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

Zhao Jun is obviously making a big move.

If they can control Jeju Island and Tsushima Island, then Song Dynasty ships can go directly to Japan's Iwami region to the east without taking a long detour.

Going north, they can reach Goryeo's Jindo, which is later Jeollanam-do, and even Busan.

In this way, through Japan's copper, silver, and gold mines, and Goryeo's mineral resources, a perfect trade triangle route can be formed.

Goryeo and Japan can exchange local minerals for Song's copper coins, clothing, books, tea, spices, silk, porcelain, four treasures of the study, paintings and other items.

Knowledge and culture are priceless. The Song Dynasty is so generous in exporting its knowledge, its language, and its culture. It is also reasonable for Goryeo and Japan to pay a little mineral resources.

So as long as the stronghold construction is completed first, when the Song Dynasty defeats the Liao Dynasty and its military strength becomes stronger in the future, the Song-Japan-Goryeo Free Trade Zone is likely to be established in Tamra Island and Tsushima Island in the future.

By then, the Song Dynasty would have obtained countless minerals, Japan and Goryeo would have obtained Song Dynasty goods, and they would have learned new knowledge from advanced civilizations and changed their backward situation.

For the three parties, it was like Qin Shihuang touching the wire - they won.

Of course.

The prerequisite is that both parties must admit that what they learned was Han culture, rather than just thinking that it was passed down from their ancestors.

Steal less and apply for less heritage, otherwise the Song Dynasty's strong ships and powerful guns will not be soft-handed.

However, it is obvious that Song Cai and Su Jian could not think of such a deep level of things. They all thought that Zhao Jun just wanted to deepen the trade between the Song Dynasty and Japan.

They are all businessmen, so they naturally agreed with both hands.

Moreover, although the Japanese government did not have deep exchanges with the Song Dynasty, the people also respected the Song Dynasty as the successor of the Tang Dynasty because of their worship of the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the Japanese people also admired the Song Dynasty very much and welcomed the Song people to Japan.

Then Zhao Jun learned about the current domestic situation in Japan from Song Cai and Su Jian, as well as information about the local people's livelihood, economy, agriculture, and some powerful leaders who control the Iwami area.

At present, the Song and Liao are still in a confrontation stage, and the Song Kingdom cannot go east to the sea with great fanfare. Otherwise, not only the Liao Kingdom may intervene, but also the officials of Goryeo and Japan may resist.

After all, since the period of Emperor Shengzong of Liao, the Liao Kingdom has also attached importance to the ocean, and even formed a navy to intensify its ties with Goryeo and Japan.

Goryeo and Japan also paid tribute to the Liao Kingdom.

Although the Song Kingdom is now the second in the East Asian circle, it is only the second, and there is still the Liao Kingdom as a deterrent.

In addition, it has no strong desire for external expansion, and its main military strength must be placed on confronting the Liao Kingdom and Western Xia, making it difficult to form a military deterrent like the Han and Tang Dynasties against neighboring countries, so naturally there is no Goryeo and Japan Officials are afraid of the Song Kingdom.

There is no way.

A big fist is a hard truth, no matter in any era or any region, it is an irrefutable truth!

Just as Zhao Jun had begun to lay out foreign trade, promoting trade with Central Asia in Guangzhou in the south, promoting trade with Japan and Goryeo in Jiangsu and Zhejiang in the east, promoting trade along the Silk Road in the Hehuang Corridor in Shaanxi in the west, and promoting trade along the Ancient Tea-Horse Road in Sichuan in the southwest.

The war in the Liao Kingdom in the north also gradually began to heat up.

Starting from August and September this year, Liao Xingzong Yelu Zongzhen began to mobilize troops and gather in Xijin Prefecture, Nanjing, Liao Kingdom, to launch a military deterrence against the Song Kingdom.

The Song Dynasty was not to be outdone, and Fan Zhongyan was appointed as the governor of Hebei Road and the alternate co-director of the Political System Council, with a position equivalent to that of a deputy prime minister. He went to Hebei Road to mobilize troops and generals, and at the same time, he drew elite troops from the northwest army to rush to the border to resist the possible southward invasion of the Liao Kingdom.

The two sides confronted each other until the end of the year, which took three or four months, and the Liao Kingdom was a little overwhelmed.

