The sun is shining on the earth, but the weather is still very cold.

In the howling north wind, Zhao Chen and the others galloped forward.

After another quarter of an hour, they finally came to the Liao Imperial Palace!

Zhao Chen looked ahead, only to see pieces of majestic palaces appear in front of him, and he couldn't see the edge at a glance!

This is the Liao people in the past 200 years to build here a huge palace complex, in history, when the Jin Kingdom finished the Yan Liang set the capital Yanjing, it was also used as a palace! When the Mongols invaded the Central Plains, they regarded Yanjing City as the capital, and the palace of the Liao State became the imperial palace of the Mongols!

The palace here has nothing to do with the Ming and Qing Dynasty Forbidden City in later generations. When the Mongols fell, most of them had been destroyed, and the later Beijing City was rebuilt by Zhu Di, and the Forbidden City was also rebuilt. This is an ancient complex that will not be seen at all in later generations, and there are not even "ruins"!

After Zhao Chen came here, the first thing he felt was "big".

The architecture of the Liao Kingdom is very different from the buildings of the Central Plains and the south of the Yangtze River, the buildings of the Central Plains and the south of the Yangtze River are exquisite and gorgeous, while the buildings of the Liao Kingdom are magnificent and magnificent, and the palace group in front of them gives people an unusually rough feeling.

He looked around, and suddenly saw that there were countless buildings similar to stupas around the palace, and his face showed a surprised expression.

"Those are stupas, right?" Zhao Chen pointed ahead.

"Yes, Your Majesty, those are the pagodas of the Liao Kingdom! The stupas of the Liao people are very different from the stupas of our Central Plains, they are octagonal stupas, and they are all very tall! Hu Quan said.

"Why are there so many stupas around this palace?" Zhao Chen said strangely.

"Your Majesty, the Liao people worship Buddha, so there are many pagodas around the palace! In fact, there are more than ten temples around this Yanjing Imperial Palace, and those stupas are all buildings in the temple. Liu Yanzong walked up and said.

"Oh? Liao people worship Buddha? This is the first time I've known about it. Zhao Chen said.

After he came to this era, the Liao State had been destroyed by the Jin State, and he never regarded the Liao State as an enemy, so he rarely cared about some customs and customs of the Liao State, and he did not know that the Liao people admired Buddhism so much, and there were so many temples and stupas around the palace.

"Your Majesty, after Liao Taizu got the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun back then, all of them were my Han people! In order to envelop our Han people, Liao Taizu began to build pagodas and advocate Buddhism! Later, the wind of worshipping Buddha prevailed in Liao! More than 50 years ago, our great Song Dynasty scholar Su Song went to Liao to congratulate the then Liao Emperor on his birthday, and when he came back, he also wrote a poem, which was about the style of worshipping Buddha in Liao. The green pine is like an arch, and the building is soaring. Yili is more than a Buddha, and the dwellers are also noble monks. Looking at the infinite meaning, the account of hatred and incompetence', there are too many temples, and Lord Su Song doesn't know how to describe it. A few years ago, when the Liao Kingdom was not destroyed, our Great Song Dynasty often said that both the north and the south were Buddha countries! The Buddha country in the south is Dali, and the Buddha country in the north is the Liao country. Yu Yunwen looked at the pagoda in front of him and said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, when Yelu Yanxi was the emperor of Liao, he also liked Buddhism! This Yelu Yanxi entertained monks with gold and silver from the treasury, and at most, hundreds of thousands of monks were entertained a year! The national strength of our Great Song Dynasty is getting weaker and weaker, and that is because of Huashigang, and the national strength of the Liao State is getting weaker and weaker, because of the worship of Buddha. Li Chuwen, who once served as the prime minister of Liao, said.

"Buddhism is not shallow to harm people. However, after our Central Plains has experienced many 'extermination of Buddha', now Zen Buddhism is thriving, and Buddhism is no longer a cause for concern. Zhao Chen nodded and said.

Zen Buddhism pays attention to asceticism and does not pay attention to luxury, so after the annihilation of many Buddhist sects, Zen Buddhism has become the first Buddhist sect in the Central Plains.

"Are there still monks in those temples now?" Zhao Chen said again.

"Your Majesty, there is no one in there for a long time! When the Jurchens came, they occupied the palace, and those monks were killed by the Jurchens! Liu Yanzong said.

The Jurchens also worshiped Buddha in later generations, but the newly started Jurchens believed in shamanism, and did not have the slightest respect for Buddhist disciples, but killed them if they wanted to.

