The spring feeling of the Hongwu decade of the Great Song Dynasty gradually became stronger in Shuntian Mansion, Beijing. After several precious spring rains, the dry, cold and long winter was finally replaced by a somewhat warm and humid spring. This spring has brought not only warmth and humidity to Shuntianfu in Beijing, but also economic prosperity.
As Zhao Kai returned triumphantly in late February of the 10th year of Hongwu, he returned to his most virtuous capital, Shuntianfu, Beijing. This city, which had lost its former prosperity due to years of war, became vibrant almost overnight. .
Because Zhao Kai and his southern expedition army returned with a full load this time!
Returning to Beijing with them were countless silks, tea leaves, gold and silver, copper coins, spices, rouge and gouache, the Four Treasures of the Study, books and paintings, overseas treasures, and of course businessmen from the southeast.
Some of these people and objects were brought back to Shuntian Prefecture by the victorious soldiers, while others were transported north by sea to the newly built Tianjin Commercial Port, and then transported to the market of Shuntian Prefecture New City (located near Tongzhou) via Lushui. .
Because of the blood transfusion from the prosperous southeast of the Song Dynasty, which was extremely rich, the Song Dynasty court, which was originally very poor, finally became an out-and-out nouveau riche.
Previously, Zhao Kai's "poor Song Dynasty" seemed to have a large territory, but the total value of goods that could really be accounted for was only tens of millions of dollars... But starting from the 10th year of Hongwu, the Liangjiang and Liangjiang in the southeast The eight-way transit envoys of Huaihe, Liangzhe, Fujian, and Jingnan and the Great Salt Transport Envoy transported more than 40 million guan of goods to the Song Dynasty court every year!
The annual income has tripled in one go!
With the support of this large sum of money, the entire Beijing Road has been motivated to work hard and improve quickly since the spring of the 10th year of Hongwu!
Long before Zhao Kai launched this southern expedition, his Shuntian court had already formulated a Beijing Road construction strategy that seemed ambitious at the time but a bit petty now. We plan to invest several million yuan in five years to build Shuntianfu New City and Tianjin Mall. We also plan to repair the forts used to guard the entrances of Yanshan - those piled up with sandbags. Although the bastion has strong defensive capabilities in actual combat, it is not durable. Because most of those sandbags are made of straw, the straw will rot over time, and the soil inside will easily collapse without the straw bag wrapping. In order for these bastions to exist for a long time, they still have to be rammed earth and covered with bricks.
But a bastion covered with rammed earth and bricks is expensive!
Moreover, there are many mountain passes in Yanshan, otherwise the Ming Dynasty would not have used the method of building side walls of the Great Wall to block them!
In addition, Zhao Kai also wanted to take over the entire Yanshan Mountains by building forts and occupying territory - Yanshan Mountain covers a large area, more than 800 miles from east to west, and nearly 400 miles from north to south at its widest point! Moreover, the climate is relatively humid, the vegetation is very luxuriant, and there are many valleys and river valleys with development value scattered throughout.
Only when these valleys and river valleys become the territory of Fubing Zhechongfu or Xungui Ranch, controlled by rammed earth-brick fortresses, can the Yanshan Mountains truly become the northern vassal screen guarding the heart of the Central Plains. .
In addition to the vast Yanshan Mountains, the Bashang grassland in the northwest of the Yanshan Mountains must also be controlled by the bastions of Zhechong Mansion and Xungui Ranch!
Controlling Bashang Grassland is not only to protect the Beijing Road, but also to securely occupy a large area of land for horse breeding for the Song Dynasty... Raising horses in the "Kaifeng Grassland" is not a long-term solution after all!
It's okay to raise one or two hundred thousand horses in Kaifeng Prefecture, but if you really want to raise one million horses, it's better to raise them on a grassland like Bashang Grassland, which is cheaper.
In short, if you want to bring the Yanyun Sixteen Provinces, a treasure that has been lost for two hundred years, back into the embrace of China and firmly occupy it, it is impossible to even think about it without an investment of tens of millions.
But now, having obtained the extremely rich southeastern treasure land, tens of millions does not seem to be a big sum of money... If you don't work hard, when will you wait?
And just when the civil and military officials of the Shuntian court were preparing to work hard for several years on infrastructure construction, a piece of silk with the words "Southern Emperor came out, Tianli prospered" or "Southern Emperor came out, Dali prospered" was tattooed on it. Silk, Zhang Jun, who was promoted to Nanzhen Fusi, was sent to Zhao Kai's desk!
Today's court meeting in Yaochi Palace is discussing this matter!
"When the Southern Emperor came out, Dali prospered... Duan Yu was so brave. He actually dared to proclaim himself Southern Emperor. Does he want to be on an equal footing with me? He previously participated in the Eight-Nation Allied Forces to carve up the Song Dynasty. I have not reconciled yet. Forget it, he actually jumped out again relying on his bravery, I can't tolerate him anymore!"
As soon as Zhao Kai said these words, the courtiers in Yaochi Palace were stunned.
Why is it that "when the Southern Emperor came out, Dali prospered"? It is obviously "when the Southern Emperor comes out, the laws of nature will flourish"! Although the horizontal line above the word "天" is a bit short... maybe it's out of line (the character is tattooed with black thread), but no matter how you look at it, it's still "天"! How come you, a champion official, got the wrong word?
Also...who is Duan Yu?
The current leader of Dali is clearly called Duan Zhengyan! And I haven’t heard of how good this guy is in martial arts and how brave he is? Has the leader of Dali Kingdom changed?
