In the Song Dynasty, there was no law or order.

In the beginning of the second year of Baoyuan, in February 1039, Li Yuanhao, the ruler of Western Xia, divided his troops into two groups to attack the Song Dynasty.

One group was led by Yeli Yuqi, who led about 40,000 people to attack Jingyuan Road, and the other group was led by him personally, with about 80,000 people attacking Huanqing Road.

In this battle, Wang Yan, the governor of Jingyuan Road, ordered Ge Huaimin, the deputy governor of Jingyuan Road, Gao Jixuan, the governor of Jingyuan Road, and others to resist the enemy separately and block the enemy outside the Zhenrong Army.

It happened that Zhong Shiheng, the commander of Huanzhou, led his troops to rescue. In the small-scale battle, the Western Xia army and the Song army had victories and defeats. When Zhong Shiheng's army arrived, Yeli Yuqi was forced to withdraw from the Zhenrong Army and retreat.

Zhong Shiheng cut off the retreat of the Western Xia army and attacked Yeli Yuqi with Ge Huaimin and Gao Jixuan. The two sides fought fierce battles in Huaide, Shimen, Ning'an, Tiandu and other places. The Dangxiang suffered thousands of casualties and retreated from Douling (affiliated to Tongxin County, Wuzhong City, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region).

In addition to the brave fighting of generals such as Zhong Shiheng, Ge Huaimin, and Gao Jixuan, many powerful middle and lower-level officers emerged in this battle, such as He Bin, the commander of Deshun Army, Wu Ying, the inspector of Huanzhou, and Wang Gui, the governor of Jingzhou.

Among them, Wang Gui was a fierce general. He rushed into the enemy's formation alone, as if he was in an empty space, beheaded several enemy generals and more than 30 enemy cavalrymen, and only brought more than a dozen cavalrymen to chase more than 400 cavalrymen of Xixia, and shocked the northwest.

The Western bandits were also successfully defeated on Huanqing Road. Yuan Hao's plan to break through the Luoluo Village and block the reinforcements from Yanzhou was shattered. Zhang Kang's reinforcements rushed over and hit the Xixia bandits hard with firearms. In one battle, more than 10,000 enemies were killed, and more than half of the bandits attacking Taoluo Village were killed or wounded.

If Li Yuanhao had not run fast, and he had 30,000 reserve troops in the rear, who responded in time, I am afraid that even Li Yuanhao himself would have died in this battle.

Yeli Wangrong, who attacked Jintang City, did not get any good results. Teng Zongliang, the transport envoy and the commander of the Huanqing Road, asked Cao Cong, the general manager of the Huanqing Road cavalry and Zhao Zhen, the deputy general manager, to lead 30,000 infantry and cavalry to come to the rescue, and cooperated with Lu Deqin to hit Yeli Wangrong hard.

In addition to the support of the Song army in other states, the more than 100,000 Xixia troops were quickly pincered, surrounded, and defeated by the three Song armies of about 300,000 troops.

Especially after Li Yuanhao was defeated, the Xixia army fled back to the outside of the pass in a panic.

After the battle, the Song army lost only two or three thousand people, but defeated the Xixia army, killing nearly 20,000 people and injuring countless people. It can be said that it was a great victory.

After the war, Fan Zhongyan counted the casualties, calculated the merits, and quickly divided the battle report into two copies, one to Bianliang and the other to Sichuan.

At this time, Zhao Jun was still in Chengdu. In fact, he had almost finished investigating the bottom. According to his investigation, now in all states of the Song Dynasty, an average of more than 70% of the land is concentrated in the hands of landlords and rich households, and about 7% of the population occupies 85% of the land. The gap between the rich and the poor is very large.

The Song Dynasty was the dynasty with the most serious land annexation among all dynasties. Other dynasties often became like this in the late period, but it was very serious from the founding of the country to the destruction of the country, even though the Renzong Dynasty was only more than 70 years away from the founding of the country.