"Let's go, let's go inside." Zhao Chen said with a smile.

******

They entered through the main entrance of the palace, which was also very large, and was estimated to be the largest main entrance of the palace in this era.

After entering from the inside, after walking for a short time, a large lake appeared in front of me.

It's early winter, it's cold in the north, and there's a lot of ice floes floating on the lake.

"Your Majesty, this is the Welcoming Lake! In spring and summer, there are a lot of ducks, geese and waterfowl on the lake, which is quite beautiful. Liu Yanzong said.

Zhao Chen nodded.

After passing by here, a huge palace appeared in front of you, which was also a Khitan building, which was very different from the architectural style of the Central Plains.

"Your Majesty, this is the Heavenly Blessing Palace!" Liu Yanzong said.

They entered the Temple of Heavenly Blessing, looked at it carefully, and then continued on.

"Your Majesty, this is the Shengming Palace!"

"Your Majesty, this is the Duzun Palace!"

"Your Majesty, this is Huayang Palace!"

Liu Yanzong is constantly introducing one palace after another!

"Your Majesty, this is a racetrack!" After passing by more than a dozen palaces, they came to a huge courtyard where there seemed to be stable-like buildings, but now it was extremely dilapidated, and the whole courtyard was overgrown with weeds.

The Khitans were a race of horses, and their palace also had a racetrack where the emperor could practice equestrianism.

In addition to the racecourse, there are also martial arts arenas, archery ranges and other places, and many buildings show the martial arts style that the Khitan people once had. Of course, in the later period of the Liao Kingdom, the royal family of the Liao State was no longer much different from the royal family of the Song Dynasty, except for a few people, the others were also extremely weak.

Until the sun set, they had not yet walked the entire palace.

The area of the Imperial Palace of Liao is several times larger than that of the Forbidden City in later generations!

The Forbidden City of later generations was built by Zhu Di, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Di was a Han person, although he was a tyrant, but he was also a Ming monarch, at that time, the country's financial resources were limited, Zhu Di could not invest a large amount of gold and silver in the construction of the palace, and the Khitan people had no scruples! Especially the Khitan people who just rose 200 years ago, they have not yet been fully civilized, they enslaved the Han people, and often used hundreds of thousands of Han people to build cities and palaces, so the scale of the Liao Imperial Palace is unusually large.

"Your Majesty, there is the imperial study in front, it's already dark, let's rest in it first." Liu Yanzong said.

"Good!" Zhao Chen nodded.

They entered the imperial study, which had been simply cleaned up, and there was still a fire in the room, which was obviously prepared by Hu Quan in advance.

"The palace of this Liao Kingdom is really good, although it is not as gorgeous and exquisite as the Kaifeng and Lin'an palaces, but it is much more atmospheric!" Zhao Chen said with a smile.

"Not bad!" Yu Yunwen also nodded.

To be honest, after going like this, Yu Yunwen was a little shocked in his heart, he didn't expect that the vulgar Khitan people in the north could build such a magnificent palace complex, what a miracle!

"Yu Aiqing, when I was in Zhongshan Mansion that day, I once said that Yanjing could also be used as the capital in the future, what do you think?" Zhao Chen said fiercely.

When Zhao Chen spoke, everyone around him was stunned, and Yu Yunwen was also stunned. Zhao Chen just mentioned it casually that day, and Yu Yunwen didn't take it too seriously, he didn't expect Zhao Chen to say this sentence again now.

"Your Majesty, in all dynasties, most of the capitals are in Chang'an and Luoyang, and this dynasty is in Kaifeng, King Kang's rebels were in the south of the Yangtze River, and they had to take Hangzhou as the capital as a last resort! When we first entered Guanshan, because the Jurchen threat was too great, we regarded Hanzhong as the capital! Since ancient times, there is no reason to regard Yanjing as the capital, this is the northernmost part of the Central Plains, too close to the grassland, Liaodong and other places where the barbarians live, it is too dangerous here! Yu Yunwen said.

"Your Majesty, I also think what Lord Yu said is good! If Your Majesty wants to determine the capital, he must either return to Kaifeng City, or use Chang'an or Luoyang as the capital! Kaifeng, Chang'an, and Luoyang have all experienced wars, and they are extremely dilapidated, if Your Majesty doesn't like it, you can go to the Daimyo's Mansion! The Daimyo Mansion was originally the capital of my court, and it could also be used as a temporary residence for His Majesty. Li Chuwen said.

