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

When the Song Dynasty was mentioned, everyone in the room fell into silence.

The Song Dynasty defeated the Liao Kingdom in February this year.

Non-governmental trade was developed between Song and Japan, and the news naturally spread to Japan.

It also frightened them to learn that the once arrogant Liao Kingdom was almost wiped out by the Song Dynasty.

Others don’t know what this means, so how could they, as the top people in Japan, not know?

The Tang Dynasty was once the most powerful empire they knew. Since the Nara era, Japan has maintained humility and respect for the Tang Dynasty.

However, after the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the Song State was established, but the attitude of the Japanese upper class towards the Song State took a turn for the worse. Not only did they close the country, they no longer sent Tang envoys, and they even refused to have normal inter-state exchanges.

The reason lies in the Japanese nation's inherent tendency to bully the weak and fear the strong. When you are strong, I treat you with respect, and when you are weak, I treat you with contempt.

For example, in the first battle between China and Japan during the Tang Dynasty, at the Battle of Baijiangkou, an army of 40,000 Japanese pirates was defeated and defeated by 10,000 Tang troops. Since then, Japan has been obedient to the Tang Dynasty and never dared to offend again.

After the establishment of the Song Dynasty, the Khitan won a great victory in the Battle of Gaoliang River, which caused the Song Dynasty's prestige in surrounding countries to plummet.

Many countries, including Goryeo, slowly severed their relations with the Song Dynasty and surrendered to the Liao Kingdom. Even the little Vietnamese Li Dynasty dared to invade the border many times, let alone Japan, which was alone overseas.

Therefore, Japan's attitude towards the Song Dynasty became cold. Although it was limited by its weak national power and did not dare to actively provoke the Song Dynasty, it no longer had the awe it once had.

However, this time the Song State defeated the Liao State, which meant that the Song State truly rose and returned to its status as the most powerful country in the world like the Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty.

This naturally frightened Japan's top brass.

In fact, a few months ago, Emperor Goreizumi discussed with Fujiwara Yorimichi and others whether to send envoys to express congratulations to the Song Dynasty.

It's just that the Song Dynasty's behavior of stationing troops on Tsushima Island has always made Japan feel offended, so the matter was left alone.

After all, Tsushima is their territory in the eyes of Japanese senior officials. The Song Dynasty stationed troops on the island, which was tantamount to invasion.

If it weren't for the powerful navy of the Song Dynasty, which would come for a stroll from time to time, and the situation in their own country was not good, they would have turned against them long ago, and naturally it would be impossible to give Song a good look.

Now that Fujiwara Yorimichi mentioned the Song Dynasty again, everyone looked unhappy.

Even though Da Song was separated from them by the ocean, no one would feel comfortable if they had a powerful neighbor and a neighbor with whom they had a relatively bad relationship.

"What does this have to do with the Song Dynasty?"

When Fujiwara Gyotong heard what his brother said, he frowned and said, "Could it be that Song Guo is behind it?"

After he said this, everyone except Fujiwara Yorimichi frowned.

If it was really the Song State that was behind the rebellion of local forces, then the situation would be different.

This would seriously threaten the emperor's rule.

However, Fujiwara Yorimichi shook his head and said: "Yes and no."

"Forehead"

Several people looked at each other and didn't understand what Fujiwara Yorimichi meant.

Emperor Go-Lengquan said: "What does Otaizheng mean?"

Fujiwara Noriichi said: "The Abe family became more and more powerful because of the Song Dynasty, but it was not necessarily the people of the Song Dynasty who were behind it."

Seeing everyone's puzzled expressions, he explained: "You should know that Mutsu produces gold, and there is the Hiraizumi gold mine. In the past few years, gold mines were also discovered in the Sado area of ​​Echigo Province."

"What Da Taizheng means is that the wealthy families in these places purchased weapons and armor from the Song people?"

Emperor Go Lengquan immediately understood what he meant.

"good."

Fujiwara Noriichi nodded and said: "The Song people sold a large number of weapons and armor to them, which gave them the confidence to dare to rebel."

Emperor Lengquan was a little panicked at this time.

Even though Japan has a lot of gold, silver, copper, sulfur and other materials, in fact it is an island country after all and is very lacking in resources and technology.

In the late Heian period in 1047 AD, although Japan was in the Iron Age, they were unable to obtain high-temperature fuel due to geological and geographical environmental problems.

So for a long time, they could only use charcoal to smelt iron. Therefore, the maximum temperature of the furnace fire at that time could only reach about 1150 degrees Celsius, which was far from reaching the melting point of pure iron of 1535 degrees Celsius.

Although the melting point of ore containing impurities is much lower than that of pure iron, it is still difficult for iron ore to completely melt at such a low temperature.

This resulted in a lot of impurities in Japanese ironware, which required blacksmiths to hammer and forge it repeatedly to create steel.

