Kaifeng City, the Great Song Palace.

When Zeng Bu 800 li hurriedly reported the movements of Dali to the imperial court, all the officials of the Manchu Dynasty were shocked.

"The official family is Shengming, my Great Song Dynasty is a state of etiquette, and maintaining the orthodoxy of the Dali royal family will definitely make the name of the official family famous all over the world!" The ministers complimented.

Zhao Xu couldn't help but look proud, since the founding of the Great Song Dynasty, martial virtue is not prosperous, and the titles of the Heavenly Empire have been snatched by the Liao State, and now the Great Song Dynasty first helped the little emperor of Goryeo to stabilize the imperial power, and then helped the Dali Duan clan to take back the throne, which is enough to make the name of the Great Song Dynasty Celestial Dynasty prestige.

"Qiyu official, although Dali is the last step of Dali's roundabout strategy, Weichen believes that it is only necessary to support Dali Duan's control of real power, so that Dali Duan's gratitude will definitely be made, not only can ensure the stability of the southwest, but also make the official's benevolent name famous."

Yang Wei bowed down to report that Yang Wei pursued Confucian thoughts, believing that although the country was big, the belligerent would die, and the Great Song Dynasty now sent troops to help the Duan clan of Dali to restore the throne, highlighting the demeanor of the Great Song Dynasty and the Heavenly Dynasty, which is the biggest gain.

"The minister agrees with Lord Yang's policy, now that the Duan family of Dali has been reinstated, my Great Song Dynasty has been nameless, if I forcibly send troops again, I will definitely have a bad relationship with Dali, and now the biggest enemy of my Great Song Dynasty is still Liaoxia, and I can only make friends with Dali, not evil." Zhang Dian worried.

The current enemy of the Great Song Dynasty is still Liaoxia, if the Great Song Dynasty will focus on Tubo and Dali, once the war is unfavorable, then the Great Song Dynasty and Dali will be completely evil, and the Great Song Dynasty will face the risk of fighting on both fronts in the north and south, not to mention the delay in recovering the sixteen states of Yanyun and Western Xia, I am afraid that even its own good situation will be ruined.

"Qiqi official family, now that the Duan family of Dali has been reinstated, why should the Great Song Dynasty be a villain again, take advantage of this favor to let the southwest worry-free, and concentrate all efforts to deal with the Liaoxia side is the best policy, not to mention that the southwest has a lot of miasma, and the march is inconvenient.

Cai Jing and other New Party figures persuaded one after another.

In their view, the current situation is the best ending, Dali Duan clan controls the real power, there is a great righteousness to help it restore the country, Dali will be grateful to the Great Song Dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty got Qingtang, an excellent horse breeding land, and solved the threat of Tubo, it is a good time for the Great Song Dynasty to gather all its forces to deal with Liaoxia.

The ministers of the Manchu Dynasty also nodded slightly, and even the medical party couldn't help but waver a little, according to the proposal of the old and new parties, it was indeed the plan with the least risk and the greatest benefit.

Zhao Xu suddenly fell into hesitation, and now the situation in Dali made him feel quite satisfied, but on the one hand, Dali was at his fingertips, and on the other hand, Liaoxia, the number one enemy of the Great Song Dynasty, which suddenly put Zhao Xu in a dilemma.

"Hahaha! Now I finally understand why the Great Song Dynasty has been defeated repeatedly, it turns out that the whole dynasty is just a group of soft bones! ”

Suddenly, a very mocking voice sounded in the court, which suddenly made the faces of the hundred officials of the Manchu Dynasty change.

"Rebel, don't talk nonsense!"

Fan Chunli's face changed when he heard this, he couldn't hear the voice of his son Fan Zheng, although he knew that Fan Zheng would be dissatisfied with this proposal, but he didn't expect Fan Zheng to directly fire a map cannon and openly attack the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty, even his father.

