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Text Chapter 929 Snow (Finale 5)

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    Zheng Lang stared at the vast Yinshan Mountains in the north and said: "There is another reason, and that is overseas. // Fastest update // [This article comes from]"

    "There are many reasons for establishing Zhenyuan Prison. Money and silk are not a problem for the court." Part of the island was sold and more than 40 million yuan was collected. It seems to be a huge number, but it is actually compared to more than 200,000 square kilometers of land.  , this little money is really nothing.

    But with this money, it was enough to provide military expenses for the Song Dynasty's expedition.

    And there is another purpose. In recent years, due to debts, several large-scale battles have been launched, and the entire country has been living in extreme hardship. It was not clear when the war in Xia was launched in the fifth year of Yuanfeng, and new bank debts were accumulated due to the war.  payment.

    It wasn¡¯t until last autumn that it was finally clean.  Zheng Lang was not in the capital. It is said that after learning the news from the Third Division that day, Gao Taotao and Zhao Xu almost cried with joy, and then held a banquet for the officials in the palace.  Gao Taotao showed his face in person, raised his glass and said to the ministers: "The Ai family is very happy today. We have finally paid off the debt between Emperor Renzong and the late emperor."

    Mainly due to the debt accumulated by Zhao Shu, but Zhao Shu was Gao Taotao's husband after all, and since he was married to Renzong, Zhao Shu's responsibility was smaller.

    This process took a full fifteen years, not the five years Han Qi said.  Of course, many major things were done during this period, including resolving the seven-year drought in Xining and recovering Hehuang and Xixia.

    Then on New Year's Day this year, Zhao Xu once again spent 10 million yuan to reward officials and soldiers.

    This repayment is not hard to come by. What is rare is that it has never been exploited from the hands of the people. The country has been living in a tight situation for more than ten years, but the private economy has been booming. Many powerful people in the private sector have accumulated terrible wealth.  .

    If this wealth is not channeled away, it will be very terrible.

    Of course, we can¡¯t direct it to real estate, nor can we direct it to stocks.

    Zhenyuan Prison will play a role in the middle, except at the beginning.  The imperial court will send officers and soldiers to suppress it, and then hand over not only management rights, but also management rights, security rights, etc., to the island owners.  There are cultivated fields, minerals, spices and local specialties everywhere.  Can develop planting, breeding, industry and commerce.  But it doesn't mean that after paying the auction money, you won't spend any money. If you want to generate wealth from these lands, you must first invest in road and water conservancy reclamation.  You need to invest more money to get returns.

    Zheng Lang said that we should be kind to the people who have migrated from the Central Plains.  And formulate various policies for protection.  In fact, it is not necessary. The island owners will treat it well for the time being. Should the local indigenous people manage it for them?

    ¡°But this is not in Lingnan, but overseas.

    If life can barely get by, who would want to leave their homeland and go overseas?  Some people would rather beg than go there, and the country is so peaceful.

    The imperial court didn't care and wanted to help them.  Each island owner can only use the extremely poor households to go there. If they want them to survive, they must take care of their food, drink, and housing. That's it.  Not many people were willing to leave, but with the promise of various benefits, some people left, mostly from the southeastern coastal areas.  This will cost another batch of money.  Then the pressure of wealth accumulated in the country will be relieved.

    Actually, the difficulty lies in the beginning, because of the safety supervision.  With close contact with overseas countries, after a few years, these migrant people's lives in foreign lands will become better and better, and more poor households will be willing to leave their homes and seek life overseas.

    However, population pressure is not great now, and population growth will not cause significant contradictions within at least ten years.

    After it was passed last year, the twelfth lunar month began to cause commotion, but the result was not ideal. The area was not small, and the number of households allowed to be moved by the court was also large. The island owners used various methods, but only a few people were actually allowed to move out.  Ten thousand households, not the more than 700,000 households stipulated by the imperial court.

    Zhao Xu wrote a letter to make fun of Zheng Lang.  In fact, he was still very happy, which showed the court's attraction to the people and the people's recognition of the court.

