People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 338 Li Yuanhao’s melancholy

Zhao Jun has made arrangements for the development direction of the Song Dynasty in the next ten years. Then, the policy of the Political Council will officially move in this direction.

But for other countries, this New Year's Day in the sixth year of the Qingli calendar is a nightmare they will never forget.

Envoys from various countries almost always congratulated Zhao Zhen for the New Year and then returned non-stop to report the news to the country.

Due to their different relationships with the Song Dynasty, the reactions of various countries were naturally different.

Japan did not send envoys to celebrate this year due to remoteness, so they did not even know about it. After all, Japanese officials actually hate the Song Dynasty now and do not want to have in-depth exchanges with the Song Dynasty.

The reason is that the discovery of the Iwami Silver Mine and the Sado Gold Mine did make Japan quite wealthy. It produced dozens of tons more silver and gold every year, and you could buy them as much as you wanted in the Song Dynasty.

However, the Song Dynasty purchased a large amount of copper, sulfur and other raw materials from Japan every year, and also exported various commodities, taking away their gold and silver in return for the Song Dynasty's copper coins, which severely impacted Japan's domestic currency.

Now the copper coins of the Song Dynasty have become the hard currency in Japan, just like the U.S. dollars of later generations. Folks use the copper coins of the Song Dynasty for transactions.

If this continues, Japan's domestic currency will become invalid. Although they may not necessarily know what this means in feudal society, they will instinctively feel a sense of threat and discomfort.

On the contrary, the exchanges between Japanese people and the Song Dynasty increased more than tenfold. Over the years, countless Japanese came to the Song Dynasty to do business, and the number of Japanese in Bianliang and Hangzhou City was also increasing rapidly.

The weather in the northwest was still very cold on the 16th. Li Yuanhao, wearing a fur coat, stood outside the palace, overlooking the entire Xingqing Mansion city.

If it had been done before, the secret might have been leaked.

Therefore, the Japanese official is now in a situation of lying on the ground, turning a blind eye to the rise of the Song Dynasty, adopting the principles of ignoring, not contacting, not communicating, passing the blame, being invisible, pretending to be an ostrich, etc., and continues to cultivate only its own acre. Three points.

For this reason, they could only wait until they returned to Shaanxi before releasing the homing pigeons, and Li Yuanhao got the news more than ten days later.

But now Japan doesn't even dare to stop it, because the Song Dynasty has troops stationed on Tsushima Island in Japan and Xingdao in Korea.

As exchanges between the Southern Song Dynasty and Japan became more frequent, Japan's domestic currency was directly impacted by the Southern Song Dynasty currency and almost disappeared. Only the Southern Song Dynasty currency was left on the domestic market in Japan, so the rulers at the time had to find ways to block the inflow of Song Dynasty copper coins.

The only thing that worries him is that the number of Song Dynasty's artillery on the northwest border is no longer growing rapidly, but has doubled. In the cities on the border, the dense muzzles of artillery make him scared.

The requests were therefore dismissed, much to the regret of the Arab envoys.

It's just that the Xixia envoys definitely can't fly carrier pigeons in Kaifeng Mansion.

Those who have a good relationship are happy, while those who have a normal relationship hope that the relationship will get better. Those who don’t have much friendship and only have business contacts will only see benefits.

In contrast, many envoys from Central Asian Arab countries who came to watch the ceremony were more direct. Many people have begun to ask the Ministry of Industry and Commerce if the Song Dynasty is willing to sell steam trains.

Therefore, Japanese officials somewhat boycotted the Song Dynasty.

Considering that Japan is not even unified domestically, with a high degree of autonomy in various regions, and that the Japanese emperor has little real power, offending the Song Dynasty is obviously not a wise choice.

Today's firearms and steam equipment in the Song Dynasty are becoming more and more advanced, which naturally arouses their interest and tries to purchase them.

In fact, during the Southern Song Dynasty, such troubles occurred when the Taira clan of the Heian era and later the Genji clan of the Kamakura shogunate were in power.

Dali was happy but also a little sad. After all, Dali and the Song Dynasty had always had a good relationship, but they couldn't help it because Dali was too close to the Song Dynasty. Goryeo is still separated by the sea, while Dali is directly connected by land.

