The Emperor of the Song State was addicted to the Internet, and the Executive Vice Emperor was traveling.

The Constitutional Yuan is working overtime, and the senior officers in charge of military administration in the northwest are reforming the military.

Then the situation of the common people has not improved much, the treasury is in deficit, and the problem of redundant troops, redundant officials, and redundant expenses is still serious.

This is the current status quo of the Great Song Dynasty.

But there's no way around it.

Zhao Jun really took power in September last year.

He has not yet thoroughly understood the basic situation of the Great Song Dynasty, and he used to look at it from historical books, which is inevitably biased.

Therefore, now we must be down-to-earth, go deep into the grassroots, and thoroughly understand the basic situation of the Great Song Dynasty.

It's just that judging from the current understanding of a series of situations, it is indeed biased.

Well.

The problems of the Great Song Dynasty are even more serious than those recorded in the history books.

This is not just a problem that can be solved by killing a few corrupt officials and corrupt officials, it may not be possible that even the emperor will have to beat him up before he can completely reform.

But on the whole, as long as Zhao Jun continues to be in power and continues to walk, there is still a lot of hope.

Because the communication cost of the high-level of the Great Song Dynasty is very low now, unlike the previous Great Song Dynasty, they intrigue with each other and hinder each other, so that nothing can be accomplished.

And in many things, there is also a little more trust between them and a little less suspicion, such as Fan Zhongyan holding power.

The reason for this situation is that Zhao Jun's appearance has made many things clear.

Regardless of later generations or ancient times, once in power, why do they like to be cronyistic and arrange relatives into it, such as companies, officialdom, enterprises, and even the dogs in the village to get a position?

Just communicate with relatives, so I don't have so many worries.

Imagine if an outsider is under your hands, speak politely, and think about every sentence, look ahead and backward, for fear of which sentence is wrong, let the people under your hand think more, and thus derive unnecessary trouble.

For this reason, the superior often needs to wrap his true thoughts in an unknown number of layers of language to disguise, speak vaguely, not too really and too carefully, and become riddlers one by one.

Therefore, there was a saying in the ancient officialdom that it was a model to the Ming Dynasty, and the old riddler of Jiajing was a model, so Yan Song and Xu Jue had to become masters of figuring out the will.

And relatives talk more casually, they can say whatever they want, and it doesn't matter if they even quarrel between brothers and sons.

On the surface, they seem to talk casually with each other, but in fact it means that there is a more thorough and natural exchange of ideas between relatives, which is in turn more conducive to work.

What's more, there is a deeper alliance of interests between relatives, and when the group is facing a crisis, outsiders are likely to jump ship to protect themselves.

And family members generally don't, because they often have no way back.

Therefore, the deep-seated logic of cronyism and the so-called family business in later generations is actually based on blood relations as a bond to carry out deep-seated interest bundling, so as to prevent betrayal.

But the only person who can't apply this logic is the emperor.

The emperor could not trust his relatives because the relatives might betray the emperor.

Just like Zhao Kuangyin trusted his younger brother so much, he was usurped by Zhao Guangyi in the end.

But now it's different.

Zhao Jun appeared in spoilers and spoiled a lot of things, resulting in three phases and three ginseng, Yan Shu and Fan Zhongyan between them and the emperor, less of the original estrangement, and more frankness of talking without so many scruples.

Because they have a common secret to abide by, and at the same time, to a certain extent, they also have a deep alliance of interests.

In addition, Zhao Jun spoiled a lot of things, which led to a series of entanglements of interests between them.

So they talk to each other a lot more openly.

This way of communication will obviously greatly increase work efficiency, including Fan Zhong's trip to the northwest, and he will not be hindered by all kinds of constraints and have more power.

So when the people in the upper echelons of the Song State became an alliance of interests and jointly built the future, what were the upper authorities of the Western Xia and Liao States like at this time?

