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

Compared with the prosperity of the Song Dynasty, the Liao Kingdom was actually very miserable in these years.

During the Chongxi period, the Song Dynasty gradually replaced cold weapons with hot weapons through weapons reforms, crushing the Liao Kingdom's military power.

After that, the Song Dynasty reformed the military system and improved the military quality and combat effectiveness of the soldiers. Since then, the military affairs between the Liao and Song Dynasties have completely reversed.

The Liao Kingdom has completely lagged behind the Song army in terms of army quantity, combat effectiveness, equipment and personal quality.

Under this situation, the former Liao State was completely unable to suppress the Song Dynasty militarily. On the contrary, through the Battle of Jijin, the Liao State also lost the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun and Liaoyang, the capital of Liao Dynasty.

These places have always been important areas for taxation and farming that the Liao Kingdom relied on for its livelihood. The loss of these places would be a huge blow to the Liao Kingdom and its national power would decline seriously.

After Yelu Zongzhen died, his son Yelu Hongji was too young to control the overall situation, so the emperor's younger brother Yelu Chongyuan could only inherit the throne of Liao.

It can only be said that Yelu Zongzhen at least made a fairly wise decision before his death.

In his first year, Yelvzhong was powerful and prestigious, and had experience in leading troops to suppress rebellions many times. Therefore, he was able to suppress the Khitan nobles and barely keep the Pishi army from falling apart.

Otherwise, if Yelu Hongji succeeds to the throne, I am afraid that the Khitan will first launch a rebellion, and then it will be a disaster for the Liao Kingdom.

But the problem is that even if Yelu Zhongyuan came to power and barely maintained the situation, it could not prevent the Liao Kingdom's national power from declining significantly and rebellions breaking out all over the country.

This is the general trend, even if Yelu Abaoji, Taizu of the Liao Dynasty, comes back to life, it will be useless.

First of all, the decline of military power has resulted in the Liao State being unable to control such a huge territory. The western and central Mongolian grasslands and the north of Heilongjiang in the northeast have completely lost control of the Liao State.

Secondly, after losing the Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures and Liaoyang, since most of the Liao Kingdom's handicraft manufacturing industry and fields were located in these places, the economy and agriculture plummeted.

Under such circumstances, even the army cannot be maintained, let alone maintaining order in the country?

Therefore, in order to protect their economy and agriculture, they had to trade with the Song Dynasty in the south to maintain their army by purchasing food and other supplies.

But this will intensify conflicts with various ethnic groups in the Northeast.

Because most of the natural resources of the Liao Kingdom were in the northeast, such as fur, wood, medicinal materials, ores, etc., the Liao Kingdom needed these resources to exchange with the Song Dynasty.

The problem is that the Khitan are not the only local ethnic groups in the Northeast. In other words, the Khitan can only be regarded as a border ethnic group in the Northeast. Their main habitat is the grasslands from Chifeng and Tongliao in Inner Mongolia to Changchun in Jilin.

They were mainly nomadic and took the lead in forming a unified political power from scattered tribes. They then conquered the scattered tribes of various surrounding ethnic groups and formed today's Liao Kingdom.

The real ethnic groups in the Northeast among the white mountains and black waters are mainly Bohai, Jurchen, Shiwei and Xi tribes.

Especially the Jurchen tribe, with their large numbers and fierce fighting prowess, their strength should not be underestimated.

Therefore, if the Khitan people want to maintain their power, they must seize resources from the Northeast and exchange them with the Song Dynasty. However, the local ethnic groups in the Northeast have become increasingly aware of the decline of the Liao Kingdom and set off a wave of resistance.

When the two sides first started, the Liao State was still able to suppress them with firearms. If there was a rebellion, it suppressed the rebellion, barely maintaining the Liao State's dominance.

But more than ten years later, the Jurchen tribe in Northeast China gradually rose up, reversed the situation, and launched a counterattack against the Liao Kingdom.

"That doesn't make sense."

Everyone in the Political Academy was very surprised.

Han Qi said: "Aren't we prohibited from transporting firearms to neighboring countries? Although the Liao Kingdom's firearms are a bit behind, there should be no problem in suppressing the Jurchens."

"No."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "This is an inevitable trend, but I didn't expect it to happen so soon."

"Inevitable trend? Why is it an inevitable trend?"

People don’t quite understand.

Although the Liao people could not buy Song Dynasty firearms, they could buy raw materials.

They themselves have the process conditions related to firearms, which ensures that they have sufficient supply of firearms.

Although various ethnic tribes in the Northeast bought many cold weapons such as swords, guns, armor, and crossbows from the Song Dynasty that were even more backward in the Song Dynasty.

But primitive firearms such as grenades and artillery are enough for them to defeat enemies who fight with cold weapons.

Moreover, the Liao State suppressed the various ethnic groups in the Northeast and was still able to continuously seize resources from them, and then continued to supply firearms through the Song Dynasty, forming a cycle.

Why is this an inevitable trend?

"Are you thinking that the Liao Kingdom has been able to maintain its national strength despite constantly suppressing rebellions and intimidating all parties in the past few years?"

Zhao Jun asked back.

