The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 498 This is a death sentence for civil officials

Yue Wenxuan said, "Let me tell you a story. It's not true, it's just a story."

“In another world, there are two countries, one called Eagle Country and the other called Bear Country,” Yue Wenxuan said. “Both countries have invented a type of firearm called nuclear weapon. Once this firearm is fired, an entire city will be razed to the ground, and all the people in the city will die without a burial place… If the two countries were to fire this firearm at each other, they could destroy half of the entire world.”

"The relationship between the two countries has never been good. Once, due to a misunderstanding, the emperor of the Bear Kingdom decided to launch nuclear weapons at the Eagle Kingdom and issued the order."

Upon hearing this, Yue Yun's heart tightened: "Does that mean we're about to start exchanging fire?"

Yue Wenxuan: "However, a general from the Xiong Kingdom refused the order. In the end, the nuclear weapons exchange did not occur. Both sides exercised restraint, the war was not escalated, and half the world was able to survive."

At this point, Yue Wenxuan smiled and looked at Yue Fei: "Marshal Yue, do you think this general did the right thing?"

Yue Fei was slightly taken aback; this question stumped him.

Yue Wenxuan didn't need an answer and continued, "An emperor is just a mortal. Mortals have flaws and cannot be perfect. Emperors also make mistakes and issue wrong edicts. When an emperor makes a mistake, if his subjects don't stand up to correct him but instead blindly follow him, does Marshal Yue think such subjects are qualified?"

Yue Fei: "..."

At this moment, Yue Fei understood that Yue Wenxuan was saying that his return to the capital with twelve imperial edicts was "blind obedience," and that what he should really do was "correct" him.

"But as a military officer with a large army under my command, if someone like me were to 'correct' the emperor, wouldn't that be considered a genuine rebellion?"

"Hahahaha!" Yue Wenxuan laughed loudly: "If the emperor is a tyrant, what's wrong with rebelling? I want to ask the marshal, when King Wen of Zhou rebelled against King Zhou of Shang, would you think King Wen of Zhou was wrong? When Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, rebelled against the Qin Dynasty, would you think Liu Bang was wrong?"

Yue Fei: "!!!"

Yue Wenxuan: "To put it more recently, Emperor Taizu of Song plotted against the Chai family's rebellion. Do you think Emperor Taizu was wrong?"

Yue Fei: "!!!"

These questions are incredible! Absolutely incredible; they gave Yue Fei a splitting headache.

After several dozen seconds, Yue Fei asked in a bitter voice, "So, Young Master Yue, are you asking me to rebel? I, Yue Fei, will never rebel."

Yue Wenxuan: "If you're not plotting a rebellion, then you're not plotting one! Twelve imperial edicts have arrived, and you can completely ignore them. You can continue your northern expedition, capture Kaifeng, cross the Yellow River, and, as a general in the field, you may disobey the emperor's orders. You can beat all the enemies you think you can defeat one by one, take Jin Wuzhu's head, and then withdraw your troops and go home to let Zhao Gou behead you. What do you think would happen if things really developed like this?"

Yue Fei thought for a few seconds and said, "I will still die, but the Song Dynasty will gain a lot of land."

Yue Wenxuan clapped his hands: "That's right! Marshal Yue ultimately died as a loyal minister because he did not rebel, but the Song Dynasty gained many benefits. So... what's wrong with you refusing the imperial edict back then? What's wrong with burning your life for the Song Dynasty for a while longer? No matter how you look at it, you should have refused the imperial edict and continued the Northern Expedition. Even if you died, you should have helped Zhao Gou seize more land. That's what a true loyal minister is!"

puff!
Yue Fei felt a sweet taste in his throat and almost spat out blood.

He was surprised to find that Yue Wenxuan's words made a lot of sense, and that he should have done it that way back then, as it would have made him a more loyal subject.

Something's not right. What's wrong? Have I been led astray by him?
What kind of weird mouth does this guy have?

However, Yue Wenxuan immediately sighed, "However, as a general, being in the thick of things doesn't always guarantee a clear view of the whole situation. Therefore, it's actually very difficult to determine whether the emperor's edict is correct or not. In most cases, soldiers should obey orders; that's what makes a good soldier. So, what I just said was actually too harsh on Marshal Yue."

He stroked the camp wall with his hand and sighed softly, "In the end, the real mistake lies in the political structure that allows the emperor to make all the decisions—that's wrong!" These words shocked everyone present.

In this era, there is no such thing as governance by the masses, and no one dares to agree with Yue Wenxuan's ideas.

If this were the late Ming Dynasty, when capitalism was beginning to emerge and someone named Gu Yanwu started advocating the idea of ​​"governance by the masses," then perhaps some enlightened people would have supported Yue Wenxuan's views. But to say that in the Song Dynasty was too ahead of its time.

Yue Wenxuan didn't say anything more and stopped there.

Everyone stood quietly on the stockade wall, gazing in the direction of Kaifeng.

After an unknown amount of time, Han Shizhong and Geng Zhu walked past from behind the stockade wall. As they walked, Han Shizhong kept testing Geng Zhu: "What is the range of a smoothbore musket?"

Geng thought for a moment: "A bullet can actually fly nearly 500 meters, but it loses its power beyond 100 meters and basically loses its accuracy beyond 30 meters."

Han Shizhong: "Very good, you got it right! Next question, how far can a cannon shoot?"

Geng Zhu: "The shells can fly up to five miles away, but beyond three miles they will go completely off course. Therefore, the optimal firing distance is within three miles. Moreover, it is not suitable for attacking small targets, but only for attacking large targets. Given that the enemy's catapults can only throw a hundred or two hundred meters at most, our artillery does not need to fire from two miles away. We can significantly improve the hit rate by bringing the enemy within one mile."

Han Shizhong: "Very good! Next question..."

Just as the two were talking, they saw Yue Fei and others standing in a row on the stockade wall.

Han Shizhong smiled and waved: "Hey, what are you guys doing up there?"

Yue Fei turned around: "Look at Kaifeng!"

Han Shizhong: "What's so interesting about that? If you learn more about firearms, you'll know that Kaifeng is no problem at all."

Yue Fei: "What does Marshal Han think is the problem?"

Han Shizhong chuckled and said, "With firearms, we can easily defeat the Jin army in positional battles, whether it's attacking or defending a city, or deploying troops in the field. The real problem is strategic: how do we deal with the swift and elusive Jin cavalry when we have vast plains and countless mountains and rivers with defensive strongholds everywhere? All other problems are secondary."

Yue Fei nodded: "Great minds think alike."

Han Shizhong chuckled and said, "In my opinion, if the war continues like this, the real headache will not be for us military generals, but for civil officials like Prime Minister Li. They have to consider far more things than we do."

As the two were talking, they saw Li Gang emerge from a tent, followed by a large group of people, all of whom were civil officials. Among them were Li Ruopu, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review; He Yanyou; Zhao Shi, the Minister of the Imperial Clan Court; Zhi Jia, a scholar; Liu Yunsheng, a commoner; Fan Chengzhi… all of these righteous men of the Southern Song Dynasty were present.

The group of intellectuals didn't look too good!
Han Shizhong laughed: "Prime Minister Li, you look unhappy. What's bothering you?"

Li Gang said with a dark face, "I just found out that a cuirassier, from training, purchasing horses, equipping them with four muskets, a gleaming breastplate, a saber... all this equipment, plus their pay, costs at least five hundred strings of cash to produce one cuirassier!"

"Five hundred strings of cash! One soldier!" Li Gang cried out in anguish, "This is going to kill a civil official!"

(End of this chapter)