"What? Is Fan wrong? Now that Tubo has been pacified, the southwest army has been preparing for a long time, and the Duan clan of Dali has supported a puppet emperor Duan Zhengchun, and he even said that he would not fight, worried about what would happen if he was defeated, Fan Mou could bluntly say that if the Great Song Dynasty was so weak, it would be impossible to destroy the Western Xia and recover the sixteen states of Yanyun. Fan Zheng said disheartenedly.

"Fan Taicheng is inevitably too belligerent, Dali is different from Western Xia, and he has always been friendly with the Great Song Dynasty, and there is no threat to the Great Song Dynasty, how can the Great Song Dynasty destroy the country at every turn, and how can it be the demeanor of the Heavenly Empire." Yang Wei retorted.

"At the beginning, the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Southern Han Dynasty also had no threat to the Great Song Dynasty, why did Taizu Taizong want to destroy the two countries." Fan Zheng asked rhetorically.

Yang Wei said disapprerovingly: "How can the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Southern Han Dynasty be confused with Dali, this is a battle of reunification, and the trend of the times." ”

Fan Zheng sneered: "Dali inherited from the Nanzhao Kingdom of the Tang Dynasty, the original Nanzhao also belonged to the Tang Dynasty, since the Great Song Dynasty inherited the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty, it thought that it was the Heavenly Empire, and destroying Dali was also a battle of unification." ”

Yang Wei was speechless for a moment, he had just praised the Great Song Dynasty for having the demeanor of the Heavenly Empire, but now he was blocked back by Fan Zheng with the Heavenly Empire.

"The so-called one drum, and then decline, three and exhaustion, the original Taizu adopted the first easy and then difficult strategy, first destroy the Southern Dynasty, then destroy the Northern Han, unify the world, and finally confront the Liao State, although it is a pity to lose, but the overall strategy is not wrong, and now the Great Song Dynasty has destroyed Qingtang Tubo, but the Dali is held up lightly, it will definitely make the morale of the Great Song Dynasty finally gather a thousand miles, if the Great Song Dynasty does not destroy Dali, in the future, don't talk about defeating Xia and defeating Liao." Fan Zheng said bluntly.

"No, the Great Song Dynasty army is a division of benevolence and righteousness, and now that the Duan family has restored the throne, the forced dispatch of troops by the Great Song Dynasty will definitely encounter resistance from Dali, and it will also damage the reputation of the official family, and the Great Song Dynasty has been overwhelmed by the war and small wars over the years." Cai Jing finally showed a big killer, that is, the reputation of the emperor.

When Zhao Xu heard this, he immediately said: "Fan Taicheng, Dali is the last step of the Great Roundabout Strategy, if it can be completed at the lowest cost, it is not a good thing." ”

He didn't want to annex Dali in one fell swoop, but since he came to power, the Great Song Dynasty has experienced a series of wars, and the losses are quite large.

The other ministers also nodded, and for a while, the wind direction of the imperial court was biased towards the status quo of Dali, and Fan Zheng's main battle view suddenly became a minority.

"Speaking of wealth! Fan has good news for you, that is, after more than a year of sailing, half of Tong Gonggong's sea fleet has returned. Fan Zheng suddenly changed the subject.

Cai Jing snorted coldly: "The Great Song Dynasty has a lot of domestic debts, even if the return of the maritime merchants can bring back a lot of wealth, I am afraid it is still a drop in the bucket, and how can it all be used to attack Dali." ”

Other officials also chimed in, and they couldn't just bring back a little wealth from the Maritime Silk Road, and it was misappropriated by Fan Zheng to fight the war.

Fan Zheng shook his head and said: "No, what Fan said is not the wealth brought back by the maritime merchants, but the fact that Tong Gonggong entrusted the maritime merchants to bring back a pair of sea charts." ”

"Charts?"

Baiguan couldn't help but be surprised, and didn't understand why a pair of charts made Fan Zheng so solemn.

At that moment, Fan Zheng waved his hand, and a huge chart appeared in front of Baiguan.

