"Your Majesty, you had such a rare opportunity just now. Why didn't you just rush over and capture Fan Zhongyan?"
Li Yuanhao suddenly went back, and the surrounding soldiers quickly followed him.
One of the pro-soldiers was Li Muwei, the son of another cousin of Li Yuanhao. He was a little puzzled by Li Yuanhao's actions, so he asked questions.
Li Yuanhao said in a deep voice: "Song Jun can't come to talk to me unprepared. There must be fraud in this. Didn't you notice that there seems to be something hidden in their waists?"
"this"
Li Muwei thought that the Song army did indeed behave abnormally, so he said: "Even if there is a deceit, can we not rush to kill them?"
"What I'm worried about is not the bows and crossbows, but the Song Army's firearms."
Li Yuanhao's face was as serious as water and he said: "I discovered during the internal inspection of the Song Army that the Song Army gathered a group of strong soldiers who threw stones at the school grounds every day, and sometimes went to uninhabited mountains. Huge thunders could often be heard. , I suspect that Song Jun has hidden methods."
After all, he had been operating on the border for many years, and there were also some spies planted within the Song Army. Although Fan Zhongyan carefully selected the bombardiers, the elite good family members brought from Bianliang had a clean background and were absolutely impossible to become traitors.
However, in addition to the forbidden troops transferred from the mainland, the Northwest Army also recruited local Han people from the northwest to join the army. In addition to the local Han people, there were even Dangxiang people, Qiang Di people, and Tubo people. These people were collectively called Guiming people or The Tibetan soldiers belong to the Hu army in the northwest frontier army system.
For example, during the battle with the border barbarian tribes, Li Shibin captured a large number of border barbarians and organized them into an army. After Li Yuanhao discovered this, he deliberately sent the Dangxiang tribe to surrender, and then used internal resources to defeat Jinming Village on the eve of the Battle of Sanchuankou.
So although those who dropped bombs did not have Xixia internal agents, there were ordinary soldiers who did. These spy soldiers can often see the bombardiers conducting bomb-dropping training, and can also hear the explosion of grenades they throw when they go to the mountains for live-fire training in the distance.
The news had already been sent to Li Yuanhao.
Therefore, Li Yuanhao suspected that the Song Army had hidden a secret weapon. At the critical moment, he forcibly resisted the urge to attack Fan Zhongyan, which saved his life because of his suspicion and caution.
Returning to the main army, Li Yuanhao did not rein in the horse, but turned his head, his back to the Song army, and took a deep look in the direction of Anlong Village.
After a few seconds, without any further hesitation, he ordered the entire army to retreat.
The Xixia army came and went quickly, galloping away like the wind and like a dust storm.
As a contemporary figure, he is also one of the protagonists of history. Li Yuanhao, at least in his time, created a myth.
Defeated the Song Dynasty in the south, Liao Dynasty in the east, Tibet in the west, and the Uighurs in the north.
With an area only one-sixth of the Liao Kingdom and one-quarter of the Song Kingdom. One-fifth of the population of the Liao Kingdom and one-forty of the Song Kingdom established a three-legged empire.
Therefore, his keen intuition and sharp sense of war can be said to be at the top of this era.
Li Yuanhao understood that the Song State was already on guard, and it would be impossible to catch the traitor. Moreover, his plan to proclaim himself emperor would definitely be spread to the Song State through the traitor, and the Song State would definitely step up its defense in the northwest.
Under such circumstances, it would not be rational to forcefully attack Anlong Village. It is better to go back and adjust the tactics first, so as to plan for the future.
After all, you can only be a thief for a thousand days, and there is no reason to prevent a thief for a thousand days.
The border between Song and Xia was so vast and there were countless roads. It was not difficult to lead troops to infiltrate and catch them by surprise. There is no need to have a head-on confrontation with the other party outside the stronghold.
On Fan Zhongyan's side, as soon as Li Yuanhao ran away, they also chased him to the hillside, looking at the vast Xixia army 300 feet away to the north with no end in sight like an ocean.
"Pity."
