The news that the Southern Emperor Duan Yu was going north to Shuntian Prefecture to meet with the officials of the Song Dynasty was immediately sent to Beijing by the messenger sent by Wang Chongyang... However, because the two places were too far apart, it was in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou. The road conditions were not very good, so it was not until the late autumn of the tenth year of Hongwu that Zhao Kai learned the good news.
When Zhao Kai learned that he would see Duan Yu in a few months, he just sighed.
Because at this time, Zhao Kai had already recognized the reality... that Yunnan's surrender was not the end of the battle for world unification.
Because this world... has undergone drastic changes!
Just when Zhao Kai was filled with joy and thought that he would soon dominate the world, he suddenly discovered that the world had actually become bigger!
This butterfly effect is really amazing!
In fact, the process of the world becoming bigger began as early as the Xixia moved westward. If the Xixia did not use the banner of the Tang Dynasty when they moved westward, but used the name of the Dabai Gao Kingdom. Moreover, after taking over the four towns of Anxi, they did not use the Western Zhou style feudal etiquette to distinguish between the Tang monarch, the barbarians and the country. They also established the "Emperor (Son of Heaven) - Jiedushi (Monarch) ) - the governor of the military state (qing) - the city lord (doctor) - the countryman (scholar) - the barbarian (serf)" this feudal system, then the Western Tang Dynasty can not be counted as part of the Chinese Empire.
But when Zhao Kai returned to Shuntian after his expedition to the southeast and began to turn his attention beyond the "Great Song Dynasty", he discovered that the counterfeit of the Western Tang Dynasty was getting better and better, and it was no different from the genuine product... .
Oh, the reason why the Western Tang Dynasty did this was not to expand the Chinese empire. But the feudalism of the Western Zhou Dynasty was actually a low-cost "conqueror feudalism". Because the number of Western thieves who fled to the Western Regions is either too large or too small, there is really no other good solution except the feudal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty or a similar system.
Their numbers were simply not enough to fill the extremely vast territory, just like the situation they faced when the Western Zhou Dynasty was established.
But their people are not very small. The population brought by Xixia to the Western Regions is close to one million. Together with the populations of Khotan and Gaochang Uighurs, the total number reaches one million and hundreds of thousands. And although these people can be half farmers and half herders, they prefer a settled life, so the vast Qinchak grassland is not what they want.
The Xixia regime that moved westward had to occupy a large amount of fertile land, and to irrigate these lands, they had to control water sources and irrigation systems.
However, fertile land and water sources are still relatively scarce in the Western Regions... If the Xixia regime wants to occupy a large amount of these lands and water sources, it will inevitably have serious conflicts with the local forces in the Western Regions.
Under this circumstance, Li Renli and Cao Mian, the two actual rulers of Xixia, naturally found the feudal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty from the history books, improved it, and directly used it in their Western Tang Dynasty.
And after using it for several years, it actually becomes easier and easier to use!
Just when Zhao Kai sent Wang Chongyang to capture Duan Yu, the Western Tang Dynasty also sent a mission to find Song Tong to form an alliance...
But the Western Tang Dynasty was not the only reason why the world became bigger. The remnants of the pseudo-Song Dynasty left by Zhao Gou also achieved success in the past period of time - they did not swallow the entire Japan. They were not that powerful, but they occupied almost all of Kyushu Island and a small area in the west of Honshu Island. piece of land.
And this group of traitors who defected to Japan shamelessly used the banner of the shogunate of the Great Song Dynasty to conquer Yi, openly opened a shogunate in Hakata, Kyushu, Japan, and also granted five of the nine imperial kingdoms on the main island of Kyushu to He killed five major traitors including Li Cheng, Kong Yanzhou, Liu Lin, Wang Bolong, and Liu Yi.
Among them, Li Cheng obtained the Satsuma Kingdom and became the founder of the Satsuma Li family.
Kong Yanzhou obtained the Fehou Kingdom and became the ancestor of the Kong family in Fehou.
Liu Lin captured Hizen Kingdom and founded the Hizen Liu family.
Wang Bolong captured Bungo Kingdom and founded the Bungo Wang family.
Liu Yi became the founding ancestor of the Fengqian Liu family.
As for the remaining four kingdoms of Chikuzen, Chikugo, Hyuga, and Osumi, plus the two small kingdoms of Iki and Tsushima, which were established on the outer islands of Kyushu, they were divided into two parts. Hyuga and Osumi were granted the title of "Vice General" "Zhao Shanhe, the remaining four countries belong to General Zhao Shanzhen.
The five Wanhu households, including Li Cheng, Kong Yanzhou, Liu Lin, Wang Bolong, and Liu Yi, are now called the heads of the Wanhu Kingdom. Each of them brought about seven or eight thousand households to rule his own feudal country. The remaining 10,000 households (originally belonging to the 50,000 households) plus Wanyanyan's own 2,500 Jurchen households were sealed in several other countries.
In addition, this "Hakata Shogunate" also controlled half of the Nagato Kingdom located in the western part of Honshu Island. This Nagato country is now a key area that the Hakata shogunate and the Japanese court compete for, so it was not enfeoffed. Instead, the Hakata shogunate and the five heads of the country below jointly sent troops to Nagato country to confront Japan's "imperial army" .
