"Crunch!"

"Hahahaha, I'm so happy."

Zhao Zhen pushed the door in, and before everyone could speak, his face was full of red light.

"Congratulations to the official family, congratulations to the official family, recovering Yanyun, it can be described as the great cause of the Shenwen Holy Martial Arts!"

"It has been one hundred and ten years since Shi Jingjiao dedicated the land of Yanyun, and now he is back, and the merit is in the future."

"The official family has achieved the merit of no one before and no one after him, and this feat, compared to the previous dynasties, and many saints and kings."

"The great unification is today, and in the future, who will say that my Great Song Dynasty is not a great unified dynasty!"

The crowd touted.

It's not that they are all sycophants, but the significance of recovering the sixteen states of Yanyun is too great.

Not only because of how important its geographical location is, but in the Chinese territory, the sixteen states of Yanyun have always been an inseparable part.

In later generations, many people thought that China's territory should be so large, including the Western Regions, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the three northeastern provinces, the south of Caiyun and other places, should be our country's territory.

Only with such a large territory can it be regarded as a great unified dynasty.

But in fact, for the ancients, Guanzhong, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shu, Shanxi, Beiping and Lianghu are actually the complete territory since ancient times.

These places are the territories of the Warring States Seven Heroes period, including the Western Regions, which are dispensable for the Central Plains Dynasty.

It is not that our ancient Chinese people did not have the desire to occupy the land, but only these places are the richest, most beautiful, and most suitable territories for the development and survival of agricultural civilization, so their importance far exceeds that of other regions.

Other places, such as the southern part of Hubei in ancient times, and even Hubei belong to the genus of Jingman, not the orthodoxy of the Central Plains.

Guangdong, Guangxi, and Guizhou are places outside Lingnan.

Therefore, in the eyes of the ancients, only by taking all the territories of the Warring States Seven Heroes period can it be regarded as completing the great unification and being a complete ancient dynasty.

This is one of the reasons why Qin Shi Huang is highly regarded.

Although there was no Western Regions in the Great Song Dynasty before, whether there was a Western Regions or not had nothing to do with the Great Unification.

Because the Qin Dynasty did not have the Western Regions, and the Ming Dynasty only had half of the Western Regions, it did not prevent them from being a unified dynasty.

Therefore, there is only one standard for the Great Song Dynasty not to be a unified dynasty, that is, they do not have the sixteen states of Yanyun, that is, the territory of the former Yan State and part of the Zhao State.

And now the Great Song Dynasty has finally taken back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, which means that the Great Song Dynasty has taken all the territories of the homeland of China, from the original crippled dynasty, officially entered the sequence of the Great Unification Dynasty.

How can this not make Zhao Zhenjunchen happy.

After all, the great unification dynasty is actually not a concept formed in later generations, it has always existed in ancient times, and Zhao Guangyi launched the Northern Expedition, didn't he just want to complete this feat?

"Although I don't want to admit it, because I think only Chinese autumn leaves and begonias can be regarded as unified, but the ancient society did think that only the Chinese homeland was, so this is also a happy thing."

Zhao Jun saw that everyone was very happy, so he didn't pour cold water, but said with a smile: "But my suggestion is that everyone should not be too happy, because there will be more happy things in the future, such as destroying the Liao State, destroying the Western Xia, recovering the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Western Regions, and even looking at the territory of the Korean Peninsula and Japan."

"Hahahaha, I'm too happy to say that."

Zhao Zhen was even happier.

But then he licked his lips again, walked to the desk and said, "It's a pity, if this battle destroys the Liao State." ”

He is a staunch exterminator, after all, after the extermination of Liao, his merits are too great.

The evaluation of future generations, I am afraid that I can also compete for the top five.

If the Liao State and the Western Xia can be wiped out, and then the industrial revolution and the development of education can be promoted, I am afraid that it is possible to sit on the two sides and look at the other.

"Forget it, the cost is not proportional to the benefit."

Zhao Jun shook his head: "If you really want to do this, you spend so much manpower and material resources to destroy the Liao State, at most, it is a nominal occupation, and in fact you can't get any benefits, if you want to actually occupy and govern, the cost may even drag down the Great Song Dynasty." ”

He was resolutely opposed to the extermination of Liao.

It's not that you can't beat it, but it's that the gains outweigh the losses.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to destroy the Xiongnu because the Xiongnu threatened the Han Dynasty.

And now it is impossible for the Liao State to threaten the Han Dynasty, and it is really thankless to destroy the Liao.

The newcomers Xia Zhu and Du Yan and the others actually didn't quite understand why Zhao Jun was so opposed to the destruction of Liao, Du Yan asked: "Zhiyuan, why did you drag down the Great Song Dynasty?" ”

"It's very simple, the living conditions in these places are too bad, in winter, dozens of degrees below zero, which of you can withstand it?"

Zhao Jun asked rhetorically.

"Then why can the Liao people?"

Du Yan was not convinced.

