In September of the sixth year of the Great Song Dynasty, the war in the northwest was in full swing.

Han Qi sent Zhang Kangjingtai and others to attack Yuan Hao in the west, surrounded Miaochuan City, and attacked Zhuo Luo City, and the battle went smoothly.

Now the Western Xia army outside Miaochuan City has been completely emptied, and the Song army is bombarding the city.

At this juncture, the Liao State suddenly invaded Goryeo, and in the first battle of Goryeo Guizhou, Goryeo was defeated and fled south in a hurry.

In later generations, Pyongyang was not the capital of Goryeo, but the seogyung of Goryeo.

After King Hyeonam of Goryeo fled to Seogyeong, he left the general Kang Sung-zhi to garrison, and he fled to Kaegyeong, which was later Kaesong, Joseon.

Although the Liao State had conquered Kaesong and occupied it for a while, Wang Hui decided to defend Kaijing.

Because it is surrounded by two rivers, namely the Hunshui (Licheng River) and the Nihe River (North Han River), and the west is the Bohai Sea, the terrain is extremely dangerous, which is convenient for the Song army and navy to come to help.

Although the area further south was also the territory of Goryeo, such as Seoul as Goryeo Nanjing, and Daegu City as Goryeo Tokyo to the east, the south was almost unsafe.

Therefore, in order to prevent the country from being destroyed, the king of Goryeo could only make a desperate bet and chose to fight to the death with the Liao State in Kaijing to defend his own capital.

Almost at noon after the end of the Constitutional Yuan meeting, after many prime ministers discussed, they immediately went to the back garden to talk to Zhao Zhen.

Zhao Zhen learned of the situation, and heard that this battle could recover Qingtang, Zhuo Luo and Nan and the sixteen states of Yanyun, so he almost died at that time, and sent troops beautifully.

The Song Dynasty was full of obsession with the sixteen states of Yanyun, and at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Song Huizong also threatened to make whoever could take it back as the king of the opposite sex, which is enough to see the importance that the Song Dynasty attached to this land.

In the final analysis, the geographical location of the sixteen states of Yanyun is too important.

Without Yanyun, there would be no important place to defend the northern nomads, so they had to face their offensive pressure at any time, and they had to be heavily guarded in order to protect the country, so that there were many military expenditures and the treasury was eroded.

Now that he finally has a chance to take it back, it's no wonder that Zhao Zhen is not happy to die.

September 22, midnight.

Yesterday afternoon, Zhao Zhen signed an order to transfer troops at the speed of light, and the Privy Council also passed it at the speed of light, and then the Ministry of War and the Privy Council quickly began to transfer the Bianliang forbidden army.

Now there are more than 600,000 troops in the Great Song Dynasty, in addition to about 300,000 in Shaanxi Road and Hebei Road, and more than 200,000 scattered in the local area, there are still about 200 battalions left in Bianliang, that is, about 100,000.

Compared with the nearly 400,000 forbidden troops gathered in Bianliang before the army was restructured, with a total of more than 630 Tokyo battalions, the forbidden army at this time was more refined and much more powerful.

The old and weak in the army and the sand of the mess were eliminated, leaving only the elite people who dared to fight. In addition, every 10 battalions are an army, and each army has a general who serves as the commander of the army, managing daily training and army discipline, which greatly enhances the combat effectiveness.

At this moment, Fan Zhongyan had just gone to the Privy Council to get an appointment, and when he came out of the Privy Council, Zhao Zhen was already waiting for him.

The nearest way out of the palace from the Privy Council is to go south from the Duanli Gate, but Fan Zhongyan wants to leave from the Xihua Gate today, and first go to the Bianliang Forbidden Military Camp and lead the soldiers away, so he takes the back gate of the Wende Hall in the north, and then goes to the Xihua Gate in the west from the compound road.

Outside the door of the vertical arch hall, Zhao Zhen came out of the north palace, and Zhao Jun and other prime ministers came out of the back door of the Daqing Hall to the door of the Zichen Palace.

In the palace, Fan Zhongyan's actions were naturally controlled by them, and seeing that everyone was waiting for him on the return road, Fan Zhongyan hurriedly walked over and saluted Zhao Zhen and said, "Official." ”

"Well, I and Hanlong will send Xiwen Gong together."

Zhao Zhen put his hands behind his back, his face flushed slightly, obviously he was still quite excited, after all, this was a major event to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun.

