Chapter 1710: The Big Picture

In Chongzheng Hall, Emperor Liu was discussing troop deployment matters with several military and political ministers including Liu Tinghan. Though it was called a discussion, in reality Emperor Liu was receiving reports.

According to the Bureau of Military Affairs' plan, regarding the Yulin rebellion, the court was to strike with full force, resolutely attack, and completely annihilate—unlike the previous skirmishes, this would move like thunder, pressing down with absolutely overwhelming force to crush all rebels, even if it meant completely destroying Yulin in the process.

Even in the Bureau of Military Affairs' preliminary plan, a hundred thousand troops were to be mobilized for the long march to the northwest to suppress the bandits; adding Yulin's local forces, that would be nearly a hundred and thirty thousand troops. Most of these were professional soldiers on the court's rolls, and even the militia conscripts were long-trained, selected from units with frontier garrison experience.

After a full decade of downsizing and reorganization, the Great Han's registered professional soldiers had sharply decreased in number, with local militia filling the gaps. In terms of army quality, compared to ten years ago, there was an inevitable decline, but the court's military expenditure had indeed decreased as well.

Of course, this by no means meant that the Han army's strength had weakened. The remaining Han troops, especially the professional soldiers, were of higher quality, held to higher standards, and naturally possessed greater combat power.

Meritorious generals like Yang Ye, Pan Mei, and Shi Shouxin had not been in the capital these years; their assigned missions had all become imperial inspections, touring the various armies across the realm, supervising military system reform, post-reform national defense arrangements, and troop training, safeguarding the reform of the military system.

And after a full decade of transformation, the Han army, aside from one bloody battle in the Western Regions that truly tested the results, had not yet faced any major challenge. The campaign against Srivijaya didn't even qualify—the opponent was too weak, the victory too easy.

In comparison, the rebellion in Yulin could serve as a whetstone, using real combat to temper the Han army's mettle. Moreover, the Han army's development, beyond improving individual quality, increasingly relied on the use of equipment.

Over these decades, the Great Han's military technology and armament technology had both improved markedly, achieving leapfrog development. In the past, the most relied-upon items were powerful crossbows, sharp blades, and sturdy armor, but with the research and application of gunpowder technology, large numbers of gunpowder-based weapons began appearing in the Great Han army. All sorts of new weapons were developed by clever craftsmen under the generous rewards of the arsenal.

Cold weapons remained the mainstream of warfare in this era, but in the Great Han's thirty-plus years of transformation, a fair amount of "hot" attributes had quietly been added. After all, even cannons had already been developed.

And Sun Yongping, the "Grade Eight Craftsman" who led the development of the cannon, was directly granted a Marquis by Emperor Liu—even if it was a third-class marquisate, it was still hereditary, just like the previous reward for the cotton textile technology improvements.

Of course, up to now, the cannon was still in the experimental stage. A batch had been allocated for the campaign against the Kara-Khanids, to see its actual effect on the battlefield. But before it could even be put into use, the Kara-Khanids had already been routed, Kucha had fallen, and the region south of the Tianshan Mountains had been swept.

The victory in the Western Regions campaign was a traditional-style Han army victory, and the testing of new weapons was now focused on the Yulin rebellion. To that end, the Ministry of War had already allocated fifty cannons and dispatched the Palace Command's directly subordinate artillery unit, still in training and research.

The birth of new weapons often brings about changes in military and tactical thinking. When rockets were first invented, they had already to a certain degree replaced the role of such elite weapons as the traditional great yellow crossbow—how much more so the cannon, which Emperor Liu particularly favored.

And in some officers' research, if the cannon's power could achieve the expected results, then in the future this weapon would completely replace the thunderclap catapult that had played a crucial role in the Han army's unstoppable victories.

That thing's power was indeed formidable—fierce-fire oil lived up to its name, capable of creating a battlefield hell. But it was heavy, difficult to operate, and required many operators—one thunderclap catapult needed at least a dozen people, sometimes dozens. Before the counterweight trebuchet was developed, a single thunderclap catapult even required over a hundred people to pull and release.

In comparison, the cannon was far "lighter," far simpler, and more powerful—after all, gunpowder could split mountains and break rocks, shaking heaven and earth.

Not just the traditional land forces—the navy was also especially keen on cannons, and not even to curry favor with the emperor. After all, to increase the strike capability of the naval fleet, they had already moved thunderclap catapults onto warships, and the new-style cannon seemed even better suited to warships.

Of course, at this moment Emperor Liu was not discussing the cannon's power and its role in the Great Han's military innovation with his ministers—he was still considering the strategy for suppressing the Yulin rebellion.

