Zhao Jun is obviously making the next big move.
If Jeju Island and Tsushima Island can be controlled, then the ships of the Song Dynasty heading east can go directly to the Iwami area of Japan without taking a long detour.
To the north, you can reach Jindo Island in Goryeo, which later became South Jeolla Province, and even Busan.
In this way, a trade triangle route can be perfectly formed through Japan's copper mines, silver mines, gold mines, and Korea's mineral resources.
Both Goryeo and Japan could exchange local minerals for copper coins, clothing, books, tea, spices, silk, porcelain, four treasures of the study, paintings and other items from the Song Dynasty.
Knowledge and culture are priceless. The Song Dynasty so generously exported its knowledge, its own language, and its own culture to the outside world. It is also very reasonable for Korea and Japan to pay some mineral resources.
Therefore, as long as the stronghold construction is completed first, after the Song Dynasty defeats the Liao Kingdom and becomes stronger in military strength, the Song Rigao Free Trade Zone will most likely be established on Tamna Island and Tsushima Island in the future.
By then, the Song Dynasty will have obtained countless minerals, Japan and Goryeo will have obtained the commodities of the Song Dynasty, and they will also be able to learn new knowledge from advanced civilizations and change the backward situation.
For the three parties, it was like Qin Shihuang touching the wires - a loser.
certainly.
The prerequisite is that both parties must admit that what they have learned is Han culture, instead of just slapping their heads and thinking that it was passed down by their ancestors.
Steal less and apply less for heritage, otherwise the powerful ships and cannons of the Song Dynasty will not be lenient.
But obviously Song Cai and Su Jian couldn't think of something so deep. They both thought that Zhao Jun just wanted to deepen the trade between the Song Dynasty and Japan.
They are all businessmen, so they naturally support it with both hands.
What's more, although Japanese officials did not have deep exchanges with the Song Dynasty, the people worshiped the Tang Dynasty, and the Song Dynasty, as the successor of the Tang Dynasty, also respected the Song Dynasty. Therefore, the Japanese people also admired the Song Dynasty very much and welcomed Song people to Japan.
Then Zhao Jun learned about the current domestic situation in Japan from Song Cai and Su Jian, as well as information about local people's livelihood, economy, agriculture, and some powerful leaders who control the Iwami area.
It is still in the stage of confrontation between Song and Liao, and it is impossible for the Song Dynasty to develop eastward to the sea with great fanfare. Otherwise, not only the Liao Kingdom may intervene, but the officials of Goryeo and Japan may also resist.
After all, starting from the period of Shengzong of the Liao Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom also attached great importance to the ocean and even established a navy to strengthen its ties with Goryeo and Japan.
Korea and Japan also surrendered to the Liao Kingdom.
Although the Song Dynasty is now the second child in the East Asian circle, it is still only the second child. There are also deterrents from the Liao Kingdom above it.
In addition, its desire for external expansion is not strong, and its main military power must be focused on fighting against the Liao and Xixia countries. This makes it difficult to form a military deterrent to neighboring countries like the Han and Tang Dynasties. Naturally, Goryeo and Japanese officials do not fear the Song Dynasty. country.
no way.
It is a hard truth to have a big fist. It is an irrefutable truth in any era and in any region!
And just as Zhao Jun had begun to lay out foreign trade, he promoted trade with Central Asia in Guangzhou in the south, Japan and Korea in Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east, Silk Road trade in the Hehuang Corridor in Shaanxi in the west, and Tea Horse Road trade in Sichuan in the southwest. .
The war in the Liao Kingdom in the north gradually began to heat up.
Starting from August and September this year, Yelu Zongzhen, Xingzong of Liao, began to mobilize troops and gathered in Xijin Mansion, Nanjing, Liao State, to launch a military deterrent against Song State.
Not to be outdone, the Song Dynasty appointed Fan Zhongyan as the Hebei Road Economic and Strategic Envoy and a candidate for the Political Council. He used his position as deputy prime minister to dispatch troops and generals to the Hebei Road. At the same time, he dispatched the elite of the Northwest Army to the border to resist the Liao Dynasty. The country may invade from the south.
The confrontation between the two sides lasted for three or four months until the end of the year, and the Liao Kingdom was a little unable to withstand it.