At the same time, Xixia's firearms received support from the Liao Kingdom, and the number of cannons was growing rapidly. Although there are no muskets, with artillery, dealing with the Xizhou Uighurs is as simple as chopping melons and vegetables.

Only Xixia and Liao were full of worries.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, there was even an Arab businessman who became an official of the Song Dynasty. That person was called Proxin. At the same time, the Pu family later had Pu Shougeng, who was once the governor of Fujian and Guangdong and the governor of Haibo. He was extremely powerful in Guangdong and Fujian.

Xingqingfu, the capital of Xixia, was later Yinchuan City, and the distance to Kaifeng, Bianliang, was about one thousand kilometers.

But Korea and Dali naturally had a different attitude.

But what the world doesn't know is that the people of Liao State love to play with eagles and like Haidongqing. Xixia people like to play with pigeons and often use carrier pigeons to convey information.

Therefore, many Arab merchants came to the Song Dynasty to do business, mainly in Guangdong, Fujian and other coastal areas, and there were also many in Bianliang. They had close relations with the current nominal Abbasid dynasty.

But in fact, the Abbasid dynasty has been fragmented, and its ruling area has been limited to Baghdad and its surrounding areas. The empire exists in name only.

Basically, these countries also represent the international exchanges with the Song Dynasty.

As mentioned before, before the use of oil in Central Asia, it could be said that it was so poor that the Arabs had to engage in business to maintain their lives.

This is recorded in "History of the Song Dynasty, Volume 485, Biography of the Xia Kingdom" and "Historical Records of the Western Xia Dynasty". In the Battle of Haoshuichuan, Li Yuanhao relied on carrier pigeons to defeat Ren Fu.

Therefore, these Arab envoys were basically the spokespersons of these dynasties.

Of course Goryeo was very happy. They had to directly face the threat from the Liao Kingdom and even built the Great Wall on the border as a last resort. The stronger the Song Dynasty, the safer they would be.

On January 16, in the Great Xia Palace of Xingqing Prefecture in Xixia, Li Yuanhao returned from the Helan Mountains. In the middle of last year, he went west to attack the Xizhou Uighurs and captured a large number of Uighurs to serve as Xixia slaves.

But now, whether it is firearms or steam engines, they are the top secrets of the Song Dynasty. How can they be sold to the outside world?

At the end of the year, the teacher returns to the DPRK, and recently it is the New Year's Eve. Influenced by Han culture, Dangxiang people naturally celebrated the New Year, so he rewarded the three armies, took the soldiers to hunt in the Helan Mountains, and distributed the captured slaves and seized supplies to the brave warriors.

Arab businessmen have been interested in the technology of the Central Plains dynasty since ancient times. The four great inventions were also spread to the Western world by Arab businessmen, bringing considerable technological improvements to the West.

Dadingfu in Zhongjing, where Yelu Zongzhen of the Liao Kingdom currently lives, is located in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, a thousand kilometers away from Bianliang.

However, this kind of worry did nothing in the face of the general trend. Dali had to continue to pay tribute to the Song Dynasty to maintain the relationship between the two parties. In the end, it had no choice but to accept the facts.

In addition, many countries in Southeast Asia and the Western Regions also sent envoys. They were shocked by the power of the Song Dynasty and returned to their countries to report, hoping that the local leaders would pay attention to their relationship with the Song Dynasty.

Today, the land within the Abbasid Dynasty is also divided among many large and small kingdoms such as the Hamdan Dynasty, the Samanid Dynasty, the Buyid Dynasty, the Ghaznavid Dynasty, the Seljuk Empire, and the Ayyubid Dynasty.

In mid-January, the first person to get the news was not Yelu Zongzhen, but Li Yuanhao.

Li Yuanhao has been in a good mood recently. The reason is not only that the military has achieved certain results on the Western Front. Xixia has opened up its territory and is planning to send troops to Guazhou to conquer Yizhou, which will later become Hami City.

Pigeons mainly rely on their homing instinct to deliver messages. After being released, they will definitely fly in the direction of Xixia's home. However, if the distance is too far, accidents may occur, and the weather in Bianliang was not very good at that time.