In the final analysis, the strength of the Liao Dynasty was based on military force. The Liao Dynasty was able to maintain the order of the country mainly through the large amount of annual tribute silver and silk plundered in many foreign wars, plus the tributes paid by the subordinate states and tribes.

Their actual annual taxes were actually very small, and the annual fiscal revenue was probably only about one million guan. As a result, the annual tribute of hundreds of thousands of guan from the Song Dynasty became the main source of income for the Liao Dynasty.

Spending the enemy's money, arming themselves, and then threatening the enemy, forcing the enemy to pay protection fees to the Liao Dynasty, is what the Liao Dynasty did.

In this case, the taxes on the Han people under the rule of the Liao Dynasty were not so important, resulting in a relatively low tax on the Han people in the Liao Dynasty. Later, during the reign of Emperor Huizong of Song, when the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun were recovered, the local Han people were afraid of the Song Dynasty's taxation, so they fought to the death and rebelled one after another.

But similarly, since the Liao Kingdom's economy was entirely dependent on the annual tribute from the Song Kingdom, its vassal states, and its subordinate tribes, once a war broke out, it would force those vassal states and subordinate tribes to pay more tribute, making the Jurchen tribes under the rule of the Liao Kingdom miserable. In the end, Wanyan Aguda launched an uprising and destroyed the Liao Kingdom.

Therefore, it can be seen from these things that the Liao Kingdom's economy is actually very fragile. When there is no war, it is fine, and it can be completely maintained by annual tribute and lower taxes. As long as the war breaks out, it will inevitably cause the internal storage consumption to increase.

In this case, the Liao Kingdom has only two choices, one is to start a decisive battle with the Song army as soon as possible.

The second is to increase domestic taxes and demand food and taxes from the Han people, Jurchen tribes, and Mengwu tribes in the territories to offset military expenses.

But does the Liao Kingdom have the strength to fight a war of attrition with the Song Dynasty?

They are not as rich as the Song Dynasty.

So Liao Xingzong Yelu Zongzhen is indeed a bit in a dilemma now, not knowing whether to fight or retreat.

Let's fight.

The Song army's border defense is much stronger now than it was during the Treaty of Shanyuan.

Let's not fight.

If they go back in disgrace, it will not only bring disgrace to the Liao Dynasty, but what if the Song Dynasty sees the weakness of the Liao Dynasty and stops paying tribute?

This is an important source of income for the Liao Dynasty.

It was December, and finally Emperor Xingzong of Liao decided to fight to test the waters. What if he won?

The main reason was that he really couldn't afford to waste time. The little money he had saved before was almost used up. If he continued to waste time for another year or two, the Liao Dynasty's domestic economy would collapse directly.

On December 9, the Liao army went southward, with the main force going south from Xiongzhou and directly taking Gaoyang, a major military town of the Song Dynasty. They went south from Ansu and passed Baozhou to Baosai. The last route was to take a detour from Dingzhou and attack Wangdu.

These three places were all important military places of the Song Dynasty, and they were also the main storage areas for grain and grass. If they could capture any of them at will, it would be a huge blow to the Song army, which would help the Liao Dynasty continue to exert pressure.

But unfortunately, ideals are full, and reality is very skinny. The three armies of the Liao Kingdom naturally did not ignore the dense borders, with hundreds of fortresses and military camps, as well as more than ten cities such as Rongcheng, Ansu, Suicheng, Guixin, Beiping, and Xiongxian.

If they want to reach the food and logistics center of the Song army directly, they must put pressure on these places, at least to ensure that they will not cause difficulties for the logistics supply of the Liao Kingdom, so they must divide their forces to besiege the outer fortresses.

In history, the Liao Kingdom also divided its troops into three routes to attack several important towns of the Song Kingdom, and took Suicheng and Dingzhou, capturing Song generals alive, which made the Liao Kingdom very powerful, and frightened Song Zhenzong Zhao Heng almost moved the capital and fled south.

After that, the Liao Kingdom went deep into the depths alone, without paying any attention to the other cities of the Song Army behind them, and went straight into Damingfu and hit Chanzhou City, which is outside Puyang City in later generations.

But in fact, there were still a large number of Song troops behind the Liao army at this time. Under normal circumstances, the Song army launched a siege and cut off the Liao's logistics supply line. The Liao would never be so rampant and show off its power outside the city of Chanzhou.

