I studied in modern times

Chapter 640 Focus on the heart
After Zhao Xu sent Qian Yi away, he continued to rest and make up for his sleep.

When he woke up, he saw Empress Dowager Xiang looking at him with pity.

"Sixth brother is awake?" Empress Dowager Xiang touched his little face.

This child has indeed had a hard time lately.

They also had to take military matters into consideration, and sometimes they would be woken up late at night to listen to reports from the front line.

It’s also my own fault!
If you don’t understand military affairs, you will be hesitant and unable to make a decision.

Although the Queen Mother knew a little, she was not familiar with the civil and military officials on the front line.

In addition, he is somewhat impatient by nature, and is often happy when he hears of victory and afraid when he hears of defeat.

Only this child, who might have been brought by the late emperor, had gone through the five battles of Lanzhou in the seventh year of Yuanfeng and the battle of Dingxi City.

Therefore, one can remain calm in the face of victory or defeat, and remain calm in the face of danger.

Because of his extraordinary memory, he could even recite the resumes of military officials above the rank of ambassador along the border.

I know these people's personalities very well.

I am even familiar with the geographical features along the border because I look at the sand table every day.

Therefore, we can always make relatively reasonable judgments.

He is always able to make bold judgments in times of crisis.

For example, at the beginning, when the Song Dynasty was attacked on all fronts, this child made a direct judgment in the palace - the enemy's main attack must be in Xihe, and the focus of Xihe must be Dingxi, and all other routes were feint attacks.

And now, these instructions have come true.

The main force of the bandits was indeed in Xihe, and their main attack direction was indeed Dingxi City.

In addition, there are instructions to the border officials during the war.

It can be said to be neither hurried nor slow, and well organized.

Delegating power while imposing constraints.

So, we finally achieved today’s results.

"Why is the Queen Mother here?" Zhao Xu asked with a smile, "What happened?"

"Yes!" Xiang said to the Queen Mother, "Just now, Hedong's Lü Huiqing sent a report on a hurried horse, saying that the Western bandit envoy, Wei Ming Moduo, followed the order of his queen mother and entered the country to negotiate peace under the pretext of 'redeeming the fake prince consort'."

"Sixth brother had foresight when he ordered Lu Huiqing to abide by the peace agreement and withdraw from Ningxing, Heshi and Kuye River!" Empress Dowager Xiang sighed.

Her husband is also very smart and often has foresight.

Whether it was the attack on Luowu City at the beginning of his reign, or the Battle of Yongle City in his later years.

They were all extremely strategic, and it could even be said that if successful, their deployments could have destroyed Western Xia.

However, I always can't control my temper and want to accomplish everything in one go.

So, there was trouble.

A mutiny broke out in Luowu City and it had to be ended hastily.

However, Yongle City modified its plan many times amid disputes among generals on the front line.

Finally, Yongle City was chosen to be located on a mountain without water source.

As a result, Yongle City went from being a live piece that could revitalize the entire chess game to a disaster for the Song Dynasty.

Fortunately, he eventually educated an excellent successor.

"The Western envoy has entered the country. Has the Hedong side found out anything?" Zhao Xu asked calmly.

The Queen Mother smiled and showed Zhao Xu the seal from Lu Huiqing: "Sixth brother, please take a look. Lu Huiqing said that the envoys from the Western bandits seemed to be appointed by the Queen Mother of the Western bandits, and they did not discuss it with the Prime Minister..."

"Lü Huiqing's words may alienate the Western bandits, the Prime Minister and the Queen Mother..."

Zhao Xu's eyes lit up as he listened, and his evaluation of Lu Huiqing increased a little more.

He naturally knew that the method proposed by Lu Huiqing was not only feasible, but also brilliant!

Because in the Shaosheng era of his previous life, the current Western Xia Prime Minister Liang Yibu and his sister, Queen Mother Xiao Liang, eventually went to war.

The result was that Liang Yibu was defeated and forced to commit suicide.

A few years later, Empress Dowager Xiao Liang was poisoned to death by a Liao envoy in the Xixia Imperial Palace with a cup of poisoned wine in front of her son Qianshun, daughter-in-law Yelu Nanxian, and all the civil and military officials in the court.

At this point, Wei Mingjia’s repertoire has come to an end.

Brothers are still friendly and sisters are respectful, mother is loving and sons are filial.

Perhaps for this reason, after Qianshun took power, he vigorously promoted sinicization, established and improved the grammatical system, strengthened the monarchy, and weakened the power of foreign relatives and ministers.

However, Zhao Xu was still not sure what the two palaces’ attitude towards Lu Huiqing was?

So, he asked, "Mother, what does Grandmother think?"

He said to the Queen Mother: "The Grand Queen Mother feels that what Hedong reported may just be Lu Huiqing's guess and cannot be taken as accurate..."

"What about the Queen Mother?"

"I?" Empress Dowager Xiang grabbed Zhao Xu's hand and said, "I don't quite understand these military and national strategies, but I believe in Sixth Brother. Sixth Brother must have a strategy in mind!"

This is something that has been proven by facts.

Zhang Dun's southern expedition in the first half of the year and the current war have proved to all court officials with eloquent facts that this child, although young, is indeed able to make decisions on major military and national policies, and these decisions have been proven to be correct!
This is how you govern a country.