In fact, Duan Zhengyan is Duan Yu. Before he ascended the throne as Emperor of Dali, he was named "Duan Heyu". Without the word "和", he was Duan Yu. Moreover, his father's name is Duan Zhengchun, who was the previous emperor of Dali Kingdom, and his uncle's name is Duan Zhengming, who was also the emperor of Dali Kingdom... These names all match up, so this Duan Zhengyan is undoubtedly the "Martial Arts" Duan Yu is the best in the world!
Now that Nan Murong and Bei Xiao Feng are gone, Wang Chongyang doesn't know where Mi is? Therefore, Duan Yu should be the best in martial arts in the world.
But times have changed. Now there are cannons and explosive pots. Even if Duan Yu really has the Six Meridians Divine Sword, he can't beat the cannons!
So Zhao Kai felt it was time to clean up Dali Kingdom!
At the same time, Zhao Kai planned to appease Zhao Chen... He was the son of "good sister-in-law" Zhu Lian!
Zhao Kai has received many benefits from Zhu Lian, so he has to give him some face, right?
Besides, Zhao Chen made it clear that he wanted to implement the policy of advancing southward. This would do no harm to Zhao Kai, so why send troops to conquer? Moreover, once there is a fight with Zhao Chen, Southeast's overseas trade will definitely be greatly affected, which will in turn affect the financial income of Southeast Eighth Route.
Therefore, after he saw the fish belly book "When the Southern Emperor came out and Tianli prospered", he conveniently put the label of "Southern Emperor" on Duan Yu.
In fact, this did not unfairly accuse him. Although Duan Yu professed himself to the Song Dynasty after he ascended the throne, he was also granted the title of Doctor Jin Ziguanglu, Sikong of the Inspectorate, Yunnan Jiedushi, Shangzhu Kingdom, and King of Dali. But in Dali, he indeed regarded himself as the emperor. His father Duan Zhengchun also had the posthumous title of Emperor Wen'an and the temple name of Zhongzong of Dali.
Duan Yu, a Yunnan military envoy, had been arrogant and proclaimed emperor for so many years, how could he not stop it?
Even if Zhao Chen is now proclaimed Emperor of the South, Duan Yu will be proclaimed Emperor before him! The crusade against traitors must be done on a first-come, first-served basis! You have to line up for this, right?
In the second year of Emperor Zhuangzong's reign, Duan Yu took over the throne of Dali from Duan Zhengchun, who had avoided becoming a monk, and became the sixteenth emperor of Dali!
Look, he has been an emperor for sixteen generations... How can he still do it without a crusade?
Seeing that all the ministers below were dumbfounded, and no one caught his words, Zhao Kai knew that the people below must have never heard of the name Duan Yu of Dali, so he added: "When the Southern Emperor came out, Dali prospered." It must have been provoked by Duan Zhengyan, who arrogantly proclaimed himself emperor, I will send troops to attack him!"
Oh, it turns out Duan Yu is Duan Zhengyan!
Now everyone understands.
"Your Majesty, I don't think the imperial court needs to go to war for the sake of the mere country of Dali."
Zuo Prime Minister Chen Ji, who had served as the Sichuan Road Transport Envoy for several years and was very familiar with the situation in Dali, came out to report to the class at this time: "Dali's national strength is weak, power is controlled by the powerful minister Gao, and the various barbarian tribes are indecisive. It is simply unable to invade our border with North Korea. Those who joined the Eight-Nation Alliance are mostly rumors and cannot be trusted."
In fact, this matter is not a rumor, it is just Zhao Huan talking nonsense... The Annan Li family did find several alliances, but there was absolutely no Eight-Nation Alliance, let alone carving up the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty had strong ships and powerful guns, who would dare to provoke them?
Zhao Kai snorted, "Is this unreasonable?"
Seeing that Zhao Kai was about to get angry, Chen Ji said calmly: "Even if it is unwarranted, we can't start a war because of it! In fact, the imperial court can send an envoy to Dali to question him about his crime of arrogantly proclaiming himself emperor, and to find out about the Eight-Nation Alliance. Then let him reform and join the court to apologize."
Enter the court to apologize? Zhao Kaixin said: That means Duan Yu surrenders!
"Is he willing to join the court?" Zhao Kai asked, "Is he willing to join the court and serve as a minister after being the hegemon of Nantian in the 16th generation?"
Chen Ji smiled and said: "Your Majesty can send heavenly troops to suppress the situation... If you refuse, it will be a disaster for the country! However, I do not recommend that your Majesty keep him as an official in the court."
"Aren't you going to keep him in court?" Zhao Kai asked, "Should he be put back and continue to cause trouble?"
Chen Ji said: "Your Majesty does not know that although the Duan family is the king of Dali, the Gao family is really in power. Now the person in power is the Prime Minister Gao Shunzhen. If your Majesty wants Gao Shunzhen to enter the court, it will definitely be better than forcing Duan Zheng. It is even more difficult for Yan to enter the court."
"Really?" Zhao Kai smiled and his eyes wandered over the several privy envoys and deputy privy envoys in the court. The current left and right privy envoys are Han Shizhong and Yue Fei respectively, and Li Shifu and Dong Jingang are both deputy envoys... Which one of them should be sent to capture Duan Yu?
"Your Majesty," Chen Ji didn't want to go to war with Dali, so he quickly said to Zhao Kai, "We can first trick Duan Zhengyan into entering the court, and then make him the governor of Yunnan and the king of Dali. We will send troops in his name." You can win without bloodshed."
Not a bad idea...
Zhao Kai asked: "Remember, who can go to Dali and bring Duan Zhengyan for me?"
"Your Majesty," Chen Ji said, "I recommend that Quan Zhi Luzhou Affairs King Zhongfu and Zunyi Army Envoy Yang Xuan go to Dali Kingdom together."