Zhe Jimin licked his dry lips and half of the grenades on his waist were touched, and the other party just ran away.
If you can blow up Li Yuanhao, you will have to upgrade to many levels after you go back.
Fan Zhongyan said: "It's no pity. This animal is fierce and cunning. Seeing that we dare to take risks alone, we must have doubts. I'm afraid he wants to capture me, but why don't I want to capture him?"
There was no way, the grenades that Zhao Jun had people make couldn't be that small and exquisite, about the size of an orange. Limited by the fuse device, he made the long-handled type.
There is a small flint built into the long handle. It does not explode when it is pulled open. Instead, a small steel wheel inside is pulled and rotated by pulling the rope to rub the flint, causing sparks to burn the fuse, causing the grenade to explode.
This device is recorded in the "Army of Arms" and "Tiangong Kaiwu". It is the main detonation method of the Song Army's landmines, and it is similar to the principle of lighters used in modern daily life.
But even modern lighters may not always be able to start a fire, let alone ancient times. Therefore, in order to ensure the success rate of ignition, the size of this grenade is still quite large. It is slightly larger than the long-handled grenade during the Anti-Japanese War in later generations, and is not easy to hide. .
Fan Zhongyan originally wanted to bully Li Yuanhao for not knowing grenades, and wanted to take him by surprise. As a result, the other party was too cautious and did not launch an attack, which made them quite regretful.
But this is also a normal thing. If Li Yuanhao sees their waists so bulging and rushes over so recklessly, then he is not a hero who has established a huge empire. Therefore, Fan Zhongyan was not discouraged and turned his horse around to leave.
In July of the first year of Baoyuan, Li Yuanhao personally led troops into the Song Dynasty for the first time, and the news quickly spread back to Bianliang.
More than ten days later, outside the Guanjia Hall in the back garden.
Zhao Zhen is taking care of the baby.
Empress Cao successfully gave birth to a baby boy in July of the fourth year of Jingyou. A few days later, Zhang Meiren also gave birth to the eldest princess.
Now one year later, the baby boy may have inherited his mother's strong body and is growing up healthily. Apart from a minor illness last winter, the eldest princess's side is fine now.
This made Zhao Zhen very happy, glad that he finally had a child.
Then Zhao Zongshi was sent out of the palace. Zhao Zhen now works as a full-time nanny every day. He cannot be said to be with his two children 24 hours a day, but he still spends most of the day with them.
Mainly because of Zhao Jun's statement that he had no offspring, and the fear that some people would want him to have no offspring, Zhao Zhen attached great importance to the issue of heirs.
Not only was she willing to exercise restraint, but she also did not dare to have sex with Dunlun whose mother was too young. She only chose women over twenty years old, and now she finally gave birth to two healthy babies.
It was the early autumn, the weather was clear and cloudless, Zhao Zhen was holding the baby and playing with Queen Cao in the back garden. Although he didn't like Queen Cao very much, he changed his mind a lot after having children. This can be regarded as the mother is more valuable than the child. .
At this moment, Wang Shouzhong walked over quickly and whispered a few words to Zhao Zhen. Zhao Zhen's face changed slightly, and then he said to Queen Cao: "Queen, there are state affairs again. You take Fang'er first and let him get some sunshine." Sun, stay close to me, don’t let him get hurt.”
"yes."
Queen Cao responded and picked up Zhao Fang, who was toddling on the ground.
Historically, Zhao Fang was the eldest son of Zhao Zhen. His mother was 16-year-old Concubine Yu De. He almost died at birth because his mother was too small when he was born.
However, the name Zhao Fang was given before he was born. The custom at that time was to give him two names, one for a boy and one for a girl, and then give him the corresponding name after he was born to determine his gender.
Obviously, Empress Cao gave birth to Zhao Fang, and Zhang Meiren was named Zhao Qinghan, the princess Fukang born to Concubine Miao in history.
I have to say that Zhao Zhen is pretty good at naming. For example, Zhao Yian, the eldest princess of the Lu Kingdom, and Zhao Youwu, the eldest princess of the Tang Kingdom, have pretty nice names.