After years of development, the city streets at the foot of the mountain are criss-crossed, and the trade between the Western Regions is intensive. Not only the Tubo people, the Uighurs, and the Black Khans, but also the Seljuks, Shahis, Zini, Ghis, and Oghuz Turks, Khwarizimians, etc.

These people are basically ethnic groups from later generations of Xinjiang, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other places, and even as far away as Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, which are close to the Mediterranean Sea.

As a key transit station on the Silk Road, although they all came for the goods of the Song Dynasty and hoped to buy exquisite porcelain, silk and tea, this did not prevent Xixia from prospering because of it.

Li Yuanhao's palace is located in the northwest near Helan Mountain. The terrain is relatively high, and you can see the whole city from here.

So he especially likes to watch it here.

Seeing the city prosper at a speed visible to the naked eye in his hands, and seeing the feats that his father and grandfather had not accomplished for two generations, made him feel a strong sense of pride.

Only when he looked to the southeast would his eyes occasionally show a hint of sadness - that was the direction of the Song Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, it's getting cold."

A close minister, Yeli Wangrong, came over and advised, "Go back to the palace and rest first."

We were tired of hunting in the morning, but Li Yuanhao was not tired either, so he smiled and said: "It's okay, go call them all and discuss the matter of crossing Xiguan."

"Yes."

Ye Li Wangrong agreed and went to call for help.

Xiguan is the passage connecting the Hexi Corridor and the Hehuang Corridor. It is roughly located in Xuanhua Prefecture of Xixia, which is west of Zhangye City in the future and in the Sunan Yugu Autonomous County area.

Because Xixia cut off the Silk Road in the early years, merchants from the Western Regions changed their route instead of taking the Hexi Corridor, and instead chose the Hehuang Corridor to communicate with the Song Dynasty.

Although Xixia has now opened its borders and welcomes merchants from the Western Regions. However, the Song Dynasty gave greater support to the Hehuang Valley, which led to many businessmen from the Western Regions still choosing this area, allowing Gusiluo to make a lot of money.

Li Yuanhao has long wanted to annex Zusiluo, but attacking through Lanzhou is not feasible. That is the junction of the Song Dynasty and the Qingtang regime of Zuosiluo. Once he sends troops from here, the Song Dynasty will definitely send troops to help him. Overwhelming.

Therefore, Li Yuanhao came up with another cunning plan, which was to cross the Qilian Mountains through Xiguan, penetrate into the Huangyuan area northwest of the Riyue Mountain, capture the Caotou Datar living here, and then raid Qingtang from the back of the Hehuang Valley.

This strategy is not unkind. Even if it does not succeed, it can at least cut off the Hehuang Corridor, force merchants from the Western Regions to switch to the Hexi Corridor, and bring Qingtang's economy to stagnation or even collapse.

But the problem is also obvious.

That is, whether it is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau or the surrounding Qilian Mountains, the height difference in the Hehuang Valley reaches more than two thousand meters.

In other words, if Xixia wanted to accomplish such a feat, they would have to go through the Qilian Mountains and attack the Caotou Data tribe near Hala Lake, the second largest lake in Qinghai in later generations, before they could go around and raid the Hehuang Valley.

Therefore, both logistical supplies and combat are very difficult, and it is not easy to achieve such conditions.

But it all depends on people.

Li Yuanhao felt that even if he didn't eliminate Xisiluo, it would be good to hold the entrance to the Hehuang Corridor at the rear in his hands first.

Now he returned to the palace and waited for many ministers to come.

After about a quarter of an hour, most of the cronies were present. Yeli Yuqi, Yeli Wangrong, Yang Su, Weiming Congshun, Fangdang Qiuhu, Fei Tingguxi, and his younger brother Wei Ge Ningling Wait for someone to come over.

At this period in history, Li Yuanhao had already killed Yeli's brothers, seized Yeli Yuqi's wife Meuzang, and promoted Meuzang's brother Meizang to become prime minister.

And the next year, in 1048 AD, his eldest son Ning Lingge entered the palace and assassinated him.

Since then, he has used Pang Quan to dominate the government and the public, and controlled the affairs of the Xixia Dynasty.

