In September of the second year of Baoyuan, the Song army went out of the fortress and took the initiative to attack Xixia.
Yuan Hao hurriedly accepted the challenge, and the two sides fought inextricably.
The border between Song and Xia was in flames of war.
However, Fan Zhongyan, the chief official of the Song Army in the northwest, did not respect martial ethics and sent elite cavalry across the Ningxia Plain and directly into Li Yuanhao's hinterland.
This is the main gathering area in the rear of Li Yuanhao's tribe and many of his tribes. It is also where the families of his party soldiers live. It is a very important rear base.
Li Yuanhao previously deployed several armies around here, namely the Baima Qiangzhen Army, the Youxiang Chaoshun Army and the Xiangqing Army, as escorts to protect the rear.
But at this time, under the joint attack of the Song Dynasty and Zun Siluo, his troops were already stretched thin, and he had no choice but to transfer most of his troops to the south to resist the attack of the Song and Zun coalition forces, leaving the hinterland almost undefended.
So on the seventeenth day of the war, the roundabout troops seemed to know the Xixia Army's frontline deployment very well, easily bypassing the border defenders and sneaking into the provincial capital's home base.
The Chao Shun Army resisted tenaciously, but was no match for the Song Army. After the Song Army defeated the Chao Shun Army, they set fires, threw grenades, and wreaked havoc everywhere, destroying at least thousands of tents, not to mention the stored grain, grass, and supplies. Its number.
Two days later, Li Yuanhao was shocked when he received the news and rushed back for reinforcements. However, by this time, the Song army had already disappeared, leaving only a mess on the ground.
The Xixia army was retreating steadily at the border. Especially when they heard that the rear was being attacked, the morale of the army was unstable. Many leaders of the Dangxiang tribes simply left the battlefield with their tribes and returned to the rear, hoping to take their tribesmen to escape beyond the border. .
The only thing that had some success was that Qiyu Wangrong had successfully repelled the enemy and was returning to defend the Yingli area.
But in this situation, even begging for prosperity cannot reverse the decline.
For a time, Xixia was divided internally and was defeated externally, showing a trend of near collapse.
Historically, Li Yuanhao was always a tightrope walker. Even if he succeeded in walking the tightrope, it would cause instability in the country of Xixia. Even if he succeeded, he would almost cause the collapse of his Xixia Empire.
Not to mention the current defeat.
If the Song army continues to launch an attack at this time, Li Yuanhao may even be captured by Xingqing Mansion, let alone continue to dream of his dream of being emperor.
So Li Yuanhao almost turned gray with worry overnight, and almost went crazy.
But unexpectedly, more than ten days later, seeing that the situation was extremely unfavorable to Li Yuanhao, and when the Xixia army was completely defeated, the Song army chose to withdraw its troops at this critical moment and returned to the national border.
The entire war lasted for about a month. From the initial stalemate between Song and Xia, to Zhang Kang's sneak attack on the rear, Xixia was about to collapse, but it suddenly ended like this.
Although Li Yuanhao was a little stunned after being beaten, he quickly cleaned up the remaining soldiers, comforted the rear, and stabilized the collapsed situation.
It was later learned that because the Liao army suddenly moved south and sent troops to the Liao-Song border, the Song emperor immediately ordered the troops from the northwest to withdraw, and Fan Zhongyan was transferred to Hebei.
After learning about this, Li Yuanhao was grateful that he had saved his life in the Liao Kingdom, but looking at the devastated and extremely dilapidated rear, he could only accept the peace agreement handed over by the Song Army.
While secretly licking his wounds, he swore that once all the elite Song troops in the northwest were transferred to Hebei and the Liao-Song war officially started, he would brazenly tear up the peace agreement and send troops to the Song Dynasty to avenge himself.
But what he didn't know was.
This battle was actually Fan Zhongyan's strategic mission to achieve the Song Dynasty.
He not only crippled Xixia, but also tried his best to deal with Liao.
As for the question of whether Liao will annex Xixia after crippling Xixia.
That would be interesting.
If the Liao Kingdom attacked Xixia at this time, the Song Army would definitely be eager to do so.
First of all, the main force of the Liao Kingdom's Pishi Army is near Zhongjing. If the main force is transferred away, there will be no worries at the Song Kingdom's Hebei border.