"Yes, even if there are rebels in each tribe, they still dare not openly become enemies against the Liao people. The Liao country only needs to ensure the supply of raw materials."

Zheng Jian said.

"In the most ideal situation, this is the case, but have you ever thought about such a problem?"

Zhao Jun looked around at everyone and said: "Liao people are also human beings, and they will be corrupted and corrupted. What's more, the Khitan nobles have been corrupted for a long time, and they can no longer escape the luxurious life."

"What does Hanlong mean?"

Yan Shu understood immediately, opened his eyes wide and said, "Are the Liao people themselves corrupted internally? Were they bribed to sell firearms, or did they use military expenditures to maintain a luxurious life?"

Zhao Jun did not answer directly, but just smiled lightly: "If we had not reformed the military system, we would have ended up like the Liao people."

"That's it, that's it."

"What we imagined before was that if the Liao people used the resources they seized from the Northeast to buy raw materials and food from the Song Dynasty, they could continue to suppress the ethnic groups in the Northeast and continue to seize resources. Although the ethnic groups in the Northeast were dissatisfied, they still followed As before, they were forced to accept the force of the Liao people, so that the three parties formed a balance. "

"Unexpectedly, this balance was broken by the Liao people themselves. They themselves were internally corrupted, so that military expenditures were corrupted, and the army's combat effectiveness was low. Even with firearms, it was no longer possible to suppress the Northeast."

"And there is a vicious cycle, that is, the more you are unable to suppress it, the more the Northeastern departments will notice your weakness, so they will reduce the supply as a test. The more the supply is reduced, the weaker the Liao's national power will be. The weaker it is, the less guaranteed it will be. The military's combat power does not dare to use weapons against various ministries, and the result is a cycle that leads to today's evil consequences. "

Everyone was talking a lot and quickly understood why the Liao Kingdom declined so quickly. In just over ten years, from a country that was once the number one in the world, it was now defeated by the primitive tribes in the Northeast, so that it had to It's sad.

"What a pity, what a pity."

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "I overestimated the capabilities of the Liao people. I thought they were about to subjugate their country, so they could work hard to govern. I didn't expect that the faster their country was subjugated, the more they would become dissolute and playful."

"Yes, we still want to keep it as a raw material supply place. Who would have thought that the huge Liao Kingdom would collapse overnight?"

Fan Zhongyan spread his hands and said.

"Han Long, what should we do now? Should we watch the Liao Kingdom be destroyed, or should we?"

Yan Shu raised key questions.

Zhao Jun fell into deep thought.

This was indeed difficult for him.

When he makes national arrangements, he has strategic intentions.

For example, between the Liao Kingdom and Xixia, he destroyed Xixia. That was because Xixia could communicate with the Hexi Corridor and deepen land trade with the west.

But there is not much benefit in destroying the Liao Kingdom. The north is occupied by the Mongolian grassland and the three northeastern provinces.

In later generations, the three northeastern provinces became treasure lands. It was only during the Ming and Qing dynasties that they finally built up the vast northeastern provinces through the invasion of Guandong and hundreds of years of reclamation.

At this time, Liaoze was still there, and large areas of the entire three eastern provinces were swamps. Otherwise, the Jurchens would not have been a fishing and hunting tribe. If there had been the Northeast Plains, they would have developed a farming civilization long ago.

So in fact, the current Northeast is just a large swamp and a forest, and its reclamation requires a lot of manpower and material resources. The center of the Liao Kingdom, from Zhongjing to Shangjing, is grassland, which is not of great significance to the farming civilization.

If there is a need for reclamation, at least a more advanced industrial civilization is needed to solve the flooding of the Liao River and the problem of swamps in the Northeast through mechanization.

When the time comes to manage it, the numbers will be astronomical.

Therefore, it was not that Zhao Jun did not want to regain the Northeast, but for the sake of national interests, he wanted to let the Liao Kingdom exist first, turn it into a resource exporting country, and strengthen the industrialization process of the Song Dynasty.

When the Song Dynasty's industrial capabilities improve and can solve these problems in the future, they can directly go north to destroy the Liao Dynasty and capture large areas of territory.

Zhao Jun estimates that this process will take up to twenty or thirty years.

However, the Liao Kingdom was unable to do anything.

Even though this was within his expectation, he did not expect that the Liao Kingdom would fall too quickly.

It is not a good thing for Song Dynasty to accept it at this time.

But it is also not a good thing to allow the Liao Kingdom to be destroyed and then the Jurchens to establish a Jin Kingdom in the north.

The lesser of two evils is at least much better than the emergence of an emerging country.

"To be honest, I want to help the Liao Kingdom."

Zhao Jun smiled bitterly and said: "From the perspective of national justice for future generations, it must be recovered immediately. I have also said before that I want to unify China. But when I sit in this position, I have to consider the interests of the country. Interest comes first. Even if the Liao Kingdom is allowed to exist first and the Northeast has not been recovered, it doesn't matter. It is the best thing that benefits us Han Chinese and the Chinese nation. It is a pity."

He shook his head as he spoke.

