In the international exchanges of later generations, the measure of a country's comprehensive national strength is not only GDP, but also the issue of grain production, that is, the great man said, "There is food in the hand, and there is no panic in the heart". ”

"Food as the lifeblood of a country cannot be held by others, this is a lesson in blood, such as Ireland, Argentina, Brazil, Ukraine."

"These are all large grain-producing regions in our later generations, but their own agriculture is manipulated by foreign countries, and the vast majority of the grain produced is used for export, which leads to food shortages and economic recession in their own countries, which is the fate of the lifeblood being grasped by others."

"We know these truths, the lessons of blood and tears. I knew that it was not pleasant to be hungry, so I worked hard to develop agriculture, and a large number of agricultural researchers like Yuan Lao paid to let us hold our jobs. ”

"It's a pity that the Western Xia and Liao have not yet understood these truths, and a large amount of state expenditure is used for military spending. And as defense spending increases, the need to support businesses to sustain their military industry development. ”

"According to my survey, there has been a significant decline in the agricultural and livestock population in their country. On the Western Xia side, there were mostly merchants who were second-tier dealers in the Western Regions, and the Liao side was also more keen on handicrafts and resource export industries. ”

"Compared with hard work, digging wild ginseng in the northeast, catching some wild goods and selling furs to the Great Song Dynasty, or engaging in trade at the border, the benefits are far greater than farming."

And this situation has been maintained for seven or eight years, and the economy and agriculture of the entire Western Xia and Liao kingdoms are heavily dependent on the Great Song Dynasty. We exchanged grain for copper ore from them, minted it into copper coins, and went to them to buy other resources. ”

"It's ironic to say, I used to laugh at the mold emperor for printing money to harvest leeks all over the world. Now Da Song has also become a money printing machine to harvest leeks all over the world, but it is undeniable that this feeling is really TM cool. ”

In the meeting room of the Constitutional Yuan, on the topic of discussing the sudden dispatch of troops by the Liao State of Western Xia to the allies of the Great Song Dynasty this time, Zhao Jun talked eloquently and smiled.

In the past, some people did not understand why they sold the complete gunpowder formula to Liao, and why they supported the merchants of the Great Song Dynasty to buy sulfur from Japan and then transfer it to Liao.

But they don't want to think about it, Western Xia and Liao have all vigorously developed firearms, what will happen to the people's livelihood in China? What about economic and agricultural development? The example of Big Brother Mao Bear is placed in front, is such a superficial truth still incomprehensible?

Not only food and economy, once the Great Song Dynasty really began to kill the border, cut off the mutual market, then the maritime trade will also end, and the raw materials of gunpowder will be interrupted in an instant.

So Zhao Jun made a big move early, a move that could strangle the throats of Western Xia and Liao.

"Think about it carefully, I remember Han Long said that in history, we fought with Western Xia, cut off their mutual market, and almost caused the Western Xia country to collapse, could it be that you thought of this at that time?"

Fan Zhongyan's eyes widened.

"Hmm."

Zhao Jun nodded and said: "After the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, there were only two large-scale conflicts with the Liao State, but because of the defeat, the mutual market could not be canceled. And Liao's plate is large, even if the mutual market is canceled, it will be self-sufficient to a certain extent, of course you can't think of this. ”

"Later, although the Song-Xia War lasted for a few years, and the cancellation of the mutual market made the Western Xia a mess, the embarrassing thing is that the Great Song Dynasty lost again, lost the New Year's coins to others, and forcibly renewed the life of the Western Xia, which makes people even more speechless."

"So I simply calculated it, knowing that the Western Xia and the Liao State would always be destroyed in the future, so there would be a wave of economic and political warfare, so that the Liao State and the Western Xia would fall into our trap and not extricate themselves."

Speaking of this, he suddenly laughed, looked around and said, "You still don't know that at this time, the Han people in Yanyun are all trying to recognize their ancestors and return to their ancestors." ”

"Is there anything else going on?"

Yan Shu was surprised: "Doesn't it mean that the people of Yanyun Han are disgusted with the Great Song Dynasty? ”

"It was before, and now it is now."

Zhao Jun pointed to Goryeo on the map and said: "In later generations, Goryeo was divided into two, the north was called North Korea, and the south was called South Korea. Since the end of the twentieth century, the mold emperor became the sole hegemon in the world, and under its suppression and support, North and South Korea have embarked on different paths. While North Korea is poor, South Korea is very wealthy, and eventually it has entered the ranks of developed countries. So after that, a large number of North Koreans fled to South Korea, but almost no South Koreans ran to North Korea, do you know why? ”

"If you think about it with your toes, it must be a better life in South Korea."

