On the eighth day of August in the first year of Hongwu in the Song Dynasty, on the day when the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl met on the Magpie Bridge, a group of figures wearing Tang-style narrow-sleeved, round-necked official uniforms gathered outside the Dingding Gate in Luoyang, the eastern capital of the Song Dynasty.
Various narrow-sleeved round-neck uniforms with black soft-legged futons have now become the regular uniforms of officials and emperors in the Luoyang court of the Song Dynasty. This kind of clothing looks neat when worn on the body, and it also saves fabric... so Zhao Kai particularly admires this kind of clothing. Of course, there are also dresses with wide clothes and big sleeves, which can be worn only once when holding various sacrificial activities. On weekdays, just keep it well!
In addition to being neatly dressed and more energetic, the officials of the Luoyang court now also wear straight knives! On the right side of their belts is a fish charm bag, and on the left is a long knife. No matter whether we are civil servants or warriors, everyone is like this!
So what gathered outside Dingding Gate today was a group of officials with swords, looking menacing and looking like they were about to chop people. But today they are not here to kill people outside Dingding Gate, but to pick them up. And if you want to catch someone, you are not just an ordinary person. Just look at the newly built reception pavilion and colorful painted archway outside Dingding Gate. After the Song Dynasty reopened, such a grand welcome scene was extremely rare!
The last time Zhao Kai himself returned in triumph, when he returned to Luoyang, he didn't build any archways or pavilions. All he did was just welcome the civil and military officials outside the Dingding Gate.
Zhao Kai's Luoyang court is now quite powerful. When more than 300,000 soldiers are drawn out, it is really a sea of people. In terms of military force, no one is afraid of the Jin Kingdom.
But the taste of the grass-roots team is still quite strong... poor! Save if you can! Even the official uniforms worn by officials are so "tight-fitting" and they are made of inferior Sichuan brocade. You can tell at a glance that they are cheap goods.
But this time when welcoming whoever came to Luo, the weather was different from before. Not only were the archways and pavilions built extravagantly, but early in the morning, a large group of infantrymen from the Tiance Royal Tent Army came over to maintain order. After a while, a group of Yulin knights and a group of royal guards actually came. The tent knight...this is the official's personal soldier!
If you see a few more dashing female Banzhi wearing chain armor, it’s almost certain that the officials are coming in person!
As the sun gradually rose and the time approached noon, a large number of imperial troops enacted martial law on the streets inside and outside Dingding Gate. Infantrymen wearing iron armor, carrying long guns, and carrying crossbows marched along the long streets. There is a post for every five steps and a sentry for every ten steps.
Now all the old and new Luoyang people who were doing business on both sides of the long street understood that the Emperor of Luoyang was about to appear!
These days, as the land reform work of Yingtian No. 4 Road progresses, many landlords who have lost their land have begun to gather with their free money and cloth tickets in Luoyang, Nanyang, and Xiangyang, three cities located on the north-south transportation thoroughfares of the "Northern Song Dynasty" - Ding The "Northern Song Dynasty" with its capital in Luoyang relied on the soldiers of Yingtian Fourth Road militarily, but economically it had to rely on the support of Sichuan and Jinghu. Rice, iron, silk, tea, and copper (money) from Sichuan and Jinghu had to be transported to Luoyang via the Yangtze River-Hanshui River-Baihe-Ruyi Road-Yishui Road. Important commodities such as porcelain (Ru kiln and Jun kiln), livestock, and green salt produced on Yingtian Fourth Road also had to be transported to the south through this route.
Therefore, as important transfer stations and terminal stations on this transportation line, it is impossible for the three cities of Xiangyang, Nanyang, and Luoyang not to develop!
Among these three cities, Luoyang is the fastest and best developing city. Not only because Luoyang is the capital of Zhao Kai and has received the most "policy support," but also because the city is close to Kaifeng Mansion and Hebei West Road, which is under threat of war, it can smoothly accept industries from Kaifeng Mansion and Hebei West Road. Moreover, the city of Luoyang was already very large. It was probably the city with the largest area in the world at that time. It could absorb a large number of foreign people and industries without expansion.
Therefore, Dingding Long Street in Luoyang in August of the first year of Hongwu was already quite popular. Both sides of the very wide street were also filled with people watching the excitement. Some people were still asking each other, wanting to know who was so big. With face, officials can come out to greet him.
Among the people watching the excitement, there were actually some well-trained old Bianliang people, and they really knew who was coming.
"You don't know yet, right? The Song Dynasty will soon be reunited...the two Zhaos will be unified!"
"What? Could it be that King Xiangyang has already led his troops to attack Jinling?"
"We've just hit Jinling... The Jinling official family and our Luoyang official family are real brothers! In our Song Dynasty, fathers are kind and sons are filial, and brothers, friends, and brothers are respectful. How can brothers fight with each other?" "
"How can we unify without fighting each other?"
"Why can't we unify? Let me tell you... The official family of Jinling was seriously ill and was about to die, and his son was too young to be the emperor in troubled times. So he planned to have brothers succeed each other, The throne was passed to our official family in Luoyang. Therefore, we sent five kings, six kings, and seven kings to Luoyang to discuss with our official family. Three kings came at once, how can this scene be small?"
"Can this still happen? Is your information accurate?"
