Zhao Jun made arrangements for the development direction of the Great Song Dynasty in the next ten years, so next, the policy of the Constitutional Yuan will officially go in this direction.

But for other countries, the day of the sixth year of the New Year is a nightmare they will never forget.

Almost all the envoys from various countries congratulated Zhao Zhen on the New Year's blessings for the first time, and then returned non-stop to report the news to China.

Due to the different relationship with the Great Song Dynasty, the reactions of various countries are naturally different.

The Japanese side didn't send an envoy to celebrate at all this year on the grounds of remoteness, so they didn't even know about it, after all, the Japanese official actually hates the Great Song Dynasty now, and doesn't really want to have in-depth exchanges with the Great Song Dynasty.

The reason is that the discovery of the Iwami Silver Mine and the Sado Gold Mine did make Japan quite rich, and the annual production of silver and gold increased by dozens of tons, which could be bought and bought as much as possible in the Great Song Dynasty.

However, the Great Song Dynasty had to buy a large amount of copper, sulfur and other raw materials from Japan every year, and also exported various commodities to take away their gold and silver, and the return was the copper coins of the Great Song Dynasty, which seriously impacted Japan's own currency.

Now the copper coins of the Great Song Dynasty have become the hard currency in Japan, just like the US dollars in later generations, and the common people use the copper coins of the Great Song Dynasty to buy and sell.

If this continues, Japan's own currency will become ineffective, and although in feudal society they may not know what this means, but they will instinctively feel a sense of threat and discomfort.

Therefore, the Japanese government is quite a bit of a boycott of the Great Song Dynasty.

In fact, during the Southern Song Dynasty, the Taira clan of the Heian dynasty and later the Genji of the Kamakura shogunate were in power.

As the exchanges between the Southern Song Dynasty and Japan became more and more frequent, Japan's own currency was directly affected by the Southern Song Dynasty currency and disappeared, and only the Southern Song Dynasty currency was left in the domestic market in Japan, so that the rulers at that time had to find ways to block the inflow of copper coins from the Great Song Dynasty.

And now Japan doesn't even dare to stop it, because the Great Song Dynasty has garrisons on Japan's Tsushima Island and Goryeo's Star Island.

It is obviously not a wise choice to offend the Great Song Dynasty when Japan is not even unified in the country, there is a high degree of autonomy in various places, and the Japanese emperor does not have much real power.

Therefore, the Japanese government is now in a situation of lying on the ground, turning a blind eye to the rise of the Great Song Dynasty, adopting the principles of ignorance, no contact, no communication, more prevarication, invisible, and pretending to be an ostrich, and continue to cultivate only one-third of its own acre.

On the contrary, the Japanese people have increased their exchanges with the Great Song Dynasty more than tenfold, and countless Japanese have gone to the Great Song Dynasty to do business over the years, and the number of Japanese people in Bianliang and Hangzhou City is also increasing rapidly.

And Goryeo and Dali naturally have a different attitude.

Of course, the Goryeo side was very happy, they had to face the threat of the Liao State directly, and they had to even build the Great Wall on the border, the stronger the Great Song Dynasty, the safer they were.

Dali is happy with a little sorrow, after all, the relationship between Dali and Dasong has always been very good, but Dali can't stand too close to Dasong. Goryeo is still separated by the sea, and Dali is directly connected by land.

It's just that this worry has nothing to do in the face of the general trend, and Dali must continue to pay tribute to the Great Song Dynasty to maintain the relationship between the two sides, and in the end can only accept the facts helplessly.

In contrast, many envoys from Central Asian Arab countries who came to watch the ceremony were more direct, and many of them had begun to ask the Ministry of Industry and Commerce if the Great Song Dynasty was willing to sell steam trains.

As I said before, since that part of Central Asia was so poor that it could not until there was no use for oil, the Arabs had to do business to make a living.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, there were even Arab merchants who became officials of the Great Song Dynasty, and that person was called Porosin. At the same time, the Pu family later had a Pu Shougeng, who once recruited envoys from Fujian and Guangdong and unified the sea, and was extremely powerful in Guangdong and Fujian.

As a result, many Arab merchants came to the Great Song Dynasty to do business, mainly in the coastal areas of Guangdong, Fujian, and many in Bianliang, and they had close ties with the current titular Abbasid dynasty.