"If you only govern the Central Plains, Kaifeng, Chang'an, Luoyang and even the Daimyo Mansion are all good places! In the Han and Tang dynasties, the reason why Chang'an and Luoyang were the capitals was because Chang'an and Luoyang were in the hinterland of the Central Plains! However, it is not only the Central Plains that I want to govern! Zhao Chen said.

"What does Your Majesty mean?" Yu Yunwen said with some surprise.

"I mean, Kaifeng, Chang'an, Luoyang and other places are too far away from the grassland, and they are too far from Liaodong! I want to conquer the entire grassland, conquer Liaodong, and rule the entire grassland and Liaodong in the future, and at that time, Yanjing will be among the world, and only in Yanjing can we better govern the world! Zhao Chen said.

Yu Yunwen, Hu Quan and others all stayed there.

Before the Song Dynasty, the reason why Chang'an, Luoyang and other places were the capitals was as Zhao Chen said, because these places were "in the world" at that time, and they could dominate the Central Plains! But in history, when it came to the Jin Kingdom, Yanjing became the capital, because Yanjing became the "middle of the world" of the Jin Kingdom at that time! By the time of the Yuan Dynasty, it was also the capital, also because it could not only sit in the Central Plains, but also control the grassland! When it came to the Ming Dynasty, the reason why Ming Chengzu set the capital here was to "guard the country by the Son of Heaven", when Mongolia in the northern steppe had not been completely wiped out, and the capital was here, the world's material resources, financial resources, and military strength would naturally be inclined here, which was more conducive to resisting foreign barbarians! During the Qing Dynasty, it was also the capital, on the one hand, because it was the most marginal place in the Central Plains, and on the other hand, the Qing people could withdraw from the Central Plains and return to Guannai when necessary!

The reason why Zhao Chen intends to use this place as the capital is that, as he just said, is to plan to rule the north in the future! He wants comrades not only in the Central Plains, but also in the northern grasslands, Liaodong and other places! Moreover, it is very close to the Bohai Sea, which will also be conducive to marine strategy in the future! China is a land country, but land countries have no future, and they will definitely go out of the East Asian continent in the future! Another point is that with the development of shipping, it is also conducive to the connection between the north and the south!

"Your Majesty has great ambitions, and Weichen and others understand!" Yu Yunwen pondered for a long time, sighed in his heart, and said.

Only then did he know that Zhao Chen really wanted to rule the grasslands and Liaodong and double the territory of the Han people! In the past Han and Tang dynasties, the Han people also defeated the barbarians in the northern steppes, and also conquered Goguryeo in eastern Liaodong, but the rule of the Han people has always been in the Central Plains, and has never expanded to the north, and the north has always been the world of the grassland peoples, the Xiongnu were eliminated, the Turks arose, the Turks were eliminated, the Khitans began to rise again, and then the Jurchens began to rise again, if history remains unchanged, the Mongols will follow! And Zhao Chen wants to set the capital here, really manage the north, so that the north will no longer tolerate foreigners galloping.

"This is something that has never been done in a thousand years, Your Majesty, we need to think about it! If we can't defeat the foreigners in the end, it's still too dangerous here. Li Chuwen said.

"Now the strength of my Great Song Dynasty military is the first since the founding of the country, if I can't do it now, I won't be able to do it in the future! I want to make the capital here, and I also express my determination to completely eliminate all the foreign races in the north and dominate the world. Zhao Chen said.

"Wechen and the others understand." Li Chuwen hurriedly said.

"Think about it! Do you want to make the capital here? If the capital is here, we still need to relocate the population, and in addition, in the Jizhou area, we need to build a new city for shipping and connecting the south of the Yangtze River! Also, what if the capital is here, what if the Japanese invaders come? What if some foreign barbarian army is strong and invades? Think about it! Zhao Chen said.

In fact, that day in Zhongshan Mansion, after completely defeating the Central Plains Jurchen, Zhao Chen began to think about the affairs of Dingdu, and the questions he just said have been thinking about these days, and he is just saying it now.

"Wechen and the others will think about this matter carefully." Yu Yunwen nodded.

"Today, the Khitans in the inner city have been purged by us, and the rest of the Khitans in Yanjing City will definitely be aware of it, I don't know how they will react? Well, let the soldiers rest well for the night, and let them live in the palace! From today onwards, I will be in this Liao Imperial Palace! Regardless of whether this is the capital in the future or not, I will stay in this place until I conquer Liaodong. Zhao Chen said with a smile.