Secondly, the Liao Kingdom attacked Xixia for more than a thousand kilometers, and fought against Xixia, which was still struggling with the trapped beasts. It was possible that both sides would lose. If the Liao Kingdom suffered heavy losses, then the Song Kingdom might have the possibility of regaining Yanyun.
Therefore, if Yelvzong is really stupid enough to destroy Xixia at this time, Zhao Zhen will laugh out of his dreams.
So under this change.
The time came to November 1039 AD.
At this time, Xixia was severely damaged, Yuan Hao reduced his troops and defended Xingqing Mansion.
The Liao Kingdom's 150,000 troops went south to Yanyun, which was later known as the Beijing area, and stationed on the border between the two countries.
The armies of both sides faced each other, and the war was about to break out.
Yelu Zongzhen personally went to Xijin Mansion in Nanjing and issued a letter of credence to the Song Dynasty, requiring the Song Dynasty to hand over the gunpowder formula and cede the ten counties of Nanguan, which later became the Xiong County area of Hebei Province. Otherwise, troops would be at the gate and drink from the Yellow River.
Zhao Zhen showed a rare strength. After transferring Fan Zhongyan and many elite northwest soldiers to Hebei, he sent back a letter of credence saying that if you want to fight, then fight.
At the same time, a large number of firearms were also shipped to the north and deployed in various cities, fortresses, and military villages.
You must know that it has been more than two years since Zhao Jun came up with the formula of pure granular gunpowder. The Song Dynasty had actually applied these gunpowders to the firearms originally invented and recreated the glory. Under Zhao Jun's guidance, he made several Cannon.
This progress is actually very slow, because the technical content of artillery is actually not high. The principle is the same as that of firearms, which is to fill the barrel with gunpowder and ignite the fuse to launch.
However, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, the Ming army's artillery explosion rate was as high as 25% in the Battle of Songjin.
This shows how difficult it is to manufacture safe and stable artillery. A little carelessness may cause the artillery to be destroyed and people killed.
Therefore, the development process was extremely careful. Even in the testing stage, extremely long leads had to be prepared and multiple tests were conducted before finally producing a few qualified products.
However, even if the number of artillery is small and its role on the battlefield is limited, the power of other firearms has been greatly increased after being blessed with pure granular gunpowder. The thunder and fireballs thrown through catapults are definitely enough for the Liao army to drink a pot. .
Just when Xixia withdrew from the battlefield and was no longer able to go south, when the Liao and Song Dynasties entered a tense and exciting confrontation, at the end of the second year of Baoyuan and in early December, Zhao Jun returned to Bianliang from Shandong by boat.
In this way, from the beginning of the fourth year of Jingyou's reign to the end of the second year of Baoyuan's reign, Zhao Jun's nationwide tour that lasted two years and ten months was concluded.
Along the way, he killed many corrupt officials and solved many local problems. However, he could not finish killing all the corrupt officials in the world, nor could he finish all the difficulties encountered by hundreds of millions of people in the Song Dynasty.
In the final analysis, Zhao Jun’s power can help a village, a county or even a state.
But what about all the way?
What about the whole country?
There are too many pathos and too few empathizers.
If we don’t find solutions in the system and productivity, there will never be a way out.
So with the research results in mind, Zhao Jun returned to Kaifeng with a heavy heart.
When he left, Zhao Zhen sent him to the palace gate. When he came back, Zhao Zhen heard the news and ran to Xihua Gate without even having time to put on his shoes.
Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng, Cai Qi, Song Shou, Yan Shu and Sheng Du came to greet him.
The big ship slowly docked at the Wuwanggong Bridge Pier, which is relatively close to the palace. The golden water directly passes through the back garden of the palace, nourishing countless precious flowers and plants in the back garden, and flows out from the Chenhui Gate.
Zhao Jun slowly walked off the boat. Yan Shu was the first to come over and said with a smile: "Hanlong, you are finally back."
"yes."
Zhao Jun sighed, raised his head and looked at the palace in the distance, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "I'm finally back."
Lu Yijian frowned and said, "Why do you go out like this? Even your hair turns white."
"Because I have seen so much suffering among the people, I often stay awake at night when I think of the sorrow. I am not as at ease as Mr. Lu."
