People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 308 The consequences of angering the Song Dynasty

In the first half of the fifth year of Qingli, after Yang Cha arrived in the southwest, he immediately began to integrate resources.

First of all, the local troops stationed on Guangnan West Road were concentrated. There were not many people, only more than 10,000 people, which was basically all the troops on Guangnan West Road.

Historically, Guangxi was either conquered by Vietnam or the Nong Chigao rebels. It was not that they were strong, but that Guangxi was very weak.

There are only a few thousand people in Yongzhou City, and in the past two years, the court has drastically reduced the number of old and weak people, and the military strength in Guangxi has been further reduced.

This amount of troops was definitely not enough, so Yang Cha asked Nong Zhigao to immediately contact the leaders of the border residents who were often harassed by the Vietnamese and invite them to jointly send troops.

For a time, a large number of troops were gathered on the Guangxi Road, and grain and grass were transported in large quantities from Guangdong, Hunan and other neighboring provinces through the Ling Canal, and Yongzhou's treasury was piled up like a mountain.

At the same time, Di Qing's mighty army also left Bianliang. They also took the overland route through the Nanyang Basin and arrived at Xiangyang. Then they took a boat all the way south, taking the Han River, the Yangtze River, and the Xiang River and turning into the Lingqu.

Thanks to Zhao Jun's early years, he allocated a lot of money to carry out extensive repair work on Ling Canal. Otherwise, although the 10,000-strong army was not large, he could carry thousands of tons of weapons, food, firearms, tents and other ordnance materials. , it may not be possible to arrive smoothly.

Historically, Nongzhi started in April of the fourth year of Huangyou's reign and conquered Yongzhou in May.

The imperial court immediately dispatched Di Qing after receiving the news, but Di Qing did not arrive in Yongzhou until the end of the year. It can be seen that it took at least half a year from the rebellion of Nong Zhigao to the imperial court to reorganize the troops and go on an expedition, and then to arrive in Guangxi.

There is no other way, the journey is far, so this is the only way.

The big move in Guangxi also quickly attracted the attention of Jiaozhi. Firstly, Jiaozhi had many internal contacts in Guangxi, so it was impossible for them to notice such a big move by the imperial court.

Secondly, Nong Zhigao had been fighting with them, and he was suddenly called to be the Tongzhi of Yongzhou. This meant that the Song Dynasty court had noticed Guangxi.

In the past, the Vietnamese Li Dynasty had made many small moves, mainly because it was located in a remote area in the southwest. The Song Dynasty court paid much less attention to them than the Liao Kingdom and Xixia, and even Japan's Goryeo was far more important than them.

As long as they didn't make too much noise, attacked the Song Dynasty's territory Guangxi with great fanfare, and looted on the border, considering the cost of using troops against Cochin, the Song Dynasty would hold its nose and endure it.

But now Guangxi is not only hoarding a large amount of supplies, but is even recruiting local ethnic minorities and gathering troops, seemingly intending to use troops against Jiaozhi.

For a while, Li Chao of Vietnam was also a little panicked.

The Song Dynasty has become much stronger in recent years. Not only is it abundant in domestic materials and has a bumper grain harvest, but it has also shone brightly on the international stage with its several defeats against Xixia and Liao.

So if when the Song Dynasty was weak, the Song Dynasty could still tolerate the little tricks in the past, but now it may really want to launch an army to hold them accountable.

Thinking that before the establishment of the Li Dynasty, Jiaozhi had been occupied by the Central Plains Dynasty. Even if there were occasional rebellions and established its own empire, it was quickly wiped out by the Central Plains Dynasty soon after. Li Foma, Taizong of the Li Dynasty, was a little panicked.

Li Foma was one of the wisest monarchs in the history of Vietnam. During his reign, he worked hard to govern, and the prosperity of the Li Yue period was basically laid by him.

But no matter what, Li Yue's size is still far different from that of the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, after discussing with dozens of people including Taiwei Guo Shengyi, Taibao Tao Chuzhong, Privy Councilor Li Fengxiao, and other civil and military ministers Li Zhengxian, Li Zaiyan, Du Qing, Liang Maocai, Feng Zhizhi, Ban Shiyonghe, and Ban Du Xingru, he decided to send The envoy sent the white elephant to the Song Dynasty.

