Chapter 299 Arms Race with Liao

In the fifth year of the Qingli period, with Li Yuanhao's humiliating defeat, the Liao Kingdom's attempt came to an end.

Yelu Zongzhen was shocked by the power of the Song Dynasty's muskets and finally did not dare to act rashly.

In fact, the early muskets were not better than cold weapons. The early smoothbore matchlocks had shortcomings such as slow firing rate, short range, easy to explode, and poor accuracy.

But Zhao Jun knew the defects of the early smoothbore matchlocks, so he did not go for this thing at the beginning, but went directly for the best musket in the black powder era, the rifled flintlock.

With the fixed Minié bullet and the rifling of the bullet, this design has reached the peak of the musket era. Before the invention of the fulminate of mercury cap, which turned the musket into a rifle, the rifled flintlock represented the highest level that can be achieved at present.

In the Napoleonic era, the flintlock did not suppress the heavy cavalry, especially in France. The infantry group had basically popularized the flintlock, and there were also artillery, but there were still a large number of heavy cavalry in Napoleon's army.

However, that was because their cavalry in the Napoleonic era had undergone special training. They not only had explosion training to prevent horses from being frightened by loud noises, but also fire training to prevent horses from panicking when seeing the flames from muskets.

There was also a way for cavalrymen who really had no time or were not well trained, that is, to blindfold the horses.

Such a heavy cavalry phalanx in a queue could still pose a threat to the musket phalanx that had not fully formed fire suppression when charging.

In addition, the firearms of the Napoleonic era were not rifled flintlocks using Minié bullets, but smoothbore flintlocks. Minié bullets were not invented by the British until the third year after Napoleon's death.

So in summary, cavalry was not incapable of fighting muskets. It was not until the First World War that the popularity of armored cars and Maxim completely eliminated the cavalry.

But at least Yelu Zongzhen certainly had no way to deal with the Song Dynasty muskets.

He did not train the cavalry to prevent the horses from being frightened by fire and explosion. He also did not organize a group of heavy cavalry specifically for muskets. His Pishi Army was still mainly leather armor, which could not prevent bullets from penetrating.

This resulted in the use of light cavalry to fight against the Song Dynasty's musket team, which was no different from sending them to their deaths.

Li Yuanhao is an example.

His Iron Harriers were actually a heavy cavalry unit, but they were not full-body armored like in the Napoleon era, but only had armor on the upper body, and the horses had no armor.

As a result, they encountered a 1,000-man musket squad of the Song army. The 3,000-man Iron Harriers plus about 10,000 ordinary light cavalry were beaten to a pulp. The cannonballs and the flames from the muskets scared the horses and they ran around before the cavalry approached.

Therefore, seeing Li Yuanhao's disastrous defeat, Yelu Zongzhen knew that at least before finding a way to defend against the Song Dynasty's muskets, or making a batch of muskets himself, it was not a good choice to go south to attack the Song Dynasty.

However, although Li Yuanhao suffered heavy losses, it was not too bad. Because in order to get him to send troops, the Liao Kingdom still gave him a lot of things, which could be regarded as making up for the losses of this time's sending troops and compensation.

Compared with the huge size of Liao and Song, Xixia was still too small. The Liao Kingdom and the Song Dynasty had enough things to use, so it would not be seriously injured this time.

But this was a huge blow to Xixia politically and militarily.

The Dangxiang tribe itself had been accustomed to being a vassal state of the Liao and Song since the time of Li Jiqian, and was defeated by the Song Dynasty several times in a row. The spirit was already inferior to the Song people, and the noble leaders were unwilling to fight with the Song Dynasty again.

Zhang Yuan, the war advocate, was killed again as a gift to calm the anger of the Song Dynasty. Now there are no war advocates in the whole country. It is difficult for Li Yuanhao to take the initiative to provoke an attack on the Song Dynasty.

Of course.

This is all Li Yuanhao's business, and has nothing to do with the Song Dynasty.

Just after the New Year of the fifth year of Qingli, Bianliang became lively.

Last December, Kaifeng Prefecture was frozen, and the government hired people to clear the snow and break the ice.

The Bian River was reopened, and just in the beginning of spring, there were already many merchant ships coming and going in just one month.

In recent years, the biggest headache for Bianliang is not the increasing number of migrant workers causing difficulties for the management of the city.

Rather, the carrying capacity of the Bian River, Cai River, Guangji River, Jinshui River and other rivers is insufficient. Every spring and summer, when commodity trade is most prosperous, the river blockages occur repeatedly.

