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

In July of the eighth year of the Qingli period of the Song Dynasty, after inspecting the Yellow River for three months and the situation along the coast, Zhao Jun returned to the capital of the Song Dynasty, Kaifeng Prefecture, Bianliang City.

At this time, the world was in turmoil, and the situation in East Asia had already undergone earth-shaking changes.

The once most powerful Liao Dynasty was close to disintegration. The Liao Emperor Yelu Zongzhen died early. Because his eldest son Yelu Hongji was only fourteen years old, he could only pass the throne to his younger brother Yelu Chongyuan to stabilize the situation.

Although this made his descendants have no chance of the throne, Yelu Chongyuan's prestige in the country was much higher than Yelu Hongji. In order to prevent the country from being destroyed, this was a helpless thing.

After Yelu Chongyuan ascended the throne, he sought peace with the Southern Song Dynasty while rectifying military affairs and quelling the rebellions that broke out in the country. Basically, the Liao Dynasty went from the strongest in East Asia to a second-rate country overnight.

However, even a second-rate country belongs to the second echelon.

Because after the Song Dynasty defeated the Liao Dynasty, its strength basically jumped to the level of a super first-class country, while the Liao Dynasty was at most a first-class country before, but now it has been beaten back to the second-class.

This means that there is no first-class country in the entire East Asia that can compete with the Song Dynasty, and even the Liao Dynasty is the only second-class country.

The rest of Xixia, Dali, Goryeo, Japan, and Yue Dynasty cannot be said to have many heroes, but they can only be regarded as chickens and pottery dogs, and they can barely be called third- or fourth-rate forces, which is really not up to the standard.

Among them, the domestic turmoil in Xixia and Japan is the most serious.

At the beginning of the eighth year of the Qingli period, Japan tried to take back the domestic minerals. After having money, it sent envoys to the Song Dynasty to learn about the system, technology, and culture of the Song Dynasty in order to improve its national strength.

However, taking back the minerals touched the cake of the Song Dynasty, and the Japanese thought that if they complimented the Song Dynasty a few times and made them look good, they would turn a blind eye.

However, they did not know that the Song Dynasty was no longer the Celestial Empire that generously gave and raised a group of ungrateful people. Instead, it was based on the interests of the country and the people, and pursued a policy of Song priority.

In this situation, the Song Dynasty court was angry. Although it did not directly send a large army to attack Japan, it sent two naval fleets with a total of 10,000 people to attack Japan.

The Ninghai Navy arrived first and defeated the Japanese court's troops. When the news reached Heian-kyō, Emperor Goreizei and Fujiwara no Yorimichi were shocked and terrified.

If the Ninghai Navy used cold weapons to fight Fujiwara no Suketsu's army for a long time and finally defeated Fujiwara no Suketsu, perhaps they would not be like this. Instead, they might have made up their minds to use the power of Japan to expel the forces of the Song Dynasty.

But the whole process was too weird.

According to the survivors, they were still far away from the Song Dynasty fleet at that time. They only heard countless terrifying loud noises, and then hundreds of black iron balls fell from the sky, and then their ships were shattered.

At such a long distance, their fleet was defeated in an instant. What is the difference between this and the legendary witchcraft?

Therefore, under this kind of deterrence, the Japanese court did not dare to take any action.

In this hesitation, a more shocking news came. Minamoto no Yoriyoshi was eager to conquer Mutsu Province, and he raised troops to fight against Abe. Abe was caught off guard and was defeated. He immediately asked for help from the Song army.

The Song army sent a small team of 300 people, led by Abe's people, and in just one round, with zero casualties, Minamoto no Yoriyoshi's army of more than 2,000 collapsed.

You must know that in history, Minamoto no Yoriie and his son had a very high prestige in Mutsu Province. As soon as he came, Abe was almost surrendered because of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi's reputation.

Although Abe defeated Minamoto no Yoriyoshi later, in fact, Minamoto no Yoriyoshi defeated Abe as soon as the two sides fought, and also killed Abe no Yoriyoshi, until Minamoto no Yoriyoshi pursued all the way, traveled a long winter expedition, and returned in defeat due to lack of supplies.

Therefore, in general, with Minamoto no Yoriyoshi's prestige in Mutsu Province, it is not difficult to defeat the Abe clan, especially since they ambushed the army sent by the Abe clan to support the Lu Dynasty some time ago and seized a large number of weapons and armor.

It can be said that at this time, Minamoto no Yoriyoshi was consistent with the Abe clan in terms of manpower and equipment. In addition, Minamoto no Yoriyoshi's reputation in Mutsu Province made it only a matter of time to destroy the Abe clan.

But the Song army had only 300 people, zero casualties, and the two sides were far apart. There was another huge "bang bang bang" sound.