In reality, however, the Abbasids were torn apart, their rule was confined to Baghdad and its environs, and the empire existed in name only.

Today, the land within the Abbasids was divided between the Hamdans, the Samanid Empire, the Baiyi Dynasty, the Ghaznavid Dynasty, the Seljuk Empire, the Ayyubid Dynasty and many other large and small kingdoms.

Thus these Arab emissaries were basically the spokesmen of these dynasties.

Since ancient times, Arab merchants have been very interested in the science and technology of the Central Plains Dynasty, and the four major inventions were also spread to the Western world by Arab merchants, bringing considerable technological improvements to the West.

The firearms and steam equipment of the Great Song Dynasty are becoming more and more advanced, which naturally arouses their interest and tries to buy them.

If it had been before, it might have been leaked.

But now, whether it is a firearm or a steam engine, it is the top secret of the Great Song Dynasty, how can it be sold to the outside world?

These requests were therefore denied, much to the regret of the Arab envoys.

In addition, many countries in Southeast Asia and the Western Regions also sent envoys over, shocked by the strength of the Great Song Dynasty, and returned to China one after another to report, hoping that the local authorities would attach importance to the relationship with the Great Song Dynasty.

Basically, these countries also represent the situation of international exchanges with the Great Song Dynasty.

The relationship is good and cheerful, the relationship is general, the relationship is hopeful, there is no big friendship, only business dealings, and only interests are seen in the eyes.

Only the Western Xia and Liao kingdoms were full of worries.

In mid-January, the first to get the news was not Yelu Zongzhen, but Li Yuanhao.

Xingqingfu, the capital of Western Xia, was the city of Yinchuan in later generations, and the distance from Bianliang Kaifeng was about 1,000 kilometers.

The Dading Mansion in Zhongjing, where Yelu Zongzhen of the Liao State currently lives, is in Chifeng City, Inner Mongolia, which is also 1,000 kilometers away from Bianliang.

But what the world doesn't know is that Liao people love to play eagles and like Haidongqing. The Tangut people liked to play with pigeons, and often used carrier pigeons to convey information.

This point is recorded in "History of the Song Dynasty, Volume 485: The Biography of the Xia Kingdom" and "Western Xia Shushi", in the battle of Haoshuichuan, Li Yuanhao defeated Ren Fu with carrier pigeons.

It's just that the envoy of Western Xia will definitely not be able to release carrier pigeons in Kaifeng Mansion.

The carrier pigeon mainly relies on the homing instinct, and after the release, it must fly in the direction of the Xixia family, but the distance is too far and it is easy to have accidents, and the weather in Bianliang is not very good at that time.

For this reason, they could only wait until they returned to Shaanxi before releasing the carrier pigeons, so that Li Yuanhao got the news more than ten days later.

On January 16, Li Yuanhao returned from the Helan Mountains in the palace of the Great Xia Dynasty in Xingqing Prefecture, and he attacked the Uighurs in Xizhou in the middle of last year, capturing a large number of Uighurs and serving as Western Xia slaves.

At the end of the year, the class returned to the DPRK, and the recent period is the end of the year. Influenced by Han culture, the party members naturally celebrated the New Year, so he rewarded the three armies, took the soldiers to hunt in Helan Mountain, and distributed the captured slaves and captured materials to the brave in battle.

Li Yuanhao's mood is still good in the recent period, the reason is not only that the military has achieved certain results on the Western Front, but also that the Western Xia has expanded its territory, and there are plans to send troops out of Guazhou and Yizhou, that is, the area around Hami City in the future.

At the same time, the firearms of Western Xia were supported by the Liao State, and the number of cannons was growing rapidly. Although there were no muskets, with artillery, it was as simple as chopping melons and vegetables to deal with the Uighurs in Western China.

The only thing that worries him is that the number of artillery in the northwest border of the Great Song Dynasty is no longer growing rapidly, but has increased exponentially, and the dense cannon ports in the border cities make him afraid.

On the 16th, the weather in the northwest was still very cold, and Li Yuanhao was wearing a fur coat, standing outside the palace, overlooking the entire Xingqing Mansion city from a high place.

