Faced with the hard facts, many people who once expressed disbelief had to believe it.
Jin Guozhen took the pill.
Zhao Gou had nothing to say about this detailed and reliable intelligence. He held an imperial meeting to reiterate the three-step strategy that Zhang Jun had insisted on before, and asked Zhang Jun if he had anything to add.
Zhang Jun was silent for a long time, leaving only a sigh.
"I just regret that this victory was not won by the King of the Song Dynasty. If the King of the Song Dynasty achieved this victory, he would be able to avenge his shame and appease his ancestors..."
Zhao Gou was speechless after hearing this.
Now that the situation has been determined, we must act according to the second step of Zhang Jun's three-step strategy.
A delegation of envoys of a certain size was sent to represent Lin'an and the Song Dynasty court to meet with the senior leaders of the Liberation Army, contact them, and test the tone.
At the same time, observe whether the areas in Shandong and Hebei are stable and properly managed, and whether there are rampant thieves and chaos.
Through different contacts at two levels, we can determine whether the Liberation Army group can be negotiated, whether it can be conquered, and whether it poses a military threat to the Song Dynasty.
The Lin'an court actually didn't have much information, because they didn't care about the Liberation Army at all before, and felt that it was not worth investing too much energy in taking jujube pills.
As a result, a large amount of information is suddenly needed, which is obviously difficult.
However, the Lin'an court still has some personal information about the two important leaders of the Liberation Army.
The number one figure in the Liberation Army, leader Zhao Zuoliang.
The second most powerful figure in the Liberation Army, General Su Yonglin.
Regarding these two people, Zhao Gou specially organized the Zaifu Group to conduct a wave of intelligence sharing in an attempt to open a gap between these two people.
The prerequisite for opening the gap is to know the other party, understand the other party, and prescribe the right medicine.
According to intelligence, the two are related by their father-in-law, and Zhao Zuoliang is Su Yonglin's father-in-law. They have different surnames, but they are actually a family, and they do not speak the same language.
"According to the information we have received before, Zhao Zuoliang, the leader of the Liberation Army, does not actually hold real power. The person who holds real power and leads the military is General Su Yonglin, and Zhao Zuoliang's rise to power has a lot to do with this person."
Wang Lun shared the few valuable pieces of information that the Privy Council had obtained previously.
Zhang Jun nodded.
"So where is this Su Yonglin from? What is his background? How old is he? Do you know all this?"
Zhang Jun looked at Wang Lun.
Wang Lun was a little embarrassed.
"I really don't know much about this, because before this, the contact between our court and the Liberation Army was only with the former leader Zhao Kaishan, and I have limited knowledge about Su Yonglin. He is like a sudden rise of a new army. .”
"There is never a sudden rise in momentum. Only after careful consideration, full preparation, and full assurance can the momentum arise. This Su Yonglin must have been deeply involved in the Liberation Army for a long time and have enough supporters to achieve anything."
Zhang Jun said solemnly: "Our lack of understanding in this area is our weakness. In addition to Zhao Zuoliang, we must have a thorough understanding of Su Yonglin on this mission, so that we can prescribe the right medicine, negotiate with him, and strive to get him to join the Song Dynasty." , for my use.”
Zhao Gou nodded, and then acted according to the strategy planned by Zhang Jun, selecting suitable people to serve as representatives to the Liberation Army.
This person's status does not need to be too high, but he must be smart, clever, and courageous. Zhao thought about it and thought of a person.
This man's name was Yu Yunwen, and he was recommended to Zhao Gou by Zhao Kui, a close minister whom Zhao Gou trusted very much.
Zhao Kui died of illness two years ago, and Yu Yunwen was the last person he recommended, so Zhao Gou had a deep impression of Yu Yunwen.
He was born in Shu and was a Jinshi in the imperial examination in the 24th year of Shaoxing. At that time, Qin Hui was in power and no Shu ministers were needed. Yu Yunwen was always suppressed. After Qin Hui's death, Zhao Gou wanted to win over the previously suppressed Shu ministers. Zhao Kui was the first I recommended Yu Yunwen.
Zhao Gou met Yu Yunwen. Yu Yunwen advised Zhao Gou on the strategy of getting rid of the bad governance in Shu. He showed his administrative talents and was recognized by Zhao Gou. He began to appoint him by his side, giving him attention and some political resources for training.
Zhao Gou is still very optimistic about Yu Yunwen.
The only thing that made him feel unhappy was that this Yu Yunwen was also a staunch militant and a Northern Expeditionist who took the initiative to attack. Over the years, he had been writing letters about various matters related to the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, and he was somewhat like Zhang Jun's second best.