According to the survivors, they also saw white smoke coming out, and then the warriors of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi's army who were charging fell one after another, including Saeki no Yoshinori, Fujiwara no Kageki, Waki ​​no Chisuke, Ki no Kiyoshi and other famous generals who died tragically on the spot.

This incident made Emperor Go-Reizei and Fujiwara no Yorimichi and others even more frightened, and they did not dare to act rashly, and even sent envoys, hoping to communicate with Ma Mao and others.

However, Ma Mao and others were unmoved and insisted on waiting until the order of the Song Dynasty arrived.

Soon in May, the orders and condemnations from the Song Dynasty court arrived with the Zhenhai Army. When the news reached Heian-kyō, Emperor Go-Reizei and others had no choice but to obey orders.

They received the Song Dynasty envoys with extremely high standards and etiquette, because in addition to the Song Dynasty envoys, the navy also sent 2,000 guards.

The envoys received by Japan along the way were terrified, fearing that they would anger the envoys.

Fortunately, the journey was smooth. The imperial edict of the Song Dynasty court scolded the Japanese emperor, blaming all the responsibility on Japan's betrayal and failure to fulfill the contract, and forced Japan to sign various treaties.

For example, it opened many ports, allowed Song Dynasty merchants to operate, mine, and contract minerals in Japan, ceded Tsushima Island to Song Dynasty territory, allowed Song Dynasty merchants to invest and set up factories in treaty ports, etc.

Regarding this series of unequal treaties, the Japanese government and the public were not without opposition, because it seriously harmed Japan's interests.

But the Japanese high-level officials had no choice. Otherwise, with an order from Song Dynasty Navy Commander Zhou Gang and Ning Navy Commander Ma Mao, Japan could directly change its dynasty.

Moreover, these high-level officials did not expect that signing these treaties would mean deeper exchanges with the Song Dynasty. They would be able to find ways to introduce the technology and systems of the Song Dynasty to enhance Japan's national strength. It is not without the possibility of a comeback in the future.

Therefore, under this situation, Japan could only be forced to sign this agreement, known in history as the "Treaty of Heian-Kyo".

Late July.

When Zhao Jun returned to Bianliang, the treaty signed between Song and Japan happened to be delivered.

At the end of the morning session on the 20th, Zhao Jun returned to the Constitutional Court.

He actually came back on the afternoon of the 18th, but it happened to be the "beginning of autumn". Several of the 24 solar terms in the Song Dynasty required a day off, so he didn't have to go to work on the 19th.

I simply rested at home for a day, and did not officially go to court until the 20th today. I reported on the Yellow River inspection work in the morning.

As for Li Yuanhao's matter, he planned to tell it at the morning meeting of the Constitutional Yuan and discuss it with Zhao Zhen in the afternoon.

Unexpectedly, there happened to be news over there on my small day.

"When I was young, I was a bitch like this. If I didn't give him a good beating, he would break the roof. Now if I give him a good beating, he will become more honest."

Zhao Jun looked at the official document that had just been sent from Jinzouyuan and said with a smile.

Yan Shu raised his head and said: "It seems that just as Han Long expected, the Japanese country does not have the guts to start a full-scale war with the Song Dynasty."

"They probably want to imitate Gou Jian and endure hardships, but unfortunately it's no longer the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. I'm afraid that if they taste it, they will only suffer."

Zhao Jun smiled and shook his head.

"The next step for Hanlong is to support the rebel forces in Japan and weaken Japan's national power?"

Fan Zhongyan turned his head and asked.

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Its national power itself has nothing to weaken. The main thing is to weaken the authority of their emperor."

"The Emperor's authority?"

Everyone poked their heads over, wondering what this meant.

"Yes, they are different from us. Ever since Chen Sheng and Wu Guang revolted and the princes, generals and ministers were convinced, there have been countless rebels challenging the emperor's authority."

Zhao Jun explained: "As for Japan's eternal lineage, the authority of the emperor has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Even if there is a rebellion, it will not eliminate the emperor himself as emperor. At most, he will use the imperial power to become a powerful minister. If the authority of the Japanese emperor is not quelled, then this The country will never be conquered."

"Then we can just send people to kill their emperor. Why bother?"

Someone wondered.

"Don't you hear that even though Chu has three households, if Qin is destroyed, it will be Chu?"

Yan Shu was still smart, and immediately thought of something, and said with a smile: "If a foreign enemy invades and destroys the emperor, the emperor's prestige among the Japanese people will only cause hatred and make it more troublesome to rule in the future. But if they themselves continue to challenge the emperor's authority, , and eventually bring down the emperor, the emperor’s prestige among Japanese people will inevitably fall to the bottom.”

"good."

Zhao Jun gave a thumbs up and said: "Uncle Lari is still the best, that's what I think."