So much so that the land annexation during the reign of Song Renzong was recorded in the "Continued Zizhi Zhitongjian Changbian", which can be summarized in one sentence as "the rich have fields as far as the eye can see, and the poor have no place to stand".

You should know that during the Republic of China, when the great man investigated the rural areas of Hunan, only 65% ​​of the land was concentrated in the hands of landlords and wealthy households, and 8% of the people owned 70% of the land. From this, we can see that the land annexation in the Song Dynasty was more serious than that in the Republic of China.

In addition, the land management system is a typical feudal management method. The land in the southern region is basically managed by landlords, gentry, wealthy households, local celebrities, and clans. The hired farmers and poor farmers under their rule often have about 70% of their income taken away as rent. Some landlords and wealthy households only take 50%, which are considered conscientious landlords.

This is better than the Republic of China, which is more than 80%.

The problem is that high-yield crops such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn have been introduced during the Republic of China. Even if the main grain is taken away, poor farmers can barely survive by planting sweet potatoes with the scraps of the fields.

But the Song Dynasty did not have these crops, and could only survive on rice and wheat. The remaining 30% of the income was not enough to eat, and they were often hungry and thin.

Once there was a famine, there would be a lot of deaths.

So it was a miracle that the Song Dynasty survived. With such serious land annexation and so many rebellions, it was not destroyed by internal uprisings, but by external enemies.

It can be seen that its tax system and the three redundancies were both deadly poison and life-saving medicine.

"Alas"

In the Hanzhou government office of Chengdu Prefecture, Zhao Jun, who was investigating the local situation, sat on the table with a brush in his hand, writing something down, and suddenly stopped and couldn't help sighing.

This was the study room in the backyard of the government office. Whenever Zhao Jun arrived at a place, if he encountered corrupt officials, he would deal with them and occupy their public housing.

If he met a good official, he would squeeze with him, anyway, the government office was big.

There was no one else in the room. He Tan, the governor of Hanzhou, was a good official and a relatively upright person. He didn't flatter Zhao Jun as much. Even if Zhao Jun came, he would do what he usually did, unlike Yang Gao, who always followed Zhao Jun around.

The study door was open. It was March, spring was in full bloom, and the warm sun shone down on the floor. Outside the window there was a big tree with lush branches and leaves, reflecting spots of sunlight.

Zhao Jun turned his head and looked out the window. His research and records were already complete. Continuing the research would only waste more time.

But he had to continue to walk through the entire Song Dynasty and continue to see the miserable life of the lower classes.

It was not that he was not in a hurry to return to Bianliang for reform.

But he could not do it.

Now the Song Dynasty was really in internal and external troubles, not as he said before.

Seeing it with your own eyes and sitting in the Bianliang Political System Institute to carry out reforms were two different things.

Sitting in the Bianliang Political System Institute, you can make decisions on a whim without considering the actual situation. The result can only be the fate of Wang Mang and Wang Anshi.

Now that you have personally gone to the grassroots level, you can understand how serious the resistance is and how great the difficulties are.

If you rush to carry out reforms before the external troubles are eliminated, the result will undoubtedly cause internal unrest and give foreign enemies an opportunity to take advantage of it.

‘Alas, it’s back to the beginning. Old Fan still needs to be strong and defeat Xixia and Liao before you can officially start the reform. ’

Zhao Jun put down the brush in his hand and pondered: ‘But this trip is not without gain. In the past, we talked about reform on paper or borrowed the experience of our predecessors, but now after field investigation, we have summed up our own methods. I think it will be much easier to reform. ’

He looked at the paper in front of the table, which was densely filled with his feelings and ideas about the local agricultural situation. He had written a lot of such papers, and many constructive suggestions were sent to Bianliang, most of which he kept.

The remaining part cannot be shown to Zhao Zhen and others at least now, for fear that they, as a group of radical elements who want to save the Song Dynasty, will think it is too radical. Therefore, it can only be put here first, and then take action when the opportunity comes in the future.