However, the Song army was too weak. Tens of thousands of Song troops in Xin'an, Bazhou, Mozhou, Xiongzhou, Cangzhou, Qingzhou and other places were not attacked by the Liao at all, but they could only hide in the city and dared not come out at all, so that the Liao drove straight into the heart of the Song.

If it weren't for the good luck of the Song Dynasty, the Liao general was shot and killed by the eight-ox crossbow, and the Liao army was alone and deep, and the food and grass were a bit out of stock, Empress Xiao was worried about being attacked from both sides, and took the initiative to propose peace talks. With Zhao Heng's ability to escape from his father, I am afraid that no matter how much Kou Zhun persuaded him, he could run to Fujian.

And the current situation is much more serious for the Liao than the Chanyuan Alliance.

First, after the Treaty of Chanyuan, Zhao Heng built a large number of fortresses and cities on the border and sent more than 100,000 troops, bringing the number of troops stationed in Hebei to more than 200,000.

Second, the weapons and equipment of the Song Dynasty were upgraded. Although they were still mainly cold weapons, a large number of hot weapons were added for defending the city.

Third, what Liao Xingzong is facing now is the elite border army in the northwest that has just experienced the Song-Xia War. The main general is also the strategic Fan Zhongyan, not the group of drunkards who were frightened by Zhao Guangyi after the Battle of Gaoliang River.

The Northwest Army had just won a victory and received rewards from the court, and its morale was high. Fan Zhongyan promised that if the Liao Kingdom was defeated in this battle, he must reward the three armies, which made the morale of the soldiers even higher.

In this case, let alone Liao Xingzong, if the Liao Kingdom, during the peak period of his father Liao Shengzong, marched south, it would probably be considered whether it could break through the turtle shell of the Song Army.

But it was obvious that Yelu Zongzhen had no choice but to go ahead.

On December 10, Zhang Kang was looking west on the towering Xiongzhou City. On the distant horizon, the mighty Liao army was surging towards the south like a tide.

At this time, Zhang Kang was now the pacification envoy of Hebei East Road. He was too dazzling in the Song-Xia War. In addition, he was the governor of Ansu Army in the first year of Jingyou. He also reported to Zhao Zhen to analyze the situation of Liao and was familiar with the situation of Liao. Old Fan was naturally unwilling to let go of this treasure, so he transferred him to Hebei.

At present, the Shaanxi Road is mainly governed by Pang Ji, Wang Yaochen, Wang Yan, Liu Ping, Wen Yanbo and others. Fan Zhongyan, with Wang Deyong, mobilized about 50,000 elite troops of the Northwest Frontier Army to Hebei and carried out a thorough defense.

The original Hebei army was mainly deployed in Hejian Prefecture, Dingzhou, Shenzhou, Cangzhou and other places, while the elite troops of the Northwest Frontier Army were placed in the borders of Xiongzhou, Ansu, Baozhou, Baoding and other places.

The reason for doing this is very simple.

The combat effectiveness of the Hebei army is definitely not as strong as that of the Northwest Frontier Army. If they are placed on the front line, if the Liao Kingdom breaks through a city, it is very likely to cause the army to be demoralized and collapse directly.

The Northwest Army is in the back, and it is possible that it will be led by the Hebei Army to collapse, and the situation will be completely ruined.

Therefore, the Northwest Army is in the front to withstand the pressure. If the Liao Kingdom launches a large-scale attack, the Northwest Army only needs to complete the defense task, and Fan Zhongyan can also calmly mobilize reinforcements to support and cooperate with the Northwest Army to launch a defensive counterattack against the Liao Kingdom.

As for the Liao Kingdom, if it bypasses the Northwest Army, it is not afraid.

Compared with the Hebei Army, the Northwest Army dares to fight in the field. If the Liao Kingdom bypasses them to attack the hinterland, the logistics supply line will inevitably be severely hit by the Northwest Army. At that time, it will see who can exhaust the other.

Therefore, Lao Fan is worthy of being well versed in the tortoise shell bunker tactics and defensive counterattack tactics. This arrangement is perfect.

At this moment, Zhang Kang saw the Liao army outside the city, pointed to Di Qing and his subordinates outside and said, "Fan Xianggong is right. This must be the Liao Kingdom trying to bypass us and go straight to the hinterland behind us."

Zhe Jimin was young and energetic, and shouted loudly: "Shuai Si, let's go to battle, let the Liao army pass by our city so arrogantly, the general will not be able to afford to lose this man!"

