At the beginning of August, the autumn wind rises in the north.

The gentle north wind blew across the Great Plains of Gans, drifted across Lake Baikal, crossed the Northwest Road of Daliao, and came to Xingqing Mansion in Yinchuan.

On the vast plain, the wind blows the grass and sees cattle and sheep, and groups of party members drive livestock towards the southeast Xiazhou.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is rich in water and grass, which is the season when cattle and sheep grow fat, and it is also the fattest and most valuable time for cattle and sheep.

If, in the winter, cattle and sheep start to lose weight because of less food, or if the weather is too cold for livestock to freeze to death, then they are worthless and no one will buy them.

Therefore, the herders of Xingqing Province will gradually drive their cattle and sheep to the southeast during this month, and they will reach the Song-Xia border in September.

Now the Song people are buying at a high price at the border.

They would drive the live cattle and sheep back to Shaanxi Road, and then transport them to Bianliang by Yellow River boats, and send the wool to the Song people as clothing, and the mutton and beef were placed on the Song people's table.

For the Great Song Dynasty, this was the best era.

After several years of recuperation, reduced taxes and light forced labor, prices and wages were stable, living conditions were getting better and better, and the variety of goods on the market became more and more abundant.

For the Tangut and Liao people, the current time is also the best era.

Under peaceful development, the two sides trade with each other.

The Western Xia and Liao people sold their cattle and sheep, and they would also buy a lot of grain, tea, pots and pans, and even books and handicrafts from the Great Song Dynasty to enrich their lives.

Everything was going in a good direction, until one day the building collapsed.

In the Western Xia Kingdom of Xingqing Prefecture, Li Yuanhao became the king because of the defeat, he wore royal clothes, standing outside the palace and looking to the east.

Although he can also be cheeky and call himself a king externally, he will continue to be an emperor internally.

But people have to be faced.

Li Yuanhao didn't want to be so unjustifiable and be a joke in private.

So he simply became the king of the Tangut people, ruled the land in the name of the king, and led the people to continue to move forward.

Since the defeat, Li Yuanhao was also unwilling to accept the decline of the Western Xia, and while maintaining trade with the Song State, he also actively attacked the Western Regions, subdued many Western Uighurs, and connected the Silk Road.

In this way, the merchants of the Western Regions did not want to take a long detour to the Hehuang Corridor, so they would return to the Hexi Corridor again. The Western Xia bought the goods of the merchants of the Western Regions and sold them to the Great Song Dynasty.

In this East Asian trade, the Liao people still need to produce their own products for export, but they are engaged in middleman trading, and they also make a lot of money.

Everyone earned, so who lost?

Except for Qingtang, because the interests of some merchants in the Western Regions were robbed by Western Xia, in fact, no one has lost.

Because the Western Xia and Liao were also selling their domestic handicraft manufacturing goods to the Song Kingdom, both sides had commodity trade in demand for each other.

The difference is only that Da Song will buy slightly more raw materials than other countries.

Generally speaking, unless one of the three countries suddenly becomes an industrial country, it will fight a commodity dumping war with the powerful productive capacity of the industrial country, and hollow out the gold, silver and copper mines of the other two countries.

Otherwise, in this era of agrarian countries, there would not have been overwhelming commercial competition.

The Western Xia was a small country, the economic development was fast, and it controlled the Hexi Corridor, and under the comprehensive liberalization of mutual market control in the Song, Xia and Liao countries, it recovered the fastest.

In addition, Li Yuanhao continued to develop agriculture in the Yinchuan Plain, mobilized the people and soldiers during the truce, dug and built a large number of canals on both sides of the Yellow River, and introduced Champa rice and wheat.

For a time, Western Xia had good achievements in both economy and agriculture.

The only thing that lags behind is the military.

In recent years, the Great Song Dynasty has been developing firearms, the Liao State has been developing firearms, and the Western Xia is also making progress.

It's not about army competition, but this thing is owned by the Great Song Dynasty and the Liao State, and they can't do without it, otherwise they will be in a passive position.

But the problem was that the Liao State was able to buy a large amount of sulfur from the Song merchants, but it was difficult for the Western Xia to do it.