At this time, Li Yuanhao of Western Xia had not yet been proclaimed emperor, and he only executed his uncle Wei Mu and his family the year before last, his mother Wei Mu Shuangyang, his wife Empress Wei Mu, and the son born to him by Empress Wei Mu, and he would kill his son and kill his wife and daughter-in-law in the future.

In contrast, Yelu Zong, who just imprisoned his mother and demoted the first queen to a concubine, is really a dutiful son, a good husband, and a good father.

At this moment, in the Xingqing Mansion of Western Xia, in Li Yuanhao's king's palace, he was reading the secret letter sent by the spy.

In fact, the Western Xia has been established now, but it is not an empire, but a kingdom, since his grandfather Li Jiqian, the Western Xia has been independent of the Liao and Song Dynasty, and has become a third-party power.

The Liao State named his grandfather the King of Xia, and the Song Dynasty named the King of Xiping, and then Li Yuanhao's father Li Deming inherited his grandfather's title, and was further named the King of Great Xia by the Liao State, and the Song Dynasty also named Li Deming as the King of Xia, and since then the Western Xia Kingdom has basically become a kingdom.

Li Yuanhao has now inherited his father's inheritance, but he is far from being satisfied with this, so in recent years, with the assistance of two close ministers, Yeli Wangrong and Yeli Yuqi, he began to prepare to ascend the throne and become emperor.

Now the matter of ascending the throne has actually been almost prepared, and a party regime that "ends the Yellow River in the east, Yumen in the west, Xiaoguan in the south, controls the desert in the north, and is more than 10,000 miles away" has already taken shape, but it was defeated in the battles with the country last year and the year before last, and the country was a little unstable, so it was a little hesitant.

"King, the Song people suddenly changed their commanders at the border, they must be guarding against us, and now it is not easy to go south to raid them, maybe we should submit our credentials and continue to show weakness to the enemy, so that they feel that we have no intention of going south to invade."

Yeli met a lot of beggars and schemed, and spoke to Li Yuanhao in Western Xia.

Li Yuanhao glanced at Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao in the room, and said in Chinese: "The Great Song Dynasty has changed the border commander, won't we go south?" Over the years, all kinds of methods have been tried, provoking the Song envoys, showing weakness to the enemy, and writing to the Song Emperor as a courtier, but it still can't change the fact that they are guarding against us, so it is better to be generous. ”

Zhang Yuan looked at Li Yuanhao gratefully, bowed his head and said: "The king is wise, the Song Dynasty is weak, and the top and bottom can't be united, even if they feel that the border is different, what can they do to take precautions?" As long as the strategy is right, they will be able to defeat them and seize the entire Shaanxi Road. ”

In history, Zhang Yuanhao persuaded Yuanhao to block Tongguan and occupy Chang'an, and strategically the Western Xia has always wanted to annex the entire Shaanxi Road, but although Li Yuanhao has won many times, the Western Xia army and people have also suffered heavy casualties and the economy has almost collapsed, and it is difficult to annex such a large territory, so the strategy ultimately failed.

But Zhang Yuan went to Western Xia from the first year of Jing You, and was finally appreciated by Li Yuanhao and promoted to the military division of the Great Xia State, and he has been instigating Li Yuanhao to attack the Song State.

Only Ye Li Yuqi was still sober-minded, and said: "King, after all, my Great Xia is a small country, and if the enemy is defenseless, he may be able to take it lightly." However, if you are prepared, it is still not advisable to start a war with a strong neighbor. ”

"It's not that we haven't paid attention to the situation in the northwest of the Great Song Dynasty over the years, and I have long known their situation, even if they change the side coach, I am actually not worried."

Li Yuanhao frowned, threw down the document in his hand and said, "I'm only worried about the situation of the Song people's political system." ”

As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Zhang Yuandao again: "Military advisor, you are not only from the Song Dynasty, but you have also been to Bianliang many times, have you heard of this person named Zhao Jun before?" ”

Zhang Yuan went to Bianliang for the exam many times, but the result was that he could not pass the Jinshi exam.