There is little point in helping the Liao Kingdom. The Liao Kingdom is corrupting too fast. After this time, I am afraid that the help will come one after another and will never stop.

He hoped to keep the Liao State to seize the benefits from the Liao State, rather than provide people and efforts to the Liao State.

Therefore, helping the Liao Kingdom is also a wrong option.

All in all.

This is the situation in the north now.

There are no Han people there, and there is empty land, which cannot be used even if it is taken.

On the contrary, it will cause the Song Dynasty to spend a relatively high price to govern, and there may even be a Jurchen tribe rebellion. Spending time and energy to suppress the rebellion will be thankless.

But now the Liao Kingdom is about to collapse. Let’s not talk about whether the Jin Kingdom established by the Jurchens will live in harmony with the Song Dynasty. It will continue to maintain the previous trade relations. Even if it is maintained, it will not work.

The army of an emerging country has not yet decayed, and its combat effectiveness is still relatively strong. Once they inherit the firearms of the Liao Kingdom, even backward firearms may cause border friction and cause certain harm to the Song Dynasty.

Therefore, in order to prevent such a thing from happening, it is better to strike first and nip the Jin Kingdom in the bud, allowing the Jurchen tribe to return to tribal status and be included in the rule of the Song Dynasty.

"You mean, send troops?"

Fan Zhongyan asked tentatively.

"Send troops."

Zhao Jun pouted: "Order, Chen Bing border, destroy the Liao Kingdom and the Jurchens together."

"What do you think?"

Fan Zhongyan looked at the other prime ministers again.

Zhao Jun can handle ordinary things with just a word, but sending troops not only requires Zhao Zhen's approval, but many prime ministers must also be cautious.

So everyone still needs to discuss it in detail. If they all agree, then it will basically be up to Zhao Zhen to make a decision.

But having said that, Zhao Zhen will not veto anything that is actually decided by everyone in the Constitutional Yuan. Therefore, to a certain extent, if all the prime ministers in the Constitutional Yuan agree, it represents the Song Empire. will.

"I think it is true as Zhiyuan said. At this juncture, if we don't send troops, we will just watch the Liao Kingdom be destroyed by the Jurchens. It will be bad to build another Jin Kingdom."

"Yes, the Jin Kingdom is not a good thing. It broke Bianliang and kidnapped two emperors. If it weren't for the Zhiyuan, I'm afraid history would repeat the same mistakes."

"Then prepare to send troops to the border. But do you need a reason? If we declare without a fight, will the neighboring countries feel that the Song Dynasty is invading other countries for no reason, and feel fear in their hearts?"

"Well, I am a dignified Chinese, and I am convinced by my royal ways. I really want to fight against the unknown rebellion with a famous army. I still have to hold on to my righteous name. Why don't we say that one of our soldiers is missing at the border?"

Everyone said something to me.

Zhao Jun said speechlessly: "What kind of bad ideas have they come up with? Even a soldier on the border can come up with it."

"Then what can Zhiyuan do? Do you want to learn from Wu Dao?"

Fu Bi asked.

In ancient times, great importance was attached to honor and righteousness. Cao Cao used the emperor to command the princes, and he was the master of such great honor and righteousness.

After all, he was a minister of the Ministry of War, and if he wanted to be considered as the righteous division of the Song Dynasty, he still had to worry about this.

"Hmm"

Zhao Jun narrowed his eyes and said: "Changchun Prefecture is the hinterland of the Liao Kingdom, located near Shangjing."

"Yes."

"Does that mean the Liao Kingdom is in danger?"

"That's about right. After all, we reached the vicinity of the capital."

"Didn't the Liao Kingdom send anyone to ask for help?"

"That's not true."

Everyone looked at each other, and Wen Yanbo, who was in charge of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said: "The Liao Embassy did not send anyone to talk to us."

"There are two situations. One is that the Liao people feel that they can handle it. The other is that the Liao people feel that they have a bad relationship with the Song Dynasty. They cannot ask for help unless they have a last resort and the country is destroyed."

Zhao Jun raised two fingers.

"Um."

Everyone thinks it makes sense.

Zhao Jun continued: "In this case, there is still an argument. Let the army on Youyan Road be actively on standby. We will patiently wait for the opportunity to fight. We can even secretly help the Jurchens and sell them fire starters."

"oh?"

Yan Shu rolled his eyes and said, "Driving away wolves and devouring tigers?"

"good."

Zhao Jun laughed: "If the Liao Kingdom cannot hold on and asks us for help, then we can just sit back and wait for them to be destroyed, and then go north in the name of rushing to help the Liao Kingdom."

"Isn't that a bit hypocritical?"

Han Qi was surprised.

He didn't expect to be able to play like this.

"It does seem like a bitch to build a memorial arch, but the problem is that the national interest can only be like this. Otherwise, if we do everything openly, we can only watch others eat meat. We don't even have soup. Can’t drink.”

Zhao Jun shook his head and said: "Hypocrisy refers to being hypocritical, but in the face of national interests, it is not called hypocrisy, but called strategic planning. Do you understand?"

Everyone looked at each other, their hearts trembling.

National interests come first.

Why do you need to be a moral gentleman and erect a memorial arch?