This obviously seriously hinders economic development.

So Zhao Jun plans to build a new canal outside the city, digging from Huazhou to Kaifeng, with a straight-line distance of about 100 kilometers, and it is estimated that more than 100,000 civilians will be mobilized.

On January 14, in the Political System Institute, not long after the New Year, tomorrow is the Lantern Festival again. The government has only worked for a few days and will have to rest soon. Therefore, all the officials inside and outside the Political System Institute are not very motivated, and they are just thinking about where to go for fun tomorrow.

Zhao Jun did not lie down. He was now the most powerful person in the Song Dynasty. Zhao Zhen had to look at his face. If he wanted to lie down and live a luxurious life, he could do whatever he wanted and go wherever he wanted, not to mention a colorful life.

But he was a bit of a workaholic. He was thinking about the prosperity of the Song Dynasty all the time. Now he has been in the Song Dynasty for almost nine years and has done a lot of things, but he still feels unsatisfied and is still struggling on the front line of work.

Mainly because in his eyes, the development of the Song Dynasty is still too slow.

Except for its relatively advanced military and steelmaking, which reached the level of the early industrial revolution, it was terrible in other aspects.

For example, there is no scientific system, experimental principles, formula establishment, industrial standardization, or assembly lines.

It can be said that the overall progress is very slow. It has been nine years since the steam engine was developed.

But there's nothing we can do about it.

Many things can be done without knowing the principles.

Science requires a system, continuous experimentation and exploration. It does not mean that knowing the principles can produce results immediately.

But the fire has been planted.

The Song Dynasty now opened modern schools across the country to teach mathematics, physics and chemistry in elementary and junior high schools. Since last year, mathematics has been included in the imperial examination again, becoming a key course in the Jinshi examination.

As long as we wait patiently for a few more years for other physical and chemical knowledge to take root and take root, and then incorporate physics and chemistry into the imperial examinations in the future, I believe that a complete scientific system belonging to the Song Dynasty will be born within the next ten years.

"Hanlong, what are you looking at?"

At Chenshi in the morning, after the morning dynasty, many prime ministers went home to rest for a while. After almost an hour, at the end of Chenshi, the prime ministers came back to work at nine o'clock in the morning.

Yan Shu was relatively energetic and was the first to arrive. The others, Lu Yijian and Wang Zeng, were not feeling well, so it was common for them to arrive late and leave early.

Sheng Du still did not survive last winter and died of illness at the end of the year.

Now Zhao Zhen also sympathizes with these veterans and allows them to rest for a while, and even allows them to skip the morning court, so sometimes Zhao Jun often works alone in the Constitutional Yuan.

"Didn't the court meeting this morning talk about the blockage of the Bianhe River? I was just thinking about how great it would be if a canal was dug from Huazhou directly to Bianliang."

Zhao Jun looked at the map and said.

Yan Shu came over and wondered: "Dig another river to connect Bianliang? The city can't afford such a big project now."

"It's definitely not possible to dig through the city directly. How much land would have to be expropriated?"

Zhao Jun pointed at the map and said: "Just dig from Huazhou to the outside of Kaifeng's East City. In the future, the city will expand, and there will definitely be large-scale development outside the East City. Digging a canal south of Huazhou can divert the flow of the Yellow River and reduce the flow of the Yellow River. Pressure. Secondly, ships coming from Damingfu won’t have to take the long way to Biankou first.”

The Yellow River in the Song Dynasty is very different from the Yellow River in later generations. The Yellow River in later generations was directly next to Kaifeng City, but in the Song Dynasty it was to the south of Xinxiang City, a hundred kilometers away from Bianliang. It passes through Huaxian, Puyang, Liaocheng and Shanghe, and finally enters the sea between Wudi County and Zhanhua District of Binzhou.

Even in the Song Dynasty when Sanyi returned to the river, the diversion location was not in Kaifeng, but in Puyang downstream.

This situation lasted until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, when the Yellow River flooded and changed its course several times. Finally, after Pan Ji tamed the river in the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow River officially began to move south from Guangwu Town in the northwest of Zhengzhou City to Jihui District, flowing through Zhengzhou and Kaifeng. , Lankao and then flow north.

Then Baldhead blew up Huayuankou and changed its course again, forming the Yellow River today.

