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

"Crunch!"

"Hahahaha, I'm so happy."

Zhao Zhen pushed the door open and walked in. Before anyone could say anything, his face was filled with red.

"Congratulations to the official family. Congratulations to the official family. Recovering Yanyun can be said to be a great cause of divine civilization, holy martial arts!"

"It has been one hundred and ten years since Shi Jingtang dedicated the land of Yanyun. Now that he is back, his achievements will last forever."

"The officials have accomplished feats that have never been done before or since. This feat is comparable to that of many sage kings in the past dynasties."

"Unification begins today. Let's see who will say in the future that the Song Dynasty is not a unified dynasty!"

Everyone praised him.

It's not that they are all sycophants, but the significance of regaining Yanyun Sixteen States is really too great.

Not only is its geographical location important, but the Sixteenth State of Yanyun has always been an inseparable part of the Chinese territory.

Many people in later generations thought that our country's territory should be this large, including the Western Regions, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the three northeastern provinces, the south of Caiyun, etc., should all be our country's territory.

Only with such a large territory can it be considered a unified dynasty.

But in fact, for the ancients, Guanzhong, Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Sichuan, Shanxi, Peking and the two lakes were actually the complete territory since ancient times.

These places were the territories of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period, including the Western Regions, which were dispensable to the Central Plains Dynasty.

It’s not that we ancient Chinese people had no desire to possess land, but that only these places are the richest, most beautiful, and most suitable for the development and survival of agricultural civilization, so their importance far exceeds other regions.

Other places, such as the south of Hubei in ancient times, and even Hubei belong to the Jingman genus and are not orthodox in the Central Plains.

Guangdong, Guangxi, and Guizhou are even more foreign lands in Lingnan.

Therefore, in the eyes of the ancients, only by conquering all the territories of the Seven Heroes of the Warring States Period could the great unification be completed and become a complete ancient dynasty.

This is one of the reasons why Qin Shihuang is highly respected.

Although there was no Western Region before the Song Dynasty, the existence of the Western Region had nothing to do with the unification.

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

Therefore, there is only one criterion for the Song Dynasty not to be a unified dynasty, and that is that they did not have the Sixteen States of Yanyun, which was the territory of the former Yan State and part of the Zhao State.

And now that the Song Dynasty has finally taken back the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, this means that the Song Dynasty has taken over all the territory of the homeland of China, and has officially entered the sequence of a unified dynasty from the original incomplete dynasty.

How could this not make Zhao Zhenjun and his ministers happy?

After all, the unified dynasty is not a concept that was formed only in later generations. It has always existed in ancient times. Didn't Zhao Guangyi launch the Northern Expedition just to accomplish this feat?

"Although I don't want to admit it, because I think only the Chinese Qiuye Begonia can be regarded as unified, but ancient society does believe that only the Chinese hometown is, so this is also a happy thing."

Seeing that everyone was very happy, Zhao Jun did not pour cold water on him, but said with a smile: "But my suggestion is that everyone should not be happy too early, because there will be more happiness in the future, such as the destruction of Liao Kingdom, the destruction of Xixia, and then Recover the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Western Regions, and even look at the Korean Peninsula and Japanese territory."

"Hahahaha, so I am too happy too early."

Zhao Zhen was even happier.

But then he licked his lips again, walked to the desk and said, "It's a pity. It would be great if the Liao Kingdom was destroyed in this battle."

He is a firm believer in destroying the Liao. After all, his achievements have been great after the destruction of the Liao.

In the evaluation of future generations, I am afraid that I will be able to compete for the top five.

If we could destroy the Liao Kingdom and Xixia, and then promote the industrial revolution and promote the development of education, it would be possible to just wait and see.

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

Zhao Jun shook his head: "If you really want to do this, you will spend so much manpower and material resources to destroy the Liao Kingdom. At most, it will be a nominal occupation, but in fact you will not get any benefits. If you want to actually occupy and govern it, the cost may even bring down the Song Dynasty. "

He was firmly opposed to the destruction of Liao.

It's not that it can't be beaten, but it's simply that the gain outweighs the loss.

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

But now that the Liao Kingdom could no longer threaten the Han Dynasty, destroying the Liao Kingdom would be a thankless task.

The newcomers Xia Song, Du Yan and others actually didn't quite understand why Zhao Jun was so opposed to destroying the Liao Dynasty. Du Yan asked: "Zhiyuan, why did you bring down the Song Dynasty?"

