Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 416: Buddha of Ten Thousand Families
"Ok!"

Zhao Xing nodded and said, "What you said makes sense, you all should leave, but you, the great lord, stay!"

"We, the ministers, take our leave!" Everyone bowed and retreated.

Zhao Xing asked someone to give Han Zhang a seat, and then said, "I intend to send troops. What do you think, my Lord?"

"Your Majesty, I don't actually agree with sending troops, or I don't agree with actually sending troops."

Han Zhang shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, do you think this expedition can completely recapture the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun?"

“It’s possible, and it’s very likely!”

Zhao Xing smiled and said, "If it was before, I wouldn't be so sure, but do you remember the loud noise before?"

"Your Majesty, are you saying to use gunpowder to break the city?"

"Not bad!"

Zhao Xing nodded and said, "If the Song Dynasty sends troops, Yelu Chongyuan will sit back and watch the fight, but he will definitely send troops in the beginning."

Yelu Chongyuan invited the Song Dynasty to join him in destroying the Liao Kingdom just to prevent Yelu Yixin from having time to deal with him.

He even hoped that the Song Dynasty would weaken Yelu Yixin's strength so that the two of them could return to being evenly matched.

Therefore, it was impossible for Yelu Chongyuan to really fight to the death with the Liao Kingdom.

But the Song Dynasty was not stupid. If Yelu Chongyuan had not put in enough effort from the beginning, the Song Dynasty would probably have withdrawn its troops directly.

Yelu Chongyuan will definitely make an effort at the beginning, but when the Song Dynasty and the Liao Kingdom really fight, it will not be so easy to withdraw troops at that time.

"The biggest difficulty in recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun is the cities and cavalry. The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have been occupied by the Liao Kingdom for many years, and the people there all consider themselves Liao people and have long forgotten that they are Han people.

The Liao occupied cities one by one, which was time-consuming and laborious. If we failed to capture them for a long time, the Liao cavalry would cut off our food supply. The army had to be stationed outside the city and had to guard against sneak attacks by the Liao cavalry.

But the Liao Kingdom is now severely damaged, and Yelu Chongyuan can also tie up a part of the troops. With gunpowder, the city can be quickly captured.

In this way, the Song Dynasty will have cities to defend, and can also replenish food and grass from the conquered cities, achieving the goal of fighting to support the war, and there is a great possibility of recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun. "

Han Zhang was silent for a while after hearing this, and then said, "Your Majesty, although I don't understand gunpowder, it has been used many times, and the Liao Kingdom may have come up with a solution.

The possibility of recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun in this way is not very high.

On the contrary, if the situation was exposed early and the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun could not be recovered, this military expedition would only waste national strength.

If we can recover Yanyun Sixteen, it will be fine, but if we can't, we won't have enough money and food to destroy Xixia in the future! In my opinion, the gain is not worth the loss.

On the contrary, gunpowder was more effective against the Western Xia.

Xixia is not a big country. By the time Xixia figures out a solution, it might have already been destroyed.”

Zhao Xing pondered for a long time after hearing this, and said, "What the great minister said makes sense, I was just a little impatient."

Zhao Xing did not take Western Xia seriously. He had previously thought of destroying Western Xia first because Western Xia was easier to deal with than the Liao Kingdom. Only after dealing with Western Xia could the Song Dynasty put all its efforts into fighting the Liao Kingdom.

Therefore, for the Song Dynasty, recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun was the most important thing. After all, that would provide a dangerous pass to defend in the north.

Although Zhao Xing ordered people to build the Great Wall in the north, the northern border was so long that the Great Wall could not stop the Liao army.

The purpose of building the Great Wall was not to completely block the Liao army, but to block the Liao cavalry.

The Liao army was able to cross the Great Wall, but their horses were too heavy and could not reach the top of the wall.

The city wall was built with huge stones and cement, making it very difficult to destroy, which gave the Song army enough time to react.

Only by recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun can the nomadic peoples be completely blocked outside the country.

Therefore, when Zhao Xing saw the opportunity, he came up with the idea of ​​dealing with the Liao Kingdom first.