Everyone smiled, and it was self-evident.

"Yes."

Zhao Jun nodded: "After the same nation is separated, there is naturally a heart of contrast. In the past, the Great Song Dynasty was severely taxed and miscellaneous taxes, and the Han people of Liao definitely did not want to come back and become the object of oppression of the Han people of the Great Song Dynasty. But now that the Great Song Dynasty has developed well, the Han people in the Great Song Dynasty have become rich, and the Han people in the Liao Kingdom naturally want to come back. ”

"People are profit-seeking."

Li Di sighed.

"This is normal, and they cannot be accused of impure motives. After all, those who are unconditionally patriotic are people with lofty ideals, and only a few people are willing to throw their heads and shed their blood to fight for the country, and most people still do not have that kind of consciousness. ”

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Maybe if you and I are in that position, seeing that the Great Song Dynasty now has low taxes and the people are living well, they also want to come back, don't they?" ”

"Well, since they want to go home, then as compatriots, we naturally have to welcome them."

Li Di quickly adjusted his mentality and said with a smile.

This political remark immediately caused a knowing smile on everyone's face.

Although they all know that the Yanyun Han people want to come back because of their own interests, everyone always has to find a high-sounding excuse.

Isn't it the best reason to return to your home country as a Han Chinese?

"Well, okay, I also said the specific analysis of this matter, and everyone has also discussed, what the Xixia people and the Liao people want to do, now they probably have all understood."

Zhao Jun said: "They want to attack our allies and take the initiative to provoke a war, so that we can go to war." If we are gone, we will inevitably attack their homeland or go to war on the territory of our allies, thus exposing their flaws and giving them an opportunity to take advantage of them. ”

"Hmm."

Everyone nodded slightly in agreement, which was something that everyone in the Constitutional Yuan agreed with.

As the highest decision-making body of the Great Song Dynasty, who can sit here is not an elite who has been killed all the way up from the bottom of the officialdom?

Political wisdom and means will not be lacking.

What's more, they have now opened the full map and put a complete map of the surrounding countries in front of them.

In this way, through various thoughts, the situation of the Liao State and the Western Xia was quickly judged.

Then in the case of replacing the enemy's perspective, this strategy of striking east and west, diverting the tiger from the mountain and luring the snake out of the hole is already the optimal solution.

The Liao State and Western Xia brought the main forces of the Great Song Dynasty into Qingtang and Goryeo, and the rest were two options.

One is that the Great Song Dynasty sent troops to the hinterland of Liaoxia, and they fought defensive battles. The second is naturally that the Great Song Dynasty continues to support its allies and does not send troops.

"Does that mean that as long as we don't take the initiative to attack Western Xia and Liao proper, they can't do anything about us?"

Yan Shu asked.

"That's true, but didn't I say that? Since they dare to provoke, they have to leave a piece of meat. ”

Zhao Jun pressed the map and said: "On the Western Xia side, I fancy Qingtang and Zhuo Luo and Nan, then even if Li Yuanhao is lucky, I let Han Qi mainly focus on these two places." Liao won't be so lucky, I'll have to fight him on his own soil. ”

"Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures?"

Everyone's eyes lit up.

"Hmm."

Zhao Jun made a gesture on the map and said, "I plan to transport some soldiers to Goryeo to help Goryeo defend against Liao. The other part attacked from the Bohai Bay, cooperated with the army, and attacked Yanyun with lightning, which must make the Liao State pay a heavy price. ”

"Is that so?"

Cai Qi frowned and said: "Didn't Han Long say before that in the future, the Great Song Dynasty would annex Goryeo, Japan and neighboring countries and become a pole of East Asia, so why not take advantage of this opportunity?" ”

"But I also said that this is a very long-term plan, and my generation probably can't do it, maybe the next generation, or even the next generation."

Zhao Jun waved his hand and said, "So in the current situation, the Great Song still needs these allies." It's not that I want to be a moral benchmark, the interests of the country are paramount, and politicians need to use brazen means to take advantage of it. After all, the land as big as Lang Huaxia was not bought by etiquette and shame, but by real swords and guns. ”

But at the same time, we must also understand that the West can rely on force through bloody plunder, and it is the suppression of primitive society by feudal society. It was also a feudal society, and the Western colonists during the Ming Dynasty had no way to take the Ming Dynasty, and were even beaten by one of our pirates at the end of the Ming Dynasty. ”

"Then in such a situation, we have to take into account that the Great Song Dynasty is currently in the initial stage of the first industrial revolution, and it has not even completed the first industrial revolution, and with the current capacity, there is no way to take colonial plunder measures against Liao, Western Xia, Goryeo, and Japan, and there is no way to occupy such a large land."