After years of development, the streets of the city under the mountain are crisscrossed, and the trade between the Western Regions is intensive, not only the Tibetans, Uighurs, and Black Khans, but also the Seljuks, Shahis, Zini, Ghis, Oghuz Turks, and so on.

These people are basically ethnic groups from Xinjiang, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other places, and even Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan, which are close to the Mediterranean.

As a key transit point on the Silk Road, although they all came for the goods of the Great Song Dynasty, hoping to buy fine porcelain, silk and tea, this did not prevent the Western Xia from prospering.

Li Yuanhao's palace is located in the northwest near Helan Mountain, on high ground, and you can see the whole city from here.

So he especially likes to watch here.

Watching this city flourish in his hands at a speed visible to the naked eye, and watching him do the feat that his father and grandfather have not accomplished for two generations, he felt a strong sense of pride.

Only when he looked to the southeast, would he occasionally show a trace of sorrow in his eyes—that was the direction of the Great Song Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, it's cold."

The close minister Ye Li Wangrong came over and persuaded: "Go back to the palace and rest first." ”

There was a lack of hunting in the morning, but Li Yuanhao was not tired, so he smiled and said, "It's okay, go and call them all here to discuss the matter of crossing Xiguan." ”

"Yes."

Yeli Wangrong answered, and went to call someone.

Xiguan is the passage connecting the Hexi Corridor and the Hehuang Corridor, which is roughly located in Xuanhua Mansion in Western Xia, that is, west of Zhangye City in the later generations, and in the area of Sunan Yugu Autonomous County.

Because the Silk Road was cut off in the early years of Western Xia, the merchants of the Western Regions did not take the Hexi Corridor, but chose the Hehuang Corridor to communicate with the Song Dynasty.

Although now the Western Xia opened its borders and welcomed merchants from the Western Regions. However, the Song Dynasty gave greater support to the Hehuang Valley, resulting in many merchants in the Western Regions still choosing this side, so that they could make a lot of money.

Li Yuanhao had long wanted to annex the Song Dynasty, but it would not work to attack Lanzhou, and that side was the junction of the Song State and the Qingtang regime, once he sent troops from here, it would inevitably make the Great Song Dynasty also send troops to help, making it difficult for him to parry.

Therefore, Li Yuanhao came up with a treacherous plan, that is, to go to the west pass to cross the Qilian Mountain, cross into the Huangyuan area in the northwest of the Riyue Mountain, capture the Caotou Tatar that inhabits here, and then raid Qingtang from the back of the Hehuang Valley.

This plan is not not vicious, even if it does not succeed, at least it can cut off the Hehuang Corridor, force the merchants of the Western Regions to take the Hexi Corridor instead, and let Qingtang's economy stagnate or even collapse.

But the problem is also obvious.

That is, whether it is the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau or the surrounding Qilian Mountains, the drop in the Hehuang Valley has reached more than two thousand meters.

In other words, if Western Xia wanted to accomplish such a feat, they needed to go through the Qilian Mountains to attack the Caotou Tatar tribe near Hara Lake, the second largest lake in Qinghai in later generations, before they could raid around the Hehuang Valley.

Therefore, it is very difficult to achieve both logistics and operations, and it is not easy to achieve such conditions.

But it's man-made.

Li Yuanhao felt that even if he didn't eliminate the gangsters, it would be good to hold the entrance of the Hehuang Corridor in the rear in his hands first.

He returned to the palace and waited for the ministers to come.

After about a quarter of an hour, the cronies were basically present, and Yeli Yuqi, Yeli Wangrong, Yang Su, Wei Ming Congshun, Fang Dangqiu Hu, Fei Tinggu Xi, and his younger brother Wei Ge Ning Ling and others came over.

At this time in history, Li Yuanhao had already killed the Yeli brothers, occupied Yeli Yuqi's wife Wuzang, and promoted Wuzang's brother Wuzang Pang to be the prime minister.

And in the next year, that is, in 1048 AD, he was stabbed to death by his eldest son Ning Lingge in the palace.

Since then, he has not hidden the power of Pang and leaned towards the government and the opposition, and controlled the government of the Western Xia Dynasty.

But now because of his repeated defeats, the Great Song Dynasty did not use a counter-plot to get rid of the Yeli brothers by the hands of Li Yuanhao, resulting in them still being there, and they did not hide the false Pang naturally did not appear on the stage of history, and naturally did not instigate Ning Lingge to assassinate.