"It's very simple. The living conditions in these places are too harsh. When winter comes, and it's dozens of degrees below zero, who of you can withstand it?"

Zhao Jun asked rhetorically.

"Then why can the Liao people do it?"

Du Yan was not convinced.

"That's because the survival mode they adopt is the 'nomadic' system."

Zhao Jun said: "Do you think that the grassland people harness horses and shoot eagles every day? In fact, no, they are running for survival every day. Otherwise, why would they always choose to go south to fight against the Central Plains Dynasty?"

Zhao Zhen was also surprised and said: "What's the connection here, why don't you tell me?"

"It's very simple. After all, our national strength is not that of future generations. Except for Shenyang, which is still a sacred land, the other places in the north are all bitter and cold places."

Zhao Jun said: "The development of the three northeastern provinces in our later generations was the result of hundreds of years of Han people invading Guandong from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the Republic of China. Generation after generation, one after another, completed such a feat."

"But now the natural conditions in the Northeast are harsh and it is extremely difficult to develop. If we want it to repay us, the investment in manpower and material resources will be huge, and it is possible to bring down the Song Dynasty."

"Not to mention the Mongolian grassland, the natural conditions are not as good as those of the three northeastern provinces. What will we eat on the grassland? We can't even grow food, so we can only starve to death."

"In fact, it's not that we Han people are incapable of using force. We destroyed the surrounding countries and couldn't seize their land. It's that even if we seize it, we won't be able to rule for a long time. Once the local indigenous people resist, the cost of our suppression will be simply..."

He shook his head. Now that Zhao Zhen and his gang have seen the beginning of industrialization, they have become blindly confident, thinking that they can eventually become a powerful Eastern country in the future.

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

Unless the Song Dynasty is developed 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 of no use. Did the Han Dynasty set up a general to protect the Xiongnu, and then controlled the Mongolian grassland?"

Zhao Jun said: "I remember an example. In the first half of the 20th century, the Nationalist government wanted to tax the Horokoma nomads living in northwest Sichuan, but what happened."

He looked around.

Everyone also looked at him and waited quietly for what was going to happen next.

"They are allowed to pay the animal tax as they please, and the government dare not force them. Otherwise, they will move home, drive cattle, and flee to Yefan."

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 grassland plus the area from the northeast to Sakhalin is more than five million square kilometers. It is nearly twice the size of the current Song Dynasty.”

"It is unrealistic for you to rule such a large area. Because nomadic people live in search of water and grass, they must always chase places with abundant water and grass. Otherwise, if they don't leave, the grass will turn yellow and snow will come. All the livestock are dead, what do they eat?”

"So in such a large land, the population is sparse and the mobility of people is extremely high. It is almost impossible to set up a city, and it is impossible to send officials to govern. There may be only one family or several yurts dozens of kilometers apart. How can you control it? ?”

"Even if the Liao Kingdom is destroyed by then, we will have no choice but to continue to allow these nomadic peoples to grow wildly. And without the political power above, it will be difficult for us to trade with them."

"It is better to keep the Liao Kingdom and let them help us with grassroots governance, thereby opening up mutual markets, attracting those people to trade, and using them to transport raw materials for us."

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

At the end of the sentence, Zhao Jun also smiled bitterly.

To be honest, if he had some golden finger for time travel and some system that allowed the Song Dynasty to evolve into a new era in a few years, then he really wouldn't mind destroying the Liao Kingdom and unifying the world at the same time.

But this is the real world, not some cool historical novel. He really can't do it.

The simplest example is that in the current New Barhu Right Banner of Inner Mongolia, 20 acres of land can feed a sheep, and at least 300-400 sheep are needed to fully support a family of five; a complete herder family requires 6,000 Only about an acre of land can we support them.

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

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

It can be said that the nomads in the entire Mongolian grassland spend 70 to 80 percent of their lives driving their cattle and sheep to graze, and the time they can stop is very short.

As a result, nomads are too mobile and find it difficult to survive in one gathering place for a long time.

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

If you send people to rule, there is almost no possibility of governance. It is impossible to farm, to establish government offices, and to organize herdsmen. Perhaps the area of ​​​​a small herdsman village is larger than a state in the Song Dynasty.

If you don't send someone to rule, it will be even worse. Because if you want to destroy the Liao Kingdom, you must send a large army northward, deep into the grasslands, and attack the Liao Kingdom's Shangjing Road.