This is what Li Foma has done for so many years. Starting from the Zhao Heng period, the Li Dynasty sent envoys to pay tribute many times. Whenever there was a problem on the border, and the Song Dynasty issued a letter to blame, they would immediately send ministers to the Song Dynasty to make peace.

Among these civil and military ministers, many of them served as envoys to the Song Dynasty many times. They are all important ministers in the court, such as the deputy envoy to the privy council, the commander in front of the palace, the three ministers and the three divisions.

It's just that the face is taken care of the Song Dynasty, and Li Zi invades anyway.

Within two years after each time the envoys were sent to repair the border, they began to harass the border again, sometimes moving the border line and invading Song Dynasty territory. Sometimes they cross the border and kidnap border residents, burning, killing, and looting.

It seems that Song Dynasty is going to get serious this year, so Li Foma naturally wants to repeat his old tricks.

Anyway, in their opinion, the Li Dynasty was located in a remote area, and the Song Dynasty's high-profile attack was not worth the gain. As long as the Song Dynasty was taken care of, they should be able to stop their activities.

Soon in June, when Di Qing arrived in Guilin, Guangxi and was about to go to Yongzhou, Li Dynasty's credentials were quickly sent to Bianliang.

It's early June, it's late summer, and the weather has no intention of getting cooler at all.

After the Little Ice Age passed, the world began to warm up. Without air conditioning in summer, it was simply torture, especially in Henan and Hebei. In May this year, there was a drought in Henan.

If the court had not provided timely relief and took advantage of this opportunity to immediately allocate silver and hire local young people to repair water conservancy, many people would have starved to death.

In the Constitutional Courtyard, this moment that was supposed to be about enjoying the leisure time at noon was actually very rushed.

Inside and outside the house, many officials and other officials from the Constitutional Yuan came and went, as if something big was happening.

But it’s not actually a big deal, it’s just that there have been too many official documents piling up in the past few years.

Taking advantage of the summer, Zhao Jun asked people to clean and screen, and continue to save the useful ones and put them in the yard to bask in the sun. Throw the useless ones to the warehouse and keep them in the archives warehouse first.

The blazing sun was shining and the room was stuffy. Although the doors and windows were open for ventilation, it still made people feel upset. There were more than ten prime ministers in the room, and only Zhao Jun, Fan Zhongyan, Yan Shu, Jiang Tang, Cai Qi, and Song Shou were there. .

They are all under sixty years old, have strong bodies, are still in the prime of life, and can still hold on despite the scorching heat.

The other prime ministers are all in their sixties or seventies, and they are indeed a little unable to bear it.

For example, Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng have gradually recovered their health during this period. Although they have aged a lot, they quickly returned to work and continued to work. However, because the weather was too hot, they went home to rest.

"It's finally sorted out. We should make big moves again this year." Fan Zhongyan wiped the sweat from his forehead, sorted out the official documents in his hand, and prepared to hand them over to Zhao Zhen for final review in the afternoon.

After half a year of deliberation, he and Zhao Jun negotiated the content of this year's reforms from the very beginning. Finally, after deleting the increase several times to ensure that it would not arouse the opposition of many prime ministers in the Constitutional Yuan, he discussed it with everyone.

But even so, everyone has their own opinions. Some people think that making such a big move and nationwide mobilization after only two good years will cause financial depletion and national instability.

Some people also think that since the future will be steam-powered, and cement factories, brick factories and other factories are also expanding on a large scale, the roads in the future should be cement roads, or even brick roads, instead of continuing to build rammed earth roads now.

In the future, after a large-scale restoration of dirt roads, we will immediately start building brick roads and cement roads. Will it lead to financial duplication, continuous investment that will be difficult to recover, and ultimately lead to waste?

For this reason, Zhao Jun could only explain patiently.

First, through the budget of the Ministry of Finance, the annual large-scale infrastructure expenditure allocated is about 30 million yuan. This money is saved from the original redundant military expenditure and will not harm the foundation of the national treasury.