Zhao Zhen quickly left the back garden and headed towards Chongzheng Hall.
At this moment, everyone in the palace was already waiting. The urgent documents from the northwest were delivered today. After reading them, Lu Yijian and others did not dare to neglect, and immediately came over to request a meeting with Zhao Zhen to discuss.
When Zhao Zhen came over, before Lu Yijian and the others could speak, he hurriedly said: "What's going on? How are you doing now?"
"Already forced back."
Lu Yijian stood up and replied: "General Shan Yuweiliang of the Xia Kingdom fled into the Song Dynasty. Zhao Yuanhao pursued with tens of thousands of troops, but Fan Zhongyan blocked him outside Anlong Village."
"Weren't they at war?"
"No."
"Will Zhao Yuanhao retreat so easily?"
Zhao Zhen took Fan Zhongyan's note from Yan Shu next to him and read it carefully.
"Cough cough cough"
Wang Zeng coughed twice and said with a slightly pale face: "Fan Zhongyan is ready to attack. Anlong Village is as strong as a city. Zhao Yuanhao will not be so stupid as to attack by force."
Zhao Zhen raised his head and glanced at Wang Zeng. During this period, as he was raising his children at home, government affairs were left to the prime ministers. He had not even attended the morning court for more than ten days, so he did not expect that Wang Zeng seemed to be sick.
He wondered: "Prime Minister, what are you doing?"
"It doesn't matter. As you get older, it's common for you to have some minor health problems."
Wang Zengqiang smiled.
Historically, he died this year, but he contracted the infectious disease scabies after he was deposed as the magistrate of Yunzhou.
Now that he has not been dismissed as prime minister, nor has he gone to Yunzhou, he has naturally not been infected.
However, at this age, physical fitness has indeed declined significantly. After the recent autumn, it is already the end of July. It is very hot during the day and gets cold at night. The temperature difference between day and night is large, and I also have some minor health problems.
Zhao Zhen expressed concern: "The Prime Minister should still put his body first, and leave government affairs to the ministries below as much as possible. According to what Da Sun said, the Constitutional Yuan only needs to formulate the general direction, and there will naturally be an executive department for specific implementation. There is no need to do anything. It’s hard work.”
"yes."
Wang Zeng responded, although after Zhao Jun's restructuring, he asked the Constitutional Yuan to only provide general directions. Unless there was an error in the implementation, it would be left to the lower departments to do the implementation planning.
But King Lu Yijian and the others were unwilling to decentralize their power. In the past, when they were prime ministers, they did not have as much power as they do now, so they often cared about everything, and the workload was even greater than before. It was not the system that made their work intensity increase, but It is they who want to work overtime, all for the sake of power and gain.
Seeing that Wang Zeng seemed a bit perfunctory, Zhao Zhen thought for a while and finally said: "Why not, how about Wang Zeng resting at home for a while?"
Lu Yijian immediately hit the snake with a stick and said: "I think so. Xiaoxian is not feeling well, and handling government affairs will not be effective. It is better to recuperate the body at home first. Han Long often said that the body is the capital of the revolution. When the body recovers, Only then can we do a good job in national affairs.”
Wang Zeng rolled his eyes at the other party. This Lao Deng really never misses any opportunity to seize power. Lu Yijian's voice in the Constitutional Yuan was originally louder than his own. Except for Zhao Jun, who could suppress him, no one else could compete with him.
If I take a rest now, will Lao Deng not be able to go to heaven during this period?
However, he was indeed not in good health, so he finally responded: "Yes, I just need to rest at home during this period."
"Um."
Zhao Zhen nodded. At this time, he had finished reading Fan Zhongyan's letter and said, "Fan Qing said that Zhao Yuanhao is ready to proclaim himself emperor, probably next month."
As he spoke, he threw the note in his hand on the desk, then walked to his seat and sat down, saying somewhat unhappily: "Although I had known that this thief would do this, I still felt uncomfortable after hearing it. If Taizong hadn't been kind in his early years, His father-in-law Li Jiqian and Li Deming have long since lost their bodies."
