In the face of Liao's unreasonable demands, Fan Zhongyan and Wang Deyong were happy.

In fact, Wang Deyong and Fan Zhongyan both experienced the Battle of Lanzhou, when one was fifteen years old and the other was twenty-five years old.

Knowing that the Liao State had worked hard in less than a month, it had even descended several important towns on the border of the Great Song Dynasty and defeated hundreds of thousands of Song troops, which brought them countless shocks.

From the perspective of later generations, when Song Zhenzong won the battle of Shanzhou, he signed a treaty of loss of power and humiliation of the country, which was obviously caused by Song Zhenzong's weakness and incompetence.

However, from the perspective of the world, in fact, you can also experience the feeling that in the blink of an eye, the civil and military capitals of the Manchu Dynasty are already discussing moving the capital to the south.

Because the Liao offensive at that time was too fast, in September the Liao army attacked the Weilu army, the Shun'an army, Beiping, Baozhou, Dingzhou, Qizhou, Jizhou, Beizhou, Deqing and other places, and in November they crossed the Yellow River and took Lanzhou directly.

Although the borders were not all breached, there were still many places that resisted the attack of the Liao army, and even in the battle of Yingzhou, Li Yanwu, the governor of Yingzhou, resisted stubbornly, defeated the Liao army, killed more than 30,000 Liao troops, and obtained millions of trophies such as armor soldiers and arrows, and won a huge victory.

However, the defeat of the local war did not stop the pace of the Liao army's advance, they were like a bamboo, all the way south, only more than 100 kilometers away from Kaifengfu, the capital of the Great Song Dynasty, as if they had the intention of directly taking the imperial capital.

Seeing that the Liao army was approaching day by day, the ministers of the Song State were panicked, and the talk of moving the capital was noisy.

Therefore, being beaten by the empire to Lanzhou, which is only more than 150 kilometers away from his capital, is naturally not something that later generations can feel. Therefore, Song Zhenzong's shock is undecided, which is naturally reasonable.

But today's Song Kingdom is a world of difference.

Not to mention how many fortresses and camps the frightened Song Zhenzong built on Hebei Road after the Battle of Lanzhou on the Song-Liao border, and how many soldiers and horses were stationed, it is only said that now the Great Song Dynasty has a batch of new weapons and equipment, as if it is no longer what it once was.

What's more, there is also a group of elite Northwest Frontier Army who can fight well as the front army, and there is a commander like Fan Zhongyan who is very good at fighting turtle tactics, just like what he did in the northwest in history.

The cavalry of the Liao State really dared to touch the walls of the Song army, artillery, grenades, and earth-shattering thunder with their flesh and blood.

So to sum it up.

Today's Great Song Dynasty is no longer the Great Song Dynasty of 36 years ago, and today's Liao State is also declining, not the Great Liao that shocked the world back then.

Now Fan Zhongyan just wants to say, I am standing in front of your Liao Kingdom, do you think I am still a little like before?

"Your envoy laughed."

After Wang Deyong laughed, he said: "The Liao State is going south violently, and now it is frustrated in Baosai, and it can't make an inch, how can it sit on the ground and raise the price like this, and be insatiable?" ”

Liu Liufu argued: "Although our army is indeed blocked, it cannot go south in a short time. But don't forget, our army swept away many military villages and fortresses in your Song Realm, and even Wangdu and Beiping were surrounded, and Gaoyang was almost broken by us, not that we couldn't break the city, but my lord was kind-hearted and willing to talk sincerely with you. ”

"Oh? To talk sincerely is to take the initiative to tear up the contract made back then, and blatantly invade my Great Song? Is this also called sincerity? ”

Fan Zhongyan was dissatisfied: "Now I can't break the city, and I have suffered heavy casualties, but I have come to ask for peace." No matter how clever you are, you can't cover up the decline of the Liao army, and now you dare to be so rampant, is it not good to bully my Great Song Dynasty swords and guns? ”

"The Song Army's grenades and cannons are majestic, but the Song Army's grenades and cannons are majestic, but let the Jingluo Xianggong know, my lord does not believe that the grenades of the Song Kingdom are endless, and my Liaoguang cavalry has more than 100,000 people, and there are still nearly 200,000 foot soldiers.

Liu Liufu said extremely cruel words in a flat tone, and said softly: "What's more, this time Yuan Hao also invited my lord to attack the Song Kingdom together, although before my lord went south, Jing Liugong was very clever to take the lead in attacking and defeat Yuan Hao. However, as long as he reorganizes his troops and horses, he can still fight. ”

"Could it be that the prime minister really thinks that falling into a death war with the Great Liao and Western Xia can keep the Song State safe and sound? I don't think so, after all, the so-called grenade is actually very difficult to kill people at one time, it's just scary to look at. ”

In the end, Liu Liufu was already full of confidence.

In fact, he pretended to be even more confident because the Liao people could not be sure how many firearms the Song army had, anyway, at least they fought with the Western Xia first, and then with the Liao, and the grenades have not stopped until now, causing tens of thousands of casualties to the Western Xia and the Liao State.