The second is the problem of brick and stone roads and cement roads, including trains. Since rubber takes eight years to grow, Zhao Jun believes that it should be at least ten years before construction can be started, and two to thirty years before it can be completely popularized.

After all, the main function of cement roads is to supply cars. It is still too luxurious for horse-drawn carriages to use cement roads. When steam engines cannot yet be mass-produced and steam power cannot be built on a large scale, just like the canal, ensuring the infrastructure construction of ancient society is the best way.

Therefore, if it can still be used for at least thirty years in the future, ordinary rammed earth roads will be built first. When steam engines become popular in the future, electricity and internal combustion engines will even be developed through steam power, starting the second industrial revolution, and then brick and stone roads will be built. Cement roads are not too late either.

So after three or four months, the Constitutional Yuan finally unified its opinions and made reforms and related major matters ranging from politics, military, economy, agriculture, education, science and technology, medical care, diplomacy, culture, infrastructure and even natural resources. measure.

This reform opinion should be the last reform of the Song Dynasty from an agricultural country to a primary industrial country of the first industrial revolution. It involves all aspects and the entire social order, which will produce huge changes.

"What's wrong, so happy?"

At this time, Zhao Jun came in from the outside and saw Fan Zhongyan's face beaming with joy, and couldn't help but be curious.

Fan Zhongyan smiled and said: "Isn't it finalized at the meeting this morning? I have organized and summarized the contents of the meeting and everything. I will finalize it with the officials in the afternoon, stamp it with a jade seal, and then it will be officially released."

"Well, then go ahead and do it boldly."

Zhao Jun came to his seat as he spoke, tidied up a little before leaving.

Seeing this, Yan Shu wondered: "Hanlong, where are you going?"

"I just went to the official's house for dinner. On the way back, the Academy of Sciences reported it, and I was going to inspect it." Zhao Jun said.

"Oh?"

Fan Zhongyan, Cai Qi, Song Shou, Jiang Tang and others all looked over.

Yan Shu smiled and said: "The Academy of Sciences has another surprise?"

In recent years, the Academy of Sciences has been constantly surprises, including the development of mathematics, physics research, and even chemical experiments.

They even developed the garlic refining method, the glass refining method and the soap refining method under Zhao Zhen's instructions. For a time, Zhao Zhen's reputation as a great inventor became more and more popular among the people.

The most important thing is that Zhao Zhen also helped them build a relatively scientific system. In terms of mathematics, Zhao Zhen was confused, but in chemistry and physics, Zhao Zhen established the periodic table of elements and invented Zhao's mechanics, Zhao's optics, and Zhao's third... The law of one and so on.

So much so that the group of scholars at the Academy of Sciences who were dedicated to studying science were stunned. They all praised Zhao Zhen as a god who came to the world, and worshiped him as an academic master. They almost carved a wooden sculpture for him on the spot.

Zhao Jun said: "Didn't the official study electromagnetic force at the beginning of this year? He made a Tesla coil himself and named it Zhao's coil. The Academy of Sciences has already made it. Let me go and take a look."

"Awesome, worthy of being an official."

"It is truly a blessing from heaven to have such a wise and powerful emperor in our Song Dynasty."

"I really want to see the development of electricity one day."

Several prime ministers were deeply moved for a while.

Although these things were all done on the computer that Zhao Jun brought, Zhao Jun didn't have time to do it himself.

Instead, Zhao Zhen stayed in the palace with nothing to do every day, and had time to figure things out.

As a result, Zhao Jun was helping him govern the country, but Zhao Zhen, a non-traveler, made inventions and creations, which was an outrageous thing.

But there is nothing we can do.

Zhao Jun doesn't know how to do many things himself, or even if he knows how to do them, he doesn't have much time.

Compared with invention and creation, governing the country is definitely more important.

If Zhao Jun concentrated on making inventions and let laymen like Zhao Zhen, Lu Yijian, Wang Zeng and others govern the country, wouldn't the Song Dynasty be finished?

"Okay, let me go to the Academy of Sciences first."