But now because of his repeated defeats, the Song Dynasty did not use counterintuitive tactics to get rid of the Yeli brothers by Li Yuanhao's hands. As a result, they are still there. Without hiding Pang, they naturally did not enter the stage of history, and naturally they will not. Instigating Brother Ning Ling to assassinate.

Therefore, Li Yuanhao is now in the prime of life. If nothing unexpected happens, he is likely to establish a huge Xixia Empire in his position.

Now he is planning for this empire.

After everyone arrived, Li Yuanhao sat on a chair and looked around the crowd and said: "If we want to be strong in Daxia, we must not settle in just one corner. The Western Region is too far and desolate. The north is the land of the Liao people, and the southeast is the land of the Song people. Only the The Qingtang in the southwest is the place we want to capture."

Yang Su understood that after several years of recuperation, Li Yuanhao had begun to plot against Qingtang again. If Zhang Yuan was here, he would definitely be happy about Li Yuanhao's move. Because once Qingtang and the Song Dynasty already have an offensive and defensive alliance, once the two sides start a war, the Song Dynasty will end. Xixia and the Liao Kingdom are backing each other again. If Xixia goes to war with the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom will immediately launch an offensive. This is the prosperous age that Zhang Yuan wants to see most.

It's a pity that the grass on Zhang Yuan's grave now is probably three feet high.

Although Yang Su was not a Han who defected from the Song Dynasty, but a local Han in Gansu, he still felt sorry for Zhang Yuan as he was also a Han.

Thinking of this, Yang Su said: "Qingtang is indeed the only place we can attack now, but once we attack Qingtang, the Song Dynasty will definitely send troops. I'm afraid it won't be easy to defeat it."

Li Yuanhao smiled and said: "Of course I don't want to fight the Song Dynasty directly, so I decided to send troops to Xiguan."

Xiguan?

Everyone was quite surprised.

Brother Yeli already knew what he was thinking, so he didn't say anything.

Wei Ge Ning Ling is Li Yuanhao's younger brother, so he said: "Brother, is it too dangerous to go to Xiguan?"

"There is no other way, not to mention those merchants from the Western Regions can cross the Hehuang Valley, how can they not do it alone?"

Li Yuanhao asked back.

"Forehead"

Wei Ge Ning Ling thought for a while and said, "I'm just afraid that we can't keep up with the food and fodder."

This is more euphemistic.

Businessmen from the Western Regions are different from them. Businessmen from the Western Regions do not go through Gansu through the Hehuang Corridor, but through the Longle and Haixi areas in Subei.

That is to say, we walked along the Later Dang River Basin, followed the river to the vicinity of Hala Lake, and arrived at Tuyuhun Fuqi City on the West Sea.

This is the area around Tianjun County in Qinghai in later generations, and is now under the jurisdiction of the Xisiluo regime.

Therefore, merchants from the Western Regions did not actually have to cross mountains and ridges like the Xixia people. Although the journey was relatively long, there were river supplies along the way, and they could also exchange food with local Tatars and Huihe.

And what about them?

The Qilian Mountains have a relatively high altitude, cold weather, and few tribes around them. Sometimes they climbed over a mountain and climbed four to five hundred feet. The mountain was lower but seven to eight hundred feet, which tortured people to death.

The supply of grain and grass was purely driven by people and horses, and the losses were very high. The key is that the artillery is also difficult to transport, which is very worrying.

But obviously Li Yuanhao didn't listen.

In other words, he understands these principles, but now he has no other way.

There are enemies on all sides, but the Western Region is too far away, and Xixia's national power cannot expand its power there.

No one can afford to offend the Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty.

Only the Qingtang was not only close at hand, but also a sacred place, which naturally made him salivate.

"There is no need to worry about food and grass. We will find ways to plunder the place. If it is impossible to let the soldiers carry dry food on their backs, there will be carriages and horses behind them."

Li Yuanhao said solemnly: "I have accumulated enough food and grass in Daxia for several years, so I don't believe that I can't climb Tianshan Mountain."

"Yes."

Wei Ge Ning Ling had nothing to say.

"That's it. I'll make some arrangements. I'll take you with me first."

Li Yuanhao was planning to make some arrangements.

First, Ye Li Yuqi was sent to Suzhou to station troops and investigate the local situation. Then he prepared food, grass and supplies. When the weather gets warmer in March or April this year, the plan can be implemented.