So right now, Li Yuanhao is in the prime of life, if nothing else, in his position, it is very likely that a huge Western Xia Empire will be established.

Now he is planning for this empire.

After everyone came, Li Yuanhao sat on a chair and looked around at everyone: "If I want to be strong in Daxia, I must not be in a corner of peace. The Western Regions are too far away and desolate. The north is the land of the Liao people, the southeast is the land of the Song people, and only Qingtang in the southwest is the place we want to capture. ”

Yang Su understood that Li Yuanhao had begun to plot against Qingtang after a few years of recuperation, and if Zhang Yuan was there, he would definitely be happy with Li Yuanhao's move.

Because once Qingtang and Da Song already have an offensive and defensive alliance, once the two sides go to war, Da Song will be over. And the Western Xia and the Liao State hooked up with each other, the Western Xia and the Great Song Dynasty went to war, and the Liao State would immediately launch an offensive, which was the prosperous era that Zhang Yuan wanted to see the most.

It's a pity that Zhang Yuan's grave grass is now three feet high.

Although Yang Su was not a Han who defected from the Song Kingdom, but a native Han in Gansu, he still felt sorry for Zhang Yuan as a fellow Han.

Thinking of this, Yang Su said: "Qingtang is indeed the only place we can attack now, but once we attack Qingtang, the Song State will definitely send troops, I'm afraid it won't be easy to fight." ”

Li Yuanhao said with a smile: "Gu naturally doesn't want to directly fight with the Song State, so Gu decided to send troops to Xiguan. ”

Xiguan?

The crowd was amazed.

The Yeli brothers had long known what he was thinking, so they did not speak.

Wei Ge Ning Ling is Li Yuanhao's younger brother, so he said: "Big brother, will it be too dangerous to go to Xiguan?" ”

"There's no way to do that, not to mention that those merchants from the Western Regions can cross the Hehuang Valley, can't they be alone?"

Li Yuanhao asked rhetorically.

"Amount"

Wei Ge Ningling thought about it and said, "I'm afraid that the grain and grass can't keep up." ”

This is a more tactful statement.

The merchants of the Western Regions are different from them, and the merchants of the Western Regions do not go to Gansu through the Hehuang Corridor, but to the Longle and Haixi areas in northern Subei.

That is, to go to the later Shidang River Basin, follow the river to the vicinity of Hara Lake, and arrive at the West Sea Tugu Hun Fu City.

This is the area of Tianjun County, Qinghai in later generations, and is now under the jurisdiction of the Gang Luo regime.

Therefore, the merchants of the Western Regions actually did not have to cross the mountains and mountains like the Tangut people, although the distance was relatively long, but there were river supplies along the way, and the food could also be exchanged for local grass-headed Tatars and yellow-headed Huifu.

And what about them?

The altitude of Qilian Mountain is relatively high, the weather is also cold, and there are few tribes around. Sometimes they climbed over a mountain and climbed four or five hundred zhang, but the mountain was seven or eight hundred zhang low, and tortured the dead.

In terms of grain and grass supply, it is purely pulled by men and horses, and the loss is very large. The point is that artillery is also not easy to transport, which is very worrying.

But apparently Li Yuanhao didn't listen.

Or maybe he understands these things, but now he can't do anything else.

There are enemies in all directions, but the Western Regions are too far away, and the national strength of Western Xia is not able to expand its power there.

Liao and the Great Song Dynasty can't afford to provoke anyone.

Only Qingtang is close at hand, not to mention, it is still a place of ointment, which naturally attracts him to salivate.

"There is no need to worry about grain and grass, when you go to the place to find a way to loot, it is really not possible to let the soldiers carry dry food on their backs, and there will be chariots and horses to follow behind."

Li Yuanhao said in a deep voice: "I have accumulated several years in the Great Xia, and there is enough grain and grass, so I don't believe that I can't climb the Tianshan Mountain." ”

"Yes."

It's hard to say anything.

"That's it, make a deployment alone, and you will bring it first."

Li Yuanhao was planning to make an arrangement.

First send Ye Li Yuqi to Suzhou to investigate the local situation, and then he will prepare grain, grass and supplies, and then implement the plan in March and April this year, when the weather warms up.