"How could it be inaccurate? I am from the residence of Grand Master Tong... Look, that's Grand Master Tong's carriage! Master Tong is here, and the officials will be here soon, right?"
The person in Tong Taishi's house still didn't have much information. He didn't know that the official family had actually left the city!
Zhao Kai left the city early this morning. He traveled thirty miles out of the city to personally greet the three brothers Zhao Shu, Zhao Qi and Zhao Xu. Now he is almost back to Luoyang City.
Zhao Kai and these three younger brothers have not seen each other for more than a year or two, and so many things have happened during this period. Of course, they have to talk about it when they meet.
As for the three brothers, Zhao Shu, Zhao Qi and Zhao Xu, they kept talking about Zhao Huan's illness along the way!
Zhao Huan seems to be...really sick!
Zhao Shu, Zhao Qi and the three of them were originally going to set off from Jinling City in early April. Later, because Zhao Huan was seriously ill, they stayed for more than half a month and did not set off westward until April 25th.
"Brother is really dying..."
"Third brother, please allow him some more time and don't push too hard!"
"Third Brother, Sixth Brother, Seventh Brother, I, and I don't want to be the emperor's younger brother, and Eighth Brother is gone. If you don't... then Ninth Brother will take the throne!"
What? Ninth brother? Wan Yan Gou? When Zhao Kai heard this, he immediately became a little annoyed. This is not possible! How could Wan Yangou be allowed to become an official in Jinling?
Zhao Kai snorted: "If this is the case, we will meet each other at war!"
Seeing the murderous look on his face, Zhao Shu, Zhao Qi and Zhao Xu also felt strange...Why does the third brother hate the ninth brother so much? There seems to be no grudge between them!
However, Zhao Kai fell into deep thought again at this time, his brows furrowed, and he could tell that he was having a fierce ideological struggle - in fact, he was trying to recall Zhao Huan's lifespan.
How old was Zhao Huan when he died? Is it that short-lived? It’s only the second year of Jingkang’s reign. Is he about to die?
Right? Didn't that Yue Fei always shout about "welcoming the Second Saint" in history, which ended up irritating Zhao Gou. Yue Fei was already in his thirties at that time... This shows that Zhao Huan's life expectancy is at least ten or eight years.
In Heilongjiang, people could endure so much hardship for ten or eight years (actually, they could survive for another 20 years, and they didn’t die of illness, but were killed by Wan Yanliang). Now that they are the emperor and enjoy life every day, they are enjoying themselves to death. ? impossible?
Thinking of this, Zhao Kai already suspected that Zhao Huan was cheating... Although Song Qinzong in history was a little timid, he was very good at cheating!
"By the way, when you three left Jinling, all the gold thieves who invaded Huainan were retreated?" Zhao Kai changed the topic and asked about the situation of Wanyan Zonghan's office.
"We are retreating, but we have not retreated completely." Zhao Shu replied, "It was not until we arrived in Ezhou and were waiting to cross the river that we got the news that we had completely retreated. It was already the end of May."
Zhao Qi took up the topic and said: "I heard that there was a plague in the Jin Thief's army, and ten or twenty thousand people died of the disease. It was not until late April that things got better, so they withdrew the army and returned."
Diseases such as dysentery were prevalent among Wanyan Zonghan's army, which was probably caused by the lack of clean drinking water and food during the withdrawal. By the time they arrived in Anfeng, the situation was already very serious. If Zhao Huan was determined to send troops to seek revenge for his father, Wanyan Zonghan would be in dire straits.
Zhao Huan's army does not need to defeat Zong Han, entangle him, and prevent his people from recuperating. It is possible that an additional twenty or thirty thousand people will die. In ancient wars, the number of soldiers who died of diseases was sometimes higher than that of those who were killed. More people will be killed!
But Zhao Huan did not dare to send troops, and gave the Jin soldiers some supplies to tide them over...
Zhao Qi hadn't realized the extent of Zhao Huan's crime yet, and he said with a smile: "Third brother, this can be considered a great victory! In addition to the people who died in front of the formation and during the retreat, Wanyan Zonghan at least suffered a lot of damage." Thirty thousand people! It seems that we won’t go south rashly again in the future.”
Zhao Xu also said: "Third brother, when the golden thief recovers a little, you should also take over the official position in Jinling. By then we will unify the Song Dynasty. Are you afraid that you will not be able to defeat the golden thief?"
Can it really be unified?
Zhao Kai is not that naive, and he also has some ability to predict the future. He knows that Zhao Huan's life is not that short... but he can't reject the three brothers at once. Because he is not ready to send troops to deal with Zhao Huan now!
Productivity in ancient times was low!
Moreover, Zhao Kai did not have enough financial resources to pay and feed his three to four hundred thousand soldiers... He could only integrate their soldiers and farmers. The land has just been allocated, and many people may not have received it yet. Shouldn't they be given a few years to recuperate?
In addition, the Yellow River still needs to be regulated!
After the gold thief dug up the river, he ignored it, and Zhao Huan didn't care. The pot belonged to Zhao Kai. If he didn't carry it, the flood would flood all the good places on Jingxi Road. Zhao Kai would look for it. Who can reason?
To control the Yellow River, the government troops cannot move in large numbers... To control the river, a large number of people must be concentrated. If you are not careful, you may be afraid of people with ulterior motives inciting rebellion!
