On the eighth day of May, on the third day after Zhao Zhi arrived in Jinling City...that day changed!
Wind, rain, thunder and lightning mixed together, completely changing the imperial pavilion of the Southern Song Dynasty into a completely different world.
At the foot of Zhongshan Mountain outside Jinling New City, outside a seemingly ordinary garden, at this time, it was full of horse-drawn carriages, mule carts, and donkey carts. Drivers and attendants in raincoats crowded the two welcoming pavilions outside the door. Take shelter from the rain. Looking at the shiny and plump looks of the driver and his entourage, one knew that they were all servants of a noble family in Jinling, but now they were thrown into the wind and rain, without even a warm welcome. But none of them dared to complain!
Because the owner of this seemingly ordinary house is the official Zhao Huan who regarded him as his "ancestor". , the secret envoy of Zuo Shu, the other courtyard of Shen Guogong Zhao Mingcheng!
Well, this Zhao Mingcheng is really awesome, so awesome that both he and Li Qingzhao are baffled. The couple really couldn't understand why Zhao Mingcheng had risen to such a high level despite not knowing anything about military affairs and having never been a Jinshi.
Li Qingzhao even joked with her husband, saying, "It must have been the officials who saw your thick beard and majesty, so they used it for military affairs."
Of course this is a joke. Although Zhao Huan is a bit foolish, he doesn't use people like this, right?
However, although Zhao Mingcheng was a military layman, his and Li Qingzhao's contribution to the military of the Southern Song Dynasty was still huge. Because the two of them know how to study and research!
Both of them are academic masters, and they are also masters of epigraphy. The couple co-authored a book "Epigraphy and Stone Records" which has been handed down to the world.
What is this epigraphy about? Literally, he studies metals and stones. However, he does not study just any metal, but focuses on bronzes. And stones are stone tools, jade, time and so on.
The further development of this science is the study of pouring out the philosopher's stone and antiquities from the ground to study... How much is the research worth?
The next step up is archeology.
If you study hard along the path of bronze...that is bronze casting technology!
When "gunpowder becomes violent when it meets copper" and "hot pot cannon technology" were spread to the Southern Song Dynasty, the couple began to study bronze cannons and gunpowder formulas.
Li Qingzhao, in particular, wrote a book called "Hot Pot Secrets" by consulting ancient books, learning casting techniques from craftsmen, and repeated experiments, which became the world's first professional book on hot pot production, no, on artillery casting. books!
Under the guidance of this "Secret Method of Hot Pot", the hot pot output of the Privy Council Ordnance Supervisory Hot Pot Factory increased rapidly year after year, which was beneficial to the huge demand of the Army and Navy of the Southern Song Dynasty.
In addition, Zhao Mingcheng and Li Qingzhao also spent a lot of thought on the gunpowder formula. And before Zhao Mingcheng's death, a breakthrough was finally achieved - the "black powder block" sample brought back by the navy from the front line of Champa gave them both great inspiration, and they finally configured a weapon no less powerful than the one made in Luoyang not long ago. A new type of gunpowder in the form of granular gunpowder!
With this new type of gunpowder, coupled with the Southern Song Dynasty's overwhelming copper production and developed bronze casting industry, the Southern Song Dynasty almost equaled the Northern Song Dynasty in terms of gunpowder weapons.
The advancement of gunpowder weapons greatly enhanced the strength of the Southern Song Dynasty Navy!
It is no exaggeration to say that the Southern Song Dynasty now has a comprehensive military strength that is no less than that of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Just combine the navy and army of the Southern Song Dynasty and divide by two. Compared with the comprehensive strength of the Northern Song Dynasty's army and navy, it was definitely stronger than weak.
In fact, the Southern Song Dynasty's army was not weak, and it also had great development potential. If we really want to go all out to prepare for war, we may even overthrow Zhao Kai's Northern Song Dynasty!
This is not just a casual statement, but is very well-founded.
First of all, the population of the Southern Song Dynasty was larger than that of the Northern Song Dynasty.
Despite its small territory, the Southern Song Dynasty enjoyed stability and prosperity in the past nine or ten years, while the Northern Song Dynasty was at war with people everywhere and engaged in land wars internally, resulting in sluggish production and population loss.
So now the population of the Southern Song Dynasty is at least 50% larger than that of the Northern Song Dynasty!
If the Southern Song Dynasty could reach the level of military mobilization of the Northern Song Dynasty, then this country should be able to mobilize an army of 900,000!
Secondly, the copper output of the Southern Song Dynasty ranked first in the world!
Due to the "premature birth" of granular gunpowder and tubular firearms, copper has jumped from a precious metal currency to one of the most important strategic materials of this era...The other one is, of course, potassium nitrate.
Therefore, the Southern Song Dynasty, which ranked first in the world in copper production and knew how to obtain saltpeter by piling manure, undoubtedly had amazing war potential.
Now the Southern Song Dynasty had the most powerful navy in the world, a small but elite army that could serve as a seed, and learned the secret of black granular gunpowder. It also had the largest population and the richest economy in the world. and the most copper.
After handing over such a satisfactory answer sheet, Zhao Mingcheng could finally die with satisfaction... and he also fulfilled his promise to Zhao Huan: As long as I am alive, I will not let Tiance become the general. Become the Lord of Jinling!