To make it by hand requires the blacksmith to have extremely high skills and experience.

Therefore, a small number of craftsmen and workshops who are good at making weapons and armor are concentrated in the city, and are closely watched by the local rulers.

As a result, the amount of steel in Japan at that time was extremely low, and only high-ranking generals could own steel swords and armor.

Ordinary soldiers or armed teams without the support of a large force only have a few low-quality iron knives, and most of them use sticks, wooden sticks and the like as weapons.

During the Heian period, the vast majority of skilled craftsmen were concentrated in Heian Kyo. This was also the basis for the emperor and the regent family to control Japan.

The imperial army not only has a righteous name, but also has a large number and relatively advanced weapons and equipment. It can be said that it is more than enough to deal with those local wealthy families who don't even have many iron swords.

However, if a local tyrant not only has thousands of troops but also has quite elite equipment, it will be a great threat to the emperor's rule.

After all, even if there is no internal strife, the Fujiwara family can only gather 10,000 troops at most, and their strength is far from strong.

Once they lose their equipment advantage over the local tyrants, their foundation will be seriously shaken.

"This"

Emperor Goreizei said in panic: "If this is the case, then the court is not in danger?"

"The Great Prime Minister."

As he said, he hurriedly looked at Fujiwara no Yorimichi: "What should I do?"

Fujiwara no Yorimichi frowned.

After a moment, he said in a deep voice: "The Abe family must be eliminated, and the most important thing is the attitude towards the Song Dynasty in the future."

"Does the Great Prime Minister plan to send an envoy to the Song Dynasty?"

Emperor Goreizei asked.

Fujiwara no Yorimichi nodded and said: "Of course we have to send an envoy to show that our country of the rising sun is willing to establish friendship with the Song Dynasty forever."

"But the matter of Tsushima Island."

Emperor Goreizei frowned.

Chen Shou's "Records of the Three Kingdoms" records Tsushima Island.

It was already a Japanese territory at that time.

It's just that the island is not suitable for farming, so the population is very sparse, with only a few thousand people. It was not until the Warring States Period in Japan that there were 12,000 people.

And it has long been a trade transit hub between Japan and Goryeo, and is a very important foreign channel for Japan.

Therefore, the Japanese high-level officials are still very disgusted with the behavior of the Song Dynasty stationing troops here.

But they can't do anything about the Song Dynasty.

If Japan bows down to the Song Dynasty like the Tang Dynasty, won't Tsushima Island be occupied by the Song Dynasty forever?

Fujiwara no Yorimichi naturally understood the emperor's intention and said, "This is a tactic of feigning compliance. If it succeeds, perhaps Japan can also become strong."

"Oh?"

Emperor Goreizei hurriedly said, "Please tell me more, Grand Prime Minister."

"In the past, although local tyrants occasionally rebelled, they were afraid to offend your majesty because of your majesty's majesty. But now many local tyrants have the intention of rebellion, especially in Iwami, Mutsu, Echigo and other places."

Fujiwara no Yorimichi said, "All this is because they trade with the Song people and their power has grown."

"Yes."

Emperor Goreizei nodded in agreement.

In fact, not only the local forces have grown, but also the power of the Fujiwara family has grown a lot.

Because in the beginning, in order to prevent the emperor from interfering in the Iwami Silver Mine, Song Cai and Su Jian not only bribed the local dignitaries, but also gave the emperor and the Fujiwara family some shares.

This is also what Zhao Jun meant.

After all, the Song Dynasty had not yet completed its reforms and was not strong. If you want to complete the seizure of resources from Japan, you must first ensure the safety of these resources.

If the Japanese high-level officials opposed it at that time, or even sent troops, the Song Dynasty might not be able to spare the time to guarantee their interests in Japan, given the powerful enemy Liao in the north and the harassment of Xixia in the northwest.

So the best option was to buy off the high-level officials in Japan and let them turn a blind eye.

Because of this, the Fujiwara family made a lot of money, so they continued to expand the manor and recruit farmers, which made the Fujiwara family have a lot of troops in recent years.

Even the forces far away in Heian-kyō benefited, not to mention the direct mining areas and local nobles.

Fujiwara no Yorimichi continued: "If Japan wants to be strong, it must trade with the Song Dynasty. What if those weapons and armor are not from the Abe family, but from your majesty?"

Emperor Goreizei thought to himself that, in the final analysis, they still belong to his uncle.

But he didn't say it, just said: "Then I can really wipe out all rebellions."

"Yes."

Fujiwara no Yorimichi said: "Therefore, the Abe clan must be eliminated, and at the same time, the Hiraizumi gold mine, the Echigo gold mine, and the Iwami silver mine must be taken back."