But at this time, the situation in the Central Plains was unclear, and the future of the Southern Song Dynasty was also unclear. It was indeed a time when these courageous ministers were needed to do something, so Zhao Gou thought of Yu Yunwen.
So Zhao Gou ordered Yu Yunwen, a minister of the Ministry of Rites, to borrow the minister of the Ministry of Workers and, under the banner of a senior official, lead a delegation of twenty-three people to go north to Shandong to seek contact with the leaders of the Liberation Army.
Yu Yunwen was ordered to prepare immediately. Soon the preparations were complete, and under the banner of the Song Dynasty, he led the delegation into the territory of the Liberation Army and met with the senior leaders of the Liberation Army.
After the Liberation Army occupied Shandong, the Haizhou area bordering the Southern Song Dynasty was always guarded by generals from the Zhao family, and the border was opened to the Southern Song Dynasty for business.
At first, he just did business and collected taxes to earn some money for Zhao Kaishan to subsidize the military.
But later, Zhao Kaishan heard about the illegal sale of salt on the border between the Song Dynasty and Jin Dynasty, and felt that there was something behind it, so he asked the generals of the Zhao family to take the lead in selling illegal salt to salt merchants in the Southern Song Dynasty, and took advantage of the salt price difference between the Song Dynasty and Jin Dynasty. Salt business.
The private salt business is of course very profitable. The business in Haizhou made a lot of money, which made Zhao Kaishan and the Zhao family very happy.
After Su Yonglin seized power, he took control of Haizhou and captured all the generals of the Zhao family. Considering the special status of Haizhou, he changed the local officials and decided to set up a pilot project for governance.
He promoted some instructors who had done relatively well at the local level to county magistrates and asked them to try to guard the local area. They would start as county magistrates to see how good their governance capabilities were.
In order to prevent trouble, he sent Qi Shaohui, a young officer and brigade commander from his own army, the Huben Army, to Haizhou to lead the garrison and control the business order in Haizhou.
The main responsibilities are to strictly enforce tax rates and business scope, crack down on illegal operations, and at the same time eliminate local armed groups and establish the ruling order in Haizhou.
As for the original private salt sales business... He has already established himself in the north and became the master of Shandong and Hebei. Is it still considered private salt?
That's called selling salt seriously!
Can your Southern Song Dynasty law still control our Liberation Army?
He had no choice but to give up his share of private salt sales in the Southern Song Dynasty. He was actually quite reluctant to part with such a huge income, but he had to do it.
Now that he occupies a dominant position in the Central Plains, he has sufficient confidence to do business with private salt dealers in the Southern Song Dynasty.
The income from selling salt in the Southern Song Dynasty was transferred to Lin Jingchun, the Ministry of Food and Rating, under the direct jurisdiction of the Ministry. The salt transaction with the Southern Song Dynasty was conducted by the Food and Rating Department, and the profits were directly charged to the public account of the Food and Rating Company as one of the sources of military expenditures.
In just a few months, the income from selling salt in Haizhou really made his mouth water. It fattened up the Food and Rating Department, and also provided a large amount of funds for the subsequent tactics of strengthening the wall and clearing the country.
Before the Guangfu Army uprising, the line bordering the Jin Kingdom and the Southern Song Dynasty was an important area for private salt sales, including Haizhou, Pizhou, Sizhou and Suzhou.
After the Great Uprising, all the private salt dealers and private salt groups in this area were destroyed by the war, and the scale of private salt trade between the two countries dropped by more than 70%.
In the Southern Song Dynasty, because cheap gold salt was not available, the price of black market salt, which was originally relatively cheap, also increased for a while, causing public resentment and causing many private salt selling groups to close down.
Later, Zhao Kaishan sent his own people to reopen the private salt trade, and this gave some blood to the private salt dealers in the Southern Song Dynasty.
It was only after Su Yonglin took control of the local area that the scale of Haizhou's private salt trade returned to its pre-war state.
Judging from the current fiscal revenue, the income from salt sales in Haizhou is indeed very important, so for a long time to come, Su Yonglin plans to take advantage of the low salt prices in the areas he rules to launch a price war against the Southern Song Dynasty.
Use your own low salt price to severely impact the Southern Song Dynasty's salt market and make a fortune from him. For this situation, it is impossible to solve this situation unless the Southern Song Dynasty uses troops against him.
And if the Southern Song Dynasty used troops against him...
Well, in time, if he can pacify the Central Plains and gain a firm foothold, that will be a golden reason to start a war.
Su Yonglin's malice towards the Southern Song Dynasty was quite strong.