That's because their mode of survival is a "nomadic" system. ”

Zhao Jun said: "Do you think that the grassland people shoot eagles every day? Actually, no, they are running for survival every day, otherwise why do they always choose to go south to fight the Central Plains Dynasty? ”

Zhao Zhen was also surprised: "What joints are there, why don't you talk about it?" ”

"It's very simple, our national strength is not the future generations after all, except for Shenyang, which is barely a place to be plastered, the rest of the north is a bitter cold place."

Zhao Jun said: "The three northeastern provinces of our later generations were developed, which was formed by the Han people in the east of the country from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Republic of China for hundreds of years. ”

"Now the natural conditions in the northeast are harsh, and it is extremely difficult to develop. If you want it to give back to us, the investment of manpower and material resources is very huge, and it is possible to bring down the Great Song Dynasty. ”

"Not to mention the Mongolian steppe, the natural conditions are not as good as the three northeastern provinces, what do we eat on the steppe? I can't even grow food, so I can only starve to death. ”

"In fact, it's not that we Han people can't use force to destroy the surrounding countries and seize their land. But even if we seize it, we can't rule it for a long time, and once the local natives rebel, the cost of our suppression is simply "

He shook his head, Zhao Zhen's gang now saw the beginning of industrialization, and they already had blind confidence, thinking that they could finally achieve the strength of the eastern powers in the future.

But the big country in the East is a big country in the East, and the Song is the Song Song.

Unless the Song Dynasty is brought to the level of the Third Industrial Revolution, it will be difficult to seize so much land and implement governance.

"Then why not rule with restraint?"

Zheng Jian asked.

"It's not that it hasn't been used, but it's useless, the Han Dynasty set up a general to protect the Huns, and then controlled the Mongolian steppe?"

Zhao Jun said: "I remember an example in the first half of the twentieth century, when the Nationalist government wanted to tax the Horokoma nomads living in northwestern Sichuan, but the result was. ”

He looked around.

And all the people looked at him, waiting for the next step.

"The government does not dare to force the livestock tax, otherwise the family will move and drive the cattle and flee to the wild."

Zhao Jun stretched out five fingers and continued: "This is still a relatively closed environment in Sichuan, do you know how big the grassland nomadic area is? The entire Mongolian steppe plus the northeast to Sakhalin Island is more than 5 million square kilometers, nearly twice the size of the current territory of the Great Song Dynasty. ”

"With such a large area, it is unrealistic for you to want to rule in bondage. Because the nomads live on water and grass, they must always chase after the abundant water and grass, otherwise if he does not leave, the grass will be yellow, the snow will come, the livestock will die, what will they eat? ”

"So it's such a big land, it's sparsely populated, and it's very mobile. It is almost impossible to set up a city, and it is impossible to send officials to govern, and there may be only one family and a few yurts separated by dozens of kilometers, what do you use to restrain the rule? ”

"At that time, even if the Liao State is destroyed, we can only continue to let these nomads grow savagely. And without the above regime, it is not easy for us to trade with them. ”

"It's better to keep the Liao State and let them help us rule at the grassroots level, so as to open a mutual market, attract those people to come and trade, and use them to transport raw materials for us."

"This is also one of the main reasons why I have always opposed the destruction of the Liao State."

In the end, Zhao Jun also showed a wry smile.

Seriously, if he has something to cross the golden finger, what system can he have to make the Great Song Dynasty evolve into a new era in a few years, then he really doesn't mind destroying the Liao State and unifying the world by the way.

But this is the real world, not some kind of historical cool article, he really can't do it.

The simplest example is that in the current New Balhu Right Banner in Inner Mongolia in later generations, 20 acres of land can support a sheep, and at least 300-400 sheep are needed to fully support a family of five; A complete herder family needs about 6,000 acres of land to be able to feed.

This is still fed back by modern industrial civilization, such as the pastures of later generations can be planted artificially, airplanes can scatter grass seeds everywhere, and winter forage can be completely shared.

In ancient times, a herdsman with a family of five needed more grassland than the herdsmen of later generations. You may even have to walk hundreds of kilometers with your cattle and sheep in a year to meet the basic needs of survival.

It can be said that the nomads of the entire Mongolian steppe spend seventy or eighty percent of their lives driving cattle and sheep to graze, and they can stop for a short time.

As a result, nomads are too mobile and difficult to survive in a single colony for a long time.

It is easy to destroy Liao, but the subsequent rule will be troublesome.

You send people to rule, there is almost no possibility of rule, you can't farm, you can't set up a government, you can't organize herdsmen. It may be that the area inhabited by a small herdsman village is larger than that of a state in the Great Song Dynasty.

If you don't send someone to rule, it will be even more bloody. Because if you want to destroy the Liao State, you must send a large army north, deep into the grasslands, and attack the Shangjing Road of the Liao State.

It is equivalent to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty destroying the Xiongnu again, and Li Shimin destroying the Turks again.