    Economically, the Song Dynasty did not have any problems, and it would even make a little profit. Even in the future, the court did not expect it to make much money. However, overseas development would make industry and commerce more prosperous, and business taxes would gradually increase, and the court would gain invisible benefits.  of some income.

    The difficulty is the army on the surface.

    After taking the money from the powerful powers, the imperial court needed to send troops overseas, which gave the Khitans some illusions.

    In fact, if the Khitans think this way, they are wrong. The current overseas is the Southern Ocean, and the weather is hot and humid. There are not many forbidden soldiers dispatched by the court. Most of them are rural soldiers and hired soldiers transferred from the south with thick silk and half life.  some militia.

    The center of gravity of the entire Song Dynasty's military power was still in the north.

    Now that this situation occurs, there are two ways to deal with it. One is to arrest these rebels immediately. Without them to provide internal support, the Khitan would not dare to send troops.  Just sit back and watch themZhan, led the Khitan army westward and fought a battle.

    Zheng Lang analyzed these situations and then asked: "Your Highness, Sixth Highness, what do you think should be done?"

    This is Zheng Lang¡¯s inspiring education.

    "Can we win against the Khitans?"

    "If we talk about the past, before our court signed the Chanyuan Alliance with the Khitan, the actual battles between the two sides were victorious and victorious. However, the battle of Gaoliang River cast a shadow on everyone. But to be fair, the combat effectiveness of the Khitan army was still the same at that time.  The combat effectiveness of our army is higher than that of our army. But now our weapons are far more advanced than those of the Khitans. In the battle of Hehuang to conquer Xia, many soldiers were trained in actual combat. They gained the northwest and a large number of cavalry. The Khitans were mediocre and inferior to us.  If the DPRK's politics are clear and clear, if there are no other factors, our DPRK's army will have a slight upper hand compared to the Khitan, at least the two sides will be on an equal footing."

    "Then we can give you a dozen."

    "Tell me why."

    "Those who need money and silk for the war will pay off their debts, so there is no need to worry about money or silk."

    "It can also be considered as a reason."

    "The people on Lingxia Road are not as loyal as those in Hebei and Hedong, but the court has done its best and this is most of our home court."

    "It can also be counted."

    "I have lived in the shadow of the Khitan for many years. Now that the country is strong, we should also fight to wash away this shadow and the previous shame."

    "Yes, it is an important reason."

    "And Duke Zheng's military capabilities."

    "Haha, I am not good at military affairs, but there is one person who is good at it."

    "who?"

    "Zhang Kai."

    During the war against Xia, Zhang Kai was transferred to Beihetao. He felt a little unhappy, but he saw Wang Guo's fate.  Now I should feel happy.  In fact, Zheng Lang valued Zhang Kai very much and even believed that there were only two people who could surpass Zhang Kai in the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei and Meng Gong.  It¡¯s not that others can¡¯t do it. Pan Mei, Yang Ye, Li Jilong, Cao Wei, Wang Shao, Di Qing, Han Shizhong, Di Qing, Li Bao, Liu Qi, Yu Jie, and Du Gao can all be regarded as famous generals, but these people are not as good as Zhang Kai  Than, not much more than that.  As for Cao Bin, Liu Guangshi and Zhang Jun, it's time to wash up and go to bed.

    Zheng Lang asked again: "Your Highness, although the national financial situation has improved, there is not much surplus in the national treasury. The outbreak of war with the Khitan cannot be solved by spending millions of mins. It will reach tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of mins."  If that¡¯s the case, what should we do?¡±

    Zhao Xu thought deeply, obviously this problem was beyond the scope of his age.

    After most of the day, Zhao Xu asked, "Mr. Zheng. What should we do?"

    "Quick victory!"

    "And there is another reason. Because of the two traitors Zhang Yuan and Wu Hao, Xixia established the orthodoxy. Although our court spent countless money and silk, His Majesty even agreed with the old minister's suggestion and adopted the Trade Law for the entire Lingxia Road Salt Administration.  Resolve the contradictions in the salt government. But there are still some nobles who are obsessed with the old Xia Kingdom. Before the peace, they can suppress it, but after the peace, they can only appease. But these people have always cherished the dream of restoring the country, and there are Khitans on the side to encourage them. In the end,  The hidden danger on Lingxia Road has not yet occurred. It is not easy to take action. Once it occurs, the people will resent it. Once it breaks out, we can justifiably suppress it and completely solve this problem."