In the final analysis, the strength of the Liao Kingdom was based on force and the ability to maintain the order of the country. In fact, it was mainly due to the large amounts of silver and silk plundered through many foreign wars, plus the vassal states and subordinates. Go out and pay tribute.
Their actual annual taxes are actually very small, and their annual fiscal revenue may be only one million yuan. As a result, Song's annual tribute of hundreds of thousands of dollars became the main source of income for Liao.
Spending the enemy's money to arm oneself, and then threatening the enemy to force the enemy to pay protection fees to the Liao Kingdom is what the Liao Kingdom did.
In this case, the taxes of the Han people under the rule of the Liao State were not that important, resulting in the taxes of the Han people in the Liao State being quite low. Later, during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, when the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were recovered, the local Han people were afraid of the Song Dynasty's taxation, so they resisted desperately, and rebellions and uprisings emerged one after another.
But similarly, because the Liao State's economy relied entirely on the annual tribute from the Song State, its vassal states, and its tributary tribes, once a war broke out, it would force those tributary states and vassal tribes to pay more tribute, which made the Jurchen tribes under the Liao State's rule miserable. In the end, Wanyan Aguda launched an uprising and destroyed the Liao Kingdom.
Therefore, it can be seen from these things that the economy of the Liao Kingdom is actually very fragile. It is fine when there is no war. It can be maintained by annual tribute and low taxes. As long as the war starts, internal storage consumption will inevitably increase.
In this case, the Liao Kingdom had only two choices. One was to start a decisive battle with the Song army as soon as possible.
The second is to increase domestic taxes and ask for grain, grass and taxes from the Han, Jurchen and Mongol tribes in the territories to offset military expenditures.
But in a war of attrition with the Song Dynasty, does the Liao Kingdom have the strength?
They are not as rich as Song Dynasty.
Therefore, Yelu Zongzhen, Xingzong of Liao, is indeed riding a tiger, and he doesn't know whether to fight or retreat.
let's hit.
The current border defense of the Song Army is much stronger than that of the Tanyuan Alliance.
Don't fight.
Not only did he go back in despair, losing the prestige of Liao, but what if the Song Dynasty saw that Liao was weak and cut off the annual tribute?
This is an important source of income for the Liao Kingdom.
It took December, but Liao Xingzong finally decided to test the waters. What if he won?
The main reason is that he really can't spend any more. The little possessions he saved before are almost used up. If he continues to spend another year and a half, the domestic economy of the Liao Kingdom will collapse directly.
On December 9, the Liao army marched south brazenly, with the main force heading south from Xiongzhou and directly taking Gaoyang, the strategic military town of the Song Dynasty. Go all the way south from Ansu, pass through Baozhou and go straight to Baosai. The last route was to detour from Dingzhou and attack Wangdu.
These three places are all important military areas of the Song State, and they are also the main storage areas for grain and grass. If any one of them can be conquered at will, it will be a huge blow to the Song Army and will help the Liao State continue to exert pressure.
But it is a pity that the ideal is very full and the reality is very skinny. The three armies of the Liao Kingdom naturally did not ignore the densely packed borders, with hundreds of fortresses and military villages, as well as more than ten cities including Rongcheng, Ansu, Suicheng, Guixin, Beiping, and Xiongxian.
If they want to reach directly the Song Army's grain and grass logistics center, they must put pressure on these places, at least to ensure that they will not cause difficulties to the Liao Kingdom's logistics supplies. Therefore, they must allocate troops to besiege the outer fortresses.
Historically, Chanyuan's alliance with the Liao Kingdom also divided its forces into three groups. They attacked several important towns in the Song Kingdom, captured Suicheng and Dingzhou, and captured Song generals alive. This greatly shocked the Liao Kingdom and scared Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng almost to the point of defeat. Moved the capital and fled south.
After that, the Liao army directly went deep into the city alone, without paying any attention to the other cities of the Song army behind it. It went straight into Daming Mansion and hit Chanzhou City, which was later known as Puyang City.
But in fact, there were a large number of Song troops behind the Liao army at this time. Under normal circumstances, the Song army launched an encirclement and cut off the Liao Kingdom's logistics supply line. It is absolutely impossible for the Liao Kingdom to be so rampant and show off its power outside Chanzhou City.
However, the Song army was too overextended. Tens of thousands of Song troops in Xin'an, Bazhou, Mozhou, Xiongzhou, Cangzhou, Qingzhou and other places were not attacked by the Liao State at all, but they could only huddle in the city and did not dare to come out, so that The Liao State drove straight into the hinterland of the Song State.