Therefore, the Yellow River in the Song Dynasty was very far from Kaifeng City in later generations, and there was no canal in between. The only connection between the two sides was the Bianhe River.

This resulted in the fact that if shipping from Damingfu in Hebei Province wants to reach Bianliang, it must first enter the Yellow River from the Yongji Canal, go upstream for more than 100 kilometers, and then enter from Banzhu Ferry in Bishui Town, Xingyang City, Henan Province. Bianhe River goes to Bianliang, which greatly increases the navigation distance.

During the Yuan Dynasty, Guo Shoujing presided over the large-scale canal construction, and then dug the Jeju, Huitong, Tonghui and other canals, and changed the canal into a straight line, connecting the north and the south, which was more than 900 kilometers shorter than the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty.

However, the North-South Canal was built in the Yuan Dynasty to quickly connect Beijing, the political center, and Hangzhou, the economic center. The economic and political centers of the Song Dynasty were both in Kaifeng. Kaifeng already had a canal with Hangzhou, so there was no need to build a direct connection from Beijing like in the Yuan Dynasty. Rivers in Hangzhou.

However, with the gradual construction of Hebei's steel industry, it is imperative to strengthen the economic and political ties between Daming Prefecture and Kaifeng Prefecture. Therefore, reopening a shipping line from Huazhou will play an important role in promoting the economic development of the two places.

Yan Shu looked at the signs on the map, thought for a moment and nodded slightly: "Well, if we build a canal, it will indeed be of great benefit to the Song Dynasty. Even if the Liao Kingdom comes in the future, we can respond quickly."

"I will ask Jia Changchao to ask someone from the Ministry of Industry to come up with a plan for me later. Specifically, how many people will be used, where to dig, and detailed preliminary preparations must be made in all aspects."

Zhao Jun put down the brush in his hand. He had just made a few drawings on the map, but this kind of random scribbling would definitely not work. He still had to conduct on-site inspections.

But he doesn't need to go himself. It's enough to leave this kind of thing to the people below and let the people from the Ministry of Industry do it.

"good."

Yan Shu responded.

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Di walked in with an official document in his hand and a solemn expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Mr. Vintage?"

Zhao Jun looked at him.

Li Di threw the official document in his hand on the desk, shook his head and said: "These merchants are so bold. They actually bypassed our border market in the Song Dynasty and sent the goods directly to Runzhou in the Liao Kingdom."

"Tax avoidance is normal."

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "Let the navy keep an eye on it and deal with it if found."

Li Di rolled his eyes and said: "The navy has discovered it a long time ago, but they took bribes and turned a blind eye. If it hadn't been for this military restructuring and the navy also rectified it, I'm afraid the court wouldn't have known that it was hidden. To what extent.”

"Let me see."

Zhao Jun immediately realized the seriousness of the problem, took the official document and began to read it.

The Song Dynasty actually had a navy, or it would be more appropriate to call it a navy, because the so-called navy actually had no fleet, was poorly trained, and was very weak.

Therefore, throughout the Northern Song Dynasty, the navy almost did not appear, except for Ping Haijun who appeared in the Maritime Alliance.

After Zhao Jun developed Japan's Goryeo trade, he began to prepare for the establishment of a naval force. Three navies were built in Donglai, Shandong, Tongzhou, Huainan, and Cangzhou, Hebei, namely Shandong Ping Navy, Huainan Zhen Navy, and Hebei Ding Navy.

Today's navy is not what it used to be. In addition to sailors, the ships are equipped with cannons, like the side cannons in the Caribbean, and there are even main guns on the front.

This greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the navy. When the Liao Kingdom had almost no naval strength, the three fleets of the Song Dynasty almost dominated the Bohai Sea, the Yellow River, the East China Sea and the Sea of ​​Japan, without any competition.

Zhao Jun's next step is to build another fleet in the South China Sea to ensure the safety of shipping on the Maritime Silk Road.

But now a large number of businessmen have appeared to evade taxes. Instead of selling things to the Liao Kingdom from the Song Dynasty's border market in Cangzhou, they directly took the goods from Goryeo, Japan and ran to the Liao Kingdom. Corruption also occurred in the maritime fleet. This is a serious problem.

This means that the fleet is corrupted and its combat effectiveness is reduced, which is an important threat to domination of the ocean. Zhao Jun naturally does not allow such a thing to happen.

After reading the official document, he said with a serious face: "This problem is still very serious. The supervision force at sea is still not in place. Ships lose contact with the country after they go to sea. Once the whole ship works together and makes big profits outside, the court will not care about it." Not to them."