At this moment, Wang Shouzhong walked in outside the gate of the Political Academy, followed by several young eunuchs. He bowed and said: "Zhiyuan, ministers, it has been hot recently. The officials are afraid that the ministers will suffer from heat stroke, so they specially ordered me to send white jelly. ”

"Thank the officials for us."

Everyone said quickly.

The little eunuch from behind came in and placed white jelly on each prime minister's table.

This thing is suitable for people of all ages in later generations. It is recorded in "Tokyo Menghualu" that it is made of plant pectin, with a little ice cubes added. It has a refreshing taste and is a must-have for relieving the heat.

"What are the officials busy with now?"

Zhao Jun's bowl was brought by Wang Shouzhong himself. He came back very late the day before yesterday and rested yesterday. He hadn't seen Zhao Zhen for three months, so he asked Wang Shouzhong casually.

Wang Shouzhong said with a smile: "Don't you know that the Imperial Academy is still trying to generate electricity with two steam engines in the Jinshui River?"

Everyone knows that Bianliang in the Northern Song Dynasty had four canals passing through the city, but they don’t know that the Jinshui River directly passed through the back garden of the imperial palace and was the only river within the palace.

It's just that the Jinshui River is close to the wall of the North Palace and behind the Guanjia Palace. There is also a small garden and woods where the concubines usually play, so under normal circumstances they have little chance to go to the river.

Zhao Jun smiled when he heard that Zhao Zhen was conducting power generation experiments.

It’s actually not difficult to point out things like the technology tree. For example, after Tesla invented electromagnetic induction in 1831 and developed the first generator, fifty years later, Edison used six steam engines to build the world’s largest The first power plant.

It looks like it took fifty years, but in fact the principle is the same, no one is doing it because there is no point in building a power plant.

The only use of electricity at that time was for lighting.

However, even though someone invented the arc lamp in the early 19th century, the illumination duration was still very short.

It wasn't until Edison improved the carbonized bamboo filament lamp that the carbon filament electric lamp that could last for 400 hours was extended to 1,200 hours that electricity had commercial value.

So it was easy for the Song Dynasty to build power plants, but it was very troublesome to make electric lights.

Even though Zhao Jun knew that bamboo filament electric lights were still not good and that tungsten filaments should be used to last longer, the electric lighting industry had not been developed due to vacuum technology and another major reason, so power plants were naturally useless.

And the reason was that Zhao Jun did not know the name of tungsten in ancient times.

This led to the fact that the Song Dynasty was still in the dark in this field and needed to constantly test various materials before it could find tungsten filaments.

Even though the Song Dynasty discovered electricity very early, it could not quickly apply electricity to life.

But there was no way around it.

Zhao Jun was not omnipotent.

Moreover, science was often produced by accidental factors, and many Western scientists often regarded science as theology and miracles. It was not so easy to turn such accidents into inevitability, and they still needed to keep trying.

The only advantage of the Song Dynasty was that someone was giving them clear directions, so they could take fewer detours and not find the direction to move forward in unknown areas.

The main reason why the power plant can be built today is that the School of Chemistry has developed vacuum technology using mercury.

At the same time, after many experiments, they finally found a metal called heavy stone dissolved, which can achieve long-term lighting after electricity is turned on, and the light is not strong and dazzling, just like the incandescent lamp of later generations.

Zhao Jun determined that this heavy stone should be tungsten.

Electricity can really be widely used in life.

"Thank you for your hard work, please say hello to the official for me. All your research results will be recorded in history and become the cornerstone of the Song Dynasty standing in the world."

After Zhao Jun finished speaking, he said: "This sentence must be conveyed to the official intact."

"Yes."

Wang Shouzhong responded with his eyebrows lowered.

I don't know why.

Every time the prefect praised the official, the official was always full of motivation.

Even though Wang Shouzhong thought that those experiments and research were full of unknowns and difficulties, the official never tired of it.

After distributing ice jelly, Wang Shouzhong and other eunuchs withdrew.

Some people in the room were eating white jelly, some took a bite because they thought it was too sweet, and others continued to correct official documents.

For a huge empire, the official duties that these prime ministers have to deal with every day are piled up like a mountain.

Although the current Political System Council is mainly responsible for setting directions, the actual operation is still left to the departments to formulate and plan.

But under this system, the Political System Council is also required to control whether the direction is correct. It is also a daily task to check the development progress of each department every day.

After everyone finished eating white jelly, Zhao Jun stood up and said, "Okay, it's time to have a meeting. Today's meeting is very important."

"What's the matter?"

"Interesting, is there still a big deal in Han Long's eyes?"

"This is curious."

When everyone heard about the meeting, they stopped their work and stood up to go to the meeting room.

They asked with a smile as they walked.

Seeing that everyone was curious about what the big deal was, Zhao Jun smiled and said, "Western Xia. It should be destroyed."

In an instant, everyone's breathing became rapid.