If the Song Dynasty had not been lucky enough to kill the Liao general with the eight-oxen crossbow, and the Liao army had gone deep into the country alone, and could not keep up with the food and grass, Empress Dowager Xiao was worried about being attacked from both sides, so she took the initiative to propose peace talks, using Zhao Heng's advice from his father With his ability to escape, I am afraid that no matter how much Kou Zhun persuades him, he will run away to Fujian.
The current situation for the Liao Kingdom is much more severe than that of the Chanyuan Alliance.
After coming to the Chanyuan Alliance, Zhao Heng frantically built a large number of forts and cities on the border, and dispatched more than 100,000 troops, bringing the number of troops stationed in Hebei to more than 200,000.
Secondly, the weapons and equipment of the Song Dynasty were iterated. Although they were still mainly cold weapons, a large number of hot weapons were added for defending the city.
Thirdly, what Liao Xingzong faced now was the elite northwest frontier army that had just experienced the Song-Xia war. The commander was also the strategic Fan Zhongyan. They were not the group of drunkards and ricebags who were frightened by Zhao Guangyi after the Battle of Gaoliang River.
The Northwest Army had just won a battle and received rewards from the court, and its morale was booming. Fan Zhongyan promised that if the Liao Kingdom was defeated in this battle, the three armies must be rewarded, which made the morale of the soldiers even higher.
Under such circumstances, not to mention Liao Xingzong, the Liao Kingdom who was at the peak of his father, Liao Shengzong, was going south in a big way. He probably had to weigh whether he could break through the turtle shell of the Song army.
But obviously Yelu Zong really had no choice but to bite the bullet.
On December 10, on the towering Xiongzhou City, Zhang Kang was looking to the west. On the distant horizon, the mighty Liao army surged toward the south like a tide.
At this time, Zhang Kang was now the pacifier of Hebei East Road. He was really dazzling in the Song-Xia war. In addition, he served as the prefect of Ansu Army in the first year of Jingyou. He also went to Zhao Zhen to analyze the Liao Kingdom. Situation, familiar with the situation in Liao. Lao Fan was naturally unwilling to let go of this precious baby, so he transferred him to Hebei.
At present, the Shaanxi Road side is mainly managed by Pang Ji, Wang Yaochen, Wang Yan, Liu Ping, Wen Yanbo and others. Fan Zhongyan and Wang Deyong mobilized about 50,000 elite northwest frontier troops to Hebei and carried out careful defense.
The original Hebei army was mainly deployed in Hejianfu, Dingzhou, Shenzhou, Cangzhou and other places, while the elite northwest frontier troops were placed on the borders of Xiongzhou, Ansu, Baozhou, Baoding and other places.
The reason for this is simple.
The combat effectiveness of the Hebei army is definitely not as strong as that of the northwest frontier army. If they are placed on the front line, if the Liao Kingdom captures a city, it is likely to cause the army to be disorganized and directly collapse.
The Northwest Army is behind, and it may be led by the Hebei Army to collapse, and the situation will be completely over.
Therefore, the Northwest Army is withstanding the pressure from the front. If the Liao Kingdom launches a large-scale attack, the Northwest Army only needs to complete the defensive task, and Fan Zhongyan can also calmly mobilize reinforcements to support and cooperate with the Northwest Army to launch a defensive counterattack against the Liao Kingdom.
As for the Liao Kingdom, they are not afraid if they bypass the Northwest Army.
Compared with the Hebei Army, the Northwest Army dares to fight in the field. If the Liao Kingdom bypasses them and attacks the hinterland, the logistics supply line will inevitably be severely hit by the Northwest Army. It will be seen who can kill whom.
Therefore, Lao Fan is indeed well versed in turtle shell bunker tactics and defensive counterattack tactics. This arrangement is perfect.
At this moment, Zhang Kang saw the Liao army outside the city, pointed to Di Qing and his men outside and said, "Fan Xianggong is right. This must be the Liao Kingdom trying to bypass us and go straight to the hinterland behind us."
Zhe Jimin was young and energetic, and shouted loudly: "Shuai Si, let's go to battle, let the Liao army pass by our city so arrogantly, the general will not be able to afford to lose this man!"
"What kind of fight?"
