Chapter 536: The clouds rise again

Xu Wei hurried to the Preparation Division, entered the second hall, Ma Kuo greeted him, hugged his fists and said: "Commander, the humble duty is finally worthy of the mission." ”

Hearing this, Zijin Tiger knew that it was done. With a smile on his face, he said continuously: "Come on, come on, sit down and say sit down, have you eaten?" Looking for a place? ”

"It's important to get down to business, Dashuai must be anxious these days." Ma Ku laughed.

After Xu Jiu sat down, he nodded and said, "This is true, I'm looking forward to your news, let's say it." ”

Ma Kuo sat down next to him and said loudly: "I was ordered to send an envoy, and I was received by the prefect of the Jingsai Military Department of Western Xia and the governor of Weizhou in Weizhou. The other side fully agreed to reopen the field, but it was a little disappointed that it was only a pilot project in the Dingbian Army, and hoped that our side would expand the scale as soon as possible. ”

Xu Wei laughed when he heard this: "I can see it, the party is more anxious than us in this matter." ”

"That's because there has been a rumor of this matter leaking out in advance, and the other party bluntly told the lowly that their side has been prepared, and the merchants have prepared large quantities of goods, just waiting for the reopening of the market." Ma Kuo also smiled.

"We're behind in this matter, and we have to hurry. There is no clue about appointing officials, setting up institutions, and attracting investment and gathering goods. Hey, by the way, the party said nothing, what do they want, what do they sell? Xu Wei asked.

Ma Kuo took a sip of the teacup, and quickly replied: "Basically, it is still the same as before, they sell cattle and sheep, leather goods, medicinal materials, pearls and jade, and purchase tea, silk, porcelain, etc. ”

Xu Wei heard it in his ears and muttered, "It's all civilian supplies." ”

"Shuai, this matter is urgent. Even if we want war horses, people won't sell them. They want copper, iron and gunpowder, and we won't give it either, take your time. Ma Kuo persuaded.

"yes, in a hurry." Although Xu Wei said this, he was still anxious in his heart. Although there are some small-scale horse farms in various parts of Shaanxi, the number of war horses produced is small, and the quality is low, and the endurance and speed cannot be compared with the Jurchen war horses, so they can only be used improvised.

For a while, it was all about the reopening of the field. Suddenly, Ma Hu changed his words and mentioned a matter: "There is one more thing, handsome or interested." ”

"What?" Xu Jiu asked.

"The reason why the lowly post has been delayed for so long in Weizhou is because of the war." Ma Kuang Road.

Xu Wei's eyes lit up: "War? What, who is the party fighting with? "With the Jurchens? It is impossible to follow the Khitans? Not really

"The counterinsurgency has a nickname called 'Blue Faced Yaksha', gathering people to rebel, and the Xia army is advancing to suppress it. When he left, he heard that it had been suppressed. Ma Kuo explained.

"Oh, the party is not very peaceful." Xu Wei sighed.

"It's all secondary, the key is, who is leading the troops," Ma Kuo smiled mysteriously.

"Who?" Xu Wei knew that Ma Zichong's words were not unreasonable. The one who leads the army must know it himself

"Li Shifu" When Ma Kuo said this name, Zijin Tiger was really taken aback Li Shifu's father and son, who were originally officers of Yan Yan, and then lowered their gold with Zhang Shen. Two years ago, he had plotted to return to the Song Dynasty, and Xu Wei also instructed Liu Guangshi to respond. It's just a pity that the act is not secret, and the news leaks. According to later spies, the Li family's father and son were finished, but he didn't expect that he actually went to Western Xia

"Tell me, what's going on?" Xu Wei was extremely interested.

"As far as the humble knows, the father and son of the Li family conspired to return to the Song Dynasty back then, and after the incident was leaked, they were rounded up by the Jin Army and the Han Army. Li Yongqi and his family members were killed, and Shifu led 26 strong men to fight to the death. went all the way north and voted for the party. It is said that he was received by the Xia lord and was entrusted with an official position, which was highly used. Ma Kuo said.

Xu Wei was suspicious when he heard this: "If this person really has the heart to belong, why doesn't he come to me after the defeat?" But instead of going to the party? ”

"I don't know, it is estimated that the whole family was killed, and all the subordinates are gone, so I have no shame to vote." Ma Kuo guessed.

Xu Jiu didn't think much about it, and sighed: "Everyone has their own ambitions, and they can't ask for it, so let him go." ”

At the end of the first year of Song Jianwu, Ma Kuo, the senator of the Shaanxi Qin Fengshuai Division, was ordered to send an envoy to Western Xia to discuss the reopening of the mutual market. The Sichuan-Shaanxi Xuanfu Division then issued a formal document approving the matter, and the field was under the jurisdiction of the Dingbian Army Zhijun, and another special officer was set up to inspect the goods and collect commercial taxes. As soon as the market was reopened, there were really unlimited business opportunities, and businessmen from the two countries flocked to this market not everyone could do business, firstly, market access required the approval of the government, and secondly, the goods involved in the transaction were strictly controlled, and contraband was not allowed to leave the country. Last but not least, the tea with the largest trading volume is a daily necessities and a rotten street thing in the Great Song Dynasty. But to export to foreign countries, that is a strategic material, since the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains Dynasty has always engaged in a large "tea and horse market", what does it mean, is to exchange tea with ethnic minorities for horses. This is mainly aimed at Tibet, not as good as Western Xia, but tea is also strictly controlled and generally sold by the government.