‘It still depends on Lao Fan. ’

Zhao Jun stood up and thought about going outside. He has now placed all his hopes on Fan Zhongyan.

Lao Fan has dealt with Xixia and Liao, and the external threat to the Song Dynasty has been eliminated. He and Fan Zhongyan can join forces and boldly carry out internal rectification.

At this time, the Hanzhou Tongpan hurried in and reported to him: "Zhiyuan, Shaanxi Road has sent an official document at full speed. It is from Mr. Fan, saying that it must be handed over to the Zhiyuan in person."

"Oh?"

Zhao Jun hurriedly said: "Bring it here."

The Tongpan handed over the official document in his hand, and Zhao Jun opened it and glanced at it.

He saw that the content inside was a battle report written by Lao Fan about the process of fighting with Li Yuanhao during this period.

Although Li Yuanhao had a long preparation time, the battle time was very short. From his brazen invasion of Song territory to his embarrassing defeat, only six days had passed.

Among them, the battle in Taoluo City lasted only four days. Li Yuanhao besieged Taoluo City for two days. On the third day, Zhang Kang led his troops to help and chased Li Yuanhao all the way like chasing a rabbit for a day and a night.

It can be said that Li Yuanhao's attack this time was hit head-on by the Song army and was beaten badly, with great losses.

You should know that in the battles of Sanchuankou, Haoshuichuan and Dingchuanzhai, the Song army lost only about 40,000 troops, which was already too much for the Song Dynasty to bear.

Xixia was originally a small country with few people, and it lost nearly 20,000 people at once. It can be said that the casualties of the Xixia army were greater than those in the entire Song-Xia war in history.

So Zhao Jun was very happy to see this battle report and said excitedly: "Great."

Hanzhou Tongpan asked curiously: "Zhiyuan, what happened?"

"Li Yuanhao invaded the northwest on a large scale, Xiwengong designed to meet the enemy and defeated Xixia. I am afraid that Xixia's national strength will be greatly weakened in this battle."

Zhao Jun thought that this battle would be as protracted as in history, but he didn't expect that Lao Fan would directly give him a big job and cripple Xixia, which really gave him a big surprise.

In this way, Xixia only had two options left. The first was to hold on and continue to fight against the Song Dynasty. The second is to seek peace. Li Yuanhao, who had just ascended the throne, gave up his throne and paid tribute to the Song Dynasty. In this way, the northwest border would be completely stable.

"Great."

The Hanzhou Tongpan was also excited: "In this way, we don't have to worry about the bandits in the west anymore."

"Yeah."

Zhao Jun thought for a while, and then said: "Send this matter to Chengdu Prefecture, publicize it widely, and stabilize the hearts of the people in various places. I will also continue to inspect the local areas, and then go north to Shaanxi to comfort the army."

"Yes."

The Tongpan left in response.

Zhao Jun looked to the north and smiled.

Recently, the heart that has been hanging has finally been put down.

Old Fan is really awesome!

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In Tokyo Bianliang, the flowers in the back garden bloomed in March, with dendrobiums, daylilies, roses, peonies, etc. competing for beauty.

The lush branches and leaves grow, drooping luxuriantly, and tree flowers grow between the leaves.

Zhao Zhen put his hands behind his back and walked in the garden.

Sometimes he actually felt quite sad, as he could only stay in the palace every day, as if he was imprisoned in a cage.

He wanted to go out and see, like his grandson, to various places in the Song Dynasty to see the lives of the lower-class people.

But the officials would not let him go, the concubines in the harem would not let him go, the army would not let him go, and even the people did not want him to come, because it would waste money and people's lives, and hurt others and themselves.

It was a pity that after becoming an emperor, he seemed to have become a prisoner, staying in this prison all day, not going out of the door or the second door, even worse than the young ladies waiting to be married in the Song Dynasty.

Sometimes Zhao Zhen envied Zhao Jun.