    Zheng Lang began to sit down and think.

    I told Zhao Xu a lot.  Just a flexible way of educating him at the age of ten.  Zheng Lang couldn't expect Zhao Xu to come up with any good ideas.

    Li Xian was excited: "Mr. Zheng, you want me to be the supervisor of the army."

    "Aren't you afraid?"

    Li Xian was too depressed to answer.

    ¡­¡­

    It¡¯s April in the blink of an eye.

    Zheng Lang wrote a list of words: I was young and arrogant, but later I kept my writing light and elegant. After Zhang Xian, the Empress Dowager and Emperor Renzong sent me to the countryside to learn about the important task of peaceful Hangzhou because of my young age. I became more and more frivolousanyway  It was because he was given heavy responsibility by several emperors, but he failed to do it well and made many mistakes. Now that the world is slightly peaceful and he is old, he asked Zhao Xu to allow him to serve.

    Zhao Xu disagreed and wrote a letter to blame Zheng Lang. Master said that the country is pure and clear, and one should be born to govern the country and the people. You are living a lively life in the northwest, why do you ignore the people of the country and ask for an official position?  No one inside or outside the government would be jealous of you and impeach you. I won¡¯t allow it. You have to stand still at your job.

    Zheng Lang wrote another memorial, saying that before the expedition to the Xia Dynasty began, the old minister had said that when the Xixia incident happened, he would retire and return home.  Nowadays, Lingxia Road is peaceful and peaceful. I have my words and I must abide by them.

    Zhao Xu didn¡¯t reply. At the court meeting, he started a controversy in the newspaper about Zheng Lang¡¯s matter. Whether the oath was more important or the state affairs was more important.

    ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? Not only the people on Lingxia Road are trying to retain Zheng Lang, but also people and scholars from other walks of life have written letters asking the court to retain Zheng Lang.  Good job Fan Zhongyande, Ke was too arrogant, but Zheng Lang had a good temper. The reforms caused many controversies, but he did not cut them off with a single blow, but instead used various means to resolve them.  Few people hate, many people love.  Even if you are in the northwest, you will occasionally take care of state affairs.  And for the sake of the country, he went to wherever he needed to go regardless of the ups and downs, never caring about his official title.

    When you reach his level, you need to look up to him. Even the sergeant-officials of the Chao Dynasty attacked Wang Shao, Guo Kui and Gao Zunyu, but they did not dare to attack Zheng Lang.

    Especially for the people of Lingxia Road, Zheng Lang's methods were not soft, such as the brutal suppression during the summer expedition, but he was very careful and fair in governing. In the past few years of staying on Lingxia Road, he has traveled all over Lingxia Road.  In every corner of the Fifteen Prefectures Army, they mediate conflicts and disputes among various tribes and inquire about the welfare of the people.

    And unlike other Han officials, Zheng Lang never had any sense of discrimination against the Qiang and Tibetan people. At least he lived up to the big words written by Zhao Xu himself: respect, mutual help, friendship, and win-win!

    Hearing that Zheng Lang wanted to become an official and left the northwest, many people felt like they were mourning for their heirs.

    In this atmosphere, Zhao Xu would not allow it.

    Although Zheng Lang stayed in Xingqing Mansion, people were somewhat uneasy.