Although doing so cannot be regarded as picking up sesame seeds and losing watermelons, it does increase a lot of risks.

If it fails, as Han Zhang said, it will lead to loss of troops and wasted strength.

Rather than taking the risk of dealing with the Liao Kingdom, it would be better to use the troops and money to deal with the Western Xia.

"What did you mean when you said that we can't really send troops?" Zhao Xing asked. "In order to get Song to send troops, Yelu Chongyuan must have promised a lot of benefits. He can't give other things, but he can still give war horses and money." Han Zhang smiled.

"My Lord, do you want me to pretend to agree?" Zhao Xing frowned.

Although it feels great to do this, he is the emperor after all, and the Song Dynasty also needs to maintain its reputation.

Moreover, Yelu Chongyuan was not stupid. If the Song Dynasty did not send troops, the benefits he promised would not be given.

"I'm not pretending to agree." Han Zhang shook his head and said, "Yelü Chongyuan is right about one thing. Civil unrest in Liao is good for Song, and the longer it lasts, the better. Song needs to send troops to contain some of Liao's forces, so that Yelü Chongyuan has time to recuperate."

"But even if he agrees, the warhorse can't be transported..."

Zhao Xing originally wanted to say that the war horses could not be transported over, after all, Yelu Chongyuan was now on the grassland, and the Liao Kingdom was between him and the Song Dynasty.

However, he soon thought of one thing. The grassland and the plateau also border each other. He could completely go through the plateau into Hehuang and then into the territory of the Song Dynasty.

It might not have been possible originally, but once Hehuang was under the control of Dong Jian, it became possible.

"You are truly the pillar of the country!" Zhao Xing said with a smile, "Even if we don't help Yelu Chongyuan, we can still prevent the Liao Kingdom from sending troops to destroy the construction of the Great Wall."

"Your Majesty, thank you for your compliment. Even if I don't tell you, Your Majesty will be able to figure it out." Han Zhang said with a smile.

Just as Zhao Xing was about to speak, a eunuch walked in.

"What's the matter?" Zhao Xing frowned.

"Your Majesty, the commander of the Wuxiong Army, Gu Tingye, has sent back an urgent report!" the eunuch bowed.

"Present it here quickly!" Zhao Xing said anxiously.

Gu Tingye’s plan had been reported to him before, and he already knew about it.

The urgent report coming back now should be about the implementation of the plan.

Sanshui hurried forward, took the urgent report and handed it to Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing opened the urgent report and read it. After reading it, he laughed and said, "Good! Gu Tingye has lived up to my expectations!"

"Your Majesty!" Han Zhang asked, "What makes Your Majesty so happy?"

"Gu Tingye and Wang Shao's plan has succeeded. Now the Qiang people have invited the troops of the Zuosilo tribe to enter Hehuang." Zhao Xing said with a smile.

"It seems that Hehuang will soon be controlled by the Zuosilo tribe." Han Zhang said with a smile.

"Yes, then we can get some horses from Yelu Chongyuan." Zhao Xing said in a good mood.

…………

Before Zhao Xing could wait for the envoys from Liao and Yelu Chongyuan, Yu Xianggong and Hai Wenyou, who were measuring the land, returned.

This time, the two men completed the nationwide farmland inventory and discovered more than 60 million acres of hidden farmland.

Except for some occupied acres of land that still belonged to the victims and needed to be returned to them, there were still more than 56 million acres of land left.

The ownership of these fields belonged directly to the imperial court, and local governments rented them directly to local landless people for cultivation.

The imperial court accounted for almost 40% of the rent and taxes combined.

Even so, the people who rented land from all over the place were still very happy.

Many people have longevity tablets for Yu Xianggong and Hai Wenyou enshrined in their homes.

After the two men knew about it, they hurriedly explained to the people that they were granted the imperial decree and that they should thank His Majesty if they wanted to.

But the people did not care about this and did not stop offering sacrifices to Zhao Xing as well. Instead, they also offered sacrifices to Zhao Xing.

After all, you can drive one sheep or a flock of sheep.

After listening to the two people's stories, Zhao Xing was a little amused.

(End of this chapter)