But he knew that there should not be many reserves of this kind of thing, because in many battles with the Western Xia and Liao states, the Song army had used a large number of grenades. And this thing is actually not very lethal, mainly to make people afraid.

As long as the fear is overcome, the heavily armored soldier can still touch this thing. The point is that the horses are easily frightened, which will lead to the complete ineffectiveness of the main fighting forces of the Liao State.

And if you fight with the infantry of the Song Dynasty, the Liao State obviously can't win.

Therefore, Liu Liufu planned to deceive Song Jun to see how confident Fan Zhongyan still had.

Hearing Liu Liufu's words, Fan Zhongyan didn't show much weakness, but still squinted his eyes and replied: "If your envoy thinks that my Great Song grenade reserves are insufficient, it may disappoint your envoy, there are indeed not many now, but there are still millions, and it is enough to blow up the Liao army." ”

Liu Liufu stared at Fan Zhongyan, trying to find a trace of lying from Fan Zhongyan's face, but unfortunately Fan Zhongyan was calm and calm, and he didn't let him see the slightest flaw at all, and even looked like he was sure of victory, which made people feel very uneasy.

He pretended to be calm and said, "Does Fan Gong think I will believe it?" ”

"If you don't believe it, even if the Liao army comes to try, my Great Song Dynasty will never fight an unprepared battle, and this time we have prepared a lot of things for the Liao State, I hope your envoy likes it when the time comes."

Fan Zhongyan replied.

Liu Liufu's eyes rolled, he felt that Fan Zhongyan might be bluffing him, if he was really so sure, why did he boast from time to time that what cannons could hit miles away, and there were millions of grenades in stock, and he had prepared a lot of things?

As the saying goes, the more you lack something, the more you will show off, so Liu Liufu feels that there is a high probability that Fan Zhongyan is deliberately intimidating, in the hope that Liao Guo can be submissive.

So after thinking about it for a while, he said to Fan Zhongyan: "Then what does the economy think, how should this war end?" ”

Fan Zhongyan said: "First, return the ten counties on the south bank of Laishui in the Great Song Dynasty. Second, the Great Song Dynasty canceled the New Year's coin. Third, the Liao and Song dynasties signed a non-aggression pact. Fourth, Song Liao was bounded by Laishui, and both sides withdrew their troops; Thereafter, if there are thieves who have crossed the border, they shall not hide from each other; The border cities of the two dynasties, everything is as usual, and no city gods are allowed to be built. ”

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Liu Liufu immediately screamed: "Since Song Guo wants to negotiate peace, why is it so insincere? These covenants are rules set by different generations, how can they be changed? ”

Fan Zhongyan said coldly: "Who told you that my Great Song Dynasty wants to negotiate peace, did we mobilize so many soldiers and horses to negotiate peace with you?" And didn't you tear up the intergenerational covenant first, and now you are accusing us? Do you Liao people be allowed to arbitrarily demand Song soil, and we are not allowed to take back our Han homeland? ”

He bites the four words of you Liao people very hard, vaguely mocking Liu Liufu for being a Han person, but treating the Khitan people as cattle and horses. Although the Liao people claim to be Chinese orthodoxy, the Yelu family is a Khitan tribe, and the Song State wants to fight for orthodoxy, so it is natural to divide this thing cleanly.

"Then it seems that the prime minister is insisting on fighting?"

Liu Liufu asked.

"Let's fight, then."

Fan Zhongyan said lightly: "Let's see if your Liao State is strong, or if my Great Song Dynasty is still standing!" ”

"Sending off!"

He picked up his teacup and spoke loudly.

Liu Liufu and Ye Luren glanced at each other first, obviously they didn't expect Fan Zhongyan to be so tough, so they had to get up and reluctantly bow their hands and leave the Song camp.

After they left, Wang Deyong turned his head to look at Lao Fan and said, "Xianggong, it seems that this battle must be fought." ”

"The Liao people are too arrogant, they obviously can't defeat us, but they still want benefits."

Fan Zhongyan took a sip of tea, put the teacup on the coffee table next to him and said, "Our request is not excessive, why do we have to give money to other countries every year?" That in itself doesn't make sense. ”

Wang Deyong said with a smile: "It's a lot to give them 300,000 yuan every year, but people are like this, they have to look forward to Shu, they are not greedy enough, they are still not satisfied, and they want more." I'm afraid that the Liao State is not only for the ten counties in Guannan this time, but also for the benefits of gunpowder and more. ”

"Hmm."

Fan Zhongyan nodded slightly: "If you don't teach them a hard lesson, they won't know that the way of the world has changed." ”

Wang Deyong said with some concern: "It's just that our grenade reserves are enough?" After fighting in the northwest for so long, and now fighting with Liao, we are afraid that we have already spent an unknown amount of money. And this grenade is really not powerful enough, it is difficult to kill the heavily armored soldiers. ”

In the two battles, the Song State consumed hundreds of thousands of grenades, even if there were not as many as millions, but there were still five or six hundred thousand, and they were thrown away as if they didn't want money.