Zhao Jun had already told him that the Song Dynasty was only briefly recovered in the late Northern Song Dynasty, and it was bought back, and it was quickly repulsed, and even made the Great Song Dynasty a laughing stock for future generations. And such a feat is about to happen in his hands, how can it not be exciting?

"Ten thousand ministers are dead, and Your Majesty is in charge."

Fan Zhongyan hurriedly replied.

"Huh."

Zhao Zhen waved his hand, and then walked towards Xihua Gate first, and said as he walked: "This battle is not as good as before, although the previous war with the Liao State of Western Xia was important and established the current status of my Great Song Dynasty, but the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have always been the heart disease of my Great Song Dynasty, and I also attach great importance to it. ”

"Yes, in the sixteen states of Yanyun, Taizu and Taizong also wanted to get it back many times, but unfortunately they always failed. If this battle can be recaptured, my Great Song Dynasty can truly return to the strength of the Tang Dynasty. ”

Yan Shu next to him also sighed.

Everyone showed a solemn look on their faces, if Yan Yun was not recaptured, it would always be a lingering cloud on the head of the Great Song Dynasty, which was heart-wrenching.

"The minister must do everything he can to let Yan Yun return to the Han soil."

Fan Zhongyan said solemnly.

Several people walked side by side, Zhao Zhen walked in front, Zhao Jun was on his left hand, and Fan Zhongyan was on his right.

Then there were many prime ministers on both sides and behind them, and they slowly walked towards Xihua Gate one by one.

Zhao Jun's hands were also behind his back, he raised his head and looked at the slightly pale warm sun in late autumn, and said with a smile: "Actually, Lao Fan, don't be too psychologically pressured, with the current size of the Great Song Dynasty, it is not much of a problem to win the Liao Kingdom, but we don't want to immediately annex the huge Liao Kingdom." ”

"Hmm."

Fan Zhongyan nodded slightly.

"The people's hearts are not enough to swallow elephants, the Great Song Dynasty is only about 3 million square kilometers, and the Liao State is close to 6 million square kilometers, and it is still very difficult for us to swallow twice the land of our own land at one time."

Zhao Jun said as he walked forward: "But this time, I will plant the seeds of decay and destruction for the Liao Kingdom, and if I lose the land of Yanyun, Yelu Zongzhen will probably be like a thorn in the back, and he will use the power of the country to develop firearms and military industry even more frantically, so that his national strength will become more and more decaying." ”

"It seems that I will destroy the Liao State, take the northeast, and reach a huge territory that even the Tang Dynasty can't reach, and it's just around the corner."

Zhao Zhen couldn't suppress a smile on his face.

Although the Tang Dynasty was powerful, with nearly 13 million square kilometers of land, a large part of the area actually came from the prefectures of Guanyu, such as Anxi, Anbei, Annan, and Andong.

It is true that the state can be included in the territory of the map, because the state belongs to the actual control area, and the state is only a means of control, cooperating with local leaders or rulers to manage together, but the control is slightly weaker than that of the Central Plains, which does not mean that the state does not belong to the Tang Dynasty.

But what the Great Song Dynasty wants to do is not to bind the state, but to really incorporate these territories into their territory. In the future, trains and ships will be used as means of transportation, so as to truly achieve local control, and no longer as before, the emperor is far away, once the Central Plains Dynasty has a storm, the distant border states can immediately rebel and become independent.

Therefore, to a certain extent, if the Great Song Dynasty can officially take back the Western Regions, the Northeast, Mobei and other places, that is, the Western Xia Liao State, the Black Khan Dynasty, the Xizhou Uighurs and other places, and no longer set up a feudal state, but really incorporate it into the territory, then the Great Song Dynasty will indeed be stronger than the Tang Dynasty in its heyday.

After all, one is fetters and the other is actual control, and they are not the same.

"It's just around the corner, but don't be too happy, brother."

Zhao Jun poured a basin of cold water and said: "The larger the territory, the more difficult it is to govern." With such a level of development in our later generations, the big brother of the hairy bear, which is more than 20 million square kilometers, can fall apart overnight. Unless we are so mad that we slaughter everyone and then let the Han people occupy this vast land, the problem of ethnic conflict is inevitable. ”

"Yes, I do."

Zhao Zhen calmed down a little from the excitement just now, nodded in agreement with Zhao Jun's opinion, and said, "I understand these truths, so I also know that many things can't be rushed. ”

"Well, I've been worried about you, brother, when you see that my Great Song is strong, you pat your head and say that you want to go to a big territory."

