In early October, the beginning of winter, in the Zichen Hall of Jinling Imperial City, the first major court meeting of official Zhao Huan after returning from Jiangdu was underway.
The atmosphere at the court meeting this time was really frightening.
This fear of impending disaster mainly comes from three places:
One is Yangshan (Black Mountain) in the northwest. The "Emperor's Brother" defeated the gold thieves at the foot of Yangshan and beheaded 20,000 people. News of the alliance with the Khitan finally reached the Southern Song Dynasty!
It was precisely because of the news that the Song army along the Huai River was lifted from the war-prone state, and Zhao Huan was able to return to Luan Jinling.
But now the Three Kingdoms are fighting for hegemony, and the major victory achieved by the Northern Song Dynasty is by no means a good thing for the Southern Song Dynasty, which is also one of the Three Kingdoms!
Once the golden thieves were driven out of the Central Plains by the Northern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty's Guozuo would come to an end!
The other place is Koryo in the northeast. Starting from the second half of this year, Southern Song Dynasty merchants who opened shops in the commercial ports along the coast of Koryo were expelled and killed by the court of the Koryo Kingdom! Many people were robbed of all their property by the Koryo people, and then thrown onto small sampans that could not cross the sea. They were driven out of Koryo's commercial ports and left to fend for themselves on the sea!
According to the reports of some businessmen who had close relations with the nobles of Goryeo and were able to return safely, the reason why Goryeo did this was because King Wang Kai of Goryeo had made up his mind to conquer Song from Jin... and wanted to follow with the strength of the entire Goryeo country. Dajin became the enemy of DaSong.
The Goryeo Kingdom robbed the ships of Song Dynasty merchants in order to form a navy and help the gold thieves transport troops southward!
And in the third place, the "Song Kingdom" built by the Jin people in Huaibei is building 300 warships in Haizhou, preparing to join forces with the navy of the Koryo Kingdom to help the Jin Dynasty invade the south across the sea!
If the rise of the Northern Song Dynasty may drive away the gold thieves, and then go south to annex the Southern Song Dynasty, it is still a long-term concern. Then the news that Goryeo and the Metal Song Kingdom have organized naval forces to help the gold thieves come across the sea is not far away. We can't get any closer to worry!
Although the Army Division of the New Army of the Southern Song Dynasty defeated Wanyan Wushu's army in the last battle of Jianghuai, relying on the power of iron armor, powerful crossbows, explosive pots and the lives of the soldiers. But the strength of the New Army's Army Division is limited... Although after the Battle of Jianghuai, the New Army's Army Division expanded again, with the number reaching 150,000.
But the border line that the Southern Song Dynasty needed to defend was too long! Not only must we guard the Huaihe River, but we must also find ways to defend the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and the Dabie Mountains to resist possible Northern Song invasions. Heavy troops will also be deployed in Jinling and Jiangdu, ready to use them to support the Jianghuai and Yangtze River fronts at any time.
If the golden thieves could invade from the sea with the support of the navy of the Song Kingdom and the Goryeo Kingdom, how could they defend it with only 150,000 new troops from the Southern Song Dynasty?
"Yes, but don't we also have naval forces? Why can't we guard the seaports?"
The Jinling officials listened to the "powerful minister Zhao Dianjian" talking endlessly about how empty the defenses at the coastal ports were, and finally couldn't help asking questions.
Didn’t the Song Dynasty have naval forces? Why not use the navy to defend Haikou?
"The officials don't know something," Li Gang, the Right Privy Councilor in charge of the navy, said unhurriedly. "Although there are hundreds of thousands of navy officers and soldiers, they include the defenders of the forts along the river, along the Huaihe River, and along the coast. There are more than 30,000 people, and the rest are divided into the Jiang Army and the Navy. Among them, the Jiang Army mainly defends rivers and lakes such as the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, which is another more than 30,000 people. Therefore, the naval force that can actually be used for maritime operations is less than 4 Ten thousand, and the warships equipped are mainly large river and sea warships and large sea ships, the total number is less than 200..."
Only two hundred strong ships equipped with sharp cannons...sounds like a small number!
Zhao Huan was a little anxious, "After spending so much money, how come we only have 200 warworthy ships?"
"Guan family," Li Gang said expressionlessly, "there are less than two hundred ships...the exact number is one hundred and ninety-four! There are always one-third of the warships engaged in various After being repaired and refitted, there are only more than 130 ships that can be put into combat at any time. If we also deduct the river and sea warships stationed in the two capitals, the navy can only have a hundred ships at most. "
There are only a hundred left...
Zhao Huan's face turned livid, "Only a hundred? How can it be enough?"
Li Gang glanced at the official who was already a little angry and replied calmly: "So that the officials know that although these hundreds of warships scattered cannot cover thousands of miles of coastal defense airtight, When concentrated, it is enough to sweep the coasts of Goryeo, Liaodong, Jingdong and other places!"
Zhao Huan was stunned and frowned: "What? Enough to sweep the coasts of Goryeo, Liaodong, Jingdong and other places?"
Geng Nanzhong, the minister Zuopushe (prime minister), saw Zhao Huan's expression and asked sternly: "Li Gang, don't try to deceive me with jokes, this is the court!"
Zhao Huan also nodded and agreed with Geng Nanzhong! Li Gang's words are indeed not believable... This old guy loves to brag too much, and the late Emperor Zhuang Zong was tricked to death by him!
Now this old guy is bragging again...According to Zhao Huan's thoughts, it is just right to remove his right privy councillor, and then replace him with a reliable minister to take charge of the navy.
