People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 518 National Interests First
Compared to the Song Dynasty's heyday, the Liao Dynasty actually had a very difficult time in those years.

During the Chongxi period, the Song Dynasty carried out weapons reforms, gradually replacing cold weapons with hot weapons, and crushed the Liao Dynasty with military power.

Afterwards, the Song Dynasty reformed the military system to improve the soldiers' military literacy and combat effectiveness. From then on, the military situation between Liao and Song was completely reversed.

The Liao Kingdom had completely fallen behind the Song Dynasty army in terms of troop numbers, combat effectiveness, equipment, and personal quality.

Under such circumstances, the former Liao Kingdom was completely unable to suppress the Song Dynasty militarily. On the contrary, through the Battle of Xijin, the Liao Kingdom lost the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and Liaoyang, the Liao capital.

These places have always been the important lands for taxes and farming on which the Liao Kingdom relied for its survival. The loss of these places was a huge blow to the Liao Kingdom, and its national strength declined seriously.

After Yelu Zongzhen died, his son Yelu Hongji was young and unable to control the overall situation, so his younger brother Yelu Chongyuan had to inherit the throne of the Liao Dynasty.

All we can say is that Yelu Zongzhen at least made a wise decision before his death.

Yelu Chongyuan was young and strong, had sufficient prestige, and had experience in leading troops to quell rebellions many times. Therefore, he was able to suppress the various Khitan nobles and barely kept the Pi Shi Army from falling apart.

Otherwise, if Yelu Hongji succeeded to the throne, I am afraid that the Khitan would first launch a rebellion, and then the Liao Kingdom would be doomed.

But the problem is that even if Yelu Chongyuan came to power and barely maintained the situation, he could not stop the Liao Dynasty's national strength from declining sharply and rebellions broke out all over the country.

This is the trend of the times, and it would be of no use even if Liao Taizu Yelü Abaoji were resurrected.

First of all, the decline of military power led to the Liao Dynasty's inability to control such a vast territory. For example, the western and central parts of the Mongolian grasslands and the northeastern part north of Heilongjiang River were completely lost to the Liao Dynasty's control.

Secondly, after losing the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and Liaoyang, the economy and agriculture plummeted because most of the Liao Kingdom's handicraft manufacturing industries and fields were in these places.

If we can’t even maintain the army under such circumstances, how can we maintain order in the country?
Therefore, in order to protect the economy and agriculture, they had to trade with the Song Dynasty in the south and purchase food and other supplies to maintain the army.

But this will intensify conflicts with the ethnic groups in Northeast China.

Because most of the Liao Kingdom's natural resources were in the northeast, including furs, timber, medicinal materials, minerals, etc., the Liao Kingdom needed these resources to exchange with the Song Dynasty.

The problem is that the local ethnic group in Northeast China is not just the Khitan. In other words, the Khitan can only be regarded as a border ethnic group in Northeast China, and their main habitat is the grasslands in the area from Chifeng and Tongliao in Inner Mongolia to Changchun in Jilin in later generations.

They were mainly nomadic and were the first to form a unified regime from scattered tribes. They then conquered the scattered tribes of various ethnic groups around them, thus forming today's Liao Kingdom.

The real northeastern ethnic groups between the Baishan and Heishui regions are mainly composed of tribes such as the Bohai, Jurchen, Shiwei and Xi.

The Jurchens, in particular, are numerous and powerful, and their strength should not be underestimated.

Therefore, if the Khitan people wanted to maintain their regime, they had to seize resources from the Northeast and exchange them with the Song Dynasty. However, the local ethnic groups in the Northeast had become increasingly aware of the decline of the Liao Dynasty and launched a wave of resistance.

When the two sides first started fighting, the Liao Kingdom was able to suppress them with firearms, and put down rebellions whenever they occurred, barely maintaining the Liao Kingdom's ruling position.

But more than ten years later, the Jurchen tribes in the northeast slowly rose up, reversed the situation, and sounded the clarion call for a counterattack against the Liao Kingdom.

"That doesn't make sense."

Inside the Constitutional Court, everyone was very surprised.

Han Qi said: "Aren't we forbidden to send firearms to neighboring countries? Although Liao's firearms are a bit backward, it should be no problem to suppress the Jurchens."

"Do not."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "This is an inevitable trend, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly."

"Inevitable trend? Why is it an inevitable trend?"

No one quite understands.

Although the Liao people could not buy firearms from the Song Dynasty, they could buy raw materials.

They already had the technological capabilities related to firearms, which ensured they had an adequate supply of firearms.

Although the ethnic tribes in Northeast China bought a lot of the Song Dynasty's more backward cold weapons such as swords, guns, armor, bows and crossbows.

However, primitive firearms such as grenades and artillery were enough for them to defeat enemies fighting with cold weapons.

Moreover, the Liao Kingdom suppressed the ethnic groups in the Northeast, but was still able to continuously seize resources from them, and then continue to supply firearms through the Song Dynasty, forming a cycle.

Why is this an inevitable trend?

"Are you wondering whether the Liao Kingdom was able to maintain its national strength by constantly suppressing rebellions and intimidating all directions in the past few years?"