"The importance of the sea chart does not need to be said by Fan, the interests and potential of the maritime Silk Road are far better than the land Silk Road 100 times, and it is even more convenient for the Great Song Dynasty to directly benefit, without going through the layers of exploitation of the passing countries, which is enough to gather the benefits of the world for the Great Song Dynasty." Fan Zheng said proudly.

Zhao Xu nodded slightly, after the opening of the Maritime Silk Road, the Great Song Dynasty has gained huge benefits, and even the Maritime Silk Road is related to the national fortune of the Great Song Dynasty, which has long become the consensus of the government and the opposition.

"However, although the Maritime Silk Road has huge interests and extremely high carrying capacity, it has one of the biggest shortcomings, that is, the distance is long, the threat of wind and waves at sea, please see, even if you start from Quanzhou Port, pass through Champong, Chenla, Siam, Java, and then pass through the narrow strait to Bagan, Tianzhu and other countries, its sea route is thousands of miles away, and you need to use the monsoon to move forward, and it takes at least more than a year to travel." Fan Zheng explained in detail the chart sent back by Tong Guan.

Zhao Xu nodded slightly, although the benefits of the Maritime Silk Road are huge, the biggest drawback is that the road is too far away.

"However, please look at this chart, the southern countries of the Great Song Dynasty are actually on a peninsula, although the Great Song Dynasty maritime merchants have traveled thousands of miles, but in fact they have spared a large circle, especially the Bagan country is adjacent to Dali, if you take the sea route for thousands of miles, if you start from Dali, it is less than two thousand miles." Fan Zheng paused.

"What does Fan Taicheng mean?" Yang Wei suddenly had a bad feeling and said in a trembling voice.

"What if Dali isn't the last step in the southward roundabout strategy?" Fan Zheng said heavily.

"Dali is not the last step in the southward roundabout strategy!"

The officials of the Manchu Dynasty were in an uproar, and everyone knew that Fan Zheng had formulated a big detour strategy, and the last step was Dali, and then the northbound strategy was implemented, but who would have thought that Fan Zheng would add another step to the southward big detour strategy.

Following Fan Zheng's gaze, the officials of the Manchu Dynasty focused their eyes on the small Bagan Kingdom.

"Bagan Country!"

Zhao Xu exclaimed in surprise.

Fan Zheng nodded and said: "Yes, if Bagan is taken as the fourth step of the southward detour strategy, the Great Song Dynasty will open up the sea outlet to the Western Ocean, which is enough to save thousands of miles of sea routes, save a year for the Great Song Dynasty maritime merchants, and at the same time, it will also greatly reduce the sea risk." ”

"Western Outlet to the Sea!"

The hundred officials of the Great Song Dynasty couldn't help but be shocked, and they all stepped forward to check the sea charts, and found that as Fan Zheng said, Tong Guan went to the West and walked thousands of miles by sea in order to bypass the Southeast Peninsula, and the outlet from Dali to the West Ocean was less than 2,000 miles.

Fan Zheng said solemnly: "If we give up Dali, it means that the Great Song Dynasty will forever give up the outlet to the sea in the Western Ocean and give up the national fortune of the Great Song Dynasty!" The climate of Bagan is hot and humid all year round, miasma mosquitoes breed, the soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty can not bear it at all, only the climate of Dali is similar to Bagan, it is necessary to levy the soldiers of Southwest Yi and Dali, and then cooperate with the weapons and gunpowder of the Great Song Dynasty, which is enough to capture Bagan, which is the most complete version of the southward detour strategy. ”

Baiguan couldn't help but be shocked, no one thought that Fan Zheng's strategy of going south had a hidden fourth step.

"In this way, wouldn't my Great Song Dynasty go to war in all directions and attack the country of unrestrainedness." Yang Wei muttered to himself.