Zhao Jun choked back.
He has always been hostile to Lao Lutou.
Let alone the fact that this guy designed him in the first place, this guy belongs to a conservative interest group and should be defeated.
Even if he now supports the Constitutional Yuan due to power issues, it does not mean that he supports the New Deal.
So I still can't maintain a good relationship with him.
In case the new policy reforms in the future affect the interests of the other party, it will be difficult to drive him away due to past feelings.
Lao Lutou choked and said unhappily: "You guy, why are you still the same as before? We haven't seen each other for so long, can't you be more polite?"
"Okay, we're old friends now, so I'm too lazy to be polite."
Zhao Jun waved his hand, then glanced around, a little puzzled and said: "Where is Mr. Zizheng?"
When this was mentioned, everyone was somewhat silent.
It was Yan Shu who said, "Zi Zhenggong is ill. I'm afraid he won't last long."
Wang Sui is about to die?
Zhao Jun was stunned for a moment, and then sighed, "Well, birth, old age, illness and death are human nature. Even if technology is advanced in later generations, it can only extend lifespan, but cannot prevent death."
"Okay, let's go back to the palace first. The officials are waiting for you."
Wang Zeng said.
On the way back, no one was very interested because of Wang Sui's incident.
After all, after the establishment of the Constitutional Yuan, a few of them became fixed prime ministers, and they no longer needed to compete for power and gain by defeating each other to complete their concentration of power.
As a result, the relationship between everyone has eased a lot.
Although Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng still choked each other from time to time, they no longer had the life-and-death and tense feeling they had before.
Wang Sui was seriously ill, and the imperial doctor said that he would probably not survive this year.
As for the group of old men in the Constitutional Yuan, the youngest ones are Song Shou and Yan Shu, both 48 years old this year, followed by Fan Zhongyan and Cai Qi, 51 and 52 years old respectively.
Then Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng, one was 60 years old and the other was 61 years old. The oldest is Sheng Du, 71 years old.
Wang Sui is 6 years younger than Shengdu, and is 65 this year, but he walked in front of Shengdu, which also made them feel emotional.
After all, for them, if people can only live to be sixty or seventy years old, then they actually have only a few years to live.
What else can’t be let go?
All the way into the palace, Zhao Zhen was waiting inside Xihua Gate.
Seeing it from a distance, Zhao Zhen walked out of the palace gate and came outside the city for the first time. He took the initiative to get closer and couldn't help shouting: "Big Han Dragon."
He almost shouted out to Da Sun.
You must know that besides Lu Yijian and the others, there are many Forbidden Army soldiers around. If they hear about the true relationship between Zhao Jun and Zhao Zhen, they may ignite public opinion in Bianliang.
"His Majesty!"
Zhao Jun stepped forward, cupped his hands, and then looked at the person in front of him with some confusion.
Is this Zhao Zhen?
I saw that Zhao Zhen had a sallow complexion, dull eyes, severe dark circles, and he looked very haggard.
He was a completely different person than before he left Bianliang.
"Hanlong."
Zhao Zhen stepped forward and patted his shoulder, looked up and down, and then sighed: "You have lost weight and your hair has turned gray. What have you suffered in the past two years?"
"Compared with the officials who worry about the country and the people, I am still far behind. In the past two years, the officials have also"
Zhao Jun hesitated to speak.
If he hadn't known that there seemed to be only Wu Shi San and no opium these days, he would have even suspected that Zhao Zhen smoked heavily every day during his absence.
"In the past six months, the official family has indeed been worried every day."
Yan Shu said: "I get up early in the morning to go to court for discussion. From morning to dusk, I have to deal with government affairs in Chongzheng Hall. I often don't think about food and tea, and I am getting thinner day by day."
Zhao Jun said with an expression of relief on his face: "The officials finally realized that if the Song Dynasty continues like this, the country will be destroyed. This is a good thing."
"Forehead"
Zhao Zhen nodded guiltily, and then said: "Let's go back to the palace first."
Then everyone entered the palace.
Talking and laughing all the way back to Chongzheng Hall.
Zhao Jun entered the room and looked at the notebook, which was closed and placed on Zhao Zhen's desk.
Everyone sat down.
