Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 402: Changes in Liao
For a country, especially an ancient country, the size of the territory is not the most important factor, but the population is.

In the era of cold weapons, population represented soldiers and taxes.

There are many people and little territory, so we can just fight and rob.

However, more territory without sufficient population does not bring much direct benefit, but instead increases the defense area.

Therefore, Zhao Xing could ignore the fact that Western Xia conquered the plateau, but the Zuosilo tribe could not surrender to Western Xia.

Otherwise, once Xixia is digested, its strength will definitely increase greatly.

"It's not that I don't care about the Zuosiluo tribe, but if the Song Dynasty wants to send troops, it has to go to the southwest. The southwest is mountainous, and it is difficult for the army and its supplies to pass through. Even if we send troops, the number will be limited. If we want to send troops, we can only go to the northwest."

Zhao Xing said, "But the Song Dynasty and Xixia have an alliance. Once we send troops from the northwest, even if we temporarily force Xixia to withdraw, the number of troops deployed in the northwest will have to increase in the future. Given the current situation of the Song Dynasty, it is difficult to afford it. My idea is that you lead the Tibetans in the plateau to station in Hehuang. At this time, Hehuang is in civil strife, and the Song Dynasty has troops in Hehuang, which can easily help you take Hehuang!"

"this…"

Dong Jian was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect Zhao Xing to come up with such an idea.

But they have lived and operated on the plateau for many years, and how could he be willing to suddenly change his territory?

People are always full of worries and fears about unknown things.

Most ordinary people would feel uneasy if they suddenly changed their living environment, let alone a powerful force.

"Don't refuse in a hurry!"

Zhao Xing saw Dong Jian was about to speak, so he quickly stretched out his hand to interrupt him and said, "There are several advantages to doing this. Although Hehuang is not as large as the plateau, it is not as barren as the plateau. Secondly, Hehuang is connected to the Song Dynasty, and the terrain is much better than that in the southwest. Once there is any change, it will be much easier for the Song Dynasty to send troops to reinforce.

Otherwise, even if the Song Dynasty can force Xixia to withdraw its troops this time, the internal instability of the Zuosiluo tribe will make it difficult for the Song Dynasty to react if someone colludes with Xixia and Xixia launches a surprise attack. "

Dong Jian fell silent after hearing this. Although what Zhao Xing said was all good and true, the plateau had an advantage that Hehuang could not match, and that was space for development.

Once he and his entire family moved to Hehuang, Western Xia would inevitably block the road from Hehuang to the plateau.

In this way, he would have to live between the Song Dynasty and Western Xia, and there would be almost no way for him to escape the control of the Song Dynasty.

But although Zhao Xing looked like he was discussing something with him, he could hear that if he didn't agree, the Song Dynasty would not send troops to help.

Seeing Dong Zhen's hesitant expression, Zhao Xing did not rush him. Instead, he picked up the teacup with a smile and began to sip the tea.

Dong Jian hesitated for a long time and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to move my entire clan to Hehuang!"

"Okay! I will order the troops in Hehuang to cooperate with you!"

After hearing this, Zhao Xing thought more highly of Dong Chen. Now the situation was stronger than the man, and Dong Chen had no choice.

But knowing is one thing, and being able to make such a choice is another matter.

Facing something that you know is impossible but still doing it requires courage and confidence.

But sometimes I am unwilling to accept it.

As the leader of a faction, Dong Jian was equivalent to a local emperor. It was indeed difficult for him to make the decision to completely rely on the Song Dynasty in such a short period of time.

That's right, complete dependence.

Once Western Xia occupied the plateau, there would be few targets left for them to attack, so they would inevitably plot against Hehuang.

The Zuosilo tribe entered Hehuang and still had to face the threat from Western Xia.

If Dong Jian said he would consider it, Zhao Xing would not be too surprised, but his decisiveness was somewhat beyond Zhao Xing's expectations.

This made Zhao Xinggao look up to him and also made him pay more attention to him.

"In this case, I will return to the plateau today to arrange the evacuation," said Dong Jian.

"There's no rush. The Xixia envoys are still in the Song Dynasty. If you leave too hastily, it will inevitably arouse Xixia's suspicion. Xixia's attention is all on Hehuang. Once you attract Xixia's attention, it will not be so easy for you to evacuate safely into Hehuang." Zhao Xing said.

"I will go alone, and the envoy will stay to paralyze Xixia." Dong Zhan said.

"That's fine." Zhao Xing nodded when he heard it, but he became more alert because of Dong Zhen's decisiveness.

He was even a little worried that he might end up raising a tiger that would cause trouble in the future.

But after thinking about it carefully, Zhao Xing felt that it was a bit redundant.

Once the Great Wall in the north is built, he will be able to attack Western Xia without any scruples in the future.

Once we conquer Western Xia, it will naturally be impossible to leave the Zuosilo tribe behind.

After talking with Dong Zhan in detail for a long time, Zhao Xing had someone take Dong Zhan back.

Not long after the envoy Zuosilo returned to the villa where he was temporarily staying, he reported to the emperor that he would send someone back to ask for instructions.

After obtaining permission from the Song Dynasty, Dong Chen left Bian Jing with only a small number of guards.

Zhao Xing was worried that Xixia would send people to assassinate him secretly, so he sent a lot of people to protect him secretly.

…………

While the Song Dynasty was busy suppressing the rebellion and the Western Xia was conquering the plateau, the situation in the Liao Kingdom also changed.

Although it was only November, the Liao Kingdom had already experienced its second heavy snowfall.

Half a month ago, the first heavy snow fell in the Liao territory, and Yelu Chongyuan chose to withdraw his troops.

The Liao Kingdom fell into a rare period of peace.

During this period, Yelu Chongyuan attacked Shangjing and suffered heavy losses. After withdrawing his troops, he began to recruit soldiers on a large scale to make up for the losses.

But recruiting soldiers and buying horses costs money, and fighting a war also costs money.

The war that lasted more than a year had already exhausted Yelu Chongyuan's savings over the years.

In order to have money and food to recruit soldiers, Yelu Chongyuan directly attacked the nobles in the cities that he had previously captured.

Such behavior caused panic among the people.

Yelu Chongyuan also knew that this move posed great risks, but he had no choice.

Although the Liao Dynasty learned from the Han people and implemented a centralized system, local nobles still had a great deal of autonomy.

Or it would be more appropriate to say that the court and the aristocracy ruled together.

The imperial court could only take a part of the local taxes, and the other part belonged to the local nobles.

Yelu Chongyuan originally accumulated his wealth through his fiefdom and business. After launching the war, he did not touch the nobles in the territories he conquered in order to appease the people.

And those nobles surrendered to Yelu Chongyuan for benefits.

This resulted in a much smaller amount of money and grain being handed over to Yelu Chongyuan.

The war has basically never stopped for more than a year, so this amount of money and food is definitely not enough.

Yelu Chongyuan had not made any progress for a long time, suffered heavy casualties, and needed money to support his soldiers.

Now Yelu Chongyuan is in a difficult situation. If he cannot capture Shangjing and seize power, he will only perish.

At this time, Yelu Chongyuan could no longer care about so many things and could only force those nobles to hand over money, food and troops.

However, by doing so, Yelu Chongyuan not only offended those nobles who were not truly loyal to him, but also made those nobles who supported him feel uneasy.

Originally, Yelu Chongyuan's failure to capture Shangjing had already made people suspicious.

Now that Yelu Chongyuan has taken action against these nobles, those nobles who supported Yelu Chongyuan are also worried that Yelu Chongyuan will take action against them next.

Therefore, many people secretly contacted Yelu Yixin.

(End of this chapter)