The Liao State had Bohai Bay, and after the Song merchants bought sulfur from Japan, they could seamlessly sail their ships into the Bohai Bay, and they could seamlessly connect with the middlemen.

Western Xia is a landlocked country and has no port, so if you want to buy sulfur, you need to cross Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi to transport it.

Although theoretically there is a direct connection to the Yellow River, the problem is that the cost of the Yellow River going upstream, is too great, and Western Xia simply cannot afford it.

Therefore, they could only buy a small amount of sulfur excavated from Sichuan and other places at a high price, or buy some raw materials from the Great Song merchants from Japan and sell to the Liao from the Liao State.

Even if the Liao State gave them the gunpowder formula, they could not make it on a large scale, and there were only a very small number of reserves at present, which made Li Yuanhao worry and felt a sense of sadness.

At this moment, he stood at the foot of Helan Mountain and looked eastward, and what he could see was countless cattle and sheep on the vast grassland like dense clouds.

The shepherds drove them, and the whole steppe was full of life.

"The king is working hard, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and my Great Xia is prosperous, all because of the king's wisdom."

Minister Yang Su patted his ass and said.

"There are herds of cattle and sheep at the foot of the mountain, and my Daxia has not only restored its former scenery, but even reached a higher level."

"In the long run, the king will dominate the northwest and reign over the world, just around the corner."

"This is all the result of the king's years of wisdom and martial arts."

Several Wenchen also boasted.

Thousands of clothes are worn, horses are not worn, Li Yuanhao is suspicious of people, and it is not a bad thing to blow him more.

It's ironic to say.

In history, Li Yuanhao was victorious, but because the Song State cut off the mutual market, the people's livelihood in the country withered, and the people were not able to make a living, and even the party members almost rebelled and pulled him down.

As a result, now because of the defeat of the war, and the signing of a free trade agreement with the Great Song Dynasty, the national strength has developed, and it is stronger than before the war.

This is of course because the Western Xia was located on the Hexi Corridor and controlled the "Land Silk Road", a major transportation route.

But the fundamental reason was not that the Great Song Dynasty did not continue to cut off trade with him because of the defeat of the war?

So sometimes fate is like this, elusive.

But Li Yuanhao was not satisfied with this.

His lifelong wish is to be the emperor and the emperor, even if the country is strong, how can it compare to his ambition?

So hearing everyone's praise, Li Yuanhao just said lightly: "No matter how strong the national strength is, it still can't compare to the Song Kingdom, I am very worried." ”

"The King."

Zhang Yuan next to him immediately said: "The words of the Liao envoy may not be unreasonable. ”

Just now they received the envoy of the Liao State in the palace.

It's just that Li Yuanhao didn't express his position at that time, and at this time, the envoy of the Liao State had already been sent down to rest, and the group did not discuss in the palace, but walked outside the palace.

It was already evening, and the sun was setting, and the brilliant fiery clouds seemed to cover the entire western sky, weaving a rainbow of clouds.

Li Yuanhao put his hands behind his back, looked into the distance and said, "Yeluzong really wants to use me as a vanguard." ”

"The Liao State didn't dare to start a war with the Song State easily, so they could only find a way to test it."

Zhang Yuan analyzed: "Give us some benefits, let's attack Qingtang, and see how Song Guo reacts, maybe the best way." ”

"Huh."

Li Yuanhao sneered: "He wants to be tempted, why don't you go to Goryeo?" Isn't Goryeo the best excuse to proclaim himself a vassal to Liao and then to Song? ”

"In the final analysis, it is because the Liao State is so strong that I can't compete with it, so I oppress us."

Ye Liyu shouted.

Historically, his ashes were cold at this time, but now after the truce, Chong Shiheng did not do everything possible to set up a counter-plan, and the Yeli brothers were not killed, but it changed history again.

"But this is indeed a good way to test the Great Song Dynasty, and this plan is feasible and can be retreated."

Zhang Yuan said: "We have a feud with Qingtang, we signed a contract with the Great Song Dynasty in the Xia and Song Dynasties, which does not include Qingtang, the king's attack on Qingtang is justified and well-founded, even if it cannot be defeated afterwards, it can also retreat calmly." ”

"King, I think this matter still needs to be cautious, even the Liao people dare not provoke a war without authorization, we are far from the national strength of the Liao State, and we should not start a war with the Great Song Dynasty again."

