Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 256
Fan Ning really didn't expect that the emperor Zhao Zhen summoned him to chat with him about expanding the territory.

Of course, Fan Ning also understood in his heart that this was just a private chat. It is estimated that what he said during the imperial examination interview moved Zhao Zhen. If it was a formal conversation, it would require the presence of Xiangguo and the generals, but it would not be his turn at that time. His chance to speak.

Fan Ning sorted out the thoughts in his mind for a while, and then slowly said: "If a worker wants to do a good job, he must first sharpen his tools. Weichen believes that the first key is to have strong shipbuilding technology and a strong navy. "

Song Renzong said with a smile: "The shipbuilding technology of the Song Dynasty is very advanced. Whether it is a river ship or a sea ship, thousands of ships are built every year. There are government-run docks in Hangzhou, Mingzhou, Wenzhou, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou. There are a large number of private docks, and the Shenzhou Wanshi giant ship built can travel thousands of miles and reach Dashi. I don’t worry about shipbuilding, but I don’t quite understand the establishment of a powerful navy. Are we going to rob other lands? Want to go on an expedition?"

Fan Ning said with a slight smile: "The establishment of a powerful navy is to protect merchant ships and transport civilian ships. Nanyang pirates are infested, and there are still many uneducated natives on the land of Nanyang. Even if we don't rob their land, they will come to rob us. property and population, only a strong military can protect the safety of immigrants overseas."

After a pause, Fan Ning said again: "Besides, building a powerful naval force is also beneficial for us to fight against the Liao army. For example, when the Liao Kingdom invaded southward on a large scale, we had a naval force of tens of thousands in Lulong, Yingzhou, Yanshan Prefecture. Landing in the area, cutting off the back of the Liao army, and making the Liao army invading south suffer from the enemy, is it beneficial for the Song army to fight on the battlefield?
Weichen has always believed that although the Liao army has the advantage of war horses, we have the advantage of the navy. Why don't we make full use of this advantage?

Another example is that when we fight Xixia, we may not have to fight fiercely with the party members in Yan'an Mansion or Gyeongju. We can build a powerful navy on the Yellow River and go straight to Xingqing Mansion. I believe that on the water, the Liao army and the Xixia army They are far from our opponents. "

The shipbuilding industry of the Song Dynasty is extremely developed, and it can be said to stand on the top of the world, but neither the monarch nor the ministers of the Song Dynasty have ever thought of using the developed shipbuilding industry to build a powerful navy. Fan Ning's words, As if seeing the sun through the clouds, Zhao Zhen felt suddenly enlightened.

However, what Zhao Zhen thought of was not that Song Dynasty took the initiative to tear up the covenant to attack Liao and Xixia, but that if Liao and Xixia aggressively attacked the Song Dynasty, they could use the navy to attack the rear.

Zhao Zhen stood up and came to the wall, and quickly opened a curtain. On the wall, a huge map of the Song Dynasty's ten thousand miles of rivers and mountains appeared in front of Fan Ning.

Zhao Zhen took a thin wooden pole and handed it to Fan Ning, "Tell me from the map!"

Fan Ning took the wooden pole and looked at the map. The northernmost part of the map is only Liaodong, and there is nothing further north. Fan Ning smiled and said: "My humble servants are talking nonsense, and your majesty will listen to it!"

Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "You can speak freely, I will tell the difference!"

Fan Ning pointed to the road to the north of Liaodong with a wooden pole: "Weichen once saw a map of Andong Duhufu in the Tang Dynasty. In the north of Liaodong, there is a big river called Heishui, also known as Heilongjiang. The hinterland of this big river can be directly reached. The lair of the Khitan and Xi people.

Not far from the mouth of Heishui, there are two big islands in the north and south. The big island in the south is called Maoren Island, which is close to the country of the Japanese. , The grassland stretches as far as the eye can see, thousands of miles from north to south, from east to west, which is very suitable for raising horses.

There is another big island to the north, which is close to the mouth of Heishui. This big island is called Sakhalin Island. It has an area equivalent to Jiangnan East Road and is almost uninhabited.

What Weichen means is that if Song Dynasty builds military cities and horse breeding bases on these two big islands, on the one hand, it can provide Song Dynasty with a steady stream of war horses, and on the other hand, it will create an opportunity for Song Dynasty to attack the north of Liao Kingdom from the water army. condition. "

Fan Ning's unconstrained imagination made Zhao Zhen unbelievable. Although it is a bit far away to attack Liao's lair from Heishui, it would be an excellent way to raise horses there.

The reason why the Song Dynasty lacked horses was that there was no land for raising horses. The Song Dynasty wanted to regain Hexi just to get a land for raising horses, and the Liao Kingdom supported Xixia in order to undermine the Song Dynasty's national policy of obtaining the Hexi Corridor.

If the Song Dynasty also had millions of war horses and powerful cavalry, the Song army would be able to fight against the Khitan cavalry.

The reason why Zhao Zhen was tempted by the horse breeding base was that the Song Dynasty already had horse transport ships, each ship could transport hundreds of horses, and the Song Dynasty sea ships traveled between Quanzhou and Dashi all the year round, sailing tens of thousands of miles, without fear of the deep sea in the wind and waves.