Zhao Jun asked back.

"Yes, even if there are rebels in the tribes, they still dare not openly become enemies of the Liao people. The Liao Kingdom only needs to ensure the supply of raw materials."

Zheng Jian said.

"That's the case in the best-case scenario, but have you ever thought about this question?"

Zhao Jun looked around at everyone and said, "The Liao people are also human beings, and human beings are prone to corruption and depravity. Moreover, the Khitan nobles have been corrupt for a long time, and they can no longer escape from the luxurious life."

"What does Hanlong mean?"

Yan Shu immediately understood, opened his eyes wide and said: "Are the Liao people themselves corrupt? They were bribed to sell firearms, or they used military expenses to maintain their extravagant life?"

Zhao Jun did not give a direct answer, but just smiled faintly: "If we do not reform the military system, our fate will be the same as that of the Liao people."

"That's it, that's it."

"In the past, we imagined that if the Liao people used the resources seized from the Northeast to buy raw materials and food from the Song Dynasty, they could continue to suppress the ethnic groups in the Northeast and continue to seize resources. Although the ethnic groups in the Northeast were dissatisfied, they were still subject to the military force of the Liao people as before, and they could only be forced to accept it. In this way, a balance was formed among the three parties."

"Who would have thought that this balance would be broken by the Liao people themselves? They themselves were corrupt and decadent, so that military expenditures were wasted and the army's combat effectiveness was low. Even with firearms, it was difficult to suppress the various tribes in the northeast."

"And this creates a vicious cycle. The more you fail to suppress them, the more the northeastern tribes will sense your weakness and reduce their supplies to test you. The more you reduce your supplies, the weaker the Liao will become. The weaker it becomes, the less it can guarantee the combat effectiveness of its army and the less it dares to use force against the tribes. The result is a cycle that repeats itself, leading to today's disastrous consequences."

Everyone was talking about it and soon understood why the Liao Dynasty declined so quickly. In just over ten years, from a country that was once the world's number one, it was actually defeated by the primitive tribes in the northeast. It was really sad.

"What a pity, what a pity."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "I overestimated the ability of the Liao people. I thought that since they were about to lose their country, they would at least work hard to govern. I didn't expect that the closer they were to losing their country, the more they indulged in debauchery and frolicking."

"Yes, we still want to keep it as a raw material supply base. Who would have thought that such a huge Liao Kingdom would collapse overnight?"

Fan Zhongyan spread his hands and said.

"Hanlong, what should we do now? Should we watch the Liao Kingdom fall, or?"

Yan Shu raised a crucial question.

Zhao Jun fell into deep thought.

This really stumped him.

He always has strategic plans when making national deployments.

For example, between the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia, he destroyed the Western Xia because the Western Xia could communicate with the Hexi Corridor and deepen land trade with the West.

But there is not much benefit in destroying the Liao Dynasty, as the north is all Mongolian grasslands and the three northeastern provinces.

The three northeastern provinces became a treasure land in later generations. It was only after the people of the Ming and Qing dynasties crossed the Guandong Pass and hundreds of years of reclamation that the vast three northeastern provinces were finally built.

At this time, the Liaoze Lake was still there, and a large area of ​​the entire three northeastern provinces was swampland. Otherwise, the Jurchens would not have been a fishing and hunting tribe. If there were the Northeast Plain, they would have developed an agricultural civilization long ago.

So in fact, the Northeast at present is just a large swamp and forest, and it requires huge manpower and material resources to cultivate it. The center of the Liao Dynasty, from Zhongjing to Shangjing, is all grassland, which is not of much significance to agricultural civilization.

If land reclamation is to be carried out, at least a more advanced industrial civilization is needed to solve the problem of flooding in the Liaohe River and dealing with the problem of swamps in the Northeast through mechanization.

By then, the cost of governance will be astronomical.

Therefore, Zhao Jun did not want to recover the Northeast, but for the sake of national interests, he allowed the Liao Kingdom to exist first, allowing it to become a resource exporting country and strengthen the industrialization process of the Song Dynasty. When the Song Dynasty's industrial capacity is further improved and these problems can be solved in the future, it can directly go north to destroy the Liao and take over a large area of ​​territory.

Zhao Jun estimates that this process will take at most 20 to 30 years.

But the Liao Kingdom was not strong enough.

Even though this was actually within his expectations, he did not expect the Liao Kingdom to fall so quickly.

It would not be a good thing for the Song Dynasty to accept it at this time.

But allowing the Liao Dynasty to be destroyed and then the Jurchens to establish a Jin Dynasty in the north was also not a good thing.

Choosing the lesser of two evils is at least much better than the emergence of a new country.

"To be honest, I want to help Liao."

Zhao Jun smiled bitterly and said, "From the perspective of national justice in the future, it must be recovered immediately. I have said before that I want China to unify. But when I sit in this position, I have to consider national interests. National interests are paramount. Even if the Liao Kingdom is allowed to exist first and the Northeast is not recovered, it doesn't matter. It is the best thing for us Chinese Han people and the Chinese nation. What a pity!"

