Chapter 246: Next Year's Strategy Winter is approaching and the world is quiet. In the warm attic, Tian Ze walked to the high seat somewhat lazily, sat down slowly, and looked at the civil and military officials sitting neatly below the stage. "let's start!" Although Tian Ze was reluctant to attend the quarterly meetings, he could not avoid it. Especially this time before winter, it is basically the year-end summary, and many important things have to be decided at this time. "My lord, this year's budget is seriously overspent!" As soon as Chen Gong came up, he set the tone for the meeting, and then looked to the left with a sharp gaze. All the generals quickly avoided Chen Gong's gaze. During the previous parliamentary session on military expansion, they had witnessed the ability of this "money bag" to calculate accounts, and they did not dare to even look at him any longer, for fear that military spending would be reduced. Cheng Yu, who was standing behind Chen Gong, coughed lightly, signaling Chen Gong that it was enough and he should stop bullying these generals because they were not well educated. Chen Gong was also pressed into a corner at this time. He ignored Cheng Yu's reminder and said directly: "We have overspent at least 100 billion. We must control the scale of the war next year."
"Gongtai!" Cheng Yu became anxious upon hearing this and spoke quickly. "Cao Cao has taken control of two states, so he must have set his sights on Sili. Liu Bei will certainly be eyeing Yizhou after taking control of Jingzhou. We cannot stop. If we slow down, it will be difficult to make up for it later." He knew that Chen Gong was serious this time, as he had a close relationship with him. He did not dare to confront him again, but directly explained the situation, even with a hint of pleading in his tone. Chen Gong glanced at Cheng Yu. How could he not know the situation? However, one who is in charge of a household does not know how expensive firewood and rice are. The financial situation under his rule is really not optimistic. "I understand. So what I mean is to control the scale. According to the calculations of the Ministry of Finance, we can fight at most one battle in Sili next year, and we cannot fight any more battles." Chen Gong said in a decisive tone. He knew very well the importance of timing. At the beginning of the chaotic times, it would be much easier to quickly take over Sili and Yizhou while they were still in the hands of mediocre rulers like Li Jue, Guo Si, and Liu Yan than if these places fell into the hands of Cao Cao, Liu Bei and others. But now we are barely able to make ends meet, and even the best opportunities have to be based on reality. "According to the plan, the battle in southern Hebei should have started next year. We fought this battle this year because we couldn't miss the opportunity. I didn't stop it. However, the same thing won't happen again next year." "The battle in southern Hebei, plus the relocation of the population to Jizhou and Bingzhou, cost hundreds of billions of dollars." "We must seize the opportunity to pacify the prefectures and counties, and we must also seize the opportunity to relocate and resettle the population." "In order to ensure that the refugees are properly settled before winter, and to ensure that the people of Jizhou and Bingzhou do not starve or freeze to death this winter, the Ministry of Finance has already used up most of its limited savings. The war next year must be controlled." "If it weren't for the greater good, we wouldn't even be able to fight the Sili battle!" Chen Gong simply refused to accept the matter. Tian Ze frowned when he heard this, but didn't say anything. People’s livelihood always comes first. It is imperative to vigorously relocate and resettle the people in Jizhou and Bingzhou, even if the finances are tight. "Military Advisor Chen, can you please be lenient? We'd better take Sili and Yizhou next year, otherwise things might change. We don't need to take Liangzhou for now, but once Yizhou is taken by Liu Bei, it will be a big problem." "As long as we can take over Sili and Yizhou, it doesn't matter even if we have to rest for two or three years." Among the generals, Zhang Liao stood up, bowed, and spoke earnestly.
Among the five generals under Tian Ze, Zhang Liao was the most flexible and capable of both civil and military affairs. Therefore, although he was below Xu Rong and Guan Yu, he was usually the representative of the generals during court negotiations. Zhang Liao's words were not only about looking at the problem from a purely military perspective, but also took the overall situation into consideration. Unlike other generals, Zhang Liao had a relatively more thorough understanding of Tian Ze's trade-off between people's livelihood and military affairs. The fundamental purpose of war is not to unify, but to grow stronger. It is inevitable that we will unify the world. Considering the national strength after unification, we will extend the battle line to ten years. To unify the world in three years, not to mention the many hidden dangers, the population loss and development stagnation caused by large-scale wars alone cannot be made up in the remaining seven years. Therefore, Zhang Liao also supported Huan's plan to conquer the world. He could understand the financial difficulties, but he was unwilling to harm the people for the sake of short-term benefits. However, the current situation is worrying, Liu Bei has taken control of Jingzhou! Once Liu Bei integrates the power of Jing and Yi states, relying on the natural barrier of Yi state, he can attack when advancing and defend when retreating, which will surely create many obstacles for Tian Ze's road to unification. Not only will a large number of troops be lost, but the war is likely to become protracted. The lives of the people are lives, and the lives of the soldiers are also lives. As a general, Zhang Liao really couldn't bear this. Seeing this, Chen Gong sighed, "Wenyuan, I understand your feelings. If the Ministry of Finance could sustain this battle, I wouldn't have said it so decisively." "The scale of the war this year is too huge, and it lasted nearly half a year. The resettlement of the population of Jizhou and Bingzhou cannot be delayed for a moment because of the migration of the population from the south. There will be many places where money will be needed later." "The Ministry of Finance is really out of money now." "For a war like this, given our current situation, we should rest for at least a year before starting another war. Being able to sustain the Sili War is definitely our limit." "The princes of the Central Plains will definitely not wait for us to take over Sili. Even if we only take over Sili, the scale of the war next year will definitely be large. Sili and the areas around the Yellow River will probably become battlefields, and it will last for a long time." "Once we attack Yizhou, Liu Bei will definitely not sit idly by. Yizhou is vast and full of natural dangers. Once the war starts, it is possible that it will last for several years." "By then, we will not only face a long supply line that stretches across almost the entire world, but we will also face attacks from Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei. The situation is more dangerous than you can imagine." This time, Chen Gong did not take a tough attitude, but gave a sincere explanation. If one's strength is too strong, he will inevitably be attacked by other princes, just like the situation of the Seven Kingdoms during the Warring States Period. The princes in the Central Plains were scheming against each other and regarded each other as mortal enemies, but they still tried their best to restrain and compromise, and always kept the scale of the war within a certain range, just to take into account the existence of Tian Ze. Once they show their appetite is too big, they will face enemies from all over the world, and even Gongsun Zan and Sun Ce may be involved. So before that, they must accumulate enough strength and must not be impatient. Otherwise there will be a risk of failure, and even if victory is achieved, it will be a lose-lose situation for both sides. The princes of the world will definitely adopt the strategy of "men fighting and women transporting goods" without hesitation at the cost of wasting people's strength, sacrificing the people under their command in their dying struggle. That would be what Tian Ze least wanted to see. I am afraid that even if the world is conquered, nearly half of the nearly 20 million people of various princes will be lost. Tian Ze would rather fight a battle like the Battle of Hebei, which was within a controllable scale and would be decided in one battle. It looked fierce and huge, but the combined losses of both sides were only 200,000 or 300,000 soldiers. (End of this chapter)