Zhao Zhen was sitting behind the desk, his hand unconsciously touched the mouse, and he quickly realized something and pulled it back. Then he turned his head and asked: "This time, my grandson has been away for nearly three years. Have you gained anything? "
"It's a great harvest."
Zhao Jun sighed: "I used to only feel that the people of the Song Dynasty were suffering, but just reading history books, it is actually difficult to sympathize with how miserable they were. But now I have walked around the place for so long and seen too many things, and then I understand How difficult their situation is.”
As he spoke, he looked around and said seriously: "In the future, we will not be rich in the new era. Although we are already the second largest economy in the world, after all, with such a large population, it is impossible for everyone to have good conditions, and people's lives will also have many problems." It’s an unsatisfactory place, but at least it’s hard for people to starve to death, now.”
Today, at least 40 to 50 percent of the people in the Song Dynasty are on the verge of starving to death. Once a famine occurs, countless people will fall. The small-scale peasant economy is tenacious but fragile. What is tenacious is that it carries the continuation of the Chinese nation. What is fragile is that it is on the verge of extinction at the slightest touch.
How could everyone not know this? Everyone had a solemn expression on their face.
Lu Yijian even said in a deep voice: "As Han Long said, the productivity of the Song Dynasty was insufficient, there were many local problems, and there was a lack of money and food. After all, it could not guarantee that everyone could live and work in peace and contentment and live a healthy life."
“It’s not that it’s not guaranteed, it’s just that the conditions are too harsh.”
"What conditions?"
"It's very simple."
Zhao Jun said with an expressionless face: "We will allocate the land to the local tyrants, completely complete a major reshuffle, and allocate the land from the landlords to the common people, and everything will be back on track."
"Forehead"
Everyone looked at each other, and even Zhao Zhen had a look of embarrassment on his face.
In fact, they had heard Zhao Jun say this before when mentioning great men. In other words, even if land reform was not mentioned, they were not ignorant of this truth.
At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Minister Shi Dan had long been aware of the seriousness of land annexation, and proposed "limiting land and slaves", "distributing land", "suppressing annexation" and so on.
However, due to the opposition of powerful people and interest groups, the matter fell through.
Nowadays, the interest groups in the Song Dynasty are also huge, especially the landlord class. If they really do this, I am afraid that the whole country will be full of chaos in an instant, landlords from all walks of life will rebel and revolt, and the Song Dynasty will be on the verge of collapse.
So this is obviously impossible to do.
"It's really too harsh."
Zhao Zhen coughed and then said: "Besides this method, is there any other way?"
"We can only do it step by step. When industrialization and land annexation are completed in the future, it will actually be solved naturally. But for now, we can only make patchwork for the time being, and under limited conditions, alleviate the increasingly acute internal conflicts."
Zhao Jun sighed.
In fact, he also knew that land reform was impossible.
But that's okay.
In terms of productivity, it can be solved through industrialization.
The Song Dynasty's fleet actually went out to sea to visit the Americas last year. If everything goes well, they can come back next year or the year after that.
Even if the crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes at this time have not been bred and the yield is not that high, as by-product crops, they can be planted in mountains, vegetable fields, and leftover areas on the edges of fields without affecting the main farmland.
This can increase food production from the side.
After industrialization, a large number of rural people can be attracted to cities to work in the manufacturing and textile industries, forcing rural landlords to lower land rents to attract people, which can naturally alleviate land conflicts.
In addition, although industrialization is unlikely now, it can promote the development of education. As long as mathematics, physics and chemistry continue to be promoted, it is estimated that in more than ten years, we can concentrate our efforts on establishing the first industrial revolution and lay a solid foundation for the future.
Even though Zhao Jun's knowledge of mathematics, physics and chemistry is limited to elementary school to high school, this is enough.
leftover.
Leave it to those who come after you.
"Is there any specific method?"
Lu Yijian and others asked about the specific operation methods.
However, Zhao Zhen interrupted: "Okay, the grandson has just come back and is tired. You should stop asking around. If you have any questions, let's talk about it tomorrow."
"yes."
Everyone had no choice but to agree.
Zhao Zhen called Wang Shouzhong to ask about the time, and the response was that it was already afternoon, so he suggested going to Yanfu Palace to sit there.