But at this moment, a trusted attendant of Li Yuanhao suddenly came in hurriedly from outside and reported to him: "Your Majesty, the messenger flew a letter."

"Messenger? Is he the envoy sent to the Song Dynasty?"

Li Yuanhao frowned.

If there is no important event, how can the messenger fly doves to deliver messages?
"Yes."

"Show it to me."

"Yes."

The attendant quickly handed over the letter.

Li Yuanhao opened the small piece of paper rolled up into a ball. There were not many words on it, but it was all key information.

Everyone watched as Li Yuanhao's expression changed from the original seriousness, and his brows began to furrow.

They looked at each other, wondering what was going on.

After a while, Yeli Wangrong boldly asked: "Your Majesty, what happened?"

"The people of the Song Dynasty invented a powerful weapon called a steam train, which could carry people thousands of miles a day. The journey from Bianliang to Shaanxi only took one day."

Li Yuanhao tore up the paper ball in his hand, sat on the chair, and let out a long breath.

Everyone opened their eyes wide.

Because the meaning of this sentence is very clear. Once Song and Xia start fighting again, reinforcements from the Song Dynasty will arrive within one day.

this is too scary.

Yang Su quickly asked: "I wonder how many people this thing can carry?"

"Not known yet."

Li Yuanhao shook his head: "But since the Song Dynasty dares to take it out, it will not be less than ten thousand people."

Everyone gasped.

Something that allows tens of thousands of people to travel thousands of miles in a day, at this time, is simply subversive of people's outlook on life.

And if it is used for military purposes, Xixia will be in danger.

This means that they can send hundreds of thousands of troops to appear at the Song-Xia border at any time, and they even have to consider whether they have time to set up defenses.

"Then what should we do?"

"I originally thought that by taking a detour to capture Qingtang, the Song people would not have time to react, but if this is the case, can we still capture Qingtang?"

"This"

Everyone looked at each other.

Li Yuanhao said in a deep voice: "There is no need to be so alarmed. This thing requires the construction of something called a railway track. It has not been built between Bianliang and Shaanxi. They cannot do it now. But I am afraid that in the next few years, the Song Dynasty will It can be done.”

This means they only have a few years left.

Wei Ge Ning Ling asked tentatively: "Then we still attack Qingtang?"

"."

Li Yuanhao was silent for a long time.

The atmosphere inside the venue became quite depressing.

If Zhang Yuan was here, he would definitely be able to think of a solution.

Even the Yeli brothers are quite powerful in terms of tactics.

But Zhang Yuan is dead, and when it comes to strategy in Xixia, perhaps Li Yuanhao is still smart.

After a moment of silence, he breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "Fight! But I'm afraid I have to contact the Liao Kingdom immediately."

Originally, he was thinking that even if he could not capture Qingtang, he could first cut off the Hehuang Corridor and bring the development of Qingtang to a standstill, and then encroach on Qingtang step by step.

In this case, the Song State would not be able to send troops to attack, unless the Song State wanted to start a Three Kingdoms War.

But now there's trouble.

Even if he can cut off the Hehuang Corridor and build the railway, it is very likely that Xixia will be in a counter-encirclement trend, which will be very detrimental to Xixia.

Therefore, Li Yuanhao had to consider taking advantage of this opportunity to join forces with the Liao Kingdom and directly eliminate Qingtang.

The development of the Song Dynasty was too fast, and they could no longer keep up. If they didn't think of a way, by the time the Song Dynasty left them further and further away, the Song Kingdom would easily wipe out Xixia and Liao Kingdom.

Therefore, for the sake of Xixia and Liao Kingdom, he and Yelu Zongzhen had to make a decision as soon as possible.

It is to sit back and wait for death.

It will still be in the next few years, before the railways of the Song Dynasty are built everywhere, that the plan to completely eliminate the Song Dynasty will be completed.

And based on his true understanding of the Yelv Sect, the other party would never kill them just for the sake of death and wait for destruction.

Therefore, perhaps in the next few years, they will be forced to have a decisive battle with the Song Dynasty, which will truly determine the life and death of the Three Kingdoms.

Li Yuanhao looked outside the palace, his eyes full of melancholy.

(End of this chapter)