The suppression army would clearly be primarily composed of northwestern regional forces, with one route each also dispatched from neighboring Hedong and Shanyang. If Han volunteer militias and temporarily conscripted barbarian troops were added, the bandit-suppression force could easily reach two hundred thousand men.

Slowly but surely, surrounding all of Yulin—Zhao Pu's strategy of trapping the enemy had some merit. Emperor Liu also called it the cage policy: pen in all the Yulin Tangut, then slowly process them, eliminating them one by one.

The local Han populace, and even the mixed barbarians, could be distinguished and treated differently, but as for the Tangut, there was no need at all. Emperor Liu had completely lost patience and trust in the Tangut—or rather, there had never been any so-called trust.

Even toward the Khitan, Emperor Liu's impression was somewhat better.

In the original history, when Li Jiqian's rebellion first began, the Song court's strength in the northwest was still very formidable, and Li Jiqian could only make small trouble around Dijin Marsh. It was just that the Song court's own performance was too poor—from start to finish, they never had a unified, resolute strategy for suppressing the rebels.

First military strikes; when military strikes failed, political division; when that failed too, economic encirclement. Step by step, it looked methodical and steady, but in reality it was vacillating and inconsistent.

As emperor, Zhao Kuangyi was also indecisive—on one hand wanting to destroy the rebel army, on the other constantly seeking compromise, and his personnel choices were utterly unimpressive.

Whether Tian Chongjin or Tian Renlang, both were seasoned veterans of the battlefield—especially Tian Renlang, who had at one point driven Li Jiqian to the brink, cornered like a trapped beast. But Zhao Kuangyi couldn't sit still in the Eastern Capital, impatiently issuing urgent orders, and ultimately dismissed Tian Renlang outright, replacing him with Wang Shen.

And as for Wang Shen's actual ability, it had been amply demonstrated in the Great Han. Even more laughable was that he actually let Li Jipeng return to Xiazhou, intending to use him to win over Li Jiqian—only to be played by those two cousins, fooled into looking like a complete fool.

Of course, there was one crucial objective condition: the Song court faced a powerful enemy to the north, Liao, and had been under enormous military pressure the whole time, which also gave Li Jiqian the opportunity to play both sides between Song and Liao.

The reason the Northern Song was always criticized, and even not considered a truly unified dynasty, besides those infuriating policies, was that Yanyun was missing a piece, the northwest was missing a piece—a fine golden vessel broken and leaking from every side. How could it not be despised?

However, in the Great Han, Liao was already a thing of the past, Li Jipeng's entire clan had been exterminated long ago, and the mistakes Zhao Kuangyi could make were entirely avoidable under Emperor Liu.

Previously not given much attention, now that real force was to be applied, it would be an all-around strike. Zhao Kuangyi would worry about the impact and pressure of several hundred thousand Tangut rebelling; what Emperor Liu considered was slaughtering those several hundred thousand Tangut to the last—even without considering the disparity in practical conditions, the gap between the two was significant.

"Suppressing the rebellion in the northwest is somewhat different from past campaigns. This time, we face an entire people, so both the method of warfare and the objectives of the campaign must change!" Emperor Liu gave his final instructions: "However, no matter how things change, the fundamentals remain the same—victory on the battlefield is the foundation, is everything. And marching and fighting ultimately comes down to troops, horses, money, and grain. In Yulin, the importance of logistics is even greater! On this point, the court must make full preparations and give full support!"

Seeing Emperor Liu turn his gaze toward him, Han Tong immediately declared: "Rest assured, Your Majesty. This old minister has already urged his subordinates to allocate military supplies according to the Bureau of Military Affairs' orders. If anything goes wrong in this matter, this old minister will present his head to you!"

Hearing this, Emperor Liu smiled, then said to Shen Yilun, the Minister of Revenue who had been summoned to observe: "Minister Shen, I'll leave the military funds for suppressing the rebels to your diligent care!"

"Yes!" Shen Yilun, already past seventy, replied calmly and respectfully. The old minister also knew that once the Yulin affair was settled, that would likely be the time for him to retire and return home, so his state of mind was very peaceful.

Shen Yilun's official career could be said to have formally begun with the founding of the Great Han. He first served as a staff aide to Bai Wenke, then successively held the posts of Mianchi Magistrate, Shanzhou Prefect, and Hezhong Prefect. Once he entered the court, he had been working in the financial system the whole time—though he had never served as the chief financial officer, he had always been a renowned expert in financial management.

This chapter isn't finished, but reportedly Japan has fallen behind, so I need to go leave a comment.