He is in a high position and has more power than the emperor. He doesn't have to worry about being suspected. He can travel around the world to see different scenery and meet different people in the world.

"Alas"

Zhao Zhen sighed and walked into the Chongzheng Hall like a zombie as usual.

He has been very diligent in the past year. He doesn't play games much and is not addicted to novels. Instead, he has some self-control.

It's not that he has changed his personality, but the source of this self-control may have something to do with Zhao Jun forcing him to quit.

In the past, he was unrestrained and had sex with his sister all day long. In history, Wang Deyong presented him with beautiful women, which made Zhao Zhen very happy and addicted to women.

But the appearance of Zhao Jun told him that if he continued like this, his kidneys would be damaged and he couldn't give birth to a son, then his line would be extinct.

Under the threat of extinction, Zhao Zhen naturally had to control himself. Not only did he take Liuwei Dihuang Pills to nourish his kidneys every day, but he also had to exercise to strengthen his body. After four or five months of persistence, he finally gave birth to two healthy children.

It is the persistence during this period that helped him improve his self-control. To some extent, if Zhao Zhen's deeds were posted to the Nofap forum, he would immediately become a role model for the Nofap forum.

Returning to the Chongzheng Hall, Zhao Zhen continued to open today's government affairs mode.

He spent the morning with his two children, and finally had time to deal with government affairs and continue working in the afternoon.

At this time, he turned on the laptop.

Now Zhao Zhen can use it proficiently, and he has almost understood all the functions in it.

Now he is used to recording some of the folk conditions and suggestions sent by Zhao Jun in the computer, and even learned the skills of pinyin typing.

Because Zhao Jun taught pinyin for a long time when he continued to teach the children.

At that time, he was the director of the Political System Institute in the morning, took a break at noon, went to the back garden to teach the children in the afternoon, and then gave lectures to Zhao Zhen and others.

During this period, Zhao Zhen successfully learned the entire elementary school curriculum. No joke, Zhao Zhen can not only add, subtract, multiply and divide, but also quadratic equations and simple first-year physics mechanics.

So now, Zhao Zhen has learned a lot of miscellaneous knowledge through the popular science videos in the computer, except that he has not systematically learned the knowledge after junior high school and high school.

As usual, Zhao Zhen clicked on "My Computer", but what was different today was that he clicked on the wrong one and went to the C drive.

He thought about clicking "This Computer" in the upper left corner to return to the hard disk interface of My Computer.

But he didn't expect to click on the wrong one again, and clicked on the view button on "This Computer", revealing a row of toolbar tables.

Zhao Zhen was about to close this column table.

However, his eyes noticed that there was a hidden option in this toolbar table.

Out of curiosity, he clicked a check mark to see what was hidden.

There was no change.

So he closed the toolbar table and clicked on the D drive again.

What Zhao Zhen didn't know was that after clicking this check mark, some things appeared in the countless folders built into the C drive.

He couldn't find these things because Zhao Jun hid them too deeply.

Moreover, Zhao Jun repeatedly warned him not to touch the C drive, because the C drive is the system drive. If it is not properly handled, it will cause the system to crash and the computer to break down.

So under this intimidation, Zhao Zhen remembered that the C drive could not be touched. He usually did not dare to click on it, so naturally he could not see the things inside.

But..

In the entertainment folder of the D drive, next to the main folders such as movies, novels, and music, a new folder appeared quietly.

The name of this folder is called "Man and Nature".

After Zhao Zhen opened the D drive, he started today's work, recorded the government affairs issues in the computer, and put them in the newly created government affairs folder in the D drive.

Wait until the afternoon when the government affairs were almost handled.

When he was about to turn off the computer, he hesitated, and his eyes shuttled between the game folder and the entertainment folder.

I want to have some entertainment. Should I play games, read novels, or watch movies today?

Zhao Zhen thought.

After thinking for two seconds, his mouse stopped on the entertainment folder.