Yeli Wangrong was relatively sensible, and persuaded: "If the Song people take this opportunity to invade my Great Xia, I am afraid that the Liao Kingdom will not necessarily come to help." ”

"Heh, the Song State is getting stronger and stronger, and the Liao State is becoming more and more uneasy, how can they not come to the rescue?"

Zhang Yuan retorted: "What's more, if you don't fight, the general will be defeated, I'm afraid this is not the responsibility of the general." ”

"Humph!"

Yeli Wangrong snorted coldly: "You Han people are cunning, don't you want to drag us to death in Great Xia?" ”

Zhang Yuan said: "Now is the time when the Song people's army is in turmoil, think about it, if you don't take advantage of him to try it now, then in the future, when the Song people calm down the civil strife and rectify the army, will we still have a way to live?" ”

"You!"

Yeli Wangrong frowned, he couldn't say anything about Zhang Yuan.

"Alright."

Li Yuanhao glanced at the two of them.

The situation was reversed in Western Xia and on the Liao side.

On the Liao side, many Khitan nobles shouted to teach the Great Song a lesson and became the main battle faction. The Wenchen Han people were relatively calm, looked at the problem objectively, and advised Yeluzong to be really careful.

On the Western Xia side, Zhang Yuan and other Wenchen fought the main battle, and they always hoped to unite with the Liao State and launch an attack on the Great Song Dynasty.

On the contrary, the following party nobles were psychologically shadowed by the firearms of the Song people in the previous Song-Xia War, and they have always been more anti-war, hoping to live in peace with the Great Song Dynasty.

This is related to the national strength and historical status of the two countries.

The Liao State has always suppressed the Great Song Dynasty, and the Khitan nobles have been accustomed to exalting their might on the head of the Great Song Dynasty, but the Great Song Dynasty suddenly rose up, and they naturally found it difficult for them to accept.

The Western Xia has always been a vassal of the Liao State and the Great Song Dynasty, and the party has been regarded as the suzerainty of the Liao and Song dynasties for several generations, and has been canonized by both countries at the same time.

Therefore, the party aristocracy is far from being as high as the Khitan aristocracy and does not have a correct mentality.

That's where the difference comes in.

As for Zhang Yuan, he naturally did not give up, he wanted to take revenge on the Great Song Dynasty, and he must have hoped to provoke a war.

So in general, the main battle faction in the Liao State is actually stronger, but it is only temporarily deterred by the calm Yelu Zongzhen.

So what does Li Yuanhao think?

He wanted to fight.

I dreamed of defeating Da Song.

And now, it may indeed be the last chance.

With the national strength, economy and people's livelihood of Western Xia, it can catch up, but can firearms catch up?

Once the military strength falls behind, it will fall behind step by step.

Eventually, Western Xia will also be annexed by the Song Kingdom!

Li Yuanhao raised his head and looked at the sky in the distance, and muttered to himself: "Yes, if you don't fight again, when the Song people reorganize the army and train a group of elites, my Great Xia will always be trampled under their feet." ”

"King!"

Nori Wangrong's eyes widened.

"Alright."

Li Yuanhao said calmly: "Needless to say, I have made up my mind, go and tell the envoy that I have agreed to Emperor Liao's conditions!" ”

With a wave of his hand, he waved his cloak behind him, turned around, and left towards the right side of the main hall.

Zhang Yuan was overjoyed and arched his hand: "The king is wise!" ”

He raised his head and looked at the far east as well, his eyes showing deep hatred.

The Song people bullied him too much, and he didn't swear to be a man if he didn't take revenge.

Now is the last chance.

Since the Liao State has given them goodwill and given them a large number of firearms and other material support, then they have no shortage of courage to fight!

Yelu Sect really let them give it a try, so let's try it!

I've been a little sick for the past two days, and generally if I change it at night, I'm writing desperately for a day during the day, and there's only one chapter. If it's updated in the morning, it means that it's written overtime, then there must be another chapter at night, and this chapter is updated during the day and at night.

(End of chapter)