Zhao Jun was very pleased that Zhao Zhen was self-aware, but he was afraid of hitting him, so he continued: "But brother, don't worry too much, the ruling foundation of feudal society is actually the productive forces, as long as the productive forces come up, people can afford to eat and wear, the turmoil will be much smaller, the resistance will be much smaller, and the rest is naturally the means of domination and education." ”

The Qing Dynasty was like this, the Manchu Qing Dynasty only had many people enter the customs, but as long as they won the war, and then established the Qing Dynasty, and caught up with the end of the Xiaoice River at the end of the Ming Dynasty, sweet potatoes and potatoes and other products were introduced, and the productivity grew explosively, then the people's motivation to rebel was small.

Although there were many rebellions during the reign of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, there were very few rebellions that shook their rule, and most of them were concentrated in the late Qing Dynasty, and there were not many rebellions in the early and middle periods.

After that, it is only necessary to complete education and ideological transformation, and reasonably build the surrounding ethnic groups into one of the Chinese nation, which is an inseparable family of fifty-six peoples.

Just like the people of Goguryeo, Japan, and Silla, they all dreamed of becoming the people of the Tang Dynasty.

A few people walked and chatted, and it didn't take long to arrive at Xihua Gate, there was a small team waiting outside Xihua Gate, there were about 200 of them, lined up in a neat line, fully armed, like a group of steel-like warriors standing in place.

Di Qing rode on horseback, and farther away, such as Qingtai Street, Xihuamen Street, and Qishengyuan Street, many people gathered nearby, commenting on the army standing outside Xihuamen.

"This is our Great Song Army, so strong and majestic. Anyway, what are they standing here for? ”

"You don't know, haven't read the newspaper?"

"No, I went to work this morning, so I don't have time to watch."

"The Liao State is attacking Goryeo, and the official family wants to stand up for Goryeo, and plans to send people to the rescue."

"Is there another war?"

"What are you afraid of, now that we are in the Great Song Dynasty, who dares to provoke, even the Liao State can only bully Goryeo."

"Also, with such a strong army, my Great Song Dynasty is already invincible."

The people were talking.

This is the self-confidence that a strong army can bring to people.

In ancient times, the Han people were the most confident people in the world, with the cry of "those who commit crimes against strong men will be punished even if they are far away".

Far from being like some people in later generations who only believed that the moon was the roundest in a foreign country, even if they could not be reincarnated abroad, they had to risk their lives and being pouted by Lao Mo to go to a foreign land to eat donuts.

Although this self-confidence has been slightly defeated in the Great Song Dynasty, at the official level, this sense of pride among the people is still there, far from decaying.

Therefore, the people of the Great Song Dynasty have always been full of martial virtues, not afraid of the enemy, and not afraid of war.

Now don't say that the Great Song Dynasty has defeated the Western Xia and the Liao State and re-ascended to the throne of the first brother in Asia. Even if it is not defeated, I am afraid that the common people are looking forward to the rise of the Great Song Dynasty again, and they will slap Li Yuanhao and Yeluzong hard.

At this moment, everyone had already walked to the gate of Xihua, Zhao Zhen was inconvenient to leave the palace, so he stopped in place, and the noisy sound outside came, although he couldn't hear what the people were saying, but he could always guess a few points.

"The people of Li are watching, and they are also looking forward to me taking back Yanyun, so that the Han people there can return to their homeland, and let the Great Song Dynasty become strong again!"

Zhao Zhen looked out from the palace gate and saw that in the restaurant outside the palace, I don't know how many people were lying on the railing and talking, so he turned his head to Fan Zhongyan, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Xiwen Gong, this battle is all up to you." ”

"The minister must live up to the trust of His Majesty and the trust of the people!"

Fan Zhongyan bowed seriously.

"Be careful, take care of your body."

Zhao Zhen remembered that Wang Zeng died of illness not long ago, and Lu Yijian was still sick in bed, and he was afraid that he would not have long to live, so he couldn't help but hold Fan Zhongyan's hand with concern and said: "It's cold in Liaodong, so you must not be in danger." ”

"Yes, the minister knows."

Fan Zhongyan raised his head, looked at the sky and said, "It's almost dark."

He was about to say goodbye and leave.

Zhao Jun suddenly said: "Wait a minute, I have something to say." ”

"What's wrong?"

Fan Zhongyan was puzzled.

And everybody looked at it.