Now the Houyuan has become the residence of Zhao Zhen's harem. Because he was afraid that living in the Poison Palace would affect the health of his two children, he simply moved the harem to the Houyuan, where he usually lived.
It would be inappropriate to discuss things like this in the back garden. The place over Yanfu Palace is a bit small, but there is a big courtyard. It is okay for everyone to sit in the room, drink tea, have a meal, and chat.
It is already the middle of winter and early December. There is no snow in Bianliang this year, but the weather is indeed cold, the trees are withered and the leaves are falling.
Everyone moved to Yanfu Palace, where a charcoal fire had been lit, making the room warm as spring.
After chatting in Yanfu Palace for a while, it was mid-afternoon. Zhao Zhen greeted everyone to finish dinner, and the sky darkened, so they all went back.
As usual, Lu Yijian and others left first.
Then Zhao Zhen sent Zhao Jun all the way to Xihua Gate from Yanfu Palace Palace Road.
The two walked side by side, with Wang Shouzhong following from a distance.
"Grandson."
"Um?"
"You have lost weight and your hair has turned gray."
"You too, bro."
Zhao Jun sighed: "I didn't expect that my brother would change so much after I left. You worry about the country and the people, which makes people haggard."
Zhao Zhen felt even more guilty and said with a smile: "It's all for the people of the Song Dynasty."
"I like to hear that."
Zhao Jun also smiled and said: "Only when the people are good can the country be stable. Only when the country is stable can it become stronger."
"Even Dasun, you have to take care of yourself."
Zhao Zhen said with concern: "If you work too hard and something happens to your body, it will be the loss of the Song Dynasty."
Zhao Jun was still very touched by Zhao Zhen's concern.
Because he could feel that Zhao Zhen really wanted him to be healthy.
During the inspection, Zhao Zhen wrote many times, hoping that he would come back soon and stop working outside.
It is foreseeable that, at least in terms of trust, Zhao Zhen still completely believes in him.
This makes Zhao Jun very satisfied. The previous CPU usage was not without effect.
More importantly, this trust will lead to a good working relationship between them.
Who knows, in the future he will be like Liu Chan who trusted Zhuge Liang, and there will be a story that will last forever.
So after hearing Zhao Zhen's words, Zhao Jun said with a smile: "Brother, you too, the body is the capital of the revolution. If we, the grandfather and the grandson, want to make the Song Dynasty develop and prosper, we still need to have good health."
"Yes Yes Yes"
Zhao Zhen laughed sarcastically again.
The two of them were walking and approached Xihua Gate.
Zhao Jun said goodbye to Zhao Zhen: "Brother, I will go back to take a rest today and put things in order. It is best to send me the computer tonight. I can use the computer to organize it so that you can see more comfortably."
He had just come back to reminisce about old times, but he forgot to get his notebook back first. He planned to enter the reform measures he had prepared along the way into his computer.
Anyway, Zhao Zhen can use a computer now, and it will look more convenient than writing by hand.
What Zhao Jun didn't expect was that when the computer was mentioned, Zhao Zhen was obviously hesitant and said, "Computer. Do you need a computer?"
"Of course it's better to use a computer."
Zhao Jun looked at the other party suspiciously: "You didn't destroy the notebook, did you?"
"No, no"
Zhao Zhen quickly denied it. After hesitating for a moment, he showed struggle and hesitation.
Seeing his reaction, Zhao Jun became more suspicious and couldn't help but said: "Brother, you can't really break the computer. Once this thing breaks, something big will happen, and I can't fix it. "
"It's really not broken. I use it carefully on weekdays and never dare to play around."
Zhao Zhen struggled for a moment, but finally seemed to make up his mind. After glancing around, he approached Zhao Jun and suddenly asked in a low voice: "Da Sun, I actually have a question to ask you."
"what is the problem?"
Zhao Jun was confused.
"What is black silk?"
Zhao Zhen made some gestures and said with an intoxicated expression: "It's so fascinating when worn on a woman's legs?"
The words just fell.
Zhao Jun's expression froze.
Then his pupils shrank and his eyes widened.
Then, his face quickly turned red like a kettle.
It's like steam is coming out of both ears and nostrils!
Bad, Zhao Zhen discovered the little secret!
My character is ruined.
(End of chapter)