Almost when he was about to click in, Wang Shouzhong's voice rang out from outside the door.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Lu and his men have urgent matters to discuss."

Zhao Zhen closed the interface and the computer, stood up and said, "Let them in."

A moment later, Lu Yijian and his men came in excitedly and reported to him, "Your Majesty, great news, Yuanhao invaded the border, Fan Xiwen defeated him, beheaded nearly 20,000 people, and dealt a heavy blow to the western bandits!"

"Great!"

Zhao Zhen fell into ecstasy and laughed, "Hahahahaha, Yelu Zongzhen also sent an envoy to hand over the letter from Li Yuanhao to me, threatening me to go south. Now let's see what he has to say."

This happened a few days ago. After Li Yuanhao established his country, he did not dare to fight with the powerful Liao Kingdom. He just wanted to attack the soft persimmon of the Song Army, so he sent a letter to Yelu Zongzhen of the Liao Kingdom, hoping to form an alliance with Liao and attack the Song Dynasty together.

Yelu Zongzhen did not agree, and sent someone to deliver the letter sent by Li Yuanhao to the Song Dynasty. On the one hand, he said that he wanted to ask the Song Dynasty whether he should send troops to attack Western Xia, and on the other hand, he pretended that if Liao wanted to send troops, the Song Dynasty would provide money and manpower.

In fact, the implicit content is threat and blackmail, which means that if you spend money, then I will not attack you with Xixia. If you don't know what's good for you, then Yelu Zongzhen will have to send troops south and drink from the Yellow River.

In history, Yelu Zongzhen did the same thing. Zhao Zhen did not agree at first, so Yelu Zongzhen mobilized 100,000 troops and stationed them on the border of Hebei.

Later, as the war between Song and Xia intensified, Li Yuanhao defeated the Song army three times. Seeing that the situation was very unfavorable to the Song Dynasty, Zhao Zhen was forced to agree to Yelu Zongzhen's request. This is the source of "Zhongxi Zengbi".

But now that Li Yuanhao was defeated, Zhao Zhen naturally had the confidence and waved his hand and said: "Send me a letter to thank the emperor of Liao for his kindness. But the Western bandits can be defeated in a snap, so there is no need for him to worry, and he should greet Empress Dowager Xiao on my behalf."

"Will this anger the Liao Kingdom?"

Wang Sui said in surprise.

The first few sentences were fine. The Song Dynasty had the confidence to defeat Xixia.

But isn't the latter sentence a satire on Yelu Zongzhen's imprisonment of his mother?

What if Yelu Zongzhen gets angry?

Unexpectedly, Zhao Zhen seemed to be really strong, laughing: "In history, Li Yuanhao defeated our Song Dynasty in the south and Liao Kingdom in the east, how rampant. But now he is driven out of the pass by our Song Dynasty, like a stray dog, not worth mentioning, even if Liao Kingdom attacks, what do I have to fear?"

"Your Majesty is mighty!"

Everyone flattered him, and now that Xixia was defeated, it also gave them great self-confidence.

"Hahahaha."

Zhao Zhen laughed, and then said: "The Song Dynasty defeated the Western bandits in the northwest, and it would be great if it could defeat Liao Kingdom in the northeast. I don't know if Da Sun has left Chengdu now. I really hope he will come back soon. My Song Dynasty needs him to save it!"

He looked out the window. Defeating Xixia was only the first step, and then there was the behemoth Liao Kingdom. And even if Xixia and Liao Kingdom were defeated, internal troubles must be considered.

If there is no reform, then even if there are external threats and internal troubles, the Song Dynasty will be no different from previous dynasties and will eventually perish due to internal friction.

So after learning that Xixia was defeated, Zhao Zhen hoped that Zhao Jun would come back as soon as possible, reform and strengthen the country as soon as possible, and use his future vision to plan the entire Song Dynasty, eliminate drawbacks, clear obstacles, and let the Song Dynasty truly stand at the top of the world!