What is said here is that because Li Jiqian was attached to the Liao State, he was forced by the Liao State to pay tribute every year. As a result, the property within the territory became increasingly poor. He had no choice but to quickly request to attach himself to the Song Dynasty. Zhao Guangyi allowed the Song and Xia Dynasties to open border markets, and then the economy was restored.
So since then, Li Jiqian and his son Li Deming have been adhering to the Liao Dynasty and attaching themselves to the Song Dynasty. Li Deming, in particular, has made offerings to the Song Dynasty every year.
Because of the tribute paid to the Liao State, the Liao State not only gave nothing, but might also send people over to occasionally plunder Yinzhou.
But the Song Dynasty was different.
Not only would they not take the initiative to attack Xixia, but after paying tribute to the Song Dynasty, they would receive generous gifts in return.
For example, Li Deming pledged his allegiance to the Song Dynasty as soon as he came to power. Song Zhenzong gave him 10,000 taels of silver, 10,000 pieces of silk, 20,000 guan of money, and 20,000 jins of tea.
From then on, Li Deming only had to donate 500 horses and 300 camels to the Song Dynasty every year, and the Song Dynasty would reward him with a large amount of gold, silver, tea, silk cloth, silk, clothes, clothes, gold belts, coins, etc.
Obviously compared with the Liao Kingdom, during the Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Heng periods, they really regarded Xixia as their own sons.
"The Xia thieves were ambitious. During the late emperor and Taizong period, they hoped that he could help contain the military strength of the Liao State. However, Li Jiqian followed the Liao State in his early years and repeatedly violated the border. Instead, he contained the military strength of the Song Dynasty."
Lu Yijian said: "For such a capricious person, I thought the border should be banned immediately and issued an edict to scold him."
"What's the use of scolding him? He wants to ascend the throne and proclaim himself emperor anyway."
Sheng Du said: "I think we should continue to increase troops to the northwest. Fan Zhongyan has been operating in the northwest for nearly two years and is as solid as a golden pond. I, the Song Dynasty, will never recognize his claim to be emperor. If he comes to attack then, he will definitely give way. He never comes back.”
"More troops."
Zhao Zhen hesitated and said: "If we increase the number of troops, the treasury may not be able to support it. Let's wait and see."
Although the national treasury has indeed been full in the past two years, Zhao Zhen has also prepared for the northwest for two years in advance. A large amount of materials have been transported to the northwest. Now it is not easy to maintain the price of food in Bianliang. If he continues to increase his troops, the price of food will skyrocket. I'm afraid it's a bit overwhelming.
"Ahem. Shan Yu Weiliang said that August is when Zhao Yuanhao ascends the throne. This time Shan Yu Weiliang comes to defect to Zhao Yuanhao. After Zhao Yuanhao establishes the country, he will attack the northwest non-stop. Fan Zhongyan is already inciting the tribes in Xia Kingdom."
Wang Zeng coughed twice more, and then said: "He said that if they can detect the direction of Zhao Yuanhao's attack, maybe they can also launch a counterattack and send partial troops to raid Xixia when Zhao Yuanhao comes to attack."
"Going deep into Xia Kingdom?"
Zhao Zhen asked.
"Yes, this is what Hanlong hoped he could do."
"good!"
Zhao Zhen slapped the case and said, "I'll give Fan Qing an edict. I'll allow him to take the initiative."
oh?
Has the official changed his gender?
Everyone was surprised.
When he first talked to Zhao Jun about the Song-Xia war, Zhao Zhen actually only hoped to repel Zhao Yuanhao's attack.
Now he agreed to Fan Zhongyan's initiative to attack Xixia territory without hesitation.
Could it be that the image of the official family in history is just an illusion fabricated by Zhao Jun.
In fact, he is a real man, a tough guy like King Kong?
The next second.
I saw Zhao Zhen hesitate again and asked tentatively: "You said you take the initiative to attack, can you win?"
Everyone: "."
alright.
No need to look, the official family is still the same official family as before.
According to Zhao Jun’s words.
An indecisive idiot.
(End of chapter)