Zhao Jun smiled.

Just as he was about to turn around and go out, someone hurried in from outside and reported: "Report, Jiaozhi Credentials."

"Oh?"

Zhao Jun stopped, turned around and said to Fan Zhongyan and others: "It seems that the imperial court's big move in Guangxi has alerted the people of the Li Dynasty, and they have begun to pay tribute again to seek peace."

"Take it and take a look."

Fan Zhongyan motioned to the person reporting to bring his credentials.

It stands to reason that this thing is a certificate of credence, and if it is equal, it must be shown to Zhao Zhen first.

However, the Constitutional Yuan is now in charge of national government affairs, and Zhao Zhen now nominally controls the Constitutional Yuan through regular meetings every afternoon, so naturally the Constitutional Yuan will take care of things first.

The thing was handed over and Lao Fan took a look at it. The content inside was actually very simple. Li Fuma first praised the Song Dynasty's divine, cultural, and military achievements in recent years, and congratulated the Song Dynasty for its successive defeats of the Western Xia and Liao Kingdoms.

Then the conversation changed and he said that Jiaozhi had "accidentally" invaded the Song Dynasty a few years ago, which was all a misunderstanding. Some of them were made by border generals without permission, and some of them happened accidentally when apprehending criminals.

He hoped that the Song Dynasty would not have any suspicion against Jiaozhi because of these "misunderstandings", so he was willing to send envoys to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty and offer a pair of white elephants to express his deep apology to the Song Dynasty.

"WTF."

After Zhao Jun read it, he said speechlessly: "It's still the same virtue as before, and I dismissed the Song Dynasty as a beggar."

"This white elephant is very precious. In the past, Jiaozhi would have been reluctant to give it to me."

Yan Shu said with a smile: "It seems that Jiaozhi is feeling afraid this time and intends to offer treasures to appease the anger of the court."

"White elephants are precious, but they treat us as fools. Are the several invasions all misunderstandings?"

Fan Zhongyan said angrily: "In this war, the imperial court must fight, and the Li Dynasty must also be destroyed."

"Ah."

Zhao Jun nodded slightly.

Strictly speaking, although the tribute system of the Central Plains Dynasty belongs to the tribute paid by the vassal state, the Central Plains Dynasty will give generous gifts.

But often the gifts given by the Central Plains dynasty are also measured by the value of the tribute paid by the vassal state.

The more you pay tribute, the more the Central Plains Dynasty will give you.

Therefore, in ancient times, there were often situations where the entire country was dedicated to the Central Plains dynasty in order to obtain more generous rewards.

Such is the case in Ryukyu.

Every time Ryukyu pays tribute, he can get several times the reward from the Central Plains Dynasty.

Therefore, Ryukyu is most keen on sending envoys to worship.

For example, in the early Ming Dynasty, they had to pay tribute five or six times a year, which annoyed Zhu Di. Finally, it was stipulated that Ryukyu was not allowed to pay tribute like this, once every two years.

The pair of white elephants in Vietnam are extremely precious species even in later generations, especially in ancient times.

Vietnam, Siam, Khmer, Angkor, Champa and other Southeast Asian countries at the same time as the Northern Song Dynasty all treated white elephants as national treasures.

Therefore, Vietnam's behavior can be understood as being very sincere, just like my country giving a pair of giant pandas to friendly countries in later generations.

But what’s the use of repenting when you’ve already raised your sword and mounted your horse?

The Song Dynasty was about to destroy the Li Dynasty of Vietnam and develop the Red River Delta into a planting base for rubber and cinchona trees.

So there is no point in apologizing anymore.

Zhao Jun took advantage of the situation and said: "It just so happens that the imperial court has not yet issued a notice. If you don't teach, you will be punished, which is called cruelty, and if you don't punish, it is called violence. Jiaozhi refused to change despite repeated admonitions, and announced their guilt and informed the four parties. This is the result of angering the Song Dynasty. !”

"it is good!"

Fan Zhongyan shouted loudly and immediately wrote an official document. As long as Zhao Zhen covers the seal, this will be a petition for Yue!

(End of this chapter)