But at this moment, a close attendant of Li Yuanhao's cronies suddenly hurriedly came in from outside and reported to him: "King, the messenger Feishu." ”

"Emissary? Was it an envoy sent to the Song Dynasty? ”

Li Yuanhao frowned.

If there is no great event, how can the messenger fly the dove and pass the book?

"Yes."

"Show Lonely."

"Yes."

The attendant hurriedly handed over the letter.

Li Yuanhao opened the small paper that was rolled into a ball, and the words on it were not many, but they were all key information.

Everyone looked at Li Yuanhao's expression from the original solemnity, and their brows had begun to deepen.

They looked at each other, not knowing what was going on.

After a while, Yeli Wangrong boldly asked, "King, what happened?" ”

"The Song people invented a sharp weapon, called a steam train, which can carry people thousands of miles a day, from Bianliang to Shaanxi, but a day's journey."

Li Yuanhao tore up the paper ball in his hand, sat on the chair, and let out a long breath.

The people's eyes widened.

Because the meaning of this sentence is very clear, once Song Xia goes to war again, then the reinforcements of the Great Song Dynasty will arrive within a day.

It's horrible.

Yang Su hurriedly asked, "I don't know how many people this thing can carry?" ”

"Not yet known."

Li Yuanhao shook his head: "But since Song Guo dares to take it out, there will be no less than 10,000 people." ”

Everyone gasped.

What can make tens of thousands of people travel thousands of miles a day is simply subverting people's three views in the current period.

And if it is used for the military, then Western Xia is in jeopardy.

This means that people can send hundreds of thousands of troops to appear on the Song-Xia border at any time, and even have to consider whether they can have time to deploy defenses.

"So what's going to be done?"

"Originally, I thought that the Song people didn't have time to react by detouring to take Qingtang, but if this is the case, can we still capture Qingtang?"

"This"

Everyone looked at each other.

Li Yuanhao said in a deep voice: "There is no need to be so frightened, this thing needs to build something called a railroad track, and it has not been built between Bianliang and Shaanxi, and they can't do it now." But I'm afraid that in the next few years, Song Guo will be able to succeed. ”

This means that they only have a few years left for them.

Wei Ge Ning Ling asked tentatively: "Then will we still attack Qingtang?" ”

“.”

Li Yuanhao was silent for a long time.

The atmosphere in the arena became quite depressing.

If Zhang Yuan is here, he will definitely be able to think of a way.

Even the Yeli brothers, that is, they are quite powerful in terms of tactical play.

But Zhang Yuan is dead, and when it comes to strategy on the Western Xia side, maybe Li Yuanhao is still smart.

After he was silent for a moment, he breathed a long sigh of relief and said, "Fight!" But I'm afraid that I have to contact the Liao side immediately. ”

Originally, he thought that even if he couldn't lay Qingtang, he could first cut off the Hehuang corridor, let the development of Qingtang come to a standstill, and then encroach on Qingtang step by step.

In that case, it is not easy for the Song State to send troops to attack, unless the Song State wants to set off the Three Kingdoms War.

But now it's troublesome.

Even if he can cut off the Hehuang Corridor and build the railway, it is very likely that it will be in a trend of counter-encirclement to the Western Xia, which will be very unfavorable to the Western Xia.

Therefore, Li Yuanhao had to consider it, and simply took advantage of this opportunity to join forces with the Liao State to make a vote for it and directly eliminate Qingtang.

The development of the Great Song Dynasty is too fast, they can no longer keep up, if they don't think of a way, when the Great Song Dynasty throws them farther and farther, it will be the time when the Song State can easily wipe out the Western Xia and the Liao State.

Therefore, for the sake of Western Xia and Liao, he and Yelu Zongzhen must make a decision as soon as possible.

It's sitting still.

In the next few years, before the railways of the Great Song Dynasty were built everywhere, the plan to completely eliminate the Song State was completed.

And with his true understanding of Yelu Sect, the other party will definitely not wash his neck and wait for destruction.

Therefore, perhaps in the next few years, they will be forced to fight a decisive battle with the Song State, which will truly determine the life and death of the Three Kingdoms.

Li Yuanhao looked outside the palace, his eyes were already full of melancholy.

(End of chapter)