After solving the transportation problem, Fan Ning's plan to build a horse breeding base certainly excited Zhao Zhen's blood. He immediately ordered: "Get me all the maps of the Tang Dynasty!"

Next to the imperial study room is a library, which contains a large number of books and maps, including maps left by the Tang Dynasty.

After a while, the eunuchs brought over dozens of volumes of maps. They were all extremely surprised. They had never seen an official talking to a minister like this. The two actually knelt on the ground, looking for something on the map?
Fan Ning understood what Zhao Zhen meant, but he was also a little worried, would there be maps of Hokkaido and Sakhalin on the maps of the Tang Dynasty?
Fan Ning and Zhao Zhen each opened the map to search. At this time, Fan Ning accidentally found a map that the Bohai Kingdom paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty. He opened the map and was pleasantly surprised to find that Sakhalin Island was painted on it, but it was marked as a place of bitter cold. No one lived there, so he hurriedly said to Zhao Zhen: "Your Majesty, I have found it!"

Zhao Zhen hurriedly got up and spread out the map. Fan Ning pointed to Sakhalin Island in the north and said, "This is the big island outside the black water estuary that Weichen mentioned. We call it Sakhalin Island. It still belongs to Wuchen Island. The Island of Man."

Zhao Zhen stared at it for a while, then sighed: "The place is good, but it's too far away, I'm afraid the horses can't bear the long-distance transportation on the ship."

Fan Ning also found that Zhao Zhen was more interested in the horse breeding base, and he did not consider attacking Liao by water for the time being.

In fact, there is no rush to attack Liao. As long as you can gain a firm foothold in Hokkaido and Sakhalin, attacking Liao will naturally come naturally in the future.

Fan Ning also did not mention the matter of attacking the Liao Kingdom by water. His top priority now is to allow the Song Dynasty to occupy Hokkaido and Sakhalin Island. Japan did not cross the sea to Hokkaido until the middle and late Ming Dynasty at the end of the sixteenth century. At this time, Hokkaido was still There are a few indigenous people living in the land of no man, which is completely suitable for the Song Dynasty to raise horses.

Fan Ning said slightly: "Wei Chen suggested that we can use the method of water transportation to set up a transit breeding ground."

He pointed to Jeju Island on the map, "This big island is called Tamna Island. It does not belong to Silla. It has a radius of nearly a thousand miles. It can also raise horses. It is very suitable as a transit place for war horses. There is currently a small country on the island called The population of Tamra Kingdom is less than [-]. The Song Dynasty can destroy it and move the population to the Central Plains.

In this way, Tamna Island became a transfer place for the war horses of the Song Dynasty. The war horses were transported from Maoren Island in the north to Tamna Island. The war horses could rest and transfer on the island, and then transported from Tamna Island to Song Dynasty. It is no problem for Song to obtain 30 million war horses. "

Fan Ning's words made Zhao Zhen unable to restrain the excitement in his heart. He paced back and forth in the imperial study and said to Fan Ning, "Keep talking!"

"Weichen suggested to occupy Tamna Island first, and then the navy would use Tamna Island as a base to go northward, occupy Maoren Island, use the Wa Kingdom to replenish food and supplies, and recruit Japanese labor to develop Maoren Island. After more than ten years, After the Song Dynasty has fully established its foothold on Maoren Island, it will go north to occupy Sakhalin Island, and continue to raise horses and sheep on Sakhalin Island.

With the barrier of the sea, the Khitans would not be able to invade and destroy it. Weichen estimated that in 20 years, the Great Song Dynasty would also have millions of war horses, and the recovery of Youzhou was just around the corner. "

Zhao Zhen was so excited that he couldn't restrain himself. He knew that the time to attack the Liao Kingdom was far from ripe. Once it was raised, it would inevitably find opposition from the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty. After all, the Tanyuan Alliance had allowed the Song Dynasty to enjoy more than forty years. Peace, no one will easily abolish this covenant.

But the establishment of a horse breeding base is different. This is the favorite industry of the Song Dynasty court. Because there is Tamna Island in the middle, and the powerful shipbuilding industry and ocean-going ships of the Song Dynasty are the guarantee, it can be implemented.

Then use the trade with Silla or Japan to obtain food and materials as a logistical supplement. Zhao Zhen felt that it only needed two or three years of preparation before the plan could be implemented.

Thinking of this, Zhao Zhen said to Fan Ning: "I will give you three days to write me a feasible plan in detail. Once I approve this plan, I will definitely reward you!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty! I will go back and prepare immediately."

Although Zhao Zhen was really shocked by Fan Ning's remarks, and he also wanted to know why Fan Ning knew so much, but now he can't take care of so much for the time being.

Zhao Zhen took out a gold medal from the drawer and handed it to Fan Ning, "This is my no-call gold medal. With this gold medal, you can enter the palace at any time, and you don't need to report it!"

Fan Ning took the gold medal and bowed in salute, "Your Majesty loves me so much, I am so grateful, I bid farewell!"

Fan Ning left. Zhao Zhen stood alone in front of the map and stared at the northeast direction for a long time. His thoughts had already crossed the vast sea to find the endless grassland. He seemed to see a million war horses galloping on the grassland. It inspired the powerful fighting power of Song Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)