Although the Hakata shogunate's army was more powerful than the Japanese court's army, they were not likely to be invaders... so they did not choose to go straight to Heiankyo, defeat their opponents in one fell swoop, and force the Japanese court to sign an unequal treaty.
Instead, while dealing with the tug-of-war of Nagato Country, most of the energy was spent on suppressing the territories of the eleven countries on the two islands of Kyushu.
As for the method of suppression... Needless to say, it is also the feudal method of the Western Zhou Dynasty!
Because the Hakata shogunate did not have much enterprising spirit, the Japanese court was able to survive, and they also figured out what the Song Dynasty Zhengyi General's Palace was?
After figuring it out, the Japanese court no longer cared about the "respect of the Kingdom of God" and quickly sent envoys to the Song Dynasty to pay tribute... The "Song Dynasty Movement" must continue! Maybe the country will be destroyed!
Since they want to call themselves vassals, of course the leaders of Japan cannot call themselves emperors...but they also refuse to call themselves kings. So a compromise was made and he was called "King of Heaven".
Now the Japanese repatriation mission has arrived at Shuntian Mansion and is waiting for Zhao Kai to receive him.
Although Zhao Kai still doesn't know to what extent Japan's professed surrender will be? But one thing is certain, since the Hakata shogunate has established a firm foothold in Kyushu, Japan, the Song Dynasty has also expanded to the land of Japan...
In addition to the Western Tang regime and the Bodo regime, Zhao Chen, who calls himself the Southern Emperor of the Song Dynasty, seems to have achieved considerable success in the past few months!
Zhao Chen's current main expansion direction is the eastern coastal area of Indochina... and he has adopted a strategy of relying on the ocean, eating only the coast, giving priority to cultivated land, Song Jun Yimin, and Neo-Confucianism to follow up!
Compared with the Western Tang Dynasty and the Hakata Shogunate, Zhao Chen's approach was obviously more "Chinese", because he not only exported population and feudal system, but also exported famous religions!
Like Zhao Kai, he established his own "Neo-Religious Sect" and proclaimed himself the "Pope" - this sounds much more domineering than Zhao Kai's Xuezong!
Moreover, the ideals of the Confucianism sect are more domineering than Zhao Kai's Confucianism sect... They don't study things and reason, and they don't want to turn themselves into Scientology. They are "enlightened by heaven", and they must follow heaven's principles and teach people how to behave!
This fighting spirit is very strong!
However, the "Neo-Confucianism" and "Southern Emperor" who were full of fighting spirit did not attack Thang Long to destroy Annam in one fell swoop. They did not even occupy an inch of Annan's land, but captured the capital of the Champa state. After looting, they forced the king of Champa to convert to Confucianism and become a believer in Confucius. They also signed an "equal protection treaty" ", placed the Champa State under the protection of the Southern Emperor, and at the same time obtained the privilege of opening up colonies in the coastal areas of the Champa State...
This method looks very familiar!
In addition, in the north of the Song Dynasty, there were also changes during this period that did not look very dramatic, but may have a very far-reaching impact - the northern grasslands and the land of white mountains and black waters seemed to have entered the "Fortress Era"!
This "fortress" is not a bastion, but a triangular fortress - the shape of the triangular platform is relatively complex and difficult to build, but the triangular platform is much easier. Therefore, although the Jin Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom of Yelu Dashi copied the fortresses, the ones they copied were triangular fortresses with inferior defense capabilities.
Although the defensive power of this triangular fort is much worse than that of a bastion, it can still be better than an ordinary square castle... Moreover, both Dajin and Liao now have many camel cannons. The former cast it himself. The latter was provided by the Song Dynasty.
And this combination of "triangular fortress" and "camel cannon" is forever changing the situation in the north of the Song Dynasty.
Nomadic regimes may well become a thing of the past!
Because Yelu Dashi did not like nomadic life, he was essentially a scholar-official (not a scholar-official in the Song Dynasty, but the original version), and his ideal was to build cities and settle down.
So during the days when Zhao Kai was pacifying the southeast, he built dozens of triangular forts on the Mobei grassland and controlled a large area of fertile grassland... and also focused on controlling the "sitting" on the Mobei grassland. "Winter Land" is a place where herdsmen can escape the cold!
In addition, he also used these triangular forts to strengthen control of water sources in the arid areas of the southern Mobei Grassland.
Therefore, Dashi's control over the Mobei grassland has been greatly enhanced, and the "New Liao Kingdom" he rebuilt has become more and more like a real country!
I don’t know if it was because they suffered enough from the fortress in the Battle of Yuguan and retreated to the northeast outside the Great Wall. In the past period of time, in addition to a large-scale westward march, the Jin Kingdom was also approaching the border of the Song Dynasty. A large number of triangular forts were built in various places, and hundreds of triangular forts were also built on the newly conquered Koryo land....
In the imperial study room of Yaochi Palace, Zhao Kai stood in front of a huge Liao and Jin Dynasty map. He looked at the densely packed "triangular" marks on the map, smacked his lips, and said to himself: "The world is changing." It’s so fast! It’s only been a few days since the Great Jin Kingdom was attacked, so why did it become as fond of building fortresses as the Great Song Dynasty before it? Does Wan Yanliang think that these fortresses can stop my heavenly soldiers? "