"yes."

Li Di shook his head and said, "I don't know how much tax the court will lose for this."

"It's a pity. We still have to build the scientific system as soon as possible so that we can develop electromagnetism. Then we can just find a way to send telegraphs in the future."

Zhao Jun sighed and said: "I am still too busy now, and from the invention of electricity, to wired telegraphy, and finally to radio waves, I am afraid it will take a long time to study. I can't do it so wholeheartedly."

"Everything is difficult at the beginning. What the Song Dynasty lacks is the entire scientific system. When the basic knowledge of mathematics, physics, and chemistry is popularized in the Song Dynasty and a complete system is formed, these things will be much easier."

Yan Shu expressed relief.

"Um."

Zhao Jun responded, and then suddenly said: "This official document says that the things Japan sends to Liao are basically sulfur?"

"yes."

Li Di said: "Since the end of last year, the Liao Kingdom has gone crazy and started to purchase sulfur in large quantities at high prices. The price of sulfur has been rising day by day, and much less sulfur has been shipped back to our country."

Zhao Jun touched his chin and said with a sudden smile: "This is a good thing."

"Is this a good thing?"

Yan Shu said speechlessly: "We can hardly use our own gunpowder."

"Arrange someone to sell them the complete black powder formula at a high price, so that the Liao Kingdom can continue to purchase sulfur."

Zhao Jun smiled.

"ah?"

Li Di was shocked and said: "Hanlong, how can this be possible?"

"OK."

Zhao Jun explained: "This is consuming the national power of the Liao State. It's an arms race. They devoted all their efforts to making firearms, and won't the national power decline? Our Song Dynasty is prosperous. One is declining, the other is increasing, and the Liao will be destroyed in the future. It’s a little bit more possible.”

Yan Shu heard him say that the gunpowder formula could be sold to the Liao Kingdom in the future, but Li Di didn't know.

He wondered: "If the Liao Kingdom develops the same firearms as us, wouldn't we be unable to fight them again?"

"Who said that?"

Zhao Jun smiled and said: "The arms race is about who develops better weapons first. The question is, do they have qualified steel? Do they have Mini bullets? Do they have granulated gunpowder? Their firearms will always be better than those of the Song Dynasty. Damn, after they finish all this, Song Dynasty might even have yellow gunpowder, so why should we be afraid of them?"

The industrial era is about crushing the agricultural era through scientific advancement, and even industry has its differences.

Now the Song Dynasty has initially entered the first industrial revolution. Zhao Jun's two epoch-making steel smelting technologies gave them ultra-fast steelmaking efficiency.

In this way, the Song Dynasty will see explosive growth in steel, but the Liao Kingdom is still in the agricultural era. Even with the complete formula of black powder and muskets and cannons, the quality, range, power, and quantity are compared with those of the Song Dynasty. A world of difference.

Therefore, Zhao Jun was never afraid that the Liao Kingdom would also develop firearms, but instead hoped that the Liao Kingdom would do the same.

Because only Song and Liao entered the arms race period, a large amount of the Liao's national power would be consumed in military affairs, which would be of no use to the people's livelihood.

As long as the technology of the Song Dynasty keeps stepping on the head of the Liao Kingdom, the comprehensive development of people's livelihood, economy, military, etc. will always stabilize the Liao Kingdom, and it is impossible for the Liao Kingdom to be stronger than the Song Dynasty militarily.

To a certain extent, Zhao Jun was forcing the Liao Kingdom to focus on military affairs.

They can't let go. If they don't let go, the Song Dynasty's military will only continue to be strong. The Liao Kingdom will still maintain its original cold weapons. Sooner or later, it will be blown up by the Song Dynasty's artillery, grenades, and muskets.

Therefore, this can be regarded as a conspiracy, the best way to weaken the Liao Kingdom.

Now that the Liao Kingdom has slowly figured out a formula close to the complete black powder, it is better to maximize the benefits now and sell the complete black powder formula to the Liao Kingdom at a high price to squeeze out the last profit.

Anyway, the complete black powder is not the most powerful, and you can also add egg white to granulate the black powder.

When the Song Dynasty has developed better in the past few years, people can raise more chickens and ducks with corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes and other things in their livelihood, so they can buy more chicken and duck eggs, stockpile granulated black powder, and mass-produce steel cannons and muskets.

The Liao Kingdom is still going to be finished.