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 need to provide 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 attacked the Xiongnu and almost destroyed the country. Although Li Shimin destroyed the Turks at an affordable cost, he still mobilized more than 100,000 troops.

So much manpower and material resources were wasted, but not even a little benefit was gained. This battle must be a huge loss.

After all, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Li Shimin both had reasons. The Huns and Turks threatened the political power of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and Li Shimin, and they had to send troops brazenly to stabilize their political power.

But now that the Liao Kingdom is no longer a threat to the Song Dynasty's regime, won't fighting this war be a waste of money?

So in summary.

Now is indeed not a good time to destroy Liao.

It would be better to let the Liao Kingdom have internal strife with other ethnic tribes in the north.

First, it can accelerate the collapse of the Liao Kingdom and let them fend for themselves.

Secondly, it can also maintain the basic rule of the north, so that the nomadic tribes of the Mongolian grasslands and the fishing and hunting peoples of the Northeast can continue to maintain trade relations with the Song Dynasty and use them to continue to serve as suppliers of raw materials.

"Actually, we don't need to take the initiative to send troops to attack the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom probably won't last long."

Zhao Jun finally said: "The main population area of ​​the Liao people is the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, and the main taxation area is also here. Without the Sixteenth Prefecture of Yanyun, the vitality of the Liao Kingdom will be greatly weakened, and the losses will be very heavy."

"After this battle, the Liao Kingdom's national power declined, and it was only a matter of time before their country collapsed. The Jurchens in the Northeast and the Mongolians in the steppe were not good people."

"It is estimated that Yelv Zongzhen will fall into endless civil strife before long. How can he still have the energy to go south? Just suppressing the rebellion is enough for him, and even the Liao regime may be overthrown."

"So we don't need to spend so much national power to attack the Liao Kingdom. We can destroy Xixia in two years, completely open up the Hexi Corridor, and take back the Western Regions."

"Our top priority now is to accelerate our own internal development, improve productivity, focus on learning and scientific research, use the power of the country 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 a new continent of our own."

He tapped the desk and made plans for the future route.

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

It is not advisable to go to war blindly, nor to dare to go to war blindly. Therefore, the right balance between the two must be determined. When and when to do something is the correct path for national development.

"If you put it this way, Liao will collapse on its own in the future?"

Zhao Zhen said in surprise: "What if the Yelv Sect really subdued the other ethnic tribes and did not collapse?"

"Then the Liao Kingdom will be at the end of its war effort. Wouldn't it be easy for the Song Dynasty to send just a few border troops and destroy them? It would save us the trouble of sending out a large army now."

Zhao Jun said with a smile: "The most important thing is to build roads and railways and increase population circulation. There are treasures everywhere in the Northeast. In the future, if we encourage people to leave the country, we can slowly develop them."

"Um."

Zhao Zhen nodded slightly.

"It is estimated that the Liao Kingdom and Xixia will send envoys to sue for peace soon. Now it is the right thing to fight for our own interests."

Zhao Jun continued: "Let's sign a peace treaty with the Liao Kingdom, forcing them to open a mutual trade and exchange what they have. As for the Xixia side."

He said with a cold look in his eyes: "Leave Li Yuanhao alone, Xixia will be wiped out in two years."

"Okay, destroying Xixia is also a good thing."

Zhao Zhen said happily: "And no matter what, I still want to benefit the people by taking back the sixteen states of Yanyun. I still want to benefit the people. How about giving amnesty to the world and reducing taxes?"

"If there is a general amnesty for the whole country, even if it is pardoned, it will only pardon some criminals who have committed relatively minor crimes and have relatively short sentences. The rest of the medium-level criminals will have their sentences reduced by a certain amount, and serious criminals cannot be pardoned, otherwise the victims cannot be comforted."

Zhao Jun said: "There is indeed a shortage of labor now. Large-scale production needs to be built across the country. It is okay to release some prisoners with minor crimes, but you must also control the degree. You cannot just slap your head on everything."

"Yes, I understand."

Zhao Zhen nodded.

At that moment, everyone discussed other details.

For example, when the Liao-Song peace talks come, how should the Song Dynasty strive for benefits?

How much taxes will be reduced this year?

Which prisoners should be released, which prisoners should not be pardoned, etc.

In addition, Zhao Zhen also suggested rebuilding the Ancestral Temple.

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

Zhao Jun thought there was no problem, so he agreed. At the same time, he also suggested building a monument in the square outside the Ancestral Temple to commemorate the official unification of the Song Dynasty!