    Just when people on Lingxia Road were uneasy and worried, the Khitan suddenly launched an attack on Lingxia Road in four directions under the pretext of supporting Li Bingchang to take charge of the government and return the homeland of Xixia.  The number of troops was not large, so Yel¨¹tan was alerted, and Yelu Guosan of Xi Liubu Tuli led 40,000 troops from Jinsu Army to the west, with one pointing at Fuzhou and the other at Yinzhou.  Yelu Yannu, the general of the right prison gate, led 20,000 troops and horses from the Heqing army, and the troops pointed at Jinze.  The northwest route envoy Yelv Alu Saugu led 20,000 troops recruited from Bai Dadan, Dadili tribe, and Bosi Mu tribe, and the troops came out of Yinshan Mountain and pointed directly at Beihetao.  Zubu chiefs Yu Gunan and Aidi led 30,000 Zubu coalition troops to attack Helan Mountain.  The directly subordinate Khitan army only had 60,000 soldiers and horses.  The rest are allied forces of the Khitan Jisu tribe.

    But this was not the time when Brother Yeluyan's troops were going to Xixia. At that time, the Song Dynasty had nearly 600,000 soldiers and horses and more than 200,000 civilians in Xixia. Brother Yeluyan did not dare to move.  At this time, there were only less than 40,000 imperial troops stationed in the entire Lingxia Road Song Dynasty, and there were 10,000 to 20,000 Tibetan soldiers.  And because Zheng Lang is leaving, people are a little confused. At least no matter how they change, the ministers who come will definitely not be as good as Zheng Lang in government affairs.  And that confidence

    There are not many soldiers and horses.  In terms of cards, it surpassed the Song Dynasty.

    Li Bingchang was supported in a righteous way and also received support from some people on Lingxia Road.

    It came very suddenly, with some surprise effects.

    And after three and a half years of governance by Zheng Lang, the Song Dynasty invested heavily, and the north and south Hetao were full of prohibited grazing areas.  In woods and pastures, June is when the grass grows.  Corn and wheat are also planted in many places. Xixia is far from the bitter and miserable days of the past. I don¡¯t even need to bring food and grass with me on this trip.

    Four groups of soldiers and horses came in force, moving at extremely fast speeds, all the way south.  The momentum is overwhelming.

    Although the two countries are peaceful on the surface, they actually have their own thoughts, but it is true that they have not started a war for a long time.

    Hearing that the Khitan army was coming, Zheng Lang was slightly at a loss.  The troops from various state capitals on Lingxia Road had to be mobilized to the front line.

    At this time, the Xixia clan members Wei Shi Awu, Wei Mingmahu and others joined forces with some of the original Xixia nobles and chiefs to launch riots in Xingqing Prefecture, Youzhou, Xiazhou, Yinzhou, and Shi County in the rear.

    Because Zheng Lang is in charge of Xingqing Mansion, there are still troops left behind.  Although hundreds of people suddenly launched a riot, they were quickly defeated.  Most were killed on the spot, and only a few escaped.  However, in the other three prefectures and one county, due to the lack of troops, the scale of the riots quickly grew and spread to various tribes outside the city.

    ?That is to say, the Song army is fighting a fierce battle with the Khitans in the front, and the rebellious soldiers of the Dangxiang tribes in the rear are likely to join forces with the Khitans to attack the Song army.

    The scale of the rebellion is rapidly expanding, but the changes in the states in recent years are obvious to all, and there are not many tribes and people who are really willing to participate in the rebellion.  So these rebellious people burned, killed and looted wantonly out of shame and anger.

    It was not until the situation gradually became worse that Li Shunqing, the governor of Qingzhou, and Zhongyi, the governor of Yanzhou, led 10,000 cavalry from the two states to support them.

    But as soon as they set off, the speed of the two armies became very fast. In addition, many roads have been overhauled in recent years, and transportation is convenient, which further increases the marching speed.

    With the arrival of two Song armies, the rebellion was quickly suppressed.

    Almost at the same time, Daizhou Zhizhou You Shixiong led Hedong general Zhang Zheng and others out of Yanmen Pass and quickly captured Khitan Wuzhou.

    Generals Li Hao and Yao Xiong sent out the Huoshan Army. At this time, the entire Khitan Xidong Shengzhou force was drawn out, and they fought fiercely with the Song army on the banks of the Quye River. The cities were empty.  The second general quickly captured the Yingbian Prefecture City and the Jinsu Military City, and rushed towards the Heqing Military City.