Therefore, if you want to make huge profits in foreign trade, you must have a relationship. Hu Maochang has been richly rewarded for his hard work and running in all directions. Xu Wei specially greeted Huanqing Shuaisi and said that Hu Maochang has done a lot for the government, and you should take more care of him in Huanqing. The leaders have spoken, and Huan Qingyan dares to disobey? As soon as the moat opened, Hu Maochang's silk accumulated in advance was snapped up by the party members, and he made a ruthless fortune, and this alone benefited thousands of yuan.

Based on the initial analysis of the situation, the officials of the field reported to the department that if the development went smoothly, only one field for the border army would be able to provide more than 200,000 yuan in annual tax revenue, which was still a conservative estimate. Just imagine, this alone will have a little tax revenue, once the scale is expanded, foreign trade will become an important revenue of Sichuan and Shaanxi's finances.

Moreover, the benefits brought by foreign trade in the field cannot only look at taxes, it will stimulate the development of many industries in Sichuan and Shaanxi, especially Sichuan.

In the era when Xu Wei lived, Sichuan belonged to the western provinces, and the impression of the Chinese people on Sichuan was almost a large province of migrant workers. At that time, Sichuan was poor and backward. However, at present, and even in the previous dynasties, Shu is a pivotal region.

Sichuan in the Song Dynasty produced the best tea and silk fabrics in the country, and the Shu brocade was famous all over the world, and Suzhou embroidery was equally famous. The tea of Sichuan is an important material for the imperial court and the Tibetan market. Moreover, Sichuan in the Song Dynasty because of its unique geographical location, superior conditions, and the influence of wars elsewhere, the population of Sichuan grew rapidly, according to the preliminary investigation of the Sichuan and Shaanxi Xuanfu Division, it is estimated that the population of Sichuan is at least 10 million or more

Not only that, Sichuan was the first to produce paper money in the Great Song Dynasty and even in the world today. It has the largest number of academies in the country, the most outstanding literati, and the largest number of rare books in the country......

In a word, Sichuan in the Song Dynasty was a highly developed region with a high degree of economic and cultural development. Shaanxi provides military protection for Sichuan, and Sichuan provides logistical support for Shaanxi, and the two are inseparable. The reopening of foreign trade is bound to strongly promote the development of Sichuan's economy. As long as we do a good job in the management of the Sichuan-Shaanxi region, and grasp both the military and economic affairs, we will have a lot to do

Fortunately, although the central government of the Great Song Dynasty had no control over the western whip chiefs, the two local governors, Xu Churen and Xu Wei, had a high degree of consensus on this, and they worked together to unite sincerely. For example, last year's big victory, on the surface, was the credit of generals such as Xu Wei and Xu Yuan and the warriors of the Western Army, but without Xu Churen's strong support behind him, what kind of battle would the Western Army have fought, and it would have fallen from starvation.

In the two years since the founding of the armed forces, Shaanxi has made great progress in all aspects. The commanders immersed themselves in the camps, expanded the army, strengthened their armaments, and vigorously grasped training. Shaanxi's four marshals plus one Liangxing pacification division, the scale of the Western Army's regular army, the scale of 190,000 and thanks to the development of the camp, it is expected that this year, the marshals of the Western Army will no longer be short of food. Even if there is a shortage in a few places, there is Xu Wei as the envoy to stand on top, because his defense area is based on half of the rich Guanzhong Plain.

In the first half of the year, officials of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Planning Department predicted that this year's tax revenue in Sichuan and Shaanxi would increase by at least one million yuan compared with last year. And Xu Wei, who has no skin and no face, reached out and asked the emperor for money "with a thick face". Zhao Chen was also very generous, and gave him 800,000 guan again.

You must know that the Sichuan-Shaanxi region is financially self-reliant and does not hand it over to the central government. Zhao Chen gave this money, purely for nothing. The ministers of the court impeached Xu Wei, saying that this guy was excessive, and the first few times, the official family had already given him millions of yuan, why do you want it? But Zhao Chen, or Emperor Zhao Huan, thinks that as long as the important western town can be kept, what is this money?

At the same time, in order to better deal with the situation of the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, the imperial court decided to re-add the word "disposal" to the head of the Sichuan and Shaanxi Xuanfu Division. This also means that from now on, Xu Churen will not report to the central government in case of trouble, and will be directly dismissed, and Sichuan and Shaanxi will have a high degree of autonomy. This is because the situation is compelling, Sichuan and Shaanxi are facing the high pressure of the Jin army, and they must have a strong organization. Second, it is also because Hangzhou is out of reach of Sichuan and Shaanxi.