So now he is almost openly encouraging courtiers to oppose Li Gang.
But Li Gang didn't panic. He just glanced at Zhao Huan's teacher Geng Nanzhong and asked, "When did I make a joke in the court?"
Geng Nanzhong snorted and asked, "Can you guarantee to the late emperor that Kaifeng can be defended?"
"Guaranteed!" Li Gang said plausibly, "Kaifeng can indeed be defended...and it has never fallen into the enemy's hands! Geng Xianggong, tell me, when did the gold thief enter Kaifeng's capital?"
"You..." Geng Nanzhong's nose was almost twisted with anger at Li Gang, but he didn't know how to refute Li Gang's words.
Because Kaifeng Fucheng has indeed never been occupied by gold thieves!
Because the officials and gentry in Kaifeng Mansion were scared away by the "flood of the Yellow River", Kaifeng Mansion became an empty city that was unattractive to the Jin soldiers. Therefore, the gold thief did not enter Kaifeng Fucheng, but left it aside.
Later, the fortress fell into the hands of Zhao Shuxiang, and later it was taken by Zhao Kai...and Zhao Kai is now the emperor's younger brother with an annual salary of 6 million! You can’t say that you are the enemy of the Song Dynasty, right?
Li Gang didn't wait for Geng Nanzhong to continue speaking, and said to Zhao Huan: "Officially, to raise naval cannons, His Highness Prince Su was originally going to lead the navy to Goryeo as an envoy next spring after the southeast wind blows. Now that the situation has If there is a change, there is no need to send an envoy, just send troops directly to the coast of Goryeo!"
Zhao Huan had read about Su Wang Zhao Shu's mission in the letter sent to him by Zhu Lian. It seemed that he had some conflicts with the Koreans. In the end, because he was taking advantage of the situation, the Koreans paid him a sum of money. ...
"Fifth brother," Zhao Huan asked Zhao Shu hurriedly, "tell me."
"Brother Emperor," Shu Zhao immediately stood up and said, "As long as you give me fifty naval warships, allocate ten thousand land troops, and allow me to raise my own merchant ships to accompany the expedition... I will keep them for Goryeo." Wang Kaifan repented, compensated us for all our losses, and provided several ports and islands for us to garrison and trade."
"Five warships and ten thousand land divisions are enough?" Zhao Huan was doubtful and looked at Zhao Mingcheng, the left privy minister.
Zhao Mingcheng thought that Zhao Huan was asking if there were 10,000 Lu divisions that could be sent, so he immediately went out to report: "Your Majesty, the Privy Council can take out 10,000 Lu divisions at any time... but Jin soldiers may also enter Goryeo." , and the Korean Army is not weak, so we must deal with it carefully."
Zhao Shu smiled and said: "The land division is afraid of the golden soldiers, but our navy is not afraid of the golden soldiers... As long as these ten thousand land divisions obey the command of the navy, the Kingdom of Goryeo and the gold thieves who enter Goryeo will not be afraid!"
Zhao Shu's tone was firm and he seemed confident. Zhao Huan now also wanted to support a few brothers to lead troops to contain the powerful ministers, so he nodded and said: "Okay, since fifth brother has a strategy to defeat the enemy, then I will sacrifice these fifty warships and ten thousand Elite soldiers!"
...
Luoyang, Ziwei Palace.
In the Zhenguan Hall where the officials of the Great Song Dynasty lived, Zhao Kai, who had just returned to court after paying tribute, did not go to court today, nor did he meet with his officials in the Zhenguan Hall. He just stayed in his study, holding a letter raft and turning it over and over. If you look carefully, you don't know how long you have been looking at it. His queen, Zhu Fengying, sat opposite him, her eyes widened, her mouth pouted so much that a small bottle could hang on it, and she looked so angry.
But Zhao Kai didn't even look at her, he just stared at the autographed letter from his sister-in-law Zhu Lian!
It was quiet inside the room. I could only hear the paper shaking slightly due to the wind blowing in from the window, making a shuddering sound.
When Zhu Fengying was almost unable to bear the attack, Zhao Kai slapped his sister-in-law's autographed letter on the desk with a "pop" sound, and then said in a tone full of surprise: "This is wrong! How could she start colonialism first?" ?This is colonialism!
This is about breaking out of the continent and rushing towards the ocean... Although this is only a small step towards colonization, it may open up a great age of navigation... This should be something I can do. , how did she get ahead? Why should she get ahead? "
It turned out that Zhu Lian, in this handwritten letter sent to Luoyang, reported to Zhao Kai in a very cheerful tone a very bad invasion that had already happened and an even worse colonial aggression that was about to happen. !
What has happened is of course the invasion incident where Zhao Shu and Zhao Buqiu sacked Haizhou!
However, although this incident was bad, it was not uncommon in the medieval world. Although the iconic skills of later colonialism - strong ships and powerful guns were used in the invasion activities, this did not necessarily make the Southern Song Dynasty a coward. The country was driven to the point of no return by colonialism.
But another colonial invasion that was about to happen was planned for a long time, and had a very distinct color of colonialism. Li Gang, the Right Privy Councilor of the Southern Song Dynasty, and Zhao Shu, the king of the navy, jointly promoted an attempt to conquer the Goryeo Kingdom. It became an expedition to colonize the Song Dynasty, and this expedition also attracted many Southeast maritime merchants who ran routes to Japan and Korea to participate... This shows that there are huge economic interests behind this expedition!
This was a war of colonial aggression to protect and expand the interests of the Southern Song Dynasty bourgeoisie!