    Wang Hou sent troops out of Yin Mountain again. In fact, there are many valleys in the vast Yin Mountain. It is too easy to lurk a small army.  But this Song army is just rightCut off the retreat of Yelu'alusuogu.  There is another army that is attacking Helan Mountain.  However, Zheng Lang did not take them seriously, not because he was not brave, but because the Song Dynasty and Zubu had close business contacts and had a very friendly relationship in the past few years. Although the two clan chiefs Yu Gunan and Ai were loyal to the Khitan, Bei Zubu  Most of the Bu tribes were not hostile to the Song Dynasty, and even the two of them had some warriors in their own tribes who were full of yearning for the prosperity of the Song Dynasty.  The number of troops itself is not large, and the morale is not strong, so it is not enough to cause harm.

    It was only then that Zhang Kai appeared on the front line.

    He was transferred here deliberately, but in order to make the other party look down upon him, he deliberately concealed the information.

    Under his command, Zhe Kexing, Zhe Keshi, the Gao brothers, Yanda, and Quzhen formally launched a counterattack from three directions: Quyehe, Dijinze and Fengzhou City.

    In this battle, a new type of weapon appeared in the Song Army.

    The rifle that Zheng Lang longed for has never been successfully researched. It is not because of the theory, which is at the forefront, but because the entire industrial base and technology of this era are too backward. In addition, Zheng Lang's drawings are for breech-loading guns. The knowledge he has memorized  It¡¯s also incomplete, so there¡¯s not much progress.  But another weapon was developed, the grenade.  It is a primitive grenade, but it is very powerful.

    Until now, during the stalemate on the front line, the Song army used artillery and divine arm bows, but in order to confuse the Khitan people, this weapon has never been used.  After Li Zhong suppressed the rebellion and rushed to the front line to support them, the Song army launched a counterattack.

    And because the way back was cut off by the Song army, the Khitan people were uneasy.  Especially grenades, this grenade technology is a bit unbearable to watch, and it even has to be ignited and thrown out to explode.  But it was lightweight, contained a lot of iron sand, and the gunpowder was also yellow gunpowder. As soon as it came out, it became a nightmare for the Khitan army.

    After dozens of battles, large and small, the Khitan army was finally defeated.

    In this battle, the Song army suffered thousands of casualties, but they killed nearly 10,000 Khitan soldiers and captured more than 10,000 prisoners of war. Even the two generals Yelu Yannu and Yelu Guosan were captured alive.

    However, before the Khitan reinforcements arrived, You Shixiong and Zhang Zheng slowly retreated to Yanmen Pass with the supplies collected from Wuzhou City. Li Hao and Yao Xiong also returned to the Volcano Army with the supplies.

    The war came and went quickly. The Khitan invaded in early June, and the war ended in mid-July. There were some heavy casualties on both sides, but for the two huge countries of Song and Liao, it was nothing.  The Song army won brilliantly in the battle of Guan Jian.

    Then Zhao Xu sent an envoy to question Yelu Hongji, why he ignored the friendship between the two countries and sent troops to the northwest for no reason?  Could it be that my government has failed your country?  During the Qingli War, the Khitan did not mediate, but instead extorted Sui coins.  There was a severe drought in Xining, and the Khitan once again extorted territory.  In addition to the annual coins, in order to relieve your financial difficulties, I have purchased fur livestock produced in your country at high prices many times. The imperial court alone allocated more than 7 million yuan for this purpose.  Also, considering that your Khitan is short of food, we have spent countless money and lost many soldiers to obtain miscellaneous grain seeds. Later, we will send envoys to inform your country and hand over the seeds and cultivation methods to you.  But your Khitan practices are so disappointing.

    If we want to fight now, we will fight. The Song Dynasty will not make any concessions to you Khitan.  It's okay to make peace, and I'll even give you Khitan annual coins, but that's not a payment or an offering, it's an annual gift.  According to some tough ministers, it would not even be a yearly payment, but a yearly reward.  Reward you from Khitan.

    With the Xixia problem resolved, the country's finances also became healthy, and its troops and horses were strong, the Song Dynasty roared angrily against the Khitan for the first time.
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