He shook his head and said: "I have never heard of this person, according to Bianliang's detailed report, this person only appeared in Bianliang in July and August last year, and was initially appointed by Emperor Song as the Imperial City Governor, and then soon Emperor Song established the Constitutional Yuan and made him the Governor." ”

"This person's surname is Zhao, isn't it the Zhao royal family?"

Li Yuanhao pondered.

The first thing he thought about was not what kind of talent Zhao Jun had, Zhuge Liang was alive, or anything like that, but what kind of relationship Zhao Jun was.

It's not that he's bad-minded, it's the facts.

At least Zhang Yuan was indeed very talented, but in the Song Dynasty, he could not be an official.

With the national conditions of the Great Song Dynasty, even if Han Xin comes, he has to study for two years, and Zhuge Liang is reborn, and it is estimated that he will have to shake his head to take the imperial examination.

In the Great Song Dynasty.

There is simply no such thing as an earth-shattering talent that can ascend to the sky in one step without passing the imperial examination.

So Li Yuanhao instinctively thought that Zhao Jun was royal.

It's just that he never thought that Zhao Jun, a traverser, was indeed almost fooled into going to the imperial examination, but with the help of coaxing and threatening Zhao Zhen, he forcibly broke back into a city.

So there was this kind of situation that made Li Yuanhao scratch his head.

Zhang Yuan expressed his doubts and said: "This is not in line with common sense, the Great Song Dynasty is the most suspicious of the clan, how can it be possible to let the clan surnamed Zhao hold such a high power?" ”

"Maybe it's the son of the True Sect?"

Li Yuanhao thought of a possibility that everyone in Bianliang felt at that time.

Zhang Yuan cried and laughed: "If it is really the widow of Zhenzong, then Emperor Song should be even more suspicious of him." ”

"Forget it."

Li Yuanhao felt a headache, waved his hand and said: "Don't care about this person for now, now there are great changes in the Song Kingdom, we have bought some officials, and we learned that from this year, the Song Kingdom has increased its troops to the northwest border by 20,000 troops, and transported a large amount of grain and grass, which seems to be guarding against us, what should we do?" ”

Yeli Yuqi insisted on his opinion and said: "The king should send an envoy to the Song State to show the Song Emperor that Great Xia has the heart of friendship with the Song State, and that the Liao State is in the north, and I believe that the Song State will not dare to offend us too much." ”

Li Yuanhao said unhappily: "It was you who persuaded me to be the emperor, and it was you who made me friends with the Great Song Dynasty, what is it?" ”

Ye Li Yu shook his head and said: "There is actually no conflict between befriending the Great Song Dynasty and calling the emperor, after becoming the emperor, you can also conclude an alliance with the Great Song Dynasty and the Liao State, and the Liao State is on the side, why do we have to provoke the Song State?" ”

This sentence made Li Yuanhao very shaken.

Historically, Li Yuanhao was like this, although he was called emperor, but as a courtier, he wrote to the Song Dynasty, recounting and commending the relationship between his ancestors and the Central Plains Dynasty and their merits, explaining the legitimacy of his founding and becoming emperor, and asking the Song Dynasty to officially recognize his title of emperor.

So it can be seen from here that Li Yuanhao is still in awe of the Great Song Dynasty and does not dare to go too far.

Until the Song Dynasty decisively refused him to be the emperor, and issued an edict to "cut off the officials with surnames" and stop the mutual market. posted the list and offered a large reward for the arrest of high-ranking officials, which made the two sides completely break up, and a big war was about to break out.

Now that the Song Dynasty suddenly increased its troops to the northwest, it seemed that it was preparing for his attack, and in this case, Li Yuanhao had to consider whether to proceed according to the original plan.