In that case, the country would have to contribute a lot of manpower and material resources, hundreds of thousands of troops, and millions of tons of grain and grass. For example, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty fought the Xiongnu and almost collapsed the country. Although Li Shimin was able to afford to destroy the Turks, he also dispatched more than 100,000 troops.

If you waste so much manpower and material resources in vain, but you can't even get any benefits, this battle will inevitably be a loss.

After all, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Li Shimin had a reason, it was the Xiongnu and the Turks who threatened the regime of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Li Shimin, and they had to brazenly send troops to stabilize their regime.

But now that the Liao State can no longer threaten the regime of the Great Song Dynasty at all, wouldn't it be a waste of money to fight this war again?

So to sum it up.

Now is indeed not a good time to destroy Liao.

It is better to let the Liao State have internal friction with other ethnic tribes in the north.

First, it can exacerbate the collapse of the Liao State itself and leave them to fend for themselves.

Second, it could also maintain the basic rule of the north, so that the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian steppe and the fishing and hunting peoples of the northeast could continue to maintain trade relations with the Great Song Dynasty and use them as suppliers of raw materials.

"Actually, we don't have to take the initiative to send troops to attack Liao, and Liaoguo is estimated to not last long."

Zhao Jun finally said: "The main population area of the Liao people is the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, and the main tax area is also here. With the loss of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the Liao State suffered a great loss of vitality and suffered a very large loss. ”

"After this war, the national strength of the Liao State declined, and it was only a matter of time before their national collapse was exacerbated. The Northeast Jurchens and steppe Mongols are not good at stubble. ”

"It is estimated that it will not be long before Yelu Zongzhen will fall into endless civil strife. How could he have any energy to go south, just suppressing the rebellion was enough for him, and even the Liao regime could be overthrown. ”

"So we don't need to spend so much national strength to destroy the Liao State, and in two years we will destroy the Western Xia, completely open up the Hexi Corridor, and take back the Western Regions."

"At present, our top priority is to speed up our own internal development, improve our productive forces, concentrate on learning, engage in scientific research, mobilize the country's strength to develop education, and improve the overall quality of the people."

"In this way, our science and technology can explode, and we can go out faster and open up our own new continent."

He tapped the table and made a plan for the future route.

If a country wants to maintain long-term peace and stability, war is inevitable, but the most important thing is to have a clear development route.

It is not advisable to blindly fight a war, and it is not advisable to blindly dare to fight, so it is necessary to grasp the middle degree well, and when to do what is the correct path for the development of the country.

"If you say that, the Liao Kingdom will collapse on its own in the future?"

Zhao Zhen was surprised: "Then what if Yelu Sect really subdues the rest of the ethnic tribes and does not collapse?" ”

"Then at that time, the Liao State is already at the end of the crossbow, and my Great Song Dynasty will be wiped out if I send a border army casually? We don't have to send another army now. ”

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "The most important thing is to build roads, build railways, and circulate population." The Northeast is full of treasures, and in the future, encourage the people to go out of the customs, and slowly they will be able to develop. ”

"Hmm."

Zhao Zhen nodded slightly.

"It is estimated that it will not be long before the Liao State and Western Xia will send envoys to sue for peace, and now it is the royal way to fight for our own interests."

Zhao Jun continued: "Let's sign a peace treaty on the Liao side, and force them to open a mutual market and exchange ideas. As for the Western Xia side."

He said with a cold look in his eyes and said: "Hang Li Yuanhao, and destroy Western Xia in two years." ”

"Okay, it's also a good thing to destroy Western Xia."

Zhao Zhen was overjoyed and said: "And no matter what, taking back the sixteen states of Yanyun, such a great achievement, I still want to be blessed with the people, why don't you give amnesty to the world and reduce taxes?" ”

"Amnesty to the world. Even if it is pardoned, it will at most pardon some criminals who have committed relatively minor crimes and have relatively short sentences. For the rest of the secondary offenders, the sentences are commuted to a certain extent, and the heavier offenders cannot be pardoned, otherwise the victims will not be able to be given comfort. ”

Zhao Jun said: "Now there is indeed a shortage of labor, large-scale production across the country has to be built, and it is nothing to release some prisoners with light culpability, but we must also grasp the degree, and everything cannot be done with a pat on the head." ”

"Yes, I see."

Zhao Zhen nodded.

The rest of the details were then discussed.

For example, when the time comes for the Liao-Song peace talks, how should the Great Song Dynasty fight for interests.

How much will the tax be reduced this year?

Which prisoners are released, which prisoners are not pardoned, etc.

In addition, Zhao Zhen also suggested rebuilding the Taimiao.

He planned to worship his ancestors and tell his ancestors that he had completed the great feat of recovering the sixteen states of Yanyun.

Zhao Jun felt that there was no problem, so he agreed, and at the same time suggested that a monument should be built on the square outside the Taimiao Temple to commemorate the official entry of the Great Song Dynasty into the ranks of great unification!

(End of chapter)