"The Mongols must have been large enough, but in the end they were forced to divide into four khanates, and there were constant uprisings, and it was not long before the khanates were overthrown. We are the same, it was only Goguryeo that perished in the Tang Dynasty, but in the end they still formed today's Goryeo, and the country enveloped the entire Korean Peninsula. ”

"Therefore, it is not enough for civilization to rely on conquest alone, but also to have a strong force and cultural infiltration. Only by making the people and people of East Asia identify with our ideas and culture can we turn them into our people after conquering their countries. ”

"Otherwise, just like the Liao State attacked Goryeo a few years ago, even if they captured their national capital, their king and ministers led the people to fight guerrillas outside, but they were still able to repel the Liao State and finally restore the country."

"In the final analysis, it is not as simple as some people think that if you want to completely integrate a nation and a culture."

"Once nationalism awakens, it is a terrible thing, and Japan enslaved Korea for more than 30 years before World War II, trying to destroy Korea culturally, linguistically, and ideologically, but did it succeed in the end?"

"What we are doing is ugly to say that it is destroying people's country and destroying other people's seeds. The so-called ethnic groups of other countries, such as the Koreans, Mongolians, Jurchens, Bohai, Khitans, Dangxiang, Tubo, and so on, have become part of the Chinese nation. ”

"And while there is no concept of nationalism in this era, we can influence other peoples to be tolerated and assimilated by us. Eventually, they will slowly identify with us and become us. ”

"Instead of being hostile to us and resisting, just like the whole world fought for independence after World War II, and in the end the two sides got to the point of breaking the net."

"Now."

"You know why I'm so eager to sell Confucian books abroad."

Zhao Jun looked around and smiled at the success of the conspiracy.

Chinese culture is broad and profound.

And the most powerful of them is tolerance.

During the Tang Dynasty, foreigners were proud to be the people of the Tang Dynasty.

Many Goguryeo and Japanese people came to Datang and wanted to get a Datang hukou.

Even in the Song Dynasty, which was despised by later generations, there were Japanese people who came up with a "degree" plan in order to get Han blood.

This shows how strong the assimilation ability of Confucian culture is.

Everyone understood for a while.

Many people who didn't understand some of Zhao Jun's operations also suddenly had a realization.

"It turns out that Hanlong has been playing a big game of chess from beginning to end."

"Thinking about it this way, the East Asian unipolar strategy is really a grand and long-term plan."

"Hanlong's long-term vision is beyond our consideration."

The crowd applauded for a while.

Because they think about it carefully, Zhao Jun's plan is quite reliable.

In the past, I felt more like I was in the clouds, and I thought that Da Song could really have such a vast territory?

Now it seems that none of this is out of the question.

"Alright, let's get down to business."

Zhao Jun tapped lightly on the table and said, "It's still the same sentence, since the Liao State and the Western Xia took the initiative to send the territory, then we have no reason not to accept it." This is my plan, the troops are divided into two routes, all the way to aid Goryeo, all the way to besiege Yanyun, what is your opinion? ”

Everyone looked at Fan Zhongyan, when it came to fighting here, he was more experienced.

"I don't have an opinion, with the current national strength of my Great Song Dynasty, it is not difficult to do this, even if it starts a war with the Liao State and Western Xia at the same time."

Fan Zhongyan nodded slightly and said, "What's more, since Han Long is the one who proposes the strategic task, then we should also trust it unconditionally, and then we have to make tactical plans to achieve the recapture of Yanyun." ”

"In that case, then Lao Fan, you and Di Qing should take a trip."

Zhao Jun said: "Whether you can recapture the sixteen states of Yanyun depends on your ability, don't let me and the official family down." ”

"Hmm."

Fan Zhongyan nodded without refusal.

To deal with a small Western Xia, Han Qi is enough.

But if the Liao State is here, it still has to rely on him.

After all, the national strength of the Liao State is still not the same as that of the Western Xia, and it needs a backbone.

So Zhao Jun made a decision and let him go.

In other words, no one else can do it.

First, his prestige in the army is not enough, and he can't have the effect that Fan Zhongyan has unconditionally convinced everyone.

Second, although Fan Zhongyan's real ability is not necessarily particularly strong, his judgment is still not bad, at least he is also an upper-middle-level commander.

In addition, with Di Qing charging into battle, the time and place are favorable, if Lao Fan can't handle this, then simply find a piece of tofu and kill himself.

(End of chapter)