However, Zhang Yuan firmly persuaded Li Yuanhao to defeat the Song Dynasty, and he persuaded: "Great King, there is no emperor in this world who is made by others' charity. If you want to achieve the great cause of the emperor, you must rely on killing. If the king is called the emperor, he will make the Song State and the Liao State unhappy, if the Song State is defeated first, the Liao State will be afraid, and this can stabilize the throne. ”

Then he said: "If you don't break the Song State and make a prestige, both the Liao State and the Song State will feel that the king is weak and deceitful, and they claim that the emperor is provoking the majesty of Song Liao. ”

These words are still very moving.

Li Yuanhao actually called himself a minister not only to the Great Song Dynasty, but also to the Liao State. After becoming emperor, he will definitely offend the Song and Liao countries.

If Song Liao, the queen of the emperor, attacked at the same time, it would definitely be very dangerous for them.

Therefore, only when he was proclaimed emperor, he immediately defeated the relatively weak Great Song Dynasty, so that the Great Song Dynasty was unable to send troops, and then he could calmly deal with the attack of the Liao State.

"But."

Li Yuanhao said worriedly: "What if we use troops against the Song State and the Liao State takes the opportunity to attack?" ”

Zhang Yuan said with a smile: "Don't worry, the Great King, the Liao Kingdom will definitely not come, and even on the contrary, when we use troops against the Great Song Dynasty, they will use soldiers and intimidate the Great Song Dynasty." ”

"Oh?"

Li Yuanhao was puzzled: "Why is this? ”

"There are two reasons for this."

Zhang Yuan raised two fingers and said: "First, the Song State is strong and prosperous, and there are many soldiers and horses. The Liao State is happy to see that my Great Xia will start a war with the Song State first and weaken the Song State's strength. ”

"Hmm"

Li Yuanhao nodded heavily, what Zhang Yuan said was indeed very reasonable.

The second and third children fight, does the boss intervene in it, or does he sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight? It's a question you don't have to think about.

When Xia and Song were both defeated, the strongest Liao State could naturally reap the benefits of the fisherman.

"The two, the Liao State is far away and the Song State is near, once the war with the Great Song Dynasty starts, it is impossible for the soldiers and horses of the Liao State to cross the vast grassland to the northwest in a period of time."

Zhang Yuan continued: "So even if the Liao State comes to attack, we can deal with it calmly. ”

"Hmm."

Li Yuanhao thought so.

Ye Li Yu Qi said: "Now that the Great Song Dynasty is casting a defensive line in the northwest, if we don't defeat the Song State, and the Liao State sends troops again, we will attack from both sides, what should we do?" ”

"I thought that even if we didn't defeat the Great Song, the Great Song wouldn't dare to chase them out. At most, it is just to stick to the Shaanxi Road and prevent us from continuing to attack. ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Because if Great Xia really faces an enemy on the belly and back, it will be very dangerous. But if Great Xia is gone, the happiest people are not the Song people, but the Liao people. The land of Great Xia will be snatched away by the Liao people, and the Liao State will become stronger and more prosperous, how can the Great Song Dynasty rest assured? ”

If the Liao State also comes to fight the Western Xia, the probability of the Western Xia falling is very large, so after the Song and Liao attack the Western Xia, whose hands will the territory of the Western Xia fall into?

Naturally, whoever is forced to whom is responsible.

Therefore, it was in the interests of the Great Song Dynasty that the Western Xia continued to contain part of the Liao forces.

Other words.

Under normal circumstances, Li Yuanhao could not only provoke and attack the Great Song Dynasty, but the Great Song Dynasty would have nothing to do with him, and he must also ensure the continued existence of the Western Xia regime.

I have to say that this seems to be invincible.

Li Yuanhao listened to Zhang Yuan's analysis, was very happy, and praised it: "The military advisor is right, if I want to establish a country in Daxia, I must defeat the Song army, or according to the original plan, I will officially ascend the throne as the emperor next year, and see the reaction of the Song court, if the Song people want to fight against me, it will be a big deal!" I will not be afraid! ”

I feel delirious and don't know what I'm writing, but it's just the climax after these chapters, and then the climax.

(End of chapter)