Fan Zheng looked around at the ministers and said proudly: "The Maritime Silk Road is related to the national fortune of the Great Song Dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty has an outlet to the Western Sea to ensure that the interests of the Maritime Silk Road of the Great Song Dynasty are maximized. ”

In later generations, China's biggest regret was the lack of an outlet to the Indian Ocean, so that it was controlled by others everywhere, and now the Great Song Dynasty also lacked an outlet to the Western Ocean, and he believed that it was impossible for the Manchu officials not to see the benefits.

The Manchu Dynasty was shaken again, on the one hand, the reputation of the Great Song Dynasty, and on the other hand, the great benefits brought to the Maritime Silk Road by the access to the sea of the West.

Everyone knows that the land of Dali is relatively barren, and the terrain is treacherous, if the Great Song Dynasty occupies it can not get much benefit, but if Dali is used as a springboard, trying to Bagan State, to obtain the Western Ocean to the sea, Dali in terms of strategic position or interests, the value of Dali immediately doubled.

"Evil side, evil side again!"

Yang Wei immediately gritted his teeth, he never thought of secretly connecting with the ministers and dissuading him from taking the opportunity of the Dali Duan clan to reinstate the officials to use less swords and soldiers, and he was about to succeed, but he didn't expect that Fan Zheng would come up with an evil party again, and put forward the evil party of the Western outlet to the sea, which instantly greatly improved Dali's strategic position.

Far from being able to prevent the Great Song Dynasty from using swords against Dali, it gave more reasons to use swords against Bagan.

"Those who do not seek eternity are not enough to seek a time; Those who do not seek the overall situation are not enough to seek a domain, Dali is insignificant, and Bagan is also insignificant, but the Western outlet to the sea is the foundation of the Great Song Dynasty. Fan Zheng said loudly.

"Those who do not seek the world are not enough to seek a time, and those who do not seek the overall situation are not enough to seek a domain."

The hundred officials couldn't help but be shocked, they were all scholars who had studied hard for ten years, so they naturally had a deep understanding of Fan Zheng's words.

After two successive Maritime Silk Roads, countless benefits were brought to the Great Song Dynasty, and if the Great Song Dynasty was really able to obtain access to the Western Ocean in Bagan, the benefits of the Maritime Silk Road would be multiplied. This is a temptation that Da Song cannot refuse.

"Dali must return to the Great Song Dynasty, but after the Battle of Dali, the Great Song Dynasty cannot continue to go south, after all, Western Xia and Liao are the biggest threat to the Great Song Dynasty." Suddenly, Prime Minister Su Song said with a serious face.

"Su Xianggong!"

Zhang Dian couldn't help but be stunned, although Su Song was a medical party, but Su Song usually acted fairly and didn't like war, Zhang Dian didn't expect that even Su Song would support the attack on Dali.

Su Song said with a serious face: "As a doctor, Su naturally doesn't like war, but as the prime minister, Su must seek eternal life for the Great Song Dynasty, and if he misses this opportunity, I am afraid that the Great Song Dynasty will never have a chance to obtain the Western outlet to the sea." ”

As the prime minister, he naturally knows the significance of the Western outlet to the Great Song Dynasty, this moment is the weakest time for Dali, and it is also the most likely opportunity for the Great Song Dynasty to win.

Of course, Su Song did not agree with obtaining access to the Western Ocean now, but asked that after attacking Dali, he immediately put his focus on Liaoxia.

Zhang Dian couldn't help but be silent, if Dali was insignificant, he could still use the sword to stop this battle, and now Dali is related to the eternal plan of the Great Song Dynasty, this reason is a little untenable.

"Take Dali first, and lay out for all generations!" Fan Chunli solemnly spoke out and supported Fan Zheng.

With the statement of the three prime ministers of the current dynasty, the court once again appeared one-sided.

Zhao Xu took a deep breath and solemnly ordered: "Pass the decree to the envoy Zeng and General Chongpu, according to the original plan, destroy Dali!" Lay the foundation for my Great Song Dynasty. ”

"The official is wise!"

Fan Zheng said solemnly.

(End of chapter)