Save the Bachelor of Heaven

The Mekong Plain covers an area of ​​50,000 square kilometers, and the Chao Phraya Plain covers an area of ​​150,000 square kilometers.

In addition to the Red River Plain that was taken before, with these three places, the Song clan not only has a foothold, but also has the capital to expand from this base.

Because after occupying Southeast Asia, you can go south to Malaysia and Indonesia, east to Luzon, west to Pagan and India, and north to the Central Plains.

As long as you are strong enough, there is a lot of space to explore. As long as you are strong enough, there is a lot of space to explore. Just like the global colonization of Spain, Portugal, England, and France in the Age of Discovery.

This is different from the Central Plains Dynasty.

In fact, the Central Plains Dynasty developed to its peak period, that is, north to Mobei, south to Annan, west to Central Asia, and east to Ryukyu, which is already the limit.

If it expands further, even if it is conquered, it will be difficult to implement effective management.

Because the Central Plains Dynasty emphasizes centralized power, all political orders are decided from above. Therefore, if the territory is too wide, it will take one or two years to communicate from top to bottom, which will be too late.

Europe practices the feudal system, and the governors of each colony have considerable autonomy, including administrative power, legislative power, military power, taxation power, etc.

It can be said that the governor of each place is the local emperor of each place. In order to expand their power, they are naturally keen to expand their territory.

This feudal system has actually been implemented in China. The vassal states in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties were feudal systems. However, too many territories were enfeoffed, which easily led to the loss of royal power.

In the late Warring States period, when the Zhou emperor died, he did not even have the money to hold a funeral, so he could only ask the vassal states for help. King Nan of Zhou owed a huge sum of money to a rich family and was unable to repay it. He could only flee to a high platform to avoid debt, so he left the idiom "debts are high".

Therefore, when Qin Shihuang unified the world, he learned from previous experience and changed the feudal system to the county system, strengthening centralization.

This is conducive to national unity, political stability and economic development. But the disadvantage is that power is highly concentrated, which leads to limited local autonomous development, inefficient border management, and lack of ability to deal with emergencies.

Xiang Nan hopes to implement the county system in the Southeast Asian peninsula in the future, and the feudal system in other regions. This will not only ensure the stability of the base, but also ensure the continuous expansion of the territory.

Of course, this is a later story.

…

When Xiang Nan led his army to expand the territory in Southeast Asia, Song Que also negotiated with the Li clan. He was willing to submit to the Li clan in name, pay tribute to it, and return the captured Li Jiancheng, but the Li clan would not attack Lingnan again from then on.

After Li Yuan learned of the defeat in Shaoguan, he was at a loss, worried that Song Que would take advantage of the situation to counterattack and take back Ganzhou, Jingchu, Fujian and Zhejiang, Jiangnan, Jiangxia, and Jiangdu that he had lost before.

For this reason, he was preparing to mobilize troops and defend strictly, and even wanted to lead the expedition in person. But at this time, he received Song Que's surrender, expressing his willingness to submit to the Li clan and release his eldest son Li Jiancheng.

This made Li Yuan a little bit at a loss. He didn't know whether it was Song Que's delaying tactic or for other reasons. He was a little confused for a while.

Therefore, he immediately summoned all the ministers to discuss countermeasures, but everyone was divided and thought that this matter was indeed very strange.

With the strength of the Song family, it is not difficult to march north again. After all, the Li family only occupied the areas south of the Yangtze River, but did not completely control them.

As long as the Song family's army arrived, they would turn against him in a minute. After all, he defeated the main force of the 120,000 Li family, and the city was so stubborn that they dared to confront him head-on?

But why did they choose to surrender in name when they had such a good situation but did not take advantage of it?

Li Shimin understood it clearly. He knew that the reason why the Song family no longer marched north was because they did not want to start a war easily again, so he proposed to surrender with sincerity.

Just like when the Li Clan's army was infected with plague, lacked food and grass, and suffered a series of defeats, they had to return to Ganzhou to rest. It was originally a good opportunity for the Song Clan to attack, but they did not beat the fallen dog, but only repaired the city of Shaoguan.

Therefore, he suggested that his father accept the proposal of the Song Clan and continue to confer him the title of King of Zhennan, nominally unifying Lingnan. Only in this way can there be spare power to suppress other forces that are ready to move.

Otherwise, if you keep fighting with Lingnan, you may be defeated again. By then, the Li Clan will suffer two consecutive defeats and lose its reputation. Without enough troops to suppress the ground, local tyrants will rise up one after another.

At that time, the country that the Li Clan worked hard to build will be lost, so why bother.

Even if we take a step back, now is not the time to fight the Song Clan again. The Song Clan needs to rest, and the Li Clan also needs to rest.

At least wait until Jizhou is pacified, other restless forces are suppressed, and then gather troops, food, and armor before continuing the southern expedition. Therefore, it is better to reach a peace agreement with the Song clan first and accept the superficial surrender of the Song clan.

Under the persuasion of Li Shimin, Li Yuan finally agreed to Song Que's request.

Continue to confer the title of King of Zhennan on Song Que, the title of King of Nanping County on Song Shidao, the title of Duke of Yue State on Xiang Nan, and the title of Lady of Yue State on Song Yuzhi... The whole family has been rewarded.

Afterwards, Song Que also returned Li Jiancheng and thousands of captured Li clan surrendered soldiers. Most of these surrendered soldiers were physically disabled, and they could not go to the battlefield if they were released.

If they stayed in Lingnan, the Song clan would have to support them, so they were simply released and let the Li clan worry about how to comfort these wounded soldiers.

…

Seeing that his son was really released, Li Yuan was surprised and happy. He didn't expect Song Que to keep his promise and return his son. And it was a good thing that his son could return safely.

But Li Jiancheng suffered such a big defeat and lost more than 100,000 troops. It was so embarrassing and disappointing. Therefore, although he was released, he was depressed and angry.

At the same time, Li Shimin came to Jizhou and replaced his fourth brother Li Yuanji. He had already started a war with Liu Heita.

As a result, Li Shimin chose to start the war in Hutuo River. He ordered people to cut off the upper reaches of Hutuo River in advance. When Liu Heita's cavalry waded into the river to attack, his people immediately opened the upper reaches.

As a result, the turbulent river water flowed downstream, and Liu Heita's cavalry could not dodge in time and was washed away by the river water. Li Shimin took the opportunity to launch an attack and defeated Liu Heita's cavalry in one fell swoop, causing heavy losses.

Liu Heita had to lead his army to retreat in order to rest. But Li Shimin chased him relentlessly, leaving Liu Heita no chance to rest.

As a result, when he ran back to Dingzhou, Wang Ci'en, the governor of Dingzhou, opened the city to accept him. Liu Heita was worried that it was a trick, so he refused to enter the city and only asked Wang Ci'en to send food and fodder out of the city so that they could rest outside the city.

The reason why he was so cautious was that after Liu Heita's defeat, all parts of Yan and Zhao that had originally surrendered to him turned against him, so he was worried that Wang Ci'en would do the same and had to be on guard.

Wang Ci'en could only transport food, rice, flour, fodder, etc. out of the city for Liu Heita's troops to rest. As a result, he put drugs in the food and fodder.

Liu Heita was captured. Li Shimin also recovered Jizhou and sent an edict to Qi and Lu.