As long as you do the right thing and succeed, there will be ministers joining you to cheer for you and sing your praises. Besides, the child is still so young.

As a result, court officials praised him and eulogized him as the King Cheng of the Song Dynasty.

Public opinion generally believes that even if he is not as good as King Cheng, he is at least an enhanced version of Emperor Zhang of Han and Emperor Shun of Han.

As long as God blesses me and I can live a normal life, it will not be a problem for me to revive the country and extend the life of the Song Dynasty for another hundred years.

Zhao Xu held Empress Dowager Xiang's hand and said, "My queen believes in me, and I will not disappoint you."

"From my perspective, the idea of ​​the Hedong governor may be feasible!"

"After the envoy arrives, I'll try and find out."

"Ok!"

Zhao Xu grabbed Empress Dowager Xiang's hand and rubbed it out of habit.

This matter needs to be thought about carefully.

Sowing discord in diplomacy is a technical job.

For Zhao Xu, the interesting thing about this matter is that he has a God's perspective and knows clearly that the Empress Dowager Liang and Prime Minister Liang Yibu will definitely fall out with each other, and the fight will not stop until one side dies.

"Interesting...Interesting..." Zhao Xu thought in his heart: "If I remember correctly..."

"Bingchang has a posthumous son named Richard, who is recognized as a famous general in modern Xixia history research, a legendary figure similar to the Lanling King of the Northern Qi Dynasty!"

Zhao Xu had seen the battle record of Qian Shun's good brother in modern times.

He is a general who is strategic, calm, able to judge the situation keenly, remain calm in times of crisis and make the most appropriate choice.

In that era when Western Xia was in a comprehensive strategic disadvantage, this man emerged like a savior and saved the situation.

But no matter how great Brother Richard is, he is only a little over one year old and is still in his infancy.

This might be a point that can be exploited!
If you can use...

When Zhao Xu thought of this, he became excited.

His experience studying abroad in modern times taught him that the best way to break through the enemy's fortress is to let the enemy kill each other.

How many great empires, how many impregnable cities, have perished in civil strife.

The Dangxiang people, although seemingly a loose group, are actually very tenacious.

Once they encounter a crisis, under the pressure of a sense of crisis, they will unite and burst out with unprecedented combat effectiveness and fighting will.

Even the nomadic empire that later swept across Europe and Asia was repeatedly frustrated when facing the Western Xia with frontal attacks.

In the end, they could only resort to their most adept large-scale roundabout tactics, encircling the enemy from the Western Regions, capturing the Hexi Corridor, and ultimately trapping and besieging the Dangxiang people to death in the narrow area of ​​Xingqing Prefecture.

Even so, according to historical records, Western Xia also put up an arduous and tenacious resistance.

Legend has it that in its last bastion, the Western Xia army and civilians first experienced a severe earthquake disaster and then were ravaged by a plague.

Finally, out of necessity, the last emperor surrendered in order to save the remaining people.

Before that, the Xixia people had fought various arduous defensive battles.

Especially in the defense of Lingzhou, the former crown prince remained steadfast and unyielding, and calmly went to die for his country.

His son Li Wei Zhong was only seven years old, but he also resolutely requested to die. The Mongols were surprised by this and he was adopted by a prince. Li Wei Zhong's son was Li Heng, who later participated in the destruction of the Song Dynasty!

The tragic fall of Western Xia was only second to the fall of the Jin Dynasty, where the emperor died in the charge.

In comparison, the performance of Zhao Ji and his son during the Jingkang Shame was really infuriating!

Later, the little emperor jumped into the sea and died on Yashan Mountain, which somewhat saved his reputation.

Therefore, in order to deal with Western Xia, we must conquer the Dangxiang people.

Zhao Xu knew very well that it was not impossible to achieve the goal by relying solely on military force.

But the cost is high.

Provoking internal strife and weakening the morale of the army and the people may be the best strategy.

The Art of War says: In employing troops, attacking the heart is better than attacking the city.

Of course, Zhao Xu also understood that without a strong military force, the enemy would be destroyed without a fight just by fantasizing.

In the end, it will be yourself who perishes.

So, he has been making preparations seriously.

Climb the technology tree seriously.

In the past year or so, in addition to appointing Shen Kuo to head a military equipment manufacturing bureau to incubate and research various technologies.

He also let Su Song be the director of the Hanlin Astronomical Bureau and the director of the Armillary Sphere and Clepsydra Bureau.

The Yuanyou Hunyunyi was promoted as the Apollo Project of the Song Dynasty.

Use the best materials, summon the strongest craftsmen, appoint the best technical bureaucrats, gather the best mathematicians, astronomers and engineering technical bureaucrats, and do everything possible to meet the needs of the Armillary Sphere and Clepsydra Bureau.

"After this battle, we should rest and recuperate, and strive for a stable and good external environment..."

"It just so happens that Mrs. Liang came to ask for peace... We can meet her conditions appropriately..."

"Even if we can't induce civil unrest in Western Xia, at least we can temporarily stabilize Western Xia."

Of course, it’s not too much to make some money and fleece the Xixia people, right?
(End of this chapter)