Originally, although Zhao Mingcheng's body was not strong enough, he could still survive for a while. Until two days ago, he learned about Zhao Kai's conditions for surrender and the attitude of the kings and Queen Zhu Lian from the King of Jinling who came to visit him. After that, he vomited blood on the spot and couldn't see it.
Knowing that Zhao Mingcheng's tone was about to disappear, the official Zhao Huan had no intention of dealing with government affairs, so he simply gave the ministers an early leave and asked them to see him off at Zhongshan Villa where Zhao Mingcheng was recovering.
Now Geng Nanzhong, Zhang Bangchang, Li Gang, He Su, Wu Min, Lu Haowen, Li Ruoxu, Xue Bi, Chen Ziqing and other court officials are all crowded in the room where Zhao Mingcheng is resting. Zhao Mingcheng's wife Li Qingzhao was standing beside her husband's bed, her eyes were red and she looked a little haggard.
I don't know if it was a flashback, but Zhao Mingcheng had woken up. Looking at the group of courtiers around him, he actually managed to squeeze out a smile: "I died at the right time. I will definitely be a famous minister in the history... It's not like that." Dear gentlemen, my future is uncertain and I don’t know where I will go. So today is not Mingcheng’s mourning, but actually Mingcheng’s joy!”
Zhao Mingcheng died happily! Death is a joy! Just set off firecrackers to celebrate.
But what he said was true. Now he stepped forward with both feet... gone! No one knew that he was actually very cowardly, and no one knew that he was actually helpless in the face of a situation that was about to collapse.
"Why did Duke Shen say this?" Li Gang's face was solemn, but he still did not lose the bearing of the pillar of the country. "Don't you know the strength of our dynasty, Duke Shen? Although General Tiance's military strength is strong, it is based on military force. And on top of exhausting the vitality of the Northland. The country seems to be strong, but its foundation has been loosened. As long as we can work together as one and prepare for war with all our strength, we can hold the southeastern half.
As long as we can hold on, it will be difficult for General Tiance to continue... When the time comes for Wang's army to make an expedition to the north and conquer the Central Plains, what difficulties will there be? "
"Haha..." Zhao Mingcheng could only say "haha".
Li Gang has been optimistic all his life. Now at this age, can he still be expected to change?
"Does Duke Shen think what I said is wrong?" Li Gang stroked his white beard and looked around... This question was not only for Zhao Mingcheng, but also for everyone present.
Zhao Mingcheng smiled bitterly and said: "If General Tiance wants to launch a southern expedition, it is possible to send 500,000 troops... But our army only has 150,000 land troops, and we have defenses from Jinghu to Huaidong. The strength of the troops How empty?
Moreover, General Tiance's army divisions are all elites who have been fighting for a long time. They are equipped with artillery, workers, carriages, infantry, cavalry and other troops, so they can take advantage of almost everything. On the other hand, due to the shortage of horses in our army, it is difficult to transport pots and pans. The soldiers are good at defense but not good at offense. Moreover, the number is too small and it is really useless! "
The biggest problem of the Southern Song Dynasty Army...it turns out that there are few people!
What an irony!
The most populous country in the world is facing the crisis of defeat because its army is too small.
By the way, the Southern Song Dynasty in history was also defeated to a large extent due to the numerical disadvantage of the army.
In the siege of Xiangyang, which determined the life and death of the Southern Song Dynasty... Don't talk about how powerful the Huihui artillery was, nor how incompetent the Lu family generals were. Just talk about the number of troops invested by both sides, and the Southern Song Dynasty should lose!
The population of the Southern Song Dynasty was larger than that of the Yuan Dynasty. The Mongol Empire massacred many people in the process of conquering the Central Plains and Sichuan, killing every one of them.
Moreover, the Southern Song Dynasty had the convenience of transportation by the Yangtze River and Han River, while the logistics of the Mongolian army could only rely on land transportation.
In addition, the siege of Xiangyang lasted for more than five years, so even if we were to train a new army from scratch, there would still be enough time!
Historically, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a dynasty that is said to be rubbish, saw the former Qin unify the north in the second year of Taiyuan and began to form the Beifu Army. By the eighth year of Taiyuan, it won the Battle of Feishui, which only took six years...
As for the current Southern Song Dynasty, if it really wanted to expand its army and prepare for war, it still had time, because the existing 150,000 land divisions in the Southern Song Dynasty were quite elite and could serve as seed troops.
Li Ruoxu, deputy envoy of the Left Privy Council, took over Zhao Mingcheng's words, "The Northern Army will send up to 500,000 troops to march south. If we want to defeat them, we need at least an equal number of land divisions. There are currently 150,000 land divisions in the imperial court. Need to expand by another 350,000!"
Xue Bi, the left capital of the Privy Council, added: "General Tiance conquered Hebei last year, and this year he conquered Shandong. The expansion is very fast, and it takes time to consolidate. So most of the troops will not be sent this year... and the southeast It rains a lot in spring and summer, and there are strong southeasterly winds at sea, which is conducive to our navy's northward movement. Therefore, no matter how fast General Tiance moves, he will have to wait until next autumn to send his army south. If he wants to launch an army of 500,000, it will take at least a year to stock up. Food, grass and baggage. In other words, we still have two years to expand our army!"
Li Gang took a breath and said to himself: "As expected, we can still fight... Gentlemen, why don't we jointly report to the emperor and ask him to prepare for the war with all his strength!"