The Great Song Dynasty was immersed in the development of Sichuan and Shaanxi, and the Jin Kingdom was not idle. It's just that after the abolition of the puppet Han, the Jin State directly managed the occupied areas, which required a run-in process, and obviously fell behind the Great Song Dynasty.

After taking office, Han Chang, the envoy of Dajin Yanjing, tried all kinds of methods to eliminate the impact of the defeat. First of all, in order to prevent the Song army from counterattacking and recovering, he placed heavy troops in Tongzhou, and took Wanyan Huonu as the governor of Tongzhou and the chief of soldiers and horses, and confronted the Western Army in the Guanzhong Plain. Then, in Dunzhou, Zhang Jun was ordered to set up a number of camps on the border of Fangzhou to prevent the Western Army from attacking the important town of Dunzhou. In addition, the loss of the security army led to Yan'an being directly threatened by the Western Army, and Han Chang intended to send troops to collect the security guards.

After the abolition of the puppet Han, Li Zhi, the marshal of the Hedong Soldiers and Horses, was not spared, and the Jurchens made him a prince and deprived him of his military power. In order to deal with the situation in Shaanxi, the Jin State deployed heavy troops in Hezhong Province to guard the Yellow River and pontoon bridges to ensure the connection between Hedong and Shaanxi.

In June of the first year of Jianwu, shocking news came from the country of Jin. With the support of Wushu and others, the Golden Emperor Wanyan launched a purge of the Sticky Han faction. First of all, it was Sticky Han's cronies, Shangshu Zuocheng Gao Qing, who was accused of embezzlement and imprisoned. Sticky Han asked to remove Gao Qingyi from his official position and leave him a way to live, but Wanyan refused to allow it, and was summarily executed without trial and verification. Subsequently, many of the Sticky Han's henchmen were dismissed from office or executed, which dealt a heavy blow to the power of the Sticky Han faction.

Sticky Han regretted being a prime minister, lost his military power, and now he is slaughtered. In July, Emperor Jin instructed the courtiers to frame Sticky Han for opposing intentions, although there was no evidence, but for the founding fathers of Sticky Han, it was a great shame. Sticky Han closed his door, and died of grief that month.

This founding father of the Great Jin, the leader of the Xiang clan, the commander of the Jin army, the leader and practitioner of the destruction of the Song Dynasty, ended in such a tragic ending. The death of Mu Han not only shook the Jin government and the opposition, but also greatly affected the elite Western Route Army of the Jin Army. As we all know, many of the generals of the Western Route Army of the Jin State are cronies of the old ministry of Sticky Han. They were either transferred or dismissed and replaced by other generals who were not familiar with the situation of the Song army in Shaanxi. This is not a good thing for the Jin Army, but for the Western Army, it is a sneaky smile.

After the death of Sticky Han, he supported Wanyan Zongpan, Wanyan Zonggan, and Wanyan Zongbi, who had made meritorious contributions to Yan Yan, and gained power. These three people, one is the son of Jin Taizong Wu Qimai, one is the eldest son of Agutashu, and the other is the fourth son of Aguta. The three cousins controlled the Jin dynasty and led the three provinces. Among them, the Han name Wanyan Zongbi's Wushu is also the left deputy marshal, in charge of military power.

The dust of the power struggle has not settled, and the ambitious vultures have set their sights on the south. The Great Song Dynasty refused to hand over the area of Shaanxi that had been recovered by the Western Army, that is, it vetoed the Second Longxing Peace Conference in disguise, which made the always strong Jurchens very face-saving. Since Zhao Song, the nephew, is so ignorant, then it is necessary for Jin Guo, as an uncle, to teach it a lesson, otherwise he will not go against the sky?

Moreover, the Jin State really needed to divert its attention from the political struggle, and Wushu personally presided over and drew up a new plan to destroy the Song Dynasty.

This plan completely abandoned the previous strategy of going east along the Yangtze River via Sichuan. Instead, he attacked the Xianghan area, and after capturing Xiangyang, he used it as a base. The west can cut off the connection between the central government of the Southern Dynasty and Sichuan and Shaanxi, the east can have the tendency to follow the river, and the south can open the Jinghu portal. Although the Southern Dynasty achieved a great victory in the Xianghan region and deployed heavy troops, it didn't matter, we will now set out to besiege Xianghan, and then build warships, train sailors, seize the strength of the Song army, and take over the shortcomings of our army. As soon as the time is ripe, they will send troops to attack and determine the world in one fell swoop

This plan was unanimously approved by the courtiers of the Jin State. There's no way, I really don't want to fight with the Western Army anymore, and let Xu Hu'er be arrogant for a few years. The Golden Emperor approved the Imperial Decree and ordered the Vulture to be fully responsible for this matter. In August, Wushu left the Tsubakuyama Prefecture and headed south, inspecting the army at the Daimyo Mansion before rushing to Tokyo and starting to set up arrangements. The clouds of war quietly enveloped Xianghan.