"This"

Fujiwara no Yorimichi said hurriedly: "The Iwami silver mine is mostly occupied by the Song people. We want to take it back, what should we do with the Song country?"

"That's what I want to say."

Fujiwara no Yorimichi looked around and said: "So we must have a good relationship with the Song country, be humble, and start sending envoys to the Song Dynasty to learn their advanced knowledge, and then find a way to pray for them to withdraw their troops from Tsushima Island."

Emperor Go-Reizei frowned and said: "Will they agree?"

"Han People are generous. As long as we are humble, they will be happy to show their generosity. "

Fujiwara no Yorimichi said with a smile: "As long as we can get them to withdraw their troops from Tsushima Island, we can take back the gold and silver mines, and then send merchant ships to Song State to buy weapons and armor, so that we can build a strong army ourselves."

He continued: "In this way, we will have the confidence to defend our homeland. Even if Song State is unhappy, it is very likely that it will not send troops over. We are too far away from them. Moreover, even if they send troops, they will not send too many. We can completely defeat them. We just need to apologize to them afterwards. "

"Is that so?"

Everyone looked at each other.

Fujiwara no Yorimichi thought for a while and said: "It seems to be a feasible plan."

"That's natural. No one knows the Han people better than me."

After that, Fujiwara no Yorimichi smiled.

He knew the Han people's thoughts too well.

A great country with vast land and abundant resources, it regards itself as a country of Chinese etiquette.

So starting from the Han Dynasty, the ancestors of the Japanese, who were then called Wakoku, paid tribute to the Han Dynasty in exchange for the golden seal as a reward from the Han emperor.

During the Tang Dynasty, Japan paid tribute to the Tang Dynasty many times, and not only got the name of the country of the rising sun, abbreviated as Japan. It also received many rewards and learned many advanced systems, knowledge, culture, and technology.

The Central Plains dynasty has always been generous to the barbarians who are obedient and submissive to them.

Because in their view, this is tantamount to showing the style of a great power.

Not only did they spread the culture, but they also showed their great power status vividly.

Therefore, the Central Plains dynasty was very happy to see the grand scene of "Nine Heavens Open the Palace, and All Nations Worship the Crown and Tassels".

So as long as Japan pays tribute, the Song Dynasty will inevitably still be like the Tang Dynasty, not only giving them rewards, but also allowing them to send people to learn.

And taking this opportunity, Japan can study various advanced products of the Central Plains dynasty.

This is also the consistent style of the Japanese.

The Battle of Baekgangkou in the Tang Dynasty made the Japanese see the power of the Tang Dynasty, so they sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty to learn many times.

When they arrived at the Song Dynasty, they found that the Song Dynasty was far less powerful than the Tang Dynasty, so they became indifferent to it.

Later, during the Warring States Period in Japan, missionaries brought firearms and new knowledge about the world to Japan, which immediately made Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and others realize the changes of the times.

So they changed their idea of ​​establishing a regime centered on commerce and cities, and began to actively accept the introduction of new things.

The same is true for the Meiji Restoration in modern Japan.

Therefore, from ancient times to later generations, Japan is actually a nation that is extremely strong and very good at learning.

Now that the Song Dynasty is strong again, Japan has obviously begun to think about learning (plagiarism).

Fujiwara no Yorimichi's wishful thinking is very simple.

At the official level, they paid tribute to the Song Dynasty and showed an extremely humble attitude.

Then they privately tried to defeat the local forces that owned minerals in various places, took the gold and silver mines into their own hands, and then purchased new weapons and equipment from the Song Dynasty.

In this way, as long as they armed their army and re-established the central authority of the Japanese court, they would be able to integrate the power of the entire Japan.

At that time, even if the behavior of the gold and silver mines in various places touched the interests of the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty would send people to question them.

They can also keep kowtow to the Song Dynasty and beg for mercy, showing a respectful, humble and pitiful attitude. At the same time, they will step up their accumulation of strength and be ready to fight back at any time.

As the saying goes, you don't hit a smiling person, and the Central Plains dynasty has always been more magnanimous. As long as Japan sends envoys to pay tribute and respects the Song Dynasty as a superior country, I think the Song Dynasty will also show the demeanor of a great country.

When they send people to learn (steal) everything from the Song Dynasty, they will build a more powerful country themselves.

Maybe in the future, they can annex Goryeo and become a hegemon.

It must be said that although Japan has been closed to the outside world for many years and has not had much official communication with the Song Dynasty. But the Japanese still understand the Han people very well, and understand their arrogance and generosity in their bones.

If this method is implemented, the idea that the Celestial Empire does not care about small countries may really appear in the court of the Song Dynasty.

By then, maybe Fujiwara no Yorimichi's plan will really succeed.

However, there are always unexpected things in this world.

For example.

There is a man named Zhao Jun who doesn't like this country very much.

Therefore.

The facts will always become unpredictable.