Zhang Kang glanced at him: "The Liao Kingdom has more than 100,000 troops. We brought 50,000 people from the northwest and scattered them all over the country. Do you want a few thousand of us to fight against the tens of thousands of Liao troops outside the city? What's more, you How do you know this is not a trick by the Liao army to lure us out of the city?"
"Forehead"
Zhe Jimin stopped talking. Zhang Kang had made a name for himself in the northwest and had a high prestige, and he had led him all the way. How could he dare to talk back to Zhang Kang?
After Zhang Kang taught Zhe Jimin a lesson, he looked at Di Qing with admiration and said, "Hanchen, what do you think?"
Compared to Zhe Jimin, who acted impulsively and fought with passion, Zhang Kang actually liked Di Qing better, because Di Qing was not only brave in fighting, but also good at thinking and full of strategies. He was not just a general, he was probably a handsome man.
So Zhang Kang admired him very much.
Di Qing said in a deep voice: "As Commander-in-Chief said, the Liao Kingdom's large-scale march south may be to take the hinterland directly, or to lure us out of the city. No matter which way it is, the general believes that we should stand still and wait for the opportunity. "
"oh?"
Zhang Kang said: "Tell me the reason."
"The reason is very simple. If the Liao army goes straight to the hinterland and Fan Xianggong is in the rear, their offensive cannot be so smooth and will be blocked by Xianggong. At this time, we should wait for the opportunity to destroy the Liao army's logistics and food and let them There will be no peace in the rear."
Di Qing analyzed: "If the Liao army deliberately marched southward to lure us out of the city to attack, then we should guard the city to prevent them from succeeding. Waiting for the arrival of Xianggong's reinforcements, the Liao army will have no choice but to retreat."
"good!"
Zhang Kang was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly: "That's very well said."
Then he looked into the distance with his profound eyes, and said calmly: "Although our army is small, my husband has high hopes for us, so we must not make mistakes. One step is wrong, every step is wrong. Facing the powerful Liao Kingdom, should we be steady or safe?" Be steady!”
As an important town on the border between Song and Liao, Xiongzhou has a wide and tall city, but there are only 8,000 defenders in the city.
It's not that the Song army can't send more people, but it's difficult to supply food and grass when there are too many people.
Once the Liao army besieged Xiongzhou, food and grass could not come in, and there were too many garrison troops and people would eat their horses, it is estimated that Xiongzhou would become a dead city before long.
So we might as well send fewer people and hoard more food.
With Xiongzhou's current grain and grass reserves, even if the Liao Kingdom besieged it for a year, it would not be able to siege it.
But because there are so few people, the cost of trial and error is very high. If the Liao army ambushes, even with grenades, the eight thousand of them may pay a very heavy price.
So what Zhang Kang and the others have to do now is wait!
Patience makes a good hunter!
Some friends said that the reform measures in the previous chapter were also called conservative. It should be noted that these were conservative measures taken by our army during the Republic of China, not during the Song Dynasty. The protagonist also thinks that these measures are radical in the Song Dynasty, but if you have a deeper understanding, you will know that our army took such measures in Jiangxi, where the clan power is strong, and the protagonist currently just wants to promote it in the north of the Song Dynasty where the clan power is almost non-existent. , the difficulty may even be much lower than that of our army at that time.
Another friend compared the birth of a concubine to the current mistress. Not to mention that the mistress also has the right to inherit according to the law now. Just saying that the mistress is illegal now, but the concubine was legal in ancient times. There is no analogy between the two.
What I want to tell you is that when I write a book, I will definitely follow logic. The content and measures in it are often those that have happened in history and were relatively smooth, and I will not make them up randomly.
I also wrote about the radical measures taken by our army in the book. Isn’t it possible that the clan power in Jiangxi during the Republic of China was stronger than the clan power in the north that was destroyed in the Song Dynasty? This is unrealistic. I also investigated and researched the situation of clan forces in the north at that time. I can’t think that the thinking during the Republic of China was already so advanced and could accept such reforms, right? It makes no sense, so I completely do not accept this book friend’s accusation!
But everyone has their own opinions, and I can't unify everyone's thoughts. I just explain why I wrote this so that everyone can understand the reason. It's not that I accuse this book friend of having any problems, he also has his own ideas. It’s enough for everyone to understand why I wrote this.
(End of chapter)
