A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 86 How can one have the best of both worlds?
"If you ask me, why not go to Tokyo? It's really rich and dazzling there, and maybe you can gain more insights."

Bianjing City was the only large city in the world that could accommodate a population of one million for a long time, and its population even reached 1.5 million at one point.

As for Chang'an, it once briefly reached a population of one million, but most of the time the capital was moved in search of food.

The resources in the Guanzhong Basin are limited, and it is difficult to supply them from the surrounding areas. Today, the Shaanxi area of ​​the Song Dynasty is still prone to droughts and poor harvests.

The supplies of Bianliang in the Northern Song Dynasty mostly relied on the huge inland transportation network centered on Kaifeng, making Bianliang a national logistics center and hub.

This is why Renzong ordered that starting from this year, this inland waterway transportation network should be vigorously repaired in order to enhance the transportation capacity of Bianliang.

The only downside is that if the winter is too cold and the rivers freeze, transportation will be extremely inconvenient.

The prices of various supplies in the city will rise wildly.

"Tokyo's wealth and splendor are dazzling?"

Su Xun carefully calculated the money he had left and nodded seriously:
"Since Brother Twelve has said so, I must go to Tokyo to take a look."

Everyone ate, chatted and took a nap.

Everyone is waiting to prepare for the second exam.

This afternoon's exam will focus on policy essays.

Zhang Fangping returned to his examination room.

Song Xuan rubbed his face and listened to the gong sound as everyone returned to their seats.

Then students from the academy came forward holding signs.

The topic this time is:

There is conquest but no war, the Tao contains the opportunity to control; hate killing and love life, the Tao contains the principle of transformation and nurturing.

The fortress wall was closed in the evening, and the soldiers were cooking in the morning. The city and the river were still flowing, and the north gate had not been opened; firewood was being collected by the sea, and the east suburbs were still closed.

They were planning to drive their horses up Long and raise high flags to point at the border, when suddenly a cry from heaven rose, and everyone was mourning and burning to death.

In spring, snow clings to the sun, and in winter, straw is easily blown away. Now I want to lead the way to lure the enemy out, temporarily suspend the military operations, send letters and arrows to subdue the foreign ministers, and blow the horn to drive back the enemy cavalry.

If we talk about planning, how can we make this work?
Oh.

Song Xuan understood what Fan Zhongyan meant.

The general meaning is: The country is facing a border crisis and must use military force to fight.

But the people and soldiers were disgusted with the killing and losses brought by the war and became depressed.

When faced with provocation from an enemy country, should we retaliate with force at all costs, or try our best to avoid war and resolve the issue through compromise and negotiation?
What kind of solution would you come up with to achieve the best of both worlds?

Although Fan Zhongyan was in charge of the war in the northwest, the biggest advocate of war in the entire court was not Fan Zhongyan, but Song Renzong who stood behind him.

Song Renzong was very eager to expand his borders, and all the ministers in the court were extremely angry about the provocation of Western Xia.

You are a barbarian, and you are worthy enough to come to my Central Plains to make trouble?
It's all fighting.

However, due to the system of separation of generals and commanders, military generals were unable to effectively implement the battle plans formulated by the commander-in-chief.

Especially when it comes to decisions before military battles, a civilian commander can hardly play any role.

Song Xuan wrote down the two key words he had extracted, military and diplomacy, on his draft paper.

This question is actually very difficult.

For a young scholar who grew up in a study, he had no practical experience in governing a country and commanding troops.

It is really difficult to answer such profound and complex real-life issues.

Back then, Zhuge Liang was still a young man, but he divided the world into three parts with his "Longzhong Plan".

But a genius like him is hard to come by in a thousand years.

Many people were stumped by this policy proposal.

Even Wang Congyi, the prime minister's son who had experience as an official, frowned and thought carefully.

He didn't expect that the headmaster of the academy would set such difficult questions!

Then he glanced at the students present, most of whom had sad expressions on their faces.

Only Song Xuan, the young student who had confronted Dou Chou, was making some gestures on the draft paper.

He seems to be quite good at pretending, but I don't know if he really can or if he is deliberately putting psychological pressure on everyone.

Because the questions are difficult, many students inevitably have to look up to find out what others are doing in order to relieve their anxiety.

If I saw everyone was stumped, I would feel better. But what I saw was Song Xuan writing quickly, and many people's foreheads were instantly sweating. Their heads began to daze, and they stared blankly at the test paper, not knowing what to write.

As for Su Xun, he didn't even learn how to punctuate sentences, so he gave up learning.

At this point, it is still difficult to guess the meaning of the questioner.

Then Su Xun caught a glimpse of his twelfth brother who had already started writing, and his eyes widened for a moment.

Did you understand the test-setter's intention so quickly?

Su Xun knew from Zhang Fangping's words that Song Xuan was a man of great ability.

At this time, he was a little surprised to see Song Xuan writing the test paper, so he accepted it.

But Su Xun discovered what the people around him thought after reading the question.

Are they all looking sad?
Is this question really that difficult?

Brother Twelve wrote very smoothly!

After Su Xun looked at the expressions of the students around him, he carefully reviewed the questions again.

Then he found that he really couldn't understand it.

Forget it.

Anyway, I didn't plan to get admitted here.

Following the standard format of an argumentative essay, Song Xuan first put forward his own views at the beginning.

"How can one have the best of both worlds?"

"Tang Taizong said, 'Barbarians are beasts.'"

"Barbarians have always feared power rather than virtue since ancient times!"

Only with strong violence will they be afraid of you.

You treat them well, and they take it for granted that it is the work of the gods, not a gift from you, the emperor of the Central Plains.

Most of them don't know how to be grateful.

The teachings in books alone are not enough to make them calm down and listen to your reasoning. Only when your fists make them see stars, will they listen to you calmly.

In this situation, the imperial court would naturally choose to fight the barbarians first.

This will not only maintain the stable life of the people in the border areas, but also maintain the dignity of the court.

Otherwise, would the great Song Dynasty have to pay annual tribute to its former vassal state, Western Xia?
Such a shameful thing, spread out.

What dignity does a great country have?

The disciples will be laughed at by future generations.

You are trying to maintain the bottom line at the negotiation table without getting the results you can get on the battlefield.

It’s simply wishful thinking!

The Treaty of Chanyuan between Song and Liao was a peace agreement reached after the Song Dynasty's defending general Zhang Gui shot and killed the enemy Xiao Talan.

If Xiao Talan didn’t die.

It remains unknown whether the Song and Liao sides can negotiate peace.

Looking at the ambitious Li Deming of Western Xia, his policy was to "rely on Liao and Song."

At the same time, it pledged loyalty to Liao and Song, accepted titles from both countries, and waited for an opportunity to expand westward.

Over the past few years, they attacked Tubo and Uighur in the west, and captured Xiliang Prefecture, Ganzhou, Guazhou, Shazhou and other places.

Its sphere of influence extended to Yumen Pass and the entire Hexi Corridor.

Because "relying on Liao and Song" could paralyze Liao and Song, the "country" was able to maintain peace and focus on economic development internally, leading to greater development of agriculture within its jurisdiction.

In the fourth year of Tianxi, he moved the political center from Xiping Prefecture to Huaiyuan Town and renamed it Xingzhou (later Yinchuan, the capital of Daxia).

Li Mingde becoming king will not be the end, he will definitely become emperor.

Refusing to submit to either country.

By that time, both Song and Liao were in an awkward situation.

(End of this chapter)