The main thing is that the power of the grenade is actually not that great.

You must know that even in later generations, the grenades made in the border areas of our army are very powerful, and they often cause at most one or two casualties of Japanese criminals when they are thrown over, and even do not kill people at all, at most they will hurt the enemy, and they are not seriously injured, but most of them are lightly injured.

Not to mention the grenades of the Song Dynasty, even after purification and granulation, black powder is black powder after all, and its power is limited, and it is not as powerful as chemical gunpowder.

Therefore, it is still very difficult to blow up a Western Xia and Liao soldiers wearing armor.

The main reason is that the impact of the explosion and the sound it causes will make the soldiers and horses feel fearful, which will cause riots, and after a few rounds of grenades, the morale of the soldiers of the Western Xia and Liao will fall, which has become the key to the victory of the Song State, and it does not mean that this thing is really strong.

Therefore, from last year's battle with Li Yuanhao, Song Guo used a lot of grenades. This year, he fought with the Liao State again, Wang Deyong was worried that their reserves were not enough, and he was a little worried about what to do if the Liao State found a way to restrain him.

Once the grenades of the Song army do not work, I am afraid that the war will return to square one.

However, Fan Zhongyan just smiled and said, "Do you know how long we have been preparing for this big battle? ”

"How long?"

Although Wang Deyong is the deputy privy councillor, the firearms department is not under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council, so he does not know.

Fan Zhongyan raised two fingers: "Two years." ”

Two years?

Wang Deyong's eyes widened and said, "Was it already in reserve two years ago?" ”

"Not bad."

Fan Zhongyan nodded: "The Great Song Dynasty saltpeter is abundant, but the sulfur is insufficient, so it has to be purchased from Japan." Two years ago, we secretly purchased a large amount of sulfur reserves from Japan, and the amount of sulfur in one year alone amounted to one million catties. ”

Wang De said with surprise: "Then aren't our grenades inexhaustible?" ”

"No, more than 400,000."

Fan Zhongyan rolled his eyes and said, "It's enough to fight this battle." ”

Wang Deyong was shocked: "Why? ”

"There are many factors, such as lack of iron, slow installation, lack of exquisite design, and many defective products."

Fan Zhongyan looked at the south and said lightly: "Take your time, it's already very good to have these now, the Great Song Dynasty still needs more iron, more copper, and more gold and silver."

The main thing is that the lighter device of the Song Dynasty is not very good.

In later generations, grenades were all drawn fuses, even if they were made in the border area, people also drove the copper wire spring and lead pipe to rub out sparks and heat by pulling the fire rope, ignited the fuse, and then threw it out to explode.

What about Da Song's side?

It is the earth-shaking thunder ignition device recorded in the "General Essentials of the Martial Arts", which ignites the fuse by rubbing the flint with the iron sheet, which is not only primitive and large in size, but also far less exquisite than the ignition success rate made in the border area of later generations.

In addition, there are many materials needed, there are many assembly personnel, and it is necessary to keep it secret, and the three generations are not allowed to go out if they are innocent. In addition, there are other firearms to be made, such as Earthquake Thunder, Thunderbolt Fireball, Wolf Smoke Ball, etc., and it is strange that the efficiency can be fast.

Therefore, even after two years of preparation, the power of the Great Song Dynasty only made a million grenades, and after nearly two years of war from the beginning of last year to the end of this year, most of the stocks have been used.

Although the effect obtained was indeed amazing, the Western Xia suffered heavy casualties, and the same was true on the Liao side, with the total number of dead and casualties in the two countries exceeding fifty or sixty thousand.

However, very few soldiers in both countries were actually killed by grenades, and most of them were either only injured or frightened by the explosive power of the grenades, and then routed, and finally were pursued and captured by the cavalry and infantry of the Song State.

Therefore, if the Great Song Dynasty wants to truly exert the power of thermal weapons, there is still a long way to go.

And just when Fan Zhongyan rejected the peace talks of the Liao State and was about to make a big move, at this moment, Yelu Zongzhen, the lord of the Liao State, also received a return from Liu Liufu.

Knowing that Fan Zhongyan actually opened his mouth, not only did he not agree to the conditions proposed by Liao Guo, but he also wanted to stop the New Year's coins and ask for the ten counties on the south bank of Laishui, which was unbearable, and finally Yelu Zongzhen resolutely decided, then fight!

Even if he can't force Song Guo to make concessions this time, at least he must not agree to Song Guo's conditions, otherwise what will happen to his prestige in the country? Many of the great Liao magnates in China will never agree.

Therefore, in order to ensure the interests of the Liao State, Yelu Zongzhen had to fight a decisive battle with the Song army even if he knew that it was difficult to ride a tiger.

Otherwise, even if the Song army does not fight, it will be a futile waste of national strength if they continue to drag on.

It's better to fight to the death, maybe defeat the Song army, seize the supplies of the Song army, go south in one fell swoop, destroy the Great Song Dynasty, and let the Liao State dominate the Central Plains!

Following!

The war has officially begun!

(End of chapter)