Zhao Jun's eyes rolled, and he smiled sneeringly: "Originally, I had a few words to instruct, but I think it would be more thought-provoking to tell you a joke about the Great Song Dynasty." ”

Hearing this, everyone's faces changed slightly, but Zhao Zhen said with interest: "The eldest grandson said to listen to it." ”

It's not that Zhao Zhen is immune or has been rotten, but since the Great Song Dynasty defeated the Liao State and Western Xia, Zhao Zhen's self-confidence has also increased.

In the past, the self-confidence of the Great Song Dynasty was defeated, not because the people were defeated, but because the magnates above were defeated.

From the minister to the emperor, he was afraid of the Liao State to death.

During the Zhao Guangyi period, a donkey cart drift destroyed the self-confidence of most of the upper echelons of the Song Dynasty. Even in the period of Zhao Heng of Song Zhenzong, if it weren't for Kou Zhun, I'm afraid that Zhao Heng would have moved the capital and run away.

But now it is different from the past, the Great Song Dynasty is really strong, and it has enough confidence to face the Liao State that was once scared to death.

It's like when you used to be thin and weak, and you were always bullied, then you will naturally only get more and more inferior.

Ke Ling has been training hard in the gym for two years, with a full body of muscles, and with a gentle push, you can push the person who once bullied you three or five meters, and at this time you will only have vigorous self-confidence.

Therefore, Zhao Zhen's attitude towards the jokes of the Great Song Dynasty, which embarrassed him very much before, has gradually changed.

The Great Song joke itself is a satire of the Great Song Dynasty.

But what you are sarcastic about the previous Great Song Dynasty, what does it have to do with my current Great Song Dynasty?

Only Yan Shu, Cai Qi, Song Shou and others still resisted the jokes of the Great Song Dynasty.

It's not that their self-confidence hasn't been raised, but it's a feudal society after all, and they have to consider the emperor's feelings.

Scolding him in front of the emperor is always a matter of death.

Sometimes the official listens to your sarcasm about him, but he just smiles indifferently and doesn't pursue it, that is generosity.

But once the official family gets angry, the sarcasm becomes a crime, and I don't know how to die.

A companion is like a tiger.

But the good news is that this emperor is Zhao Zhen, and the better news is that Zhao Jun has easily handled Zhao Zhen.

I saw Zhao Jun pondering a little and then said: "After the Song army took back Yanjing, when a Han lady from Youzhou watched Tong Guan's entrance to the city, she pointed at him and said that she looked like her nephew.

Others reprimanded her: "What nonsense, this is the king of Guangyang County!" ”

Old lady: "What did he do to be crowned king?" ”

The others replied: "He drove away the Khitans." ”

The old lady asked eagerly: "Can he drive the Song people away?" ”

"Well, do you hear anything from this joke that I'm trying to say?"

Zhao Jun looked at Fan Zhongyan and said.

Fan Zhongyan groaned slightly, and then said: "I know the three disciplines and the eight points of attention. ”

"It's best to make it into a song that is easy to learn and spread in the military."

Zhao Jun said.

"I know, I will let the Han people in Youzhou return to their motherland with joy and sincerity!"

Fan Zhongyan's face was serious.

The Yanyun Han people have been away from their homeland for too long.

Now is the time to return.

And since it is to take compatriots home, it is natural that there should be an attitude towards compatriots.

If Yanyun is defeated, he will burn, kill and loot, and do all kinds of evil.

In exchange, it must be a detachment from morality.

At that time, the Yanyun Han people will only say "It's better not to come back." ”

Therefore, Zhao Jun has always emphasized only one - do a good job in military discipline and welcome compatriots home!

"Alright, I'm leaving! Official, minister farewell! ”

Fan Zhongyan bowed to Zhao Zhen again, then turned his head and walked out of the palace gate, turned over his horse, looked at the palace gate for the last time, and was about to go north, straight into Yanyun.

Looking at the back of his departure, Zhao Zhen and many prime ministers of the Constitutional Yuan were reluctant to leave for a long time.

This time, Fan Zhongyan carried the hope that they were looking forward to the return of Yanyun's homeland, and it was also an unforgettable scar in the hearts and minds of the Great Song Dynasty for decades.

Everyone was full of anticipation, looking forward to the day when Yan Yun returned.

And this day.

It's finally coming.

"Let's go."

Zhao Jun waved his hand, raised his head and looked at the sky in the distance and said: "Our Great Song Dynasty still has a long, long way to go, not only Yanyun, but also more and more vast lands in the future, which will be the territory of the Great Song Dynasty, and my Chinese civilization will become more and more brilliant!" ”

(End of chapter)