"What kind of fight is going on?"

Zhang Kang glanced at him: "The Liao Kingdom has more than 100,000 troops. We brought 50,000 people from the northwest and scattered them all over the country. Do you want thousands of us to fight against the tens of thousands of Liao troops outside the city? What's more, you How do you know this is not a trick by the Liao army to lure us out of the city? "

"Forehead"

Zhe Jimin stopped talking. Zhang Kang had made a name for himself in the northwest and had a high prestige, and he had led him all the way. How could he dare to talk back to Zhang Kang?

After Zhang Kang taught Zhe Jimin a lesson, he looked at Di Qing with admiration and said, "Hanchen, what do you think?"

Compared to Zhe Jimin, who acted impulsively and fought with passion, Zhang Kang actually preferred Di Qing, because Di Qing was not only brave in fighting, but also good at thinking and strategic. He was not just a general, he was probably a handsome man.

So Zhang Kang admired him very much.

Di Qing said in a deep voice: "As Commander Shuai said, the Liao Kingdom's large-scale march south may be to take the hinterland directly, or to lure us out of the city. No matter which way it is, the general believes that we should stay put and wait for the opportunity. "

"oh?"

Zhang Kang said: "Tell me the reason."

"The reason is very simple. If the Liao army goes straight to the hinterland and there is Xianggong Fan in the rear, their offensive cannot be so smooth and will be blocked by Xianggong. At this time, we should wait for the opportunity to destroy the Liao army's logistics and food and let them There will be no peace in the rear.”

Di Qing analyzed: "If the Liao army deliberately marched southward to lure us out of the city to attack, then we should guard the city to prevent them from succeeding. Waiting for the arrival of Xianggong's reinforcements, the Liao army will have no choice but to retreat."

"good!"

Zhang Kang was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly: "That's very well said."

Then he looked into the distance with his profound eyes and said calmly: "Although our army is small, my husband has high hopes for us, so we must not make mistakes. One step is wrong, every step is wrong. Facing the powerful Liao Kingdom, should we be steady or safe?" Be steady!”

As an important town on the border between Song and Liao, Xiongzhou has a wide and tall city, but there are only 8,000 defenders in the city.

It's not that the Song army can't send more people, but it's difficult to supply food and grass when there are too many people.

Once the Liao army besieged Xiongzhou, food and grass could not come in, and there were too many garrison troops to eat horses, it is estimated that Xiongzhou would become a dead city before long.

So we might as well send fewer people and hoard more food.

With Xiongzhou's current grain and grass reserves, even if the Liao Kingdom besieged it for a year, it would not be able to siege it.

But because there are so few people, the cost of trial and error is very high. If the Liao army ambushes, even with grenades, the eight thousand of them may pay a very heavy price.

So what Zhang Kang and the others have to do now is wait!

Patience makes a good hunter!

Some friends said that the reform measures in the previous chapter were also called conservative. It should be noted that these were conservative measures taken by our army during the Republic of China, not during the Song Dynasty. The protagonist also thinks that these measures are radical in the Song Dynasty, but if you have a deeper understanding, you will know that our army took such measures in Jiangxi, where the clan power is strong, and the protagonist currently just wants to promote it in the north of the Song Dynasty where the clan power is almost non-existent. , the difficulty may even be much lower than that of our army at that time.

Another friend compared the birth of a concubine to the mistress today. Not to mention that the mistress also has the right to inherit according to the law now. If the mistress is illegal now, the concubine was legal in ancient times. There is no analogy between the two.

What I want to tell you is that when I write a book, I will definitely follow logic. The content and measures in it are often those that have happened in history and were relatively smooth, and I will not make them up randomly.

I also wrote about the radical measures adopted by our army in the book. Isn’t it possible that the clan power in Jiangxi during the Republic of China was stronger than the clan power in the north that was destroyed in the Song Dynasty? This is unrealistic. I also investigated and researched the situation of clan forces in the north at that time. I can’t think that the thinking during the Republic of China was already so advanced and could accept such reforms, right? It makes no sense, so I completely do not accept this book friend’s accusation!

But everyone has their own opinions, and I can't unify everyone's thoughts. I just explain why I wrote this so that everyone can understand the reason. It's not that I accuse this book friend of having any problems, he also has his own ideas. It’s enough for everyone to understand why I wrote this.