest son dies, he can be inherited by his eldest grandson. If the eldest son's eldest grandson dies, his title can be inherited by his eldest son. The second son can inherit the throne. Even if all the direct lineage is dead, it can still be inherited by the concubine. If the concubine is also dead, it can also be inherited by the elder brother of the previous generation who failed to inherit the throne and only inherited the title of county king.

Or the heirs of those brothers will inherit.

So in reality, only the first and second generation princes are more likely to have their heirs extinguished. After three or five generations, it will be difficult to completely cut off the princes.

So in reality, these vassal kings who originally had no inheritance rights now have the right to inheritance as a matter of course. The main reason for crying to Zong Zheng at this time is to inherit the throne. Even if they cannot inherit the throne, they can inherit a county king or a country. The father's position is also very good. If it weren't for the death of his direct lineage, how would they have had this chance?

The other princes of the clan, considering that the clan had to be stronger in order to make the emperor jealous, did not dare to attack them. If they were too weak, a decree could kill them all, which would be very dangerous.

Even if they are unhappy with the side branch taking over.

Eventually intervention helped.

As soon as they helped, the final result was that the vassal kings and princes that Qu Jie had finally destroyed were reincarnated in the dirt and reappeared as different people, and it was impossible for Emperor Xuanwu to return the land that had been turned into an imperial village to them.

, it’s even more embarrassing to send them back without giving them an acre of land or even a penny.

Therefore, it can only be paid by the national treasury as usual.

Pay them a few years' salary in advance.

Then, except for the treasury being injured, everyone else can be considered happy and there is basically no big loss.

Of course, those who are already dead are not included.

Following the clan, those who take money from the treasury are the nobles and officials, and their reasons for taking the money are quite reasonable. Their family fortune has been stolen by the White Lotus Sect and Princess Jiahe, and now even eating is a problem.

Not to mention expenses such as children's weddings.

Regardless of whether this is indeed the case or not.

That’s what they say to the outside world anyway.

Emperor Xuanwu never solved the case, let alone recovered the gold and silver. In addition, the person who did it was Princess Jiahe, who belonged to the royal family. Now their children are getting married and doing other things that are relatively expensive but very reasonable.

Matter, is there anything wrong with borrowing money from the treasury?

Nothing wrong...

The most important thing is that some officials still feel that the fact that their family property was stolen is probably a result of a scheme between Emperor Xuanwu and Princess Jiahe.

Borrowing money is even more justified.

Even if I borrow too much, I feel that the law is not accountable to the public, and I have no idea of ​​repaying the money. It is really like borrowing money from the public treasury of my own family, borrowing money from the national treasury.

In addition, tax reductions and exemptions are provided for disaster-stricken areas.

In those counties that had been harmed by the White Lotus Sect, most of the good assets were divided up by the emperor himself and the noble officials who participated. Very few could be sold and collected into the national treasury, so after just a few months, the national treasury was empty.

He was unable to prepare a new naval army to attack the daughter country.

It couldn't be more normal.

Correspondingly, many noble officials whose fortunes were emptied by Qu Jie have rebuilt their fortunes. Among them, the one who benefited the most was undoubtedly Emperor Xuanwu himself. Even he, the emperor, was working hard to

How could other officials not collect money from the treasury?

There is no money in the treasury, so no matter how much you argue, it will be useless.

This matter can only be left alone.

But a year later, when the sailors rescued by Qu Jie obtained land, they secretly sent people back to their hometowns to pick up their families and relatives.

Even if most of them are very cautious and try not to attract attention, local officials who have lost most of their population will cover it up if they can, not wanting to lower their evaluation due to the reduction of household registration.

But there is still a small part exposed.

At the same time, there are a small number of officials who are very conscientious and conduct detailed investigations into relevant situations and finally draw conclusions.

Then it was reported layer by layer and reported to the court.

Immediately afterwards, of course, Emperor Xuanwu became furious and ordered various places to investigate immediately. In the end, it took more than a month to finally investigate most of the information.

I found out that the sailors who died in the battle sent people back to pick up their families.

Those sailors who survived did not know that not all of their comrades who fell into the water drowned. Some of them were rescued by the daughter country. They thought they had all drowned.

So what is reported is naturally death.

Now he was alive again, and even sent people to pick up his family and relatives. Emperor Xuanwu naturally felt that he had been cheated, but he didn't think too much about it. He just thought it was the Navy who lied about the military situation.

I feel that the real situation may not be what the navy said, that they suffered heavy losses when encountering thunderstorms and huge waves at sea, but that they contacted the daughter country and failed in the battle. Many sailors were captured and fled in confusion, fearing that they would be defeated due to defeat.

He was punished, so he lied that he had not seen the soldiers of the Daughter's Kingdom at all, and suffered heavy losses due to thunderstorms and huge waves.

Suffer losses due to natural disasters.

Naturally, it is different from defeat.

Thinking of this, Emperor Xuanwu became even more angry. Not only did he immediately punish a series of officials, but also the officials who he thought might have knowledge, as well as the navy generals who had escaped before and were not punished, were also convicted one after another. Fortunately, the number of ordinary soldiers

Most of the time, Emperor Xuanwu was worried that severe punishment of ordinary soldiers would cause mutiny, so he was not punished.

I still manage to live a relatively stable life.

As for the Daughter Kingdom, although Emperor Xuanwu really wanted to attack it, he really couldn't afford the money, and he was not sure of victory, so

I can only continue to endure it.

The most that can be done is to allocate hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to the navy army so that they can train more and practice their skills with water bandits from all over the country. Later, when they have experience and have saved enough money, they can then send out troops to attack the daughter country.

Other than that, it's nothing more than sending some spies.

Sneak into the daughter country to find out information.

It can be regarded as making some plans in advance to know yourself and the enemy.

In the following years, the Daughter Kingdom and the Daqian Kingdom have maintained relative peace. Although the Daughter Kingdom has been secretly sending people to continue to extradite people from within the Daqian Kingdom, the Daughter Kingdom has also been purchasing some specialties from the Daughter Kingdom and sending people

The spies went over to get information.

They have neither established diplomatic relations nor declared war with each other.

But a delicate balance is always maintained.

The core reason why this balance can be maintained for a long time is that the daughter country has miracle medicine, that is, various antibiotics. In today's era, those antibiotics are basically no different from miracle medicine that can cure all diseases.

When the daughter country sacrificed the magic weapon of antibiotics.

At the same time, many high-quality and low-cost products must be bound to antibiotics. If you don't buy those products, you can't buy antibiotics. You want to maintain the transaction between the two parties.

Or to put it more concisely, it can even be called the daughter country's dumping on the Daqian country, which is very easy.

Trading in just five years.

Except for the fact that Daqian Kingdom spent a lot more gold and silver, many noble officials were less likely to die, and there were a lot more high-quality and cheap things, there were almost no changes in other aspects, and they were basically the same as five years ago.

But the Daughter Kingdom is different.

In the past five years, the territory of the daughter country has changed from the Jiahe Islands to 72 islands and a peninsula covering an area of ​​2 million square kilometers.

The total area exceeds five million square kilometers.

The arable land area exceeds two million square kilometers.
To be continued...