As he said this he shook his head.

There is not much point in helping the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom is corrupting too quickly. After we help it this time, I am afraid that more will come one after another and it will never stop.

He hoped to keep the Liao Kingdom and gain benefits from it, rather than contribute manpower and effort to the Liao Kingdom.

Therefore, helping the Liao Kingdom was also a wrong option.

All in all.

This is the current situation in the North.

There are no Han people there, so even if we take the land, we can’t make use of it.

On the contrary, it will cause the Song Dynasty to have to spend a relatively large cost to govern, and there may even be a rebellion by the Jurchen tribes. It will take time and energy to quell the rebellion, which will be a thankless task.

But now the Liao Dynasty is about to collapse. Let’s not talk about whether the Jin Dynasty established by the Jurchens will live in harmony with the Song Dynasty and continue to maintain the previous trade relations. Even if it does, it will not work.

The army of an emerging country has not yet become corrupt and its combat effectiveness is still relatively strong. Once they inherit the firearms of the Liao Kingdom, even if they are backward firearms, they may cause border frictions and bring certain damage to the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, in order to prevent such a thing from happening, it would be better to strike first and nip the Jin Dynasty in the bud, allowing the Jurchen tribe to return to a tribal state and be brought under the rule of the Song Dynasty.

"You mean, send troops?"

Fan Zhongyan asked tentatively.

"Send troops."

Zhao Jun curled his lips and said, "Order, deploy troops on the border, and destroy the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchens together."

"What do you think?"

Fan Zhongyan looked at the other prime ministers again.

Zhao Jun could handle ordinary matters on his own, but sending troops required not only Zhao Zhen's approval, but also the approval of many prime ministers.

So everyone still needs to discuss it in detail. If everyone agrees, then the decision will basically be made by Zhao Zhen.

However, having said that, in reality, once everyone in the Council of Political System has made a decision, Zhao Zhen will not veto it. Therefore, to a certain extent, if all the prime ministers in the Council of Political System agree, it represents the will of the Song Empire.

"I think it is just as Zhiyuan said. At this critical juncture, if we don't send troops, it will be bad to watch the Liao Kingdom being destroyed by the Jurchens and then a Jin Kingdom being established."

"Yes, the Jin Kingdom is not a good thing. It broke into Bianliang and captured two emperors. If it weren't for the Zhiyuan, I'm afraid history would repeat itself."

"Then we should deploy troops at the border and prepare to send out troops. But do we need a reason? If we declare war without fighting, will the neighboring countries think that our Song Dynasty has invaded other countries without reason and be afraid?"

"Well, we are the great China, and we must use the kingly way to convince others. We must use a famous army to suppress the nameless rebellion. We still have to hold on to this righteous cause. Why don't we say that one of our soldiers is missing at the border?"

Everyone said something to me.

Zhao Jun was speechless and said, "What a lousy idea! They can even think of throwing a soldier at the border."

"What can the dean do? Is he going to be unjust?"

Fu Bi asked.

In ancient times, people paid great attention to status and righteousness. Cao Cao, who used the emperor to command the princes, was the epitome of status and righteousness.

After all, he was a Minister of War, so he had to consider the righteous army of the Song Dynasty, so he had to ask about this.

"Well"

Zhao Jun narrowed his eyes and said, "Changchun Prefecture is the heartland of Liao State, it is located near Shangjing."

"Yes."

"Does that mean that the Liao Kingdom is already in danger?"

"That's about right. After all, we've reached the vicinity of the capital."

"Didn't the Liao Kingdom send anyone to ask for help?"

"That's not true."

Everyone looked at each other, and Wen Yanbo, who was in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said, "The Liao Embassy didn't send anyone to talk to us."

"There are two situations. One is that the Liao people feel they can handle it. The other is that the Liao people feel that their relationship with the Song Dynasty is not good. They cannot ask for help unless it is absolutely necessary and the country is destroyed."

Zhao Jun raised two fingers.

"Ah."

Everyone thinks it makes sense.

Zhao Jun continued, "In this case, there is still a way. Let the Youyan Road army actively stand by, and we will wait patiently for the opportunity to fight. We can even secretly help the Jurchens and sell them firearms."

"Oh?"

Yan Shu rolled his eyes and said, "Drive away the wolf and swallow the tiger?"

"good."

Zhao Jun laughed and said, "If the Liao Kingdom can't hold on and asks us for help, we can just sit back and watch. When they are destroyed, we will go north in the name of helping the Liao Kingdom."

“Isn’t that a bit hypocritical?”

Han Qi was surprised.

He didn't expect it could be played this way.

"It does seem like a bitch trying to be a saint, but the problem is that sometimes the national interest has to be served in this way. Otherwise, if we do everything in an upright manner, we will just have to watch others eat the meat while we can't even drink the soup."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said, "Hypocrisy refers to being hypocritical as a person, but in the face of national interests, it is not called hypocrisy, but strategic planning. Do you understand?"

Everyone looked at each other and felt a chill in their hearts.

National interests come first.

Why bother to pretend to be a moral gentleman and build a memorial archway for him?

(End of this chapter)